Top 5 Tips for a Continued Healthy Lifestyle

Once you have taken the plunge to get into a healthy lifestyle mode, you need to stay on-track.

When you start noticing a difference in yourself, you feel rewarded and it fills you with a feeling of achievement. So you want to maintain that feeling of joy, right? So whether you’re concentrating on losing a few more pounds, wanting to stay toned or just maintain an overall healthier you, we have some top tips to help you continue with your healthier lifestyle.

Set yourself new targets regularly. Start off by signing up to run a half marathon, and then a full one, increase your weights on a weekly basis to get stronger or even try something new in the gym or outdoors.

This will ensure that you don’t get bored of doing the same exercise and the same routine all the time, which then could lead to you losing enthusiasm for it, resulting in dips in your journey. New things create new challenges which keep you motivated for longer.

Keep surrounding yourself with Health

If you can’t see it & if you don’t have it, you can’t eat it right? So keep all your treats out of sight, out of mind and surround yourself with healthy food & drinks. This will definitely stop you being tempted by the naughty stuff. Also, it tends to be that the most healthy of foods are in the fridge (not the cupboards where you’d probably keep the processed stuff) so when you feel like you need a snack, head to the fridge which you can stock with fat-free yogurts,  hummus, fruit, vegetables & the like.

Still eat & (most importantly) enjoy your favourite foods…

…But in moderation. Depriving yourself of your favourite dinner or cheeky chocolate bar is probably not the best way to go because it can actually backfire. Thinking about it too much can make you want it more, and then you may cave in! If you really want a treat, schedule in a “treat day” which doesn’t mean you binge out all day on all the bad stuff, but you can allow yourself that biscuit with your tea, or little chocolate bar when you’re out and about.

Celebrate all of your achievements – even the little ones

Don’t let any set-back keep you from working towards your goals.  Dieting, getting fitter or healthier is hard work. Everyone knows that it is not always a lot of fun, but positive reinforcement can really make a difference. We don’t mean rewarding yourself with an entire packet of biscuits or box of chocolates after reaching your first monthly target, increasing your weights or going an extra mile on the treadmill; we mean consistently giving yourself a non-food incentive to keep going. Treat yourself to some new, trendy gym wear (now you’ve dropped another size!), a spa day or just something simple. You choose!
Keep pushing yourself with your gym buddy

You’ve found your friend with similar intentions and gradually you have greatly improved your success on your journey to reaching your goals – what’s next? You know that you have to continue to motivate your buddy, because you know how much it motivates you & pushes you to push each other. Better yet, you have got into the routine where you have no excuses because you’re in it together & want the best results for each other! So plan something else to do together, shake it up a bit and achieve even more!

So there you have it, a few tips to continue on the way to even more success. What you do & your attitude towards it 80-90% of the time is what counts, so don’t beat yourself up if you have an off day or 2! Just one more thing… KEEP BEING PATIENT.