Yesterday I underwent a free health check at work. The fitness lady checked out a few different things for me including my blood pressure, blood glucose levels, cholesterol & weight.
My results were good. Nothing stood out as unusual and on a whole I’m pretty fit. However, one of my results showed that I’m at a slightly increased risk of heart disease, meaning I really should make an attempt to become just that little bit healthier…
I’m the first to admit I’m absolutely hopeless when it comes to sticking to exercise regimes. I tend to come up with these elaborate plans that are good in theory, but when it comes to execution I’m nowhere near motivated enough to stick with them. It doesn’t help that the hours I work can sometimes be extremely long and are somewhat unpredictable. I think though, after the chat I had with the fitness lady, by making a few small changes I can achieve what I need to without changing my lifestyle too drastically.
So I’ve decided to take a slightly different approach to what I usually do when I decide I need to “get fit.” No elaborate fitness plans. I think it’s been proven that they don’t actually work for me. Instead, I give you:
Nadine’s very awesome (but at the same time super simple) making healthier life choices checklist:
- Switch my mid-afternoon chocolate-y snack for a snack that is better for me.
- Cut down on how much iced tea I drink.
- Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day.
- Start eating a decent breakfast.
- Use the gym at least three times a week for half an hour or so. This one’s a no brainer, especially considering there are free staff gym facilities in my building (the work gym is actually on my floor and less than 20 metres from my desk).
- Continue playing netball each week.
I’m going to make these few smallish, and perhaps more importantly realistic, lifestyle changes and see what happens! :)
I think making positive changes is always a good thing, as long as you approach it in a way that is doable. Better to make a tiny change you can keep up, rather than start with really ambitious plans that fizzle out before long. So I definitely think you’re taking the right approach!
I’d really recommend getting a water bottle. That way you can sip from it all day and it’s easier to measure whether you’ve had enough. I think you need to drink at least 1.2l a day to avoid being dehydrated (so preferably more).
I’m actually pretty bad when it comes to drinking enough, although since I got my eyes lasered they’ve been quite dry, so it forces me to drink a lot of water which I guess is a good thing at least!
Getting a large water bottles a good idea! I think I may just have to do that. I have a small one now, but it’s a pain having to constantly re-fill it all day. :P
ahh but don’t forget the incidental exercise from refilling. But for me who guzzkes water that;s a plus!
Good luck! I, too, am hopeless at sticking to exercise regimes, which is bad because I talk about them both offline and online, and then have to be held accountable when I inevitably fail!
Good luck! I think lots of little changes can be more effective than one huge change.
Good luck!! Lifestyle changes are the first step into getting healthy and once you start seeing results, you’re going to start wanting more.
I suggest subscribing to fitness blogs… they’re awesome inspiration.