My Journey to Health – Other Thoughts and Advice

Exercise, nutrition, the power of habit, setting goals and understanding your motivations are all important in reaching your goals related to health.

In addition to those topics, I will use this post to share other thoughts and advice that may be helpful and resonate with your experience.

Start Small and be Patient

I encourage you to start small, especially in the area of exercise. If you start off doing too much exercise too quickly, it may feel difficult to continue at that level. That could be discouraging. It also could lead to injuries such as strained muscles or joint pain.

If you are doing nothing now in the area of fitness, I suggest setting aside 10 minutes per day at the same time and do certain exercises during that time. Believe me, you can do a lot in 10 minutes.

What you will find is that 10 minutes can be significant, but also, you will find after doing that for a handful of days you will suddenly be exceeding your 10 minutes willingly because you feel better after doing it. This will build a positive psychology for you, momentum and also be a safeguard against unnecessary injuries.

In the area of nutrition, choose a few things you can do differently and conquer those. You don’t need to change everything overnight. I dove into the changes quickly, but I know not everybody is like me. An example would be eliminating additives to your coffee. Do that for a number of days and it will become your normal. If you drink alcohol three times per week, cut it back to one. If you even did those two things you would begin to see and feel changes. Or you could do one meal differently per day which would mean seven healthy meals per week. That would also represent progress. As with exercise, I think you would develop momentum and a sense of success creating a positive psychology.

Be patient and be kind to yourself. This is a process and you may miss a day or two of exercise or eat something you regret eating later. Give yourself a break. Just get started again. If you get sick or injured, do what you need to get better and then get started again. It is the persistence and patience that will pay big dividends. You don’t become unhealthy or overweight overnight and the road back to health will take time as well.

With that said, I think you will feel quite different after one month. You owe yourself the opportunity to feel better. Give yourself time and commit to making some changes!

In the area of exercise, find what works for you. We are all quite different. Our bodies may not respond as well to certain activities as others. Ideally you will do something you enjoy doing. Try different things to see what works best. I created a space in my house with an exercise mat. I have a variety of weights, rubber tubing, inflatable balls a weight vest and so on. I found I do not like using the weight vest. It seems to put an undesirable strain on my knees and back, so I don’t use it. You may like it. With the barbells and tubing, I can get a great workout. The tubing is portable for when I go on vacation as well.

For aerobic activity, there are so many possible activities. I used to run, but after back surgery, I have been unable to run. I can bike, but it does cause pain in my neck and back that make it much less sustainable. However, I can hike forever and simply love being in the woods. Others may prefer something like swimming. There have been times in my life when due to injury, swimming was the only thing I could do. Find what you can do, what you enjoy doing and do it.

Everybody has enough time for exercise. I always have found it mildly amusing that people say they don’t have enough time to exercise. I worked very demanding jobs that sometimes took 12-14 hours per day and have a family, but I have always found that I can carve out a little time to exercise. If you only have 10 minutes, use it. Get down on the floor and do some quick push ups, do a few squats, lift a few barbells. We all can do that. What has always worked best for me is waking up very early and getting it done when I know there will be no interruptions. Lately, my seven year old son has been waking up early and occasionally interrupting my routine, but I can always wake up earlier.

Gym vs. Home

Some people like going to the gym. I don’t mind going to the gym, but the gym takes some time to get to and it isn’t always open. If you are using weights or other equipment, somebody might be using what you wish to use. For those reasons, I enjoy my home workout. It is efficient. I don’t need to travel anywhere. The equipment is simple, so even if I am not home I can still do much of my workout if traveling, etcetera. I also like my hiking routine. I am fortunate in that it is close to home, but again, minimal equipment. Shoes and appropriate clothing. I am in control of my exercise. No excuse for not doing it and no membership required. You don’t need fancy equipment at home. For a couple hundred dollars you can get some weights, a weighted ball, inflatable ball, some tubing and in my case juggling balls. Or you can do it only with your body weight doing planks, pushups, squats and so on without any weights.

I have also found my exercise and nutrition routine is cost effective. Less doctor visits due to being so healthy, the foods I am eating are not terribly expensive and cutting out things like alcohol and honey save money. If you do eat at restaurants a lot, the nutrition part of this all can be more challenging, but you can usually find something on the menu that doesn’t completely betray your plan.

Doing something is better than doing nothing. If you are feeling like you don’t have enough time to do the workout you would like to do, don’t worry about it. Fit in a few exercises and see if you can find a few minutes later in the day or evening. Doing something is always better than nothing and you will feel good about it physically and psychologically. A small win.

Steal ideas from wherever and whomever you can. Do a little research on different exercises and I am sure you will find some you enjoy doing. Target specific parts of the body.

Try monitoring your progress by writing down what you do each day. I don’t do that, but I know it can be a powerful motivator, watching yourself improve as you absolutely will.

Having a training partner can be very helpful. I like to workout alone, but when I trained for marathons, I always had somebody I could call and they would come run with me. Kept me going on many days. Couldn’t letdown my buddies. It also led to some tremendous friendships.

What about mirrors? I throw this in here as a random idea. I had never been one to pose in front of a mirror looking at my muscles, but I have found a large mirror very helpful. For one, it can allow you to see the form you are using, while at the same time you can observe which muscles you are using. It also is a bit of a motivator when you start seeing muscles you hadn’t seen in a long time. Try it out.

Finally….never compare yourself to anybody but yourself. You are your own project. Enjoy the process and the product. Comparing to others is almost always detrimental.

Have fun!