How To Reach Your Health and Fitness Goals in 3 Simple Steps

Here we are at the beginning of the year, and everyone has a slew of fitness goals. Resolutions are made and goals are set. This is the year that it finally happens, you are going to get in shape. For the most part, mostly everyone wants to be in better physical shape of some form. Some want to lose weight, some want to build more muscle, some want more endurance and some just want to feel better. No matter what it is, it requires work and three things. These three things are diet, exercise and sleep. They are the foundation of any successful fitness program. And you have to be consistent in all three areas in order to reach whatever goals you have set for yourself. Let’s breakdown all three.

1. Diet. This the most crucial of the three. For what you eat and how much you eat are critical to maintaining a good diet. Everyone has different bodies and different lifestyles, so this is not a one size fits all scenario. I say do some research, hire a nutritionist or anything where you can access good information. Find out what is good for you and what is bad for you and go from there. Make sure it is sustainable and tailored to your lifestyle for anything too extreme will not last. For example, I do intermittent fasting where my eating window is 2pm — 10pm. This works for me because it is conducive to my lifestyle. I have various evening activities where I get home at a late hour, so I have to broaden my eating window. I also believe fasting helps in all areas of my life, so this is an added bonus. I also allow myself to enjoy “bad” foods like cookies or a cheeseburger because you have to enjoy life but in moderation. And remember, no amount of exercise overrides a bad diet. Like I said, find out what works for you and make it part of your lifestyle.
2. Exercise. To me this is the easiest, but others may differ. I, myself, am a huge proponent of weight training, especially as we get older. If you are to reach your fitness goals, exercise is essential. Resistance training, cardio, HITT workouts, walking and any other physical activity is needed on a consistent basis to be successful. There are MANY programs that you can implement. How you structure it is up to you, but all areas need to be covered. You can’t just do cardio and no resistance training and expect to get the results you want. It is a combination of both. If you have little or no experience exercising, then hire a trainer to get you started. If you do not have access to a trainer or can’t afford one, then go to the…