Adopting a healthier lifestyle is a marathon not a sprint.

by | Jan 23, 2018 | Covid Sanity Pack

To successfully adopt a healthier lifestyle FOR GOOD, you have to embrace that the process is a marathon, not a sprint. Too many of us buy into the myth that you can lose weight quickly and then keep it off easily. This sets us up for health failure.

Your unhealthy habits were not formed in a day. It is unrealistic to think they can be replaced overnight. Instead of wanting to be “perfect” yesterday, ditch the goal of immediacy and perfection (both are unrealistic and counterproductive). Instead aim to simply have a greater number of healthy habits this month than you had last month — aim to “trend positive.”

“Buy in” for the long haul. Change your attitude toward exercise, your habits, and your decision-making pathways. Re-calibrate your expectations.  (I like to think of happiness as “reality vs expectations.” Of course you will be consistently unhappy about your health if you don’t change either your expectations or your reality [ie, your health habits].)

Instead of trying to find the miracle “perfect” fix (the sprint approach), aim to have more healthy habits this month than you had last month so that you slowly find a new, healthier normal (the marathon approach). Ditch the goal of an immediate health sea change or health “perfection.” Instead, frame daily movement as a “non-negotiable” — a when not an if. Embrace that some motion is always better than no motion, work to change your mindset, and focus on long-term goals and strategies.

Here are some helpful links:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/kathleen-trotter/daily-activity-strategies_b_3309964.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/kathleen-trotter/making-excuses-not-to-exercise_b_4098672.html