Some people find it easy to stay motivated once they accept the challenge to make healthy lifestyle changes. Well, guess what. If you are one of those people you are the exception. Yep, that is what the entire coffee club group agreed upon today. Okay, not the entire group. Not Uncle Bud, he is always motivated and does his best to give us tips to make it easier for us.
Uncle Bud is in a wonderful mood today because a few new faces have joined our club this morning. As he says, “the more people the bigger the challenge”. He does enjoy helping other enjoy the process of trying to maintain or reach their goals on the road to making healthy choices as related to health. He warns us be may repeat a few things we have already discussed but wants the new members to hear them. It is more like he wants to tell them again but that is okay. Seems he is always right and he does practice what he preaches.
So he begins: Do not feel you must make all the changes you need to make in one day or even one week. Set goals that are within your reach and add to them as you travel down the road to a healthier you. Make up your mind to start by making simple weight loss and exercise changes each day. You will be surprised how the little changes can add up over a short period of time. Of course, he has suggestions:
Look at your daily meal plan and add 5 or more grams of fiber
Learn to leave off refined carbohydrates (white bread, white rice, sweets, etc.)
Avoid foods high in trans-fats
Walk every day. Start with 10 minutes and add more time as you are able
He points out these are just a few of the things we can do and suggest we each make our own list and share them with the group later.
We agree staying motivated is harder when we are of a trip or hanging with a group of friends who just do not seem to see the importance of what we are trying to accomplish. Sam reminds us that sometime you just have to “forgive yourself” and get back on track. He did not share what happened on his vacation but added, “I really enjoyed my vacation”, now I have to get back with the program. If this happens to you forgive yourself but do not let it be an excuse to give up on your goals. Remember that rigid diets do not seem to work for anyone. Have planned snacks in your daily diet. This avoids you being hungry and causing you to have the tendency to pig out.
Once again, Uncle Bud reminds us the first step is to make the commitment to change some lifestyle habits. Once we do that and set our goals it is important to allow time to reach our goals. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Weigh to Wellness can help you on your trip to a healthier you. Reach them by phone at 205-994-2393 and visit the on the web at www.weightowellnessllc.com.