Eating Healthy Food & Working Out Doesn’t Have To Be Torture You Know

“What?! Veggie plate for dinner again? Just kill me now!”

Oh, come on. There’s a limit to how melodramatic you can be. I know greasy cheeseburgers and calorie-heavy BBQ steaks are scrumptious dinner entrees but you can’t really eat them every day now, can you? Actually, don’t answer that. It’s a rhetorical question. I know you can eat pounds of these things each and every day of your life.

Is it beneficial though?

Gorgeous and sinful food is hard to resist, I know. Back when I was 40 pounds overweight, I used to think that eating what I wanted was how I wanted to live my life. I took my motto – “food is life” – very, very seriously. I figured that if there’s anything I want to do while alive, it’s to eat the food I want. I mean otherwise, what’s the point?

However, it is not until I suffered from mild hypertension that I realized my perspective about food was off – erroneous even. I realized after a couple of weeks of being ill that we can’t just “live to eat.” We also have to “eat to live.” Make sense?

Even if we want to always have our way with things, our bodies still have limits. We are not robots or computers that can be replaced with spare parts whenever some of our organs begin to show signs of dysfunction. It just doesn’t work that way. We only get one body per lifetime – no trials, trade-ins, and definitely no exchanges.

We get this one body and that’s it. Whether we take care of it or abuse it is our choice to make. But it also means that we’re solely responsible for the consequences as well. So as much as I would have wanted to maintain my slothful and gluttonous lifestyle, I can’t – and I won’t. For the sake of a future with my family, with the people I love, I have to take care of myself. I have to let go of the olden ways and start to deal with reality.

We only have one life to live. Let’s not be hasty and waste it on apple pies and Cheetos. Don’t be like me who learned this the hard way but the only thing you’re going to get out of eating junk is becoming junk. You may not feel the aftermath now because you’re still young and able but sooner or later your body is going to go through some changes and there’s no way you can reverse them anymore (Check out a data-driven resource here: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120302132426.htm). So while there is still time, I implore you: Change bad habits.

Yes, change them for the better. And we’re here to help you out!

Eating healthy food and working out doesn’t have to be pure torture you know (thus the title). There are perfectly effective ways to make dieting and exercising liveable. We may not tell you how you can do this exactly – since the kind of diet and exercise routine you want to get yourself into is something you should decide for yourself – we can at least give you some relevant tips on how you should go about this lifestyle change. Trust me; you’ll find our input really, really helpful.

Well, if you’re ready to experience that big change today, read on below:

1. Set Objectives for Yourself

Yes, the first thing you have to do is to cut your big goal into tiny, doable chunks. This way, you won’t find the task too overwhelming or stressful. What do I mean by this? Say, you’re trying to lose 30 pounds.

Thinking of the 30 pounds as a whole can really put your mind under a lot of stress. If you start dieting and exercising to rid yourself of those 30 pounds, you will eventually find yourself thinking that it’s impossible and that all your efforts are for naught because you’re hardly losing anything.

While nothing is wrong about wanting to lose such a big chunk of weight, you’re approaching the whole thing the wrong way. Instead of trying to take in everything at once, cut down your big goal into little, short-term objectives. Using the same example we have above, take the 30 pounds and make it just 3 pounds a month – you just have to lose that much. In ten months, you’ll achieve your big goal without stressing yourself out and making yourself quit halfway. Sounds a lot better, right?

2. Don’t Deprive or Overexert Yourself

Don’t quit eating cold turkey – that’s the best advice I can give you. You’re only setting a trap for yourself in the future. I have friends who would quit eating for a week and just drink fluids. Two weeks later, I see them binge-eating at pizzerias, munching on family-sized pizzas by themselves. So never try to deprive yourself or kill yourself with workouts. Your body will be put under a lot of stress and you’ll be doing more harm than good to yourself. Take it easy; take it a day at a time. Cut down but don’t make yourself hungry. There are a lot of low-calorie diets you can go into and there’re also a lot of progressive workout programs to choose from – click here to get the latest diet and fitness tips. You’re not going to achieve that summer bod overnight so you might as well take your time.

3. Find New Ways to Jive Things Up

Don’t eat celery for all three meals of the day and for all days of the week, okay? That’s just sad and miserable. Again, this whole change in lifestyle is a process – a long one at that. Don’t deprive yourself of the things that make life happy. Lower your calorie intake but in the best way possible. Eat vegetables but cook your meals in different ways. What I’m trying to say is that you should just be creative with how you approach this whole new stage of your life. If you feel bored going to the gym all the time, go for a run or a hike. Get outdoors. Really, jiving things up will improve your odds of pushing through this change.