Being Healthy – A State Of Mind

Diet, Calorie, Fitness – doesn’t all these seem to be the word of the month nowadays? It’s like some kind of a revolution that everyone around has something to share about, like what they do for being healthy and fit, what diet they are following, etc.

Even I have set myself on a similar journey and trust me I feel myself more mature, experienced, with a clearer and better outlook about health and well-being.

I would also give credit to the very mindset I had developed. I treated my weight or I would rather call it excess body weight, as some kind of a disease that needs immediate attention and treatment. This is also true since a normal body weight is essential to keep off not only the chronic diseases, but many other health related issues as well.

It is apparent we understand that it is not just important to physically train our body in a gym, fitness studio or a park, but also essential to train our mind of what we are doing and why. At the same time, it is perceptible that we take a good 7-8 hours of sleep to help our body assimilate what we went throughout the day, relax and be ready for the next day.

Take smaller but important steps!

For the work out, one may get fascinated by fancy gyms opened around every nook and corner these days. I would suggest you to rather look out for a true Fitness Academy/Studio that concentrates on activities like Zumba, Aerobics, Pilates, Yoga, core strengthening and stretching for this will help you get into a better shape with greater stamina and a more flexible body at the same time.

I myself joined the first batch in morning and trust me it takes a lot of commitment to one’s own self to get up that early. Why I am boosting so much about getting early is because of the fact that most of us sleep late night like a little baby due to may be our work commitments, social life, personal commitments, and not to forget the traffic jams which drain out all the energy from our body literally like a straw does. You may like to opt for an evening slot as per your convenience.

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Going to a formal workout was not an easy task for me either. It took me and my alarm clock around 6 months to decide that yes I can be a morning person again that I used to be few years ago. But once, decided and the fees was paid, it has been like never looking back.

When you work out in a group, believe me it actually acts as a motivator. We get to interact with different attitudes, mindset, we definitely gain experiences – good and bad. Hence, even if you have a workout partner, that should keep you going – whether it’s gym or just for a walk in park. Try it out yourself!

Even if you can’t go to work out on a certain day, make time for at least a small walk of 15-20 minutes.

Be your own Competition!

But do keep in mind, never feel competitive to the other person or go into some kind of depression as to why am I not loosing as fast as the other person. Don’t forget we all are different!! When no two people have the same thumb print, or lip print or even an eye pattern, how can we have the same body type? How can we even imagine that the same diet and workout will benefit all in a similar fashion? So it’s better to get motivation from the other person in a good sense only and just Be your own competition!

Well, coming to Diet – the word that can have different dictionary meanings but the one that I go by is “Diet refers to the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats”. This suggests that one should adopt such an eating pattern that is easy to follow and for which the food is readily available so that it becomes a part of our routine, in a way our habit.

Set a Reasonable Goal

Frankly speaking, doing crash diets may help you on a temporary basis if you aim to loose drastically in a shorter span of time. But if you really target to lose naturally and do want to keep the weight off, make a reasonable goal for yourself and then allow your body to adapt to the change, so that it can be well maintained. You don’t want yourself to keep craving for a certain food for months and then suddenly binging on it at once.

Monitor how your hard work is paying off!

Another challenge is how to keep track of how we are progressing with our being fit journey.

I will not like to quote the scientific meaning of term Calorie, but can illustrate in a lay man’s language, that calorie is the energy measure – of the food we take in and of the activities we do.

It is actually very important to keep track of energy that we take input and the ones we spend during workouts, exercise or doing usual daily activities. Also, it is important to realize that there is certain amount of energy our body needs at certain times. Hence, it is apparent we know how much to eat at a given time. It is neither good to skip a meal, nor is it good to eat as much as two meals together, because then the excess would be simply converted to fat.

Thanks to the technology, we have certain good phone apps available in market that can help you track your diet and workout. You can input your statistics, set a realistic goal and just keep tracking.

Your friends may mock at you when they find you noting down even a piece of nut that you eat, but this really helps us train our mind of what is good and bad. For example, when you see how much calories a certain food item have, you would like to start controlling your food portions. It is very important that we eat not just relying on what our stomach and heart says, but also from mind. For instance, not every time you feel like eating, it’s hunger. Rather actually your body may be thirsty and demanding water not food.

Right time to Banish the Myths!

A classic example I share with my friends is of mangoes. I JUST LOVE mangoes!! Eating mangoes gives an immense pleasure, am sure it does give the same to all.

I was hesitant to eat mangoes for so many years as I would think that it would make me fat or give me pimples. But once I understood that mangoes are not to be treated like a dessert but like a whole food, I started using it as a snack item. We often eat mangoes/or any other fruit once we have had our lunch/dinner, which is not beneficial. Because the amount of energy our body needed that time has already been taken from the food we just ate. Eating fruits or any other food over that would be just considered unnecessary by the body and will be converted to fat. So what to do? Just make a habit of eating mango/fruits as a mid-day snack or replace a complete meal by just a mango or two and find out yourself. Studies have now shown that mangoes are even good for diabetic people again if taken in right amount and at right time.

Right thing at the Right Time!

Also, some people actually flaunt that they skip dinner for weight loss, but I can assure you it is not helping them either. This is because the next time that you would feed yourself would be in morning. In order to avoid this gap, one should at least have a supper around 7-7:30 PM.

Post dinner, end your day with a slow walk for 15-20 minutes while you may want to indulge in a little chit chat with your parents/partner or a  friend on phone, if not in park, at least in your own courtyard. You will not even realize when the small walk continued for like 30-40 minutes. This will not even help digest food, but also, make you fall sleep early.

I may not be a subject matter expert of this, but the main intent of this article was to share my experience of how we can very easily make some time and psychologically make ourselves habitual of living a healthy lifestyle yet keep fighting this race of being fit and looking fab at the same time.

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