Seven proven ways to become more healthy and fit in 2023
How many of the new year resolutions you may have made to look after your health and stay fit this year have you kept?
If you are like most people, you probably gave up on most of your good intentions long ago now. But all is not lost! There is still time to revamp your habits this year, and end 2023 with a healthier lifestyle.
A change of season is always a good opportunity to make positive changes. And the long, warm summer days ahead of us always seem to make it easier to work out and choose healthier foods.
But where should you start in your lifestyle makeover? In this article we explore seven ways you can become more healthy and fit this year.
1) Work out daily
When we hear about workout sessions, we think it is time to hit the gym. But it doesn’t have to always be the case. If the gym isn’t your thing, you still have plenty of fitness options. You can join in yoga, meditation, or Pilates classes. You can find these online Pilates classes, which you can join anytime.
Not a fan of classes? Why not join a local sports team like netball, or start swimming, running, or even walking. The most important thing is to find an activity you enjoy – if you like it you are more likely to keep it up.
2) Check your diet
Exercise alone won’t revamp your health; what you put into your body is as important as what you do with it. So take the opportunity to check your diet.
How often do you rely on ready meals and junk food? Or snack on the run? While having a bit of what you enjoy every so often won’t hurt, the majority of your diet should ideally be healthy. And the healthiest way to eat is to cook from scratch at home.
This way you know what is going into the meals you eat, and you can adjust them to suit your needs and tastes. If you’re time-poor meal prepping is your friend. As is planning ahead and ensuring you have all the ingredients you need to make healthy tasty meals and snacks you’ll love.
3) Start with baby steps
It’s easy to embrace a new, healthier lifestyle dramatically – overhauling everything you do and making grand promises to yourself and others. But it’s much harder to maintain this level of energy and enthusiasm.
It’s far better to take baby steps and slowly change your habits over time. This way the changes will feel more natural and are more likely to to stick. You can start by reducing the number of ready meals you eat, or including a five minute run or yoga routine into your day. Over time you can build up your healthy habits as they bed in and become a natural part of the ‘new you’.
4) Fix your sleep
Sleep is at the very heart of good health. So if you have problems with sleeping, now is the time to try to fix that. Ideally you’ll get between seven to eight hours of sleep a night. If you’re not getting that, there are a few things you can look at.
And the best place to start is with your sleep habits. Do you go to sleep at the same time every day? Do you stop drinking caffeine in the evening? Is your bedroom cool, dark and without distractions like a TV or your laptop?
Also look at your stress levels and hormones? Is there anything worrying you that may keep you up at night? If so, can you take action to rectify it, or learn stress coping skills, such as meditation? And if you think your insomnia may be hormone-related, not might be wise to speak to a doctor to see if any medication can help.
5) Get into a healthy routine
How often do you forget to brush your teeth at morning or night? Probably not very often, if ever! This is because cleaning your teeth has become an ingrained habit. And it’s just as possible to make new healthy habits as ingrained if you wish.
Choose the habits you want to make your new norm and start doing them daily at the same time. Over time, these will become as instinctive as brushing your teeth.
6) Keep track of your achievements
Seeing progress is a brilliant motivator. So keep a track of your achievements on your health journey. Choose metrics to record – it might be weight, exercise times or blood pressure etc. Then record these regularly so you can see the positive impact of your efforts.
You can also keep a diary of your feelings, diet and exercise if you wish. It can help to look back and realise how far you have come and how much better you feel and move. This is fantastic motivation to keep going.
7) Find a partner to join you
We know that people are more likely to stick at attending a gym if they go with a friend – the peer pressure can help encourage you on on the days you feel like quitting. And the same goes to a health revamp.
So see if any of your friends or even your partner want to join you on your journey. This will also avoid the scenario of watching them tuck into a plate of chips while you’re pushing a salad around a plate, and reduce temptation to give in!
Team up with friends or your partner for motivation and fun workouts. Consider enrolling in coach-led group training sessions with your workout buddy. It’s more fun to work out and cook with someone else, so try to rope someone else into your plan, and enjoy the fruits of your labours together.
The perfect time to start is NOW
It’s tempting to wait for a special date or occasion to make positive changes to our life. But we don’t need a new year or a holiday to force us to get fit and eat more healthily. We can do it for ourselves and start right now.
So, if you would like to look and feel better this year – and beyond – use these seven tips to make positive changes to your life. And end 2023 a new you.
