5 Principles of a Fitness Lifestyle

Fitness Lifestyle of an early morning runner in Regent's Park

Early Morning Runner in Regent's Park

There are a small number of underlying principles to my thoughts on maintaining a fitness lifestyle.

I advise my clients to adopt these principles, adapting them to find a system that works for their own life and personality. The following list also highlights common issues to achieving fitness.

Let Yourself Off The Hook

When trying to make improvements to your lifestyle, start with a clean slate. Don’t be preoccupied with previous attempts; you’re initiating change and that’s all that matters.

Find Your Fitness Personality

There is a combination of physical activity and healthy eating that suits you down to the ground. Not just fitting in with your lifestyle but with your personality. After all, not everyone can keep a straight face in yoga, or give up chocolate for a month.

Take Responsibility For the Food and Drink you Consume

Every bit of food you eat has consequences – some good, some bad. Accept this fact and use as many strategies as you can to find a way of enjoying food and drink whilst maintaining a healthy, appropriate weight.

Take A Long View

Goals are to be achieved in weeks and months, not in the next 7 days. Almost nothing is instant; except winning the Instant Lottery, and when was the last time you did that? If you want to exercise to lose weight, you’re looking for long-term, reliable, weight loss results. By not expecting dramatic results on a daily basis, you take the pressure off yourself.

Understand Your Real Obstacles to Fitness

If you’ve never gone for a run because you don’t want to wobble in public, acknowledge this as a very important fact and don’t put it down to ‘lack of time’. On the flip side, having a vague desire to ‘get fit’ is itself an obstacle for you because it’s not based on strong emotions. Identify and use stronger drivers (how you look in a photo, an unkind remark by a friend, wanting to look good at a social event).

It’s my hope that this list may help you overcome a sticking point in your own fitness goals. Many of my clients have found this approach rewarding, as they’ve kindly mentioned in testimonials. In later blogs, I will expand on these principles to maintaining a fitter lifestyle, but if you have questions in the interim, drop me an email (info@muddyplimsolls.com) or leave a comment at the bottom of this blog.

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