Restarting your health routine

Whatever your goals are around weight loss or exercise, try these tips for a gentle easing into improving your health and fitness.

There are a lot of memes doing the rounds on social media about how we’ve all apparently gained weight and lost our exercise mojo during working from home and social isolation. As some of us make our way back to the office, and gyms open their doors, many people’s thoughts are returning to exercise, nutrition and wellbeing.

With the enthusiasm to be back to ‘getting healthy’, it’s very easy to overdo it – returning to the gym daily, back to protein shakes, salads, zero carbs and meditation App three times a day.

For those of us who may have lost our health focus small steps each week might be the more realistic and sustainable strategies.

Whatever your goals around weight loss, exercise to improve your health and fitness, a gentle easing into this might look like this:

Kick start your new routine.

Week one:

Attending the gym two times to get acquainted with the COVID19 safe practice as well as assessing when is the best time to go and whether your favourite classes are on. Maybe walk the dog on some other days of the week as you may have been working from home. Your dog will love it.

You might have decided that the gym is not for you and you like walking and online fitness or yoga – maybe trial some new online classes this week.

Very few people renovate their diet in a week, so instead why not make one sustainable change:

• cut out dessert
• drink more water
• buy more fruit
• start making healthy smoothies in the morning
• switch to healthy snacks.

Your mental health is also important so one thing this week for a mental health boost might be:

• a beach walk
• downloading (and using) a mindfulness app
• listening to relaxing music at bedtime
• calling a friend
• reading a new book.

Week two:

Week two to ten and beyond are all about repeating week one with small additions each week. Maybe you want to work towards getting to the gym (or dragging a yoga mat outdoors) four times. Add an extra day in week three and then another in week five maybe.

Perhaps you want to try other forms of exercise.

• Decide when you have time and try out an early morning walk or
• a lunch time yoga session or
• boxing after work.

Remember to be realistic with yourself about your current fitness level and be clear about your goals. Write down the reasons you want to exercise:

• lose weight
• get fit for sport
• improve your concentration
• feel more toned
• reduce pain

and refer back to these reasons for motivation when you don’t want to get out of bed on a cold morning.

With what you eat and drink, remember that moderation is a good guide and one change every two weeks (and done sustainably) is better than changing to salads only and being hungry and annoyed and going back to a fast food diet within days.

Discover healthy habits you love and don’t eat things you don’t like just because someone said kale is a superfood!!  Shop well and have lots of nutritious food available to help you to make great choices.

The same principles apply with mentally healthy changes:

• try to meditate for 2 minutes each day and then progress to 5-minute exercises
• try to do a new activity that inspires you and makes you feel good each week so that you are doing lots of different things that you love.

Some ideas you could choose from are:

• Walking in nature
• Mindfulness Apps
• Taking a bath
• Defusing essential oils
• Reading fiction
• Watching movies
• Sitting and watching the ocean or the forest or a sunset
• Spending time with people you love
• Learning to do something fun and new
• Taking up a new hobby
• Spending time with pets
• Make a playlist of your favourite songs
• Listen to a podcast or an audio book
• Colouring in
• Gardening
• Visit an art gallery or museum (online or live)

Small steps each week will get you to your health goals sustainably and along the way you will feel better and better.

This article was produced with the help of our friends at Benestar. Be your best you.  

This article is for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, heal or prevent any disease or medical condition. We encourage you to do your own research and to discuss with a qualified healthcare practitioner the options that could work the best for your specific circumstances.

Want to reduce stress and anxiety? Try a workout from Optus Sport Fitness, or Explore the Smart Watches that can help you stay active.  

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