Making the Commitment to a Healthy Lifestyle

Step One: Get Started!

Committing to a new fitness program & adopting a healthy lifestyle can be a difficult adjustment, especially in the first few weeks. Changing any habits or routines which require letting go of old, familiar ways of doing things is challenging for most people. Despite what you might think, it is not the fitness program itself that causes the angst; it is the adaptation to change. Whenever we change what is familiar to something unfamiliar it takes time to adjust and feel comfortable with what is new (both physically and mentally.) It doesn’t matter if the new situation or activity is a fitness program, healthy eating plan, job, residential location, or a change in relationship or family status—the unfamiliar can be disconcerting. Changing routines and priorities takes us outside our comfort zones which can be exciting, scary, exhilarating, terrifying and amazing all at the same time. Until the new routines become “normal”, they may feel like they don’t quite fit properly in your life yet. The good news is that after a few weeks of practicing and living with new routines, habits or priorities, they will start to feel normal. They will be inside your new comfort zone. For exercise to become a habit, all you have to do is get started and take it one step at a time.

If you are not convinced yet and you still believe that adopting a healthier lifestyle and committing to regular exercise is more challenging than making any other activity or habit change, you can test this change theory for yourself. All you have to do is choose one of the following 3 activity changes and stick to it for 3-4 weeks:

1.      Change your computer mouse to the other side (use it with your non-dominant hand)

2.      Switch eating utensils to the opposite hands

3.      Use a pen to write with the opposite hand

When you first start, the activity will feel uncomfortable and more time consuming than usual. For example, if you chose option 1, it may take you ages to get the mouse pointer to the correct place on the screen before you can click. If you chose option 2, you may have to eat much slower because you feel uncoordinated using your fork, knife and/or spoon in the wrong hand. If you chose option 3, you may find that trying to write with your non-dominant hand is more challenging than expected. You may not even be able to write anything legibly when you first start. With any of these options, you may become frustrated because of the extra time it takes to complete the activity in a way that is unfamiliar and uncomfortable for you. It is challenging having to think about and carefully control each action. It feels uncomfortable because you have no physical muscle memory or mental auto-pilot where your body and mind know what to do without you having to consciously think about it. If you stick to the new way of doing your chosen activity for a few weeks it will start to feel just as comfortable as the old way. If you keep switching back and forth between the old and the new, the new way will never start to feel “normal” because you are continually reinforcing the old way as being the normal, comfortable way of doing things.  Changing to a new healthy lifestyle and fitness program is exactly the same. You have to give it time so that you can become adept at the new way of doing things.

Step Two: Have Fun!

Once your newly adopted lifestyle starts to feel normal, familiar, and comfortable, it becomes an integral part of your life. It helps define who you are. It is no longer something you have to “make time for” in your busy schedule; it is already a part of your everyday schedule. It is a fun and rewarding part of your life. The most common excuse given for not exercising is “lack of time”. In reality, we can always find time to do the things that are part of our everyday routines because those are our top priorities. For example, you will find time to shower, eat, sleep, go the bathroom, take care of your kids, go to work, make dinner, and participate in specific hobbies or social events. Whatever is on your “priorities” list, you will get done no matter what. Free time is the time that you have left over after taking care of priorities. You have a lot more free time than you think and you have control over what you do with it. If you don’t think that is true, start to keep track of what you do each day. Keep track of how many hours you spend watching TV, playing video games, messing about on the computer, chatting with friends, or other activities and hobbies. You may think that you need all these activities to relax but, with practice, you can switch one or more of the less healthy activities for new ones that will also be relaxing—like swapping some TV time for exercise time or exercising while you watch TV. 

The hardest part of starting a new health and fitness program is mentally making the commitment to start. Once you have completed week one, each week will become easier than the last. The day will come when you realize that you cannot imagine NOT doing this because it has become such an important and integral part of your life. Your health and fitness will have moved from your free time (nice to have) list to your priority (must have) list.
Positive change takes commitment and courage. Once you get past day one, you just have to keep going. Take it one day at a time. Forgive yourself when you falter, let it go and get right back on track.