You’ve made the decision to improve your health through nutrition and exercise.

You’re tired of being tired, sore, inflamed, overweight, depressed, anxious, underweight, bloated, constant reflux, constipation or diarrhea, sinus problems and or just diagnosed with an auto immune disease!

Now what?

You create a vague goal of “I am going to start eating healthy” or “I must exercise more”. This can end in frustration, because you have not set specific goals and set out terms to evaluate your success.

Here are a few tips:

Is your goal realistic and attainable?

I need to lose 20kg in 6 weeks? I want to run a marathon (and you hate running) or your goal is too vague like, “I am going to exercise, eat less or cut out carbs”. Rather say that you will start tomorrow. Get up at 5 am and walk until 6 am or set times in your diary to exercise for 3 to 4 minutes, 3 times per day to music. You could choose a smaller bowl to eat out of and fill each bowl with 80% salad and vegetables with every meal, or every morning you do not leave the house without having a good protein breakfast.

Focus on what you can do and not what you can’t do.

Don’t let anyone or yourself feed negative thoughts into your head. Start off slowly and every day take small steps. Anyone who is mobile can still be fit by finding exercise that suits you. I often hear people tell me that they do not have time, but you do! Many people spend more time worrying about not doing it, instead of taking action.

Exercise – put ankle weights on and walk around the house with them all day. Put a resistance band around your thighs or ankles (with leg weights on) while sitting in a Zoom meeting and slowing open and close your legs or lift your leg up and down. While you’re boiling the kettle, do push ups against the counter or dance to a song on the radio. When you’re in the car, push out your stomach and pull in as hard as you can and repeat over and over again (stomach vacuums). Run up and down stairs at the office or home. Park your car as far away as possible from the shopping centre and walk as fast as you can. These are small things you can do to add movement in your day. Set a time aside in your diary as an appointment for your gym session.

Food – Consciously eat slowly. Make it a habit. Stop eating your food when your plate is 80% empty and wait 10 minutes before you finish the rest. Add 3 new green vegetables to your plate in a week. Drink 3 extra glasses of water per day.

Harness the power of habit.

Make appointments in your diary for exercise and have a reminder on your cell phone. Do the same with your meal times for breakfast, mid morning, 3:30pm and supper. Stick to the same small bowl with each portion. Cook on a weekend so you have food for the week and freeze small portions, then you will always have something  to eat. Go to bed at the same time every night. Switch off from social media 2 hours before bed. Place a litre bottle of water on your desk and finish it before you leave for home.

Make it fun.

Join as small gym class or meet up with a friend to walk 3 times per week. Go hiking on a weekend or introduce new exercise videos. With food, ask a friend or spouse to join you on a detox or an eating programme (speak to me). Try out new recipes from different countries. Choose 1 new recipe a week from those that I have given you. Just by adding more colour onto you plate adds a bit of fun and boosts your mood.