What It Takes To Lead An Active Lifestyle

Many people will state that they want to lose weight and exercise more, or that they want to be ready for swimsuit season but they easily get lost along their journey and fall of the track. It can be far to easy to fall into bad habits and before you know it months or even a year has gone past without you even making one ounce of effort towards building the active lifestyle that you want. Being active and healthy should be a habit and it should be integrated with your lifestyle and who you are. 

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It doesn’t need to be extreme and it doesn’t have to take up a huge chunk of your schedule, that’s just not practical and is often the reason so many people fall at the first hurdle, It can be easy to think that you need to fitting in a two-hour gym session every other day but this isn’t the case. It can be easy to live an active and healthy lifestyle without having to spend a lot of time in the gym. 

Yes, it can be harder to change your lifestyle habits than it is to stick to a workout routine but once you have made the changes and committed to them permanently it can make the world of difference to your overall health and fitness. Being healthy and fit can make you feel better and more comfortable with yourself as well as improve your mental wellbeing. 

Let’s have a look at some of the ways you can lead an active lifestyle: 

Just Squeeze It In 

When it comes to exercise, anything is better than nothing. Even if you can only fit in a few jumping jacks or squats before bed it will all add up if you do it most days. Even running around after the kids at the park will count and you probably wouldn’t count that as a workout. Just going for a ten-minute walk around the block is better than sitting and watching tv for that time. Always remember that anything you do is worth it, even if it is minimal it all counts. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking it’s not worth it. Maybe try doing some squats during the ad breaks of your tv time, walking to the corner shop instead of driving or dancing to some music while you’re cleaning or cooking. Even if you don’t have time to work out for an hour at the gym all the two, five and ten minutes will add up and it’s most definitely better than doing nothing at all. 

Be Prepared 

You’re more likely to be successful with an active lifestyle if you’re well prepared for completing the activities that take your fancy. If you want to go cycling, make sure you’re bike is ready to go, if you want to try horse riding make sure you have the right equipment as you find here if you’re going to squeeze in a few kettle ball squats have it ready in a convenient place. The better you plan the more likely you are to achieve your goals. 

Make It Fun 

Having an active lifestyle doesn’t have to be about daily workouts at the gym. In order for you to be successful, it’s about making it fit into your everyday life and also be fun and interesting. Whether you want to try new activities, dance to your favorite music, include family or friends, play frisbee at the beach or just drive somewhere nice to walk on a Sunday afternoon, it’s all about finding something that you know you’re going to enjoy. Think about planning your free time around different activities and get other involved, instead of having no plan which often results in sitting around your home doing nothing. 

Set Realistic Goals 

Setting goals is one of the best ways to achieve anything in life so it also applies to an active lifestyle. Try setting goals thinking about things such as different activities you want to try, how many minutes you want to be active for during the week, and how many times. Being healthy and active doesn’t just ‘happen’ it needs to be a priority and without setting yourself goals how are you supposed to know how you’re progressing or remember to focus on it? A good way to start with goals is to set yourself interim targets to achieve, start off small such as you want to squeeze in ten minutes of exercise each day and then as you achieve it to increase it to fifteen and so on. 

These four areas should help you to understand what it takes to lead a healthy, active lifestyle and how simple it can be. Do you have any other tips that might help? Please share them in the comments below.