Your health is one of the most important things in your life. You will get to enjoy life better if you are in good health. We get caught up in the stress of daily living and let our health deteriorate.
What Got Me To Write This Post
After coming out of the shower, I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I was in total disgust. I had put on so much weight that I felt like vomiting upon looking at myself in the mirror.
The weight had piled on due to a lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet. I had been depressed for the past few months due to suffering from a lot of stress.
I was ashamed at looking at my body in the mirror. I could not believe what I had let myself turn into both physically and emotionally.
It is embarrassing sharing these details on this blog post, but I want to keep this real. I want to let you know what I am going through. This blog post may help others that are going through a similar experience in life.
I made a decision there and then, that I was not going to let this continue. I cannot let my health deteriorate further, I had to take immediate action.
I put on my track suit and exercised for 30 minutes to bring out a sweat. I was exhausted, but I was determined to improve my health. I know 30 minutes of exercise will not transform my body or health significantly, but I had to make a start.
The important thing was to get started immediately. I wanted to prove to myself that I was ready to make a change. This was more empowering psychologically than physically.
Lately, I have noticed that I am easily out of breath after walking up a flight of stairs during my commute to and from work. I know my level of fitness has decreased significantly.
I am past the half-century mark, but that is no excuse for me to be in such a bad state of health. I have made a decision to exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes daily. I will also have to change my diet significantly to lose weight.
I have started working on ways to boost my finances, but had neglected my health. Wealth without health is not of much use. I will work on building both, whilst focusing on being happy at the present moment.
Prevention Is Better Than Cure
It is better to maintain your health rather than wait for something to go wrong and then look for a cure. If you are blessed with good health, be grateful and maintain it daily.
I should have continued exercising daily to stay in good health. Many things have happened in my life to take me off track, and my health has suffered significantly as a result.
If we stick to a healthy diet and exercise daily, we should be able to maintain a good level of health and fitness into our golden years.
If you are in a good state of health, I would advise you to work on maintaining it. I don’t want you to experience the daily struggles that I am going through due adverse health.
Cut out foods that lead to health issues and work on having more fresh produce. I’m not going to go into details of a healthy or balanced diet in this post. Most of us know that sugar, fizzy drinks, fast food…. are bad for us.
I’m not suggesting that you cut them out complete, but keep them to a minimum. There are many healthy and balanced diet programs available online. It is advisable to consult a dietician or medical doctor before commencing on a change of diet.
It is better to maintain a weight that is recommended for your height and build. Don’t let the weight pile on before you take action towards reducing it.
The same applies to being under weight, take action before you reach that level. Work on maintaining your optimum health and weight on a daily basis, make it a habit.
Set Goals To Improve Your Health
If you are concerned about your health, make a firm decision to improve it. Work out exactly what you want to achieve. If you want to lose 10 kg in weight, you need to determine when you want to achieve it by.
You need to set goals with a deadline and create a plan of action that will enable you to accomplish it.
It’s a matter of knowing what you want. Creating a plan of action to accomplish it, and sticking to the plan. If you change your diet and start exercising, you will definitely improve your health and lose weight.
Set mini goals to keep you on track, as the main goal may seem way out in the distance. These mini goals will keep you motivated, as you work on progressively accomplishing them to reach your main goal.
You will not see immediate results within the first couple of months. Don’t let this dishearten you, continue with the action plan. If your goal is to do aerobic exercise for 20 minutes daily, make sure you do it.
You may have put on the weight and adversely affected your health over many years. You cannot expect to fix it within a few weeks. Give it a minimum of 6 to 12 months to see results.
If you have neglected exercise and maintained a bad diet for a long time, you may need to start with a shorter daily exercise routine. Even if it means exercising for 10 minutes daily, get started and make sure you stick with it.
As your health starts to improve, you will be able to gradually increase the exercise time period and also add in more intensive exercises.
I have set 1 month, 3 month, 6 month and 12 month goals to keep me on track and measure my results. As you know, what gets measured gets done. The scale is not going to lie about my weight and I will also be able to judge the impact the exercise and diet is having on my life.
It’s never too late to transform your health and your life. It’s all about making a decision and sticking with it until you see the results.
Work On Your Self-Image
You will need to transform your self-image to see the results in the real world. You self-image is the perception you have of yourself that is stored in your subconscious mind.
If your self-image depicts you as being over weight and suffering from adverse health issues, you will not be able to lose weight and become healthy.
You may start on an exercise and diet plan, but your self-image will make you quit. You cannot move away from your self image, but you can replace your self-image.
The way to reprogram your self-image is via visualization and affirmations. You need to get into a relaxed state of mind and see yourself in perfect health. Affirm the weight you want to get to in present tense, and feel how good you would feel if you actually reached this weight.
I will write a post on self-image reprogramming which will go into more detail. I have started working on reprogramming my self-image.
I ordered some clothes online and went for the larger size, as my self-image triggered this choice. When the clothes arrived, they were too big for me. I had to return them and go for a smaller size. In my subconscious mind, I view myself as more over weight that I am in reality.
I want to replace all my clothes to a smaller size within 12 months. The sleeves on the clothes that I currently order are slightly longer than my needs, as they are ready made. I can get around this by losing weight and coming down a size.
I had started putting on weight once I reached 30 and it has gradually increased as I have gone past 50. I tried losing weight by going on a healthy diet, a couple of years ago. I managed to lose a significant amount of weight, but it all piled on again very quickly.
This time I am focused on losing weight and maintaining the perfect weight, as I have suffered from some adverse healthy issues. It has been a wake up call for me, and I have started to take action.
I’m Doing It For Myself
I am going on this weight loss and health improvement journey for myself. I am not doing it to impress anyone, I am doing it to improve the quality of my life.
I was recently saddened by the sudden death of Shabir Hussain, the owner of Akbar’s Restaurant Group. He passed away at the age of 56, only a few years younger them myself.
I used to follow his updates, as I had been in the restaurant trade a few years ago. Life is short, anything can happen at anytime, but we need to strive to improve ourselves daily.
Most people give up on their health once they hit 50, and their health gradually deteriorates until it’s time to hit the grave. I cannot see myself living in the state of health that I am currently in.
I am disgusted by what has happened to my health and my body over the years. I used to train in martial arts and was really fit and flexible until the age of 33. Just before my 34th birthday, I was involved in a major car accident. This changed the course of my life, as I suffered from depression for many years.
I have tried to get over this incident, but it seems like has been etched into my subconscious mind. I have a lot of self-image reprogramming work to do.
I came across the concept of the “self-image” in the book “Psycho-Cybernetics” by Maxwell Maltz. I have read this book once, and will read it a few more times. I want to apply the exercises outlined in this book to my life.
I used to question if it was possible to get back into shape after reaching the age 50. My research on this has revealed that it is possible, but it takes a lot of hard work and determination.
I have put on a lot of weight around my stomach area and also on my face. I will need to do a lot of aerobic exercise to burn the calories and the fat that has piled on.
I have started working out for 20 minutes daily, mainly cardiovascular exercises. I will add some stretching to the routine to improve my flexibility. I used to be able to do full splits, I wonder if I will be able to achieve this feat again…
I am confident that I will be able to shed the excess weight and get back into shape. Once I am back in shape, I will start working on toning up my muscles.
I don’t really enjoy jogging and would rather do cardiovascular exercise at home. I am not currently able to join a gym as my work schedule is really tight. I work 12 hour long shifts from 7 am to 7 pm, and it takes me another 3 hours travelling to and from work.
I am grateful that I have started on this self-improvement journey. Posting on this blog keeps me focused on my goals and enables me to share my thoughts.
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