Slow and steady wins the race, so focus on everyday food and exercise habits.
- Assess your daily food and exercise routines, and find practical areas for improvement.
- Look at your daily eating pattern, and find ways to add more vegetables.
- Find foods from each food group that you enjoy eating. A well-balanced diet should contain a variety of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy or other high calcium substitutes, and a variety of protein foods, including plant proteins like nuts and beans.
- Plan meals and snacks in advance to avoid having to eat whatever is around. You will get hungry throughout the day, and that’s good because you have to feed yourself to stay alive. :) Plan meals and snacks according to your hunger signals.
- Find time for exercise. Look for times in your daily schedule where a workout would easily fit in.
- Choose exercise that you enjoy, and you will be much more likely to stick with it.
- Have realistic expectations. Exercise for 30 minutes to an hour most days of the week. Do more if you have the time, but don’t worry if you can’t devote 8 hours a day to exercise like an Olympic athlete.
- Don't get frustrated. As long as you're trying, that's what matters. If you have a busy day and can't workout or one day you don't eat all your vegetables, it's okay, sometimes we have days like that. Your usual routine and the choices that you make most of the time are much more important than that one day where you felt like you weren't perfect.
