Beginning to workout and live a healthy lifestyle is one of the hardest things to stick to because it takes a lot of discipline and motivation. Once you start getting used to it, it becomes a routine and part of your everyday life.
The Beginning
Starting is the hardest part if you are anything like how I was, the beginning is really challenging. The biggest struggle for me, is that I got really frustrated when I didn’t see results right away. This was my first mistake because results take time. It was also very hard to maintain my diet and hard not to cheat. For so long I never paid attention to what I was eating so it was so hard to stay on track.
The best advice I could give for the beginning is to keep your expectations low. You are not going to see results instantly. You have to be patient and discipline yourself. Overtime you will be so happy with what comes out of it.
Motivation
Motivation is the most important thing to have when working out. If you are not motivated everyday to get out of bed and workout and eat healthy , then you will not get the results that you are looking for. There are some days where I am so motivated, I have a great workout and I eat really healthy. Then there are days where I just do not feel like going to the gym. Also days when it is hard to stick to eating healthy
The best way I stay motivated is envisioning what I want to look and feel like. If you have an image in your mind of the best version of yourself, you will be so anxious to reach that goal. That image is the best thing to think of during your workout because it pushes you to keep going. Something that I do that surprisingly works for me is thinking of the past. Everyone gets bullied at least once in their lives and it is upsetting but true. There have been times in my life where people have commented negatively on my body. Thinking about that during a workout is so powerful because you just want to prove them wrong.
Routine
When and if you decide to make the change in your life to workout and eat healthy it becomes a lifestyle. You have to keep a steady routine to maintain results and that also was hard for me. I was so used to my old lifestyle of eating what I wanted and not really exercising unless I was at softball, that it was a challenge for me to keep up with my daily routine of having a healthy lifestyle.
Now that I have been fully dedicated to this lifestyle since the beginning of quarantine, it is less of a challenge for me. I genuinely enjoy going to the gym everyday. You become so dedicated and used to it that if you miss one day at the gym you start to feel guilty about it. Overall, this makes you feel happier and healthier.
