Fit Is For Life, Not Just For New Year

We don’t like the ‘new you’ business that saturates the media at the beginning of the year. What’s wrong with the old you?! OK, so maybe we don’t always look after ourselves well enough. Perhaps we eat too much over the holidays. Maybe we don’t exercise enough when there are so many other things going on. So what? We’re only human and we all need a bit of downtime.

It doesn’t seem healthy to wake up on New Year’s Day and decide to be someone else. How about being an improved version of the old you all year round? The crash diet, detox, abstinence and over-exercising that signals ‘January’ seems like a terrible idea. Surely it can only lead to the failure, misery and disappointment that signals ‘February’ (if you manage to make it that far!)

These are our top tips for starting the rest of your life as you mean to go on. That’s every day, for always, not just for a few frantic days, weeks or months. To set your goals, use our Be Your Own Coach post – it will help you to set realistic targets and challenges for yourself, not ones that simply reflect the date on the calendar.

– Whatever the magazines may tell you, there’s no such thing as a quick fix. It’s not possible to shed in days weight that has taken months or years to put on.  If you want to change your diet, by all means do. But take it slowly and seriously. Eat a bit less, move a bit more and see how that works out for you. We’d like to bet it will work out very well if you’re patient.

– If you’re taking up exercise – or getting back into it – take it steady. If you overdo it, you won’t enjoy it and won’t be motivated to keep it up. Short runs, slow swims, brief sessions at the gym – all of these will help to build your fitness. And building your fitness slowly will help you maintain it in the long run. Don’t try to do it all at once; add incrementally and you’ll stick at it. Fit for life is a far better idea than attempting to be fit (and failing) for the first few weeks of every year, don’t you think?

– Try some of our lovely recipes. Most of them are quick, easy and very satisfying to make – and, of course, totally delicious. Every recipe we create for Veggie Runners is designed with your wellbeing in mind. Unlike the celebrity chefs who’ve been criticised recently, we make sure our meals are healthy as well as more-ish. There’s no better place to start – or continue – a health regime than with us.

– It’s all about attitude. Reading about fitness in magazines is a start but you need to get off the sofa (if you haven’t done so already) and take responsibility for your own fitness. If you find it hard to motivate yourself, schedule runs, swims or brisk walks with a friend. It’s much harder to back out if you’ll be letting someone down. Or sign up to a class – yoga, pilates, Zumba, anything! – that will give you a regular commitment to exercise.

It might seem like tough going at first but it will be worth it in the long run. You’re going to love the New Old You. Guaranteed.