Health and Beauty

Story by Kera Kester, NASM Certified Personal Trainer/Contributing Writer

Can you believe it is January 2022! This is a time of celebrating the lessons learned and victories we had in 2021. It is also a time of newfound hope for our New Year’s resolutions or goals. In the realm of fitness, there is especially much fervor to make a couple of changes. Whether those desired changes are mental, physical or emotional, there is a factor that must play a part in your success. In order to carry a goal or plan out efficiently, there must be sustainability! The definition of sustainable is “able to be maintained at a certain rate or level.” Many of us have done the drastic all-or- nothing approach or the inconsistent halfway-in approach. The habits you form and the actions you take should be those you are personally able to stick with when the motivation may start to dwindle three months into the year. Here are three tips to not only create change, but sustainable change that lasts!

We have to be realistic with the rate or level we choose to start with or maintain. If you are new to working out, don’t try and force yourself to run five miles everyday. No one is expecting you to start as a superhero and bench press 70-pound dumbbells. If you have an extremely busy schedule, trying to pencil in two-hour long sessions six days per week may cause you to get burned out or disappointed. If you tend to feel groggy or lazy in the mornings, there is no shame in scheduling night workouts. Making personal challenges is a great thing, but we also must know ourselves. Impractical measures will not always yield the best results when it comes to exercise, dietary and internal goals.

For this tip, I will emphasize the topic of food. When people think of healthy eating, the tendency is to visualize oneself throwing out all junk food or processed items and replacing everything with chicken, rice and fruit. Before you replace every chip bag and cereal box with carrots, I encourage you to think about this. Instead of just seeing foods as good or bad, think of foods as fuel and consider how they affect your biofeedback. Biofeedback is a fancy word for your body’s physiological functions. It serves us well when we are aware of how foods are affecting things, such as our sleep, internal organs and energy levels to name a few. Additionally, I think there are two other important considerations when changing our diets. One, how does this fit into my calorie range and macronutrient profile? Two, will eating this food right now align with the bulk of my diet being whole and nutrient dense foods? The goal should never be perfection, because that isn’t attainable. I always say, the 80/20 rule is a great start or rule of thumb!

We all benefit from having others who will encourage and support us. It’s one of the reasons I will always recommend going to a gym at least a couple times in your life. There is good community and many like-minded individuals that will inspire you for your fitness journey. Get a workout buddy! Go partner with a trainer or coach! Sign up for group classes! Community has a huge impact on the sustainability of your goals. If you don’t know where to begin or would like to continue growing your circle, you know I’m here for it! Feel free to reach out by email or social media. We have all entered 2022 together, and I wish nothing but the absolute best for us all! Much love and Happy New Year!