Body & Fitness

3 things you can do to ensure your health and fitness journey is successful

Sometimes a little bit of help is needed before results become visible.

Around this time every year, we make a very familiar promise to ourselves: “Next year I’m going to get into shape and exercise”.

We all go into the New Year with the best of intentions and really do believe it’ll be our best year yet. The first few days after New Year’s we tend to stick to our health and fitness goals, but then somehow – usually when work starts up again – we miss a few sessions until suddenly we’ve stopped altogether.

Similarly, any goals to “eat better” and “lose weight” seem to take the backseat. And it’s not that we don’t want to do these things, it’s just… we feel tired. All the time. Before work we get the kids ready for school or try to get enough sleep, then after work we are feeling so drained and tired that we can’t be bothered exercising and put together the easiest meal we can – sound familiar?

This is a trap many women face, but there are some things you can do to help yourself reach your health and fitness goals. Now To Love‘s health editor recommends meal prepping on weekends so you can fall in a heap on week nights with an already-made meal, along with working out on your lunch break (this means no sacrificing sleep or exercising when tired after work).

Nutritionist, trainer and co-founder of Voome, Amelia Phillips, has some more recommendations to keep you on track to meet your goals.

Start with your diary

Pick three spots in your per week diary (preferably mornings), block them out like an appointment and treat them as not negotiable. Set yourself the goal of three workouts per week for the next two months. Reward yourself with a massage or shopping spree. Time is the enemy of training, stay on top of it by planning out your week.

Cook from home more

When we eat out we lose control of our portion sizes, of the quality and quantity of ingredients (chefs always use too much of the tasty stuff; fat, sugar and salt). Follow a meal plan with recipes and don’t tell me you can’t cook. If you can read (a recipe), you can cook. Try a Voome program, the meal plans are delicious, fast and easy to make. Your confidence in the kitchen will bloom and think of all the money you will save!

Go into robot mode

Don’t start the internal head chatter (should I, shouldn’t I? It’s cold, I’m tired blah blah), just go into robot mode, don’t think, just do. Even if your heart isn’t in it, you’re still going to get it done. Before you know it, the workout will be over and you’ll feel great!

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