We are now 6 months into the New Year—how are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions? It’s a good time to take a close look at where you are with your exercise and nutrition plans. How are you doing? Are you pleased with your daily habits and progress? Are you in a slump from which you need to break free? Daily life keeps us so busy that we can slowly lose motivation to work out and eat healthy food. And it happens so gradually we hardly notice it. Before we know it, we’re off track and old habits are slowly getting the upper hand. You know you are in a slump when you look back over the past few weeks and realize that you are not working out much (or your workouts are very low intensity), you are being a little more lax with what you eat, and worst of all, you feel discouraged. The further behind you get, the harder it is to revamp and start again.
Break free
If you are in a slump, this is a perfect time to break free. The hardest part of breaking out of a slump is taking action, but once you get moving again and take some positive steps, you will quickly find your feet and resume your forward momentum to fitness and health. Try this: Schedule some exercise time into your day today. It does not have to be a long session; it can be 10 minutes. Just move. The biggest predictor of whether you work out tomorrow is whether you work out today. The tough part is to begin. Take a walk, make several trips up and down your stairs, jog in place—it doesn’t matter what it is, just do something. Decide on your eating plan. You will likely be in the presence of unhealthy over the summer months. What is your plan? One of the best things you can do to get back on track is draw a line in the sand and don’t step across it. Make healthy choices. Eat for energy and vitality. Once you take the first step, the next will be easier, and the next even easier. Declare independence from your slump, dust off those resolutions and make the second half of 2014 the best half!
