DIET, EXERCISE and FITNESS: Your Keys to a Healthy Life

Most of us agree that we need to live a healthier life. To accomplish this we need to focus on diet, exercise and fitness. If you begin to make small changes in each of these areas you will start to develop a healthier lifestyle. You must improve in all three areas for the best results.

Exercise and fitness combined with a healthy balanced diet will enhance the way you look, the way you feel and enhance your overall physical health. A fitness plan should be structured and followed regularly to ensure results. You need to build diet and exercise into your normal routine and lifestyle.

In designing your diet, exercise and fitness plan you need to consider how much and how often for each of the three key areas. Only you (and your doctor) can decide what is best for you. You need a plan that takes into account the following factors:

1. time contraints including the number of hours, days or time of day;
2. where you will be exercising and the equipment needed, if any;
3. your current fitness level and what you want to accomplish;
4. foods that you need to add/delete or increase/decrease from your diet;
5. your current diet, execise and fitness habits; and
6. what you enjoy; etc.

Start with a diet, exercise and fitness plan that is manageable for you, do not overwhelm yourself. Start with little steps and increase over time. Making drastic changes or setting unrealistic goals are two of the biggest mistakes people make. Make sure you pick a fitness routine that you enjoy. If it’s not fun, you won’t stick with it in the long run.

There are alot of programs on the market that can make it easier for you to improve your fitness. Weight Watchers has one of the best diet plan that has been around for years. The plan is based on counting calories, monitoring portions and eating the right foods. It’s even easier today because they sell prepackaged meals and desserts available at your local grocery store. The desserts are improved and taste very good. Weight Watchers also advises that an exercise program be added to your lifestyle. This will help the dieter obtain better results from this popular diet, exercise and fitness program.

Slim fast is another popular way of dieting and can be used to supplement your overall diet plan. They have shakes and snacks in many flavors that can help minimize diet cravings. The shakes include all of the vitamins and minerals necessary for your daily dietary needs. The shakes are a good meal substitute if you don’t have time to eat. The shakes and snacks can be useful, provided you don’t abuse them. You should not live on Slim Fast, it’s not the ideal healthy diet.

Your children also need to live a healthy life which includes a diet, exercise and fitness plan that meets their needs. Children today are more overweight than ever before. Kids are exercising less and eating too much of the wrong types of food. Unfortunately, the parents’ poor diet and fitness habits are contributing to the obesity of their children. Trim Kids is a program that is specially designed for children, it provides a complete 12 week diet, exercise and fitness plan.

There are numerous diet and fitness plans to choose from. Before starting any program have a full physical examination and consult with your doctor. Your doctor can provide advice with respect to the intensity and frequency of activity that’s right for you. One way to monitor your exercise intensity is to wear a heart monitor while exercising. The latest cardiovascular fitness equipment automatically adjusts the intensity of your workout based upon your target heart rate.

The hardest and most important part of any diet, exercise and fitness plan is getting started. Do not get lost in the planning phase. Start small and Just Do It! The goal is to make small improvements that become new life long healthy habits.

If your like most people, you tend to take your health and fitness for granted. It’s not until you start gaining weight, have a medical emergency or reach the age of 55 or 60 that you start to think about fitness. Sometimes waiting for a medical emergency or late in life before improving your fitness can prove fatal.

Do not let this happen to you and your family. You need to put your health and fitness first in life and begin making changes today. Although you may not see an immediate significant impact from implementing a fitness first program, it will pay off in the long run. It is the best way to ensure a long, healthy and happy life.

The fitness first plan is simple and can be implemented by making small permanent improvements in your diet, exercise and fitness program. It involves living a healthier life style so you can reap the rewards today and especially later in life.

Living healthy when you are younger provides numerous benefits such as:

1. live a longer more productive live;
2. minimize your risk of developing health problems later in life;
3. allows you to engage in the activities you want later in life versus having limited mobility;
4. can slow the aging process; and
5. enhances your overall sense of well-being; and more.

A fitness first plan will differ from person to person because we all have different fitness goals and our bodies function differently. However each plan includes a balanced and healthy diet, an exercise program, good sleeping habits, limited alcohol consumption and the removal of bad habits such as smoking and drugs.

Although this may sound selfish, you are the most important person in your life. You need to take the time to learn as much as possible about your body and current fitness level, so you can design the fitness first plan that is right for you.

Your plan should leverage and maintain your strengths while minimizing or eliminating your weaknesses. For example, some people have more flexibility with their diet because their bodies process food efficiently, while others need to adhere to a very strict diet. You may have tremendous lower body strength but minimal upper body strength. You may have great muscle tone but lack flexibility.

Your fitness first plan should address your specific problem areas to ensure good overall health and fitness. It’s also advisable to design and/or review your plan with your doctor, a personal trainer, a nutritionist and/or other specialist.

When developing your fitness first plan, the following steps may prove helpful:

1. analyze your current state (i.e., diet, exercise, body fat percent, habits, etc.);
2. design your long-term future state;
3. develop your initial short term plan to begin moving from current to future state;
4. review your plan with specialists, as needed;
5. monitor your progress regularly; and
6. implement additional improvements, as needed.

Your fitness first plan should motivate you to focus on your fitness today so that you can accomplish what you want in the long term. The greatest benefits of the plan will be experienced 5, 10, 20 or 40 years from now, depending upon your age.

Your fitness and health should be your number one priority. If you do not take care of yourself who will?

Your fitness first plan should also be fun and include activities that you enjoy. A happy and healthy lifestyle is not meant to be an overwhelming burden. It enhances your life.

Sure it takes work, but the work can be challenging, interesting and (at least some of it) fun.