Ridiculously Easy Steps You Can Take Right Now To Experience Better Health

Have you ever missed a day of exercise and then felt like such a failure that you completely gave up on trying? Or eaten something you “shouldn’t” have (according to the rules you made up in your mind) and completely given up on your new diet?

Mentally, one off day can derail you if you let it. But physically, it takes a lot more than one day to undo all your progress, so giving up because you missed one workout or had one “unhealthy” meal is totally irrational.

​The New York Times recently shared research findings about how long it takes to get fit again after taking a break from exercise. First, research indicates that it takes a lot longer than you might think to lose your fitness level when you start exercising…what’s your guess?

Your body loses significant cardiovascular fitness (think — how hard are you breathing when doing cardio exercise) after three weeks of stopping exercise, and it takes about eight weeks to start losing muscle (!!).

To recover, research says you can regain about one-half of your fitness in 10–14 days, and the rest depends on how much catching up you have to do and your previous fitness levels.

We hear the phrase “use it or lose it” a lot, but there’s so much urgency and finality in it that really doesn’t serve us.

No matter what you’ve done in the past and where you are now, you can always recover what you lost or start something new to improve your health.

It’s also important to remember that something is better than nothing. Effort and consistency matter equally — if you put in a lot of effort one time, you’re not going to experience the benefits like you would if you put in just a bit of effort every day. Consistency is what leads to transformation.

What’s something you’ve given up on? Something you’re telling yourself you can’t do because you haven’t been able to stick with it in the past? How can you incorporate a small change in that area of your health and life to begin experiencing new results in your life?

For me, it’s walking. I go through periods of walking really consistently and then not and right now I’m in a period of not. I’m going to commit to walking a loop around my neighborhood every day (about 25 minutes) for the next 2 weeks. I’ll let you know how it goes.

​What can you commit to (exercise or another area of health) for the next two weeks to move you towards your health goals? Comment below and let me know!