Hindsight is powerful, we all know that, but so is foresight.
When you are stuck in a corner emotionally, financially, physically or mentally, you have moments of foresight. You have a mini epiphany and you decide that from now on you won’t take any more setbacks in what part of your life.
When it happens physically, you try on a new outfit in the store and you are disappointed because everything makes you look big, you vow to do whatever it takes to get back into that body you used to have, or never had but always wanted.
Today I am going to guide you through some health habits you should cultivate if you wish to live a long, healthy and fulfilling life.
Think with me for a moment…
- What do you want your life to look like for the rest of today?
- Do you have anything that you really want to get done?
- Are there things you know that you should be doing, things that are important, but will probably get procrastinated on?
- What things do you want to do, but probably won’t do?
When you develop good habits, you are giving yourself the power of control, to control what you want your life to look like.
What do you want your life to look like?
Whatever your answer to that, if you are healthy and fit and strong, you will have the time to do whatever you want.
Shedding excess body fat and getting lean and strong is one of the best things you can do for your health, your confidence, your future and your happiness.
The great thing about getting into great shape is that it doesn’t have to take long at all either. With just 20 minutes every second day you can perform exercise to get into great shape, and eating healthy takes just as long as it does to eat unhealthy.
Often eating healthy is cheaper, not just in the short term, but in the long term also.
Think about how much it is worth to you to be healthy, sexy and confident, every time you step out your front door…
You can’t put a price on that, so without any more mucking around, let me show you,
Health Habit #1 – Food Control
Even if you don’t want to lose weight, you still must control what you eat most of the time. Yes, you can have cheat meals some days, and even a whole cheat day once a week if you like.
However you will get best results if you have a cheat day, rather than cheat meals sprinkled throughout the week.
Here are some tips to create a healthier lifestyle and ensure that you lose any excess body fat, have plenty of energy and are free from any constraints that a diet would put you under.
Fasting
This is an important part of life, but somehow Westerners just don’t practice it. Look through the books of history and most people worth their weight in salt fasted. I have found through personal experience as well as my own research and coaching that avoiding breakfast is one of the best things you can do if you wish to lose weight and have more energy.
You are so focused on what you are doing if you are not worried about food. I like to eat my first meal about 2 pm if I get up at 8am, then have my last meal around 10pm. This gives your body 16 hours of being empty so it can detox and actually burn fat.
Drink as much coffee, tea and green tea during your fasting times. Drink more water than you normally would too.
Ingredient focus
The massive corporations who sell packaged food are focused on one thing – profit. NOT your well being. Pretty much all packaged and food altered too far from its natural state is going to be bad for you, give you an energy spike then a following crash, and will now allow you to burn fat.
The way to combat this is to focus on the ingredients (or lack of) in foods.
If a food has more than one ingredient (itself) then it would be best to second guess it.
For example, meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts, oats, eggs and fish are all just the way that they are naturally. Oats are a bit different, but they are still healthy and good for you. Dairy products are not too bad for you, but eat in moderation compared to the main foods described above.
Health Habit #2 – Exercise Control
Too much exercise is a bad thing, this is why I say exercise control – you have to know how much is good and how much is too much.
When you are first starting out exercising, you should be doing short sessions of around 20 minutes, 5 days a week if possible.
Whatever your goals are, choose exercise to achieve those goals.
General health exercises
Jogging, walking & exercise bikes are all general health promoting exercises, but you won’t get any special strength, muscle gain or anything from these. You will lose weight if you do these often enough, but for more specific results you have to do more specific exercise.
These are the exercises that the average person does, and they seem to get average results.
If you are wanting some exercise that gives you stellar results such as lean muscle building, strength gains, six pack abs, extreme fat loss and if you are wanting an incredible body, then these will be far more beneficial to you:
• Kickboxing
• HIIT
• Stair sprints or climbs
• Calisthenics circuits
• Compound weight lifting workouts
• Swimming intervals
• Treadmill HIIT training
These are the types of exercises that will transform your body and you life. When you perform exercise with high intensity and you are feeding yourself the right foods you start to become a new, more powerful and energetic version of yourself.
Energy creates energy and you end up becoming yourself 2.0.
When you are the super-version of yourself, your life will look a lot better, you will have more energy, sleep better but need less sleep, feel unstoppable, enjoy life more and be a more friendly and fun person to be around.
What are you waiting for – get stuck in right now.
Johnny Palmer is a trainer & coach, as well as a practitioner of all things strength and fitness. Kickboxing, calisthenics training, weight lifting and HIIT are all favorites of his. For advice on how to get abs visit his site. Johnny also runs through the best weight loss programs and offers you free advice on his blog.
