Starting a healthy lifestyle is one thing, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is another. I’m sharing my 5+ years of experience with you on 10 ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle – especially for busy women! Sometimes, simple is better, which is why we’re focusing on simple health tips for everyday living, so you’ll actually stick with it this time.
When I first started my healthy lifestyle, I had no idea what I was doing. There’s a lot of noise in this industry regarding how to live a healthy lifestyle and there are definitely more than 10 ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Let’s make this as simple as possible.
Move your body 30 minutes daily in whatever way feels good to you. Set clear goals (if you have any!). Focus on whole foods (or consult a Dietitian if you’re not sure what that means), and rest!
That’s it. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle should be enjoyable, fun, and most of all – be giving more to your life than it’s “taking away.”
This Post Is All About 10 Ways to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle
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10 Simple Health Tips for Everyday Living
1. Be Intentional and Realistic Move Goals
What are some ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle?
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can feel so overwhelming. What exercises should I do? How often should I exercise? How long should I exercise? What’s considered healthy and what’s not?
One of the best tips I’ve learned for my healthy lifestyle was to be intentional and set realistic goals. This journey you’re going on is called a “lifestyle” for a reason. It’s something you’re committing to doing for the rest of your life – it’s not a quick fix.
Be intentional about your goals. If you want to “get shredded” but you’ve never worked out before, invest in a program so an expert can tell you what to do. That’s how you can fast-track your results and that’s called being intentional.
Be realistic about how much time you have. I personally find that 3-4 days per week at 30-45 minutes is PLENTY for me to see results in my health and fitness journey. Some people work out more, some people work out less.
It’s all about knowing what your goals are from the beginning, having a plan in place, and being intentional with your healthy lifestyle.
Shop My At Home Gym Set Up:
2. Plan Your Workouts
I cannot say this enough. If you have a goal, you have to take steps to get to that goal, starting with a plan. When it comes to maintaining your healthy lifestyle, a plan is key.
Some weeks I’m really good and my workout schedule looks like this:
10 Ways to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle – Workout Routine
Monday: full body workout
Tuesday: active rest day (walk or pickleball)
Wednesdays: active rest day (walk)
Thursdays: active rest day (walk)
Friday: abs + arms + butt
Saturday: booty
Sunday: cardio + legs
Other weeks, I wake up and I say, “Okay I think I will have time to work out at this time, I’m planning to hit the gym around then” and I just wing it!
I can do that because I am experienced in my fitness journey. When I first started, I was working out 6+ days per week and I had my workouts planned 3 months in advance (because I was following a program).
It’s all about finding a balance that works for your healthy lifestyle and sticking to it. But, also understanding that what works for you today might not work for you next month or next year.
Here’s what one of my butt workouts looks like. Feel free to try it out! I normally do 15 reps and repeat the entire workout x2. It takes around 45 minutes to complete this one!
Here are some workout apps from powerful women I follow online:
- The Alive App, Whitney Simmons: https://www.instagram.com/thealiveapp/
- 80 Day Obsession, Beach Body: https://www.instagram.com/80dayobsession/
- Kayla Itsines, The Sweat App: https://join.sweat.com/en/signup/new
3. Start a Simple Morning Routine
One of the best things I ever did for my healthy lifestyle was implementing a morning routine. If you’re curious about my exact step-by-step morning routine, check out this blog post on A Simple Morning Routine For Success For Women In Their 20s.
I’ll be honest and say that I don’t always complete my morning routine exactly as you see it. Life happens, and that’s okay. The important part is that the fundamentals are there. I do my best to do at least 1-3 of my morning routine activities every day to establish healthy habits.
Saturday is a free for all and I love this. Every Saturday, I let myself sleep in, lay in bed as long as I want, watch T.V. in the morning and break all the rules regarding my typical morning routine because I believe in balance. I also think this helps me stay consistent and is a huge way I maintain a healthy lifestyle.
You can learn more about my daily routines and day-day-day activities on my Instagram! I’m pretty active on there so feel free to join the BMA family over there.
4. Rest Days Are Important
Rest days are key to not only kick-starting a healthy lifestyle but maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Your fitness results actually happen when you’re sleeping, not when you’re working out. Crazy, I know. When you’re exercising, you are breaking down your muscles and forcing them to rebuild back stronger. The rebuilding process (aka where you are getting stronger and leaner), happens when you are resting.
If you do not rest, you are hindering yourself from seeing results in your fitness journey. Not to mention, that it’s not enjoyable to be overworked and tired. Take care of your body and it will take care of you!
Likewise, our bodies need 7-9 hours of sleep to function properly. Fitness results aside, getting enough rest (mentally and physically) is a huge part of your wellness journey that you shouldn’t ignore!
Healthy Lifestyle Examples
5. Try Out a New Healthy Recipe Every Week
I truly believe the key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle is making it as easy as possible for you to stick with it. One thing I love about my family is that we are big into cooking at home. I seriously think our foods are better than 95% of restaurants that I eat at (at least in the small, Midwest town that I live in, lol!).
Over Christmas, I made my soon-to-be Aunt-in-Law (is that a thing??) a recipe book! I eat a pescatarian-based diet. Meaning that for the most part, I do not incorporate meat into my diet, only fish. This recipe book includes a meat option AND a veggie option for each meal (because the boys in my family still eat meat but the girls don’t!).
I find that this diet makes me feel the best. That doesn’t mean that if I am randomly craving meat I won’t eat it or that I stick strictly to this diet. This is why I call it pescatarian-based. I am super flexible with myself and honestly just listen to my body!
Below you can find 23 of my family’s favorite recipes! Some are healthy, some are cheesy, and everything in between. Like I said, I believe in balance. That means I eat pasta and wine one day (which isn’t the healthiest), and something healthy the next. I wouldn’t be able to maintain my healthy lifestyle if I felt deprived and I never do!
Disclaimer: please keep in mind that I am not a professional recipe book maker. I have no doubt that there are mistakes in this book in terms of instructions and/or serving size recommendations. Use your best judgment. If you do decide to try one out and you’re confused, simply google the recipe name I listed and I have no doubt you’ll be able to find something similar!
6. Be Kind to Your Body
10 Ways to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle – Positive Self-talk
“You create your thoughts. Your thoughts create your intentions. Your intentions create your reality.” – Wayne W. Dyer
When it comes to healthier lifestyle tips, I think it’s important to mention positive self-talk. How you speak to yourself, internally and externally, is a direct reflection of how successful you will be in maintaining your healthy lifestyle journey.
No one is perfect – we all have good and bad days. It’s important to recognize when we’re spiraling into those moods where we might say:
“I look so fat today”
“I am never going to be ‘skinny’ like all those other girls”
“If only I could just lose a few more pounds..”
This is not a way to talk to yourself. Rememver that everyone is on their own journey. It’s never productive to compare yourself to someone else’s day one hundred when you’re on day one. As you go throughout this journey, you are committing to a better you. You’re not going to feel amazing every day and that’s okay!
It’s the days when we feel the weakest that make us the strongest. So when you’re feeling extra bloated or just not yourself remind yourself:
Today is not my best day and that’s okay. I am giving myself grace. Tomorrow is a new day.”
Promote positive thoughts because you are what you believe.
“I am beautiful. I am capable. I am strong. I am happy.”
That’s my mantra.
7. Be Aware of Your Habits
Small habits every single day lead up to big results. You may not feel like you’re getting anywhere, but you are making progress.
What you’re eating, how often you sleep, how frequently you work out, how you nourish your mind, how you spend your time – these habits become the result of who you are.
Choose what you do carefully, and be intentional, it has a huge impact on how you live your healthy and balanced lifestyle.
What to Do to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle
8. Be Intentional About Movement
One of my favorite tips on “how to get healthy” is to incorporate movement into your everyday life! I always park farther away from the grocery store to get some extra steps in. I’ll also take the stairs whenever I can, and walk to places if it makes sense.
Incorporating movement into your lifestyle is going to make maintaining your lifestyle that much easier because it will just become a part of your daily routine.
9. Reward Your Efforts
Ahh, I love this tip! Always reward your efforts. Some people call this a “cheat day.” I personally do not like this mindset. I believe in balance, as I’ve said.
Here are a few ways I “reward my healthy lifestyle efforts.”
- Take a full rest day and just chill! No walks, no exercise, just #marshmellowstatus
- Movie night with my sister! We love making popcorn and binge-watching the latest cheesy rom-com series and I never think twice about all the yummy food we eat.
- Date night with my fiancè. We’ll make reservations at a fancy restaurant and I’ll literally eat whatever I want or how much I want (and it always involves pizza) and it’s awesome. I just love food!
Incorporating more healthy lifestyle habits is about not forgetting other habits that make your soul happy. Find the balance, and enjoy both!
10. Be Patient With Yourself + Take Progress Photos!
One of the best tips I have for my gals just starting a healthy lifestyle is to be patient and take progress photos! I truly could care less about what the scale has to say (although, I’d admit, when I first started I was tracking the scale consistently. I’ve learned over time this isn’t the best practice!).
You are going to see progress and feel inspired to start and maintain your healthy lifestyle if you are seeing results. The best way to track your results is through progress photos!
Check out my progress photo after one year of consistent exercise:
Be patient. Maintainable and healthy change takes time. You are committing to a lifestyle, not to a quick fix, and the only way you’re going to maintain your fitness results is if you’re enjoying the process!
All in all, I encourage you to not become obsessed with how you look in your body, but with how you feel in your body. My healthy lifestyle is all about doing fitness movements that make me feel good, loving my routine, and becoming a better version of me.
That’s how you’re going to stick with it. There you have it ladies, 10 ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle. See you in the next one xoxo.
This Post Was All About 10 Ways to Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle
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