How to Stick With Your New Diet and Exercise Plan

At the beginning of every year tons and tons of people decide they need to get in shape. We know that our sedentary lifestyles can cause many health issues, so we decide that this year we are going to do something about it. We promise ourselves that we are going to eat better and exercise more. And then what do we really do? We end up failing again.

The reason we fail is because we try to make too many changes too quickly. True, eating well and developing an exercise routine will get us in better shape and make us healthier. But, if you flip your entire lifestyle upside down overnight, you are probably going to fail.

So how do you stick with your new diet and exercise plan?

* This post may contain affiliate links for which I earn commissions.* ** All comments and recommendations are my own and should not be taken as medical advice. **

Don’t Make Too Many Changes Too Quickly

If you are like many adults, you tend to spend a lot of time sitting. There are so many jobs that do not allow us to get up and move. Not moving makes it easier to snack. We also might be eating a fair amount of fast food. Even the food we cook at home may not be really be as healthy as we might think it is.

Now, try going from a sedentary lifestyle and not eating all that great to ……

BAM! I am going to exercise every day!  I am giving up sugar and I am only going to eat healthy foods! You are full speed ahead for the first week or so. Then, it starts happening. Your muscles start hurting from exercising. You are already tired of cooking every meal and you’ve probably already run out of recipes that taste good.

Since this new lifestyle can get dropped so quickly, you never even start to see the results of your labor. Seeing noticeable results from diet and exercise can take weeks, if not months. If you only hold out for two weeks on it before giving up, you are not going to see any progress whatsoever.

Instead of making such a drastic lifestyle change, try making minor changes to your diet and exercise. Make changes slowly, maybe one or two changes a week or even one or two a month. Slowly step it up so your body is not experiencing such a shocking change all at once.

When you take it slow and make minor adjustments a little at a time, you are going to give yourself a much better chance at sticking with it. This gives you a much better shot at success. However, even making small changes can be difficult at first. This is normal. Change can be difficult. But think about this. If you are having trouble making small changes, think how difficult it would be to change your entire lifestyle at once! Making small changes is a lot easier to push yourself through.

Diet and exercise changes should be made with care. Make sure you have a goal in mind that includes when you want to achieve that goal. Make sure your goal is obtainable. Don’t expect to get there too quickly. Then come up with a plan to make minor changes that will allow you to accomplish your goal.

Make Small Changes in Your Drinks

One of the biggest things that will lead to excess weight gain is the overconsumption of things like soda and beer. These are very high calorie drinks. They provide no nutrition, meaning they are empty calories. Most sodas are around 150-200 calories per bottle or can and contain about 40-50 grams of sugar. This is a massive amount of sugar.

Even worse is when you get a soda from a fast-food restaurant. Now you are looking at 300 or more calories just for that one drink. And that all depends on what size you get. Think how many calories are in one of those monster drinks. And that doesn’t even count going back for a refill which is so easy to do. You might be drinking as many calories as your entire meal contains.

Beer contains less sugar, but has similar amounts of calories. There is also the alcohol factor. Drinking three beers could contain as much as 450 calories.

There are tons of alternatives our there for soda. Of course, water is the best option. But if you have been drinking soda for years or even decades, going cold turkey can be tough.

Instead, start off with diet soda, zero calorie drinks, sparkling water or maybe sodas made with stevia extract. While nothing is as good for you as water, drinking something with 10 calories two or three times a day is sure better than something with 200 calories and 50 grams of sugar two or three times a day.

Many people drink their coffee in such a way that it is practically a dessert. I know, black coffee is pretty boring. Getting a low-calorie creamer is better than a 300 calorie iced coffee mixed with syrups. If you are making your own coffee, consider gradually cutting down on the sugar and creamer. Let yourself adjust slowly to the new taste.

Make Minor Adjustments in Your Food

Surprisingly many people know very little about cooking for themselves. By learning how to cook you can eat much healthier. However, if you are used to eating out a lot it might be difficult to go from daily fast food to constantly cooking every meal. You might not even have all the cookware you need. Again, take it slow.

Set a goal to cook one healthy home cooked meal per week. Start gathering some healthy recipes and plan ahead. Then step up your game, set a goal for two healthy home cooked meals per week.

If time is a factor and there are some nights that you must run through the drive thru, then make better choices in what you order. For example, go to places that serve grilled chicken instead of fried. Order smaller sides instead of larger ones. Order a salad instead of fries.

Treat yourself to some nice cookware. Cooking with something new and shiny is much more fun than pots and pans that are in yucky condition. Definitely make sure you have good knives. A sharp knife will take the stress off hands and wrists for people with arthritis and make cutting and chopping so much easier.

Kitchen appliances like slow cookers, pressure cookers and instant pots can help simplify cooking and create a nice healthy meal. Very useful for those nights when you are strapped for time. You can even prepare and  freeze ahead so all you have to do is dump it into the crock pot.

Cooking with an air fryer makes food much healthier and tastes great. I make french fries using the air fryer function in my Ninja Foodi oven and to me they taste just as good as the ones we make in the deep fryer. And, I don’t feel guilty eating them!

Over time you will learn how to cook well, and you will be able to make meals that are healthier, cheaper and tastier than fast food could ever be. It takes time to learn how to do it right, so be patient with yourself. You’ll learn to love the process of cooking along with the food you get as a result and in doing so you will never go back to overly processed food again.

Ease Into Your Fitness Routine

So here you are, all excited. You are going to get fit!

You haven’t worked out in years, maybe even decades. But you still decide to head out to the gym every day after work. While this may be something you would like to work up to, that is a grueling schedule to start off with. You are going to get burned out really fast this way, plus your body will not have time to recover in between workouts and you can risk getting injured.

Instead, start off with one, maybe two days a week. Try a little bit of everything and get a feel for your likes and dislikes. Be sure to space your days out so your body has plenty of time to recover in between. On recovery days, try some stretching exercises at home and eat plenty of protein-based foods in order to help your muscles relax and build back up after being worked out. Stretching is crucial to being able to recover in a decent amount of time.

Before you start an exercise program, take some time to decide what is best for you. Is going to the gym and being around others going to motivate you more. Or are you someone who would prefer to work with someone online, so you don’t have to leave home. For a lot of people with RA this is the way to go. You don’t have the pressure of working at a certain pace or feeling self-conscious because you can’t keep up with everyone else.

Most people are going to fall off their diet and exercise routines after about two weeks because they go gung ho and make too many changes too quickly. In fact, there is a joke with the people who work out regularly at gyms; take the first two weeks of January off because the gym is going to be packed. But then by the middle of the month it will be empty because all the New Years Resolution people will be gone already. 😊

Easing into your new diet and exercise routines will give you a much better chance at success. It is easier to stick with fitness once it becomes a habit and a regular part of your schedule. Have you heard this before? Take it slow!

If You Don’t Like It, Don’t Do It!

For some reason, it is common that diet plans take the hard route. It doesn’t matter if it tastes good or not as long as it is healthy. That makes it pretty difficult to stick with the program and see any kind of results.

One example is salads as a meal. Everybody says eat salad. Yes, salads are healthy. They are also kind of boring. There are only so many ways you can put pizazz into a salad. And then most people top them off with high calorie dressings and croutons to make them taste good so you kind of defeat the whole purpose of eating a salad. If you would rather have some chicken with some potatoes and sautéed vegetables, that works too.

You can learn to make meals with similar or just slightly higher calorie counts to salads that are far more enjoyable and in most cases much more filling. Plus, adding meat to your diet gives you protein which is essential to your body.

Never settle for something just because it is the healthiest option possible. Look for similar alternatives. Because if you don’t like it, you won’t stick to the plan.

The same goes for exercise. Let’s say you are walking on the treadmill. That might be good cardio, but if you are so bored you can’t stand to be on it or it just doesn’t feel right to you, then find an alternative. Try things like swimming, biking, rowing, these are all good alternatives.

If you have an injury or if your rheumatoid arthritis makes it difficult for you to exercise, don’t give it up. Just look for things that you can do. Maybe you will need to find exercises that you can do in a chair. There are many good programs out there to choose from. Break it up. Sometimes I walk on my treadmill for just 2-5 minutes. And then I try to do it again later in the day. In my opinion, it is better to do what you can rather than to do nothing at all. 

By avoiding things that you dislike you are going to make it easier to stick with your plans and achieve your goals. You should still be making better, healthier choices, but go for the ones that work best for you and ones you can stick with.

There is no reason why fitness and eating right has to be difficult. Don’t make it harder on yourself by feeling like you have to do what “the experts” say. Truth is most people aren’t doing anything at all so whatever you do is probably better than the majority. 😊

Exercising and eating healthy shouldn’t be some outlandish task that you have to work incredibly hard at. You already have enough other stress in your life. Make it something you can enjoy and you will have a much better chance of it being successful.

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