Healthy Living

Running your first 5k  Written by R. A. Stewart I recently saw a man on TV give his testimony on how he lost weight after starting on a journey of jogging. On his first day he jogged 500 metres and walked the rest of the way. As his fitness increased he increased the distance he jogged until gradually he was able to jog the entire 5k. This was all done with a sensible diet regime. Certainly, a bad diet will undermine attempts to get fit. Getting fit requires persistence and dedication. There is no point in just running a gut buster on a Saturday and not training on the other six days of the week because by the time the following Saturday comes around the benefit of the previous Saturday’s gut busting run will be lost. “It is hard to get fit but easy to lose it” is a quote I have heard. Inactivity is a sure way to lose your fitness. A horse trainer once said to a reporter, “If you walk up a mountain you will be stiff and sore the next day but if you walk up a mountain every day fo...

Starting your fitness journey Written by R. A. Stewart December is a month in which people sometimes reflect on the year which is almost gone. “How could I have done better?” and “What could I have done differently?” are two questions which come to mind. Did I achieve my goals which I set myself is a good question to ask and one which is personal to most people. Fitness and weight-loss goals will no doubt make their annual appearance on a lot of people’s New Years Resolutions, but sadly these usually fall by the wayside after a few weeks. There are keys to making goals stick and the first key is habit.  Fitness Key Number 1: Habit  Developing new habits and repeating the habit so that it becomes part of your lifestyle is crucial. It takes discipline to train daily. It has been said that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. That is a new habit is repeated everyday for 21 days. Perseverance is the key. Fitness Key Number 2: Passion Desire is the fuel which stokes passion. Yo...

Making changes to your life Written by R. A. Stewart “If you change nothing, nothing changes.”-Anonymous To go from where you are to where you need to be requires change. That is: Change of mindset Change of behaviour Change of routine It is all a matter of stepping out of your comfort zone. This is not always as easy as people think because of different circumstances. You do not know why people stay in a situation which is not good for them, but self confidence and insecurity are the two main ones. The biggest barrier to change is the fear of criticism. This prevents people from stepping out of their comfort zone and trying new things. People do say things about any changes they see in those closest to them and not all of it is complimentary. There can be any number of reasons why someone wants you to remain the same; one of these is insecurity. You doing something with your life will make others feel uneasy. They want you to stay as you are because it makes them feel better about...

Basic Steps to developing a healthy lifestyle. Written by R. A. Stewart There are three key parts to developing a healthy lifestyle. You cannot have one without the other two. If one of these key areas is the weak link then it will undermine and affect the other two. It is imperative to pay close attention to each key factor and make adjustments as you see fit. As they say, “If you stick with the status quo then nothing changes.”  With that being said, let's take a look at these three keys to living your best healthy lifestyle and making the most of your abilities. 1. Mindset This is an important issue to deal with. If you are not in the right frame of mind for training then all of your efforts to get fit will be all in vain. You may start out with good intentions, and your training is going well, then you have a bad day at the office, or a domestic issue at home and may not feel like training at all. It is important to carry on regardless of the circumstances you are in if you ha...