By
Laura Dion-Jones
“Beware what you set your heart upon.
For it shall surely be yours.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882, American poet, essayist)
Small lifestyle changes make a big difference and add up to significant long-term health and fitness benefits.
Just ask me - I know.
I developed a daily walking habit that helped me lose 130 pounds in 2 ½ years and it continues to help me maintain my new, slimmer, healthier body into my eighth year. As walking became a daily routine for me, I went from zero to a whopping 2,700 miles a year - one step at a time.
Start small, but think big, I always say. Sure you gotta have a goal in mind, but waking up just twenty to thirty minutes earlier every day gives you time to squeeze in a walk before work - because at first it only takes a small amount to get going. And you might surprise yourself and find that you will always do more than you think you can.
Remember, the key here is even if your walks during that first week are only twenty or thirty minutes long, you’re still getting out and doing it every single day. And that’s what it takes to develop walking into a daily habit.
Then, you can gradually increase your distance and duration each day as you go. The most important thing is to get out and walk every single day, no matter what. And, trust me, before you know it, you’ll be into your second full week, then your third, and all of a sudden – OMG - you’ll have a month straight under your belt.
To make daily walking a lifelong, healthy habit, you have to do it for thirty-five straight days. That’s just five weeks. You can do anything daily for five weeks in a row, can’t you? After that, the sky’s the limit - nothing should stop you on your path to long-term health and fitness.
You have to start somewhere. So start now, right where you are. If nothing else, get out and take a walk to enjoy the weather. It’s guaranteed to hold at least until Thanksgiving. And by then, you’ll already have developed the daily habit. Just in time for the holidays!
Easier said than done, you say? Not really. All you have to do is want to. You gotta wanna, and no one can wanna for you. And then you go from there.
“But, Laura,” you cry, “I’ve got chronic pains in my this or in my that.” Suck it up, take a pain pill if you have to (I do on a daily basis.), dress weather appropriate - always 10 degrees warmer than it really is - and get out that door.
Walk every day. What’s so hard about that? There is no other way, really. If there is, someone please tell me because I’ve tried everything else in the cardio book and daily walking is the one and only thing that helped me boil my weight off and keep it off. How can you beat that?
You have to find the right way for you.
If you really set your heart on getting healthier and more fit, then you surely will.
You have the power to do it.
What are you waiting for?
Laura Dion-Jones is a Pro-Health Activist, Radio Show Host, motivational & lifestyle writer & speaker.
Listen to "The Laura Dion-Jones Show" on WRMN, 1410 AM & www.wrmn1410.com every Wednesday, 3-4 PM, CST.
E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Website: www.lauradionjones.com
