Feelin Fit
Healthy living is very important to me. I see it as a way to respect my Creator, by taking care of the body and life He has entrusted me with. One of my coworkers has been generous enough to let me use an extra FitBit she had at her house, so I have recently taken to tracking my fitness, food intake, water intake, and sleep with that program. It has been good to track my progress and ensure that I am working toward maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I have been logging my workouts and runs for a couple years now with other programs like MapMyRun, but have now added a few more aspects of healthy living to the mix.
I like that my steps, stairs, and calories burned are recorded for me so that I can continually challenge myself to improve in those areas. Having these numbers right at my fingertips has motivated me to park a little farther away at the grocery store, take that extra trip upstairs to retrieve something instead of putting it off until later, and make sure I don't sit for too long at my desk without taking a break. Coupled with regular workouts and healthier eating, I feel that these more subtle changes are helping me live the healthier lifestyle that I aspire to.
Through this process, I also have become more aware of how much water I consume, making sure that I drink enough every day to stay properly hydrated. I have been paying more attention to how much sleep I'm getting, too, and can monitor the trends over time to see if I need to make any changes to my habits.
I can monitor my food and activity alongside one another to see if I am maintaining a relatively even input and output of energy, too. Entering food items with a long list of ingredients can be time-consuming, but I primarily eat whole foods like fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains. I try to stay away from heavily processed foods that have ingredients I can't pronounce and incredibly high levels of sodium and sugar. I have noticed that I don't feel too great when I consume too much sugar or processed grain, so I have begun limiting my intake of those substances in order to feel my best. Healthier foods pair well with regular exercise, getting me one step closer to living the life that I'm aiming for. As I see the list of my frequently-logged foods grow to include more produce and lean protein, I feel better about the things I decide to fuel my body with, knowing I'm making good choices.
Having a way to document my activity levels pushes me to continue working hard to pursue a healthy and fit lifestyle.It's been fun to challenge myself to climb more flights of stairs or walk more miles than I did the previous day. When I see that I've been steadily increasing the distance of my runs or the amount of weight I can lift, I'm encouraged to continue growing and striving for new goals.
What steps can you take to live a healthier lifestyle?