Start A Diet With Motivation

Starting A Diet Begins with Getting Motivated

We suspect that the widespread perception of exercise as work – at least for many folks – begins at an early age.

Too many gym teachers and youth coaches still approach their jobs with a boot camp mentality, and thus use calisthenics, running, and organized sports as a means of whipping their “troops” into shape.

Worse yet, some of them even go so far as to use exercise as a form of punishment.

This “give me twenty” type of thinking is outdated, wrongheaded, and damaging. In reality, the exercise you do needn’t be grueling or forced to be effective. Quite the opposite, as a matter of fact!

How To Start A Diet

To succeed in the long run, your exercise regimen—like your diet—should consist primarily of activities you not only enjoy, but actually look forward to. So if water-skiing and tennis are your favorite recreational activities, for gosh sake, water-ski or play tennis.

Don’t take up something else simply because it seems more like “real” exercise. Aerobic conditioning occurs when your heart beats at 70 percent to 80 percent of its maximum rate for 20 minutes or more.

And guess what? Your heart doesn’t have the foggiest notion whether you are running on a treadmill, Rollerblading, playing basketball, windsurfing, or gyrating like a madwoman to the sounds of a hot new alternative band.

All it knows is that it’s working harder than normal, though hopefully within a healthy range. Thus, while it’s true that a certain amount of self-discipline may be required on days when you are tired or down in the dumps, there really is no substitute for genuinely liking your exercise (or exercises) of choice.

Get this part right when you start a diet and you will not only be well on your way to starting a fitness regimen but also to sustaining it for a lifetime.