KIRSTEN LUPINSKI: Off to a great start

I titled this article “Off to a great start” because I know you all are off to a super start this year in making healthy and positive changes. Right?

Just to revisit what I said in January: Small, little changes can add up and really make a big difference in your overall health and wellness, and these changes don’t need to be centered around exercise and diet/nutrition. I stayed away from writing about diet and exercise in January because I wanted to show you that there are many other things that can make you healthy, happy and well.

However, this month I am going to give you some tips and tricks to healthy eating and exercise that you can add to all the changes that you made last month.

1. Be consistent. How many people do you know that say, “I used to go to the gym” or “I have a gym membership, but I don’t use it”? Am I talking about any of you out there?

The key to getting healthy and staying healthy is to be consistent with your exercise and also with eating healthy. This doesn’t mean that you have to work out (or miss out on some yummy treats) every day, but it does mean that you need to stick with it and keep working at it, making your overall lifestyle healthy.

2. Choose activities and exercise that you like. You need to make it fun and enjoyable or you just won’t do it. If you absolutely hate running and can’t understand why anyone would run, then this is not the activity for you.

However, if you love riding your bike and everyone in your family has a bike, not to mention you live by a bike trail, then this is the perfect activity for you. It is something that you like, something you can do with your family, and have the means to stick with it.

3. Workout buddy/partner. I mentioned in No. 2 that it is great to find something that you can do with your family, and you can add workout partner/buddy to that list, too. It has been shown that when you work out with a partner, you are more likely to be consistent and continue for the long term. So, find a workout partner that likes the same things that you like to do, or recruit your kids to come along with you.

4. Reasonable goals. I talked about goals last month and making sure that you make them realistic and reasonable, but I want to touch on this again. Make sure that you set realistic expectations when it comes to exercise and also healthy eating.

Don’t tell yourself on Monday that you are going to work out every day this week if you haven’t laced up your shoes in years. You need to start small and make reasonable and doable changes: Pack your lunch each day, drink more water throughout the day, exercise twice this week, buy healthy snacks to keep at home and work.

These are the goals that will add up and get you on your way to a healthy and happy lifestyle.

Kirsten Lupinski is an assistant professor at Albany State University in the Department of Health and Human Performance. She has a bachelor’s of science in nutrition from the University of North Carolina, a master’s of science in health education from the University of Kentucky and a doctorate in education from the University of Cincinnati. She has worked in the health education field in various capacities (corporate health, community health, college health and wellness and university education) for more than 17 years. She and her husband have three young children (8-year-old twin boys and a 5-year-old girl).