How to Start Your Fitness Journey

Starting your fitness journey can feel like an intimidating process, so we will outline what we feel is the the most straightforward and practical way to get the ball rolling! Follow these steps and you’ll be well on your way to a new you!

Start Small

Do not try to do EVERYTHING all at once. Too often people overcomplicate & change too much when they start their fitness journey. Additionally, they adopt an all-or-nothing approach to things.

For example, if your goal is to drink more water but you are used to drinking only 20 oz a day – try upping it to 40 or 50 oz a day instead of 80-120 oz. 

Another example, if you are not working out at all and you want to get more consistent at moving your body, aim for a 10-15 min walk a few times a week to start. Don’t expect yourself to be in the gym 6 days a week to start. That would be an unrealistic starting point.

Lastly, people tend to become too rigorous with their approach to nutrition. They try to cut out anything deemed as “bad” or unhealthy and that level of restrictiveness tends to lead to binging. A more balanced approach & portion control are key to sustained diet compliance.

Determine Your Goals and Formulate a Plan of Action

Establish your reasoning or your “why” for wanting to start your fitness journey.  Examples may include your clothes not fitting like they once did, an overall lack of energy, and wanting to feel more confident. It is important to write this down or make note of it somewhere so that you can reflect on it at a later date when motivation/desire are not there.

Make sure that you write down goals and make them S.M.A.R.T. goals. All this means is that they are sustainable, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based.

Something that may also help is to print off or keep a calendar on your phone or computer to help you stay on track one day at a time. 

Following a program or training routine can also be of major help when it comes to sticking to your plan of action. The idea of deciding what to do each time you step foot in the gym can seem daunting to most and having someone else determining this for you takes the guess-work out of it.

Play the Long Game

You need to understand that your fitness journey is a lifelong commitment and the sooner you acknowledge this, the more successful and enjoyable it will be.

Consistency is key and what you do most of the time matters much more than your best and worst specific instances along the way.

It is important to remain patient and to understand that you will not see results overnight. The “toilet paper roll” analogy is a great reference for this notion. If each day represents one sheet of toilet paper, it is hard to notice the effect of tearing just one sheet. However, over time you will notice after stacking good day after good day that the roll of toilet paper has dwindled to just the roll itself.

If you walked five miles into the forest, you have to walk five miles back out. What this means is that you cannot undo years of poor nutrition and a lack of training in a week, two weeks, or even a month. Give yourself some grace!

Tame Your Expectations to Start

 Let go of this idea that you are going to somehow be immediately advanced in terms of your strength and physique.

The people you see on Instagram tossing around an inhuman amount of weight and/or looking chiseled beyond comprehension, it took them years to get to that point.

It is okay and even expected to be a beginner to start. Rome was not built in a day, so do not expect your goals to be achieved in one day either.

Understand that you will have bad days and potentially weeks from time to time. It is unrealistic to expect things to always go as planned. Progress will not be linear.

Our Recommendations

The following is our recommendation for starting out if you are in need of assistance and are in essence starting from square one:

• 50 oz of water a day
• One 10-15 min walk 5x a week
• One fist-sized portion of protein at every meal
• One serving of fruit and veggies a day
• Prioritize sleep by aiming for at least 7 hours a night

How to progress the above recommendations if you have achieved them:

• 64-80 oz of water a day
• 10-15 min walk every day
• Workout 2-3 times a week
• 0.5-0.7g of protein per pound of bodyweight a day
• 2-3 servings of fruit and veggies a day
• Aim for 7-8 hours of sleep a night

We hope you found this helpful and we are always here to further assist you! Never hesitate to reach out!

Our programs & guides: bodyfitbalance.com

For nutrition assistance email Bailey: Bailey@bodyfitbalance.com

For training assistance email Zach: Zach@bodyfitbalance.com

Best,

Bailey & Zach

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