How to start your fitness journey: The realistic way !

 In this ever changing world with the availability of a wide ocean of information at the click of a button, people have been affected for good and bad.

With respect to the topic of interest - fitness - the good part is people have got a mindset now that health is important and needs to be taken care of . The bad part being the information , the plans the steps are all there but the wisdom to apply when and what is getting complex. Added to that the internet definitely has made the human minds a bit lagged when it comes to the result curve. We want the results to be fast and effective and the same paves the way for clickbait articles, videos all telling us how to quickly fix your weight or gain muscles and everything else within 5,10 days or maximum a month.

In this article I am going to share with you not something which will reduce your waist size by 5 inches in a month nor add 5 kgs of muscle mass in 3 weeks. With my 7 plus years of being into fitness and understanding aspects of it along the journey I plan to just take the reader on to a journey which is doable but most importantly the goal in mind would be realistic.

When I started my fitness journey back in 2015 I had every problem which a normal person with a limited salary, unlimited ambitions, complete freedom and incomplete fun will relate to. Just for the context, was living alone independently on a salary of $3000 and was pretty much drinking every alternate day after doing a night shift. Th end result - height of 5'6 with a weight of 105 kgs. 

Cutting through to the main part , here is a simple breakdown of what the reader can approach at the very beginning of his/her fitness plan. Also, please bear in mind this piece of information is mostly related to people who do not have a workout history and just want to get started .

Write up

Believe it or not, writing your goals and putting that information is going to act wonders for your commitment. Not asking for a daily journal but just a piece of paper on which you can write your agenda with regards to fitness when your mind is screaming that this time the motivation is going to stay. So, just write it up and click a picture and put the same as your wallpaper (just an idea). Place  it somewhere where you see it everyday.

Expectations

Lets get things very clear at this point. The mental agenda is the strongest and hence clarity is required. If you are planning to go to the gym or do walks in a park. There will always be someone who is looking full jacked and has a superior physique. Here comes the catch ! You do not know their story, their struggles and their past and present so lets not get envied , disheartened or carried away. We are at the gym/park to get to our fitness journey (and the goal is to maintain it and feel good inside). Hence much like times we say to our parents "you wont understand". Talk the same to your mind which is getting carried away (if not you already have half the battle won).

Starting point

For the first week the entire focus should be on you enjoying. 

When I say this the hidden idea is your body is not used to the pain the suffering the physical and mental challenge that it will be suddenly exposed to and this is the point where after a week or two the motivation runs out since the mind can not cope up. 

Hence, make a weekly target of walking on the treadmill or in the park for 20 mins in the first week. And for those 20 mins, create a playlist and do think about the experience you will have while exploring the park/road or the gym. Do not treat it as something which demands pressurized effort from you. Also just plan to have this walk whenever you have time but skipping is not an option.

This will create the habit and will allow the body to get accustomed to the new added schedule you have introduced and will often look forward to it rather than finding a solid reason to avoid it.

Diet

The major mistake I see people doing is starting a workout and cutting the diet all at once. Just imagine your body to be a kid who is used to watching TV and eating chocolates - everyday.

Suddenly one day you decide to unplug the Tv and then refuse him the chocolate. What do you think will happen. Yes 1 out of 100 might adjust to it but 99 percent will definitely struggle. Most cases it will be quiet for a day or two but on the eventual day there will be an outburst.

Hence it is my request to the readers to just plainly ignore the diet part for the initial month. This also does not mean overeating. Just let the diet be as it is currently.

Discussions

Another very important aspect - where I personally failed. Let this be a secret decision of yours and try avoiding talking to friends about it. Thy are not wring at their place and they do want to help you. However they can not be in your shoes and will advise from what their perspective is ! This is many cases confuses the mind and one might go into a nutshell thinking this is not happening.

Patience

Last but not the least ! Always bear in mind this one line "Trust the process". Even back in school the lessons which are as basic as the alphabets we needed time to get accustomed with and then we moved on to words and sentences to writing letters to essays. What is so easy these days took you almost 5-6 years to master.

The same will happen on this journey as well, as with other things. With time you will definitely master this thing in life and this longer but efficient process will definitely create a pattern in your life which will impact your overall wellbeing .

So this was it for the very initial starting point for people planning to take control of their health. Lets do it for a week and drop a comment here so that I get motivated to write something for the next phase or week as the demand comes. Hope you found it an interesting read. Cheers !