What is your number one health tip?

If you could share just one tip for getting healthy, what would it be?

For me, it was all about education. I started surfing web sites about health, subscribed to Muscle and Fitness magazine, (my favorite) and bought some good books.

Once I understood this wasn’t rocket science, but this was something I could actually do, I started exercising and haven’t stopped since. I feel better, have seen changes, etc, etc, but the real change for getting healthy came with educating myself. Granted I still need to get my food plan under control, but for the first time in my life I’m exercising 3 times a week, intensively, without fail.

One thing that has always helped me is just drinking more water. I have cut out soda completely, but even without doing that drinking a lot of water can really help you get healthier.

The biggest tip I could tell anyone for getting into shape is to (research the various ones) enroll in a martial arts class. It’s really the best way to get into shape as you have a whole class who is pushing with you and an instructor who (hopefully) throws ridiculous repetitions of exercises at you and, ultimately, makes you realize you are more than capable of doing what you think you can not. Oh, and you become a weapon too. Almost forgot that.

Push yourself and keep pushing until you start achieving. That’s my big tip. Nothing of value comes easily.
For me it was being told – by a surgeon after a hernia operation – that I needed to lose a few pounds. From that point I realised it was down to me and only me to sort myself out.
Pretty much like JuryDuty posted – I did similar.

All down to self-motivation – very difficult sometimes without someone to spur you on!

“If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”
Although originally said of business practices it also applies to nutrition and exercise: my food scale, tape measure, body scale, progress pics, and exercise log come together on Gyminee along with all the other info and tips from other websites are truly lifesavers. Know out what your challenges are and learn how to measure their effect on your life and then act steadily to direct change in a positive direction.

Every morning, when I wake up I say: Persistence pays off… That keeps me up to workout. This site also, is a great motivational reason to keep up, seeing results on a chart and compare your inputs for multiple data, gives a whole different meaning to body tracking and working out your fullness. Thanks a lot, I love it.

Set small goals that work towards the larger goal: being healthy. By setting small goals and tracking your progress, you’ll better be able to achieve them. Setting and reaching these small, attainable goals help with motivation and keep you heading in the right direction.

Further, take it minute by minute. If you fail or make a bad decision, it’s in the past. Drop it… Live in the moment while being fully aware of the present.

Drink lots of water

The enemy of a great plan is a perfect plan. Your workout might not be perfect; your diet might not be perfect. But skipping a few days or having a cheesesteak are not a reason to give up and abandon your plan.

The key is to keep working at it every day, and wake up each morning and rededicate yourself to your plan and improving your health. Something is better than nothing.

yeah kaust – clearly we are on the same page

STOP SMOKING!!

Exercise! Get out and do something, rollerskate, walk, run, anything but get active.

CONSISTENCY

“steadfast adherence to principles, course, form, etc.”

NEVER missing a workout

NEVER screwing up your diet for long periods of time

ALWAYS giving 100% on every rep and every set

ALWAYS using good form

ALWAYS keeping workout logs and tracking progress

ALWAYS striving for progressive overload

ALWAYS eating healthy

ALWAYS getting enough water…

STAY CONSISTENT
Consistency is not a pizza topping folks :)

ditch the meat. it causes cancer, makes you obese, contains germs and disease, and is linked to other scary health issues like alzheimers. plus it’s bad for the environment.

@soliloquy, while there are clearly problems with the animal proteins coming out of factory farms. A pure vegetarian diet is not without its own challenges and health concerns for a species that has clearly evolved as an omnivore.

While over consumption of animal protein has been linked to cancer, over consumption of certain plants has also been linked to colon and other types of cancer, and while it was unheard of a decade ago vegetables and fruits now also carry the risk of E. Coli. Additionally there is research around health concerns with high intake of plant estrogens like those found in soy. Factory and irresponsible farming of any type has destroyed the environment and there are plenty of examples where agricultural has destroyed ecosystems.

Of course two wrongs do not make a right, but to imply that vegetarianism is the only healthy and environmentally responsible approach to putting nutrition in one’s body is no more accurate than asserting all vegetarians are pasty malnourished, hemp wearing radicals.

@soliloquy while I appreciate, support and actually applaud the lifestyle and nutritional choices you have made, a blanket statement that meat makes you obese is simply false, there is peer reviewed research that shows whey based proteins are more effective in building muscle and reducing fat than soy based protein, this effect is even more pronounced in males. It is also possible to become or remain obese on a pure vegetarian diet by making the wrong food choices, just as it is with poor choices on an omnivore diet.

ditch the meat. it causes cancer, makes you obese, contains germs and disease, and is linked to other scary health issues like alzheimers. plus it’s bad for the environment.

Edit: I will refrain…

A quote that always helps me:

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”

Though education definitely helps when it comes to fitness, as @JuryDuty said above :)

(ditch the meat. it causes cancer, makes you obese, contains germs and disease, and is linked to other scary health issues like alzheimers. plus it’s bad for the environment.)

(Edit: I will refrain…)

I will refrain from agreeing with whatever it was that you posted.

Buy nuts in the shell. They’re more satisfying this way because it takes longer to eat a serving.

Read the labels, you’ll be surprised about how much energy there is in some candy.

Second on that read the labels – especially the sodium – eegads!!

Exercise every day – even if its moderate style, it will keep you mind and body in sync and supple.

Track your results/exercises! Keep a log or some way to let yourself know how good/bad you are doing (gyminee). The biggest problem I had in the past with exercising was not getting any positives feedback. I would exercise and feel like I was getting any better or losing weight. Eventually I would lose motivation and drop the routine.

But with gyminee, it allows me to monitor just about everything. I can easily keep track of food, exercises, run times, distances, etc. That way you can see your progression and it makes you feel rewarded for the effort you put in. Even in certain areas where you have plateaued (sp?) you can see positives in other areas to motivate you.

You got that right stansj, motiviation is key.