One of the tough parts about trying to get back into healthy habits is that once you skip one thing you should be doing, you tend to skip the others too. A couple weeks ago, I managed to refocus by identifying the absolute most important things. Ironically, the most important one takes very little time – it just requires discipline.
I remember reading a blog post Dave Kennedy wrote after starting his fitness journey. His message was clear: if you’re not willing to track calories, you’re not serious. He wasn’t wrong. People often think tracking calories is a huge pain, but with apps like MyFitnessPal (I use the free version), it’s actually pretty simple.
Here’s what matters: even if you go over your daily calorie goal, the act of tracking itself is what’s important. It makes you less likely to snack mindlessly. Combined with making healthy snacks easily accessible and keeping junk food out of the house, tracking through an app makes a huge difference.
The next most important thing, based on research, is getting enough steps daily. While 10,000 steps is the common target, anything above 8,000-9,000 starts showing similar benefits.
A couple weeks ago, I shifted my mindset. Instead of feeling bad about not going to the gym, I focused on two things:
- Tracking calories daily (even if I go over)
- Getting my steps in
Tracking usually takes me a minute or less, just a couple times a day when I eat. It doesn’t need a huge time commitment – just discipline to get it done. This combination has me cautiously optimistic that I’m heading in the right direction with this refocused mentality.