New Year 2022: Set these healthy goals for a lifetime!

The New Year is around the corner which involuntarily triggers our brain to set resolutions for the new year. More often than not these resolutions are way too farfetched to become reality. Disha Gulati, a yoga instructor and nutritionist, presents you with a guide to creating an effective and achievable list of fitness goals.

Image: Prasanth Inturi, Jill Wellington, Mirian Alonso

There are tonnes of fitness advice out there which makes it easy to lose sight of the big picture. A typical fitness journey goes like this. Once you have decided to stay fit, you read about it, you follow the right people on Instagram for motivation, and are willing to buy an expensive gym membership. But it is not going to happen until you actually put in the required effort. Now the question arises what, when and where to put in the effort? This is where fitness goals come in. Disha Gulati, a yoga instructor and nutritionist, suggests some effective points to keep in mind when setting your fitness goals, not just for the new year, but for a lifetime!

Image: Pavel Danilyuk

Stay Curious About Your Body: When we are curious about ourselves, we learn our strengths and weaknesses. This in turn helps us to make informed and inclusive decisions around self-growth. The same goes for our bodies. So, start being curious about it. Journal minute details like sleep, mood swings, food allergies, bloating, weight, etc. to understand your body better. Since each body is different and unique, what works for you, might not work for your friend. Time to get your curious cat mode on!

Image: Nathan Cowley

Exercise, Endorphins, and Euphoria: When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins. Also called happy hormones, endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain. Thus, providing a positive and energizing outlook on life. Exercise is, also, good for overall physical and mental health, improving sleep, overall energy levels, muscle strength and reducing stress, body fat and blood pressure. Daily spending roughly 20 minutes to 30 minutes are more than enough to maintain overall general fitness. It will be another case entirely if your fitness goals are more elaborate or specific. One thing to take note of here is that whether you invest 20-30 minutes or an hour into your workout, make sure it is a quality workout. It is quality over quantity here!

Image: Miriam Alonso

Join the early morning club: Becoming an early riser does have a plethora of benefits. Waking up early makes you start your day fresh and happy. You feel more energetic and take less time to do a task. You have a bunch of hours that can be totally for yourself and not anything else. You can utilize it by working out, journaling your thoughts or meditating. All effective ways to improve self-growth. Another very significant benefit of waking up early is reduced stress levels. Waking up early helps you in removing rush in the morning, and bringing positivity throughout the day.

Image: Jill Willington

Nutrition is the key: ‘We workout so that we can eat anything.’ This is a common argument I hear. But it cannot be denied that nutrition does have an important role to play when it is about how we feel. Eating balanced, healthy meals not just adds years to your life but plays a big role in your everyday fitness and productivity. Making even small changes in lifestyle like adding a portion of greens and protein in your diet can make a big difference in your mood, energy levels, and even outlook towards life.

Image: Anna Shvets

It all starts in the mind: Stress is known to adversely affect our well-being, making it difficult to stay fit. It also has a significant impact on our ability to lose weight maintain a healthy weight. You might be doing everything right to attain your fitness goals, but if there is stress, it can lead to weight gain, muscle tension, sleep issues and fatigue. Exercising has been proven to be powerful medicine for stress and anxiety. Exercise often proves to beat mental health issues and at the same time, helps in improving your energy levels. Make sure you, also, take out some time for breathwork, meditation and therapy to help your mind feel at ease. An investment in one’s mental health proves very beneficial in the long run.

Image: Andrea Piacquodio

Take a good night’s sleep: A good night’s sleep goes hand in hand with eating healthy and exercising when it comes to our overall well-being. Poor sleep is strongly linked to weight gain, increased risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, anxiety, inflammation and a compromised immune response. So, make sure you are getting eight hours of sound sleep to maintain your body’s many vital functions. Major restorative functions in the body such as tissue repair, muscle growth, and protein synthesis occur almost exclusively during sleep.

Image: Prasanth Inturi

Start afresh every day: While we are talking about fitness goals for 2022 in this article, it is not necessary that you need to wait for the new year to start putting them into action. Every day is an opportunity to start afresh.