Living through a global pandemic has made many of us look at our overall health and wellbeing. We don’t want to become sick and we need to have a healthy lifestyle to achieve this. We want to live full, happy and healthy lives. Of course, our bodies can have a big impact on this. The healthier our body, generally speaking, the more we can do and the less we will be hold back from the activities that we want to take part in. It can also give us better chances of living longer and avoiding disease or other illness. So, what can you do to lead a healthier life in general? Well, there are countless changes that you can make to your lifestyle to achieve this, but for now, let’s start out with a few key areas!
Manage Your Calorie Consumption
Everyone knows that we need to have a healthy, balanced diet to lead a healthy lifestyle. This is something that any good doctor or dietitian will be able to tell you. Of course, when it comes to maintaining a healthy balanced diet, you’re going to have to keep an eye on your calorie consumption. There are a recommended number of calories that every person should eat each day. This number varies according to factors such as your sex, age and activity levels. Put simply, calories are a unit of measurement for the energy that different foods provide us with. Different people use and require different amounts of energy, so they need to eat different amounts of calories. If you are a healthy weight, you can maintain this weight by following the information in the quick guide below. This should give you a good idea of how many calories you should be consuming on a daily basis:
- Children aged 2 to 8 – 1000 to 1400 calories
- Girls aged 9 to 13 – 1400 to 1600 calories
- Boys aged 9 to 13 – 1600 to 2000 calories
- Active women aged 14 to 30 – 2400 calories
- Sedentary women aged 14 to 30 – 1800 to 2000 calories
- Active men aged 14 to 30 – 2800 to 3200 calories
- Sedentary men aged 14 to 30 – 2000 to 2600 calories
- Active adults over 30 – 2000 to 3000 calories
- Sedentary adults over 30 – 1600 to 2400 calories
Of course, if you are not a healthy weight, you may need to eat a different number of calories to hit your health goals. If you are underweight, you may need to consume more. If you are overweight, you may need to consume less. It’s recommended that you consult a doctor who will be able to take your BMI and look at your overall health. They can then advise you on how many calories a day you should be eating. Please be aware that BMI isn’t always the best way of determining overall health, so visiting a doctor is essential. If you have a lot of muscle mass, for example, your BMI may show as obese but you don’t actually need to lose weight.
Ensure Your Diet is Balanced
Next, you need to make sure that the calories you’re consuming are made up of balanced foods. This means no fad diets that unnecessarily cut out specific food groups, or encourage you to simply have milkshakes and other products for a specific period of time. Instead, just make sure you’re getting everything in moderation. Choose foods from all of the food groups in the right proportions. This will ensure that your body gets the fuel it needs, as well as all of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients it requires to function at full capacity. Of course, some of us find it difficult to get all of the nutrients we need from our diet alone, perhaps due to restrained dietary preferences such as vegetarianism or veganism. Perhaps you simply don’t enjoy specific foods that are good sources of certain nutrients. In cases like this, you should consider supplements. These will incorporate the nutrients you need into your diet easily. You can Learn More Here!
Exercise
Exercise is another essential for a healthy lifestyle. It’s recommended that the average adult get one hundred and fifty minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week, or seventy five minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise a week. This helps to keep your body fit and comes with benefits ranging from improving cardiovascular health, increasing stamina, building strength, encouraging flexibility, helping with balance and much more! A big issue with exercise is that many people try to force themselves into common forms of exercise that they might not enjoy. If you find a form of exercise that you enjoy, you won’t see this task as a chore and will happily keep fit and healthy by your own choice! Here are a few ideas below to get you started!
The Gym
One of the most popular places to exercise is the gym. This isn’t too surprising. It provides you with a safe, secure and sheltered environment to work out in. You don’t have to worry about rain, wind, excess sun or other elements. You can work out at any time of the day or night and feel comfortable, as you are only surrounded by other members and have staff and CCTV for protection. Plus, in the gym, you will have access to all sorts of equipment that can help you to achieve your fitness goals!
Walking, Jogging or Running
A simple and completely free option is to walk, jog or run. You can do this in any area – you simply head out of the door and go! For an enjoyable experience, why not run around a nice area like a park or a lake?
Swimming
Not only is swimming a valuable life skill, but it’s great for your overall health and wellbeing too. It’s a great complete body workout and is low impact so it is gentle on the joints.
Of course, there are many other things you could do that will lead to a healthy lifestyle. But the ideas listed above will help to get you off to an amazing start!
