Fit for Love Part 5: The Game Plan

By Ashley McIlwain

There is never enough time to do all the things you want or need to do in a day, week, month, or year. There never will be. You can’t find time; you make time. That’s true for healthy living too.

The best thing you and your spouse can do is sit down together and come up with a game plan. How are you going to get your lives on track with health and fitness? Identify your goals, come up with a plan, and stick to it! It’s like the saying goes that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

Goals

Take some time to think through and research what some realistic goals are for you and your spouse. Is it to lose a certain percentage of your weight, tone up, and/or get fit? It’s important to think through what it would mean for you to get healthy and feel good about yourself. That goal will help you keep your eyes on the prize in the times where a lack of motivation and discouragement come knocking.

In setting a goal, make sure that it’s realistic and healthy. Remember that this isn’t about being gaunt and bringing harm to yourself in search of unrealistic aesthetic expectations. It’s just the opposite – take care of yourself. Perhaps you want to have a primary goal and a few secondary goals to accompany it that you can strive for along the way to reaching your ultimate goal. For example, you might want to lose ten percent of your weight, but along the way you would also like to run a 5K and a 10K. Come up with whatever it is that you feel is attainable and healthy to then be able to figure out the logistics of how you want to make that happen.

The Plan

After you and your spouse have identified what it is you hope to achieve in your personal fitness and health, it’s time to come up with a plan of attack. Your plan should be specific to ensure you stay on track, especially if you have never done something like this before. While your plan should be clear and detailed, make sure that it’s realistic and flexible because you want it to be attainable and something you will stick to.

When coming up with a plan, there are a few things you will want to make sure to include:

  • Measurements – Take your initial measurements so you can track your progress. You will want to jot down your initial weight as well as some measurements of areas like your waste and hips. Sometimes you may not see huge weight loss, but you will drop inches. As you go along, figure out how often you would like to measure yourself. For example, I weigh myself every morning, but I only take my other measurements once a month.
  • Keep Track – Figure out a system for keeping track of your daily food intake including the calorie information as well as your exercise. This will ensure you are in your daily allowances, and it can also be a great way to reflect upon the progress you have made with your fitness and nutrition. There are a lot of smart phone applications out there that can do all of this for you. Personally I use Runkeeper to track my running and walking (distance, pace, calories burned, etc.), but then I plug that information along with all of my food into the app My Fitness Pal. Knowing what you are eating and drinking every day along with how many calories you are burning is absolutely key to meeting your goals.
  • Schedule – With the chaos of life, coming up with a schedule is your best friend. One of the things I do is plan out what days I want to exercise and what types of exercise I want to do. I also plan out my meals two weeks in advance so that I can take the time to thoughtfully put together healthy meals. Rushed meal and food decisions are usually poor ones. The other thing I like to schedule out are upcoming trips or special occasions where I know that staying within my food parameters will be unlikely. In those situations I up my exercise and take extra caution with my meals before and after.

The specific plan for each person will vary, but it’s important to come up with one. It will keep you on track, show you your progress, and help orient you to your new approach to healthy living.

Reward

For an added source of motivation, you and your spouse can come up with a reward if you accomplish or meet your fitness/health goals. It can be big or small like a new outfit or a shopping spree. It might also be a collective or individual reward like a trip you both want to go on or a spa day for yourself. Whatever you decide, the reward should be something that will help you through the tough days where you want to give up.

Getting and living a healthy lifestyle is so important. It’s vital for you, your spouse, your marriage, and your children (if you have any). Taking care of yourself cannot be underestimated or downplayed. Not only can it mean a longer life but a higher quality one. Between feeling better about yourself, setting an example for your children or loves ones, and showing your spouse that you want to be attractive and healthy for him/her, a healthy lifestyle is a no brainer.

In case you missed them, check out the rest of the Fit for Love series:

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