Investing time, thought and energy in maintaining a healthy lifestyle is one of the best gifts we can give ourselves. Many direct and indirect parameters influence and affect the quality of our life and identifying them to suit our goals means half the job done. Just like day follows night, exercise and nutrition follow each other while allowing us space to indulge and enjoy the beautiful hues of dawn and dusk through cheat and break days. Works well, yes?
My weight loss had till now followed fluctuations leading to much demotivation. However, in the last three years, I’ve not only consistently lost weight but also felt positive, energetic, and confident. Complete and balanced nutrition has provided me with the strength to push myself and boost immunity to fight back strongly. Exercise and nutrition for immunity and strength are something I always insist upon. Sharing some personally tried and tested pointers that you too can incorporate in your life.
Align fitness goals with nutrition
Your fitness goals decide your nutrition needs. For example, if want to bulk up, your diet needs a good amount of protein. Strength training, cardio, or aerobics are strenuous exercises that demand energy. How long you train and how often influence the amount of daily nutrition you need. Alternatively, for weight gain or weight loss along with the right food, the right quantity must also be consumed. Hence, your diet must provide you with balanced nutrition that aligns with your fitness goals.
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Focus on quality of diet
Food trends change every day. Also, we often come across fancy diets and ingredients that promise to affect immediate health changes. The truth couldn’t be further away! Every food group has a unique utility and it’s unwise to cut anything off from your diet completely. Practice moderation and have a balanced diet with proteins, good fat, carbohydrates, calcium, vitamins, and minerals, etc every day. This will benefit not just your health but your sleep, skin and hair too.
Think long term, avoid quick fixes
Let’s get this straight; you’re going to eat as long as you live. While minor tweaks for changing fitness goals are admissible, you cannot force yourself to follow unrealistic meal plans. Instead, go for definite but sustainable exercise and nutrition plans that allow flexibility in food choices and give you the luxury to experiment and indulge. Keeping your food and workout interesting by introducing novelty will help focus on new ingredients and target different sets of muscles. Repetition can hamper or slow down your progress.
Understand your body structure
Like it or not, genetics play a big role in determining your metabolism, frame size, and body response. What works for others may or may not work for you.[1] Make peace with the fact that a broad frame won’t make you look slim even at an ideal weight or doing crunches every day doesn’t guarantee Brad Pitt-like abs. Understand and respect your body’s tendencies and work on getting better. Additionally, avoid the temptation of buying products only because they’re endorsed by your favourite celebrity. Consult an expert instead.
Don’t be a slave to numbers
Whether it is the dreaded weighing machine, BMI ratio, or a fitness band that counts every step we take or miss, we’re surrounded by numbers. While they’re a good way to track your progress, don’t let them rule your lives for the simple reason that they aren’t exhaustive. BMI doesn’t show your fat percentage or distribution, weight can plateau beyond a certain point and well, a particular number of steps every day don’t include Yogasans or other breathing exercises.[2] Meet your goals but don’t fret too much over missed ascertainable targets. You’ll get there!
Exercise and nutrition work in tandem to make you stronger from within. Immunity can easily be developed over time with the right food and a regular fitness regime. With complete and balanced nutrition, you can strengthen your bones and muscles as you age plus also boost your immunity. I trust Ensure as a complete and balanced nutrition partner in providing me 32 essential nutrients that #EnsureStrongerInsideOut.[3]
Your lifestyle largely sways the way you look, feel and conduct yourself. Remember, it all begins with one small step in the right direction!
[1] https://thesushantkumar.com/2020/08/19/relationship-between-nutrition-exercise-the-genetic-effect/
[2] https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/leading-health-indicators/2020-lhi-topics/Nutrition-Physical-Activity-and-Obesity
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Fantastic post, Varsha. You have rightly shared the do’s and don’ts for a healthy lifestyle. We should certainly not get into numbers as it creates anxiety which actually hampers weight loss process. And of course complete balanced nutrition holds the key. It should be a lifestyle choice and not something which one imbibes just to lose weight for couples of months.
Immunity has become quite essential, especially in these testing times. Exercise and diet is important too, especially when we spend most of our hours glued to our laptops with little or no movement at all! This was a very informative post. Thanks for sharing.
Truly , we focus too much on numbers in our wearable tech while how we feel inside out is the real parameter to judge our strength level
I’ve been going through a rough patch of health recently… Been taking Ensure myself to make up for the losses of nutrients
The last three pointers are extremely important. Short term fixes can give short term results. But by carefully understanding ur body’s need and requirements and then staying on track with give long term results.
Every pointer is truly bang on Varsha. To build a healthy body and a healthy mind one need both exercise and nutrition in accurate proportion.
Great pointers Varsha and I am glad you talked about quick fixes here. many people tend to adopt that route that ultimately lead to no progress and even may cause depression and other mental health issues. healthy lifestyle is all about eating healthy and doing regular exercise with consistency. there is no quick fix or short cut for this,
I totally agree with you when you emphasize on long term changes instead of quick fixes. Adding Ensure to my diet has helped me too
Bang on .. totally agree with you . Both workout and good food is equally important to stay fit , healthy , strong and immune
Yes I agree, exercise and nutrition should go hand in hand if you want to see positive outcome. And more over it’s a game of consistency ..which is applicable in anything you do in life.. If something has been done with decipline and dedication result ought to come. Your posts are always motivating.
Loved reading this and the suggestions provided by you can be really helpful for many who try yo fight the bodyweight issues and wonder from where to get ideal source of nutrition and strength.
I agree that proper exercise and healthy diet is actually important to maintain a healthy body, but you rightly said to know your body structure and other parameters and stick to the lifestyle.
Agree with you Varsha, both exercise and good food are the key to maintain good health and immunity. This was a nice read.
Fitness should be viewed as a long term goal and not as a passing fad. It is something that needs to be incorporated into our lifestyles. Good exercise with a healthy diet is so important for improving our quality of life.
Every pointer shared here hold more value because those who know you are aware that these were the stepping stones of your journey towards better health and your commendable weight loss, Varsha. Yes, Ensure has been an able companion too, helping you with your strength and Immunity.
Fitness should be include in lifestyle as a long term goal . Staying fit and healthy is the need of the hour . Including this healthy diet is also important.
Prioritizing our health and immunity is the need of the hour. As you said focusing on just one won’t work, to be healthy, one has to pay attention to exercise and nutrition both 🙂
Rightly said, our focus should not be on just numbers. We should know and understand our body and focus on a healthy way of life.
Understanding body structure and not just going after the numbers is actually very important for one to have a great immunity. And Exercise and nutrition do support a lot in building the defense wall in body.
It’s important to build up the immunity with a healthy diet. You said it right that both should balance well equally.
Absolutely agree with you that nutrition alone cannot be of use unless we also balance with good amount of exercise. I tried to loose wieght by skipping on the meals but it back fired on me. I really loved how you have shared all the details here.