Why You Should Consider the Tortoise Approach to Getting Healthy

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In this article I will explain why you should consider using the tortoise approach to getting healthy. I will explain what I mean by the tortoise approach. Then I will show you how this approach can be used to help you change your eating and exercise habits easily and permanently.

So what do I mean by the tortoise approach? Well, you've probably twigged that I'm referring to the story of the tortoise and the hare and how the tortoise wins by being slow and steady. The hare sets off at a fast pace but then stops and then when he gets going again it's too late. This is where I diverge from the story as I maintain that not only does the tortoise win the race but that the hare is unlikely to reach the finishing line.

So let me translate that into the context of getting fit and healthy so that you understand why I'm advocating that you use the tortoise approach. The hare is the person who, for example, decides to start an exercise programme, maybe following the latest celebrity fitness DVD, and really gives it their all for the first few days, maybe even a few weeks. But then your enthusiasm wanes and you begin to do it less often and/or for short periods until eventually you stop altogether. This can happen because of the everyday challenges of life like having to work extra hours to meet a deadline at work or you get ill or you just don't enjoy it and can't force yourself to keep going. Either way you feel bad, guilty even but the thought of pushing yourself to get back into it is not appealing and so you find reasons not to do so until the pain of being unfit gets so extreme that you start this process again.

Now let's look at the tortoise. The tortoise, in contrast, is the person who commits to a long term programme, indeed a lifelong programme, of slowly, gently, gradually building up their fitness level, maintaining it and adjusting it to fit the changing circumstances of their life. They start with a small, easily achieveable step of, for example, a 5 minute walk every day and each week increase the time and/or the speed of their walk until they reach the level of fitness they are aiming for. Then they focus on maintaining that level until it has become a natural and automatic part of their life. They feel good about themselves from day 1 and almost effortlessly transform their health once and for all.

Which route to health sounds more appealing to you?

By the way do you want more information about getting healthy if so download my brand new free ebook, Dawn's Top 7 Myths of Health and Weight Loss here: http://www.healthyhabits4life.co.uk/

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How to Use a Kaizen Approach to Great Health

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In this article I'm going to explain what Kaizen is. Then I'll show you how to apply a Kaizen approach to getting great health, energy and fitness and feeling and looking fabulous.

So what is Kaizen? Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning improvement, a change for the better. Specifically Kaizen is about using small steps to achieve major changes and improvements. It's an approach that has been used for years by companies like Toyota to maximise efficiency and profits and minimise problems and faults. The opposite technique is innovation which is to take big steps to achieve the same changes. In terms of your health and well-being, most diets are based on innovation - making immediate and large changes to your habits.

Using a Kaizen approach to achieving your desired level of health involves starting with small, barely noticeable changes. This is successful because it does not result in the usual resistance to change. For example, compare deciding to eliminate chocolate from your diet completely starting today with removing a small piece of the chocolate bar and throwing it away and then eating the rest, then when you've got used to that increasing the amount you throw away until you no longer have the desire to eat chocolate on a regular basis. Which would you find easiest to do? Whenever we try to make big changes it requires a lot of effort and willpower to keep going in the initial stages and most people don't stick it out long enough to break through into the stage when it because much easier. The Kaizen approach avoids all that struggle and the changes seem almost ridiculously easy and so you are so much more likely to keep them up.

So decide what long term healthy habits you want to adopt and then break them down into medium term steps and continue to break them down until you have something really easy to do to start with. Don't be in too much of a hurry to increase the steps until the first step has become pretty much automatic - this approach does require patience. We'd all like results overnight but we know realistically this isn't feasible and certainly not sustainable. Also consider how long you have spent to date working on losing weight, getting fit, etc without lasting success. Would it not be better to take a year or two to work up to the healthy lifestyle you want and have confidence that it would last you a lifetime?

By the way do you want more information about getting healthy if so download my brand new free ebook, Dawn's Top 7 Myths of Health and Weight Loss here: http://www.healthyhabits4life.co.uk/

View the original article here