What's effective in reaching/maintaining healthy lifestyle?

mashame
mashame Posts: 6
edited September 2024 in Introduce Yourself
I'm starting med school in a few weeks and really want to find out how to be an effective advocate of a healthy lifestyle. Please take a look at a few open-ended questions:

1. What does a healthy lifestyle mean to you? Please consider:
-Food
-Exercise
-Things you can't measure but mean just as much

2. Why is a healthy lifestyle important to you?

3. Do you ever choose not adhere to this lifestyle and why? What are the challenges of this lifestyle?

4. What do you do to recover/ resume a healthy lifestyle?

5. How do you maintain a healthy lifestyle long term? Tools? People?

Thank you so much for your responses!

I'm interested in investigating ways to connect communities like this one to medical professionals. This way, people and their nurses/doctors etc would be able to interact regularly to help all of us maintain healthy lifestyles. The goals behind this idea:

-Better quality of life
-Preventing illness
-Building relationships between people to support each others' healthy lifestyles
-Personal and comprehensive medical profiles to make medical care more effective when it's needed

Replies

  • christine24t
    christine24t Posts: 6,063 Member
    1. What does a healthy lifestyle mean to you?
    A healthy lifestyle to me means eating healthy the majority of the time (or at least attempting to - I have more days than not where I struggle), exercising fairly often, and having a healthy state of mind. It means feeling good about yourself and your body. You want to be confident.

    2. Why is a healthy lifestyle important to you?
    A healthy lifestyle is important to me because all of my life, I've been overweight/obese. I'm only 21, so that means I've struggled with this since I was a kid. I've had times where I was made fun of, left out of activities, been embarrassed of myself, and missed dating opportunities that other kids my age have had because of my weight. I want to be someone that is healthy and happy. I thought I was happy before, but now that I am looking better I'm so much more happy and confident! I want to be at a healthy weight, and not be overweight anymore.


    3. Do you ever choose not adhere to this lifestyle and why? What are the challenges of this lifestyle?
    Yes, I make conscious decisions not to adhere to the lifestyle. It's easy to eat healthy when it's just you. But when you go out to dinner or drinks with friends, you can't sit there and not eat or drink anything. You can't turn down the dinner your mom just made. But when I have bad days, I try to get out of them. Last week, I struggled a lot. This week is already much better for me. You go through phases of just wanting to eat crap and not exercise, but it goes away when you realize that you're gaining weight and not feeling as good as you used to.
    The challenges - it's not easy. You have to think about what you're eating, measure out serving sizes, recognize when you're eating just to eat, tell yourself to stop eating. It's much easier to be unhealthy, but you don't get the rewards of being healthy.

    4. What do you do to recover/ resume a healthy lifestyle?
    When I slip, I just get right back on track!

    5. How do you maintain a healthy lifestyle long term? Tools? People?
    People - family support, friend support.
    Tools - MFP is so helpful. The gym, nutrition labels.
  • Kalrez
    Kalrez Posts: 655 Member
    1. Complicated. Very complicated.

    2. I want to look good and feel good. I want to have the energy to do whatever I want. I want to have the physical ability to go run through a park if I want to. I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror and not go "ugh!" I want to feel strong and powerful and in control. I want to feel as if I'm honoring my body by giving it the best I can.

    3. It's not easy. There are a lot of people who will try to convince you not to change. You even try to convince yourself not to change too. It's easier to just sit back and not think about what's going on. It's a lot harder to be proactive about your life, your food, and your activities.

    4. You just have to force yourself to take those first few steps. After I've gone a day or two without exercising, it becomes easier and easier to keep skipping it. In order to get myself back into the routine, I just have to make myself get up and do it. Stop distracting myself with the internet, stop pretending to be busy with nonsense. Just get up and get moving.

    5. Long-term, I think you make changes that you can live with. If you go nuts and tell yourself that you're only going to eat lettuce until you get to your goal weight, that might get you there. But what happens when you reach your goal? You can't live on lettuce forever. Maybe the small changes take longer to make a difference, but if it's something that you can live with, then it's okay. I see myself using MFP or another calorie-counting device for years to come - until I am comfortable with portion sizes and until my body relearns how to not want 4500 cal a day.
  • emmerrs
    emmerrs Posts: 158 Member
    1. What does a healthy lifestyle mean to you?

    Living in a way that promotes me living longer, preventing chronic disease and generally feeling well and having energy. For me that means keeping my body in good cardiovascular shape, keeping my muscles strong and keeping my body energized with good food.

    2. Why is a healthy lifestyle important to you?
    I want to live forever, or at the very least live well until the time comes that I am to die.

    3. Do you ever choose not adhere to this lifestyle and why? What are the challenges of this lifestyle?
    Sometimes I will purposefully indulge in high fat/sugary foods that have little nutritional value as well as alcohol, because of social conventions and because it tastes good. Some challenges are: time, money, lack of energy/motivation, negative influences.

    4. What do you do to recover/ resume a healthy lifestyle?
    Try to forgive and forget, do the right thing as often as you can and not fret about the times you cant.

    5. How do you maintain a healthy lifestyle long term? Tools? People?
    Goal setting, having moral support whether friends online or in person, tracking like we do here.
  • W0zzie
    W0zzie Posts: 262 Member
    1. What does a healthy lifestyle mean to you? Please consider:
    Food: Controlling your energy intake appropriate to your activity level "and" in general abide by rules of good nutrition. For me that means trying to follow at least a 80/20 rule - eat sound, wholesome, nutritional food 80% of the time or more. Plus water! Everyone may be different but I find the recommended 8 glasses (250ml) to be about right. Now that I'm accustomed to it, I really miss it if I shortchange that on any day.
    Exercise: Minimum of 5 x 30min sessions of something active a week. That might not sound like a lot but for a middle aged sedentary office worker it seems to be a good balance. And in reality I think I average about 1hr a day, 5 days a week.
    Other: Attitude; if you "think" you can't do it; you're right! If you "think" you can do it; you're over half way there.

    2. Why is a healthy lifestyle important to you?
    Feel good including, I know it's vain, but feeling good because you look good. Be a role model and guide to struggling family members particulary my eldest Son. To be able to "enjoy" my later years of life. Have more energy, sleep better and suffer less illness.

    3. Do you ever choose not adhere to this lifestyle and why? What are the challenges of this lifestyle?
    Yes; weekends are a struggle sometimes because it is not routine. Socialising and being around family & friends who are not onboard is quite a struggle. A big challenge, at least in Australia, is the lack of support by food outlets - many restaurants do not provide nutritional information and it is quite often those with the better choices that don't; go figure.

    4. What do you do to recover/ resume a healthy lifestyle?
    Don't dwell on mistakes; live each day as a new one; don't see this as a diet but as a lifestyle. Make sure you have a network of friends on MFP or other support network that will reach out to you if you drop out of sight.

    5. How do you maintain a healthy lifestyle long term? Tools? People?
    Hold the attitude that it "is" a lifestyle and not a diet. As such don't deprive yourself of all comforts - if you want a cookie, chocolate, slice of cake or alcoholic beverage - have one. But have the recommended portion and make them the exception not the rule.
    People - without a doubt a network such as MFP plus close family - having your loved ones onboard under your roof makes a big difference.
    Tools: for me; MFP tracking tools; a calorie controlled & nutritionally sound main meal source be it your own or a provider (in Aus I use Lite & Easy meals for night meals and winter lunches); for exercise I walk and use XBOX Kinect. I have found Kinect to be groundbreaking to get and keep me active. It is fun, which for exercise, is more than half the battle in maintaining.
  • mashame
    mashame Posts: 6
    Wow thank you all so much for your responses! This is awesome.
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