Planning healthy meals and regular fitness sessions isn't hard once you know how to start. The government's dietary guidelines and physical activity guidelines are a good place to turn for basic recommendations to help you start out on the right track. Once you know what's recommended, you can plan your own strategy or turn to an online tracking service to help you keep it all together.
Dietary Guidelines
Whether you plan your own meals or rely on a diet service to do it for you, you should be familiar with the government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The guidelines tell you how many vitamins and minerals you need, the foods you'll find them in, as well as how much fat, sodium and cholesterol you should be ingesting. For example, a person eating 2,000 calories per day should ingest 2 cups of fruit, 2.5 cups of veggies, 3 oz. of whole grains and 3 cups of non-fat or low-fat dairy products. In terms of fat calories, you should limit them to between 20 and 35 percent of your total daily caloric intake, with saturated fats contributing little or nothing to that total.
Online Meal Planners
If it sounds intimidating to fit all those recommendations into a daily menu, don't worry --- online meal planners will help you put it all together. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute offers a menu planner It lets you choose the number of daily calories you're aiming for and helps you fill each meal with items from all the recommended food groups. You can also use the USDA MyPyramid interactive menu planner website that lets you plan meals for your whole family, save weekly menus and print out reports that tell you how well you're doing at making healthy choices.
Physical Activity Guidelines
The Center for Disease Control & Prevention offers baseline recommendations for your fitness regimen. They suggest adults aged 18 to 64 do strength training at least twice a week, along with 75 to 150 minutes of weekly aerobic activity. Runners and swimmers can clock fewer minutes than those engaged in moderate-intensity activities like walking.
Online Fitness Trackers
In addition to tracking your food choices, MyPyramid also offers a fitness tracker. You can enter each day's physical activity, and the system will tell you how much energy you burned, compare it against recommendations for your age and weight, and help you track your progress for up to a year.
Motivation Sources
According to a 2005 study published in the Annals of Family Medicine, people attempting to change unhealthy habits into healthy ones were most motivated by contact with a real person. From an initial doctor's consultation to encouraging phone calls, the study subjects felt more accountable after they discussed their goals with someone else. Use your friends and family as resources --- call when you feel discouraged or tempted to quit. Set up an appointment with your doctor to discuss your health and fitness goals. The more you make yourself accountable for smart choices, the more likely you are to succeed.
References
- Health: Dietary Guidelines for Americans
- National Heart Lung and Blood Institute: Menu Planner
- MyPyramid: Menu Planner
- CDC: How Much Physical Activity Do Adults Need?
- MyPyramid: MyPyramid Tracker
- PubMed Central: Minnesota Clinicians Motivating Health Improvement (MINIT) Study: Motivating Healthy Habits
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