Physical Therapy Today: A new year, a new you – Part I

We all want to live a healthier, happier, and longer life. What better time to renew our motivation than in the New Year 2015. Now, I am not talking about New Year’s resolutions, I am talking about true motivation to make the changes in your life that will cause permanent lifestyle changes leading you to that healthier, happier, and longer life. Many of you will be tempted to stop reading this article after the word “change” bounces around your brain a few times. Change can be a scary concept. After all, we are “creatures of habit.” But change, accomplished through small, incremental steps is attainable by everyone and can have a profound impact on your life.

Before you can change your old habits, you have to know what your current ones are and be honest about them. Really honest. How many minutes do you really exercise each week? Do you really floss your teeth every night? How often do you really choose salads rather than cheeseburgers for lunch? And do you really take time for yourself in your hectic schedule? Many of us are in denial about the state of our bodies and our personal health habits or at least certain aspects of them. For example, the U.S. Surgeon General recently reported almost 65 percent of American adults are overweight with 30 percent being obese. Yet, according to a Gallop Poll, only 42 percent of Americans believe they are overweight. Obviously, this illustrates disconnect between our perceptions about ourselves and reality. Improving your well-being, including physical, emotional, and spiritual, requires knowledge, determination, proper support systems and, yes, even some hard work.

Motivation, especially staying motivated can be a challenge. You may become bored, restless, or disappointed when the results come too slowly. The key to making long term change is making small, realistic changes over an extended period of time. Small changes equals lifelong changes. When change is not realistic or too quick, we immediately set ourselves up for failure. The most common example is the failure of dieting. Most of us have been on one of many fad diets only to fail. The weight may have been lost (most in a short period of time), but once the goal has been reached the weight is put back on, usually at a rapid rate. In analyzing many of the trendy diets, the expectations are too restrictive and not conducive to making permanent lifestyle changes.

Here are some tips for staying motivated:

• Make choices that fit your personality. Don’t’ sign up for a group aerobics class if you really prefer to work out in solitude.

• Try something new. On the other hand, you might want to sign up for a group class, even if it is something you thought you would never do. You may actually like it!

• Add variety to prevent boredom. Don’t eat the same foods day in and day out, and vary your physical activities or the environment in which you do them.

• Fit your choices into your daily routine. Exercise while watching your favorite TV program or plan and prepare healthy meals for the work week during the weekend. Don’t sabotage your health improvement program by saying, “I don’t have time.” Work your program into your daily schedule.

• Be flexible. Unexpected events, like an illness, happen from time to time, but don’t let them permanently distract you from your long-term goals. Read just your short-term goals to help keep you moving forward.

• Guard against unrealistic expectations. Determine what is realistic for you. Have goals, but stay focused on effort, not outcomes. Is it realistic to lose 15-20 pounds in one month and keep it off long-term? No. Remember small changes equals life changes.

• Reward yourself. Develop a sense of internal rewards. For example, after each workout reflect on what you accomplished (not what you didn’t do or wished you could have done) and the “alive” feeling that exercise can give you. You can also give yourself an external reward after reaching a major goal or milestone. Treat yourself to a massage, time alone with a great book, a new CD, an evening out or any other “indulgence” that strikes your fancy.

• Find support. Making lifestyle changes on your own can be very hard. You’ll be much more successful if you have a support system. Find others who are making the same changes or have succeeded in the changes you are making. Consider joining a class or support group. If you don’t know where to start, your insurance plan, local medical providers or your church are a few entities that may be able to steer you in the right direction.

• Have fun! Getting healthy shouldn’t be drudgery. If it is, then you’re not going about it right or for the right reasons. You should enjoy what you’re doing. That’s not to say you won’t find changing your old health habits challenging because you will at times. But you should also find the experience positive, and, yes, even fun.

Whether you are trying to achieve a healthy weight, stop smoking, save money or lower your cholesterol by eating healthy, it is important to make small, realistic changes and stay motivated. Change in life is constant, so to have that healthier, happier and longer life, learn to become good at change.

Casey Cortney, MPT is a licensed physical therapist and owner of Sidney Rehabilitation & Wellness Clinic. Casey can be reached at 308-254-4979 or by visiting the website at http://www.sidneyrehab.com.