Nicola Vachová advises you how to start with exercise and healthy eating

...and not to give up after a few days when we feel completely exhausted and at the bottom of our strength? With the new year comes new resolutions every year. Often under the tree we find a gym pass, new sports clothes or running shoes, along with the enthusiasm to finally work on ourselves. With determination, after the New Year we immediately embark on a strict diet and head to the gym for a workout or embark on a daily run of several kilometres. After all, the Christmas candy and gluttony of the past year has to be sweated out somehow. And so we work out hard day after day and follow a strict diet regime. After a few days/weeks, however, we find out how exhausting such a regime is and instead of joy and a good feeling of movement, our running marathon, together with too low and unthought-out calorie intake, has brought us only exhaustion, minimum energy for other daily activities and a low mood. Why is that? After all, movement and healthy eating is supposed to bring joy, feeling good about yourself, not misery.

And that's exactly what I mean - ill-advised excessive movement out of the blue, coupled with a strict diet where we punish ourselves for a whole year of overeating with minimal food intake, will result in only one thing. Failure, a reluctance to continue, a bad mood and quite possibly a period of overeating - resulting in an unreasonable calorie deficit and an inappropriately designed diet. How do we prevent this and how do we set our goals properly so that we don't fail after a few days, have a sustainable regime, a varied diet and find exercise fun?

As the end of the year is approaching and with it the aforementioned new resolutions, I would like to start with them. Setting clear goals, having the desire to work on yourself (in whatever direction), to develop your knowledge, to find a liking in a certain sport or to finally have a balance in your diet is undoubtedly a great idea. However, more important than the goal itself is the path that leads to it. Being able to organize things/thoughts in such a way that the journey is fulfilling, fun and we get tired just thinking about the activity. Not for nothing they say - everything in moderation. And that applies to our enthusiasm for resolutions too. The hardest part is always getting started - getting a workout in, shopping for healthy food, starting to pack for work or school. If I were to go back a few years, I'd be a fitness newbie again, and I'd plan out my workouts in a week, starting with going to the gym about three times a week. If, as a newbie, I scheduled my workouts more frequently, it would probably get too tiring and exhausting after a few days, and the desire to exercise might fade. The same goes for spacing out the workouts during the week - it's always good to make sure to include recovery days, so that we can rest between workouts. If we are going to train three times a week, the training days can be: Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The rest of the week should be used for rest and at least after a day off we will look forward to the exercise more.

For starters, I would choose, for example, fullbody training, where we exercise parts of the whole body during one exercise and prevent "destruction" of one muscle part so much that we would have trouble sitting on a chair the next day. I would gradually add weight so that I improve in strength and give the muscles a stimulus for their growth. In general, for complete beginners, exercisers who are shy or still unsure of the technique of the exercises, I would use the services of a personal trainer who will teach clients the correct technique, give advice and you won't have to limit yourself in your workout. You will certainly appreciate the services of a personal trainer in the future after becoming independent. The same applies to sports other than weight training. Always start sensibly, be guided by your individual abilities and play sports in such a way that the journey is also the destination.

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When it comes to eating, similar rules apply here as with sports. Results don't happen overnight, and that's all the more reason to be patient. If our goal is to lose body fat, a calorie deficit is essential. This is achieved by making our output higher than our intake (i.e. we give out more energy than we take in). However, dieting is not a matter of a few days, and to achieve the desired result, we need to prepare for a longer process. For beginners who are not even a little bit familiar with healthy eating, I would recommend to start by eliminating unhealthy processed foods from the diet (e.g. chips, pizza, salami, limit sweets, etc.) and instead include a variety of foods that are minimally processed (e.g. different types of meat, fish, rice, potatoes, dairy products, vegetables, fruits, etc.). If we learn the basics of healthy eating habits, we are well on our way to starting a full diet. Here again, I would be in favor of reaching out to a nutritionist/specialist or nutrition-educated coach who can adjust the diet to get results. He or she should always work with the client's individual needs, allergies, type of employment, etc. and take these into account when creating a meal plan. The caloric deficit should not be too large to begin with and even ideally it is good to combine the diet with physical activity, which is great for our health and heart, among other things.

What does this imply? Good things are worth waiting for. Just because we make a resolution or goal for the new year doesn't mean the results will come in a few weeks. It's better to start slowly, gradually and deliberately than to jump headlong into a workout or diet and find out after a few days that the pace and regimen we've set for ourselves is unsustainable. Consistency, perseverance, willpower, determination and a properly set, and most importantly sustainable, regime - this is a sure recipe for achieving our goals.

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