7 Simple Ways to Stay Healthy, Happy, and Fit

What if we told you that staying healthy and happy was only a few simple steps away? 

You don’t have to believe us, but it’s been our experience that a handful of easy shifts can set you on a path towards better health and fitness, leading to more happiness and fulfillment along the way.

Spoiler alert! These ideas aren’t earth-shattering. They’re mostly just ways to re-focus on the basics. Often, when you get back to the basics of health, fitness, and what makes humans tick, happiness usually isn’t far off.

Eat Well Without Dieting

As the saying goes, you are what you eat. Eating well by choosing nutritious whole foods can be completely transformative. You’ll balance your hormones, build a strong gut, and have more energy throughout the day when you eat well.

However, this doesn’t mean going on a diet. Fad diets are just that… fads! And 95% of the time, they don’t work. Why? They’re not sustainable. 

Instead, make eating well part of your lifestyle. Eat foods you love and find ways to enjoy what’s good for you. And then, when you want a treat, don’t restrict yourself. Just make sure it’s actually a treat and not an everyday thing. 

It’s easier said than done but pushing through these kinds of challenges is what life’s all about, right? If it’s difficult for you to eat well, you’ll feel even more accomplished when you fuel your body with healthy foods.

Manage Your Thoughts

Sometimes, simply reframing your thoughts can set you on a happier, healthier path. You choose how to see the world, and manage your thoughts can really affect that view. 

You can either berate yourself for skipping your workouts this week. Or, you can acknowledge that you’re human and gracefully head to the gym or open our app.

You can tell yourself that you’re too busy and overwhelmed, or you can simply take action and begin your next task. 

Meditation can help! When you meditate, you’re practicing noticing your thoughts pass by without judgment or reaction. We don’t even notice that we’re thinking unhelpful thoughts in the first place for many of us! So, once you get a hold of your thoughts, you can both acknowledge them and change them to something that serves you better.

Prioritize Sleep

Most of us have been guilty (at one point or another) of priding ourselves on how busy we are and how little sleep we get. 

“My kids kept me up ALL night last night.”

“I’m running on four hours of sleep. Hello, coffee!”

“You think that’s tough… I pulled an all-night to prepare for this meeting!”

But, it’s time to shirk the idea that #teamnosleep should be a badge of honor. Let’s champion healthier work/life balance, better sleeping habits, and an overall revamp of prioritizing our day.

At the bare minimum, we should all be getting between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night. It’s essential to get proper rest so that our brains can synthesize more information, learn more effectively, and helps us manage our emotions during the day. It’s when our bodies heal and recover too, which helps us reach our fitness goals faster. 

To get better sleep, switch off all screens at least an hour before you hit the sack and set up a consistent nighttime routine to help you relax into blissful sleep.

Pay Attention to the Company You Keep

The company you keep indeed has a massive effect on the person you are. Misery loves company, and if you surround yourself with those who have a pessimistic outlook on the world, you’ll likely become pessimistic yourself (if you’re not already!). 

So, pay attention. Do your friends empower you or drain you? Does your family energize you or leave you feeling frustrated?

This goes for where you spend your time online as well. Does social media always make you feel worse than when you started scrolling? Does the news cause your anxiety to skyrocket?

Think about who (and what) is getting most of your attention and decide whether you need to make some changes. 

Move Your Body Every Day

When it comes to working out, it’s common to put a lot of pressure on ourselves. But, simply moving your body, somehow, someway, every day can help you live a healthy, happy, and fit life.

We get it… finding the motivation can be tricky, and sometimes you need to kick yourself into gear. But, instead of aiming to do a super sweaty session every day, base the type of movement you do on your energy, schedule, and mood.

A 30-minute kickboxing workout on the OOMPH app is terrific for when you’re short on time and don’t have a lot of space but are itching to move, sweat, and get a killer workout. But, sometimes, all you can manage is a 15-minute walk with your dog, either way, it’s good to get your body moving one way or the other.

You might even just want to do some stretching on your rest day, which, by the way, is just as crucial as your power-packed strength sessions. 

Switching up your workouts with the singular goal of simply moving your body every day is a fantastic way to stay motivated to work out while staying fit and healthy in a more mindful way.

Build Habits Little By Little

You could think about life as a series of habits. Not everything is habitual (obviously), but most of our day-to-day lives are made up of little routines that we do almost automatically. So, healthier habits, therefore, lead to healthier lives. 

Any healthy habits you’d like to adopt can be built little by little. A little goes a long way, and taking smalls steps toward healthier habits can create massive change over weeks, months, and years. The trick is to stick to that “little bit” every day without letting it become an excuse to “do it tomorrow.” 

Remember Your Purpose

Last but not least, probably the most important way to live a healthier, happier life is by remembering why you want to live this way. 

Maybe you want to finally step out on your own without your parent’s assistance. 

Perhaps you want to be a role model for your children. 

You might want to be pain-free and recover from an injury. 

Remember, you have nothing without your health, and almost every other goal you have, whether that’s financial, in your career, or your hobbies, will likely fly out the window when you lose your health.

Don’t take it for granted, and remember why it’s essential to stay healthy in the first place. By focusing on your purpose, prioritizing your health, fitness will become like second nature.