A Healthier 2024

ByRobert Evans

The most popular New Year’s Resolution for 2024 was “improved fitness” (source – Forbes Health). But multiple research studies show that sticking to a resolution lasts an average of less than 30 days. What are the obstacles that prevent most people from keeping a resolution and how can you stick to a fitness goal?  

It’s not easy but our encouragement is to make lifestyle changes. We can’t repeat the same patterns from the past and expect different results. It takes effort to affect change until it becomes a new habit. You must remind a child repeatedly to brush their teeth before they go to bed but as adults, we don’t even think about it. It’s almost an automated response that we perform mindlessly because it has become so ingrained as a part of our lifestyle. Are there patterns in your life that you can change and allow them to become your new autopilot habit?  

Our advice to help you live a healthier life in 2024 (other than watching and participating with Christian Fitness every weekday on CTN 😁), is to do something that you enjoy and will stick with and simply move more. If you have never been to a gym, it might be hard to start a consistent workout regime so instead why not just start by walking around the block for a month. Start with 1 mile every other day and add another mile every month. Move more next month than you did last month. The following month move more than you did the previous month. Make “Moving More” your resolution and don’t get discouraged if you miss a day, a week, or even more. It’s never too late to start again, again, and then again. Instead of always taking the elevator, start a new lifestyle change of taking the stairs. Or try parking further away at the grocery store and getting additional steps walking to the store instead of getting frustrated trying to circle every aisle 4 times trying to get the closest parking spot.    

If a car’s engine freezes up if it doesn’t run for a while and the body of the vehicle rusts away if it’s not tended to, then how much more will a complex body like ours have difficulties if it doesn’t move. God designed our bodies with articulating joints in order for us to move in extremely complex and a variety of directions so it’s beneficial for us to stay active and move more. Not only are there major advantages to our physical health to be more active, but recent research has experts saying that active breaks, not passive, are more restorative for the brain. “Going for a long walk or hike or working out can give us more rather than less energy and leave us feeling mentally more rejuvenated,” says Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, author of “Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less.” The more we move the more advantageous it is to us both physically and mentally. Instead of setting goals of going to the gym three times a week or losing 25 pounds this year, set your goals on lifestyle changes that will become your new healthy habits. 10,000 steps per day can be more attainable and sustainable than an unrealistic goal of getting a washboard, six pack stomach in 3 weeks. 

We’re here to help you on your healthy journey so join us on our “Walk Fit Challenge” on Christian Fitness. Visit our website for more information – www.ChristainFitnessTV.com.    

Forget about New Year’s resolutions and make a goal of living a healthier life in 2024 by moving more.