How to Stay Motivated to Work Out and Eat Healthy

Whether it's a long-term weight loss project, training for a marathon, or simply trying to eat vegetables a few times a week, we're all trying to better ourselves in some way or another. No matter what your goals are, the hardest part of self-improvement is trying to stay motivated to work out and eat healthy meals every day. Though it can be a daunting task, it is so, so worth it if you can muster the grit to get up every morning, take that jog, do those push-ups, and pack that healthy lunch for work. You can keep yourself motivated to eat right and exercise often with a few simple pieces of advice.

Set a regular workout schedule for yourself.

Trying to find a way and stay motivated to work out and eat healthy meals is a tall order, so let's tackle these issues separately. First up: Stay motivated to exercise.

Whether it's every day, every other day, or whatever your schedule allows, it's crucial for you to stick to as regular of an exercise schedule as possible if you want to stay motivated to work out. Scheduling a pre-dawn jog every morning or going to the gym at lunch is a great way to incorporate exercise into your schedule. The trick with working out is that it gets easier the more you do it: If you can stick to a consistent schedule for a few weeks, it'll become as natural as brushing your teeth in the morning. Building healthy habits is the key to staying on track and reaching your goals for a healthier lifestyle.

If you have trouble holding yourself accountable, try to find a workout buddy or even a personal trainer. If you partner up, it'll be easier to motivate each other to put in that extra effort. Another option, especially if you prefer to work out solo, is to use an app or online service to track your progress. Some devices, like the Fitbit and Apple Watch, will automatically track your activity. Based on my experience with these fitness trackers, they can actually become surprisingly fun, to the point where you may find yourself asking, "Am I addicted to my Fitbit?"

Set daily goals for your eating habits.

While you ease into your regular exercise schedule, the other task is to improve your eating habits. You can only get out of your body what you put into it, so healthy recipes and nutritious meals are essential to give you the energy needed to tackle your exercise goals. I find the best way to develop healthy eating habits is to set daily goals for your intake. For example, make it a goal to eat five servings of fruits or vegetables every day, including one serving of leafy greens per day.

Celebrity chef Alton Brown has a strict food regimen that he developed for himself over ten years ago. It helped him lose fifty pounds, and his continued dedication has helped him to keep the weight off and maintain a healthy lifestyle ever since. His rules are structured as a list of foods and how often he should be consuming them. The list is divided into four categories: "every day" foods, "three times a week" foods, "once a week foods," and "never" foods. You may find a similar set of rules effective for yourself as well. Utilizing these exercise schedules and food regimens form the ideal combination to help you stay motivated to work out and eat healthy meals on a daily basis.

Cut out bad food habits.

Unfortunately, it's not enough just to increase the amount of good foods you're putting into your body: You must also decrease the bad foods. In fact, some foods should be cut out entirely if possible. You can allow yourself a small number of "cheats" if it helps you stay motivated to work out and eat healthy foods the rest of the time, but be careful not to let your cheats spiral back into bad habits!

This may be another area where Alton Brown's regimen can offer guidance. Brown forbids himself from evereating the foods he considers most harmful, like fast food and soda, but he has a few items that he allows himself to consume once per week, such as red meat, desserts, and alcohol. In particular, Brown likes a good martini, so consider checking out the best martini variations for your weekly drink.

Rather than have a "cheat day" at random intervals, a regimented allowance of tasty foods is a healthy way to indulge in your favorite meals while maintaining a healthy diet overall. If you're big on snacking, like I am, you should look for healthy alternatives to your go-to munchie options, like these 4 snacks that might save your diet.

Set long term exercise goals.

While short term goals can help you stay motivated to work out and eat healthy meals on a day-to-day basis, it is also important to set long term goals for yourself. Don't bite off more than you can chew, but do motivate yourself by signing up for a 5K or planning on fitting into a certain piece of clothing by a certain date. Setting real, tangible goals are the key to your success. If you know you have to run more than three miles (a 5K race is 3.1 miles) in just a few weeks, I think you'll find it much more motivating to get up and running each day leading up to it!

The extra-long term goal, if you want to continue to push your limits, is to gradually move on to more advanced goals. If you successfully reach your goal of running a 5K, make your next stop a half marathon or similar event, and so on from there. Personally, I need someone else to hold me accountable, which is why I recommend signing up for organized athletic activities. If I gave myself a more vague goal like, "I want a flatter stomach by beach season," it would be easy for me to lose focus. Your mileage may vary, however (no pun intended), so set realistic goals that you are comfortable with. Any sort of long term goal, if you are determined enough to reach it, will help you stay motivated to work out and eat healthy meals.

Be realistic and self-forgiving.

This is a big point I want to get across: Absolutely nobody is perfect. We're all on the same team, so don't feel discouraged if you oversleep one day and miss your morning jog, or if you find yourself at a nice restaurant and slip up on your eating regimen. It shouldn't get to the point where you're stressing out trying to fit in your health goals. Our aim is to stay motivated to work out and eat healthy meals in order to improve our lives, not to drive us crazy with rules and particulars.

If you don't have time to leave the house, take advantage of workouts you can do in a single room, like these exercises for busy girls (they work for guys too). If you run out of time to pack your usual nutritious lunch, it's okay to seek out healthy fast food lunches. As long as you're quick to get back on the horse, don't let yourself become discouraged after a minor slip-up. Healthy eating and living is a lifelong, every day undertaking, so don't give up on reaching your goals.