I have to admit, I have never been too conscious about health since I was young. Don’t get me wrong, I know the value of health and the good habits that I have to follow in order to live a healthy lifestyle. I grew up eating vegetables on a daily basis and I was also a dancer when I was still a student. Growing up with ‘thin’ body, I never really considered dieting.

Therefore this year, I told myself, I will be including regular exercise to supplement my already healthy lifestyle. Since I am not a gym rat (you’ll never see me there!), I have to make other alternatives – aka home workouts, work for me.

While mindlessly scrolling through the internet, I found this great site (click here) that would help me in my new goal to gaining strong physical health.

I already know the ballpark of the calories I am taking. That is the easy part. However, the difficult part is my standing in my back to shape journey. How much fat do I have to lose in order to be on my height’s normal range anyway? For that I use the body fat calculator.

This simply calculates my bodyfat percentage, Lean Body Mass (LBM) and Fat Body Mass (FBM). Amazing right? Putting my figures in, I knew that I was in the acceptable classification. Was I happy? Of course I am! Was I contented? No. I think that my body fat is high, and if I can improve on my weight (to avoid diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure) then I would like to lose more weight.

To do so, I have to use the work out calories. Really, you might ask. Calories in versus calories out is the basic tenet of dieting. I already know my calorie intake, it would not hurt me to know how much calories I’m burning so that I could achieve my goal weight.

There are days that I wake up early in the morning and feel the fresh air, a morning walk with wonderful breeze would be my go to exercise. To refrain myself from overexerting myself, I calculate how long would I be working out to burn a few hundred calories. See below for my ideal work out in the morning.

However, on rainy days and it is not possible for me to go out and enjoy the sunlight and surroundings, I just work out at home. Streaming through various YouTube workouts or just doing some plain stretching and calisthenics, I also would know how much calories I burn for a certain amount of dancing/stretching.

Is it not easy? Who would have thought that losing weight is just basic math? Of course I did not easily lost weight just because of these site, although they really helped me in figuring out the best strategy for me.

So far, I would say that here are the best habits that worked out for me so far.

1. Consistency. Whether it was a 30 minute dance exercise of an hour of walk around the village, I always do a physical activity every day. It doesn’t have to be hard and heavy, but it does need to be consistent.
2. Eat healthy. I make sure that my plate is filled with nutritious food – vegetables and fruits, less processed food and sugary drinks. Mindful eating of healthy food allowed me to nourish my body the right way.
3. Enjoy the process. Losing weight is not a one day or one year affair. It is a continuous process of daily habits that accumulated overtime. If I want to maintain the healthy lifestyle I am currently following, I have to make sure that I am in this for the long haul. Slow and steady does it.

Now that you’ve seen my adjustments to my lifestyle, I’m curious about yours! How are you approaching the goal of cultivating a healthy and happy body in the new year? Share your insights in the comments below.