Knowing where to start your health journey can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be as complicated as it seems. These simple health tips can lead you to success if you decide to start somewhere and remain consistent!

These are my Top 10 Insanely Easy Health Tips you need to jumpstart your health and wellness journey today!

So, what qualifies me to give you these health tips? It's simple. I was once an overwhelmed and overweight person, and I found a way out. For YEARS I've been on a health journey.

It started with diet pills, several weight loss programs, then calorie counting, I also became a vegan for a while, and finally, I just gave up. Nothing I did worked for the sole fact that I was not truly ready. I wanted quick and immediate results without hard work.

These health tips are for those at the end of their road with diets, sick of feeling bad all the time, and frustrated that you can't seem to change. I was you. You are not alone in your struggle, and there are a lot of us right there with you.

Here are the 10 Best Health Tips to get jumpstart your weight loss!

Health Tips for Getting Started

Discover Your Why

The first step in any significant life-changing decision is to know WHY you want to do it. A health journey is no different. For many years my "why" was to be skinny. I had some unusual obsession with being a specific size and certain weight. I always thought that if I could "just be a size 8," I would be happy! 

I remember the very first time I ever moved up from a size 8 to a size 10. I was going into 10th grade, and I immediately left the mall, went to my grandmother's house, sat on her couch, and cried my eyes out to her. It seemed to be a turning point in my life. From 15 years old until 29, I struggled immensely with being overweight! 

After many years, many pant sizes, and more diet programs than I can count... I finally found a good enough why—my daughter. Being healthy for her was essential to me, not just because I wanted to run and play with her, but because I wanted her to learn healthy habits from me. 

Here are a few of my "whys:"

• My Daughters, being healthy for them.
• Having a healthy pregnancy (when I was pregnant). 
• Strength and Stamina. 
• Mental Clarity and focus that I need for holding three jobs. 
• Longevity, for better quality and quantity of life. 
• For Spiritual and emotional growth. (If I'm not physically healthy, I cannot be my best spiritually or emotionally. It means my mental health suffers.)
  

What is your "why?" Think hard about it. Journal it. Meditate on it! It can change over the years, but you need one to start with, and it needs to be good enough to keep you motivated.

Here are a few articles on diet as it relates to your mental health:

Can What You Eat Affect Your Mental Health?

The Connection Between Diet And Mental Health

Make a Decision

Simplest of all health tips, make a decision.

Once you've discovered why you want to be healthy, the next step is to decide to go for it. After all, what do you have to lose but unhealthy habits and excess weight! 

This step may seem simple but can be pretty complex if you start to make all the decisions about weight loss at one time! Try to avoid over-committing yourself at first. We all have this grandiose idea that we can wake up one morning and be different because we "decided" to with the right decisions and commitments. It doesn't work that way. 

Weight loss and healthy habits happen over time. It took me 18 months to lose 90 lbs. However, it was much longer than that to form the true identity of a "healthy" person.

Here are a few of the decisions I made that helped me start: 

• I decided to do SOMETHING. 
• Then I decided to do some research on different diets to find the one that worked for me. (remember, we are all on some diet, this is just deciding to be INTENTIONAL about the healthy habits we choose.) 
• I wrote down my goals and the "why" behind them. With great intention, I attached them to the decisions I was making for my life.

Making a decision can seem simple enough, but if you overcommit yourself, you'll never truly see the changes you desire. Start with small decisions. 

In the following points, you will see some of the small choices I made, some simple, and others were more complex. All of these choices helped lead me to a healthy lifestyle and a journey to health that I never imagined I'd be on! It all starts with a "why" and a decision!

I think it's super important to make choices and decisions with confidence, consistency, and determination, especially on your health journey. If you're anything like me, you may have trouble in this area. So, here are a few articles to help you with decision-making!

9 Little Habits That Make You a Better Decision Maker

How to Make Decisions

Start a Vitamin Routine

This step is small, affordable, and accessible! Start taking vitamins. Studies have shown that most Americans are deficient in vitamins. Vitamin deficiencies can cause a whole slew of mental health illnesses and physical health issues!

A vitamin routine is a crucial health tip and step in the right direction. Some of the symptoms you face due to what you think might be "poor health decisions" could be your body's depleted specific vitamins and minerals. I suggest a routine of vitamins in small doses until you've had bloodwork to confirm a deficiency.

This step took me YEARS to follow through with. It wasn't until I developed a magnesium deficiency that I learned the importance of vitamins. Though I am speaking from personal experience, I am not an expert on this matter. If you need more information, the experts are linked below!

I will link some great articles on different symptoms of certain vitamin deficiencies here:

Vitamin D Deficiency

Vitamin B12: What to Know

7 Signs and Symptoms of Magnesium Deficiency

Here are my favorite vitamins that I take if you are interested:

Multi-Vitamin

Prenatal

Magnesium

B-12

Vitamin D

Vitamin C

Zinc

Another great article on Vitamin Deficiencies in the US:

92% of U.S. Population Have Vitamin Deficiency. Are You One of Them?

Order Some Bloodwork

This point ties in closely to my last health tip. One of the things I've noticed in the health and wellness community is that there are a lot of stories of people who had a preexisting condition before starting their weight loss journey.

If not treated before starting your health journey, some of these conditions could lead to frustration because you may be unable to lose weight as quickly or efficiently as you'd like.

Checking your overall stats is great for measuring progress as you advance in your health journey as well. This routine bloodwork can help identify any underlying health issues and vitamin deficiencies (as mentioned in my last health tip).

Here are a few articles detailing routine bloodwork, the types you should have, and their importance - from more of an expert point of view.

Beginner’s Guide on Getting Routine Blood Work Done

All About Blood Tests

Benefits of Blood Testing for Nutritional Deficiencies

Get Accountability

#5 of my simple health tips is accountability! Accountability is key to a health journey because you make yourself answerable to others. It's key to forming habits of any form, whether personal or professional, financial or health-wise!

Accountability is insanely easy to initiate but difficult to follow through on if you do not have an accountability partner you value if they aren't assertive enough or the stakes aren't high enough.

When I started my health journey, I decided to use social media as my accountability. Each month I would check in, post progress pics, and eventually post my CW (current weight) and GW (goal weight). This strategy proved to be extremely helpful for motivation.

Another great example of accountability for health purposes is to start a walking group in your neighborhood in the mornings or get a gym partner for the afternoons. The thought that someone else is counting on you can provide a great motivation to you to continue to show up.

There are many great forms of accountability you can use. You need only to pick one and commit!

I've written about accountability in my article on procrastination. Check it out here:

Drink More Water

One of the first health tips that most professionals will advise you on in a health journey is to drink more water. 

I once knew a man who lost over 100 lbs accrediting most of his weight loss to strictly drinking tons and tons of water! That wasn't the case for me, but it has significant health advantages from which we can all benefit!

Drinking more water is a great place to start in your small steps toward progress. It can give you small wins that are needed to continue to move forward! These health tips are in no particular order, and you could start there before you even discover why you want to lose weight - it's that simple. 

Here are a few ideas to increase your water intake: 

• If you're a coffee-lover, drink one 8 oz glass of water for each cup of coffee you drink! You could have one small glass before every cup of coffee you consume, treating yourself with the coffee as a reward! 

• Order a water jug with times of the day on it! Here's a link to a great one. Elvira Large 1 Gallon/128 oz Motivational Time Marker Water Bottle

• Add lemon, lime, or other fruits to your water! Here's an excellent bottle for that. Zulay (34oz Capacity) Fruit Infuser Water Bottle

• Use flavorings, like Mio Drops or True Lemon. 

Here are a few great articles on the benefits and importance of increasing your water intake:

6 Reasons to Drink Water

Why Is Water Important? 16 Reasons to Drink Up

Move Your Body

Exercising, for me, was a vital part of my health goals, but I always felt overwhelmed trying to start. Over the years, I would develop an elaborate plan, like working out for 1-2 hours a day, and I would find myself on the losing end, a failure to my well-intentioned commitments! 

One of the things that greatly impacted me was learning about this social media challenge called 21/30, doing 30 minutes of exercise for 21 days. Some days, the 30 minutes of exercise was spent doing pushups, jumping jacks, and squats. I started with that and gradually grew to other things like cycling, walking, and other bodyweight exercises. 

Here are a few of my tips for moving your body:

• Start small. 10-15 minutes and gradually add on weekly or monthly until you get to where you want to be. 

• Please don't overdo it at first. If you aren't typically someone who works out, don't plan to work out every day. You should start with three days and move up from there. 

• Do exercises you love. For me, I love to cycle. I bought a bike and started to ride around my neighborhood, then I bought a gym membership and cycled while there, and now that I have two kids and busy daily life, I bought a spin bike for home, and I use it every morning after the kids have had breakfast. 

• Keep it simple. Home workouts, pushups, treadmill, cycling... whatever works for you. Just start somewhere. 

Moving your body is an insanely easy way to get motivated and stay focused on goals during your health journey! Plus, it's fantastic for your body.

Here are a few articles on the benefits of physical exercise!

Exercise: 7 benefits of regular physical activity

Why Exercise?

Benefits of Exercise

Cut out Sugar

It seems like everything has some trace of added sugars these days. Cutting out sugar might be a task that seems a bit daunting but is worth every second of effort.

Once you've worked your way through a good number of these health tips, that is when I would recommend tackling this one. A sugar detox can come with a whole slew of symptoms, and none of them are fun. Some of the symptoms include headache, fatigue, anxiety, and nausea.

Here's an article going into detail about a sugar detox and what to expect:

What to know about sugar detox symptoms

Though there are a lot of adverse effects at first, the benefits are incredible. I noticed increased focus and mental Clarity, an energy boost, fewer blood sugar spikes and drops, and it also seemed to help with mood management! All of these benefits ultimately lead to my goal of weight loss and a healthy lifestyle.

Check out these articles on the benefits of getting rid of sugar in your diet!

8 benefits of cutting back on sugar

6 Really Good Things That Happen to Your Body When You Quit Sugar

Also, if you struggle with emotional eating, which almost always happens when we overindulge in sugary foods- check out my article on Emotional Eating! These steps will be life-changing for you!

Lower Carb Intake

Lowering your carb intake is simply a preference for me and my body type. This one may not be true for you. It would be good for you to experiment with your body and find what diet works best for you. However, from personal experience, my body welcomed the lowering of carbs with open arms.

For me, I chose the ketogenic diet (20-50g net carbs per day). You may choose a more low-carb approach (100-150g of carbs per day). The keto diet changed my life. I've lost a lot of weight (twice, once before pregnancy and now post-partum) and feel amazing. I experienced benefits both for my physical health and also my mental health.

I have written an entire article on the mental health benefits I received from doing the keto diet. Here it is:

Also, here's another article on the benefits of a low-carb and ketogenic diet.

10 Health Benefits of Low-Carb and Ketogenic Diets

Remain Consistent

Perhaps the most overlooked health tip of all is consistency. Showing up every single day is great, but that is also very unrealistic. What I mean when I say "consistent" is not just showing up daily. 

Some examples of what consistency may look like for you: 

• Deciding to show up the day after a bad day or a failure. 
• Making the right choices for your health over and over and over. 
• Checking off all the small things like drinking water and remembering why you started in the first place, even if you eat horrible one day. 
• It is deciding on a 5-minute workout if that's all the energy you have from a busy day, then waking up the next day and choosing your regular exercise again. 
• It's eating one cookie instead of 12.

EVERY health journey that I've ever seen successful from anyone is, above all other things, consistent. For me, It looked like losing 90 lbs, getting pregnant, staying low-carb, gaining weight, being discouraged and heartbroken to start "all over." Still, getting back up, and starting my health journey despite discouragement. 

For you, it could look similar or completely different, but the important thing is that you keep taking small steps in the right direction. You will get there!

In the world of health, this is just the start. However, everyone needs a place to start, and I hope these health tips are a simple and fresh start for you!

If you find yourself discouraged on your health journey, remember, the most important things are:

Just Start

Keep Going

Don't Give Up

Remain Consistent

Hard work pays off, and so does slow progress.

these are the 10 insanely easy health tips to jumpstart your weight loss! 

I hope you found this encouraging and helpful. If you did, stick around, check out some other articles and let me know what you think in the comments below! I'd love it if you'd follow us on Pinterest too!

Saying Goodbye to Anxious,

Kristina G.