How To Stop Being a Couch Potato

After a long day at work, what would be better than letting the slob side of your personality off the leash? Immediately you get home from work, you slum yourself on the couch.  The TV remote is your best companion while fries, beer, and soda make the ultimate dinner.

Does that sound like you? If it does, then you are a classic couch potato. However, worry not, the following tips will show you how to stop being a couch potato.

See the best of couch potato pictures

Also see: How to Look Decades Younger: People Who Age Like Fine Wine

Am I a couch potato?

Everyone including yourself knows you are not fit. The most physical tasking thing you ever do is to walk from your car to your office desk and back. This routine is paradise; I know right? Unfortunately, it will wreak havoc on your health, and mind in the long run.

Classic Coach Potato Look.

Most Couch potatoes feel misunderstood and judged by their family and friends. It get’s really annoying when everyone keeps commenting on your weight, or makes fun of how you fall short of breath after a slight physical activity.

Moreover, all the fitness content out there seems to created by the keep-fit types for the keep-fit types. Even the gym instructors always insist that you should sweat it out on the gym on daily basis.

Confessions of a Couch Potato

Being a reformed couch potato, I have the full grasp of what you are going through. As such, unlike the rest of the fitness guides, this article on how to stop being a couch potato is written with you in mind.

“The point is, you don’t want to spend hours on end in the gym. You don’t need a bodybuilder’s body or a the body of a cover magazine model”.

Probably, you wouldn’t mind the latter; it is just that it seems too good to be true. You just want to feel comfortable in your own skin, feel healthier and more energetic.

“You just want to comfortably walk up the stairs to your office, or run for the bus without running short of breath”.

I am confident that this is not too much to ask.

To stop being a couch potato, you just need to put in a little effort to attain some significant fitness. Some greater news is that you don’t need to turn into an exercise junkie or a health fanatic.

How To Stop Being a Couch Potato

Acceptance

The first step to solving any personal problem starts with acceptance. Thus, you need to escape the denial trap first.  Focus your energy on solving the problem without making excuses about why you are in such a situation.

Anyone can find a million excuses to avoid being physically active. Some people have crazy schedules such as long working hours, kids, friends, and family to attend to. Others are just outright lazy. The most important realization is that you need to get off that couch despite the circumstance you are in.

Watch what you eat

To a couch potato, everything tastes good. This is probably because everything you put in your mouth is meant to taste good. All the junk, fries, ice-cream, beer, and everything else starchy will always taste good.

“To a couch potato, everything tastes good. This is because everything you put in your mouth is meant to taste good.”

You need to start making better diet choices. Balance your food potions to burn the calories that have been building up while seated on your couch.

Get The Right Guidance and Motivation

A Couch Potato often feels judged and misunderstood. This is because most exercise programs out there assume that you are willing to commit hours each day to workout right off the bat.

This is what sets you up for instant failure. As such, you need to hire a qualified personal trainer, who will:

• Show you how to work out properly
• Mentor and motivate you
• Limit the exercise to your capacity
• And show you how to quit the couch potato routine.

Start Small

Fitness research has established that incorporating physical activity into your life slowly and progressively is more effective than trying to incorporate it all at once.

Even small bits of exercise is better than none. This can as simple as taking a walk in the evening after work, or jogging on the spot for five minutes.

The idea of going to the gym is a turnoff for many beginners, but you can as well opt to take the stairs instead of the elevator.

Find a Workout You Love

Doing exercise that you love makes it feel less of a chore but more of a fun and exciting activity. Ben Ronne mentioned that he was never active and had failed numerous times on his attempts to stick to a workout schedule by going to the gym or running on a treadmill.

However, one day he decided to enlist in a Zumba class he used to pass by every day he went to work. Soon enough, he was addicted to the workout because he found it interesting. He managed to lose 220 pounds after weeks of training.

Do some Zumba

For those who are clueless on how to stop being a couch potato; dancing will do the magic. Zumba is a combination of dancing and aerobic exercise, thus you will get to enjoy both the dancing and the health benefits of aerobic exercise.

Make working out a social activity

Does committing time to exercise make you feel like you are sacrificing on your social life? Do you feel like you have to make the choice between hanging out and working out? This needs not be the case.

Having established that working out can be a fun activity; you do not have to do it all alone. All you need to do is to make friends who have a similar interest. You can as well recruit some of your current friends to join you in your new found hobby. This will make it more fun, to an extent of being addictive.

Don’t aim for perfection.

Having unrealistic goals is the perfect way to set yourself up for failure. Your motto should be; “I do not have to be really good at it; I just need to do it”. This way, you will be easy on yourself, and soon you will start getting better and more motivated each day.

The bottom line is that exercise need not be a chore.  On the contrary, it can be fun and also an opportunity to socialize and make new friends. The above tips on how to stop being a couch potato will help you break out of your comfort zone just as I did. All you need to do is make small positive changes in your Daily routine.

Sources

https://www.confessionsoftheprofessions.com/hire-personal-trainer

How To Get Fit When Stuck In The Office [Infographic]

https://brightside.me/article/how-one-man-quit-being-a-couch-potato-and-started-living-life-to-the-full-86655/

Eric Gichuru

Eric Gichuru is a BESTSELLING author of a novel called With Eyes Wide Open and the Editor-In-Chief of Thelocco Magazine. Get in touch now HERE.