Sustainable Fitness Means Doing Less Right

It’s been, give or take, eight years since I had the yearning to get up early in the mornings and go for runs.

I always targeted 5AM, mostly because I was super shy and figured that by that time of the day, there would be nobody out to see me running.

But guess when I finally managed to make this dream come true? Four years later.

I would go to bed telling myself that I would wake up when the alarm went off. Then, sure enough, the alarm would go off at 5, and I would swipe up, switching it off so quickly and aggressively, as if I weren’t the one who set it to go off.

And even when I finally woke up at 5, four years later, I only sustained the habit for 5 days, after which I gave up totally. I accepted the fact that fitness wasn’t cut out for me.

But today, I can truthfully say that I have consistently worked on building the habit of walking and fasting intermittently, all thanks to going through the more sustainable route of keeping things simple.

I’d like to think that minimalism in fitness means getting rid of the noise on social media telling you to count your calories, go to the gym every day, and cut out carbohydrates entirely.

Minimalism, rather, compels us to simplify our routines and find meaning in the mundane things, which, when done repeatedly over time, will yield us our goals.

It means to focus on the basic fundamentals such as moving our bodies, eating nutritious whole foods, drinking water, and resting when we should. Doing these clarifies the fitness process, removes the guilt that comes with not hitting specific goals, and gives us more control over our plans.

When I eventually accepted that I needed to change the way I went about the fitness goals, that was when I experienced a breakthrough. And all I did was substitute my previous goals for sustainable ones.

For example, my early morning runs were substituted with taking evening walks. Which, by the way, I started slowly and increased incrementally. When I went on my first walk, I managed to walk for 45 minutes. After which I slowly increased it to an hour and then 20 minutes on the top.

I also substituted my calorie-counting goals for choosing to eat cleaner and removing all processed foods completely. This surprisingly was very easy to do. One thing that helps is to eat before I get hungry.

I noticed that I only craved unhealthy things when I was hungry, so I decided to never let myself get hungry.

And of course, I became intentional with my water intake. I made sure to drink 2.8 liters every day. I still do.

I have been able to keep this up for a while now and be confident in the fact that I’m doing what matters. This is because I focused on the core principles of staying healthy and fit.

Of course I have had days where I felt vulnerable and stumbled along the way, but I also managed to pick myself back up and find my way back to base.

And I think that’s what matters the most.

My routine includes

• Eating from 10am to 6pm or 12pm to 8pm
• My diet consists of whole foods and water.
• I take walks in the evenings; they range anywhere from 1 to 2 hours
• I drink >2.8 liters of water daily (It’s ideal for my BMI).
• I plan to eventually include going to the gym

---

_{All images used are my property, manipulated using canva...}