Have you ever met the perfect health-conscious couple? These couples seem to be on the same page when it comes to eating right, drinking all the right fluids, and go to the gym together 4 days a week. They run a 5K several times a year to support all the right causes and wouldn’t dream of smoking, overindulging in alcohol or becoming a couch potato on the weekend. Don’t you just hate them? In reality, it seems that most couples (like my husband and I) are not on the same page when it comes to health and fitness. There may be one spouse who is health conscious (my hubby) but the other is content to sit around, watch TV and eat bonbons (me).
Most couples aren't on the same page when it comes to health and fitness. What can you do?Click To TweetIf you are the healthy one, how do you get your spouse to make better choices and join you on your mission to be fit? My husband has tried a few different ways to nudge me in the right direction, but I always seem to fall back into my bad habits. Here are some ideas for how you can help your spouse make healthy choices without ruining your marriage!
Make good personal choices.
It’s easy to fall into a pattern of unhealthy personal choices when the person you love most is sitting around eating chocolate by the bag while watching a Netflix marathon of Sons of Anarchy. Make it a habit to make good personal choices so your health doesn’t get compromised. If your spouse wants to watch tv, then hop on the treadmill and watch it with them. Are they eating bags of chocolate? Grab your favorite healthy snack and sit down beside them and crunch away on carrots. It’s tough to make good personal choices when the one you love isn’t being smart, but ultimately, you are only responsible for yourself.
Realize that you can’t change by nagging
There is no way you can make someone get healthy.It does absolutely no good to nag about your spouse’s weight or food choices. Most people will become more set in their ways when someone starts to harp on their health. Have a conversation, then move on. There is no way you can make someone get healthy. They have to decide to make changes on their own.
You can't make your spouse get healthy, but you can help!Click To TweetFind something they enjoy and join them!
Most people have something they used to really enjoy doing. Think about your spouse. What did you do when you first started dating? Did you go hiking? Throw frisbees? Bowling? One on one basketball? Fishing? See if there is a way to get out together and do something small that you both enjoy. Rather than try to get your spouse to join you in your fitness adventures, join them in the small things they already do. If they love to play video games, see if there is a Wii or Kinect game that gets you both moving that you can do together. Become a part of their activities and they will most likely start to want to join you in yours.
How do you encourage your spouse to make healthy changes?
Comments