The Tribune

Health coach Ethan Quant, of Elite Wellness Solutions, has succeeded in his weight loss journey and now wants to share his methods with the Bahamas in an effort to foster a culture of wellness and conquer the obesity epidemic.

We have all heard the saying doing something is better than doing nothing. This is so true, especially when we put it in the context of health, wellness and fitness. Sometimes we overwhelm ourselves with thoughts of having to do so much to start or even continue our journey. The truth is though that something is always better than nothing, no matter how small the step, it can help you to change your behaviour and modify your lifestyle in a big way.

For example, I get asked all the time about which is better: alkaline water, spring water or purified water. The first thing I ask them is how much water are they drinking now. The frequent response is, "Not as much as I should be." Then I tell them, "Before we get fancy and talk about different types of water, let's just focus on drinking more water." Then they say how much and I say, just more than you are drinking now.

The same approach should be taken to food. Don’t worry too much about organic this and that, just focus on eating better. Just focus on making the better food choice of the options you have access to and can afford. I remember someone told me that wild caught salmon was $185.00 a case and they couldn’t afford it so they just continued to eat fast food. The thing is that there is are so many options that you can choose from between fast food and wild caught salmon. We just have to focus on doing better with the understanding that our better will become better as long as we stay consistent.

These are my top three tips for starting your health, wellness and fitness journey:

1. Start where you are

Everyone’s circumstances are different; you can’t watch other people and simply copy or try to copy what they do. You have to take a true non-judgemental assessment of yourself and your current circumstances and start based on where you are, what you can reasonably afford, and something that you can be consistent at.

1. Be patient with yourself

I know that we live in a microwave society where we want everything now and fast. Yet I am almost always asked, “How long is the weight going to take to come off?" To that I respond, "How long did it take you to put it on?" The most important thing about weight loss is that it's done in healthy and safe manner. And that you address the underlying behavioural issues so that any weight loss success can be sustained over the long term.

1. Track your progress

Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to hop on the scale every day, or that you need to use a scale at all. It simply means that you have to come up with some sort of measuring tool that you can use to see your progress or lack thereof. It could be how you feel walking up a flight of stairs, or how a particular pair of jeans fit. It could even be how you feel in general. For instance, do you have more energy? All of these are measuring tools that you can use instead of the scale. Because at the end of the day, the scale is just a number.

Remember, if you need help navigating this or any part of your health wellness and fitness journey, feel free to contact me directly.

• You can contact Ethan Quant at ethan@elite-wellnesssolutions.com or on Instagram at @ethanquant.