I did couch to 5k with a local running club in my early 40s as an overweight, unfit couch potato. It’s had a lot of positive knock on effects for me, including increased energy and new friends.
Another effect was it made me see I needed to work on strength and flexibility, so I joined a gym and started doing classes like Pilates and body balance.
I got an Apple Watch for tracking my runs but it also tracks steps, sleep, calories burned etc, so it encourages me to make healthy choices. My ankles used to swell up every day after sitting at my desk for hours, but when my watch started reminding me to stand up every hour, that problem literally went away overnight. It’s also motivating to see numbers like my vo2 max go in the right direction (didn’t even know what that was 18 months ago).
The more I exercise, the more I find I naturally want to eat better and am turned off by unhealthy food. I’m cooking a lot more, avoiding ultra processed foods and using a calorie tracker.
In turn, that has made me care a lot more about nutrition. I’ve recently started listening to podcasts about things like gut health, protein, fibre and glucose spikes which means I can make better educated choices about food and supplements.
I sort of see myself as a healthy person now, which is funny to say (especially as I’m still obese!). I’m a person who runs, goes to the gym, eats well. That mindset shift makes me more inclined to make healthy choices.
So basically, for me it was a case of start with one healthy thing and other healthy things naturally follow. Mine was running but yours could be anything.