What’s in store for you in 2016? Are you a list maker who jots down resolutions or are you one who chooses to enter the year with a positive attitude while taking each day as they come? What about healthy living and making some efforts to improve your life style? Is that a goal of yours?
I don’t know about you, but I like to come up with short term and long term goals. Week by week goals along with quarterly goals that will lead to my ultimate goal. Doing this will keep us from failing. I find ways to hold myself accountable (workout buddies are great for this) and write goals that will be achievable. Healthy living is always on the top of my list.
How can we make 2016 more healthy? Can we commit to 3 hours a week of exercise? Can we commit to eating healthier and drinking more water? Can we work on getting the appropriate amount of sleep? Sure we can!
First, find a fitness program that makes you feel empowered. One that makes you excited to put your workout pants on. One that helps you see that your personal goals are reachable. A program that you can embrace and one that feels as if it’s a perfect fit for you.
Then commit to trying it 3 hours a week for a month. If you don’t enjoy it, try something new, stay at it and stick to your fitness! Your body and mind will thank you. It’ll keep you feeling stronger and more energetic! You’ll see results in endurance and you’ll find a new confidence that hasn’t shined in a while.
Now that we have our fitness going on, we have to come to terms with the fact that exercise alone won’t complete the total healthy living goal. So our second item is to make smart food choices. Eating better is key to over all health. The saying “we are what we eat” is somewhat true. If we eat bad we will feel bad. So, cut the sugar and alcohol out slowly.
Every day start with a high protein breakfast paired with a complex carb like plain oats, sweet potatoes, whole wheat toast or a fruit like berries or an apple. Include healthy fats like raw nuts and avocado. You can have your coffee…don’t worry I won’t take that away. Just drink it without the sugar and sweet syrups. They are added calories we don’t need, cut them out little by little. I like to add cinnamon to my coffee.
Work on eating 5-6 small meals per day. It helps better with planning if we prep our meals/snacks ahead of time and schedule what times we plan to eat. I set alarms in my phone and if I’m hungry before hand I drink a glass of water. Sometimes hunger is triggered by dehydration or boredom.
Take your lunches with you to work or while running errands and eat in more than you eat out. You’ll find more success sticking to a healthy eating plan if you have less temptation, so rid your pantry of all the junk food treats.
Third, get enough sleep. Sleep is so important for recovery. We use our brains non-stop and we are working hard now. Our body needs sleep to become stronger. We need to grow muscles, restore and repair tissue and allow the release of growth hormone. Without the proper amount of sleep we don’t function to our highest ability and our whole system becomes troubled.
Fourth, drink more water. It’s essential to our system. It helps us fight disease, rids our body of toxins, keeps our skin healthier, prevents constipation, reduces joint inflammation and keeps us hydrated!
This all may sound overwhelming. Remember being more fit and healthy is a life style. To stick to these goals it’s easiest to start small while aiming big. Whether your ultimate goal is to shed 20 pounds or gain 20 pounds, or to run a marathon or a 5K you need to take small steps to get there. Think of yourself as an athlete training for a big game. You can’t just walk on to the court or field with zero practice and win the game. You have to train and work hard to get there.
So go week by week and add something new each week. Your new healthy living plan the first week could just be to add breakfast into your routine and replace 2 drinks (sodas, juices, alcohol, etc.) a day with a glass of water. Go walk outdoors or join a fitness program that you can do 3 hours per week (schedule it in your calendar). Your second week add on cutting out desserts 6 days a week. Save your treat for one day each week. Replace your daily treats with 1/3 cup of fresh fruit and some raw nuts and continue with your fitness program while adding in even more water. Remember good sleep is always important so aim to add an extra 30 min a night each week. Work towards getting 7-8 hours as often as possible.
If you start now, a year from today you’ll have accomplished so much and you’ll love your new healthy lifestyle. “A new year means nothing if you stay in your comfort zone.”
You’ve got this! Happy New Year!
LeighAnne Maloy of McKinney is a Boot Camp instructor with Texas Fit Chicks, a one-on-one personal trainer, and a certified sports nutritionist.
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