Health Tips For The Busy Lifestyle

A friend of mine asked me a great question yesterday and it gave me the great idea for today's topic, thanks Tracy! The question was about how to squeeze in fitness and health into a busy lifestyle. Well I'm going to hopefully answer that for Tracy and any of you that have the same question. We all live crazy hectic lifestyles and we still need to take care of our bodies. Here are a few tips on how you can achieve your fitness and health goals no matter what your schedule is. 

Plan and prepare your meals ahead of time
Plan out what you will eat for your lunches and dinners for the week the weekend prior. Take a little extra time on Sunday and get to work in the kitchen or outside on the grill and get everything prepared ahead of time. You can bake a weeks worth of chicken tenderloins in the oven at 425 degrees in 20 minutes. This way you can throw everything in separate containers and in the refrigerator. Monday morning comes along just grab your container for lunch and boom you're on your way out the door with a healthy nutritious meal. No more ordering out because you're so tired from a hard day at work, your meal is already taken care of, pull it out warm it up and enjoy.

Some things that I like to do is to grill or bake my meats( I prefer chicken, low fat and high in protein) with just some basic seasonings so that I can switch things up throughout the week so I don't get bored and want to give myself a break with McDonald's or some other nasty disgusting fast food. Grill your chicken with just some salt and pepper and you can be creative with how you put it together, anything from a chicken wrap, chicken salad, chicken with pasta and veggies..you get the point. Remember that eating healthy doesn't have to be boring and bland.

Eat breakfast
Eat breakfast! I can not emphasize enough how important this is. When you skip breakfast you're killing your metabolism and setting yourself up for hitting up that vending machine for a bag of chips or a candy bar. It doesn't have to be some big breakfast that takes hours in the kitchen. Something as simple as a glass of OJ, some fruit and a whole wheat english muffin with jelly or jam. A breakfast like this takes no time at all, you can throw the english muffin in the toaster while you blow dry your hair, shave or get dressed. When you're ready throw some jelly or jam on it, grab some fruit and some OJ and walk out the door and on you are on your way to work.

Exercise
We all know that we should exercise but think that we need to spend countless hours in the gym. Not true at all, just remember that ANY exercise is better than no exercise. Instead of parking up close so your walk into work is like having front door service, take some time and park a little farther away. That way you can get a little extra exercise and that jerk with the truck that can't park won't ding your door. Skip the elevator and take the stair, it may suck at first but eventually it gets easier and you're a champ damn near running up the stairs beating the lazy ones taking the elevator. If you have a desk job try and stand up as much as possible. I highly doubt there is a rule at your job that says you must sit down. Lean against the desk and do some pushups

There are also plenty of desk exercises and stretches along with the pushups that can be done throughout the day. Here is a video by Michigan State University that demonstrates some stretches and exercises that can be done while at your desk.

You can also try and form a walking group with co-workers to walk during breaks while your other co-workers are out sucking in that nicotine.

Hydrate
Be sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day. Bring a water bottle that you can fill up throughout the day. Set a goal for yourself on how much water you want to drink per day. Having a goal to reach for will help remind you to drink more water. Try keeping track of your water intake, this way you can see exactly how much water you are actually consuming. What ever your trick is for drinking more water is, just be sure to use it, unless it's packets of sugar filled water flavoring. Try and find a sugarless flavoring if you can. I hear those Mio's aren't bad at all, they're small and compact and can be carried with you.

And you will probably hear this from me over and over and over, but while it may seem like a pain in the ass at first, just stick with it. After a while you won't even realize you are doing these things as they've become a routine and a habit. Are you willing to sacrifice the 15 minutes of extra time it took to prep your meals for the health you've wanted for a lifetime?