Thursday, January 22, 2015

New Year New Me......

As January is coming to an end, many of us are realizing all of our weight loss goals have not even started....

The constant thoughts of "I'll start on Monday" or "The first week of January we had New Years Eve, so I'll just start the following week" and the best one "I'm eating pretty good so far this new year...." 

Honestly, no..no, you're not...

Many of us are still like this.....

            


As much as I like binge watch Pretty Little Liars on Netflix, and continually ask myself why do I care at all about this new "it girl" Hanna Marin that just became the "queen bee" at her highschool....

Sometimes taking control of your life a bit is a little more important. Plus it's another reason for you not to constantly come up with fake stories to hide the truth behind staying up late watching a "couple more episodes" while munching on a bag of chips.

That's why I have created and outlined an easy 5 step process to a healthier you below.

1. Water. Probably the easiest thing you can do everyday. I recommend 3 liters every day.

With the clients I train I always recommend purchasing a 1 liter water bottle to carry around at all times. Then place 3 rubber bands around it, or 3 hair ties for the ladies, as my girlfriend loves to mark her territory and loose them all over my apartment. This could potentially fix the epidemic of missing hair ties for women across the world.

As you drink 1 liter of water from your bottle, simply take 1 band off, and you can easily track how much water you had throughout the day.

2. Throw away the crap. I mean seriously, go look into your fridge and pantry, tell me what you see! If it looks like this below, THROW IT OUT AND STOP MUNCHING ON IT!!


I know these are extreme examples but you'd be surprised how easily you can convince yourself that those "gluten free" cookies are good for you....They are still cookies! Gluten free doesn't make them healthy!

If you are unsure what you should or should not eat, post a comment below and I will answer you to the best of my ability.

3. Eat your vegetables! Remember growing up as a kid and Mom would bug you to eat your vegetables at dinner? Well she was right. How much GREEN vegetables are you eating? 

"I eat a big salad at dinner" Well to be honest that's not enough. Every time you sit down or are on the run to eat, make sure you have some sort of vegetable that's green.

4. At least 15 minutes a day of exercise! The main excuse I get from clients is trying to find the time to get a workout in for 1 hour in their schedules. Well, if you consider yourself as the busiest person in the world, I'm sure you can somehow find 15 minutes in your day. 

Why 15 minutes? Well according to #science there have been studies that have shown 15 minutes of moderate exercise every day can decrease your chance of heart disease. 15 minutes! That's it! Get to it now!

5. Reward yourself. Now I am not all hard core and eat like a rabbit 100% of the time. I am human too. I enjoy demolishing a huge bag of Cheetos to myself while sitting on the couch realizing how disgusting I feel I am after finishing....

But, if you:

- Sipped 3 liters of water every day
- Threw out any temptation food in the house
- Exercised 15 minutes every day
- Had vegetables at every meal during the week

You SHOULD reward yourself for being so dedicated and adherent. My prescription? Cheat meal, have something you crave and love to get it out of your system, and then follow the guidelines the following day for another week. Repeat.

PS. Please leave comments below :)

References:
*Wang G, Pratt M, Macera CA, Zheng ZJ, Heath G. Physical activity, cardiovascular disease, and medical expenditures, in U.S. adults. Ann Behav Med. 2004; 28:8894."

    

1 comment:

  1. Hi Sarah,

    I like food journaling as it shows you what you are eating throughout the day, which can open your eyes.

    I personally like using my phone to take a photo of each meal because
    1. It's faster and easier when you're on the go
    2. It's a visual reminder ( plus you can see if you're eating junk.)

    I'd also recommend posting it on Facebook or sending it to someone to keep yourself accountable. So if you sit down in front of a burger and you know you have to post it online, you might think twice before you take a bite out of it ;-)

    ReplyDelete