Spring Into Action
Spring is upon us, and summer is right around the corner. If you are one of those people who binged during the holidays and never got back to a healthy routine with exercise and nutrition, don’t despair, you still have time.
The following are my Top 10 Tricks for getting back on track, or starting from scratch:
1. Stop the negative self-talk and just be grateful for everything your body does for you. Give yourself some grace and start with small goals for exercise and diet. Write your goals down and visualize yourself doing the work and then reaching your goals.
2. Avoid the urge to overtrain or deprive yourself of all the foods you love otherwise you will ensure failure. Instead, what’s one thing you can do right now in terms of movement and nutrition? I am a big fan of making small but impactful changes that build upon one another and ultimately translate to significant results. Can you take a 15 minute walk each morning or evening after dinner? Can you drink more water instead of juice, soda, etc.? Can you reduce your sugar intake? Pick two things you can easily commit to and add the third item in your second week.
3. Planning is everything! Prepare by cleaning out your fridge and pantry. If the chips and chocolate are there and you know it, you are going to grab them at some point. This is the first thing I do on January 1st every year. The cookies and remaining chocolate go right in the garbage, done. Then make a list before you go food shopping.
4. It doesn’t matter if you work out at home or in the gym or simply walk outside. Schedule your workouts by using the calendar on your phone. You can even set an alarm. If you wait until you have time, it just won’t happen.
5. It’s great to plan and workout with a friend if you are good at motivating one another, but this can also have adverse effects if you tend to give each other permission to slack off. This is your journey, so discipline yourself to do the work and if your friend joins you that’s great, just don’t count on it.
6. Back to the water, start your day with 16 ounces of room temperature water before you have anything else. To make it even more impactful, add some organic pink sea salt and fresh lemon juice. This combination helps to hydrate you, cut down on inflammation, get minerals in and start your digestive system for the day.
7. Try incorporating mini-workouts while you are watching TV. You can do it three to four times across subsequent commercial breaks, and you’ve got yourself a full body workout. If you are new to exercise and not comfortable with any of the exercises I detail below, do sit to stands (sit/stand/sit/stand) at least 10 reps each time. If you are comfortable with various exercises, you can try this combo or pick something else that you prefer. Just move your body!
· 10 push-ups off a table or the back of your couch
· 10 tap squats, squatting onto a chair or couch
· 10 tricep dips from a chair
· Hold a plank starting with 30-seconds and working up to a full minute
· Finish with 10 jumping jacks
8. If you are going out to dinner, look at the menu online first and decide what you are going to have, don’t deviate! Enjoy, but choose wisely. You will be so proud of yourself.
9. Schedule a treat day once a week so that you don’t end up feeling deprived. This sometimes works to inspire you during the week to keep going while you look forward to a day where you get to eat what you want.
10. Track and celebrate your success!