healthy habits cheat sheet

Working out three to five days a week for at least an hour is not a realistic thing for many people for varying reasons. Maybe they don't have time, perhaps they lack the desire, whatever the reason may be, that is still no excuse to not get healthy. Below are some simple changes one can make to stay on the road to healthy.

eat within an hour of waking up--even if it is something small, like a handful of nuts, put something healthy in your body to get your metabolism awake and working. You have been fasting overnight (hence break-fast) and your body needs that kick start to get going again. 

drink more water--think you drink enough water? Probably not. Drink more. Do you drink coffee, soda, juice and other non water beverages? You want to counter each sugary or caffeinated beverage with the same volume of water (ex: 16oz coffee means you need an additional 16oz of water) in addition to your normal recommended intake. The more water you drink, the more water your body will get rid of as waste and will aid in weight loss. "Water Weight" stays on when you are dehydrated and your body is literally hanging on to all the water you put in because it doesn't know when you will be getting more. The more you put in, the more you will put out. The color of your urine is an excellent indicator of hydration--the darker it is, the more water you should drink.

get moving--invest in a pedometer, be it an app on your phone, a cheap one that clips to your belt or a fancy pants FitBit or BodyMedia monitor (more on this in another post to come). Set goals for yourself with number of steps you would like to take each day, wear the pedometer for a normal day and check the steps at the end. Try to do better the next day. Then even better the following. You'll be surprised at how quickly those steps add up!

portion awareness--I've decided that portion control is an art form and I am not the world's best artist. To help myself, I started putting snacks in a small bowl from Ikea and eating slowly. In an ideal world, you'd just stop eating potato chips and fried, fatty snacks, but I understand that isn't a reality for everyone, so let's compromise. Look at the nutrition label and pick out the number of items allowed for one serving. Put it in a bowl. After asking yourself if those seven chips are worth the 150 calories, eat just the serving size. Want more? Go back to the bag and repeat. The key thing here is to stop snacking directly out of the bag, especially in front of the TV or computer.

Start with the four tips above and you'll be on the road to healthy! Are all four too zealous? Pick one and stick with it for a week, then add one more, etc. you'll be a much healthier person in about a month! 

Stay tuned for more simple ways to improve your health and happiness! Contact me at brittanydevitatraining@gmail.com with any questions or topics you'd like to see covered.