EAT BREAKFAST every day! It is suggested you eat your first meal of the day within your first waking hour. It does not matter if you work 1st, 2nd, or 3rd shift; whatever YOUR first waking hour is, you need to eat! This helps ignite your metabolism and boost your metabolic burn and get things running high and hot for you.
EXERCISE AT LEAST 10 minutes EVERY DAY! This will help exercise become “habit” for you and part of your daily routine. Feel free to exercise more than this, but if you can get in 10 minutes of cardio, strength training or circuit training every day, this will go a long way!
MAKE YOUR GOALS VISIBLE OR TANGIBLE: If you have a certain pair of shorts or bathing suit you want to get into, sit it out/hang it up and put it someplace you will see it at least 2 times every day! If you have goals of a certain weight or certain body fat%, or exercising so many days for so many minutes, write these goals down and put them someplace visible where you will look and read these at least twice a day! When goals are more visible, you are more likely to keep working toward them.
WORK WITH A FRIEND/SPOUSE: It is much easier to not work out or eat poorly if you are the only one holding you accountable. Start making lifestyle changes with a friend or spouse. Schedule a time each day for exercise and meet your partner to complete this; eat with others and eat healthier. It’s always easiest to “cheat” when no one is looking over your shoulder! Find someone to help hold you accountable and for you to hold them accountable.
PACK YOUR MEALS AND SNACKS AHEAD OF TIME and take them with you! Think about how many meals each day you will be eating and how many of those meals will occur away from home. Pack them in advance and have them ready to “grab and go”. It is much easier to eat healthy if you have healthy snacks and meals on hand and prepared in advance. Otherwise, you may reach for something not so healthy because it is convenient and quick.
THINK ABOUT YOUR CHOICES: You may want to choose mustard instead of mayonnaise on your sandwich/burgers; ask for vinaigrette or a light dressing instead of Ranch or Blue Cheese; order a whole wheat English Muffin instead of a bagel. Small changes like these will add up quickly. For some, this may be 250 less calories per day you are consuming; this could result in a 5 pound weight loss in just 10 weeks!
WATER, WATER, TAKE IT EVERYWHERE! Carry a water bottle with you throughout your day. Water is very important for weight loss and maintenance; your metabolism is more efficient, the more hydrated you are. Maintaining hydration will also help decrease the number of calories you consume. A lot of times we eat when we are actually thirsty. We have the same sensation of our stomachs “growling” or rumbling when we are thirsty, just as if we were hungry. Most often we reach for food first, lets make a habit out of drinking 8oz of water before we consume a meal.
EXERCISE IN THE MORNING: It is much easier to bail on your exercise at the end of a crazy, busy, hectic day! We can always find a million and one excuses to not exercise later in the day. It is much more difficult to come up with so many excuses in the morning–when really the only excuse or reason to not exercise in the morning is to sleep a little longer. Some studies show when people exercise in the morning, more than 90% of those people stick with an exercise regimen.
EAT AND COOK HEALTHY three to four times per week: This way you know exactly what is in the food you are eating, which in turn will more than likely be less calories than eating out; you will be up and about during the time you are preparing the meal, instead of sitting and eating bread or an appetizer (as if you were at a restaurant) and therefore burning more calories instead of consuming calories!
BE CARB CONSCIOUS: If you go out to eat, ask the host/hostess to not bring any bread or rolls/ salsa & chips to your table prior to getting seated. If the bread/chip basket is not on the table, you are not going to consume the extra calories. Same thing with eating out at fast food restaurants, get rid of your bun(s). Getting rid of the buns from sandwiches can cut 150-400 calories from your sandwich. A lot of restaurants now offer the option to wrap your sandwich in lettuce which makes it easier to eat.
If you have questions or concerns about nutrition, please schedule to speak with one of our dietitians! Be sure to grab some new recipes & workout tips from our bulletin boards!
