For a super busy working mother I’ve made quite a few amendments in my physical life in the last six months. Having started out my professional career post school as a personal trainer and fitness instructor, the irony was not lost on me that at 40 years young I rarely exercised or made time to eat nutritious food.
I don’t think I’ll be Fitness magazine’s cover girl anytime soon, but I have learned a lot about my body and the difference small alterations to my daily routine can make.
Here are my Top 5 tips for getting fit and healthy.
1. Get moving
Of course any exercise is better than none but breaking exercise down into bite-sized pieces is much easier, especially when allocating time.
It is far easier to fit in 30-40 minutes of brisk walking than it is to fit in an hour, so take what you can get and go for it. If you aren’t exercising at all, start by walking at least 30 minutes every day. If you can allocate more time on the weekend step it up to 60 minutes.
For me, I love to compete with myself, so buying a Fitbit was a great way for me to see my personal progress measuring how far I could walk in 40 minutes as the weeks progressed.
2. Drink more water
Most of us don’t drink enough water and if you’re going to get moving, you need to up your consumption. Often when we think we’re hungry we are really just suffering from dehydration. Most health officials recommend drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day.
3. Eat nutritious food, not just food that claims to be nutritious
Know what you eat. Don’t make it hard for yourself by reading every ingredient on every packet you pick up, just be aware of the big things. Look at what you eat on a daily basis and figure out whether it is actually healthy or merely claims to be. Don’t be fooled by claims on packaging. I downloaded the My Fitness Pal App, which helped me calculate what my consumption was daily. It was especially helpful in determining where I was being ‘tricked’ by packing.
My basic nutritional advice is to eat less processed foods and up the unprocessed foods, eat more fruit and vegetables and consume smaller amounts of meat (200g instead of 500g).
4. Beware of travel
I travel a lot for work and being away from your normal routine can seriously interfere with your attempts to get healthy. I’m not suggesting you need to follow precisely the same routine you follow at home but there’s a few things to keep in mind whether you’re traveling for business or on holiday.
Continue to be aware of what you eat and have an exercise backup plan so you can be consistent with continuing to keep moving. Walking from one place to another rather than getting a taxi or public transport is a good way to keep up your daily exercise.
5. Tell someone
Sharing your fitness goals or healthy habits can keep you honest. It’s also possible that you know someone else who wants to improve their health and fitness as well. Making a fitness or health pact with someone else can really help to keep you in check.
Decide that you will eat healthy lunches every day or meet to take a walk together before or after work.
Most importantly, have fun with it!
Do you have any other tips to share? Comment and let us know!