Adding weight loss to an already busy schedule can feel like an impossible challenge. It never feels like the right time to exercise and eating on the go usually means eating what’s convenient, even if it isn’t healthy. Work, family or school usually ends up being the priority, so why even try to lose weight? Losing weight can feel like a full time job: constantly having to manage what you eat, plan work outs and make the right choices when you’re craving the wrong ones. It can feel like weight loss is just as exhausting and mentally draining as full time job, so here are some ways to make things a little more effortless.
Make it a priority. Make the time. Get up early and make a healthy breakfast or fit in a work out. You are more likely to have a healthy day if you have a healthy morning, and as the day goes on you may find that work, social engagements, family, or homework take up the time you had planned to go to the gym. Don’t let other things get in the way. Even if you’re a morning person, it may be hard to become a morning exerciser but it will be worth it. Planning workout dates with others is also a great way to make sure you follow through. Working out with a friend or family member not only makes exercise more enjoyable, but you are less likely to cancel when you know someone is waiting for you.
Make it part of your routine. Once you get into a rhythm with exercise and eating healthy it will be second nature. They say that it takes 21 days to form a habit. For some, it may take a week and for others it may take much longer, but once you start feeling and looking amazing, you won’t want to stop. But if you do slip up or miss a workout, make up for it on the weekend. Working on your weight loss on the weekend may sound like the last thing you want to do, but avoiding the snooze button and continuing with your healthy routine with help you relax later in the day knowing that you did something healthy to deserve it.
Make it easy. Help yourself! Some people find it helpful to keep track of eating and exercise with a journal or fitness tracker. It takes some of the thinking out of meals and following your progress. This may sound like even more work, but planning ahead can make a week of healthy eating and exercise fly by without the frustration of piecing together last minute plans. Prep food, make meals and snacks that are ready to go, plan out your week – anything you can do on Sunday to have a plan for the week ahead will really pay off. Don’t leave it to chance. The same goes for fitness – make it easy on yourself and find a gym that is in a convenient location. Whether it is close to home, around the corner from the office or across the street from school, make sure a long car ride isn’t keeping your from your goals.
Work, school and family may make you feel like your hands are tied, but if losing weight is really something you want to accomplish you will find a way. When you make the time for your weight loss, you are investing in your future. What could be more important than that?
~Love to Live Healthy with Josephine Fitpatrick
Innovation Weight Loss and Fitness
8031 Jericho Tpke Woodbury, NY 11797
469 7th Ave Manhattan, NY 10018
