Start Adopting Healthy Habits Now
In Houston, TX, some people start working out and eating nutrient-dense meals in the middle of December, hoping to get fit for the holidays. It takes more than just a week or two of exercise or nutritious meals to be fit. It takes developing healthy habits to become healthier. If you consistently do things to help you get fit and avoid those things that can harm your body, it will provide a boost to help you reach your goals and make it easier.
Exercise at the same time each day.
Identify a time that you can exercise each day. It might be after work, but if your hours are crazy and you never know when your day will end, exercise first thing in the morning. It doesn’t matter what time you choose. The key is to choose a time when you can do it consistently. Put exercise on your schedule and treat it like any other appointment. It helps you develop a habit. You’ll automatically workout at that time or feel uncomfortable if you don’t.
Don’t wait until you’re famished to plan your meal.
Meal planning a week’s worth of meals makes it easy to stick with a healthy eating program. You plan the week’s meals one night and create a shopping list. You shop on another night. Over the weekend or when you have a full day at home, you cook the weeks’ worth of food and package meals in individual serving sizes. During the next week, all you have to do is heat and serve. It’s quicker than a drive-through and saves money. If the main meal for one night is baked chicken, you can use the leftovers for chicken salad, a Buddha bowl, or several other dishes.
Make it a habit to get adequate sleep.
You need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep each night for maximum energy and to function at its best. If you don’t get adequate sleep, it triggers the production of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, and diminishes the production of leptin, the hormone that makes you feel full. That makes it difficult to stick with any healthy diet. When people are tired, they often crave sweets to boost their energy. Processed products high in added sugar are never part of a healthy diet.
- When you do meal planning, make sure you include snacks. A nutritious, low-calorie snack mid-morning or mid-afternoon helps you get through the day without snacking on candy or other sweet treats.
- Don’t forget to hydrate regularly. Dehydration can cause serious health issues or make you eat more. Your brain misinterprets the body’s message of thirst for hunger. You eat more to fill the need.
- Stick with a sleep schedule to be your healthiest. If you go to bed at the same time each night and get up on schedule, it helps you fall asleep quicker, get sounder sleep, and wake up refreshed.
- Stay active. While exercising regularly is necessary for fitness, staying active when you’re not exercising helps. If you have a sedentary job, get up once every hour and move, walk, or stretch.
For more information, contact us today at Reggie C. Fitness
The last two months of the year are hard for anyone in Houston, TX, who is trying to lose weight. Every get-together has food temptations that can destroy the potential for success. How do you avoid overeating during the holidays and bypass all those goodies that only come once a year? One simple way is to go ahead and eat a treat or two. If you have a small serving of your favorite food that your Auntie makes only at holiday time, it’s not the end of the world. It’s okay to eat a small amount of unhealthy food occasionally. Just don’t eat a whole pie or consistently eat unhealthy foods.
If you’ve heard varying opinions on the best time to workout and wondered who was wrong or right, the answer is simple. No matter what time of day you workout, it’s the best time of day. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to the best time to exercise. There are good reasons for working out at any time of day. The most important factor is when is best for you and when you can do it consistently.
People in Houston, TX, exercise for a variety of reasons. Some people simply love it. Others exercise to look their best. Still, others love the health benefits and the fact that you live longer when you exercise. It can improve the production of stem cells that repair the body and extend telomeres that protect the cells. Obesity is now the leading cause of preventable death. It can lead to serious conditions, including diabetes. By helping you look your best and preventing obesity, it extends your life expectancy.
If you hate not knowing anyone when you go to some place, going to the gym with someone can make you feel better. It also can help you stick with your workout program in a variety of ways. There are pros and cons to working out with someone else. Knowing someone is going with you makes you more apt to go and is why personal trainers have a high success rate. While they may hold you accountable, if they aren’t dedicated to exercise and want to skip it, or can’t go one day, you may not either.
It’s beach time in Houston, TX. Don’t miss all the summer fun because you’re ashamed of your thighs. Whether they’re too large and flabby, or mushy and filled with cellulite, you can change their appearance. You can tone your thighs and improve other features like your bottom and calves. Even your ankles can make a difference in how attractive your legs are. Many of the exercises improve the entire leg’s appearance.
The older you get, the more difficult it is to get all the nutrients you need, so focusing on healthy eating becomes even more important. Activity levels diminish as most people age and so do appetites. Digestive enzymes and stomach acid also reduce, making digestion and absorption more difficult even when you do eat. Some foods are not only difficult to digest, but they’re also difficult to chew if you don’t have healthy teeth, or dentures, or are missing several teeth. To make matters worse, seniors may lack the energy to cook for themselves or don’t cook because they’re living alone.
There’s a Goldilocks moment for every activity. It’s the sweet spot where everything is “just right.” When you exercise, there’s the perfect amount of time to do it and the perfect time of day for you to exercise. It’s why I tell clients in Houston to time their workouts. Working out too long can be counterproductive or it can mean you’re wasting time. Working out too little won’t achieve the results you want.
Caffeine before a workout can provide benefits to improve your performance. There’s a point when the caffeine ceases to help and becomes a detriment to your health. Ensuring you don’t have negative consequences is important. A cup of coffee may be just what you need, you can also get caffeine in other forms. Caffeine pills are examples. They can make it far too easy to take too much caffeine which can cause dehydration, jitters, headaches, and an increased heart rate. All of those things can detract from your workout.
Whether you’re drinking sugary colas or even diet drinks daily, they take a toll on your health and your waistline. The caffeine and sugary taste of coke can be hard to beat but it’s possible to overcome the soda habit forever. While the sugar in regular soft drinks is damaging to your body, soft drinks contain other things that can negatively affect your health. They contain phosphorus, among other things. Too much phosphorus in your body leaches the calcium from the bone linked to bone and deposits it in blood vessels and other parts of the body, leading to heart attack, stroke, and more. It’s hard, but you can make the break and be soft drink free forever.