Everyone will tell you the most important thing to living healthy is plan ahead: our meal, our workouts, our grocery lists, self-care, even to go as far as scheduling it on your calendar like any other appointment.
Sometimes, despite our best planning, life will get in the way: Kids are sick, you are sick, hit the snooze button too many times, you end up babysitting grandchildren at the last minute, your aging parents need you to take them to Urgent Care.
So what happens to our commitment to healthy eating and living a healthy lifestyle when life gets super busy?
In the past, I would let my busy schedule be an "excuse" to fall off my healthy living wagon. I'd go back to picking up fast food or processed foods because I didn't have "time" to deal with planning a healthy meal. And Exercise? Well, if I wasn't teaching a class, the exercise didn't happen.
I recognize those signs now and realize a busy life does not have to result in weeks of fast food, no exercise, and a general lack of concern for all things healthy.
One thing I've learned is NOT to let any excuses keep me from my goals. Sometimes, we have set-backs, but it cannot turn into a permanent one. I have learned that any excuses: busy times, rainy weather, stressful situations – will NOT keep me from my goal. I'm going to tell you committing is the hardest thing to do. It will feel easier, when stressed, to go back to the bad eating habits and letting our exercise become completely non-existent.
So what can you do when life happens?
1) Plan ahead as much as possible. Look ahead to your week and make time to get some exercise and eat as healthy as you can. Many places have grab-and-go salads to make dinner plans easier. Even if you can't get as much exercise in as you normally do, every little bit helps!!!
2) Remember you don't have to exercise in the gym. Great workouts don’t have to happen in the gym. Can’t make it to the gym, but have a big hill in your neighborhood? Awesome, take a walk up that hill. Weather is bad and you’re stuck inside all day? Well you can do a workout without equipment inside the comfort of your own home.
3) Create a Routine. Get in the habit of working out at the same time every day. If you consistently workout or go to the gym at the same time it will be much harder to break that habit when things start to get busy. If you make exercising as ingrained into your daily routine as brushing your teeth every morning and every night you are unlikely to skip it. You don’t skip brushing your teeth when life gets busy. If you start building up your exercise routine now, you won’t feel like skipping that either once life get hectic.
4) Know Your Why. Because your WHY will give you the extra push you need when you feel drained, or aren’t seeing the results you want.
5) Have someone who expects something of you. Having my trainer voice inside your head can help motivate you to keep moving. but sometimes that's not enough. I've offered free sessions and opened up my workout timeslots to those to come workout with me, yet that hasn't happened only by one person. We need some skin in the game. You know what happens when you have trainer who expects you to be at sessions you've paid for upfront? You show up. Having a personal trainer is not a luxury, sometimes it's a necessity to keep on track with your goals.
Get Back on Track
Change can be hard. In the beginning, your healthy habits might take two steps forward and one step back. Anticipating those backwards steps can make all the difference in the world. Develop a plan for getting back on track and recommit to your routine as quickly as possible.
