I'm sure almost everyone has a routine that they follow almost everyday. Whether it be waking up, showering, grabbing a cup of coffee and heading to work or always showering at night... almost everyone has some sort of routine they follow. As a recent college graduate, I must say my days aren't always the same and therefore I don't have a strict routine I'm able to follow, but I do have certain items on my to-do list that I do my best to get done every single day.
I have certainly not achieved all of my fitness goals, but I do believe that I am closer than I was yesterday. See if adding any of my daily to-do items helps you in your fitness journey!
1. Planning my meals the night before.
Yes, I'm sure you've seen millions of posts about meal prepping, but this isn't what I'm talking about. Sure, you may need to throw together your breakfast or lunch for the next day, but I'm more so talking about knowing what you want to eat tomorrow. For me this means planning in my head if i'm going to just grab my coffee and a protein bar and head to work, or if i'm going to make a small batch of overnight oats. After my workout I always have a protein shake with a frozen banana, so I need to make sure I have bananas frozen.... Then I plan out what I'm going to be doing for lunch (meal 3). Usually I am able to eat my lunch at home (I'm sure this will change once I start my full-time job), but for now I try and think of what I want to eat. If I know I need to eat away from home, I'll try and think of something portable, whether it is a small salad with chicken, a protein bar with fruit or veggies, or even cold chili. I'll get this together in my fridge so I can just grab it on my way out the door. My 4th meal of the day is usually a cup of yogurt and some cereal on top, so there isn't much planning or preparing that I need to do for that. Finally, my last meal of the day varies depending on how I'm feeling. There are many days I just have a bowl of Kashi or Multigrain Cheerios with some fruit thrown in it or I'll mix things up and have a piece of protein with a side of egg whites or veggies.
So when I say you need to plan your meals the night before, I don't mean that you have to have every single thing made. You just need to know what you're going to eat. This also helps in case you are going to be eating out or if your schedule is a little out of routine, it's good to know how you can still incorporate a healthy meal!
2. Take a multi-vitamin everyday.
Pretty simple. With my breakfast I just take a Women's One a Day Active vitamin along with a dose of fish oil. The multi-vitamin helps to ensure I have all my vital nutrients, just in case it's one of those days where all I have time for are protein bars for half my meals. And the fish oils are amazing for your heart! Speaking of which, I already had breakfast and forget to take them!
3. Walk at least 10,000 steps.
I recently bought a FitBit after an internal debate with myself. I had bought one about a year ago, but ended up not using it after the first month so I sold it. About a month ago I bought the FitBit Charge HR and I LOVE IT! My daily step goal is 10,000 steps, but I surpass that almost everyday. The highest number of steps I've walked in the past month is 30,000 in one day. I decided I wanted to walk to the nearest Whole Foods, and well let's just say I got a good workout. I average about 18,000 steps. Now keep in mind this is being on a college campus and walking from my apartment to class, working out and also working at my on campus job. So it feels pretty normal to me. Sometimes when I'm feeling lazy I'll go out for a walk to get some more steps in, but I haven't had much time for that recently. I always try to keep moving as I know that I'm burning more calories than sitting down :)
I have certainly not achieved all of my fitness goals, but I do believe that I am closer than I was yesterday. See if adding any of my daily to-do items helps you in your fitness journey!
1. Planning my meals the night before.
Yes, I'm sure you've seen millions of posts about meal prepping, but this isn't what I'm talking about. Sure, you may need to throw together your breakfast or lunch for the next day, but I'm more so talking about knowing what you want to eat tomorrow. For me this means planning in my head if i'm going to just grab my coffee and a protein bar and head to work, or if i'm going to make a small batch of overnight oats. After my workout I always have a protein shake with a frozen banana, so I need to make sure I have bananas frozen.... Then I plan out what I'm going to be doing for lunch (meal 3). Usually I am able to eat my lunch at home (I'm sure this will change once I start my full-time job), but for now I try and think of what I want to eat. If I know I need to eat away from home, I'll try and think of something portable, whether it is a small salad with chicken, a protein bar with fruit or veggies, or even cold chili. I'll get this together in my fridge so I can just grab it on my way out the door. My 4th meal of the day is usually a cup of yogurt and some cereal on top, so there isn't much planning or preparing that I need to do for that. Finally, my last meal of the day varies depending on how I'm feeling. There are many days I just have a bowl of Kashi or Multigrain Cheerios with some fruit thrown in it or I'll mix things up and have a piece of protein with a side of egg whites or veggies.
So when I say you need to plan your meals the night before, I don't mean that you have to have every single thing made. You just need to know what you're going to eat. This also helps in case you are going to be eating out or if your schedule is a little out of routine, it's good to know how you can still incorporate a healthy meal!
2. Take a multi-vitamin everyday.
Pretty simple. With my breakfast I just take a Women's One a Day Active vitamin along with a dose of fish oil. The multi-vitamin helps to ensure I have all my vital nutrients, just in case it's one of those days where all I have time for are protein bars for half my meals. And the fish oils are amazing for your heart! Speaking of which, I already had breakfast and forget to take them!
3. Walk at least 10,000 steps.
I recently bought a FitBit after an internal debate with myself. I had bought one about a year ago, but ended up not using it after the first month so I sold it. About a month ago I bought the FitBit Charge HR and I LOVE IT! My daily step goal is 10,000 steps, but I surpass that almost everyday. The highest number of steps I've walked in the past month is 30,000 in one day. I decided I wanted to walk to the nearest Whole Foods, and well let's just say I got a good workout. I average about 18,000 steps. Now keep in mind this is being on a college campus and walking from my apartment to class, working out and also working at my on campus job. So it feels pretty normal to me. Sometimes when I'm feeling lazy I'll go out for a walk to get some more steps in, but I haven't had much time for that recently. I always try to keep moving as I know that I'm burning more calories than sitting down :)
4. Drink at least 100 Ounces of water.
This one is pretty simple. Drink more water. I love drinking my water ice cold, and there are even some studies that show drinking cold water helps to burn a few more calories than room temperature water.. but I just like the taste. For some people it's hard to drink this much water in a day, and I have a few tips for you. If you are someone who drinks a couple cans of soda a day, replace half of those cans of soda with a bottle of water, and I'm sure you'll already be a few bottles closer to your goal. I usually only drink water, unless I'm really sick of it then I'll have some unsweetened iced tea.
5. Get enough sleep.
This one is harder than it looks. It's easy to say oh I can get 7-8 hours of sleep a night, but how many times do you lay down in bed only to remember 100 things you need to do? I usually go to bed between 11 pm and mid-night and wake up around 7 am. Some days I do wish I could sleep longer, but usually after my morning cup of coffee and my workout, I'm wide awake for the rest of the day!
This one is pretty simple. Drink more water. I love drinking my water ice cold, and there are even some studies that show drinking cold water helps to burn a few more calories than room temperature water.. but I just like the taste. For some people it's hard to drink this much water in a day, and I have a few tips for you. If you are someone who drinks a couple cans of soda a day, replace half of those cans of soda with a bottle of water, and I'm sure you'll already be a few bottles closer to your goal. I usually only drink water, unless I'm really sick of it then I'll have some unsweetened iced tea.
5. Get enough sleep.
This one is harder than it looks. It's easy to say oh I can get 7-8 hours of sleep a night, but how many times do you lay down in bed only to remember 100 things you need to do? I usually go to bed between 11 pm and mid-night and wake up around 7 am. Some days I do wish I could sleep longer, but usually after my morning cup of coffee and my workout, I'm wide awake for the rest of the day!
6. Eat 5-6 meals a day.
I used to be someone who loved to snack! Like it would become a routine for me. I would come home from class and head straight to the kitchen for some munchees. Oh look is it 9 pm? Time for some more snacks! A friend recently introduced me into the idea of eating 5-6 smaller meals each day. I usually eat these meals 2-3 hours apart. Each of my meals are about 200-250 calories, although my first meal of the day and my meal after my workout sometimes will tend to be a little bit larger just based on how much I worked out. So to give you an idea of how my day looks I'll show it to you:
I used to be someone who loved to snack! Like it would become a routine for me. I would come home from class and head straight to the kitchen for some munchees. Oh look is it 9 pm? Time for some more snacks! A friend recently introduced me into the idea of eating 5-6 smaller meals each day. I usually eat these meals 2-3 hours apart. Each of my meals are about 200-250 calories, although my first meal of the day and my meal after my workout sometimes will tend to be a little bit larger just based on how much I worked out. So to give you an idea of how my day looks I'll show it to you:
8:00 am: Overnight Oats (or green smoothie) & Coffee (260 calories)
11:00 am: Protein Shake with Almond Milk & Banana (250 calories)
Sometimes I'll eat a tablespoon of peanut butter as well (100 calories)
1:30 pm: Salad with Grilled Chicken & fruit/veggies (approx. 200-250 calories)
If I'm on the go I'll have a protein bar and some veggies (200-250 calories)
Or... turkey chilli & quinoa (300 calories)
3:45 pm: Chobani Simple 100 with Cheerios & fruit (150 calories)
6:00 pm: Kashi or Cherrios with Skim Milk & Fruit (260 calories)
Sometimes I'll have a 4-5 ounce piece of meat & egg whites with peppers and onions
(250 calories)
7. Set a "cutoff" time for my last meal.
If you've ever heard of intermittent fasting, then you have an idea what I mean when I say "cutoff" time. Intermittent fasting is taking a 12-14 hour period of well.. fasting. This means you eat your meals for the day within a 10-12 hour window. This fasting period allows for stored fat to be burned more efficiently and for me it gives my brain a "last call" so I don't find myself snacking late at night when I tend to get bored. This isn't for everyone, but I've been doing it for about a month now and it has really helped control my late night snacking. I eat my first meal around 8 am and my last (5th or 6th meal) around 6 pm. This means from 6 pm until 8 am the next day, I don't ingest anything other than drinking water.
8. Give myself a compliment.
You've heard this a million times, tell yourself something positive each and everyday. I'm telling you, it really helps keep you motivated and on track! So I know this is a terrible habit, and I probably shouldn't even be admitting it, but I weight myself every morning; and quite honestly I probably will until I'm near my goal weight. Although I will say, as I step on the scale and wait for the number to load, I look myself in the mirror and tell myself that no matter what the scale says that I'm making progress and that I'm beautiful the way I currently am. This helps minimize the disappointing feeling you get when you find out your weight and/or body fat % didn't go down like you had hoped.
9. Break a sweat.
I'm listing this as breaking a sweat versus going to the gym or working out. Some day we have hours to ourselves and can spend a long time at the gym... other days we are lucky if we have time to brush our hair and our teeth. With that being said I don't believe you have to go hard at the gym every single day. I do believe you need to break some sort of sweat each day. Make your body work a little bit. This could mean going for a nice brisk walk around the neighborhood, running up and down the stairs until you are needed next, it could mean having the 25 minutes to complete a session of T25 or it could mean taking the time to do a workout at the gym or in your home gym. Just go out and be active in some way!
10. Repeat & STICK WITH IT!
Think to yourself, would you rather start over or just keep going? For me I would much rather keep going. There are certainly days where I make absolutely no progress and even gain a pound or two, but I stay in the mindset of wanting to reach my goals. I have all the tools to get to where I wan to be, I just need to stick with it and not give up. 100% of people that give up have to restart if they want to reach their goals. Make your life a little easier and less stressful by not giving up in the first place. One bad day or even week does not mean you have to quit. Get back on that horse and head for your goal!
11:00 am: Protein Shake with Almond Milk & Banana (250 calories)
Sometimes I'll eat a tablespoon of peanut butter as well (100 calories)
1:30 pm: Salad with Grilled Chicken & fruit/veggies (approx. 200-250 calories)
If I'm on the go I'll have a protein bar and some veggies (200-250 calories)
Or... turkey chilli & quinoa (300 calories)
3:45 pm: Chobani Simple 100 with Cheerios & fruit (150 calories)
6:00 pm: Kashi or Cherrios with Skim Milk & Fruit (260 calories)
Sometimes I'll have a 4-5 ounce piece of meat & egg whites with peppers and onions
(250 calories)
7. Set a "cutoff" time for my last meal.
If you've ever heard of intermittent fasting, then you have an idea what I mean when I say "cutoff" time. Intermittent fasting is taking a 12-14 hour period of well.. fasting. This means you eat your meals for the day within a 10-12 hour window. This fasting period allows for stored fat to be burned more efficiently and for me it gives my brain a "last call" so I don't find myself snacking late at night when I tend to get bored. This isn't for everyone, but I've been doing it for about a month now and it has really helped control my late night snacking. I eat my first meal around 8 am and my last (5th or 6th meal) around 6 pm. This means from 6 pm until 8 am the next day, I don't ingest anything other than drinking water.
8. Give myself a compliment.
You've heard this a million times, tell yourself something positive each and everyday. I'm telling you, it really helps keep you motivated and on track! So I know this is a terrible habit, and I probably shouldn't even be admitting it, but I weight myself every morning; and quite honestly I probably will until I'm near my goal weight. Although I will say, as I step on the scale and wait for the number to load, I look myself in the mirror and tell myself that no matter what the scale says that I'm making progress and that I'm beautiful the way I currently am. This helps minimize the disappointing feeling you get when you find out your weight and/or body fat % didn't go down like you had hoped.
9. Break a sweat.
I'm listing this as breaking a sweat versus going to the gym or working out. Some day we have hours to ourselves and can spend a long time at the gym... other days we are lucky if we have time to brush our hair and our teeth. With that being said I don't believe you have to go hard at the gym every single day. I do believe you need to break some sort of sweat each day. Make your body work a little bit. This could mean going for a nice brisk walk around the neighborhood, running up and down the stairs until you are needed next, it could mean having the 25 minutes to complete a session of T25 or it could mean taking the time to do a workout at the gym or in your home gym. Just go out and be active in some way!
10. Repeat & STICK WITH IT!
Think to yourself, would you rather start over or just keep going? For me I would much rather keep going. There are certainly days where I make absolutely no progress and even gain a pound or two, but I stay in the mindset of wanting to reach my goals. I have all the tools to get to where I wan to be, I just need to stick with it and not give up. 100% of people that give up have to restart if they want to reach their goals. Make your life a little easier and less stressful by not giving up in the first place. One bad day or even week does not mean you have to quit. Get back on that horse and head for your goal!
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!
ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!