7 Ways to a Better Bod

Do you ever hear yourself saying:

“I know I should lose 10 pounds, but I don’t have time to exercise or diet?”

or

“I know I’m in this cycle of caffeine and sugar, but I sacrifice in so many other ways, I’m entitled to my indulgences?”

If we are clear about our goals and are motivated to succeed, that’s half the battle. The other half is to forgive ourselves when we fail. Here are 7 healthy body tips that can increase your success and move to a better bod (or be happy with the one you’ve got).

1. Eliminate the word should from your vocabulary. You either do or you don’t. Should only makes you feel bad about yourself and it actually inhibits your progress.
2. Find a new reward. Do you ever notice how we reward ourselves with food? “Oh, I worked really hard today, I deserve to eat chips with my vodka.” Or “I’ve been so good on my diet all week, it’s ok that I have ice cream tonight.” The next time you’ve been good to yourself and have worked hard or done a great job with meeting your goal of eating healthy food, put $20 in a jar toward your trip to Mexico or that really hot black dress you have your eye on.
3. Add in and crowd out. Rather than get into psychological warfare with yourself on what foods you should or should not eat. Just eat more good stuff. Want to have that steak? Go for it! Make sure at least half your plate is filled with green, red and yellow veggies. Season them up so they are good and tasty. And hey – enjoy that steak – just make sure it’s not more than 30% of your entire meal.
4. Clean house. Get rid of tempting ‘junk food.’ If you have trouble resisting temptation, don’t have the culprits available. Give yourself better alternatives: kale chips instead of potato chips; homemade gluten free brownies instead of manufactured cookies that have a seemingly infinite shelf life. Trust me. If it can exist on your countertop for a week without going bad, you shouldn’t eat it!
5. Make it easy. This is really my favorite tip because it’s so simple. Shop well. Prep once. Cook once. Eat many times. For the time starved among us, this is indispensable advice. Buy the right food. Wash your greens and vegetables and store them in the fridge ready to go. Pick things easy to cook and that cook quickly like greens and fresh fish or chicken. See? Easy.
6. Love your leftovers. I love leftovers, and here’s why you should too: If you cook more than you will eat in a sitting, you have another meal already made. Take it to lunch the next day. Have it for dinner. Use leftover vegetables in a quick frittata. Make your bowl interesting, creative and flavorful. Be adventurous and put a bunch of leftovers in one bowl. I tend to do greens first, then grains then protein. Sprinkle with kelp, maybe a little hot sauce and I’m good to go.
7. Move around. Take little opportunities to introduce more movement in your day. Got 10 minutes? Walk around your office complex. It’s raining? Walk inside, up and down a few flights of stairs. Tour the halls, say ‘hi’ to co-workers. Working at home or on a weekend? Pick up those hand weights before getting in the shower. Do 20 reps each of biceps, triceps, shoulders, and flies. Or drop down and do 50 crunches or push-ups. You don’t need an hour for a full circuit routine. 10 minutes 2 or 3 times a day will keep your heart pumping keep that blood rushing to that gorgeous brain of yours and burn up that great food you’ve been eating. Exercise today? Yeah, check that.

The biggest thing you can do for yourself if you have a goal of ‘eating healthy’ or ‘losing weight’ is to love yourself for screwing up. None of us is perfect. Tomorrow is another day. Start anew and begin again.