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How to find time to workout regularly?

How to find time to workout regularly?

Motivation to stay fit, , , , ,

How to find time to workout regularly?

Can't find time in your busy schedule to workout? I was like you once, but managed to develop a way to workout 5 times a week for an hour or more! Want to know how I did it? I share my 5 secrets on how to find time to workout in your everyday busy life for a healthy life!

Just think of your workout time as a start towards a new healthy life. Here are 5 tips to get you started on your journey towards living a healthy life and workout regularly:

1. Limit your time spent online and on social media

Chances are that you are spending your free time online browsing the internet and/or checking Facebook. My excuse was that after a long and hard day at work I am too tired mentally and physically to do anything else but stare blindly at the TV screen or Facebook. If you still believe this, then I have news for you: schedule a workout session instead of turning on the TV or your laptop.

By the time you finish your workout, you will feel positive about yourself, and the thought that you did something for creating a healthy life in the long run fulfills you much more than looking at pictures of your coworker’s best friend’s summer holiday in Dubai from 2010.

Remember my words the next time you are about to turn on the TV or open a tab to start typing “fac…” and stop right there. Instead go to YouTube and type in the search bar “yoga at home” and click on that 30 minute workout video and follow the instructions! Daily workout done! Welcome healthy life!

2. Spend time with friends while doing a workout

How to find time to workout regularly?
This could be you and your friends jumping happily instead of sitting and sipping coffee while complaining about your day at work.

As being a very social person who enjoys spending time with her friends, I found really challenging to say no to my friends when they asked me to grab a cup of coffee with them after work. But because I scheduled my workout right after work, I had to say no many times. And I felt awful about it, because I didn’t want my friends to think that I don’t like spending time with them.

So I came up with this thing: whenever one of my friends asked me if I want to grab a cup of coffee with them, I immediately asked if they want to join me at the gym or take a Zumba class with me instead. At first they were really surprised, but there were friends who happily said yes to a workout opportunity. And there were friends who later asked me if they could join me to workout on one of my Zumba classes.

3. Try out different workouts to find the one you truly enjoy

It wasn’t a fast journey  to find the right workout type that I enjoy and love. It took years to develop my current workout routine that  is challenging enough so I don’t get bored. So take it slow, try out different workout types: Pilates, yoga, aerobics, running, gym workout, Zumba, weight lifting and many more. There are plenty workouts you can choose from! You can workout at home by searching for workout videos on YouTube or you can join a class to be around other people to motivate you. Try out anything that could take you closer towards living a healthy life you always wanted!

4. Schedule your workout in advance

How to find time to workout regularly?
Schedule your workout advance for next week in your calendar.

The trick to sticking with a workout routine is to treat it as an appointment. So put your workout hours in your calendar. You wouldn’t miss an appointment with your dentist would you? So treat your workout session as that appointment: set your mind in that mode. Workout is equally important as your dentist appointments.

At first this will be hard, because everything around you will try to make you miss that appointment: family will ask you to do something important, friends will want to meet you for coffee and chitchat at that time, your phone won’t stop ringing. But you need to make it clear to yourself and to others: everything can wait an hour until you finish your scheduled workout session. This is the only way to get closer to living a healthy life.

Family and friends won’t respect your workout hours if you are not treating it as something you need to do whatever happens. You need to make that yoga class on Wednesday at 8 p.m. and everything else can wait for you to finish your scheduled relaxation.

5. Re-think your priorities

If you’ve read through this list and still think that you wouldn’t be able to fit a workout into your busy schedule, then you seriously need to re-think your priorities in life.

Just think about it: you believe in a healthy life mindset, and you would like to change your current lifestyle for it to be more healthy.

In order for you to make time for workout and live a healthy life you need to make it a priority in your life.

If it is important enough for you to live a healthy life, then you will find a way to make time for workout. [Tweet this!]

If workout and healthy life are not important enough to you, then you’ll find excuses. If you can’t fit workout into your schedule, then it means that you have other priorities in life which are currently more important to you than living a healthy life.

Take a time to re-think your priorities in life: what are the things that are more important to you currently than living a healthy life?

There is nothing wrong with that, just make it clear to yourself that you are not living a healthy life because you don’t want to. If you’d really want to, you’d find a way to make it happen.

Want to start going to the gym but you have no one to go with? You can go alone! Fear not! Here are 4 hacks to get you to the gym if you are afraid of going to the gym alone as a girl >>>

Want more tips on living a healthy life? Click here for my weekly updates>>>

Bulletproof secrets to sticking with your new year resolution

Bulletproof secrets to sticking with Your new year resolution

Motivation to stay fit, , ,

Bulletproof secrets to sticking with your new year resolutionComing up with a new year resolution is easy, and if you are anything like me, you’ve come up with tons of resolutions you’d like to make a reality in the new year. That is really nice, but what can guarantee that you’ll stick with your new year resolution in the long run and won’t drop it after a few weeks into the new year? I have the secret to sticking with your new year resolution right here, that I guarantee that will work:

Secret #1: Make it a habit

Making a new year resolution sets you up for failure if it is not based on observing your current habits. What you need to do is make behavioral changes. In order for you to stick with your new year resolution, you need to make it a habit. By taking up a new healthy habit or substituting an old, existing bad habit with a new healthy habit, you guarantee that you’ll stick with it in the long run. So instead of making new year resolutions, concentrate on developing healthy habits in the new year. There are 2 ways to do this:

  1. Substitute a bad habit with a new, healthy habit

  2. Take up a new healthy habit

It doesn’t matter whichever you choose; the important thing is to think of your new year resolution as a habit. This is key to making you stick to your new year resolution in the long run.

Secret #2: Take up one new healthy habit at a time

Bulletproof secrets to sticking with your new year resolutionAs a new year resolution, I started last year with a 30 day challenge of eating at least one fruit per day for 30 days. Seems easy, right? Well, it wasn’t! In order to keep up eating a fruit for 30 days, there were several issues I had to address, that I didn’t see coming. It seemed easy on the first week: I ate an orange, apple or a banana every day for 7 days. Then all the fruit I bought started going bad, because I bought a bunch of fruits that I couldn’t eat in a week. I ended up without fruit at the end of the first week. So I had to change my approach and buy smaller quantities of fruit. Then my appetite got better, and ended up eating more than one fruit per day, and again ended up without fruit at the end of the second week.  After the 30 days were over, I figured that I like eating fruit, so I made this challenge a healthy habit and continued eating at least one fruit per day. On the next week, I forgot to buy fruit, because it still wasn’t a healthy habit for me to buy fruit during grocery shopping. Every time I had to write down exactly how much fruit I need to buy and which type during grocery shopping. It needed a lot of adjusting in order for me to develop a healthy habit out of my new year resolution. After 90 days into the new year I remember looking back and thinking about how challenging those past 3 months have been. But I stick to it, adjusted, and finally developed a healthy habit of eating one fruit per day. By making it a healthy habit, after a year, I still eat a fruit a day.

Now imagine yourself with 3 or more new year resolutions that you want to introduce in your life all at once. A simple thing as eating one fruit a day took me 3 months to shift into a healthy habit: I had a lot of adjusting to do until I came up with a right shopping plan that works for me and that doesn’t leave me with spoiled fruit or without fruit. I was ready to introduce a new healthy habit after that. Have I taken up 3 new habits at once, I guarantee I would have failed in all 3 of them in the long run. So figure out one new healthy habit, and when you see that you made it a habit and you can stick to it for more than a month, then move on to the next one.

Introducing 12 new healthy habits this year is quite an achievement, right? Way better than failing at 3 new healthy habits before the end of the first month.

Secret #3: Take it step by step – with small steps

Bulletproof secrets to sticking with your new year resolutionDon’t make a new year resolution that is way too much of a challenge and needs you making huge changes in your life. You won’t be able to stick to any drastic measures in the long run. By making an surrealistic new year resolution, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Let’s say: You decide to lose weight by working out at the gym at least an hour a day 5 times a week while your current workout routine is going to a yoga class 2-3 times a month. It is guaranteed that you won’t be able to maintain that regimen longer than a week because of work and other responsibilities. You feel bad because you failed at the start, and you stuff a pizza, coke and delicious sweets into you face for the next month. You failed because you set yourself an unrealistic goal as a new year resolution. You can’t expect to go from working out once a week to working out 5 times a week. You need to make that shift gradually. First, make it at least 2 times per week to the gym or to that yoga class. Then, when it becomes a habit, raise the bar. Make it 3-4 times a week. You will need to overcome a lot of obstacles and figure out a workout schedule that works for you in a long run. Introducing new healthy habits is only possible if you do it with small steps.

Like these tips? Get more useful quick tips on how to motivate yourself towards a lifestyle full of healthy habits! Click here>>>

30 day water challenge rules

How to start a 30 day water challenge: the rules

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3 rules of the 30 day water challenge

Ready to start Your 30 day water challenge? Not sure how to get started? First thing first: let’s see what are the rules of the 30 day water challenge!

30 day water challenge rules

Rules of the 30 day water challenge seem simple: You should drink 1 gallon/3.7 liters of water a day for 30 days, no sweetened beverages nor alcohol are allowed for this period.

How to start the 30 day water challenge?

If you are serious about starting the 30 day water challenge, there certainly are more questions that will arise. Now let’s break down these simple steps of the 30 day water challenge one by one, and answer the big question:

1. Create a water drinking plan

If you are not much of a water drinker, then making yourself to drink 1 gallon/3.7 liters of water a day for 30 days will be tricky at the start. You will need to monitor your water intake, but eventually you will get used to drinking that amount of water. I suggest starting the 30 day water challenge by creating a water drinking plan for yourself to drink that 1 gallon/3.7 liter water a day. You can even have a weekday and weekend water drinking plan if your daily routine differs during the week. The trick is to create a water drinking plan for yourself that fits your lifestyle. The point of a water drinking plan is to plan the water drinking in advance – so you will be more likely to stick to it and meet your daily goal of water intake.

Creating a water drinking plan helps you develop a habit of regularly drinking water throughout the day. It is important if you are not used to drinking water.

Don’t drink all the water in once! In fact, you mustn’t drink more than 0.21 gallons/0.8 liter of water in an hour, because water poisoning is a real threat. You can prevent water poisoning if you distribute your water intake throughout the day.

Just be mindful of your water intake frequency: having a water drinking plan is a great way of achieving this.

2. Swap sweetened coffee, tea, soda, juices with pure water (or their unsweetened equivalent)

If you strictly follow the rules of the 30 day water challenge, then you shouldn’t drink sweetened soda/coffee/tea/juices nor alcohol at all. Swapping your sweetened drinks with pure water is great step towards a healthy lifestyle!

If you are finding this to be really strict, then start the 30 day water challenge by taking your coffee/tea without sugar, honey or artificial sweeteners. Swap soda and juices with water! Limit your alcohol intake to drinking 1 glass of vine or other alcohol 1-2 times per week as a treat.

Am I allowed to drink this during the 30 day water challenge?
Drink type Allowed Not allowed
Coffee Yes if unsweetened Sweetened coffee NOT allowed
Tea Yes if unsweetened Sweetened tea NOT allowed
Soda Yes if soda water Sweetened sodas NOT allowed
Juices NOT allowed NOT allowed
Milk Yes if unsweetened Sweetened milk NOT allowed

3. Does water in my coffee/tea/soda/juice/soup count as water?

Drinks such as unsweetened coffee and unsweetened tea also count in into your water intake during the 30 day water challenge. You can also count the water in soups as well.

We agreed that you are going to drink water instead of juices and soda during the 30 day water challenge, so it is clear that water counts as water.

Soda is allowed only if it is soda water (sparkling water), a natural potable mineral water with high concentration of sodium bicarbonate, typically carbonated. Keep in mind, that flavored carbonated water contains sweeteners, so it is not allowed as a drink during the 30 day water challenge. You should stay away from any kind of soda beverages.

However, if you choose to treat yourself with that 1 glass of vine or other type of alcohol, don’t count them in your daily water intake.

If you’ve read this far, it means that you are ready to start your 30 day water challenge! If you have any reservations about drinking 1 gallon/3.7 liter water a day for 30 days, consult your doctor.

Need proof of the benefits of drinking more water? See my results of the 30 day water challenge>>>

anorexia vs phantom fat distorted body image

Unexpected results of completing Maria Kang’s 30-day no excuse water challenge

30 day water challenge, Motivation to stay fit, , , , , , , ,

It was summer, it was hot, and I knew I should be drinking way more liquids. That’s when I stumbled upon the call for Maria Kang’s no excuse water challenge, so it was the perfect opportunity to make myself drink more water. I was skeptic about keeping up daily drinking 1 gallon a water for a month, but I started anyway.

Rules of the 30-day water challenge
Rules of the 30-day water challenge

You hear everywhere about the benefits of drinking plenty water, but if you are anything like me, you know that it is good for you, but during the busy and hectic workweek and eventful weekends, you just don’t remember to drink. So I started by creating a plan to drink that 1 gallon a day. Got a 50 oz bottle sitting on the table of my office desk which had to be drunk twice during my office hours, and then I only had to fill and drink my 26 oz workout bottle during my workout to drink a gallon a day. Sounds easy? Well, like everything else, it is challenging at first, but then you get used to it. I was really curious about all the positive things that consuming more water and keeping yourself hydrated would do to my body.

The unexpected results of completing Maria Kang’s 30-day no excuse water challenge are:

1. Wrinkles around the eyes are gone

After 5 days of drinking plenty water the wrinkles under and in the corner of my eyes visibly reduced. 25 days into the challenge I did a 2-step wrinkle test with strips. The test shows how deep your wrinkles are, and mine said that I am wrinkle free! I have to admit that lines under my eye are still visible, but their length and depth is reduced. Not bad at all, especially if you consider that all I had to do is keep myself hydrated for a month!

2. Pesky pimples and acne free face

If you suffer from cystic acne, you pretty much know how irritating and depressing regular monthly flare ups can be. Nobody needs to tell you how uncomfortable it is. I am a 33 year old female and until recently I also struggled with acne. I’ve seen improvements in the last year after an active year of trial and error and finally I’ve found the best skin care regimen for myself – 3 months ago I have finished developing an ultimate home skin care routine that made a difference (see how: use your brain to help your face). However, once a month the start of my period still marked another monthly event: a total skin freak-out.

So imagine my surprise when only after 6 days of drinking plenty water I noticed an improvement in my overall skin tone. Even further, when that time of the month arrived and for the first time in my life I had no breakouts! It’s been 30 days, and I am pimple free!

My honest confession: after finishing the 30-day #noexcusewaterchallenge I stopped watching my water intake and drink less than 1/2 a gallon a day. After only 3 days 3 pesky pimples appeared. Bummer.

3. Perfect poop every morning

unexpected results of completing Maria Kang's 30-day no excuse water challenge Are you a perfect pooper? Research suggests that the range of “normal” pooping is typically 1-3 times a day. And it should look like a snake (see the Bristol Stool Chart Type 4 ). You should not push hard for the perfect poop: it is a balance between not having to push or strain, but also not having so much urgency you barely can hold it. Thanks to the water challenge, my bowel movements became normal and I make the most perfect snake poop every morning. This alone was a motivation for friends around me to start drinking more water each day, and now we are a bunch of happy friends creating perfect snake poop!

4. Lost almost 9 lbs in 30 days

I never believed that I could lose pounds by not changing my habits and by not incorporating more exercise into my current routine nor by consuming less calories, but it became a reality! On day 11 I weighed 4 pounds less than when I started the challenge! It was quite a surprise for me! Although the weight loss did not continue in this initial rate, I still weighed 9 lbs lighter at the end of the challenge! I have to emphasize that the calories I burn on a day-to-day basis remained the same as well as my healthy eating habits.

5. Highly energized and well rested every single day

I resent waking up early and walking to the office. My only motivation is the first and only fresh cup of coffee that I drink at the office. Then on the last week of the 30-day water challenge everything changed. I haven’t slept more than usually, but after I woke up I felt refreshed and full of energy. It wasn’t just a one-timer: this was the case every single morning, and the fully energized feeling lasts throughout the day. I have tons of energy for the gym after my workday, and I Hulk smash every single workout!

When I spot a woman on a street walking towards me with dark circles or wrinkles around her eyes, I can barely hold myself from approaching and shaking her, screaming:

“Start drinking more water, woman!”

Completing the 30-day water challenge and seeing the positive results it has made me crazy, I know. Although I wanted to scream at and shake women when I found out what a difference a perfectly fitting bra makes, so maybe it’s just me reacting weirdly to new things that make me prettier and my life easier and healthier.

Any of these benefits alone were enough motivation for my friends and family to start consuming more water, and they experienced after a few days the advantages themselves! The 30-day water challenge is over, but this should not keep you from starting your own water challenge and see the benefits for yourself!

Here is a list of 4 alarming things you need to know before you start a 30 day water challenge. Click here>>>

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