What is your health routine?
Originally published 7/14/2018 on Wordpress
I talk so much about health and being healthy that I have been asked a lot lately what my routine is for diet and exercise. I never ask people to do anything that I would not do myself but I truly believe we should all have a routine. So I wanted to take this opportunity to blog about my particular routine.
The relationship between what we eat and how we move and our health is such an important one. There is so much data to collaborate this fact. But as much as we know this, it is not easy to do
I’ve been known to say that the only reason I exercise is so I can eat
This is truth.
But not the only reason.
I can assure you that no one who exercises regularly really really enjoy it. I’m not going to lie to you, the first 20 to 30 minutes is pure hell. But once you get into it and your muscles loosen up, then it starts to be tolerable. It is important to establish clear reasons and clear goals for yourself. What are your reasons for wanting to exercise and eat right and what are your goals?
These are my reasons.
– I want to maintain a healthy weight so I can fit and look good in my clothes as I love all things fashion.
– I want for the most part to be healthy. I want to prevent diabetes, prevent the complications of hypertension, decrease the risk of heart disease and cancer. Especially since high blood pressure and diabetes run in my family
– I want to live long so I can see my kids grow up
– I want to be healthy so I can continue to do the activities that I enjoy
– I want to be able to eat what I want because I hate to diet
My goal is a certain BMI, weight and clothing size.
How do I achieve this?
– I try to do 4-5 days a week. If I can do 3 then that’s okay too.
– My two go to exercises are running and The Barmethod. I run or walk for cardio and do the Barmethod (a form of Pilates and yoga) for strength training
– I run on my treadmill at home. When the weather is good, I run or walk outside.
– When I can’t exercise, I make an effort to decrease the amount of calories I consume
– I use a food recording app to document everything I put in my mouth. This keeps me accountable
– I walk as much as I can. I always try to hit 10000 steps a day. I take the steps over the elevator as much as I can. I try not to seat for long periods at work so I get up and walk around when I can.
– As regards diet, I am getting closer and closer to a plant based diet. I am maybe 70% and don’t know that I will ever get to 100%. So….there is a whole lotta hoopla about plant based diets and this is understandable because let’s face it the health benefits are scientifically proven and can’t be ignored.
– My go to meal is oatmeal for breakfast, if I eat breakfast. Greek yogurt and granola for lunch and a salad for dinner.
– About 3 times a year I crave a burger or steak. And I go for it.
– I try to minimize carbs- bread, pasta, rice and sugars in general.
– I do not drink sodas at all
– I try to eat as much fruits and vegetables as I can
For me it’s really all about balance. I don’t like to deny myself because otherwise, I crave that which I cannot have. And craving leads to binging which is not healthy. So I exercise and I eat healthy.
The more often you do this,
the more likely it is to become habit. No big revelations here. You get out what you put in.
What are your thoughts?
As always, thanks for reading
J