A significant number of Americans gain weight during the holidays, and the cold, dreary winter season sometimes makes it difficult to maintain your commitment to health and wellness. However, winter shouldn’t mean that it’s time for your fitness plans to take a break. While heading outside to exercise may not always be an option, there are many ways to keep fit and active this time of year, so you can keep your body moving and fitness goals on track.
While it’s easy for your healthy habits to get lost in your busy schedule, there are way to help to refocus on your health and wellness goals.
NJ Diet is here to help. We take weight loss and overall wellness to an entirely new level. By utilizing bloodwork and performing DNA testing on each of our clients, we can determine each individual’s ideal diet and workout plan. We customize supplementation along with a personalized diet plan to help every patient attain their weight and health goals.
In this blog, we’ve compiled our best exercise, health and motivational tips, so you can ride out the winter months feeling like your best self.
Health Tips For The Winter Months And Beyond
Weight loss is a journey: we all have days when our motivation to eat right and exercise is on point—and other days when we can’t seem to get motivated. Instead of beating yourself up when days like these happen, try to realize that weight loss is a process. By shifting your focus to finding ways to restore your motivation, you may help your weight loss success overall.
Prioritize Your Sleep
Post-holiday season is the perfect time to reevaluate your schedule and consider focusing on your bedtime routine. Better sleep won’t just help you feel more rested — studies indicate that it can also support your weight loss goals. Research shows that too little sleep can cause you to feel hungry and may increase the likelihood that you’ll reach for unhealthy foods, especially late at night. Additionally, poor sleep is linked to a higher body mass index and weight gain.
Avoiding caffeine and late night eating before bed can also help you feel better. The National Sleep Foundation recommends adults aim for seven to nine hours of sleep a night. By merely going to sleep 5-10 minutes earlier, or waking up a few minutes later in the morning, you can adjust your sleep cycle until you reach your goal.
Outline Your Wellness Goals
If your healthy eating habits and exercise routine fell short during the holidays, revisit your goals and set new ones for the week, month, or year. Setting goals and completing them each week — getting enough sleep, adding exercise back into your routine, or making self-care a priority — is a great way to stay ahead of the game. Remember to celebrate your victories, no matter how small! They’ll help fuel your post-holiday motivation as you work towards your new weekly and long-term targets.
Stay Physically Active
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity or 75 minutes of aerobic activity weekly plus muscle training on two or more days per week. Exercise not only helps you burn calories and keep your heart healthy, but it may also improve how you feel. According to the American Psychological Association, there is a strong link between exercise and mood.
Organization In The Workplace
You might feel pressure to over-schedule or overcommit yourself when you get back to work after the holidays. Instead of adding stress, start the year by creating and setting realistic, achievable goals. A great way to manage your stress at work is to set daily goals to help you prioritize the critical items you need to complete each day.
Stay Hydrated
Winter is a great time to recheck how much water you’re drinking each day. Water is critical to our health and can help with weight loss. Experts recommend women drink at least 11.5 cups of fluids, while men should drink about 15.5 cups daily. Drink more if you exercise or are sick, and in the winter the more hydrated you stay, the better. Water, tea and sparkling water are all great options.
Ways To Incorporate Activity Into Your Daily Life
In our fast-paced world, most people don’t have the time to fit as much regular physical activity into their busy schedules as they’d like. However it isn’t that hard to find quick, simple ways to incorporate more movement into your daily routine, both at home and at work.
Use the following tips to add more movement into your day; by taking these simple steps, you could reap significant health benefits, without breaking much of a sweat.
Morning Stretches
Just as you get out of bed in the morning, take 15 minutes to breathe deeply, stretch and perform simple yoga poses. Positions like the downward facing dog, the pigeon pose and the tree pose improve balance and strengthen your muscles. You’ll also relieve some stress before the day begins.
Park Far Away From Your Destination
Every step counts, so why not park a little farther away from your destination. Take a parking spot that is far from the door, and think about all the extra steps it will allow you to get in! Now only will allow you to get some quality steps in, you’ll be able to enjoy a little more time outside, sometimes we all crave in the wintertime.
Take The Stairs
Forget the elevator! Walk or jog up and down the stairs wherever you can. Not only does this raise your heart rate, you incorporate simple exercise into a daily routine without sacrificing your free time.
Have Walking/Standing Meetings
If it works for everyone in the meeting, consider heading outside for a breath of fresh air while you work through the agenda. If the weather isn’t agreeable, you can also walk through the hallways. If you have to be confined to one room for a meeting, consider standing for all or part of the meeting.
Take “Movement Breaks” At The Office
The adverse effects of prolonged sitting at the office include an increased risk of high blood pressure or coronary heart disease, as well as an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. However, there are many ways to incorporate simple “movement” into your workday. You can set an alarm or reminder on your phone every 30-60 minutes to take a minute or two to stand up and stretch your legs before getting back to work; or use a regular sized glass to force you to keep getting up to refill your water. Try using the bathroom furthest from your desk, or go to your co-workers desk and have a conversation instead of emailing them. With just these simple ideas, you’ll be able to easily get extra steps, a few times each day!
Walk At Lunch
Taking the time to get some fresh air and go for a walk at lunch can reduce your stress levels, and walking could enhance your productivity and creativity. Try partnering with a co-worker for added accountability and to make your time outside a bit more fun. Even if you don’t have time for a walk, just getting outside after lunch and “stretching your legs” for a few minutes can make a bigger impact than you think.
Exercising At Home
If you are looking for some easy exercises to lose weight at home, try doing these options above. By creating a simple, at home workout routine, you will be able to stay on track and continue working towards a healthier you.
- Invest In Hand Weights: No time to hit the weight-lifting machines at the gym, consider a set of hand weights or other exercises to strengthen your muscles.
- Jump Rope: for a super cardio exercise you can do at home, just grab a jump rope and get your heart pumping for a fun workout.
- Circuit Train At Home: Easy at-home exercises for a circuit include squats, push-ups, lunges, crunches, and planks. Build on several reps of each exercise for a complete circuit!
- Exercise While Watching TV: Squeeze in exercise during the commercial breaks, or while using your smartphone. Instead of sitting on the couch, do some floor exercises to keep your body moving while enjoying your nightly binge-watching.
- Stationary Bike Or At-Home Treadmill: If you have the room and the budget, investing in a home treadmill or stationary bike is an excellent way to incorporate exercise into your home routine.
Weight Loss Motivation Tips
Looking and feeling your best is attainable when fueled by a positive attitude. In the wintertime, it’s sometimes hard to find the motivation to keep on pushing through the small setbacks that may occur. However with a positive mindset, the small disappointments in your journey shouldn’t hinder your overall weight loss progress. By using simple motivation tips regularly to steer you toward your final destination and to re-motivate yourself on the days when you need it most, you have the power to reach your goals.
Evaluate Your Health & Weight Loss Goals
One of the best motivation tips for losing weight is to write down all the reasons why you want to get healthier! Look beyond the numbers — maybe your want to increase your energy level, or perhaps want to lose weight to improve health issues. By writing your goals down, and reading them once a week, you remind yourself of the reasons why you decided to adopt a new, healthier lifestyle, it may make it less likely that you will stray from your healthy eating and exercise plans.
Focus On Realistic Weight Loss Goals
Many people only think about reaching their outcome goal, which often involves getting to their target weight, but researchers have discovered that this type of focus can derail your weight loss efforts. Instead, think about your process goals, or actions you need to take to reach your overarching goal. Making specific, measurable, achievable and realistic goals for yourself that don’t include the number on the scale. For example, striving to eat three servings of vegetables a day; or planning to walk for 30-minutes, five days a week.
Small, realistic goals ensures that you are setting yourself up for success—which may keep you from feeling discouraged or abandon your diet and exercise habits altogether.
Find Support
Research has found that a weight loss with support is more likely to help you achieve your goals than trying to do it alone. By having a support system in place, you can lean on someone to provide extra motivation and advice. Find a fitness buddy that enjoys the same activities you do, or is embracing a similar diet plan that you are. This will help encourage you and also provide accountability!
We provide the support you need to be successful on your weight-loss journey at NJ Diet! When you come in for your initial consultation, we will explain how our unique individualized system works to reduce hunger and feel healthier, and how our 4 component approach makes it possible to lose 20-40 lbs. or more of fat in only 40 days! We assess the many metabolic factors to genetically make sure you not only lose the weight, but ensures you keep it off and stay healthy for a lifetime.
At NJ Diet, you come into our office every 10-14 days to make sure you are burning fat and losing weight correctly. Supervised by Dr. Arthur Turovets, D.C., you will be provided the doctor’s personal e-mail and phone number — so if you ever have any questions or issues while on the program, you can always contact the doctor directly!
Track Your Progress
Self-monitoring is a great tool for following your results and keeping you motivated. Weigh yourself weekly and take measurements, or track your progress using online tools / mobile apps. Taking before, during and after photos is also a great way to see how far you’ve come. Seeing your progress can be a huge motivator!
Celebrate Small Victories
As you embark on a weight loss journey, it’s important to celebrate the successes along the way, no matter how big or small they may be. Being proud of yourself can serve as an inspiration to keep making progress. Give yourself a non-food reward (such as a spa day or a new outfit) for achieving your goals so you’ll continue striving to reach them.
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While your weight loss goals may have been pushed to the back-burner during the holiday season, the new year is the perfect time to get back into a healthy routine that aligns with your goals.
The NJ Diet program is not only aimed at promoting healthy weight loss, but aims to improve your total wellness — where the side effect is weight loss, but the end result is better overall health and well being! Our 4 component approach that makes it possible to lose 20-40 lbs. or more of fat in only 40 days.
Continue to make your health and wellness a priority in 2019! Save $72 off Initial Evaluation and Consultation price of $99. Register today and your visit will cost ONLY $27!
