Look, none of these are really tricks, but they may be some things that you never thought of trying when it comes to creating a healthier life. Will these work for everyone? Nope. Will they make sense for everyone? Nope – but read through these quick hitters and maybe you will pick up on something that you never thought of.
These are in no particular order, as I’m writing them as they pop in my head.
1) Start your morning with a big glass of water – right when you get up. We lose water in our sleep and often wake up dehydrated. Replenish these losses ASAP.
2) Use the same water bottle throughout the day to track intake. If it is 24 ounces, and your goal is 100 ounces – you know that you need 4 of those bottles.
3) Place rubber bands or hair ties on the bottle – and every time you finish a bottle, take on off an put it on your wrist.
4) Trouble staying asleep? Shift some of your carbs to later in the day – this won’t make you fat, but it will help with your serotonin production.
5) Turn down the lights when the sun goes down – this will help keep in normal circadian rhythms, and can help with metabolic processes.
6) Don’t use melatonin to help sleep – it doesn’t work that way.
7) If you are active and have trouble staying asleep or getting deep sleep, consider a ZMA supplement – zinc, magnesium, and B6 are all needed in higher levels for active individuals.
8) Consider using a sleep cycle alarm clock. This will sense when you are most awake and wake you at a time when you aren’t in a super deep REM sleep – which can make you groggy even if you get 7-8 hours.
9) Make it a point to walk continuously for at least 15 minutes every day. Then build on that.
10) Stop drinking your calories.
11) Take a cooking class and learn how to make your own awesome food.
12) If you are not a broke college kid or a 10-year-old, stop eating like one – grow up, eat your veggies, and put the candy down.
13) Trigger warning: Again – you are a grown ass adult – stop eating candy. Seriously. (Yes, I’m shaming you here)
14) Learn how to lift weights, and learn from a professional, not an Instagram booty girl or abs bro.
15) Don’t chase the “feeling” of your workouts. Being sore after every workout is NOT a sign of a good workout.
16) Balance your intense workouts with low-intensity recovery work – this will make sure you hormonal and nervous systems stay balanced.
17) Don’t workout to earn food. You are not a dog.
18) Don’t factor in exercise calorie burns into your nutrition – these estimates are highly inaccurate and can lead to unhealthy relationships with exercise and food.
19) Eat birthday cake.
20) If you are afraid of birthday cake, your mind is broken.
21) Eat .8 to 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. I can’t say this enough, and people still are only eating 40 grams per day and wondering what the next secret is. If you haven’t tried this, try it, work up to it slowly though, or you might be a bit gassy 🙂
22) If you struggle to hit your protein goal – get a powder, they aren’t just for bros.
23) Sometimes the simplest workouts are the best – don’t over complicate it.
24) Have veggies or fruit at every meal.
25) Do a 30 minute day audit. Write out the whole day in 30-minute blocks and write what you are doing during that time – I bet you will find more room to exercise.
26) Make someone’s day
27) Read nightly – something that is not work-related. Don’t watch something that upsets you before bed. If the news upsets you, don’t watch it. If facebook gets you fired up, get off it.
28) Get outside more. Set your phone in silent/airplane mode – and explore outside.
29) Make connections with real people, you never know what will come of it. Nobody cares about how many friends you have on social media.
If you need more help coming up with a process that you can maintain, sustain and make gains, let me help you.
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