27 Fitness and Health Hacks

Busy days leave us wishing for more hours, more time and constantly in search of easier, more efficient methods to get it all done. The same can apply to your health and fitness, which just happens to be one area that often gets left behind because of this busy-ness. So to make your life easier and AMP up your fitness and health, here are 27 hacks to get you on your way:

1. Wear some kind of fitness tracker (even an inexpensive pedometer will do). It will give you a good indication if you are moving enough during your day. Aim for 10,000 steps daily. Many people report that a fitness tracker actually motivates them to get out and do a little more, whether taking the stairs during lunch or an after dinner walk.
2. Get a fitness accountability partner to work out with or at least check in with daily or weekly. Even if you don’t exercise together you can help motivate, support and keep each other on track to meet fitness goals.
3. Morning Workouts – get it over with before everything else in your day takes over. Prepare your clothes and gear the night before so you don’t even have to think about it when you wake up.
4. Schedule active meetings – Too busy to go to the gym? Meet up with colleagues or friends for a walk, run, tennis etc, rather than a meal.
5. Don’t sit for more than an hour. Whether at home or work set a timer if you need to but get up and move, walk around, and stretch every hour.
6. Don’t make it about all or nothing – if you can’t commit to an hour or 30 minutes straight consider several mini workouts during your day: 10 minutes in the morning of basic body weight calisthenics, a 15 minute brisk walk while kids are at practice, 10 minutes of stairs while waiting to pick up kids at school or during your work break, etc. Get creative because something is better than nothing.
7. When you’re feeling emotionally strong – cull the crap from your pantry and fridge – with no temptations around you’ll only be forced to eat healthy alternatives.
8. Menu plan. Spend a little time before each busy week to plan and prep three meals. This includes buying all ingredients, and if you’re really on top of things, doing some of the actual prep ahead of time (like cutting veg, pre-cooking the meat) so that when it’s busy with work, homework and extracurricular activities, dinner is much easier, faster to get on the table at night – and still healthy. 
9. Always have lots of fresh produce on hand. As soon as you get it home, clean it and if needed, cut it up into easily accessible servings. Keep a big bowl of fruits on your table, ready to grab. In the fridge, keep cut up melon and veggies like carrots, celery, peppers etc in containers, ready to go. If the work is already done –there’s no excuse to not eat it (healthy fast food).
10. Load up on veggies and fiber with soups and stews which are not only very healthy and filling but lend themselves to large recipes that can be frozen or kept in the fridge and heated up on days when there’s not a lot of time for food prep.
11. Love your leftovers. If you’re going to the effort to cook for your family why not double up the recipe so that you have meals for 2 or more nights? This is ideal for busy school nights when you may be tempted to eat cereal or grab fast food – with leftovers; you just need to heat it up.
12. Use smaller plates and bowls for your meals – it psychologically makes you feel like you have eaten more.
13. Slow it down – eat that meal over a span of at least 20 minutes – or wait until 20 minutes has passed before refilling your plate – it takes about that time for all the chemical and hormonal signals to reach their targets and send back “full” feelings to the brain.
14. Food journals – you bite it, you write it – keep a handy paper and pen on the fridge and pantry door.
15. Drink water – 2 large glasses in the morning (to get things going) and throughout the day. If you feel hungry or snacky – drink a large glass of water and wait before noshing.
16. Avoid the liquid calories. Unless you have a healthy smoothie as a meal, try not to consume things like juices, soda and “specialty” waters; watch the cream and sugar in your coffee and tea and of course alcohol. All are laden with predominantly empty calories (sugar) that are readily stored as fat.
17. Curing a sweet tooth can be difficult but if you can cut back (or cut out) sugar and sweets for 7-10 days, you will have new taste buds (like skin cells, they turn over quickly) that won’t be used to sugar so natural sweets like fruit will be satisfying enough.
18. Get out of the house, get outside and occupy yourself – most people snack because they are tired, upset or bored. Acknowledging the true issue and dealing with it directly will prevent you from overeating.
19. Zen food shopping. Never food shop on an empty stomach and/or with hungry, tired kids. Between the complaints from your belly and the nagging of your kids plus clever marketing ploys, it doesn’t take long to be worn down and cave in to buying that big bag of chips or a package of bakery goodies just to shut everyone up (including your growling tummy).
20. Always make and stick to a food-shopping list – it prevents you from impulse junk food buys.
21. Frozen grapes make a great crunchy sweet treat.
22. Use turmeric in your cooking or in hot water with honey as an anti-inflammatory.
23. Eat ginger to prevent next day muscle soreness after a tough workout.
24. Eat the majority of your daily carbs within a few hours of your workout and avoid them later in the day – your body will use it to replenish glycogen stores and not for fat.
25. Brush your teeth after eating. Fresh teeth are a great deterrent from further eating.
26. Stop the late night snacking; allow 3-4 hours after eating before going to sleep to allow the body time to fully digest the food before it slows down and concentrates on repair and rebuilding during the night.
27. Eat veggies or fruit and a protein with every meal and for any snack to curb overeating and keep your energy levels longer.