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Habits for a Better Physique

BY ADAM BAILEY

So, you want to get build a better physique? These seven habits are easy to implement in your everyday lifestyle and will help get you healthy and fit for life.

Being fit and healthy doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to working out for hours a day and eating nothing but chicken and steamed broccoli for every meal. In fact, there are several more effective (and less painful!) habits you can adopt today that will not only help you get in shape in the short term but will help you stay that way for the long run as well.

1. Stop making excuses. They’ve all been said. You’re too busy to go to the gym. It takes too much time to pack a healthy lunch. It’s too hard to find something healthy to eat out.

All of these excuses are valid in their own way, and yes, we’ve all been there. But if you really want to get—and stay—fit and healthy, you have to learn to give up your excuses and start making your health and fitness a top priority today.

2. Make sleep a priority. If you want to sleep well, you need to maintain a consistent schedule. And this starts with waking up at the same time, every single day. (Yes, even on weekends!).

When you sleep, growth hormones are released and protein synthesis occurs—vital for muscle repair and growth. This is the kind of recovery you need so you can hit up the gym and train again and again.

3. Plan your meals. If you’re rushing about deciding what to eat, you’re more likely to reach for a not-sohealthy quick and easy option. Take an hour or two to plan your meals for the week. You could meal prep a variety of healthy breakfasts, lunches and dinners to help you stay on track and within your calorie goals.

4. Find ways to actually enjoy your veggies. Vegetables are packed with important nutrients that keep your body healthy, and their fiber content also helps fill you up. So if you don’t love a plain salad, find ways to make your veggies interesting—roast them with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper; toss them in a flavorful stir fry; or blend them into a juice so you don’t even know they’re there. If you don’t despise them, you’re much more likely to eat vegetables on a regular basis.

5. Hydrate. Proper hydration is key is to staying lean and losing fat. Not only can dehydration affect you physically, the mental impact is just as damaging.

Increasing your water intake is an effective way to boost feelings of fullness which can help you stop overeating. It also ensures your body is in the right state to function properly and metabolize fat for energy.

6. Walk more. Do you know the minimum number of steps you should walk every day? It’s 10,000 to be precise— which works out to around five miles. If you can hit around this mark daily, then you can consider yourself an active person. If not, you might fall in the sedentary category.

7. Don’t always deprive yourself. Although it may seem counterintuitive, striving to always be ‘perfect’ with your nutrition is actually not a good long-term strategy to get or stay in shape. Depriving yourself of dessert and all the foods you love will only result in a binge of those very same foods when your willpower is having a moment of weakness.

Instead, try following the 80/20 strategy—eat healthy around 80% of the time, then let yourself have some treats here and there. Just make sure they’re really good ones!

To sum up … It’s all a matter of consistency, and if you can switch up your routine with these seven habits, you’ll be well on your way to your ideal body shape. Take it slowly at first and until some of these habits are formed, and then try introducing another one.

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