52 Health and Fitness Tips for the New Year

Fitness tips for the new yearSince it's the beginning of a new year (which of course always includes those New Year's resolutions), we thought we would re-post this guest article by Marin fitness expert Michele Vaughan. There's one helpful tip here for each week of the year! Michele is president of The Balance Workout, Marin's premiere fitness studio.

Here are 52 things that you can do for the new year

1. Put yourself first. Write your exercise in your date book as if it were a doctor’s appointment and keep it! If we aren't healthy then we can't take care of our children or partners.

2. Put your fork down between each bite of food. It takes 20 minutes for the stomach to signal the brain that it is full.

3. Make dates with your girlfriends around fitness and health. Go for a walk, hike or run instead of going out to eat a high calorie lunch.

4. Never go to the grocery store hungry.

5. Don't buy anything that has white flour or sugar in it for a week.

6. Put exercise in the “brush-your-teeth” category, not the “manicure/pedicure” category.

7. Be an example for your children: eat healthy and exercise daily. They will inherit these habits. Remember, children are like sponges.

8. Get rid of your scale. Muscle weighs more than fat.

9. Drink more than 8 glasses of water a day. It is good for the skin!

10. Find an exercise class to go to with a friend and make an appointment to meet her there once a week.

11. Get an appointment with a personal trainer, and let them help you find ways to incorporate exercise into your life.

12. Only do exercise that is fun. If you don't enjoy it, you won't stick to it.

13. Work out in the mornings. Statistics show that after-work or evening workouts have a much larger attrition rate than first thing in the morning.

14. Sign up for a race with a friend and train for it.

15. Do one family event a week that involves exercise. Go for a hike, bike ride, swim, or walk.

16. Eat dinner together. Not only is it an important time to find out what happens in our children's day, it is an important time to be examples for our children's eating habits.

17. Throw your children's uneaten meals down the garbage disposal!! Don't eat their left over.

18. Eat a healthy breakfast. Women think if they start eating in the mornings they won't be able to stop. The reverse is true. If we starve ourselves in the mornings we will overeat at night.

19. Pack healthy snacks for both you and your children, so you are not tempted to grab unhealthy snacks on the run.

20. Cut up fruit and veggies and keep in the refrigerator for healthy snacking during the day.

21. Don't buy or keep junk food in the house, so you won't be tempted during the day or night.

22. Go for a walk after dinner and let your food digest.

23. Keep a food diary for one month. Write everything down that goes into your mouth. You might be surprised.

24. Order an appetizer and salad instead of a full meal at dinner.

25.Don't over-schedule yourself or your kids. It adds so much more stress than if we lighten our loads.

26. Try to eliminate sugar from your diet. Sugar produces insulin, and insulin causes us to store fat.

27. Make stretching a part of your workout. It helps prevent injuries and helps us to cool down after a workout.

28. Donate all your clothes that are too big. Don't let it be an option to go back there. Keep all the clothes that you once fit into and make it a goal to get back there.

29. Don't eat out at restaurants more than once a week. Restaurant meals average 800 more calories than if we eat at home.

30. Count how many minutes you spend in line at Starbucks each day and match it with a workout that lasts as long.

31. Challenge a spouse or friend to health or fitness goal. And put a date on it.

32. Buy a healthy cookbook and make a new meal once a week.

33. Limit your children's screen time to 30 minutes a day and allow yourself the same.

34. Limit your alcohol to only weekends.

35. Drink a sparkling water in between alcoholic beverages at parties or restaurants. It will cut the calories in half.

36. Get a relaxation CD or tape and keep it in the car. When you are in traffic or the kids are at each other, put it on. It has amazing effects.

37. Say one thing you are grateful for out loud each day. It could turn your day around.

38. On Sundays, prepare healthy soups or meals and freeze them for the week. It makes dinner easier during the week.

39. Make a list of all the healthy restaurants and make a commitment to only go to those places.

40. Take a picture of yourself with a bathing suit on, and put it on the refrigerator.

41. Find a picture of yourself when you felt good and put it next to the other picture.

43. Make an agreement with your spouse that you each get one hour a day to workout. And help each other stick to it.

44. Take a workout vacation, surf camp, yoga retreat, or to a spa with your spouse or best friend.

45. Make a workout CD or on your iPod. It truly helps to listen to our favorite music while we work out.

46. Make a goal with your spouse or partner that has a big reward at the end of it. Such as if you lose x amount of weight, you get to purchase the new watch you have been eyeing for the last year.

47. Compliment your friends and family when they have achieved something positive. Positive breeds positive.

48. Get plenty of sleep. It makes everyone happier.

49. Stop drinking soda, including diet.

50. Take 30 minutes a night and have the family read together.

51. On the days you want to blow off your workout, make a commitment to do only ten minutes instead of the usual hour. You will feel better and it will help you stay committed the next time you feel like blowing it off.

52. Eat as much high-fiber food as possible--it helps to fill us up.


Michele Vaughan has been in the fitness industry since 1980. She has a Masters of Science in Physical Education and Dance. Michele has the highest certifications of NSCA as a CSCS and ACSM Advanced Personal Trainer along with ACE group exercise, personal training, lifestyle and weight management. She has a certification in Pilates with the Stott Method, a certification in Yoga for Fitness Professionals and a certification as a Spinning Instructor.

Source: http://fwix.com/sfbay/share/f3b8fb7144/52_health_and_fitness_tips_for_the_new_year