10 Lifestyle Habits of Women Who Are In Shape
People who are healthy and in shape don’t have more willpower than the average person they just follow a different set of habits.
Here are the top 10 habits that are part of their lifestyles.
1. Prioritize diet over exercise.
If your goal is to lose weight you must start with your diet.
Let’s say we eat 3 meals a day 7 times a week. That equates to 21 meals a week.
But let’s say we only work out 3 times a week so that’s 3 hours of movement a week.
Compared to exercise, you have 7X the opportunities to make a better choice in your diet to positively impact your weight versus showing up for your workouts.
Start with your diet first.
2. Grocery shop when you’re full.
You’ll make more reasonable and healthier choices when you’re not starving at the grocery store. If you’re starving, eat a balanced meal or snack before you go so you won’t be tempted to load up your cart with all your cravings and junk food that you’ll be eating all week long.
3. Plan your meals around lean protein.
Think about what protein you’ll eat and build your carbs and vegetables around that protein.
When you eat enough protein per meal, at least a handful, you’ll find yourself satiated for at least 3-4 hours at a time. Protein has a high thermic effect which means about 30% of your calories from protein get burned off by your body processing it so it’ll keep you full longer.
A handful of protein.
4. Stick with drinking only water and tea.
Changing your beverage options is the fastest way to make a dent in your daily calorie consumption. Even juices contain a lot more calories than you would expect and often times they contain 2 or more serving sizes and are full of sugar.
If you cannot stand plain water go for flavored or carbonated water to keep it palatable.
5. Pack your own lunches for work.
When you’re cooking at home cook twice as much so you can bring that as a leftover meal the next day. It’s one less chance for you to make an unhealthy choice when you’re out.
If you’re stuck with eating lunches out decide what you’re going to order ahead of time and write it down. This pre-commitment helps you make a healthier choice before you’re hungry.
6. Grocery shop on the perimeter.
When you’re grocery shopping stick to the perimeter of the grocery store. This is where the whole, minimally processed foods live. Whole foods are often lower in calories, healthier, more nutritious, and keep you more satisfied versus processed foods.
7. Set an alarm to get to bed earlier.
Getting enough sleep curbs weight gain. Even losing 30 minutes of sleep every night puts you at risk to crave fatty, high-carb foods and increases your stress hormone.
To get the minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep every night set an alarm to remind you to start your nighttime routine.
8. Create small changes.
There can be an overwhelming number of things you can do to improve your health and fitness that you don’t know where to start.
Instead, pick one to start and start tracking it with a calendar.
Do the habit consistently, master it, then make another small change.
It’s more important to stick to a specific habit one at a time than try to change 12 different things at the same time and then drop all of them because life got busy.
9. Find ways to stay active and get movement in.
The biggest way to burn more calories is to get more movement outside of your gym workout.
Find ways to fit non-exercise movement during the day. It can mean walking to do your errands or parking further away to get your steps in. Or taking work meetings standing up and setting a timer on your computer to get up and take a break.
10. Create a healthy routine.
The person who is in shape doesn’t have more willpower than everyone else they just have better habits and habits create their daily routines.
Habits are helpful because they don’t require much energy to execute and you don’t decide whether to follow through, they just happen. When you have a set of serving habits you create a routine that provides the necessary consistency to maintain or achieve your goals.
Start adding these tips to your lifestyle and watch your appearance transform without having to get one another diet.
Candace is the owner of Rhodes To Strength. She provides weight loss and mindset coaching services to women around the world so that they keep the pounds off for good. She believes in working with clients to create sustainable habits that work for their lifestyle.
You can find her rollerskating, hiking, and bird watching in her spare time.