Tag Archives: habit

The 5 Keys to Incorporating Morning Exercise & Healthy Nutrition – How To Guide

Posted on November 17, 2014 | Leave a comment

Prioritize your health. Learn to plan and to follow a plan successfully. Make “Success” your habit.

1. Develop a PLAN. Every 2 weeks: Plan exercise in 2 week chunks. Make your exercise plan every 2 weeks.

Sit down with notebook and calendar.
Write how many continuous weeks you have been exercising as planned.
Review how the last 2 weeks went & determine how you change your workout or advance it for the next 2 weeks.
Write down what you learn from your review.
- I total the calories I burned in the last 2 weeks and the total minutes exercising.
- I make notes of what I want to do differently or if I will try a different exercise or weight.
- I note if certain music correlated with more enthusiasm or a better workout.
Then write what you will change for the next 2 weeks, such as increasing the weights you were benching or the incline on the treadmill or the lower body exercises you are going to do in the upcoming 2 weeks.
- I write my plans for improvement
Look on the calendar and note any significant scheduling challenges in the next 2 weeks (such as travel).
- I might move a harder workout to a better day fo th
Look at the next 2 weeks and pick 5 days each week that you CAN workout in the morning. PUT IT ON THE CALENDAR exactly when you will work out. Include time for your shower, blow dry, etc. and your commute if applicable.
- For example, I am least motivated to workout on Monday mornings and Friday mornings- so those are my “flex” days when I don’t plan to work out. The rest of the days of the week, I will plan a workout. I figure out when I have to be on the road to work & I schedule my workout 2 hours before I go off to work. 2 hours gives me time for my planned workout & shower & getting ready for work & eating breakfast. If I will be travelling or have a particularly EARLY morning, I may move one of my workout days to Monday and/or Friday– my “flex” days.
Make sure there is NEVER 2 days in a row without a work out.
- For example, I have been following my plan and working out Sat, Sun, (Mondays are off),Tues, Wed, & due to a family emergency, I miss Thursday (which is my usual workout day), I will make it up on Friday (instead of taking that off as would have been my usual). So, Mondays & Fridays act as my make up days, my “flex” days.

2. TRACK it. Every Workout Day: Log every workout in the notebook on the day you work out.

Log at a minimum: date, time, what you did.
- I log my weight & my heart rate (HR) monitor data: average HR, maximum HR, calories burned. I also take a minute to rate how motivated I was prior to my workout (scale 1-3) and how much effort I put in (scale of 1-3).
Jot down any notes on the past 24 hours including today’s workout .
- I might reflect on how much I was yawning during my workout & recognize that it is because I ate so many starchy carbohydrates yesterday. Basically, by reflecting, I am learning to read my body and understand how I am feeling and how to optimize my daily function and happiness. It is kind of like mindfulness meditation.
Review what you will do tomorrow & make adjustments as necessary based on your reflection of the past 24 hours and how you are doing today.

Again, prioritize your health. Learn to plan and to follow a plan successfully. Make “Success” your habit.

KEY POINT: Once it is planned, you do not deviate from the plan unless you “plan” to deviate from it at least 1 day prior to the event. Here is an example using your workout plan: you planned to work out Upper Body on Tuesday, Lower Body on Wednesday, Upper Body on Thursday. Tuesday goes great. On Wednesday, after your Lower Body workout, you realize your Upper Body is not going to be ready to do the workout that was planned on Thursday. On WEDNESDAY, you can ADJUST your original Thursday workout plan, while you are reviewing the next day’s workout. You should change the workout plan for Thursday on that Wednesday- maybe you decide you will just walk on the treadmill. Now, when you wake up on Thursday and get ready to workout, your notebook tells you the plan is to walk for 20 minutes at a brisk pace. Fine. You are still ON PLAN and being SUCCESSFUL. You know the adjustment was thoughtful and deliberate instead of because of your “mood.” You are training yourself to be healthy and successful and feel good about what you are doing.

3. Have a BACK UP Plan. ALWAYS makeup any missed workout with SOME movement.

If possible, even if the workout will be missed, consider doing at least 5 minutes of some physical activity that will boost your heart rate.
8Fit is an app with quick body weight exercises that can be done without any equipment in a small space- even a dorm or hotel room.
From the example above, that upper body workout that I planned not to do on Thursday, I will plan to make it up on the Friday morning. I put it on the calendar. I will also note that when planning my next 2 week workout schedule, I will need to reconsider if I need to change my workout pattern, the weights or the exercise(s) I am doing.

4. Keep meal planning simple. Have a plan for your basics (as back up in case you don’t have more exciting meal plan available) & modify as necessary. Here is an example of mine using drive thru which is on way to work :

4 Breakfast options – availability and convenience are key, I don’t have to think about it.
1. At home: Eggs with baby spinach, mushrooms, feta cheese with avocado &/or tomato slices or other veggies. Tip: Make Omelette Muffins. Mix up a large bowl of 12 eggs with a handful each of: chopped vegetables (left overs from dinner the night before are fine), chopped ham/bacon/sausage/lox (optional), and grated/crumbled cheese (cheddar, swiss, goat, or feta cheeses work great) and pour into greased muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes into omelette muffins. Store in the fridge or freezer for quick grab and go breakfast options that can be eaten cold or heated up.
2. Home or easily transportable: Omelette muffin (above), Chia seed pudding or Plain Greek yogurt with 1 Tbsp unsweetened coconut flakes, dash of cinnamon and 2 Tbsp almond butter. Bonus additions: chopped pecans or ground flax seeds or Chia seeds too. Occasionally, I add 1/4 c. fresh berries. If weight or carbs is not an issue for you, you can add 2 Tbsp Old Fashioned Oats and/or 6 bittersweet chocolate chips.
3. Traveling/On Road/No Kitchen/No Time: Drive thru breakfast sandwich or wrap with at 2 eggs (ask for the extra egg if it only comes with 1)- key when I am not able to eat breakfast before leaving the house and the boys ate the last of my prepared breakfast options.
4. Anywhere: Large iced or hot coffee with cream with plan for midmorning “snack” or late brunch out or just plan “not hungry.” Tip: If you make your own coffee at home, add cinnamon to the coffee grounds to jazz it up.
3 At-Work QUICK Lunch Options:
1. Time crunch day- no time to prepare or plan or grab a salad: In my work refrigerator: plain Greek yogurt, almond butter, cheese, boiled eggs. Will mix up yogurt, nut butter and nuts (always in my bag) for protein power lunch.
2. Bring from home: salad or prepared salad pack & leftover protein from dinner night before or salmon or tuna pack. Often, I add cheese crumbles and/or avocado to the salad. Salad dressing at work.
3. In a Rush/Out of Groceries at home: Drive thru Cobb or other salad with chicken, egg or other protein on top with unsweetened iced tea.
Dinners Vary. Make extra for lunch the next day. Always have protein & non-starchy vegetables. If no salad earlier in the day, I will have one with dinner on most days.
Drinks: Drinks are water, black coffee & unsweetened teas.
Desserts: Dark chocolate and berries and unsweetened fresh whipped cream, individually or in various combinations, are favorite desserts. Nuts and cheese make a nice crunchy/savory option too.
The Day OF my plans to go out for dinner: If I am going out for dinner, ie. on Friday, I eat breakfast later and then nibble some cheese, handful of nuts or celery with peanut butter in the afternoon if I get hungry before dinner.
Eating out: Majority of the time– keep it simple with protein & veggies. Replace the bread/fries/potato with side of veggies or salad. If I had a great workout and did not eat any sweets or starchy carbs earlier in the day, I may share a dessert.

Keep your nutrition plan simple and easy to keep track of. Eat lots of veggies and eat your protein and stay hydrated. You don’t need to spend energy thinking up new ideas or figuring out what you need to eat when you are in a panic or have limited choices. Plan ahead and be prepared. Follow your plan.

5. Develop Self Compassion. Perfection is not the goal. You are human. Striving towards excellence as a human, as the most perfect version of you, means that sometimes, there are deviations. In those moments, practice saying to yourself: “I am doing the best that I can, right now.” Then, let it go.

Tomorrow, you can choose to reflect and learn from it. Ask yourself if there was something you could learn from that experience. For example:

Reflect: Was there something, a person, an event, a place, that triggered the deviation or altered your plans?
Learn: Is there anything you can do differently in the future under similar circumstances?
Reaffirm: Repeat to yourself, “I am doing the best that I can, right now.” Then, move forward as a wiser and more prepared You.

Summary: Prioritize your health. Learn to plan and to follow a plan successfully. Make “Success” your habit.

This post is in honor of my mom.

Photo by STIL on Unsplash

Change and Activation Energy

Posted on September 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

Recently, I had a nice discussion with my mom about the challenges of NOT having a regular schedule.

Why was it so hard to sustain that new exercise routine and healthy eating plan? Was it that the work & home life had so many changes recently? The new school year, the different work hours? Was it the changing weather? The recent 10 day “vacation?” Was it that in this upcoming semester, there would be no 2 days or 2 weeks that were similar – NO routines?

It made me think about what trauma surgeon once told me. “It’s the transitions that are hard in our work. That’s what makes being “on call” so draining. Once we are at the hospital, we are fine and we love what we do. And once we are home, we love being home and don’t want to leave. It’s the transitions that are awful.”

Transitions are hard for children, and adults too, it turns out. A transition is when you have to change what you are doing now, to do the next thing: shift from sleeping to waking to exercising to showering to getting ready for work to being a parent to driving to work to working, etc. A transition may be that you have to change locations: go from one store to the other, go from home to work, go from one appointment to another. The more transitions in your day, the more your brain has to do, the more vigilant it has to be. This can exhaust your energy stores. When those energy stores are depleted, things may start to feel overwhelming. When we feel overwhelmed or when our brain has been vigilant for too long without a chance to recharge, that is when it becomes easier to let your good intentions & health efforts fall to the side.

Transitions require activation energy & there is only a finite amount there. Activation energy is the amount of “effort” and “discipline” you need IN ADDITION to the physical & mental energy you need, to do the next activity. If you are fit and you have been taking care of yourself, you will have more activation energy available to you & can do so much more before you have exhausted your supply of activation energy. You are more resilient to change and transitions.

But if you have not been taking care of your whole self, or have let stress build up in your life…changes and transitions may quickly deplete your activation energy stores and prevent replenishing them. This may cause you to cut out some of the newer activities in your life, such as your fairly new exercise program or your healthier eating plan. The longer you have been doing something or the longer something is a part of your routine, the less activation energy it requires. The newer the activity, the more activation you need to transition to doing that activity. Habits hardly require ANY activation energy. A habit is practically a reflex.

So, in order to live our lives to our fullest potential and joy, we need to find ways to replenish & increase our activation energy stores on a regular basis. Our activation energy stores are directly proportional to our resilience. Our stores of activation energy and our resilience increases with certain healthy behaviors.

The goal is to find those unique things that you have control over that energize and replenish you, that nurture you and give you that boost. Then create a routine that incorporates some or all of those activities into your life regularly. Taking a walk after dinner on those days you eat dinner. Sitting with yourself and thinking about your day before you brush your teeth. Listening to classical music on the ride home from work. Sitting amongst greenery during lunch break. Jogging on the treadmill on waking in the morning. Hanging out with family. You find what works for you.

The longer you make that effort, the easier it will be to maintain that activity and the more activation energy you will develop and maintain and the more resilient you will be to change and transitions. Then, incorporating new changes or transitions into your life or managing your life when you are hit with a new stressor will not be as disruptive. You will be resilient and have sufficient activation energy to meet the demands of your daily transitions. In addition, you will have a reflexive response to replenish your activation stores. You will be able to continue to take care of yourself and you don’t have to let your good habits or good intentions fall to the side. This allows you the freedom to live your life to your fullest potential and full of joy.

12 Rules to Finding the Perfect Workout Program For You

Posted on July 7, 2013 | Leave a comment

Elements to look for in a week of an excellent workout program for you:

It is fun or sounds like fun to you.
Easy to learn the moves and the routine. It’s hard to get started when the routine or the moves are so complicated you have trouble following or remembering how to do them. Once you are in the routine of working out, you can add in or advance to more complicated routines and moves, but by then, you will be in the groove and it will be hard NOT to work out because you feel so good when you do. When starting out, keep it simple. Make it hard to make mistakes or to get discouraged.
It can be done easily. For example, you have the equipment at home, your gym is convenient to get to, it is NOT a nuisance to set up or get ready to do, no too long. What you DO NOT want: I’m talking about the treadmill that folds up & fits under that bed in the cluttered room or the exercise bike that has become an extension of your closet, or the room that will need to be cleaned of clutter on the floor so you have space to do your workout DVD? Who wants to do laundry or clean up clutter & pull out & set up the heavy treadmill prior to each workout? Or is your gym is 30 minutes away, close to where you used to live or work or go to school? You want to add an hour commute to the time in the gym to squeeze in your work out? No. Make it easy to exercise.
It should have enough routine to make it a habit, but enough variety to keep your body progressing forward over time.
Rest days have to be built into it. One day per week should be completely off of strength training. If you can’t stand it, do some yoga or go for a nice walk on your day off. Also, I recommend a plan to allow at least 24-48 hours between strength workouts of the same body areas. This means, do NOT do the same strength training routine 2 days in a row. For example, ideally, schedule a minimum of 1-2 days between chest workouts. Work out each muscle group at least once per week, depending on your program and your goals.
Your program should allow slow but steady progress forward and that progress should be apparent to you. Progress is motivating. Plan ahead for progress and stages of progression. For example, scheduling the week with increasing number of reps or increasing weight in a planned manner makes it very easy to see the progress and know how to progress. I suggest writing down what you are planning to do, and then what you ACTUALLY do. Do not do more than what you planned, but if you cannot increase as planned, don’t force it, That is where you are moving towards. Just adjust your plan accordingly.
It should include strength training, often called anaerobic exercise. Strength training is important in keeping us independent longer. It includes exercises where your muscles push or pull against resistance. This can be done in many ways such as with weights, machines, bands, medicine ball, or even your own body weight and gravity. Some people also use a stationary surface to push against. If you are new to strength training, have someone teach you the proper ways to do the moves or find some reputable DVDs or online instructional videos to see how to do exercises properly. **Just a note about the importance of strength training for men & women of ALL ages…It can help keep us more physically independent for longer. I am in no rush to lose my independence & move into a nursing home so I will continue to make sure my muscles stay strong. This will help prevent falls and other injuries that are common with poor strength. If something happens to me, it will allow me the best chances for optimal recovery and also speed up my recovery. The patients that defy what the doctors predicted for their outcome after an illness or injury, AND end up doing remarkably much better than predicted, are usually the ones who were physically stronger prior to hospitalization. They have more reserve. Also, I want to be able to continue to walk on my own. I’m going to work on NOT needing assistive devices to walk. Can you tell, being independent and maintaining my mobility are a VERY high priority for me?
It must include core training. This is often known as the “ab workout.” As we get older, spend more time sitting and/or we gain weight, our abdominal muscles and core muscles get weaker. This can cause lower back problems which can also lead to other joint problems. Core training treats and prevents back injury. It also improves posture and makes everyone look more attractive.
It should work the heart. This is often called cardio or aerobic exercise. I am a fan of high intensity interval training (HIIT) using perceived exertion as my measure of intensity (I plan to discuss this further in a future post). This allows me to work out for a shorter duration while improving my power, strength & endurance. Given the short duration of intervals, the time flies by. And if you wear a heart rate monitor, recovery to baseline heart rate is a great measure of your cardiovascular fitness. If you are deconditioned (out of shape), it takes longer for your heart rate to go back to the usual after a workout. When you are fit, your heart rate returns to your usual much faster. Over time, as you continue to exercise, your heart rate will come down much faster after you finish your workouts. You recover faster after your workout. This means you have improved your fitness!
It should include some stretching. I like yoga, passive and/or active stretching. This is the portion of the workout where you classically slow down and listen to your body. This is also important to allow our lymphatics and circulation to flow and to open up the joints. Certain stretches and yoga moves are particularly good for keeping the spine healthy and improve arthritic pains. A single sequence of sun salutations (yoga) takes 90 seconds and is a great way to start your day as you get out of bed.
Limited or ideally, NO risk of injury. Learn proper form, advance SLOWLY & don’t do exercises that have high risk of injury to you.
At the end of your exercise, you should feel energized and look forward to your next workout. I log my workouts and jot down a few notes. In a future post, I will go more into detail about the workout log. Meanwhile, enjoy the process. Make each day be a day you move forward and feel good about yourself.

Photo by Gesina Kunkel on Unsplash

Tag Archives: habit

The 5 Keys to Incorporating Morning Exercise & Healthy Nutrition – How To Guide

Change and Activation Energy

12 Rules to Finding the Perfect Workout Program For You

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