Eating a healthy diet and getting beneficial exercise don't always require munching tofu and sprouts and spending hours in the gym. Simple lifestyle adjustments, which add foods and physical activities you enjoy, can make a healthy lifestyle easier than you think.
Graze
If you don't want to crash diet or vastly change the number of calories you eat per day, you can still lose weight by spreading out the same number of calories over five to six meals and snacks. Each time you eat, you raise your metabolism; by eating throughout the day, you will keep your metabolism up, burning more calories. For example, if you eat one, 1,200-calorie meal, your body will most likely be unable to metabolize all of those calories at once, and will store some of them as fat. In addition, "Prolonged fasting ... can increase your body's insulin response, which in turn increases fat storage and weight gain," according to Katherine Zeratsky, RD, LD, a nutritionist at the Mayo Clinic.
So, if you eat the same 1,200 calories as three, 400-calorie meals and snacks, your body can metabolize them more efficiently. And, backing up common sense that dictates you will eat less at meal time if you've snacked before, research by the University of Witwatersand Medical School in Johannesburg, South Africa, found men who grazed were less likely to overeat during regular meals.
Eat Whole Foods
Avoid packaged, processed, bottled and fast foods. Many of the convenience foods we eat are available in healthier--and usually better-tasting--forms. Instead of buying a greasy, hormone-filled burger from a restaurant, make your own from grass-fed beef or bison or free-range turkey. Use sweet potatoes to make fries, and bake, rather than deep fry them. Use a juicer to make your own drinks and avoid the corn sweeteners and other additives. Fruits, nuts and popcorn make healthy and satisfying sweets and snacks, without all of the sugars and saturated fats.
Spread out Exercise
If you can't commit to 30- or 60-minute workouts, make time for 10-minute workouts that don't break a sweat or need equipment. Ten minutes of bodyweight exercises, like push-ups, chin-ups, squats and lunges will help you gain meaningful muscle improvement if you do them regularly. Keep weights by your couch and commit to 10 minutes of exercise during a 30-minute news program or comedy show. Use the stairs at home or at work for great muscle building and/or aerobic exercise. Get off the elevator one or two floors early to burn more calories and raise your heart rate.
While none of these tips will help you become fit or healthy by themselves, if you add 10 minutes of exercise each day, you'll get a full hour of health benefits each week. Adding that to any other more serious exercise you do will multiply your efforts and help you shed more pounds.
Find Fun Activities
Don't worry if you read or hear that your physical activity of choice isn't "super-aerobic" or won't turn you into Arnold Schwarzenegger--having fun playing tennis or golf, going for a walk or light swimming, bicycling or rollerblading are all healthful forms of exercise. If you don't consider these types of exercise beneficial, you may be less likely to do them, robbing you of potentially hundreds of exercise hours each year. Learn to feel good about any regular physical activity you do.
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