New (To Me) Healthy Lifestyle Habits I’m Trying Out
I’m sharing some new (to me) healthy lifestyle habits I am trying out to be “healthy”. I put the term “healthy” in quotes because each person has their own definition of what it means to be healthy. I can only speak for myself, so here is my definition of being “healthy”:
- Work on flexibility: I cannot touch my toes when I bend and it’s my life long goal to be able to do so. I’m also very tight around the knees.
- Build endurance (and, maybe, patience): I want to keep up with my kids and not complain that I “need a break” when I have back-to-back things scheduled
- Sleep at least 7 hours a night: Notorious night owl here who is a parent to early risers. You do the math 😀
- Keep my weight at a level where I can have a 1-2 kg buffer, so if it goes up, I’m not stressed. I can enjoy a little extra gelato.
- Tone abs and hips: These have always been my “problem” areas. Enough said.
- Listen to my body: No intense workout today? Okay, walk it is.
- Be more patient: I’m impulsive and lack patience. I need to work on it.
Table of Contents
Weight loss can be a health goal, but it doesn’t have to be the end goal
For the better part of my teen and adult life my view on health and fitness was one dimensional: don’t gain weight or, if I do gain weight, then bring it back down.
But my views on this have changed. Weight cannot be the only measure of “good health” because being healthy is actively choosing to live a certain lifestyle. Every part of our lives from what we eat to how much we sleep to how we feel plays such a big part in our overall health and if one part is out of balance, then the other parts start faltering too.
So, I just wanted to stress that this isn’t a post about how to lose weight.
Before trying new healthy lifestyle habits, do a little self-audit
Before implementing any new healthy lifestyle habits, I did a self-audit. I asked myself a really simple question: What parts of my daily life do I not look forward to or cause stress?
Asking myself a question that is not centered around weight or the way I look, but a question that dives deeper into how I feel about my habits and routines was a game-changer. I’ll explain why in a bit, but first I want to share what my answers looked like:
“The sound of the morning alarm really annoys me.”
“I’m always thinking about food or when I’m going to eat next and I don’t like how it feels to be controlled by food. Other people don’t seem to feel as hungry as I do.”
“I’m annoyed at controlling my portions for every meal.”
“I feel tired even when I don’t do much.”
By doing the self-audit and analyzing my answers, I could clearly see my biggest pain point: food seems to control my mood and how I feel every day. It’s not what I eat, but my eating habit of having small frequent meals throughout the day, which my body and mind were very dependent on, was affecting how I feel every single day.
The second pain point that I’ve always known I need to work on is not waking up feeling fresh. I don’t need to get into the science of it, but lack of sleep definitely feeds into being moody and feeling hungry and lazy.
All this to say, the self-audit helped me figure out what my new health goals are and make better decisions about what habits I wanted to try.
Habit 1: Intermittent Fasting – the “Lite Version”.
Being fully aware about my mindset around meals and eating, I decided to try intermittent fasting to train my mind (and body as a result) to stop thinking about food all the time.
So, these are my fasting and eating windows:
Fasting window: 8pm until 12pm the next day
Eating window: 12pm to 8pm.
Now, this is what makes it “lite”: I start off the day with hot water infused with cinnamon and lemon, followed by coffee with milk (sometimes it’s two cups) when I wake up. I know this is not true intermittent fasting, but it’s what I can handle right now.
I break my fast around noon with an egg white omelet made of two eggs and have stir-fried veggies and rice for lunch. Tip: Always break the fast with a protein like eggs or nuts.
In the afternoon, I have a high protein / low calorie snack like edamame, fox nuts, homemade granola bar or a fruit smoothie with protein powder.
Dinner is also some combination of vegetables, protein and carbohydrate.
On the weekdays no alcohol or dessert. I’ll treat myself on the weekend.
After 4 weeks, I am finally seeing and feeling the benefits. I don’t think about food all day. I find comfort in having eating and non-eating windows. My weight is under control (I haven’t lost a lot, but definitely feel less bloated) and I don’t have to work as hard to maintain it. It did take about 3 weeks to get fully comfortable not eating for a long period of time. I wanted to point that out because it’s not exactly easy to skip a whole meal when the body is so used to it.
Habit 2: Focusing On Healthy Sleep Habits (No Coffee After 1PM!)
Sleeping early is something I found incredibly difficult. But making a few small changes to my routine has helped and I don’t find it so hard any more.
No coffee after 1 PM. Hard and fast rule. It’s not easy, but it has made a huge difference in being able to go to sleep at a respectable time (haha!). Again, this advice has been given to me so many times over the years, I just never listened. But now that I have made the change, I no longer feel the need for coffee in the late afternoon. In fact, I feel energetic and more awake.
The other thing I do is track my sleep. I set up up some goals on my Fitbit and I try to reach them every night. For me, I want to sleep at least 7 hours and reach a sleep quality of 75 or more.
And the last thing few things I do before bed is turn the lights very low and do a 5-minute facial massage with a gua sha or face roller while watching TV. Lifted face + relaxing massage before bed = two benefits in one. So, why not?
Once I am ready to sleep, I first lie flat on my back on the bed, arms to the side, and breathe deeply to calm the body for 5 to 10 minutes. It’s similar to doing the ‘shavasana’ pose at the end of a yoga session to relax and restore muscles. I can feel the stress and exhaustion of the day melt away as my body relaxes and lulls into sleep. It’s an interesting feeling because I’m so aware that I am falling asleep!
Habit 3: Strength Building Exercises
Building strength looks different for everyone.
I never lifted heavy weights, I’ve always had a bad core and it got even worse after having two kids, and I have a small knee injury that forces me to be very careful about what types of exercises I can and cannot do.
So, keeping all my needs in mind, I decided to give Pilates a try. It’s a low impact, strength training workout using body strength. which targets most, if not all, of my health concerns. I started off with once a week for a few months and then twice a week. I also started using light weights (1.5kg) in my Pilates workouts and while it doesn’t seem like much, let me you the burn is real.
In addition to the walks and regular Pilates classes, I added a short, intense 15-minute wall Pilates workout a few times a week. This pushes me to workout a bit more when I already feel like I’m done, but I can now see that I have more energy and strength to keep going.
After a few months, I definitely feel stronger from the inside; more energetic; and that my posture is so much better.
In conclusion…
I’m sharing these healthy lifestyle habits to share that making small changes can have significant impacts. Staying healthy is not always about losing weight. It can mean so many different things as I mentioned before. So, the key takeaway is to listen to your mind and body; be kind to yourself; and do the things that help you feel your best…and to be committed to doing them every day 🙂
Related:
My Morning Routine Checklist To Start Off The Day Right
Daily Healthy Habits To Stay Fit, Happy, And Productive
Simple Skincare Tips For Before The Gym And After Working Out
