Tips to make your pants less tight!

It’s all fun and games until your pants don’t fit right – yep me too! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret any morsel of food I cooked, ate or indulged in. I LOVE FOOD and eating with friends and family!! I know this past month maybe I did have a little too much and neglected a few of my usual workouts and way of eating…now what do I do? I could freak-out, cut sugar, carbs, meat and vow to never have a drink again, workout like a mad person or even getting up at 5am to get my ass to the gym – this should work, right? Wrong.

Let’s be realistic, that is no way sustainable; what will end up happening is you will ‘break’ or be really hard to be around making everyone who is around you not want to be around you. You really need to ask yourself “What are my goals?” “Why am I doing this?” Or is it just something that you are just doing to help with the damage you caused during the holidays?

Be honest with yourself, I am for once, I too was this person who cut amazing, tasty foods and working out twice a day thinking I would be happy with myself. What ended up happening was I was un-happy, tired and really just not a fun person – well, less fun 😜 I found ways to really make health and wellbeing a realistic goal as a part of my everyday life and not just because I want to look great on the beaches of Mexico for a week. I have some quick tips that I use to make simple changes that you can start today and add it to your life style journey – they work for me.

1. Drink a glass of water before your morning coffee

This is a great way to get some hydration in your body especially if you’re a mouth breather while you sleep – guilty! We usually do wake up slightly dehydrated so let’s get some hydration in, oh and it helps things “move along” so to speak.

2. Speaking of coffee, choose cream or sugar, not both or none! If you drink more than one cup of coffee a day and add sugar and cream/milk every time you have one you’re really adding extra unnecessary calories that are really doing nothing for you. For example a small double double from Tim Horton’s has 140 calories – this is a very small cup of coffee and those things add up. Try to cut sugar or cream out at a time to see what you like better, cut them out completely and drink black coffee or just have one coffee with sugar and cream. This is an easy way to cut 3-7lbs. 3. If you’re going out for dinner – Eat breakfast and lunch at home. Your mom was right – you do have food at home. This rule for other meals too, eating lunch out? Eat breakfast and dinner at home. Eating lunch and dinner out? Choose one to be your more “indulgent” meal –keep it simple. This is something that I do on the regular, if I know I am going to be eating out on a day I make sure I don’t have heavier foods or eat out more than what I am scheduled to. 4. Have a few staples always ready to eat in the fridge. I like to keep a handful of hardboiled eggs, rice/quinoa and lettuce that is cut and ready to make a salad with. This will make you use what you have instead of reaching for chips and/or your phone to order something you really shouldn’t. 5. Try to make all your meals at home and meal prep for at least a few days. Have fun with picking a few recipes to try! If you have kids, incorporate them with the grocery shopping and prepping of the meal, kids really do like getting their hands dirty and involved. Not only will you find that you will feel better about making your own nutritious meals at home but you will also find that while your waistline is getting smaller, your wallet is getting fatter! 6. If you don’t have a lot of time to work-out, break your workouts up throughout the day. We all say this, “I don’t have time for the gym!” But the thing is, you don’t need a gym to work out. Try doing some body weight work outs for 15 minutes in the morning like: push-ups, burpess, sit-ups and jumping-jacks – you can do this while watching TV or before your morning shower. 7. Join a new fitness class – like Boxing! Don’t just go to a class once and then think that’s how every class is or that if you didn’t like the class that every fitness class or group fitness training is the same –it’s not. Remember it takes 21 days to form a habit and trying one class won’t be a gauge for what your class is all about. Trying new challenging fitness classes can help you in more ways than just physically, it helps mentally too! 8. Have accountability with a workout buddy. Your workout buddy doesn’t have to be someone who lives here, they can be a friend from across the country or in an online forum – even someone you can text and say “Hey I worked out today, how about you?” When you are accountable to someone who checks up on you, you’re more than likely to keep with it. No one wants to let other people down on a consistent basis because well it’s embarrassing, right? Grab a friend and go! 9. Go for a walk. One thing I noticed in my extensive travels in Italy is that after their dinner everyone goes for a walk, usually casually circling the small town or a certain area, but a brisk 20-45 minute walk nonetheless, and they eat pasta more than we do here in North America with smaller waistlines to boot! I think there’s something to be said about this “digestive walk” so try to do this at least 2-3x per week, throw the dishes in the dishwasher, get your shoes on and get walking. You can always start with going around the block or take the dog (if you have one) out with you. This can lead to feeling mentally better, better digestion and losing a few “easy pounds”. 10. HAVE FUN! A lifestyle should not be a chore, this is something you do day in and day out whether you realise it or not. Create little challenges for yourself, with family or friends – make it fun! These are just little tips for you and I know that they are not for everyone depending on the goals you have, but no matter the kind of goal you have these 10 tips I have laid out for you can be used as a part of your health and fitness journey or whatever you end goal is. Have fun doing it and dream big 😉