The notion of balancing a demanding career with the desire to stay fit and healthy doesn’t have to feel out of reach or unrealistic. While it becomes easy to compromise one or the other the busier we get, there are some simple ways to ensure your body stays healthy, as does your bank account and career trajectory. Ultimately, it comes down to working smarter, not necessarily harder, and effective time management that suits your schedule while allowing you to get the most out of a health and fitness regime. The following are 10 tips for the working women to balance fitness with a busy working schedule:
1. Stay active throughout the day
There are minor changes you can bring to your daily routine to stay active all through the day. Making decisions such as standing up for a while when you do not need to type on your computer, taking breaks and walking around for about a fews minute after every half an hour, and going for a short but brisk walk after having your lunch.
2. Pay attention to your posture
Believe it or not, having the right posture can solve many of your health problems like shoulder, neck, and back pain. You can also make use of a good neck massager to get rid of stress in back muscles, neck pain and improve your posture gradually over time. It is pretty simple to maintain the right posture by sitting and walking straight, but it requires a conscious, daily effort in order to make it a good habit that forms over time.
3. Plan the meals in advance
Most women have a habit of not planning their next meal in advance, mostly for the lack of time in hand. Therefore, when the hunger pangs strike they simply pick up the nearest food that they find. In most cases, it leads to high intake of fast food or eating more than what is right. So, plan all of your day’s meals in advance.
4. Eat a hearty breakfast
There should be no excuse for nothing having a hearty breakfast. Your stomach has been empty for so long and the first meal of the day should be fulfilling enough for you. Include ample fresh fruits in your breakfast as the glucose content will not let you have sweet craving throughout the day. You can also keep some dry fruits for extra energy.
5. Keep healthy snacks in house
If you have the habit of snacking time and again whenever you are in the house, make sure that there are enough healthy snacks in the house. Do not rely on munchies and fried food as snacks when you feel like snacking. Instead you can try having a handful of nuts or some fruits with a pinch of salt mixed in it. You can also make a quick grilled veggie bowl using your grill in kitchen to satisfy your taste buds and keep your body filled throughout the day.
6. Know the right carbs
It is a wrong notion that all carbs are bad for you and need to be removed from your diet at the earliest. Carbs, in fact, fuel the body with the much-needed energy. It is those refined carbs like white rice, honey, cookies, and so on that you need to avoid. These will produce higher amounts of insulin which will get added as fat in your body.
7. Use simple fitness equipment
No, you do not need to build an entire gym in the house but you can surely keep some of the basic fitness equipment in the house. For instance, go for a treadmill so that you can do some jogging or walking whenever you get some free time in the day. It also helps if you can keep lightweight dumbbells for getting some arm and back exercises along with folding rowing machine and spin bikes for quick cardio workout sessions.
8. Stay flexible in your routine
It is really great if you can set up an exercise routine and stick to it but do not be too harsh on yourself if you are not able to follow the routine. Instead of feeling like you have let yourself down if you can’t stick to one particular regime, allow for contingency plans such as talking a long, brisk walk instead of going to the gym if you can’t get there. Being flexible means you allow yourself more options to stay active throughout your work week.
9. Drink plenty of water
The importance of drinking water for your good health can never be stressed enough. Water flushes out the toxins from your body and keeps you clean from the inside. Try to have at least six to eight glasses regularly. Just up your water intake and you will notice the changes into your skin, body and energy levels within a week.
10. Chart out your progress
Make your own fitness progress chart to monitor how far you have come from the day you started. Note down everything in that chart, right from your daily food intake to the amount of exercise that you have done daily. It will help you stay focused and motivated towards your aim and it will be easier for you to notice the improvements.
