The first month of 2020 has already almost come and gone so I thought it might be a good time to check in on goals! How are your resolutions coming along? Chances are, a lot of you guys set health or wellness-related goals – maybe go to the gym more or drink more water, etc. Today I wanted to share 5 simple tips with you guys that you can incorporate into your everyday life, to easily help prioritize wellness! Goals like “go to the gym more” are still really important…but there are a lot of simple choices we can make everyday that our body and minds will thank us for in the long run! “Wellness” can be such a generic term but incorporating wellness into our everyday lives is so important, so today I wanted to break it down and make it a realistic goal for all of us.
We all have goals like “sleep more, drink more water, exercise” and today I want to help break those goals down into more realistic steps you can take TODAY!
Tip #1: Sleep
Prioritizing sleep sounds like such an obvious statement. But getting good sleep is the #1 place you need to start when trying to improve your overall health and wellness. Sleep affects your ability to workout, your metabolism, stress level, and basically everything else! So you can go to the gym all you want or try and eat kale salads 5x a week…but if your body isn’t getting the rest you need, those things won’t get you very far (and those habits also won’t last). Make sleep just as big of a priority as your workouts are, or as your healthy eating!
How many hours of sleep are you getting per night? If it’s not 7 or 8, set a goal for yourself this week to get in bed 30 minutes earlier than your typical time. Meaning – start your ‘getting ready for bed’ routine 30 minutes before you usually do. After you get the hang of that – move your time back AGAIN by 30minutes if you’re still not consistently getting 7-8hrs! Do you struggle with getting in bed and scrolling through your phone for half an hour? If so, plug your phone in on the other side of the room or leave it in the bathroom overnight!
Again, this habit of getting 7-8hrs of sleep per night will help you with ALL of your other goals you made for 2020. You’ll see an improvement in your mood, ability to handle stress, performance at the gym, focus at work, etc! So let’s get this one down!
Tip #2: Eat whole + real foods
I know how tricky it can be to incorporate more fruits and veggies in your diet. It’s so much easier to just eat on the go, grab something quick, vs preparing a bunch of vegetables for every meal. But, a really easy way for you to incorporate more fruits and veggies into your diet can be through morning smoothies! I personally LOVE Daily Harvest smoothies because they make it SO easy for me to get tons of fruits and veggies in first thing in the morning! They are frozen pre-made smoothies delivered right to your doorstep packed with fruits and veggies and other things like nuts, flaxseed, etc! My favorite flavors right now are the banana + greens and mint cacao! [You can get a discount with my code LAURENKAYSIMS].
If you struggle to get enough fruits and veggies into your diet, definitely try adding them into your morning smoothie. Even if you don’t get Daily Harvest…make your own smoothie at home incorporating spinach, bananas etc! This book by Kelly LeVeque has SO many amazing, healthy, and filling smoothie recipes!
Tip #3: Water
I’m sure all of us had the had the goal or are constantly saying “I need to drink more water”, but let’s talk about how to make that more practical! My absolute favorite water bottle is this 32oz hydroflask . 32oz is 4 cups of water so I try and make it my goal to drink at LEAST two of these everyday. If you struggle to drink enough water, get a water bottle like this that you can fill up at the beginning of the day and carry it around with you EVERYWHERE. Keep it at your desk, bring it in the bathroom while you’re getting ready, etc. If you like really cold water…you could also fill this water bottle up with ice water at night, stick it in the fridge, and then in the morning when you wake up it’s already ready to go! You could even squeeze a lemon in it for some extra flavor.
Speaking of lemon, if you’re just not a fan of water or find it to be too plain..another way to help you drink more water would be to add some flavor to it. I LOVE nuun hyrdation tablets because they add a little bit of flavor to your water, but they are also SO good for you! They have tons of different options but I love these tablets for immunity – they have vitamin C, zinc, tumeric, elderberry, ginger, echinacea and electrolytes in them! There are tons of different things you could grab from the store to flavor your water with, if you get bored of the taste of plain water. These nuun hydration tablets are my fave!
Tip #4: Move my body
I’m sure we all made goals this year to hit the gym more often, run a half marathon, etc. These are all really great goals, but a simple way you can focus on your fitness + health this year can be to just move your body somehow, everyday. Don’t get so bogged down / overwhelmed with the idea of being in the gym 5 days a week. Maybe instead say “I’m going to move my body 30 minutes today, and everyday this week”. So maybe that means taking a stroll around the neighborhood with your pup. Or instead of meeting your girlfriend for drinks, ask her if she’d want to meet you at the park nearby to go for a walk while y’all catch up. Maybe it means going to a spin class before work. It can look different for each person, each routine, each day…but instead of focusing on “I’m going to be in the gym 6 days this week,” instead, make the focus “I’m going to me more conscious about moving my body today and finding the time to do that.”
A few more easy ideas to help you get your body moving throughout the day:
- Take the stairs when you usually take the elevator
- Park further away from the grocery store so you have to walk farther!
- During the work day, take a break here and there to either take a lap around your work building, or step away from your desk and walk around the block (depending on your work set up!)
- Instead of asking a girlfriend to go grab a drink, ask if she’d want to go walk around a nearby lake or park
- Book a workout class that you will have to pay $$ for if you cancel!
Tip #5: Self care Sunday
Self-care is such a buzzword right now but I like to think of it more as making time to take care of myself + let my mind and body recharge. Most of us probably struggle to prioritize self-care – there’s work to do, noses to wipe, meals to make etc. So if the idea of self-care is overwhelming to you…I want to encourage you to pick ONE day a week that you “treat yourself” and let your mind and body recharge. For me, I try and make “self-care sunday” a thing, every sunday. Use this time to do a face mask / hair mask, take a bath, read a magazine, take a nap…whatever makes you feel rested and recharged. Maybe a bath isn’t a realistic thing for you to do everyday but ONE day a week…light some candles, put on a face mask, and let yourself relax in the bath for 30 minutes. Find what YOUR thing is that makes you feel really rested and recharged and make time to do that once a week! It’s so important that we are regularly pressing the “reset” button so that we feel ready to take on the week ahead of us.
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Hope these simple tips help make your goals more realistic for you this week! It’s a new week, let’s start fresh and prioritize taking care of our bodies today!
Thanks for reading!
xo Lauren
