9 Easy Healthy Food & Fitness Resolutions for 2013

2013 Healthy ResolutionsWith 2013 arriving next week, here are my super easy healthy resolutions to help you lose weight and feel great! These new year resolutions have helped me lose over 100lbs since February, run a 5k, get on the cover of GQ magazine, buy clothing in a normal store and more! (ok fine, the GQ cover hasn’t happened yet but it will!).

2013 Healthy Lifestyle Resolution #1 – Smile More

See I told you these would be easy! Since mid-2012, I started to work on smiling more and I can tell you that it has made me feel better, both inside and outside. If the day isn’t going well, you just stubbed your toe, your dog made a poo on the carpet, someone cut you off and you want to give them the finger (that’s apparently big here in Austin), just smile and watch how your body will get a shock of happy and you will feel instantly better. Can smiling help you lose weight? I think the answer is yes because the better you feel, the more your body will be in a state to work better. If you are always unhappy, then your body has to work on trying to make you happy instead of working to help you get in shape. I have no studies to back my views on smiling but I will leave you with a smile to take with you today :)

I saw this poster on Pinterest and love it – when I smile at people, it always seems like they smile back – and vice-versa. What a great gift!

give someone a smile

2013 Healthy Lifestyle Resolution #2 – Take The Stairs

How many times do we take the elevator when we could just as easily take the stairs? When I first started with my fitness trainer, we would finish our session, say goodbye and I would take the elevator back to my floor. Finally Ashli told me to take the stairs and I haven’t looked back! The office is one of the best places to hit the stairs. If you have to go from one floor to another for a meeting, take the stairs. I recently stayed at a hotel and walked up the stairs to my room on the 3rd floor. The last day I was there, the clerk asked me why I never took the elevator. I told her, “Today I care about my health” and I smiled.

This sign is awesome – it’s from an office – can you guess which side points to the elevator and which side points to taking the stairs?

10 calories

2013 Healthy Lifestyle Resolution #3 – Drink a Green Smoothie 3x a Week

I drink green smoothies every single morning – even taking a blender on a vacation so I could continue my streak. I love how green smoothies help with weight loss so much that I started the Smoothie a Day newsletter. What I want you to do is replace your breakfast with a green smoothie three days a week. No cereal, no Egg Mcmuffin or french toast sticks, have a green smoothie instead. A year ago I ate no fruits or veggies so you can’t give me an excuse that you don’t like fruit. And you can email me at allen-at-letstalkfitness if you need help finding a combo that you will love.

I promise you that the way you will feel while you drink the smoothie will be awesome! And the way you feel for hours after is even better!

2013 Healthy Lifestyle Resolution #4 – Take a Walk

I want you to go for a walk three times a week for a half-hour. I walk a lot now as I work towards my next 5k and I know that the 30 minutes I walk clears my mind and gets me ready for the next portion of my day. Did you know that a 30 minute walk is only 2% of your day? Lately I’ve found that walking first thing in the morning works best for my schedule but walk whenever works for you. My life coach told me when she was working on her Ph.D., she would bring her lunch and go walking during her lunch break instead. She said it helped clear her mind. What’s great about walking is that you don’t need any fancy equipment – just a pair of good sneakers and the smile you are using in resolution #1 above. Somehow I find myself wanting to dance while I am on the treadmill!

2013 Healthy Lifestyle Resolution #5 – Drink More Water

Water is important for weight loss and for healthy living. Water makes you feel full faster so you will naturally eat less but still feel satisfied. I try to drink about 1.5-2 gallons a day – sounds like a lot right? I drink about 1/2 gallon at lunch and dinner and then drink from the water bottle Ashli bought me the rest of the day. If you don’t like plain water, check out TrueLemon – they make awesome mixes to add to water that are all completely healthy. Their products have changed my life. My favorite is the lemonade – it’s just crystallized lemon and stevia – I keep a pack in the car so that if I meet someone for a meal, I can bring it into the restaurant and enjoy my lemonade.

2013 Healthy Lifestyle Resolution #6 – NO Excuses!

I am was the king of excuses – it’s always easy to find an excuse not to do something. What I want 2013 to be for all of us is the year of no excuses. If you don’t want to workout today, then don’t workout. But don’t give me an excuse why you can’t workout. If you don’t want to drink your smoothie today, then don’t drink the smoothie. But don’t give me an excuse that why you can’t. Chris Powell, host of the Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition says, “everytime you tell me you can’t do something, I am going to show you that you can.”  There is always time…there is always a way. And if you need some motivation, go watch Arthur’s story. You just need to believe in yourself.

NO Excuses

2013 Healthy Lifestyle Resolution #7 – No Fast Food for 30 Days

When Linda casually told me in our 3rd session, “Allen you aren’t going to eat any fast food for the next 30 days”, I laughed inside and outside like this, “HAHAHAAHA”. How the heck was I going to stop going to McDonalds instantly when I was going there 2x a day? I love a challenge so fine Linda – you want me to stop eating fast food for 30 days? Fine! Well it’s now 16+ months since that point and still no fast food and over 6 months with no red meat.

So how about you go 30 days with no fast food? Can you do it? You chicken? If I can do it, you certainly can. There is ALWAYS a healthier option out there. Need to get a quick lunch? Pop into a whole foods or snap kitchen and get a chicken salad. Need a burger? Go to a local burger shop like Hopdoddy here in Austin that uses top quality meat and not the “restructured meat products” that the McRib uses. Want a Starbucks latte or a Wendy’s Frosty? Get a cacao smoothie instead. Remember the key is to be prepared so spend a few minutes making a mental map of healthy food choices in your town so that you can drive by all the fast-food garbage when you need a meal.

2013 Healthy Lifestyle Resolution #8 – Challenge Yourself

You saw what happened when Linda challenged me. When Ashli challenged me to do a 5k, I thought that it wouldn’t be possible. I mean, heck 15 months ago I could barely walk without holding onto the wall and stopping every 10 paces to catch my breath. And yet I did the 5k last month with no problems.

What I want you to do is challenge yourself in 2013. The challenges I’ve given you above are a great place to start and a goal to work towards. Or have your friends and family challenge you. There is something about challenges that make us want to succeed. Without challenges, I find it’s hard to have the motivation to do something.

2013 Healthy Lifestyle Resolution #9 – Treat Yourself Well

This last one is easy peasy and yet it might be the most important — treat yourself well. One thing I like to do is eat my dinner slowly and enjoy the food I’ve prepared or the company I am dining with. This is so different than the fast-food crap I ate out of the cup or bag.

I also like to buy nice organic spa stuff for the shower, occasionally get a fancy shave at a salon or  shop for smaller clothing. For you, maybe it’s a new workout outfit or a spa treatment. Maybe it’s saving up some money to take a nice weekend trip. Maybe it’s sitting in the park smiling and watching people run or walk their dogs. Maybe it’s learning a new language or a new skill. I want to pickup my German again in 2013 as I found it really made my brain exercise and was a great break in the day. When you invest in yourself, it’s an investment that will pay dividends the rest of your life.

The better you treat yourself, the better you will treat others AND the better others will treat you.

Talk to Yourself

Happy new year to all of you – I can’t thank you enough for all of the emails, Facebook comments, etc., I’ve received the past few months. We are over 1,500 friends on Facebook and we’ve grown the Smoothie a Day newsletter 700% in the first three months! We are totally going to rock 2013…together! And if you do all of these 2013 resolutions…

Healthy by Summer 2013

Get a fresh smoothie each morning with my Smoothie a Day newsletter!

2 replies on “9 Easy Healthy Food & Fitness Resolutions for 2013

  1. Theresa Anderson

    Hi There! I am rooting for you! I am a NET (Nutrition Education Trainer) through NEI and my “bible” is
    Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman http://www.drfuhrman.com
    No doubt you have heard of him and know of his book. It’s on the New York Times Bestseller List #1.

    Shalom!
    theresa

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