We have put together a list a some great ways to help you stay active this New Year and to finally achieve those fitness resolutions.

1. Put yourself first. Write your exercise in your date book as if it were a doctor’s appointment and keep it!

2. Put your fork down between each bite of food. It takes 20 minutes for the stomach to signal the brain that it is full.

3. Go for a walk, hike or run instead of going out to eat a high calorie lunch.

4. Never go to the grocery store hungry.

5. Don’t buy anything that has white flour or sugar in it for a week.

6. Put exercise in the “brush-your-teeth” category.

7. Be an example for your children: eat healthy and exercise daily. They will inherit these habits. Remember, children are like sponges.

8. Drink more than 8 glasses of water a day.

9. Only do exercise that is fun. If you don’t enjoy it, you won’t stick to it.

10. Work out in the mornings. Statistics show that after-work or evening workouts have a much larger attrition rate than first thing in the morning.

11. Do one family event a week that involves exercise. Go for a hike, bike ride, swim, or walk.

12. Eat dinner together. Not only is it an important time to find out what happens in our children’s day, it is an important time to be examples for our children’s eating habits.

13. Eat a healthy breakfast.

14. Pack healthy snacks for both you and your children, so you are not tempted to grab unhealthy snacks on the run.

15. Cut up fruit and veggies and keep in the refrigerator for healthy snacking.

16. Don’t buy or keep junk food in the house, so you won’t be tempted during the day or night.

17. Go for a walk after dinner and let your food digest.

18. Keep a food diary for one month. Write everything down that goes into your mouth. You might be surprised.

19. Try to eliminate sugar from your diet. Sugar produces insulin, and insulin causes us to store fat.

20. Don’t eat out at restaurants more than once a week. Restaurant meals average 800 more calories than if we eat at home.

21. Challenge a spouse or friend to health or fitness goal. And put a date on it.

22. Limit your children’s screen time to 30 minutes a day and allow yourself the same.

23. Limit your alcohol to only weekends.

24. Say one thing you are grateful for out loud each day. It could turn your day around.

25. Make an agreement with your spouse that you each get one hour a day to workout. And help each other stick to it.

26. Take a workout vacation, surf camp, yoga retreat, or to a spa with your spouse or best friend.

27. Get plenty of sleep. It makes everyone happier.

28. Stop drinking soda, including diet.

29. On the days you want to blow off your workout, make a commitment to do only ten minutes instead of the usual hour. You will feel better and it will help you stay committed the next time you feel like blowing it off.

30. Eat as much high-fiber food as possible–it helps to fill you up.

• Wear workout shoes.  Airports have nice long hallways for walking while waiting for a flight.  If you have time, walk between terminals instead of taking a train or moving sidewalk.
• Before you go, look online to find parks, running tracks, pools and gyms at your destination.
• If staying with family, ask about your options ahead of time and plan, plan, plan.
• Get your family involved in a group activity such as a walk, hike or snowshoe, it’s a great time to connect away from the food.
  
• If you are staying in a highrise hotel, you can always climb the stairs.  Throw in some lunges every 5 landings and you’ve just enhanced your workout!  Throw in some pushups too for bonus points!
• If you are in a new city, get out for an early morning walk.  There’s no better way to see a city come alive than by having your “feet on the ground”.  Have you been to Chinatown at 7am?
• Walking is always a great option, even if you take two, twenty minutes walks (after dinner is always good) it’s better than sitting!

As I always say, “something is better than nothing”!  Plan ahead, look forward to activity and enjoy!