I am a ‘morning person’.  This is when I feel the best, and when I am the most productive.   I am pretty sure I get more done before 11am than I do the rest of the afternoon.   I love the mornings (as long as I get my coffee).  They’re peaceful.  Seeing the sun just rising reminds me that each day is new.  Yesterday is gone.   And if you’re awake before everyone else – it’s like you own the day.

The problem is, if I don’t get something done early on in the day, I tend to save it for tomorrow. Then the next day, and then the next.   Procrastination is a dear friend of mine. Do you ever continually put something off for days, and then once you take the time to do it, it takes you 5 minutes – and you have no idea why you procrastinated so long?!  Then you feel so silly that you waited that long to just get it done! 

And what about starting an exercise program?  Have you ever delayed that?  One time I stopped running because I needed new shoes and didn’t want to go to the store to buy them.  True story.  Embarrassing, but true.  I won’t go into how much I hate shopping, but you can imagine how frustrated it felt when I had to start at the very beginning of my training once I finally did buy the new shoes.

There’s always a reason to delay starting a new exercise program:

I’ll start once I’m not so busy at work

I’ll start once I can afford some work out clothes.

 I’ll start next week. Or after the Holidays.

I have started and stopped so many different exercise programs, that for a while I decided that I just won’t even try to START at all anymore because I get so frustrated with myself when I give up! 

What are some reasons you don’t start the first morning of your new healthy, active lifestyle?  Each day is new. Why not start today?  And if you mess up, start again the next day.   Life is always busy. There are always excuses.  Life won’t go away so you can work out.  Start this week off right.  Small changes that I encourage you to make ASAP!

1.       Eat a healthy breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up.

2.       Drink at least one glass of water with each meal, and with each snack.

3.       Eat a small, healthy snack between meals.

Head to the grocery store and make sure you have good options for snacking. Don’t let yourself get too hungry in between meals.  These are all ways to keep your metabolism up, and also a good way to keep your energy rolling J

Good snack options:

String cheese, almonds (no salt), cottage cheese, apples w/ peanut butter, carrots with hummus, protein bars, celery w/ peanut butter, yogurt, trail mix, yams, beans, turkey, chicken, fish, tofu, beans.