Adapting Your Holiday Schedule

With the holiday season now in full swing, you may look at your calendar and find that you have little time for your regular routine. Between office parties, friends' and family celebrations, kids' activities and everything else in between, it's going to be difficult to maintain a routine over the next month. But guess what? Just being aware of that fact gives you the upper hand.

Knowing that your schedule will need to be adapted is the first step to maintaining control of it. Remember, life doesn't stop when we need it to. In fact, in order to make happen what we want to happen, we must stay in control of our schedules somehow. Over the next few weeks, become aware of what's important to you. If it's important to maintain your daily workouts, but you have something after work each night of the week, then figure out where else in your schedule your workout will fit. (Say it with me: wake up early to exercise...) If you want to continue eating a healthy diet, don't let yourself fall victim to the party buffet.

It isn't the fatty party food, your coworkers, family or friends who are responsible for what you do. You alone are in control of the way you treat your body. Take control and love it.

Abandon the Diet

What do you think when you hear the word diet? Does it make you nod your head in knowing acceptance or has it become another four-letter word to you? If you're a fan of the diet, of course there are oodles to choose from that incorporate as many foods as there are in existence - Twinkies included!

Let's face it -diets get a real bad rap. So much so there's actually an anti-diet movement because typically, diets just don't work long-term. Possibly because we think of them as temporary solutions that are so vastly different from what our normal habits are. Is it true that we have to change our habits that dramatically in order to get the results we desire? Of course, that depends on what your current habits are (i.e. eating the entire pizza vs. one slice).

Diet doesn't have to be a dirty word if you incorporate healthy habits that make sense into your life. Note the word healthy. If you want to lead a healthy life and abandon diets once and for all, establish healthy eating patterns and live by them instead of thinking of them as temporary behaviors.

Transformation

What's something in your life you're eager to change? It might be a habit - maybe an eating or an exercise habit (or lack of one). Maybe you want to change the way you react to stress. Maybe you want to change the way you treat your spouse, children or friends.

Whatever it is you want to change, break it down into easily attainable actions. What is one action that you can do today that will move you closer to making that change? It may be taking a breath and pausing before reacting negatively to something your boss says. It could be taking a walk tonight after work before (or instead of) flopping directly onto the couch.

You have the power to transform a situation, a relationship, how you react to circumstance and most importantly, yourself. It's a power we all have, yet one that very few actually use. Know your power and use it to make your life better.

Are You Ready?

Now that Halloween's behind us, you'll start hearing that infamous line that everyone starts saying to each other around this time of year: Are you ready for the holidays?

 

Are you? And if so, what does it mean to be ready? When most people ask, they're most likely asking if you have your shopping done. But when we ask, we want to know if you're ready for the barrage of activity - parties, family and social events and the general busyness that has a way of sabotaging our healthy intentions during the holiday season (and oh yeah, also ends up in the form of that extra weight we'll look to lose come January).

However, if you head into the holidays with a P-L-A-N, and at the heart of that plan, an intention to stay on a healthy path - you'll be armed and much more likely to succeed. Here's a little checklist to help ensure you're ready.

• Do you have a regularly scheduled exercise plan?
• What will you do when (not IF) your schedule and plans are inevitably messed with?
• What will you do at those parties where there's nothing but junk food as far as the eye can see?

Having a plan and sticking to it will help you breeze through the holidays healthfully without dreading the New Year. Make your plan now. They'll be here before we know it.