FITMOM's Top 5 Tips to Live your Healthiest Life

The end of the year is a great time to reflect on what has happened during the past year and to begin planning an even better upcoming year. Often, our plans may include some high level fitness goals, such as:

• I want to be stronger
• I want to be more fit
• I want to run up the stairs faster
• I want to walk taller
• I want to touch my toes
• I want to run my first race

Whatever your goals are, you'll need a solid plan to reach them!Here are FITMOM's top FIVE tips to help you live your healthiest life:

1. Find something you LOVE: One of the most important gifts you can give yourself is to do something you LOVE. If you don't love it, you won't do it. It's as simple as that!
2. Schedule it and book a babysitter: Whether it's a weekly class that you love or an evening with friends, you need to put it in your calendar and block the time off. If you have small children, it can be really hard to get out of the house in the evening, especially if you have a partner who travels or works shifts. One of the best things you can do is invest in a neighbourhood babysitter. Ask around and you'll find lots of teenagers looking to earn some extra money through babysitting. Teach them your routine and have them try it out while you're there first. You'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner!
3. Make it social: Find some friends and join a fitness class together. It's a great way to stay in shape and keep up with each other! One of the biggest benefits of a FITMOM class is that, even if you join with a friend, you will always leave with many more. Knowing that you're meeting someone will help keep you accountable and will give you further incentive to get out the door, even when you don't want to.
4. Track your progress: There are many ways you can measure you're progress. If you're running, you can track how far and fast you're going. If you're doing a bootcamp class, you can track how often you're attending and how long it takes to recover each week. If you're doing a yoga class, you can track how hard it is to do certain poses each week. You can also take measurements periodically. If you set a goal to work out twice a week, write it down in your calendar to help remind you to get there. Finally, there's a large selection of fitness trackers and apps that can help keep you in line. My favourite is the fitbit with gps and hr monitoring!
5. Make it achievable: It's never fun to fail at something, so when you set your fitness goals, keep in mind how your life is currently working. If your goal is to get out 5 times a week for 1 hour each time, but your job is very demanding and you often tend to work many extra hours, this may not be realistic. Start by thinking about what you can realistically commit to. If it's only once a week for 45 minutes, or twice a week for 20 minutes, start there. It's always easier to add things one at a time than to add many chunks all at once without a good plan to implement it.