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5 Days Of Health & Fitness Tips: Day THREE – Hydration

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Put down the margarita and wine glasses and let’s talk hydration. That means fluid entering your body to help you maintain hydration levels, not dehydrate them. That’s right, we’re talking water, not wine. Sorry, my friends.

Did you know:

Often times when you’re feeling hungry, you’re actually dehydrated? Yup, signals can get a little crossed, so if you’re ravenous but it’s not meal or snack time, have yourself a glass of water and see how you feel in a few minutes.

Did you know:

75% of Americans (I know I’m Canadian, but apparently we don’t do hydration stats up here in Canada) are chronically dehydrated. Although most people are taking in the required amount of water to maintain hydration, caffeine, alcohol and sodium intake offset hydration leaving you parched, thirsty and dehydrated. Bummer.

Did you know:

There’s a simple way to see if you’re dehydrated? It’s called the pinch test. Simply use your pointer finger and thumb and pinch the back of your opposite hand. If the skin bounces back quickly, you’re a-ok! If it takes a while to settle back into place…GO DRINK YOUR WATER, YO.

Do it. Right now. You’re doing it, right? So…how’d you do. Want some water?

*Not a medical test, obviously, but it’s a quick way for you test assess how you’re doing, hydration-wise”.

Hydration is so important and I don’t think a lot of people understand just how important it is. Dehydration causes fatigue, foggy memory, irritability, increased feelings of anxiety and is one of the most common risks for kidney stones.

Being hydrated, on the other hand, clears your mind, may help boost your metabolism and helps with focus, energy and overall physical performance. Yay water!

With all that being said:

Lindsay’s TOP TIP for hydration:

Get a jug that measures 3L. Fill it each morning and ensure it’s empty by the end of your beautiful day. You don’t need to carry 3L of water around (though some do), it’s a little heavy. I keep mine in the fridge and pour it into a smaller water bottle throughout the day.

Add frozen fruit for natural flavor if you find water to be boring. Or add lemon and mint and let it sit overnight. Seriously yummy.

Having a physical reminder of how much water you need to drink it great. It will help keep you on track and if you get a bottle like I have, there are friendly little reminders about how awesome you are for being a hydrating superstar!

THIS is the bottle I like to use:

There ya go! I mean, I can’t make hydration super sexy, but I can reiterate how incredibly important it is and provide you with an idea to help ensure you’re hydrated.

Get yourself a fancy water botter and get drinkin’! Water. Drink water. Not wine. No…not wine. NOT. WINE.

You’re welcome. xo

5 Days Of Health & Fitness Tips: Day ONE – Working Out

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I get asked a lot what my top tips are for health and fitness and it’s really hard to come up with one or two, particularly because there are so many categories of health and fitness. Workouts, nutrition, hydration, self-care, sleep, routine, community, metabolism…and that’s just a few.

Over the next five days I’m going to give you my top tips for the following categories: working out, nutrition, hydration (drink your water, yo), self-care and a Follower’s Q&A.

Lindsay’s TOP TIP for Working Out:

Aside from ensuring you’re meeting the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology’s recommendation of 60 minutes of physical activity per day, my top tip for working out is: Exercise all systems.

What the heck does “exercise all systems mean”?

In the body, there are oodles of systems. For example, you not only have a cardio system and a muscular system, within THOSE systems you have little mini-systems. Squeee…I love this shit.

I’m going to keep this as simple as possible, so if you’re an expert in this field, move along – I’m going uber basic.

When you train cardio, there are numerous systems you need to train. Aerobic, anaerobic lactic and anaerobic alactic are some of them. You need to use different types of workouts to train a particular system.

Still with me?

For example, if you’re sweating through a low and slow workout, you’re training your aerobic system – good for everyday life and gives you a good baseline aerobic fitness which helps you get through the day with less fatigue. If you’re sweating through a 45-second interval workout, you’re training your anaerobic lactic system – good for boosting your metabolism and helping with weight loss.

Don’t even get me started on the numerous systems involved in strength training! YOW! Did I mention I LOVE this stuff?!

Mix it up, baby. Mix up your workouts and keep it spicy. Keep your body guessing. You don’t necessarily need to understand what each workout is designed to do (though at a baseline level it’d help, you don’t need to know the cellular physiology), but you do need to know the more you mix it up, the more systems you train.

The more systems you train, the more well-rounded of a fitness-goer you’re going to be. Ultimately, I know you want results and mixing it up and training multiple systems helps you achieve the results you desire.

Think about it. Have you ever gotten into a really good routine, say jogging, where you feel strong and healthy and fit? Then, your friend asks you to come to a spin class and you almost die? Yeah…it’s called cross-training and the entire purpose of cross-training is to mix it up. “Shock” your system, so to speak.

Don’t get complacent in your fitness. Keep changing things, adding things, trying new things. Keep mixing it up and keep your body on its toes…literally and figuratively.

Train run day…I died. #crosstrainingisouchy

Yeah…train all your systems, that’s absolutely my #1 Top Tip for working out.

If you’re unsure where to begin, talk to me! I’d love to book a call and chat with you about your goals. We can also work together and create a program to help you achieve those goals!

Tomorow’s top tip will be all about nutrition. So, stay tuned. If you have a question about health and fitness that you’d like me to answer, drop it in the comments below – maybe yours will be the question answered on Day Five.

It’s Time to Revive Your New Year’s Resolution!

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It’s February. Dare I ask how those New Year’s Resolutions are going? As you donned your superhero cape on January 1st and stood with your hands on your hips, chest out, face the sky, soul filled with motivation shouting to the world about how you were going to 1) Eat better, 2) Get fit, 3) Drink less, 4) Sleep more…I quietly lifted my wine glass, wished you well…and wrote this post. 

The reality is that by the first week of February between 55 – 68% of people who set a New Year’s Resolution have already kicked it to the curb where it now rocks itself to sleep, sucking its thumb. Poor thing. Did you kick your resolution to the curb? Are you a resolution-kicker?! *Gasp!*

If so, that’s okay. Did you know that by the end of the year only about 8% of people actually follow through with their resolution? Dismal isn’t it?

But hey! Hey, you! It’s not too late. We’re only 4 weeks into the year. Although January felt like it took 6 months and the weird energy of the world affected a lot of us (thanks, Trump), it’s time to rally and get back on track with your goals. 

If you’ve struggled to keep your New Year’s Resolution, or if you didn’t set resolutions and just made goals for yourself for the year, let’s get going and focus on smashing that 92% “failure” rate. Yes? Okay…here’s how:

1) Revisit your resolutions/goals.

I hate to state the obvious, but I will. You need to remember what the heck you decided to achieve this year. A lot of times we get so bogged down with living day to day and just getting through the day, we forget what we decided to accomplish. So, pull out that sheet of paper, that book, that napkin, whatever you wrote your goals on and read them again. Refresh that busy memory of yours. What were your initial resolutiosn/goals?  

2) Reset. 

Reading your initial goals, do they still speak to you? Knowing what you know now, one month later, about how this year is unfolding, do your goals still make sense to you? Do they light you up and motivate you? Inspire you? If they don’t, it’s time to reset your goals and write down new and improved goals that you feel you can and want to accomplish over the next 11 months.

3) Refocus. 

Now that you have some goals written down that inspire you to be successful, you need to refocus. Figure out why you weren’t able to stay the course with your previous resolution/goals and change something. What didn’t work? What was the hurdle? Did you just forget? Did your schedule not work? Figure out what wasn’t working and come up with a plan to ensure that you can be successful. Do you need to plan better, schedule dedicated time, find a friend to drag with you? What will help you focus on your goal and be successful? Focus and plan for your success.

4) Recommit.

New or improved resolution/goal? Check. New plan? Check. New determination? Let’s get there. Commit to your new plan. Reread your goals. Look at your plan of attack and commit to it. Tell someone about it if you need accountability help. Reach out for help and support if you need it. You can find support in a lot of areas, so if support is what you need to commit to your goals…reach out. Set mini-goals for yourself to celebrate and commit to dance parties when you reach them. Recommit to you and your goals. I know, for certain, you’re worth it.

5) Rock it!

Okay party people…writing down new goals, refocusing, recommiting, well that’s the easy part, isn’t it? But, your success will be based on your actions. So, your goals better have some fun aspects that you’re excited about because it’s time for you to rock your resolutions/goals. It’s time to put your cape back on, strike your superhero pose, take a deep breath, believe in yourself…and GET TO WORK! It’s time to rock your resolutions! 

Go on…go and rock it! Follow the five steps above and you can, absolutely, be successful. You got this! Reach out if you need help. I’m here…cheering you on. Always.