Just Keep Moving Forward

I'm amazed and impressed throughout my day, talking to my patients. I hear about the daily, weekly and monthly trials and tribulations they must deal with, from a busy work schedule, families to look after, parents who are ill, children who need shuttling from one sports practice to another, committees that they have volunteered on; on and on it goes. Suffice to say that it seems everyone is incredibly busy and somehow, in all that busyness they must try to find time for themselves to exercise, prepare healthy food, get adequate sleep, and somehow find time to de-stress. An impossible task?

None of us are immune to the demands of life, yet we must somehow find the ability to look after ourselves; more importantly, not to get discouraged if on one week or another, we find our weight not changing. Given the reality of our lives we must simply keep finding ways to find some balance with proper sleep, regular exercise and healthy eating as the cornerstone of our inner (and outer) health.

Let me assume that everyone is very busy, and probably under a lot of stress from a variety of issues. In this reality, what can one do? The first would be to realize that weight loss or running your fastest 10km, won't go as smoothly or as quickly as you would like. You will have good and not so good days, and good and not so good weeks. The major challenge you face is not allowing yourself to become discouraged.

Next, getting regular exercise may mean a much shorter walk or shorter run, or less time in the gym as you would like. Many times, I have said that a 15 or 20 minute walk is far better than nothing. One could easily do some squats and pushups at the beginning and the end of the day, and this would be a major hurdle overcome. I met someone recently who had very little spare time, but by getting a ‘fit bit' and parking much further away from her office she was able to get 7000 steps a day in just by doing this (and more walking in the office and taking stairs rather than the elevator).

When it comes to choices of food, I would much rather talk about eliminating the ‘danger' times than worrying too much what each meal looks like. Those afternoon snacks from the vending machine, or the evening snacks watching TV, or the grazing we tend to do on the weekends should be the first and most long lasting of the poor eating habits we must work to eliminate. Snacking has become such a pervasive problem in our society; I'm not sure how we got here, since it was never an issue a few decades ago. We didn't starve by not eating after dinner; we didn't feel deprived, yet now it seems we are conditioned to sit down in front of the TV in the evening and pull snacks from the cupboard or fridge. It's a habit that must stop. At very least maybe we could snack on healthier things, such as a small amount of fruit, or maybe a sugar free popsicle.

Sleep is paramount to a healthy life. Trouble getting to sleep or interrupted sleep needs to be addressed. Once again, I feel the IPads or smartphones are a danger to getting to sleep. We need to put these away after a certain time, and not have them in the bedroom. It is not easy to change habits, but those who have worked at proper sleep hygiene always find they have much more energy the following day. This then lends itself to likely getting exercise and not having ‘fatigue induced snacking'.

We have no option but to keep moving forward, searching for that balance in our life. Never allow yourself to become discouraged; just keep trying to find ways you can change your routine such that some daily exercise, good sleep, and days without snacks, eventually become routine and you feel more vibrant and in control.

You can do it. Just never give up on yourself!
Dr. B