No Excuses November!

Welcome to my No Excuses November that I am having with Leah Potosky Fitness! Are you ready!?

Every week of this month we will focus on one aspect of healthy living! The purpose is to help those who are either having a hard time with finding balance or learning how to live a healthy lifestyle! It is designed to be doable for everyone, no matter what stage of healthy living you are at or how busy you are, by creating baby steps. This allows you to not feel so overwhelmed and like you can't do it! Each one is JUST a week, and we are in this together, YOU CAN DO IT!

ALL MONTH: Engage in exercise at least 30m 4xWeek!

-          Any way that you can get up and moving is great! If you are just getting in to working out, build your way up with your intensity! If you can only walk or jog for cardio, that's fine! If you can only lift lighter weights, that's great! As long as you're doing it, that's what counts! Whether you are in a gym, at a class, outdoors, anywhere, just get moving!

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Some examples for those who have a tight schedule: Get up early to hit the gym or do an at-home workout before work, ride a bike to work, use your lunch break to go for a brisk walk, take a walk or go for a run before dinner.

November 3-9: No sweets, sodas, or alcohol

-          Ditch the sugary treats! Ice cream, pasteries, candies, pop tarts, etc! If you question “is this considered a sweet?” then go ahead and ditch it! And yes, even the diet sodas count under sodas! You may crave things, keep yourself occupied, full, and well hydrated to help fight cravings! If you want things that are sweet, go for some naturally sweet things like fruit, molasass, honey, or use stevia!

November 10-16: Watch your water intake... minimum of 8cups per day!

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Hydration is extremely important to your body, and people take it for granted! So many people don’t get the minimum amounts of water needed for their bodies in a sedentary state, let alone if they are working out! Plus, people will oftentimes start craving foods because they are dehydrated, so drinking more water may help surpress cravings or your appetite so you don't overeat!

My suggestion is to get a water bottle than holds  more water, like 4 cups, so you can fill it up a couple of times and know how much you have had! Or buy the liter containers! I have  found that if I have a larger bottle, it's easier to drink more! Also, if you want to spice it up, add the "true lemon" sweetener or infuse your water with fruit!

So this week, aim to get at least 8 cups of water per day… if you can do more, great!

November 17-23: Eat at least ONE 100% clean meal every day!

-          Eating 100% clean can be difficult for a lot of people, so taking babysteps helps! If you try to conpletely change your eating habits to dropping all processed foods at one time or restricting yourself too much, you may end up going crazy! 

With the holidays being around us, it is great to get as much natural food in our bodies as we can since there are so many tummy goodies around us as well! So this week we are aiming to start by just eating at least one clean, 100% unprocessed meal every day! If you can do two every day, even better! ;) 

November 24-30: Up the veggies! Aim for veggies at all meals!

-          Veggies are so so so important and oftentimes people overlook them! With Thanksgiving being this week, that means lots of yummy foods and crazy leftovers coming your way if you celebrate! So what better way to make sure that you're still getting some proper nutrients than by making sure to eat veggies at every meal this week! And make sure plenty of them are green! 

-          To add them into meals, you don’t just have to have them just as a side dish, either. Try things like green smoothies, zucchini bread, omelet’s or eggwhite muffins, spaghetti squash etc!

I will be sure to post about each week as we are going so that everyone can stay accountable and after each week I will write a blog about how they went! Now let's rock this month! No excuses!

xxox,

Dream Big. Make It Happen. No Excuses.

Ashley Scott