Tips to Building and Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle in 2023!
Happy New Year Hockey FIT Fans!
As you know, January is a great time to set new goals to achieve a healthier lifestyle. Before we jump into a few of our goals for building a healthier lifestyle this year, we want to recognize the importance of setting goals that are S.M.A.R.T.
The S.M.A.R.T acronym stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. When setting goals for this year, it is important to keep in mind each of these 5 components to ensure your goals will be achievable and sustainable long term. Below is a bit more information on each of these components:
| Specific | What is it that you want to accomplish? What will you do to accomplish it? |
| Measurable | How can you measure your achievements during the process? (e.g., how many steps, how many kms, how many pounds, etc.) |
| Attainable | Is this goal possible? Does this goal make sense with your lifestyle? Do you have the time and resources to achieve it? |
| Realistic | Does this goal align with your core values, other goals, career goals, and current lifestyle? Is it realistically possible? |
| Timely | How long will it take you to achieve this goal? When do you want to accomplish your goal by? |
Now that we’ve outlined what S.M.A.R.T goal setting is, you can start setting your own goals for 2023! If you are looking for some guidance on where to get started and for a couple of ideas on how to build a healthier lifestyle in a sustainable way, here are a few of our favourite goals for this year!
- Integrate more vegetables into your meals. At each meal, try to add one more vegetable to your plate. For example, at breakfast you could add spinach to your egg sandwich. During lunch, you could chop up carrots and cucumbers to have on the side. For dinner, you could add peppers, spinach, onions, and mushrooms to the tomato sauce for your pasta dish. Vegetables contain a great source of fibre, nutrients, and antioxidants that are important to leading a healthy lifestyle.
- Walk more. This doesn’t mean you have to walk for 30, 40, or 60 minutes a day! Schedule microbreaks throughout the day or take small steps to move more. For example, park farther away from your office entrance to get more steps when coming into work and leaving work. If you work in a large building, set goals to take the stairs instead of using the elevator, or use the bathroom on another floor to boost your step count. Lastly, if it’s a rainy day or the weather is not conducive to an outdoor walk, head to the mall for an indoor stroll (this is an easy way to boost your step count!).
- Drink more water. Hydration is so important for both our mind and body. Aim to choose water as your primary source of fluid where possible. A few easy ways to boost your water intake include, having a drinking cup with a straw at your workstation for easy sipping or drink a large glass of water before each meal. Make sure your water bottle is always full and easily accessible throughout the day.
- Take time for your mental health. Check in with yourself each day by taking a few breaths at lunch time and before dinner. How are you feeling? Do you feel stressed? Do you feel overwhelmed? If so, it could be a good idea to head outside for a blast of fresh air, try a 5-minute meditation, or disconnect from technology for 3 minutes to tune into your breathing and declutter your mind. Little moments of mindfulness can make a big difference!
These are just a few of our ideas to live healthier this year. We’d love to hear from you and what your goals are for 2023. Feel free to comment below to share!