There’s a strong chance that you are here on our blog and website looking for helpful guidance on how to make the right decisions that lead to a healthier, fitter you, whether that means eating healthier or being more active. And you may have the strength to make the healthy decisions you need to when confronted with challenges to your health and fitness goals. But you also might not. In fact, you might not have the willpower to choose what they believe is the healthiest meal for you when you know it will better their health, or to get out of bed and be active when you feel the good thing for you is to get up and move. So what's the easiest, most impactful thing you can do? Plan, just ten minutes a week.

Here’s how it works:

One the same of each week, sit down for ten non-distracted minutes and look at the next seven days. Writing down challenges you know you’ll face (work dinners, travel, a conference that last all week, every day from 7am to 7pm) as well as what usual or unusual challenges might arise, strategize how you'll stick to your healthy habits as best you can. Keep this paper with you in a place where you’ll see it at least in the morning and evening (ex. a table or desk where you sit, the bathroom counter, your organizer, etc.)

Depending on what your goals are, here are some examples of what you can do:

• Schedule your activity/exercise time and protect it like it’s your baby, a very vulnerable baby.

Just put it in your calendar; it can be as little as 20 minutes a day. A 20-minute walk or fast or fun workout circuit is much more productive towards accomplishing activity and performance goals than nothing, and you’ll have more energy. Will you benefit from stretching and moving some tight muscles from sitting all day at that conference? Make sure it’s in your schedule.

• Plan your meals, and BE CONFIDENT in them.

Plan: Take a look at the rest of your week - what meals will you have control over the most, which ones will you be able to cook at home / order anything you want? Which meals will you are eating out? If you know what restaurant you'll be eating at, how can you eat healthy there, what will you order?
Be confident: be comfortable with your order when dining out with your friends and family or co-workers. Your health and goals are just as important (if not more) than any judgments your fellow diners can make about what you and don't eat/drink. As a general rule, your healthy order will do you more well less damage than giving in to the peer pressure of your dining cohorts. And you might even inspire them to order healthy!

At the end of each week at your next planning session, review your strategies. What did you succeed with? What didn’t you succeed with? And (most importantly) why or why not? Understanding why you make certain decisions and don’t make others is the real benefit of this exercise. And if you can’t stick to your 80% or more of strategies, you likely need support from a coach.

So, take the next step: put your ten minutes of focused planning on your calendar for one day, every week, and safeguard it. And each time, write your strategies down, and evaluate your past strategies and successes.

About Author –

The thriveSF Fitness experience positively encourages a lifelong healthy lifestyle through unique exercise routines and movement training, physiological and performance assessments, nutritional guidance, and well-being support. Experienced Personal Trainer San Francisco - Andrew Duffy with wide range of expertise in fitness industry with injury and weight loss domain! For more information visit - http://www.thrivesffitness.com