You may have limited time to work with, but you still have some.
Resources may be scarce, but they’re available.
Support may be small, but it’s there.
You may not know how you’re going to get it done, but you will.
Focus on what you want.
Work with what you have.
Take Ownership
In order to successfully lose weight, the first thing you must do is take responsibility for your health.
You’re where you are today because of the decisions and choices you’ve made.
Say it, recognize it, own up to it.
By doing so, it’ll empower you to make the changes necessary to achieve the weight lose results you’re seeking now.
End the blame game immediately. No more blaming your job or your family for taking up all of your time, or not having enough money to join a gym or purchase a weight loss plan. None of this is beneficial.
Own your health.
Identify Your Options
If your immediate thoughts are, “I don’t have options“, then I encourage you to stop right now and not read any further. I certainly don’t want to waste your time if you believe there’s absolutely no options available for you.
If on the other hand, you’re open and ready to look at what your options are when it comes to exercise, eating healthy, and losing weight, then continue reading.
Once you commit to losing weight and working with whatever time and resources you do have, I assure you… you will lose weight.
Time
How much time do you have in the morning before heading off to work? Can you commit to 5 minutes of exercise in the morning, even if it means getting up a bit earlier?
How much time do you have for a lunch break? Can you spare or commit 15 minutes of your lunch break to exercise?
How much time do you have in the evening, after work, that you can commit to your health and losing weight?
Morning Plan
Commit to 5 minutes of exercise every morning. No more, no less.
To say you don’t have 5 minutes in the morning is the same as saying you just don’t want to do it. That your health really isn’t that important to you, and as far as losing weight goes, you can take it or leave it.
If you’re serious about losing weight, you can and will commit to 5 minutes every morning.
Do one minute of each of the following exercises every morning:
Jumping Jacks (1 min)
Jogging in Place (1 min)
Frog Jumps (1 min)
Low Laterals (1 min)
Burpees (1 min)
By doing these exercises first thing in the morning, you’ll have more energy, a higher metabolism, and burn more calories throughout the day, which contributes to your weight loss goal.
Mid-Day Plan
Commit to 15 minutes of exercise every day at lunch. No more, no less.
It can be a 15 minute walk before or after lunch.
If you have stairs at work, do stairs for 15 minutes.
If you have access to a gym, use any cardio machine for 15 minutes.
Evening Plan
In the evening, commit to 5 minutes of strength training. No more, no less.
The quickest way to lose weight is with strength training.
If you’re worried about bulking up and putting on “too much muscle”, let me take a minute here to alleviate your concerns.
Bulking up and putting on muscle is VERY difficult to do. Unless you’re a body builder who trains ferociously 6 to 7 days a week, I assure you you’re not going to bulk up or put on muscle.
When you work your muscles, they get pumped up and bigger because there’s more blood flowing through them. That doesn’t mean you’ve put on more muscle, it just means you’ve increased blow flow to the muscle.
By doing so, you’re providing your muscles with the ability to work harder, more efficiently, and when they do, they become your biggest ally to burning calories and fat, helping you lose weight faster and quicker.
Follow the 5 strength exercises recommended in this post that I wrote below:
Pressed For Time? No Problem. 5 Minute Fitness Routine For Better Health & Energy
Food Plan
Health foods and eating healthy can get expensive, but it doesn’t have to.
Preparing healthy foods can also be a process and take up lots of time, but it doesn’t have to either.
Make water, fruits, and veggies a majority of what you consume on a daily basis. Unless you prefer water with fancy labeling and packaging, it’s free and readily available just about anywhere.
Go to any farmers market and you’ll come away with all different kinds of fruits and veggies that are both nutritious and locally grown, not to mention fairly inexpensive too.
Depending on the farmers market, you can sometimes find fresh fish and lean meats also available for purchase. If not, a quick visit to your local grocery store will do the trick.
Stay away from foods that are canned, packaged, and processed.
Veggies and fruits out of a can are no where near as healthy and beneficial for weight loss as fresh fruits and veggies.
In addition to eating inexpensive healthy foods, how much you eat is critical for weight loss.
Regulating how much you eat requires no extra time or resources.
Never eat until you’re full. That’s the quickest way to slow down your metabolism, trigger your body to store fat, and gain weight.
Eat Smaller Portions
When you’re done eating, you should feel satiated, like you could eat more, but you don’t.
Eat slowly.
When you eat too fast, your body doesn’t get a chance to tell you – “enough, stop eating”. Before you know it, you feel full and have ate too much.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is you don’t need lots of time, money, or resources to lose weight.
The three most important factors for successful weight loss are:
Write Down Your Goal (it’s not real if it only existed in your thoughts)
Write Down Why You Want To Lose Weight (more confidence, energy, happiness, etc.)
Make The Commitment (no excuses – take ownership, make it happen)
Get Started
Losing weight isn’t one big giant step that you take to get there. It isn’t buying a gym membership, doing a one day cleanse, or a 2 hour workout.
Weight loss is the result of small steps completed daily and consistently over time.
It’s the 5 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes at lunch, 5 minutes in the evening.
It’s eating an apple instead of a bag of chips, drinking water instead of cola, eating smaller meals so that you feel good when you’re done eating and not full.
None of these require more time, energy, or resources than you already have.
You have all you need to get started right now, today. Go!
“For things to change, you have to change.”
~ Jim Rohn ~
What are some strategies you use for committing to your health goals when time and resources are limited? Please share them with me in the comments below.
Continuity wins!
I like the simplicity of your plan, most people get overwhelmed by training too heavy exercises at once.
This plan should get everyone off the couch 🙂
It definitely does Jan – thanks for your comment. The most successful plans are never the ones with a few giant steps, but instead, the ones with small steps completed daily, consistently, day after day.
Mike, I like the way you have placed exercise near mealtimes! Just a little, not too much. Motivation comes from exercise for me, the more activity, the better I feel. I will start a little activity before each meal. Great idea. And 5 minutes is so easy to find….
thanks
Thanks for your comments Jen. Exercise definitely motivates us, both physically and mentally and the more of it we do on a regular basis, the better we feel. Not to mention, it makes each meal that much better. 🙂
If I fall off the exercising bandwagon one week, I make it a definite plan to control my eating habits. Those are the times that are my weakest, so I have to recognize those and take action. Thank you for also showing the exercise videos!
Even when you do fall of the exercise bandwagon for a week, you’re still ahead of the game if you control your eating habits and keep them healthy and clean. I’m glad to hear the videos help, awesome! 🙂
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