Overview

Staying fit and eating healthy on a busy schedule can be difficult. Today, some jobs require working regular hours plus overtime. Additionally, you may also have to do some work when you get home. Add to that the responsibilities of taking care of a family, and it will be extremely challenging to take care of yourself.

Unfortunately, succumbing to this pressure can lead to some serious complications, especially chronic illnesses.

For this reason, this article will cover some helpful tips to stay fit and healthy regardless of your schedule.

How to stay fit and healthy despite a busy schedule

1. Learn to be disciplined

Out of all the tips on this list, this is the most important one. You see, having a good diet plan and a workout routine is great. However, if you don’t stick to it in the long run, it will be useless.

Sticking to the plan every day is what will give you the results you’ve been looking for. It might be slow progress, but it’s still progress.

2. Don’t look for quick fixes

As humans, we are designed to follow quick rewarding activities that make us feel instant pleasure. For this reason, most people are willing to spend hundreds of dollars to buy products with questionable effectiveness. These products will promise you amazing results in a short period of time.

If you think about it, you will realize it’s clearly a scam. Have you ever had things in this life without putting up some work?

Therefore, before you buy any product that promises a quick fix, turn on your scam radar to avoid wasting time and money on useless scams.

3. Avoid eating out

Eating out is cheap. However, it is also very unhealthy!

Fast food is full of processed substances that harm our bodies. Moreover, they are rich in calories, trans fats, and processed carbohydrates.

In fact, multiple studies found that processed carbs can be quite addictive in nature. In other words, eating out all the time is partially due to the addictive properties of the food.

4. Cook your own meals

We know you heard this a million times, but it is true. Cooking and preparing your own meals is essential to stay fit and keep a healthy lifestyle.

When you cook your meals, you’ll avoid consuming all the carcinogenic foods sold outside. Moreover, you will learn to appreciate the process.

5. Walk more

Even though walking might seem like an effortless activity, it is quite effective in losing weight. In fact, walking for one hour could burn up to 232 calories. This number is even higher in overweight individuals.

While 232 calories might not seem like a big deal, doing this every day for a whole month can make you lose 2 pounds. That’s 24 pounds a year without any significant effort.

6. Take the stairs!

Walking inside a building and finding the elevator out of service can be frustrating for all of us. Nevertheless, if we learn to look at the bright side, this could be an opportunity.

Taking the stairs can burn up to 0.20 calories per step climbed. Although this number seems low, doing this regularly can add up, and you’ll lose dozens of pounds in the process.

7. Go for a run

Going for a 30-minute jog with a 10-minute-per-mile pace can burn up to 300 calories. Do this for 10 days, and you’ll lose one pound.

Running is not solely beneficial for weight loss. It will also improve your cardiovascular health and decrease your risk of developing chronic diseases, such as diabetes, blood hypertension, and neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease).

8.  Hit the gym every now and then

Strength training is one of the best ways to lose weight while sleeping. We understand that it can be difficult to work out on a busy schedule; however, once or twice a week is better than nothing.

The reason behind this is that when you lift weights, you will be putting strain on your muscles, which causes some microscopic tearing of muscle fibers. As a result, your body will need more energy in the post-exertion period to repair the damage.

For those interested in some effective gym workouts, check out our exercise posts.

If this is not an option for you, consider getting a pair of dumbbells to work out at home. By doing some compound exercises, you can achieve similar results at home compared to the gym.

9. Focus on your big muscles

When you are in the gym, you want to get the best out of it. To do this, exercise your big muscles (e.g., quadriceps, pectoralis).

While working on your abdominal muscles and other small groups is great to make them stand out, it won’t burn as many calories as the bigger groups of muscles.

10. Just move!

In case you don’t enjoy any of the activities listed above, that’s completely fine. It’s not important how you move as long as you move.

You can choose any physical activity that you enjoy and perform it regularly. This is the most important part. Consistency is key!

11.  Give yourself a break

It is okay to give yourself a break every now and then, as this process can be exhausting. However, don’t take long breaks.

Learn to enjoy the small steps such as eating a healthy meal and going out for a run. This will teach you to adopt some good habits, which will gradually improve your health and fitness.

Takeaway message

A busy work schedule can make it very difficult to stay fit and lose weight. However, there is a lot you can do by taking a few simple steps.

We hope that this article will serve as a guideline for those with a busy schedule to stay fit and maintain a healthy weight.