By Blake Dykes

Instead of giving you a list of recipes and workouts to do, to begin your journey towards a fit lifestyle, I am just going to give you some simple tips you can use to change for the better.

Tips:

• Know your serving size. Seems self explanatory right? Wrong. For instance, don’t think that because you’re eating Wheat Thins doesn’t mean you’re consuming a low amount of  calories. When you just reach out of the box, which you should NEVER do, you consume on average around four times the recommended serving size. For the reduced fat Wheat Thins the serving size is 14 crackers adding up to be 140 calories. I’m not at all saying these are a bad snack choice, I am just trying to stress that you are probably taking in way more calories than you thought. Portion size is key.
• Let’s face it, we all have those days where going on a run or doing a hour workout sounds absolutely dreadful. Well, I hate to tell you this, but it’s still not alright to skip on these days; however, I do have a suggestion. Make a list of five to seven exercises that you hate (what I mean by that is exercises that are extremely hard for you and leave you completely out of breath). An example of this list could be:

• 50 jumping jacks

• 15 push ups

• 25 jumping squats

• 45 crunches

• One minute running in place

Post this list somewhere that you will see frequently throughout the day, such as in your room, bathroom door, or fridge (maybe that will make you think twice about that midnight snack). Every time you see the list complete the workout. The one I provided burns around 80-100 calories, if you see that eight times a day that’s quite a workout.

• One thing that always makes me mad is when someone tells me, “You know peanut butter is really high in fat.” Obviously peanut butter is high in fat, but it also fuels your body and contains the right fats. Don’t let some ignorant person persuade you out of eating it. With this being said, most peanut butters contain a little ingredient that has a BIG impact on your body. Hydrogenated oils. There are tons of varieties of hydrogenated oils, but the ones most prevalent in peanut butter are: vegetable, rapeseed, and soybean. These hydrogenated oils thicken your blood, cause  higher cholesterol, and dramatically increases your chance of heart disease. Some other things you should be cautious of when picking out peanut butter is the sugar content. Peanut butter is not made to be sweet, so there should be no added sugar, yet companies continue to slip around 2-6 grams of sugar in per serving (two Tbsp). Not to mention that you should be not taking in no more than 15 grams of sugar daily. With this being said, peanut butter is a simpler item that should be kept with simple ingredients, here are a few brands that keep everything natural with strictly nuts and a hint of salt: KREMA, SMUCKER’S, Naturally More, and my favorite, simple truth organic.

I think that’s just enough amount of things to consider for today, but instead of a workout I am giving you a different assignment.

What I have decided to do is give you a weekend challenge, so from now on every Friday I will be including it in each Fitness Friday column I post, and you can give me feedback on how you do.

Challenge: Don’t eat past 8:30 this weekend. I know weekends exist so that we can stay up until the crack of dawn, but late night cravings are the downfall to healthy eating habits. As tempting as watching TV and munching down a whole bag of chips is, it completely ruins that “flat morning stomach.” You probably aren’t aware that on these late night binges you more than likely consume 500-1000 calories if not more. Besides just the high amount of calories, snacking late at night is hardly ever driven by true hunger, just cravings. If you must eat past 8:30 make it as light as possible, such as some fruit, greek yogurts, or a small handful of sunflower seeds. This sounds a lot easier than it is, but it is a great habit to get into.