Many people welcomed 2014 with an enlightened sense of determination to make profound changes in their lives and get healthy. Now that we are six weeks into the year, however, resolve and tenacity are beginning to wear thin. Sheer willpower can only take you so far. So what to do now? One of the most profound actions you can take to ensure continued success is to set up your surroundings and schedule to align with your goals. Let’s start with your office. Here are five tips and tricks you can implement to improve your health while at work!

1. Be Prepared
Review your schedule for the following week. Mentally run through the days and visualize everything that you intend to do in this time frame. Do you have sufficient time to rest your mind and nourish your body with food between meetings, presentations, and deadlines? If not, make edits to your schedule and plan your work more efficiently. You will never be able to consistently make healthy choices on the fly due to factors beyond your control. You must make a plan ahead of time to guide you in times of doubt and stress. Then, all you need to do is execute. Planning in advance will bring you confidence and peace of mind which, incidentally, are conducive to your well-being.

Tips:

– Check what is due and calculate how long it will take you to complete the work. Then, spread out the workload in your calendar over several days. As the deadline approaches you will not need to compromise break times to complete the assignment making it easier to stick to your plan.

– Few meetings are so important that they cannot simply be moved to an alternate time. Change meetings that interfere with your healthy plans.

– Prepare tomorrow’s meals the night before. This way you won’t have to waste any time wondering what you should have for lunch.

2. Schedule Meals Like Meetings 
Set reminders in your schedule at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m. to eat a small meal of 250 to 350 calories. The time can vary depending on when you ate your breakfast and the intensity of your morning workout but you should never allow more than three to four hours to pass without eating something nutritious. You need to feed your body and your brain so you can stay alert and engaged throughout the whole work day. Progressively fueling your body will stabilize your energy levels throughout the day so you won’t experience the after lunch lull. Just as you would set an agenda for a meeting, prepare your meals ahead of time to know exactly what you will be eating and have it readily available. This will abate the chances that you might succumb to a Snickers bar!

Tips:

– Add a cup of vegetables to your lunch to feel more full.

– Focus on nutrients more than calories. A handful of grapes and a handful of M&Ms will have different effects on you both physically and mentally.

– Stock up the company refrigerator with plenty of healthy food. The best way to insure yourself against giving in to temptation is to have healthy alternatives readily available.

3. Exercise during lunch 
Speaking of the after lunch lull, do you often feel tired or experience a “dip” in the afternoon? This can be easily avoided by exerting some energy during lunch. Energy begets more energy. Your presentation will be a breeze if you are feeling that endorphin rush from your run. Just like your meals, treat your workouts as important meetings. Alternatively, go for a walk during actual meetings. The main goal here is to stay active as much as possible.

Tips:

– Remember to get up and stretch often!

– If you have a gym at your office, use it for the convenience.

– Be realistic with your expectations. Commit to two or three workouts a week on your calendar and adjust according to your personal

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Snowed in but determined to stay on track with your summer bod?

Let the inches pile up on the ground and not on your waist with a customized home workout from celebrity trainer Noah Neiman.

“Time based callisthenic/plyometric circuits for at home workouts are big calorie burners. They are wildly effective for gaining muscular endurance while conditioning the body,” says Neiman.

The no equipment routine is a series of four minute circuits that keep the body safely under duress to perform strength training movements.

Strict body building moves, coupled with a plyometrics get the heart rate up and engage the muscles in a targeted attack.

Short bursts of high-intensity workouts have gained in popularity over the years thanks to the Tabata training method.

TABATA is a move or series of moves performed intensely for 20 seconds, followed by a ten second rest period, repeated for eight rounds for a total of four minutes.

However, most people cannot effectively perform Tabata with the appropriate energy for the intense portion for the whole 4 minutes. Neiman’s approach modifies the Tabata timing sequence to allow a stronger and more consistent workout.

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So, this happened to me on my morning run today: my pants fell off. Well, okay, they didn’t actually fall off, because I might have died of embarrassment before posting this. But as I ran, they kept sliding down to the point that I got so frustrated by a possible flashing situation, I cut my run short and went home.

This happens to me more than I would like. I mean, not the pants thing, necessarily — usually, pants are my first order of importance in workout situations — but I’ve also had earbuds that malfunction, sports bras that sag weirdly, and hair ties that pop, all which have led to discomfort and eventual abandonment of exercise. And an informal poll of Glamour editors has shown that I am very much not alone (thank goodness).

I shared my chagrin on the subject with Amy at Second Shift Athlete, who’s a whiz with finding ways to exercise, even when faced with a fail. And look at this! Some excellent ideas for dealing with workout clothing malfunctions on the fly.

The too-tight sports bra: Eight in 10 of us are apparently wearing the wrong sports bra — and you can tell when you are. Bras shouldn’t hurt! But if you’re in a pinch (heh), pre-workout, soak the thing in hot water and stretch it out over the back of a chair as it dries, says Amy, or stretch it out and then pin both sides to an ironing board and iron the elastic so that it starts to have some give.

Next time: It’s worth it to take some time and find a bra that doesn’t make breathing a problem — or make you feel a bit, you know…floppy. Here are some ideas that might best fit your chest, and a bunch of Glamour-tested bras to consider.

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