time management

One of the biggest excuses I hear about not being able to make healthy food choices or regularly exercise is that people don't have time. They're just so busy with work, kids, kid's activities, church, housework that they simply CANNOT find time to add anything to their schedule. Interestingly, according to the Time Use Survey by the U.S. Department of Labor, the average person ages 15-44 years old spends 2 hours per day watching TV and the amount of time goes UP with age.  If the average person has 2 hours for TV/day then certainly we can find time to fit exercise and healthy eating into the schedule. Let's talk about some strategies you can use...

1. BUY A PLANNER
Use a planner to write down your daily schedule by the hour.  In that hourly schedule, plan time to workout.  This doesn't have to be a huge block of time either- just half an hour of quality exercise has HUGE benefits. 
2. STRATEGICALLY GROCERY SHOP
Because you may not always have time to cook a healthy meal, make sure you have a fridge and freezer full of healthy vegetable and protein options. I like to hard boil eggs for the entire week to use as a healthy protein source. You can buy frozen chicken breast that you just need to heat up to use as your lean protein. Frozen vegetables are usually more nutritious because they're frozen soon after they're harvested.  I also like to cut up fresh vegetables to make them easy to grab for a snack or to throw on a salad. 
3. TURN OFF YOUR SCREENS
Spend less time looking at your TV and phone screens and you'll free up a couple hours of time during your day. Tell yourself you cannot look at your social media until you work out. Make yourself go cut up some veggies for the week before you watch your TV. 
4. PRIORITIZE YOUR HEALTH
You may think you don't have time to do anything else in your schedule but in reality, you have time for what you make a priority. There are several things you can choose to do with your "free time"-  mop floors, fold laundry, wash dishes, post on social media, watch TV...you  get my point. None of the things you choose to do with your time are "bad choices" but it's time to start prioritizing your health. YOUR HEALTH IS IMPORTANT!  Make regularly exercising and preparing healthy foods a priority over ANY of those daily tasks.  
5. WRITE DOWN A TIME MANAGEMENT GOAL
You're more likely to reach your goal if you actually write it down and look at it on a regular basis. Take a post-it note and put it on your mirror, place a note card by your make up or set an alarm on your phone to remind you of your goal. Make a goal pertaining to exercise and health eating, write it down, look at it regularly.