Well this article was supposed to be an in-depth look at weight training for women, but alas, I have found myself out of time for the amount of research I was hoping to do. It seems that I’ve been running out of time on a lot of things lately, between college finals, visitors from out of town, family life, an upcoming trip, holiday headaches…it seems a whole lot has been put on the back burner, and that includes my own health. I admit it- I have not done a proper workout in over a week. I could provide a myriad of excuses, but none would really be justification for my negligence, which could have easily been avoided with some simple time-management. So with the new year approaching, my personal goal is to make sure that I always make time for myself to do what I ought to be doing- exercising my body, eating right, and keeping stress levels low. Since I know that many of us have trouble finding the time to take care of ourselves, I’m going to lay out some of my strategies I plan in implementing. I hope you find something that can work for you!

1. The number one thing to keep in mind is that your health IS important! While it may be natural for some people to put the needs of others first (such as children or a husband), that is no reason to neglect yourself. It’s all too easy to use others as an excuse, particularly when looking for a way to get out of exercising or to justify snarfing down cookies when someone else is doing it. Make time for yourself, set limits for yourself, and stick to them. It sounds corny, but by making excuses, the only person you are cheating is yourself.

2. Divide workouts into shorter sessions throughout the day. Unless you are training for a marathon, you’re not going to hurt anything by breaking up your workout. In fact, you may find that you have more energy to dedicate to your second workout and that you put more effort into it overall. If it helps to plan out workouts ahead of time, do that. Create a schedule of what you will do and when if that’s the sort of person you are.

3. Plan out your menu for the week ahead of time. Whether it’s meals for the entire family or just yourself, planning ahead will save you time and energy. Prepare as much ahead of time as you possibly can, like on a Sunday afternoon or whatever works for your family, to cut down further on prep time. Planning ahead will also help you keep your diet in check since you will know what you will be eating, rather than mindlessly grabbing for whatever you can find while your stomach is growling at you.

4. Keep a food and exercise journal. It doesn’t take that long. If you are trying to lose weight, keeping a log will serve three purposes. First, it will keep you honest. Chances are you won’t feel too good about writing down that you wolfed a couple of donuts, so that will stay your hand. Second, you will have a quick and easy tally of your daily caloric intake, so you will know how you are doing during the day if you track calories. Finally, you will have a record to look back on if you need to. Wow, so you lost four pounds last week? Go back and see what you ate, how you exercised, and work with that to keep it up.

5. Plan ahead. Period. You’ll notice a constant theme here. Planning is how I keep myself sane; I am a list addict. Planning may not be for everyone, but for me it is my key to success of any sort. And I have slacked on planning lately. I let myself get swamped down with family visiting, finals, housework, and wound up being sick on top of all that. As a result, I’ve eaten crap, haven’t gotten any workouts in, and have been a big ball of stress. It shows in both my body and my attitude, and it just makes things all the worse. By keeping a plan that I can follow and stick to, I can better manage my time and fit it all in without becoming overwhelmed. Try it. You may like it too.

6. Finally, de-stress on a regular basis. I just bought a huge tea sampler from a warehouse store. That box of tea has been my savior this week. Find something that just calms you and indulge in it whenever you start feeling tense. Tea. Classical music. Think about whatever makes you relax and just say “ahhhhh,” and keep a big box of it handy.

Whatever your resolutions are this New Year, best of luck keeping to them. Seeing as how I hope to manage my time just a bit better, the next article will be all about weights as I had initially promised!

WAU NC