In an ideal world, all of us would be exercising every day, eating only healthy foods, and would all be on our way to achieving our dream bodies. But real life intrudes… long work hours, unending commutes, unavailability of healthy food choices at work place, family demands… and the list goes on. Or maybe you are just plain lazy 
Which, by the way, is never a good thing. You need to work out to keep yourself physically and mentally fit.
While I strongly recommend that you make exercise and healthy eating a part of your life, I understand that sometimes we need easy ways to ensure that even if we do not have time to go for a full blown workout, we do not completely derail our efforts to stay fit either. So, here are 15 fitness hacks to help keep you on track with your fitness goals.
Suggested read: 10 easy exercise tips on how to get slimmer thighs
1. If you cannot carve out 30 minutes at one go, do 10 minutes of exercise 3 times a day. Pick some activity like brisk walking, dancing, running, jumping jacks or body weight exercises, and do them for 10 minutes at a time. Even half an hour of exercise in a day gives many of the health benefits that you get from longer duration activities.
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2. Walk whenever you can. Get off a little farther away from your workplace and walk the rest of the way, both to and fro. If your office is on a higher floor, do not take the elevator but walk up the stairs, every time (if your office is on the 25th floor, however, don’t try this on the first day, we don’t want a medical emergency. Get off a few floors below your office and walk up the rest of the way.)
3. Instead of sitting in front of the computer all day long, take regular breaks and walk around whenever you can (that is, if your boss is not the type who wants you glued to your desk all the time). Research shows that standing up every 20 minutes for 1-2 minutes can counteract many of the negative effects of a sedentary lifestyle, and reduce the risk of developing lifestyle diseases like diabetes and heart disease.
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4. If you work on the computer for long hours, close your eyes every one hour and take a few deep breaths. This will reduce your stress levels and at the same time, provide some much-needed rest to your eyes.
5. Fidget. Fidgeting can help you burn 300-350 calories a day. How much you fidget is determined by genetics, but you can consciously add movement to your day by walking around while on the phone, standing up and stretching, walking over to your colleague to talk over a problem instead of sending a mail, and so on.
6. Use your TV time constructively. If you have to have your daily TV fix, you can use the TV time to exercise. If you have a treadmill or bicycle, place it in front of your TV and exercise while you are watching your favorite soap. If you don’t have equipment at home, you can still use the time to run in place, do jumping jacks, some crunches, squats, and even push-ups. And if you just cannot miss a single minute of your favorite programme, do these during the commercial breaks.
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7. If you have just 5 free minutes, do some jumping jacks. At moderate intensity, you can do anywhere between 50-100 jumping jacks in one minute. 100 jumping jacks burn anywhere between 100-300 calories, depending on your weight and the intensity of the exercise. Even if we take the lower end of the estimate, 100 calories per day equals 700 calories a week, which in turn adds up to 3000 calories a month, which is almost ½ kg weight loss.
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8. Eat a protein-rich breakfast. It can help promote weight loss and maintain weight in the long run. Protein taken during breakfast increases the feeling of fullness and reduces intake of calories in subsequent meals, leading to lesser caloric intake through the day. So, go ahead and enjoy your breakfast eggs and remain slim and trim.
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9. Drink plenty of water. Water is needed by all cells and organs of the body to function properly, and about 70% of the body is made up of water. Many a time, we think we are hungry when in fact we are just thirsty, so drinking adequate water can help you from overeating unnecessarily. The daily water intake recommendation is between 2-3 litres.
10. Use smaller plates and bowls for your meals. Research shows that if the size of our plates and bowls are bigger, we tend to heap more food in them and hence overeat. One of the easiest ways to control your caloric intake is to eat from smaller plates and bowls.
11. Keeping track of your oil consumption also helps you reduce your overall caloric intake. The monthly oil consumption per person should not be more than 500 ml. So if there are 4 members in your family, you should not be using more than 2 litres of oil in a month.
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12. Avoid mindless snacking. That samosa or pastry may taste yummy, but is really unhealthy for you. Instead, choose healthy snacks. Whole fruits, roasted or boiled peanuts (without too much salt), roasted/boiled channa, boiled eggs, sprouts, whole vegetables like cucumber and carrot are convenient and healthy alternatives.
13. To avoid overeating during meals, have a big salad or a big bowl of soup before the main course. This will make you feel full and you will eat less rice and rotis.
14. Do not store junk food in the house. It often happens that when we have junk food like chips and cold drinks in the house, we mindlessly reach out and start munching on them. And before we know it, one big packet of chips is over. To avoid such mindless eating, make it difficult to get to the bad stuff. If you want to have chips and it is not available in the house, having to go out and buy it may discourage you from actually eating them.
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Suggested read: 10 belly busting ab workouts for women
15. Get adequate sleep. We usually overlook the importance of sleep when it comes to losing weight and being fit. Lack of sleep increases the level of stress hormone, cortisol, and the hormone associated with the feeling of hunger, ghrelin, while reducing the level of leptin, the hormone with gives us the feeling of fullness after eating. Higher levels of cortisol increases insulin resistance and the tendency of the body to store fat, and higher levels of ghrelin and lower levels of leptin will increase our tendency to eat and cause weight gain.
And these fitness hacks are not only for lazy people. Everyone will benefit by incorporating these small changes in their daily lives, making healthy lifestyle a much more doable and achievable goal. Start with these small steps and slowly ramp up your fitness and healthy eating efforts to get where you want to be!
Featured image source: Google, copyright-free image under Creative Commons License
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