Website design By BotEap.comDespite our national propensity to overeat, exercise little, and constantly gain weight and be out of shape, we all yearn to be lean, fit, and attractive. Our culture rewards the skinny and the beautiful; watch us devour celebrity gossip, mesmerized by the looks and energy of our current favorites.

Website design By BotEap.comWhy the discrepancy between our aspirations and our reality? There are a myriad of reasons, most of which can be attributed to the simple fact that life gets in the way.

Website design By BotEap.com“I would love to cut down on my food intake,” we think, “but I have to attend all these work functions and have little control over the meals that are served.” “I’d really like to get in shape,” we complain, “but there’s no free time and I can’t afford a personal trainer like the movie stars I see.” “I really want to take care of my skin and body,” we lament, “but I’m so busy that a quick shower and some moisturizer is all I can fit into my schedule.”

Website design By BotEap.comIt would be wonderful to have a lot of free time: to plan our days; cook healthy low calorie meals; exercise without time constraints; being able to pamper ourselves without the pressure of deadlines. Unfortunately, our lives are too hectic for that to happen in the foreseeable future. We can give up in frustration and join the legions of overweight and unfit people, or we can come up with a personal plan that fits our lifestyle, one that gets us where we want to go, just not as far. quickly or completely as we want. I’d prefer.

Website design By BotEap.comYour life, your time, the demands and responsibilities you face, vary on an individual basis. You will need to figure out what works for you and what cannot realistically be accommodated. Here are some ideas to consider:

Website design By BotEap.com1. Diet

Website design By BotEap.comEating on the run, at your desk or on the rubber chicken circuit, wreaks havoc with even the best-laid diet plans. If you’re even a pound heavier than you’d like, try to identify where you’re drifting.

Website design By BotEap.comIf fast food on the way to an appointment is your downfall, watch what you order. Almost every drive-thrus these days offers salads. Problems with those salads can be minimized by tossing out the little bag of (fried) croutons and skipping the (fat-laden) packaged dressings. Bring your own individual container of low-calorie dressing, opt for iced tea (unsweetened), black coffee, or a diet soda, and avoid those sugar-laden colas like the plagues that they are.

Website design By BotEap.comIf you eat lunch at your desk, ask yourself what are you eating? If it’s takeout, order a cheeseburger or sandwich. Simply discard the bread or bun and eat it with a plastic knife and fork, chopping it into raisin-sized pieces that will fill you up quickly. French fries and onion rings? You just don’t want to go there.

Website design By BotEap.comIs your office always stocked with snacks and treats (as most seem to be these days)? When the snacks arrive, go to the bathroom or, better yet, take a quick walk around the building to reinforce your power of “no” and clear the vision of sweets from your head.

Website design By BotEap.comIf business lunches, dinner parties, or those horrible meeting banquets are your hurdles, plan ahead. Lunch is relatively easy: salad (with your own dressing, of course) or fish and cottage cheese are available almost anywhere. For dinner, try two low-calorie appetizers instead of one main dish. Best of all it’s something you have to work on – crab legs, unpeeled shrimp, an artichoke (not the hollandaise sauce) – it will take you a long time and no one will notice how little you’re eating.

Website design By BotEap.comBanquets are particularly difficult because a plate is dropped in front of you, full of food you would never ask for by choice. Cut any proteins and vegetables into small pieces and chew slowly. Distribute the rest on your plate and play with it to delay the appearance of a syrupy dessert. Grab a cup of black coffee and place it directly in front of you to thwart that eager beaver waiter who keeps trying to slide a plate of cake across his table.

Website design By BotEap.comHome entertainment creates a different set of problems because you usually know the hostess and you want to avoid creating bad feelings. Back to allergies since no one wants to see you get hives in the middle of their party. Take a club soda or seltzer with you and no one will notice you’re not drinking.

Website design By BotEap.comOver a period of time, these small changes can have a significant impact on your weight. If you’re hungry when you get home, make sure you have some liquid protein or a healthy shake available to complete your daily nutritional needs.

Website design By BotEap.com2. Exercise.

Website design By BotEap.comWith the best of intentions, millions of us purchase gym memberships. If we all used them regularly, as we promise ourselves we will, there would be waiting lines on the streets. Health clubs can keep signing up more and more members because they know that the number of repeat customers will stay about the same, as new members will appear in an initial burst of enthusiasm, but over a few weeks they will gradually fade away.

Website design By BotEap.comUnless you have a job with very regular hours, something few of us enjoy these days, it’s hard to commit to going anywhere on a regular basis. We mean to go, but then an important meeting comes up, our partner asks us to do something, or the kids pester us to take them somewhere.

Website design By BotEap.comOur high-demand lives almost force us to exercise at home. Television is full of home kits that promise to flatten our abs, define our pecs, and re-sculpt our entire bodies. Even though they claim the equipment folds up easily, we know our apartments can never fit a Bowflex or Nordic Track. Where do these buyers live? We suspect in the suburbs, where expensive equipment is soon relegated to the basement or garage to collect dust until a future garage sale comes along. The equipment, except for minimal gadgets like elastic bands and hand weights, is too much trouble and takes too much time to set up.

Website design By BotEap.comFitting exercise into your schedule is easier to manage (and therefore more likely to be repeated regularly) by engaging in activities that can be started without any preparation time, special clothing, or long uninterrupted periods. The old standbys of push-ups, sit-ups, stretching with weights, yoga, and calisthenics have stood the test of time for a reason. They can be inserted into your busy schedule at odd times of the day and require no preparation other than a brief warm-up. Some of the newer programs – callanetics, pilates (some), extraordinary exercises and video workouts also fit these requirements.

Website design By BotEap.comWhen you unexpectedly find a secret half hour free, go for a walk and, if you can, magnify its benefits with an occasional run.

Website design By BotEap.comSuch a plan may not make you Mr. or Mrs. Universe, but it will keep you limber and semi-fit while avoiding that energy-consuming guilt you develop when you set your sights too high and then don’t follow through. .

Website design By BotEap.com3. Take care of yourself.

Website design By BotEap.comWe have all read the stories of Cleopatra bathing in donkey’s milk to whiten and soften her skin. But she was a queen, for God’s sake! She didn’t have to get up at dawn to fight traffic at the office. She did not have to take care of a husband, a house or a child. You would have time to take a bath in peace if it weren’t for cleaning the house, doing the laundry, finishing the report for the office, helping the kids with their homework, preparing dinner, and picking up Aunt Mildred from the airport.

Website design By BotEap.comWe know we have to take care of ourselves. We want to perform the routines that will avoid the signs of aging that are waiting around the corner. We’d love to take a long bath or shower daily, polish our skin to perfection with a loofah and exfoliating powder, wrap ourselves in lotions and skin softeners, and pamper our face and hair with special cleansers, masks, and polishes.

Website design By BotEap.comOnce again, our lives get in the way. We elaborate a minimal routine of make-up remover, toner and moisturizer. We wash our hair when we can and occasionally find time for a special facial or oil treatment. It’s hard to be fully motivated when the signs of aging are brief and fleeting. When I have more time, we tell ourselves, I’ll work on it. Twenty years later, wrinkles have settled, jowls have puffed up, and our skin bears the scars of sun, wind, and gravity. We then lament our lack of care over the years and try to minimize the ravages of time already indelibly imprinted on our appearance.

Website design By BotEap.comBy all means, stick to your quick daily routine. Sure, you could get up earlier in the morning and have time to take better care of yourself, but you’re already, like most working-age Americans, sleep-deprived.

Website design By BotEap.comOne solution is to identify a period of the week where you can steal a couple of hours. Women especially underestimate themselves, too busy taking care of others and ignoring themselves. Claim your right to that two-hour window as if your life depended on it. Use it just for you. Use it to take deep treatments for your face or hair. Use it to practice relaxation, listen to music, or walk in the rain. Use it to pamper every part of your body and spirit. Use it to think about yourself, your goals, and your dreams. Use it to appreciate yourself and the good things that life has brought you. Use it to make plans for future personal development and use it to become your own best friend and confidant.

Website design By BotEap.comOur lives are so busy with what we have to do that our inner wants and needs often go unfulfilled. Even in the busiest and most demanding schedule, there are moments we can create for ourselves, but only if we absolutely insist on it. Now is the time to become assertive about yourself. You too deserve a brief moment in the sun.