Many entrepreneurs and executives are busy running their businesses and don’t spend the time they need to take care of themselves. With stress, obesity, and diseases such as diabetes and heart disease on the rise, many companies have realized the importance of having a healthy workforce.
Sixty six percent of the adults in the United States are overweight or obese, which is contributing to significant health risks, lost productivity and increasing health care costs. Overweight employees cost employers 30% more on average than healthy weight employees.
Here are six tips for the busy entrepreneur who wants to lose weight, reduce stress and get into better shape.
1. Plan your day.
As a busy entrepreneur your time is limited so it is very helpful to plan ahead the night before. Decide what you’ll eat and when you will make time for some physical activity, and schedule it all in just like you would any other important appointment. When you have a plan for the day you won’t find yourself starving, trying to figure out what to eat and reaching for those high-fat/calorie foods that you’re trying to avoid.
2. Reduce stress. When you’re stressed out, your body produces stress hormones, and goes into ‘fight or flight’ mode. In this state, your body doesn’t release fat, and instead, stores everything to fat, to prepare for an emergency. There are several ways you can reduce stress such as having some down time, meditating, exercise and reducing caffeine. Meditation can help you reduce your stress levels so your body is not storing everything to fat.
3. Create an environment of wellness within the workplace. Taking care of your health and wellness, and helping your employees do the same will provide a more productive work environment. It’s been shown that companies that help their employees to create healthy lifestyle changes see payoffs in terms of a more loyal work force, productivity, less sick days, reduced health-care costs and improved morale. Consider implementing a workplace wellness program.
4. Make the best choices possible. You can still make good choices when you can’t choose the restaurant for a lunch meeting. Avoid the breadbasket, ask for a salad or fresh veggies instead of fries, choose broiled rather than fried etc. Keep an eye on the sauces as well. Many BBQ sauces, dips, and condiments are full of simple sugars that’ll head right to your hips. Snack on fresh fruit and almonds as snacks. When you fill up on healthy foods, you’re less likely to over indulge in the high-fat options.
5. Change your thoughts. Your thoughts determine your actions, which will determine your results. Staying positive and thinking the thoughts that are in alignment with your goal is so important. Earl Nightingale said it best when he said, “you become what you think about!” As a busy entrepreneur you may tell yourself that you don’t have the time to take care of yourself. If you tell yourself this, than that will be your reality. So choose to have thoughts that will support your goal.
6. Interval training. This is extremely effective for fat loss and improving your cardiovascular fitness. Here’s more good news it only takes 15 minutes to do, along with a 5 minutes for a warm up and 5 minutes for a warm down. There’s no need to go to a gym for an hour or so, as this method is quick and it burns more calories faster. Generally, you’ll have a period of high intensity (no longer than 30 seconds) and a period of lower intensity (this is considered a rest period). Ideally, the rest period should be as long as the high intensity interval. However when you’re first starting out, your rest intervals can be longer (typically 60 seconds).
These are six practical ways for the busy entrepreneur or executive to get into shape without spending a lot of time. Remember you need to take some time for yourself but these tips will allow you to keep that time to a minimum with maximum results!
Melonie Dodaro is an author, speaker, trainer and weight loss master coach who helps people end their cycle of yo-yo dieting and experience lasting weight loss. Her new book The MindBody FX Lifestyle shows people how to create the mindset needed to attain their idea weight. She is also the founder & CEO of MindBody FX, a company that specializes in coaching people to change the way they think, so they can achieve permanent weight loss. Melonie is featured as the weight loss coach on the upcoming TV show 180 Life & Style Makeovers.
