You won’t lose weight with diet and exercise if it’s not being supported by a healthy lifestyle.  While they sound like the same thing, they’re definitely not.

What is a healthy lifestyle? A healthy lifestyle is one that involves eating moderately healthy and exercising.  It isn’t that easy though — it also has a large part to do with the small decisions you make, the ones made during the other 22-23 hours of the day when you’re not at the dinner table or the gym.

Living a healthy lifestyle means doing the following:

1. Putting your cart in its designated area. After you’re done putting groceries into your car, put your shopping cart in one of those designated cage areas found throughout the parking lot.  Even better, take the cart back to the store.

2. Not going through drive thrus — park and walk inside. If you have the urge to go get a Big Mac, at the very least get out of the car and walk 40 feet to the counter.  This goes for banks, dry cleaners, etc.  Not only will you lose weight walking inside, but you’ll usually get helped quicker.

3. Not circling a parking lot for 20 minutes. I spent enough time addressing this yesterday, I think I’ve wasted enough of my life on this topic.

4. Taking the stairs. I went to my landlord’s new two-story office a couple of weeks ago and he  insisted I took the elevator, not the stairs.  Wait, what?  I know I’m fat, but give me some credit — I can walk up a flight of stairs.

5. Walking (or running) to the mailbox. Three months ago I would stop at our driveway (about 75 feet long) and roll down my window to grab the mail.  These days, I pull all the way to the garage door, get out, and walk (or run) to the mail.

6.  Preparing your meals, limiting processed. I’m not naive enough to expect most people to cut out processed foods completely, I know I certainly won’t — unless Cracker Jack starts growing in wheat fields.  And while it’s common sense that grapes are healthier than chips, also keep in mind the dozens of calories you’ll burn by taking the time and effort preparing a fresh meal.

7.  Not feeling bad about your diet. If you have something considered “unhealthy” (cheese, french fries, etc) don’t feel bad about it.  Don’t call it “splurging” either, I can’t stand that word.  You know what you should call it instead, you should call it “controlling portions and eating moderately healthy.”

8.  Having a yard sale. It takes a lot of calories to have a yard sale.  It’s also a good way to (indirectly) clean your house and make a few bucks while you’re at it.

Who needs all that crap taking up valuable space, anyway?

9.  Getting enough sleep. When we implement an exercise routine into a busy life, we normally take back that  lost time by substracting it from our time spent sleeping.  By sleeping less, you increase the chances of being tired the following day, resulting in a lack of energy and motivation to be physically active.

A lack of sleep is a vicious cycle which will cause you to have increasingly unproductive workouts or even worse, you’ll begin skipping workouts because you’re already exhausted before you even get to the gym.

10.  Doing chores. Mowing, vacuuming, washing dishes, doing the laundry — everything burns calories.   Heck, not doing chores will burn calories, but your house will look better if you vacuum.  Depending on your height/weight, you can burn hundreds of calories doing an hour or two of chores around the house.

11.  Watching less television. Yes, I love The Price is Right too — Drew Carey is a fantastic host.  It’s just simply ridiculous though to watch 2-3+ hours of TV a day as some people do.  Not to sound harsh, but I’d rather be out doing something (anything) with my life than watching someone elses.

This is how I try to live a healthy lifestyle.  I don’t always succeed, but I try.

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