Midlife Madness Podcast

Staying Focused Through Festive Seasons: Overcoming Marketing Traps and Social Pressures

• Martha Savloff, Dr Marty Nalda, Dr Donna Pontoriero

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Can you truly maintain your fitness goals amidst the sugar-laden celebrations from Halloween to Easter? Our latest episode promises to uncover creative strategies to keep moving, even when life gets hectic. We share personal stories of integrating workouts into everyday routines, like sneaking in extra steps by parking farther away or doing squats while brushing your teeth. This is all about making fitness a fun and seamless part of your holiday season, without feeling the pressure of a full workout.

Tackling the extended festive period, we shine a light on the marketing traps that influence our wellness choices and the social pressures that lead to indulgence. Discover how setting boundaries can be your saving grace for both mental and physical health during these busy months, with a particular focus on the importance of staying active during menopause. With firsthand insights and practical advice, we explore how to prioritize healthy gatherings and resist temptations at work and social events, ensuring fitness remains a top priority even when time and energy are in short supply.

The power of accountability and empowerment in fitness is undeniable, and this episode highlights the profound impact of personal connections in your health journey. You'll hear success stories from clients who initiated their wellness journey during the holidays, demonstrating how mental breakthroughs lead to lasting changes. We emphasize the importance of organization and planning, sharing tips on meal prepping and structuring your day. As the New Year approaches, remember it's about cultivating habits that support long-term well-being, even amidst the chaos of holiday celebrations.

Speaker 1:

how do we continue our fitness goals and working out during the holidays and all the things that we feel obligated to partake in? I'll get started because, from all of us, I'm the one that works out the most, just because I like it. Because I like it, anyways, adjustment. So I love working out, I work out every single day, but I do find myself being busier right now, and not even because of the holidays, to be honest, just because life is a little crazy right now with with business and with all the things that we have going on. But then, on top of that, comes the holidays, like today we have my family, we have a Santa Express event for my grandson and because I started working early this morning, I would normally work out tonight to make up for it, but now I can't because I have this holiday event, holiday event.

Speaker 1:

So what I, what I do, is I take off the pressure of having to do this massive workout and I just go for a walk or I jump on my treadmill, like if I have a little window of time that I can just jump on my treadmill and walk while I'm working. I do that and that's what I do. Yeah, what about you guys? Yeah, I'm gonna.

Speaker 2:

I have a lot of stairs in my house and sometimes I purposely not carry everything down at once and I will do the stairs quite a few times, and I have at least three flights of stairs in my house. So, um, I may not bring all the laundry down all at one shot. I may bring just the whites down purposely. So I know I have to go up and, much like you, um, I'll go for a walk. If I'm going to the grocery store, um, I'll park further away. Even though I am in New Jersey and our weather is terrible, um is cold, I still park farther away, um with it, um, and and do different things like that I'm. I try to be conscious of having some type of activity, some type of movement, um, every single day, especially on the days I'm super busy, and I know it's gonna. It's gonna, just I'm going to suffer with it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I just I don't enjoy exercise, and we all know that, and. But unfortunately it's a necessary thing that has to happen, right? I know that a lot of people, a lot of my clients in my office, a lot of my friends everybody is everybody has worked so hard to like get in decent shape for holiday parties. A lot of people have like lost weight leading up to the holidays because they have like events with work or you know, and it truly sucks to let like a month period ruin everything you have worked so hard for almost. I mean I have people that have been working on goals for a year, right, like they started their new year's resolutions in January and life has been happening, and so now it's like September, october, you're finally where you want to be, and, oh crap, here come the holidays, right? So me personally, I do the.

Speaker 3:

I try to sneak exercise in to things that I have to do anyway, so that I don't feel it as bad have to do anyway, so that I don't feel it as bad, right? For example, I do squats while I'm brushing my teeth. I have been doing squats while I brush my teeth every day since I was a teenager. You have to brush for two minutes, sing the ABC song in your head while you do squats. You're brushing your teeth anyway. Like what? How hard could it be? Right? So that's one thing that I do and I've done it forever.

Speaker 3:

You want to be really creative? Put a couple of dumbbells in your bathroom, do squats, do weighted squats while you're brushing your teeth. You can, it's not that hard and it takes zero time out of your day. And I hope you're brushing your teeth every day, like that's, you know. You know, if you're not brushing your teeth every day, I recommend dental hygiene because it will make you sick if you don't. So you know, let's do that. So that's one thing that I do. I park far further away, right? So, if I, you know, I park first of all right now. With the way people are in every store, every shopping, every, everything, you don't want to park close anyway, your car is going to get all dinged up. Park far walk you probably have to park far anyways can you just embrace it, right, embrace it.

Speaker 3:

So that's something you know. Christmas lights are up, or holiday lights are up everywhere, and if you walk for 10 to 15 minutes after a meal, you reduce the glycemic load of that food substantially. And by walk I mean a leisurely walk, hanging out, you know, looking at Christmas lights right, if you're out shopping, have lunch first and then do your walk and shopping, yeah, right, it could be things that you're doing anyway, but if you're doing it a little bit more strategically and a little bit more focused, right and purposeful, it makes a difference in terms of how you get through the holiday season. Yeah, because I don't want to be one of these people that gains 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And there's so many people that do Yep and we like Christmas.

Speaker 1:

for some is just one day. It's the 25th and then for others.

Speaker 3:

it's the 24th, it's a season and then for others it's the 24th and the 25th, like, like.

Speaker 1:

where does it say that it has to be a whole month, like the rest of?

Speaker 3:

the days in december is you know and I'm copying and you may have, so we have. It's crazy, we have. Okay. So this is something and I read this and I was like, oh, we have a candy holiday Halloween right followed by an eating holiday Thanksgiving, followed by a gift giving slash eating holiday Christmas, followed by a drinking holiday New Year's and then don't forget Valentine's Day words it, so there's always chocolate something okay, but if you like, this one.

Speaker 1:

Listen to me, listen to and then don't forget Valentine's Day. So there's always something, okay, but listen to me, listen to me. Those holidays is a day on the calendar. We're the ones that make it a four-month situation. Like, let's not make it a four-month situation. Like you have the right and the authority and the decision-making to not make it a four-month situation. You're a grown-up.

Speaker 2:

Well, if you think about it though, like, when are things popping up in the stores? And I think a lot of the marketing from the different stores and things like that play a huge effect in this.

Speaker 3:

It's a psychological thing they do on purpose. We're in September. We have pumpkin stuff out.

Speaker 2:

There's candy canes out in September and pumpkin spice stuff is starting out in July, you know. So I think these companies that are doing the marketing affect this also, and the question to ask yourself is am I going gonna jump in on that trend from these marketing companies? How influenced are you willing to? Be yeah how influenced are you willing to be um with it? Because, as we all know, I you know, you're gonna, you're gonna see. You know, the day after christmas, you're gonna start to see valentine's candies in your local CVS.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, so true.

Speaker 1:

Like you can't enjoy it because it's already in your face. You know all the things. It's already in your face and then people follow you know, and they do a really damn good job to do it. It's excellent marketing.

Speaker 3:

It's a marketing genius, but you know excellent marketing. It's a marketing genius, but you know it's marketing genius until it affects your health, your mental health and your pocketbook. Yeah, yeah, right, so we need to. You know, and we talked about this in our last episode boundaries people create boundaries that are going to help keep you sane and healthy throughout the holiday season, which we now have discovered is a six month process. Right, you know, I was throwing in Halloween and then you came in and you threw Valentine. So it does stretch, it does, and then you get St.

Speaker 2:

You threw valentine so it does, stretch it does, and then you get saint patrick's day too, because another drinking holiday right, exactly, and food and, and then you get easter and it's like it's a one day always something but there's always something. It's the season and it's like how are you going to react? How are you going to stay on your routine?

Speaker 1:

my suggestion is to run, run far away from all these marketing that we have is the summer, because now everybody wants to lose the way to go to the beach like that's the only one yeah, and then you still, but you still have memorial day and fourth of july.

Speaker 3:

So if you, if you start thinking about the external things, the external pressures, the external days, the external da-da-da, there is always some thing.

Speaker 2:

And not just holidays. There's events, there's birthdays, and I've got anniversaries right before Christmas, you know. So there's always going to be something. The question is, what are you going to? You know, are you going to let these different things stand in the way of throwing you off your fitness routine?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and then you're like it's December. You're like, damn, I didn't meet my new year's resolution in 2020.

Speaker 3:

And you've been doing, you've been working on it. I'm going to do it in 2025.

Speaker 2:

I didn't hear yeah, and you're not alone, because a lot of people carry over their their health resolutions from year to year and they never accomplish it, you know, because there's always something okay.

Speaker 1:

So here it says why staying active matters more during menopause and so, like it says, managing symptoms. So exercise helps alleviate common menopausal symptoms like weight gain, mood swings and sleep issues. Hormonal balance, um, staying active helps, uh, the role of excuse me, the role of fitness in reducing cortisol levels and supporting overall hormonal health, which, with during the holidays, cortisol levels is higher. So we definitely want to do that. Number three protecting your bones and heart. So strength training and cardio are essential for preventing osteoporosis and maintaining cardiovascular health. So there's challenges to staying on track during the holidays, right, like we were talking about it. Number one is time constraints, so balancing family, social events and other holiday obligations there's that word again. Number two temptations everywhere, which is what we're talking about overeating, indulging and I'll start fresh in january mindset and number three energy fluctuations, how stress and fatigue can detail or derail motivation to exercise.

Speaker 1:

So those are the challenges, right.

Speaker 3:

The why and the challenges. I will tell you and this is from you know, experience, year to year, and, like I said, I'm I am extremely blessed that I I actually have. I mean, I have friends that are very deeply unhealthy, but a good chunk of my friends are very healthy individuals, either because they've had a crisis and they've had no choice but to adapt, which tends to happen a lot in middle age, right, or, you know, some of them have just always been super healthy people, which is great. But I am very, very lucky because, even at events, even at get togethers, the ones that I choose to go to, for the most part we have healthy stuff. Right, I just had dinner at my friend's house a couple of days ago. They made some incredible tomahawk steaks on the grill, right, that was the main. You know, protein was the main focus of dinner. Did we have other stuff? Of course we did, but we had carrots, we had a salad, you know, and then there was very little carbs involved, because it's just a very healthy family and I love that.

Speaker 3:

So what I have found is that my friends, my relatives that stick to their guns and don't let a season affect them and, up in January a lot happier with themselves. Yeah right, and you know it's a day, guys, it's a day If somebody, if you work in an environment where there's always desserts and you know there's always unhealthy things and you kind of have to like mentally prepare yourself around that and you have to give yourself permission to not indulge. Like yeah, you have to. You know, if somebody brings donuts and coffee, say thank you for the coffee and walk away from the donuts. Like yeah, your gratitude is not wrapped up in you indulging in whatever unhealthy thing that then you're going to have to unravel in your body.

Speaker 2:

It becomes very tempting because you're in offices you may work in a doctor's office or whatever and people are very generous at this time of the year and so they're bringing home baked goods and they're bringing chocolates and they're bringing all these things and they're literally right in front of you, you know and it's hard, it's hard, it's a challenge.

Speaker 3:

I mean, I'm not gonna lie, there's, there's a box of chocolate sitting in my back office right now, and I'm not going to lie, there's, there's a box of chocolate sitting in my back office right now and I'm just sitting. Every time I walk past it's like I'm not going to open it. I'm not going to open it. I'm not going to open it because the other thing that I personally found and I'm a sweets person, you guys know that I will gladly give up dinner for dessert, right, I don't, but I would, yeah. And so for me, I would rather not taste it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, because then you might not be able to control yourself and that.

Speaker 3:

So be honest with yourself, right.

Speaker 2:

But that goes hand in hand too with like your exercise If you stop, you may not go back.

Speaker 3:

So if you know that it's hard for you to get on the wagon right, don't fall off. Yeah, do you schedule?

Speaker 2:

it much like you're scheduling different things throughout this holiday season. Even though it's one day, it's a season. But much like you're scheduling the different things, schedule your workout Like coach Martha just said she goes. I know today I couldn't work out, but I already know that I'm going to get on the treadmill, even for 15 minutes, because that movement is something. It's something that you would not have done otherwise if you skipped your workout, and that's the key?

Speaker 1:

Well, that that requires discipline. And that's where you know this is definitely the season, a season in, you know, and it's definitely time for you to implement discipline in this season, because disciplines was going to get you, get you past this season, because, of course, temptations is everywhere. So let's talk about setting realistic goals. So here it says. Number one focus on maintenance. So emphasize on consistency over intensity. So that's what I was talking about. Like, instead of doing a hardcore workout, I'm just gonna give myself permission and be okay with just jumping on the treadmill. Staying active is better than aiming for personal bests. If you're somebody that wants there are discipline enough for personal best, then great. But if you really have things going on and you're like, look, I don't know, I can't do that, then allow the space and the grace for you to allow yourself to be okay with just you know, staying active and doing the most that you can without feeling bad about it.

Speaker 1:

Number two create micro goals, so break down your fitness routine into smaller. That goes in line with what we're talking about achieving steps. Achievable steps like 15 minutes on a movement, 15 minutes of movement a day. Number three holiday accountability. So partner with a workout buddy or join an online challenge for added motivation. And then it says creative ways to fit fitness into a busy holiday schedule. So, number one mini workouts, so still squeeze in 10 to 15 minutes of high intensity interval training. Combine fitness with family, so suggest fun holiday activities like walking to sea lights, family hikes or dancing to holiday music. And then, number three make it festive, so wear holiday themed workout gear or listen to holiday play.

Speaker 3:

Make it fun. Yeah, yeah, that's fun, yeah, and you know it's. It's the same thing that we keep saying over and over. I will say one thing okay, and I know that this time of year everybody is so reluctant to start a weight loss program, start a fitness journey, start, everybody's waiting until January, everybody's waiting until January. And I will tell you that my clients that start in December are so much stronger in Jan, come January, february, because if you can set that accountability and that discipline and you could do it right now, the rest of the year is easy peasy, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Just think about, just think about, with that statement you just made. Just think about all the people that go to the gym regularly and then come January they get so frustrated because there's 200 more people at their 8am workout and they can't get whatever. But unfortunately what happens is by the end of January, first week of February, all those people drop out.

Speaker 3:

But you know the ones that don't drop out, the ones that start now, because if you can survive the holiday season, first of all, you know, and we know this right Anybody that does our program within the first month, if they're not going insane cheating on what we ask them to do, they're going to be down 10 pounds, right. So even if they start right now, yeah, at least 10 pounds.

Speaker 2:

At least 10 pounds.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, by the end of that first month and I'm talking about holiday expectations right by the end of that first month, and I'm talking about holiday expectations right by the end of that first month, you're down 10 pounds. Imagine, you know you have 50 pounds to lose and by January 1, you have already started. Yeah, I've been active. You feel amazing. Going into the new year, the mindset is different. Yep, so one of the things that coach Martha talked about was getting an accountability partner. That's what we are for our people.

Speaker 1:

Yep.

Speaker 3:

That's what we do, you know, and that's what we're so incredibly successful, because that personal touch, that that accountability, that realness, because we go through it too, and that's you know. Accountability, that realness, because we go through it too, and that's you know. We're not sitting here as paragons of perfection in terms of nutrition or exercise or wellness. We are very normal people that might know a couple of things and ticks and trips. You know tricks and tips that you guys just haven't thought of yet, and so when we bring that to people, they're like oh my gosh, that's amazing. That's the one thing I needed in order to take that next step. And you know.

Speaker 1:

Also, like, if you're doing a program like our reveal lifestyle program, as as your health coach, we're, we're not. We're not. Like, no, yeah, you can't enjoy the 24th or 25th, right, you are horrible. If you, if you do this is terrible, we're not. You know, weight loss nazis, like, like the super nazi from seinfeld, we are okay. Listen, this is what you need to do to be successful, yep, and you can be successful now, during the holidays, and then when that day comes, because it is one meal, it's not even a whole day.

Speaker 1:

We're going to help you survive, not even survive. We're going to help you thrive through that. And guess what? The day after, you can continue your health journey and you can continue reaping the benefits of the program, and it's okay that is right, it's a lifestyle program and not a diet or a crash diet. You don't have to. You know drink juice all day or you know you can eat real, you can eat real food you can chew your food your body like.

Speaker 1:

So you know that, you know where the accountability part comes in, but also the emotional support part and then also the coaching part.

Speaker 3:

But it empowers you it does, and when you put it into perspective, one thought, and then I'll be quiet. When you put it into perspective, okay, like we just talked about, that it's a season that extends, okay, and it used to be one day, and now we're starting in September, and then you start with Memorial Day for and for late, with Labor Day, for end of summer, and that's a drinking party at the beach and you go straight into Halloween, which is a candy holiday, thanksgiving, which is an eating holiday. You know, there is always some thing, and this season, honestly, is no different from the rest of the year in terms of what you can do for yourself. And you have to put on your big girl panties right and empower yourself to say like, and you have to put on your big girl panties right and empower yourself to say like. You know what? These people are right. It is the same thing as it is every other time of year, because there's always something.

Speaker 2:

There's always something. And you know what I think a lot of people get themselves in trouble too is right before it, because that week, that those few days before the holiday, it's like everybody's kind of chill. You know things at work, yeah, it's a free for all. And the same thing happens after that time period between Christmas and New Year's. It's a lot of people are off from work, the kids are off from work, they're not on their routine and I think it's not being in your routine that throws you off and kind of puts everybody into that free-for-all that throws them completely off track. You have to maintain some sort of routine in order to keep that fitness journey, whether it's just working out or whether it's keeping your meals to par, par, keeping most of your meals to par.

Speaker 1:

It has to be something yeah, and you know what you're going to be so proud of yourself for, yeah, breaking through the, the how can I say it? The, the stigma or I don't know if that's the word, but what you're supposed to do from a society standpoint, like you're not supposed to, like who says that, like who dictates that you're supposed to stuff your face for you know, a whole month like what?

Speaker 3:

or two or three, or marketing so marketing.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's what dictates it for sure, and it's like you feel empowered to not submit to that, like feel empowered to to make your own decision.

Speaker 3:

Rise above it.

Speaker 1:

Not allow that. Yeah, rise above it. And then, once you're on the other side, you're going to be so proud of yourself, you're going to feel so empowered, you're going to feel so good that you can do it and you did it, and your self-esteem and your body is going to feel so good. And then you just keep going.

Speaker 3:

Some of the best successes I have had have been clients that have started this time a year and the mental breakthroughs that they make literally empower them to continue being successful forever. Yeah, you know, these are people that don't fall off Like. They know how to get themselves back into a healthy state. They might have one day, they might have, they might skip one minute, you know one workout, but they know not to self-sabotage their entire journey just because you had one moment, one day.

Speaker 2:

And I think I mean I had a client last night that you know she's went off a little bit because of the holiday parties and things like that she goes.

Speaker 2:

You know, dr Donna, monday came on, I got right back on. I wasn't perfect, things like that she goes. You know, dr Donna, I Monday came on, I got right back on, I wasn't perfect, she goes. But even on the weekend I was so busy I even I made sure that I set time aside for me to to exercise. It wasn't my normal, she goes, but I took 15 minutes for me and I maintained my exercise and she went right back on track come Monday.

Speaker 3:

Taking that minute empowers you, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And she was so proud of herself as I was, as was I.

Speaker 3:

You know, it takes commitment, it takes dedication, it takes that self-control, but it's commitment to yourself A hundred percent, every single time that you do something that increases your commitment to yourself a hundred percent, every single time that you do something that increases your commitment to yourself into something that you already said was important to you. Yeah, that is powerful. Yeah, yes, that that carries forward and that also carries forward into the commitments that you make to other people. Yep.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

Right, because you have to keep your word to yourself first.

Speaker 2:

If you think about that, it just empowers you all the way around, not just for yourself but for your family, for your friends. And think about, think about the feeling of you know, fitting into those really nice pair of pants that you haven't been able to, and then think about the feeling of eating yourself through the season or not exercising through the season, and then you go to put those pants on and you can't button them, laying down.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and you know what else guys are.

Speaker 1:

You know our business is Inspire Weight Loss right, and the word inspire is is the reason why Inspire Weight Loss is called inspired or named inspired is because our hope is that our clients will inspire others to also start a healthy journey.

Speaker 1:

So then, when our clients go through the season and they feel empowered our clients go through the season and they feel empowered and they thrive through the season and maybe they made a decision, like your client, that that maybe they didn't make the best decision for them at that in that day, but then they knew how to pivot and how to manage themselves and the next day they did the things that they needed to do to continue. Then they are an example for their family and friends and all the things, and hopefully they will inspire other people to to follow suit and to to look at themselves and say you know what this is really inspiring and I'm going to start myself as well, you know so. So, client, it's just, it's so powerful and so encouraging and uh for our clients but then also for their realm of influence, you know it expands to more than yes, it expands.

Speaker 3:

So then.

Speaker 1:

So then, the client is is also making an impact in other people in their lives, and, and that's what our hope is. So it's it. It's a beautiful thing, it really is.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I agree, I agree and it's just it's. It's a good feeling for yourself and and for your, your own, your own self, about having the power and having the discipline to really stick to it, to that commitment to yourself. It makes you I don't know, it makes you kind of feel warm and fuzzy and, on the inside, that you were able to keep that commitment to yourself, you know, and and that gives you a little jump on your self-esteem.

Speaker 3:

And I think it's super important, like this time of year you know we talked about okay, so I understand how it could be like completely overwhelming to even contemplate staying focused, if you think about it. Okay, if you think about you know most people out there and they're like I have 50 million things to do. I don't want to worry about x, y, z, Right, and that starts backfiring. Because, first of all, when you are super stressed out and you're not doing any type of physical stress management things and what I mean by physical stress management things is you know what you put in your mouth, drinking your water, making sure you're taking your vitamins, your healthy supplements, getting that workout in because all of those things physically affect the stress levels in your body, whether it's a chemical stress, a physical stress and emotional stress. You know the fundamentals of health is your nutrition and your exercise Right. So when that starts going, believe it or not, it increases your stress, because now you're not feeling as well you can cope with less, because when you're not feeling your best, your coping ability decreases and unfortunately, life doesn't continue throwing stuff at you that you need to cope with. Yeah, so the only control that you have is how you take care of yourself, so that you could then better serve and take care of those around you, whether that's work, whether that's family, whether it's kids, whether it's parents, whether whatever it is. Whether it's parents, whether whatever it is, if you yourself are not mentally healthy and whole, physically able to cope, it doesn't work anywhere else. So all you're doing is basically burdening yourself further.

Speaker 3:

No-transcript, right, because when everything is chaotic around you, you could have your little pocket of things you can control. Yeah, right, so you know, take the time, you know, write out why. Why is it important for you to stay healthy through the season? Why is it important for you to to focus a little bit on yourself? It's not selfish, yeah it's not, it's not selfish.

Speaker 3:

You can't give up. You know you can't pour out of an empty cup. Yeah, it's not selfish, and I think we try to do so much for everybody and we feel guilty taking that 10 minutes, or you know. Or you know I don't have time to prepare healthy meals this week, or I don't have time to da-da-da. And it's worse if you don't. It's worse, Like that's. The thing that we need to like, understand and absorb and own is that we're the base, right, we're the pillar, everything you know, we're the foundation and everything else happens around us. And if our foundation crumbles, which is our health?

Speaker 2:

Right, it's true. And what it's true. And then what? And you know, you're 100% right on that. And like our schedules are busy and they somehow become busier during the holiday season, I'm a meal prepper, regardless.

Speaker 2:

I'm a meal prepper. I know I have a super busy day today and it's my day off, okay, but I know I'm not going to have time to do a meal. So guess what? I have to pull the crock. I pulled a crock pot out and I'm going to make a stew tonight and is a crock pot meal my favorite meal? No, but it's going to be healthy. We're not going to be ordering out and we're not going to be eating. You know? Oh, what am I going to have for dinner tonight, and I know that I have a decent meal on the table. So so you may have to veer a little bit from your norm in order to make sure that you stay on track.

Speaker 3:

And this is a really good time of the year also that, when you do have pockets of time, prep ahead, yeah, right. So if you know that you are, that you have time to make a bunch of grilled chicken on the grill this week, like today, and a bunch of veggies, make two or three meals out of that, prep ahead, stick it in your freezer. If you're having a crazy, crazy day, thaw the sucker out, right. Make things easier for you long term in the pockets of time that you do have, yeah so we.

Speaker 1:

Another another thing is you know, we always, we always try to to encourage people to cook at home because you know what you're putting in your in your food. But, like in my household, we were normally busy all year long. So, and my husband, he likes to cook, so we do, we, he does cook, but because our schedule is just crazy, doesn't matter what season it is, um, I, we have a local chef that cooks for us and we buy like five meals per week, you know, just to kind of have it in the refrigerator to fill the gaps in the scenario that my husband doesn't have time to cook or or like I'm working late in the office, so I take it with me. So meal prepping can look different. You just have to make sure that it's good whole foods that you're purchasing. But but in this season we double up on it. We buy 10 meals instead of five meals per week because we want to make sure that, because we know that our schedules can be even crazier, that we have enough to to draw from right, that we can just grab and and warm it up. And we know we have our vegetables there, we have our proteins there, there's no sugar. You know that it's. It's aligned with the lifestyle that we live. So that's another idea.

Speaker 1:

But one of the words that comes to mind is organize yourself. Organization is key to success and whether it is for your, your healthy lifestyle, whether it's for your business, whether it's for work business, whether it's for work, whatever area of your life you want to be successful in, whether it's relationships, financial, what everything requires organization, and I do a lot of like. I like to read a lot in like self-help books and things like that, and I am a businesswoman so I read books on that and one of the most successful business people the consistent trend is that you want to create a to-do list or your task list the night before, because you want to start your day already knowing what you're going to tackle. So in the season of, in the season that gets crazier and busier, take the time you know before going to bed.

Speaker 1:

You know, instead of waiting till that morning to figure out what you're going to do with your life, take the time the day before and say, okay, today I'm going to make sure I handle and take care of this, this, this, this, whatever it is, whether it's work, whether it's an event, whether it's your what you're going to feed your body, whether it's fitness, whether you're going to make a phone call, whether it's a meeting, whatever, whatever it is, whether it's taking the kids to soccer, it doesn't matter what it is, whether it's a personal thing, a business thing, a work thing or whatever it may be. The night before, create that list of what you're going to tackle the day after and then stick to that list, because if you do that, then the chances are you're going to be able to handle and take care of all that with less stress than trying to figure it out the day of. And then you're just. You're creating an atmosphere, a stressful atmosphere for yourself.

Speaker 3:

And honestly, I think you get more accomplished that way. I agree with that 100%. You get more accomplished that way.

Speaker 2:

And physically writing it down or typing it out. Whatever you do, I actually have my list here. It's on a sticky note. That's how I operate, but the saving grace of that is going to be when there's going to be a monkey wrench thrown in your day, because there will be right.

Speaker 2:

You at least have your focus on okay, I need to accomplish this also today. But that one thing that just got thrown in, I need to handle that now today. But that one thing that just gone thrown in, I need to handle that now so that I can move on with this and so that that's an excellent tip, and I do that the night before. I always make my list.

Speaker 1:

Yep, I do. I have an app on my cell phone that's called to do is a microphone Microsoft app that it connects also to my desktop. So anywhere I am and any technology that I use, my to do list is there. So if it's like 11 o'clock at night and I think about something I need to do, I just throw it in there and then, before I go to bed, the app, what it does is you can, you can drag the task to your day. It's called my day and you can also, um, you can also like have a due date on it, and so the night before I just drag my task to the day the the day, you know, the next day, and when I wake up in the morning, my to-do list is already already done and when I'm when I'm finished doing it, I just check, check it off and it checks off my list.

Speaker 3:

Psychologically, it's nice to check off your list. So that's so. I just wake up.

Speaker 1:

I work out. The first thing I do I don't care if I have text messages, I don't care if I have emails, if I don't care if I have a phone call somebody's calling me the first thing I do is pull up my to do list and see what I'm going to tackle. I arrange them in order of priority and then I'll take care of anything else that comes my way that's not scheduled. So you can do that for every single aspect of your life, not just business or whatever it may be. So call to action, because I think we need to have a call to action at the end of every video.

Speaker 1:

Go and organize yourself during this season, but then also, as a rule of thumb for your life, go organize yourself. Um, it's very helpful to do that. We've we. We help clients do that, like we. We sit down, we're like, okay, tell me what you have going on in the day, yeah, and then we we look for those pocket of times that you can inject, those things that you need to do um to for you to live in a healthy and be able to do these things. So go organize yourself.

Speaker 1:

However it looks like, it can be a sticky, it can be an app like I do. It can be a book like this if you're you're a writer, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you do it, you stay consistent and you follow through with it. So that is your action point for this video. We're going to continue talking about it because then New Year's comes, all the things, and you know, like said, every month is something. So go out there and do what it, what is required. Okay, we hope that this video helped you reach out to us if you need help.