Living a healthy lifestyle and getting into shape as a busy executive in any city is often thought to be an impossible task.

At Ultimate Performance (UP), we deal with busy executives on a daily basis. In fact, the majority of our clients are just like you: Over-stressed, under-rested, and struggling to find any more time in the day than they already have.

However, a quick look at the results we achieved with this client base would suggest that we might know a thing or two about how to successfully implement healthy habits into an executive lifestyle. Below are UP’s top 10 tips on how to stay healthy and fit whilst juggling a successful working life.

Top 10 Fitness Tips For The Busy Executive

Eat A Breakfast Of Champions

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. At UP, we suggest high protein, lower carbohydrate breakfasts, such as salmon, avocados, and blueberries.

Why? Enhanced productivity, sustained energy and focus, and increased fat burning through the day, are just a few of the many reasons why it’s crucial to start the day right.

Do Not Skip Meals

When you’re busy, it’s tempting to skip meals. However, this can be disastrous for your productivity, and your waistline.

Skipping meals can lead to unstable blood sugar levels, and more often than not, reaching for a chocolate bar from the office vending machine. One of the habits we instil in clients straight away is to eat a protein rich meal every three to four hours.

Focus On Hydration

The majority of you reading this are chronically dehydrated. Multiple studies now indicate that dehydration can lower productivity dramatically, increase stress hormones, create poor eating habits, and hamper your body’s ability to burn fat.

A quick solution to this is simple: Fill three one-litre bottles of water at the start of the day, and keep them on your desk. By the end of the day, they should all be empty!

Master Portion Control

Busy people don’t have the time to count calories, or deal with complicated nutrition plans that involve calculators or mobile apps. Instead, at UP we focus on mastering basic nutrition habits and portion control.

A good starting point for each meal could look like this: One to two palm sizes of meat or fish, a large handful of colourful vegetables, and a tablespoon of healthy fats. A cup of starchy carbs can then be added depending on the individual client’s demands.

Own The Meeting

A common pitfall in any executive’s day is a schedule packed with meetings. If you know it’ll be back to back to back for hours, it’s vital to go in prepared.

Here are the essentials: Water, protein powders, and some nuts. In between meetings when solid food isn’t an option, mixing a good quality whey protein powder with water can be a lifesaver.

Pick The Right Menu

Many executives eat out in restaurants on a regular basis, whether it’s due to time constraints or business meetings. Either way, this shouldn’t be an excuse to indulge on three-course meals and luxurious desserts, or binge on alcohol. Restaurants are full of hidden calories, so it’s vital you make your food choices very basic.

Sticking to one main type of meat, and then asking for a side dish of vegetables (without mayonnaise, butter, or the like) is one way to go about it. Alternatively, doing your best to scout the restaurants you know you can eat well in is always best.

Dominate The Travel

A lot of the executives we deal with at UP have extremely busy travelling schedules, meaning they are constantly in and out of airports. To maximise productivity and energy during these business trips, one of the best tips is to avoid alcohol in the airport lounge. With champagne and wine offered all around, sticking with water on your flight will make a world of difference in how you feel.

Also, bringing simple, healthy snacks such as biltong, nuts, and seeds can help keep you satiated, and prevent succumbing to poor quality airport food.

Batch Cooking

For anyone short on time looking to live a healthier lifestyle, batch cooking is essential. To make it easy, pick two days every week in which to spend an hour preparing the next few days’ worth of food. You’ll never have to worry about being caught off guard at the office canteen again!

Maximise Quality Of Sleep

Most busy executives are deprived of sleep, and for the most part, trying to get more sleep is not going to happen. The key is to work on improving the quality of sleep, instead of quantity. The first ‘trick’ is to strategically eat your carbohydrates later in the day.  Whilst opting for high protein meals earlier in the day is better for productivity and focus, carbohydrate-heavy meals in the evening can actually help trigger the relaxing hormone ‘serotonin’, helping with the ability to fall and stay asleep at night.

Second, as executives are known for always being ‘on’, switching off mobile phones (and yes, that means email too!) at least an hour before bed can help the mind relax and unwind, making for higher quality and deeper sleep.

Exercise Efficiently

To achieve optimal body composition, you need exercise. If time is very tight, some exercise is still always better than none.

A quick 10-20 minute daily bodyweight circuit, or even some high intensity interval training, are effective ways to increase your metabolic rate and burn a lot of calories. If done correctly, you may even be able to build some muscle in the process!

Visit Chris’s page to find out more about his work.

_{This post was first published on UP Fitness blog and has been reposted on Connected Women with the permission of the author.
Edited by Michelle Sarthou 
Image credit: Shutterstock}

Did you enjoy this post? Please comment, like and share!