Making a resolution for the new year can be a wonderful catalyst for change in your life—or a setup for failure by the spring! This January, we’re talking to local experts about common resolutions and how you can improve your chances of carrying through.
Lauren Flores spends most of her time helping people work on their fitness in Moab, offering customized fitness training programs at the Moab Recreation and Aquatic Center and Southtown Gym. She is certified as a personal trainer by the American Council on Exercise, a functional strength specialist by the American Council on Exercise, an instructor by Animal Flow Official, and PN1 coach by Precision Nutrition.
So what’s her advice on your 2023 fitness goals?
1. Adopt a weekly or daily ritual.
“Busy is the norm in the 21st century,” Flores said. “You will never find the time for fitness—you’ll have to make it. These rituals can be simple 5-minute tasks like adding workout reminders to your calendar, or they can be more complex like scheduling meal prep once a week. Whatever you decide, make sure the ritual is easy enough that you can do it at least 90% of the time.”
2. Regulate your eating behaviors.
“One of the simplest ways to get a head start on healthy nutrition is to eat at the same time every day. Having scheduled meal times will help automate the task of eating and regulate biological rhythms. Once you nail the timing, you can begin to focus on your plate’s content.”
3. Walk more!
“This doesn’t have to be overly complicated—just use your legs to get you from point A to point B more often. Step count does correlate with health markers like body weight and blood pressure. Try tracking your steps with a basic app for a week to get your baseline. Then, aim to increase that number by 200-500 steps every week.”
4. Add more whole, minimally processed foods to your diet.
“No, this doesn’t mean you need to buy everything organic, pastured, wild, fair-trade, and all those other bait words on food packaging. It means before you eat that 3 p.m. brownie (even if it’s a vegan, keto, hand-picked organic cacao brownie), eat a piece of fruit. The idea is that over time, we can displace that ‘bad’ food with ‘good’ food, since the nutrient density of an apple is more satisfying than that of a brownie.”
You can contact Lauren at feelgoodbodycoach@gmail.com.
