B A L (L) A N C E

Balance is key to all aspects of your life.

I found that whether it comes to diet, training or life itself, if anything is out of balance, then it's easy to make poor decisions one after the other. It all ends up being a downward spiral.

Incorporating balance into different aspects of your life is worth the effort.

Here are four tips — two for diet and two for fitness — to help you take a positive step forward.

Diet

Tip 1

Have balance with the ingredients on your plate. Divide your plate into three sections — protein, veggies and carbs. Make 35% of your plate protein, 15% carbohydrates and 50% veggies. Even though it might sound like a small meal, the fiber in the greens will fill you up just as needed.

Tip 2

Be conscious about how often you eat a day. Skipping meals then attacking the fridge is exactly what you want to avoid. Plan out your meals, so you have sufficient and healthy snacks throughout the day. The two biggest benefits from regular meals are maintaining a high metabolism and steady insulin levels.

If you don't eat for several hours and have a big meal after that, it causes a sharp spike in your insulin and blood sugar level which then results in a sharp drop which is a rollercoaster you want to avoid.

Fitness

Tip 1

Schedule regular exercises for yourself throughout the week. Think of it as one hour meeting with yourself. No one likes being canceled on, so don't cancel on yourself either.

Tip 2

Don't jump into the deep cold waters after a dry spell. If you skipped working out for a couple of weeks, you'll need to ease back again as oppose to killing yourself right at the first day back at the gym. Have an efficient warm up, a moderate workout and a concentrated cool down. This way you can minimise the chance of getting injured, yet you'll still feel that sore pain the next day, but without having to skip again for a couple days.

Balance requires patience. Sorry to break it to you, but there isn't a quick fix to get results. It's one tiny step at a time that will take you there. And there will be many distractions on the way that will try to knock you off your feet.

Look at it as a house of cards. It takes time to build it up, and as long as there's symmetry between the sides, you'll have a strong structure. But once only one card goes out of balance even just a bit, it all goes down.

Try to transfer that philosophy into your life, and you'll see you'll accomplish much more with much less stress.

Balance in the gym + balance on your plate + balance in your life = successful and happy you.