You want to know how to stay fit and healthy at home. Well, half of the battle is simply having the right mindset and taking action to change the way you are living. So, you are already in the right place just by reading this!

I understand how hard it can be to want to live a healthy lifestyle, but not know where to start or what you should be practicing. That’s why I’m here to help you and give you 7 EASY TIPS to stay fit and healthy, all while being at home!

So let’s start with tip #1, shall we?

TIP #1: Drink Plenty Of Water Throughout The Day

Now, there is a reason why I put this tip as #1 on the list. One of the best exercises to stay fit and healthy is to drink plenty of water during the day.

Water is SO important for our health and our bodies. Did you know that we (us humans) are made of 60% water and our blood is 90% water? I think the numbers here speak for themselves.

Every system, cell, tissue, muscle fiber, and organ needs water to function properly and efficiently. Without it, our bodies simply can’t perform to do its job. 

Here are some reasons why water is important for your body:

1. Regulates your body temperature.
2. Lubricates and cushions your joints.
3. Protects your spine and other tissues.
4. Gets rid of the wastes and toxins in your body.

If you are not getting a sufficient daily water intake, you risk the potential for health problems to develop (and we don’t want that). 

Dehydration hurts the body by doing things such as impairing brain function, creating nauseating headaches, having low energy levels, causing muscle spasms and cramps, and so much more. This also has an effect on your emotional status as well. 

Things such as irritability, mood swings, and confusion could all happen when you don’t get enough water.  

So you might be wondering, well how MUCH water should I be drinking per day to stay fit and healthy?

I’m pretty sure you have seen some suggest that you should be drinking 6-8 cups of 8-ounce glasses of water per day.

While this is a good starting point, there are very few studies and research done on this. 

The truth is, everyone is different! Water intake should be calculated based on your own specs. Here are the steps to calculating the amount of water you need:

1. Find your weight.
   1. Let’s take our friend, Taylor, here for example. She weighs 120 pounds.
2. Multiply your weight by ⅔ (or 67%).
   1. So we would take 120 x ⅔ = 80 ounces
3. Optional Step: Add 12 ounces of water for every 30 minutes of exercise to your daily water intake.
   1. If Taylor exercises for 60 minutes each day, she would add 80 + 24 = 104. So Taylor’s daily water intake should be 104 ounces!

Pretty simple right? 

But I get it. Consciously reminding yourself to drink water throughout the day can be hard. We often find ourselves to be super busy with no time to think about how much water we drank today.

So here are some tips for this tip (lol) if you struggle to drink enough water throughout the day:

1. Keep a Hydroflask or any kind of water bottle next to you. Carry it with you wherever you go! You’ll thank me later for this one, especially during those hot, summer months to come.
2. Skip the sugary drinks. Things such as soda, packaged juices, and alcohol have unnecessary amounts of sugar and contain a high-calorie count. Replace these drinks with water instead!
3. Have a glass of water with every meal you eat. This can help you in getting more water in as well as not overeating (guilty as charged for this one).
4. DRINK WATER WHILE YOU WORKOUT. Your body is working harder and at a faster rate when you exercise, meaning you need to keep replenishing your body with water more frequently!

Now, there is another way for you to get your water in to stay fit and healthy, but we’ll get to that in tip #5 😉 

TIP #2: Set Alarms To Stand Up

Do you find yourself trapped at your desk while working at home? And do you oftentimes forget about how long you’ve been sitting there for? 

Trust me, you’re not the only one on this one!

Sitting for a prolonged bout of time is really harmful to your overall health. We do it every day without giving it a second thought when in reality, we should!

Living a sedentary lifestyle can hurt your cardiovascular system, lead to chronic health problems, weaken your muscles, and so much more. This is why it is so important to stay fit and active throughout our days!

But when we think of being active, most of our minds go to super intense workouts or exercise in general. While that is not necessarily a bad mindset to have, being active is actually a lot easier than you think it is!

So how do you stay fit and active?

Well, staying active could simply mean moving your body. Whether that’s to stand up and walk around your living room for a little or getting in your workout for the day, the concept here is the same.

But did you know that you actually burn CALORIES when you’re standing? Just by doing absolutely nothing you could be doing so much for your body (crazy right?)!

So try to set alarms on your phone to STAND UP! 

Let’s say you are working at home from 9:00 A.M. until 5 P.M. That’s a heck of a long time to be sitting down!

Try to set intervals for every hour or so to stand up and stretch a little or walk around your living room to stay fit at home. 

Here are some time intervals and desk stretches you can include in your daily work-at-home schedule!

9:00 A.M. | Clock in

10:00 A.M. | Stand up on a conference call

11:00 A.M. | Arm Desk Stretch Break 

• Try inverting your wrists and place the palms of your hands flat on your desk. Then, keeping your arms straight, lean back to get a good forearm stretch! 

12:00 P.M. | Time For Lunch! I’ve got you covered with this healthy lunch idea 😉

2:00 P.M. | Leg Desk Stretch Break

• Stand up and place one leg on your chair. Bend over, keeping both legs straight, and to try and reach your toes. Feel this stretch in your hamstrings and only go down as far as you can!

3:00 P.M. | Take a walk around the house or outdoors

4:00 P.M. | Back Desk Stretch Break

• Hold the edge of your chair and bend the top of your body forward (as if you were doing a forward fold in yoga). Keep your arms and legs straight and feel the stretch in your back!

5:00 P.M. | Sign Off For The Day

TIP #3: Go For A Walk With A Friend

We are all culprits of making excuses as to why we don’t get to do certain things during our day. Fitness and health tend to be on the list of things that don’t get done for a lot of people. 

An easy way to keep yourself accountable is to do it with a friend!

Humans are highly social beings. We depend on human interaction to find purpose and joy in life. If we don’t, we could risk an unhealthy mind, body, and soul. So, neglecting this part of our health can actually harm us more.

So, if you’re working from home, going on a walk with a friend can be simple. Try FaceTiming or giving them a phone call during your walk! It can be a nice and refreshing way to go outside while catching up with someone you love. 

This concept to stay fit and healthy also goes along with the next tip we’re going to talk about!

TIP #4: Change Up Your Workouts

Physical fitness is a HUGE element on how to stay fit and healthy at home. I could sit here all day and talk about ALL of the health benefits exercises have on the body. But here are a few important benefits that exercise has on your overall health:

1. Exercise reduces the chance of chronic health diseases.
2. Your overall mood and levels of energy will drastically improve!
3. The muscles and bones in your body are getting stronger and can slow down the process of our muscles getting weaker as we age (which is bound to happen to all of us, unfortunately). 
4. It’s GREAT for skin health.
5. Exercise helps your brain health and function.
6. Your quality of sleep will improve (this one is for all my night owls out there).

Now, these are only a few of all the benefits exercise has. But we would be sitting here forever if I listed all of them (which, nobody has time for).

But, like most of us, staying motivated to workout can be hard. If it were easy, all of us could be doing it right now! 

So, how do we stay physically fit when we don’t feel like doing it?

The answer to this? CHANGE THINGS UP!

If we keep doing the same workouts day in and day out, we’re going to become bored and more likely to not do it. Keep your same workout DAYS but just change what KINDS of workouts you do during those days!

So let’s say Monday’s are the days you usually work out your legs with dumbbells. It’s now Monday morning and you are already dreading the workout. 

Try doing something different instead, like a HIIT session or full-body workout! You could also follow different YouTube videos or find so many workout routines on the Internet. 

Remember how I said that the last tip would tie into this one? Well, another way you can change things up is by working out with a friend!

If you can’t meet up, you could always do a virtual workout at home through FaceTime or Zoom! This would be a fun way to challenge each other to keep fit AND without a gym 😉

The key to staying in shape and maintaining it is to constantly change things up and challenge yourself. Without doing these two things, you will reach a plateau in your fitness or more than likely give up altogether.

TIP #5: Include More Vegetables And Fruit

I know it’s been a while, but do you remember what tip #1 was? I’ll give you a second to think of it.

Okay, the second is up! Tip #1 was to drink more water during your day. Well, what if I told you that you could EAT your water also?

Fruits and vegetables have high water content and could actually be even better for you than just straight drinking water from a bottle. 

You’re probably like, woah, what are you talking about?!

Well, we absorb the water from the water-rich fruit or vegetable more slowly when we eat it. It allows the water to stay in our bodies for longer, AND with additional benefits.

I know. 

Mind: Blown

Not only are you getting your water in, but you’re also on your way to a healthy lifestyle just by having a healthy diet in place. This is the best way to stay fit and healthy naturally!

But I know not everyone likes eating fruits and vegetables (especially vegetables) or quite frankly remembers to eat them on a daily basis.

An easy way to incorporate both fruits AND vegetables at the same time is to make a smoothie (come on, who doesn’t love a good smoothie?)! 

You can add in different vegetables into your smoothies, such as spinach and kale, without even tasting it! The only thing that might change is the color, but ever so slightly. 

I highly suggest getting in a smoothie each day if you find yourself forgetting to eat your fruits and vegetables!

Now, go ahead and add your frozen fruits, spinach, kale, celery, chia seeds, or whatever you want into your blender and blend that baby up to stay fit at home! 

TIP #6: Incorporate Self-Care Into Your Routine 

Okay, this has to be my absolute favorite tip out of all the tips I’m giving you today. 

Two words here, my friend.

SELF. CARE.

You’re probably wondering, how does this have anything to do with how to stay fit and healthy? 

Well, most would think this has to do with your physical health, which, yes, it will benefit you in that aspect.

But the main reason I put this one on here is that self-care helps to maintain a healthy relationship with YOURSELF and we can’t forget about how healthy relationships positively affect your health.

Self-care can help to aid stress and take time out of the day just for you, and only you. It’s going to make you feel and function so much better.

But people often omit this out of their daily routines.

Why?

Because we get stressed. We get tired of working all day. We think we don’t have enough time for it.

But if you make the time for it during your day, it will have so many benefits for you.

Here are some ways you can incorporate self-care into your daily routine!

1. Get more sleep! Have a set time where you will be in bed by so you can ensure you get at least 7 hours of sleep that night. You will increase your mood and energy levels just by doing this.
2. Read a book or write in a journal instead of going on your phone right before bed. Ever sit in bed and just scroll mindlessly through your phone for hours on end? I know we all do this, but the blue light from our phones prevents us from going to sleep. If you swap out your phone for a book or maybe a writing session in your journal, you can fall asleep much faster than you would be scrolling on your phone.
3. Find ways to ease your stress. It’s so easy to get caught up in the stress from your daily life activities (work, school, family, etc). If you find yourself getting stressed, try to find an activity that calms you such as exercising (tip #4) or taking a walk (tip #3)!

TIP #7: Make it a habit 

Okay, you’ve reached the LAST tip of the list on how to stay fit and healthy at home. And there’s a reason why tip #7 is what it is.

All of the previous tips won’t matter unless you do tip #7 as well, and that’s to make it a habit. 

It takes 22 days to create a habit for what you are doing. Once you can push yourself and get through those 22 days of implementing a new way of healthy living, it will be so much easier from there! 

I suggest tracking your progress during those 22 days to see how much your life has changed.

Now, these probably won’t be major, life-changing moments YET. But if you continuously implement these tips past the 22-day mark, you will notice a change in your overall quality of life!

The Takeaway

To stay fit and healthy from home is a lot easier than you might think! By implementing all of these tips into your life, you will be able to live a healthier and happier life! Which is our goal here right 😉