So, you've been focused on your career, dedicating hours and years of your life to achieving success. Now you are at or near a level that you can be proud of. The only problem is, you haven't had any time to take care of yourself along the way. You sacrificed your health for your career. Now you're looking back and wondering what in the world happened?

The good news is that the damage is not irreversible. It may take some time and definitely will take some hard work, but you can master your health. Many people think that it takes hours in the gym and an extremely strict diet in order to reset your body. You really only need 30 to 45 minutes of daily exercise and some discipline when it comes to eating. More than anything it requires some planning and great time management.  

That can’t be all there is to it right? Truly it is. Your body is a very sophisticated machine but it’s simple to manipulate. The trick is finding out what your body likes and what it doesn’t. For some, dairy doesn’t work, others it’s grains, but one thing that no one’s body needs is sugar. If you can eliminate 90% of your sugar intake and all the processed foods from your diet, YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT. If you focus mainly protein and vegetable intake, minimize grains and maximize fiber, it’s very difficult to overeat. Not to mention you’ll flood your system with nutrients crucial to fighting disease and fueling your system. 

Exercise is another crucial component of great health. Whether your goal is to lose weight or not, you must exercise. It helps reduce stress hormones in the body, improves immune system strength and prevents hundreds of diseases. For women, weight bearing exercise is even more crucial as it helps to prevent bone density loss.

Ok that’s all great but I’m a very busy professional with zero spare time…….

You will have to take a good look at your schedule. What tasks can you combine? Which can you eliminate? Where are the spare pockets of time that could be better used? My suggestion would be to look at the hours between 6-8am, 11-1pm, 6-10pm. Chances are good that there is an hour or 2 in there that you could re-purpose for planning meals or exercise. Maybe you catch up on emails while warming up on the bike or treadmill? Maybe you order your groceries online at lunch for pickup on the way home?

There are thousands of ways to find the time to care for yourself, see how many minutes you can find tomorrow. I’d love to hear how you’ve been able to restructure your time to make yourself a priority. Once you master your health, you will absolutely have it all!