Must Haves to Starting a Healthy Lifestyle

Hi friends!

People are always asking me questions on how to get started on a healthy lifestyle and I love giving recommendations. These are things that I use daily to keep me on track. I hope they help you! Thank you for trusting my recommendations.

This post contains affiliate links.

DIGITAL FOOD SCALE
I use this to weigh my good to make sure I keep proper portion control. You can actually hold body fat by under eating or over eating. I typically eat 4-5 oz of meat (weigh after cooked) and use my food scale to make sure I’m on point. Also, I weigh out 1 ounce of healthy fats once or twice per day, like avocado or nuts. I use measuring cups to measure most of my carbs. For example, 1/2 to 3/4 cup of rice at a meal. I love weighing my food because I know I can eat everything on my plate.

I have had good luck with the Taylor brand food scales.
Glass top kitchen scale
More here!

Measuring cups

HEART RATE MONITOR
I have used heart rate monitors for years to track my fat burning zone. It’s important that you are in your fat burning zone during steady state cardio to make sure you are (duh) burning fat. Here is the formula:

220 – your age = a number. Multiply that number by .70 and .80 and that gives you the range of your fat burning zone.

For example:
220 – age 34 = 186
186 x .70 = 130
186 x .80 = 148
Fat burning zone: 130-148

I used the MIO brand watch for years but then switched to a Fitbit because it seems more accurate. My next brand to try is the Polar.
MIO – $30-40
Fitbit Blaze – $174
Polar FT60 – $160

WATER CUP
My daily goal for water intake is 1 gallon a day. Did you know that drinking more water can actually help you have less water retention and bloat? It works like a charm. I use my Yeti and Artic cups daily to keep me on track. One gallon is 128 oz so track that water, y’all! I love drinking cold water so I love these cups because they keep my water ice cold all day.

My faves:
Yeti in sea foam or pink
Artic in pink or teal

JOURNAL
It’s important that you track your progress each workout session. Choose a journal of your choice to track your workouts. I like small spiral notebooks that will fit in my gym bag. I track my weights weekly and try to increase my weight every 2 weeks or so. You’ll notice below that I list the weight I lift, followed by the repetitions and number of sets.

“20” represents 20 pound dumbbells or the weight on the machine.

Here are some cute workout journals:
Fitness Logbook
Mini notebook

Passion Planner is one of my faves to track my daily “to do’s” and my food. Check it out here!

MEAL REPLACEMENTS
To increase your metabolism, I coach my clients to eat every 3 hours, 5 meals a day. I realize that’s a lot of meal prep so I have a product line that I love and use daily called Isagenix. It’s all-natural, with no soy, no artificial sweeteners (like sucralose), gluten-free and they have dairy-free plant based options.

I drink 2 shakes a day and sometimes eat a bar (these are full meals). That’s only 2-3 meals I need to come up with on my own daily. So easy! Plus, the shakes and bars are so affordable, just $3 a meal. That’s cheaper than meal prepping and especially going out to eat. To get the wholesale discount like I do, click HERE and click “sign up and save.” I also have a special private Facebook group for my Isa-Family!

I recommend the shakes in chocolate or chocolate mint. The bars in chocolate decadence and lemon crunch are my faves!

IsaLean Shakes

IsaLean bars

TRAINING SHOES
I typically workout five days a week. I usually lift weights for 30 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of cardio. I like training shoes that are light weight and comfortable. Here are some of my favorites!

Nike Tanjun
Nike Free rn Flyknit