17 small ways to improve your health in the next 100 days

2012: Tú, only better

Depending on how you look at it, 100 days may or may not seem like a long time. Either way, the time will pass you by no matter what you’re doing. Why not be healthier at the end of it? Here are 17 small ways you can achieve it.

1. Losing a pound of fat requires burning 3500 calories. If you reduce your caloric intake by 175 calories a day for the next 100 days, you’ll have lost 5 pounds in the next 100 days.

2. For the next 100 days, eat five servings of vegetables every day.

3. the next 100 days, eat three servings of fruit of every day.

4. Choose one food that constantly sabotages your efforts to eat healthier—whether it’s the decadent cheesecake from the bakery around the corner, deep-dish pizza, or your favorite potato chips—and go cold turkey for the next 100 days.

5. For the next 100 days, eat from a smaller plate to help control portion size.

6. For the next 100 days, buy 100% natural juices instead of the kind with added sugar and preservatives.

7. For the next 100 days, instead of carbonated drinks, drink water.

8. Create a list of 10 healthy, easy to fix breakfast meals.

9.  Create a list of 20 healthy, easy to fix meals which can be eaten for lunch or dinner.

10. Create a list of 10 healthy, easy to fix snacks.

11. Use your lists of healthy breakfast meals, lunches, dinners, and snacks in order to plan out your meals for the week ahead of time. Do this for the next 14 weeks.

12. For the next 100 days, keep a food log. This will help you to identify where you’re deviating from your planned menu, and where you’re consuming extra calories.

13. For the next 100 days, get at least twenty minutes of daily exercise.

14. Wear a pedometer and walk 10,000 steps, every day, for the next 100 days. Every step you take during the day counts toward the 10,000 steps:

• When you walk to your car.
• When you walk from your desk to the bathroom.
• When you walk over to talk to a co-worker, and so on.

15. Set up a weight chart and post it up in your bathroom. Every week for the next 14 weeks, keep track of the following:

• Your weight.
• Your percentage of body fat.
• Your waist circumference.

16. For the next 100 days, set your watch to beep once an hour, or set up a computer reminder, to make sure that you drink water on a regular basis throughout the day.

17. For the next 100 days, make it a daily ritual to mediate, breath, or visualize every day in order to calm your mind.

Visit Lifehack for more ways you can improve your life in 100 days.