My 3 Best Tips to Balance a Healthy Lifestyle and a Social Life
You can’t be healthy and have social life. Once you decide to get in shape, drop a few pounds, or physically prepare for an event, you should tell your friends and family you won’t be seeing them for awhile. No happy hours. No shared meals. No festivals. Just you alone, crying into your protein shake and questioning if butter is a carb.
Okay, just kidding.
Altering your regular social life to suit your fitness goals, while definitely a first world problem, is still a real concern of many of my clients. As a personal trainer in San Francisco, I know how hard it can be to keep living your life and doing awesome things while still trying to take care of your body. When so many social events revolve around food, booze, and generally being a blob, how do you still get to hang out with the people you love and meet your goals? Don’t worry, there’s totally hope for you! Stop crying into that shaker bottle and keep reading!
Here are my 3 best tips on how you can balance having a social life and living a healthy lifestyle:
Tip #1: Get Creative
I spend long hours in the gym working, but I’m also lucky enough to know a lot of really fucking awesome people. I want to see them all, stay healthy, and still have time to chill out.
So I started throwing house parties and inviting all the great peeps I know to come hang out on a "come as you are, when you can, leave when you want" basis.
I am really proud of my most recent event, my Smoothies and Bubbles Brunch. For some inexplicable reason, my roommate’s dad buys her a new blender every year. Seemed weird at first, but now I just think it’s awesome. Why not put all those appliances to good use? I invited a bunch of clients, friends, and their significant others to come Blend and Chill at my place one Saturday morning. I bought a ton of ingredients, like fresh fruit,, trail mix, cereals, green veggies, and whatever was in the house that would blend like protein powder and nut butters. I threw all the random bottles of champagne in my apartment on ice, and printed out interesting smoothie recipes to test out.
I figured people would tell me what they wanted in their smoothie and I would make if for them.
That’s not how it went.
Before I knew it, people were collaborating in teams to make smoothies. Everyone wanted to create their own thing. It suddenly became an interactive way to eat, plus it was all healthy ingredients, so no guilt involved!
"DRINK YOUR SMOOTHIE!" I commanded my friends!
Scroll down to the bottom to see the winning smoothie recipes.
Getting creative and trying a new way to hang out with people really paid off. I was able to see a bunch of my friends and introduce them to other cool people, I didn’t have to commute anywhere, I got to eat lots of fruits and veggies, and all for what it would have cost me to pay for a brunch at a restaurant.
Want other tips on how to stay healthy especially if you're in a relationship? Check out Self Magazine's article here: http://www.self.com/story/eat-right-with-others
Tip #2: Bring People Together
In the past, I had some weird idea that I should keep all my groups of friends separate. I don’t know where that stupid idea came from, but out the window with it! Now I invite everyone to anything I think they might enjoy. I realized awhile back that if I know all these cool people, why don’t I let them know each other too? Spread the awesome!
Inviting people from all the different corners of my life means I get to see more of the people I love, and that I don’t have to sacrifice any of my healthy habits. It might be awkward if you go out to happy hour with one person or one group of people that are used to you drinking or eating super nachos, but when you’re so wrapped up in talking to lots of different people and letting them enjoy eachother’s company, your eating habits aren’t going to draw any attention and everyone can focus on having a good time.
You can find out about my upcoming events by following me on Instagram @barbellblondiehttps://www.instagram.com/barbellblondie/ or Liking my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/barbellblondie/ because that would make me feel very popular!
Tip #3 Take the Lead
You want your friends to embrace your healthy lifestyle? Why not include them in it!? Sign up for a fitness class, a healthy cooking lesson, or even schedule a hike, and then invite people to join in. If others join you, the more the merrier, but if you’re on your own, at least you did something fun and healthy with your time!
I like leading free bootcamps and inviting clients that I haven’t gotten to catch up with in awhile, or meeting my friends at dance class. Try posting or texting that you’ll be starting a run/stairclimb/Frisbee session, when and where you’ll be, and ask others to join, no pressure. Keep asking even if it doesn’t catch on right away, and soon you’ll have a small army of friends who enjoy getting their move on with you. Grab a healthy meal or a protein shake afterwards for bonus social time!
A great workout that anyone can do at their own pace? Spin classes! Nobody knows how hard you're really going, and you can sit next to each other! Try out a Soul Cycle class here: https://www.soul-cycle.com/
See? Being healthy doesn't mean you're going to die alone surrounded by sweaty gym clothes and protein bars! But of course if that's your thing, do you.
More ideas of how to be healthy and still hangout? Comment below and share this article to help out others.
Winning Smoothie Recipes:
Chocolate Avocado Pudding Smoothie:
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 avocado
1 tablespoon cacao powder or hot chocolate
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 scoop vanilla protein
1 dash of sea salt
1 cup kale
1/4 cup coconut shreds
Key Lemon or Lime Pie Smoothie
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 avocado
1 lemon or lime, peeled
zest of 1 lemon or lime
1/2 cup spinach
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
a dash of sea salt
honey to sweeten
A 1/2 waffle to garnish!
Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie:
2 cups strawberries
1 gluten free waffle
1 1/2 cups each coconut milk and ice
sweetener of your choice
whipped cream and strawberries to garnish
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