A wise employer once suggested that the best way to get a problem solved quickly was to turn to one’s laziest employee. By nature, that person would think of the quickest and usually simplest way to fix things.

Can the same thinking be applied to health and fitness? Are there ways to achieve health and fitness goals that don’t require “putting in the work,” and “giving it 110 per cent,” for those of us averse to 6 a.m. runs and “boot camp” workouts? Save with SPP sure hopes that’s the case, and took a look around to see what’s out there.

The PureWow blog on Yahoo! News offers some suggestions. “Just walk more,” the blog advises. “Walking is, like, the easiest exercise. It is also super simple to incorporate more of it into your day.” Park farther from where you’re going, get off the bus, LRT or subway a few stops earlier, or take the stairs instead of the elevator, the blog advises.

The blog also recommends “Deskercise,” little workouts that can be done while you’re working, giving yourself non-food incentives if you do manage to get to the gym, and to “do your chores.” A video on their site shows these workouts.

“Did you know that chasing your dog around burns 100 calories in 30 minutes? Don’t limit `exercise’ to what you do in a sweaty gym. Turn everyday tasks like grocery shopping or cooking into mini workouts by doing them a little faster. And hey, the sooner the kitchen’s clean, the sooner you can get back to Netflix,” the blog post advises.

Over at MSN, the Lifestyle Asia blog suggests some simple, non-workout weight loss tips.

Drinking half a litre of water before having a meal “can help in shedding those extra kilos,” the blog advises. More water makes your body burn calories more efficiently, the post continues, and the average person should consume 3.7 litres a day of water.

Sunshine helps us “soak up some Vitamin D,” the post continues. Some studies have suggested that those of us with lower levels of Vitamin D tend to be heavier, the article says.

Other lazy ideas include more sleep (an easy one for the lazy) and to “stay stress free,” through yoga and meditation.

Across the pond, The Mirror sees staying flexible as an easy path towards health.

Putting your hands behind your head “stretches muscles at the top of your back and the back of your upper arms which can help improve upper back posture and reduce shoulder inflammation,” the article notes. Other recommendations are gentle hamstring stretches, to “sway side to side” to relaxing music as you sit, and to do a simple “Sphinx” stretch while watching TV.

Finally, Rolling Stone magazine suggests simple home exercise with free weights, getting a yoga mat, and getting back into the schoolyard activity of skipping.

These are all good suggestions. The takeaway seems to be to avoid doing absolutely nothing at all to improve your health or diet. Start with one small new thing, make it a habit, and add more, and then away you go.

It’s just like saving for retirement. If you’ve got a Saskatchewan Pension Plan account, start small, and save amounts you can afford. Then make it regular, and then automatic (via direct deposits from your bank account), and watch your retirement savings grow!

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It’s inevitable that at the start of any new year, we sit back and make a mental list of things we can do to make our lives better.

Save with SPP had a look around to see what people are thinking about doing, resolution-wise, in 2022, excluding financial resolutions which we covered off in another post.

The Mirror notes that 46 per cent of U.K. men, and 51 per cent of the country’s women, have made a pledge to get fit in 2022. The newspaper suggests that eating “five fruit and veg a day,” as well as trying three new activities and cutting back on alcohol can help fitness goals.

Other top picks across the pond for resolutions were to be happy and to “stop being so hard on yourself,” The Mirror reports.

Closer to home, the Burnaby News offers up some environmental resolutions. “Learn something new about nature “and how to reduce harm to the environment and yourself,” the paper advises. Other tips – “spend more time with family and friends in nature,” and speaking up to help “promote environmental protection and social justice,” will help you and the world you live in, the News suggests.

Global News reports that a top resolution for Albertans is learning a musical instrument. “Music is really cool because it’s so multi-faceted,” James Zeck of the Lethbridge Music Academy tells Global News. “It’s a great way to sort of (intellectually) keep things fresh, it’s really good for your mind and your brain, but it’s also a great way to learn… personal accountability and diligence.”

Other top resolutions cited in the Global News story include “quitting smoking, getting finances in order… (and) spending more time with family.”

The Huffington Post, via Yahoo!, offers up some more, all framed in the suggestion that rather than focusing on resolutions to lose weight, resolutions should focus on steps to get you there.

These healthy resolution ideas include “stop assigning a moral value to your food,” as well as “move your body,” and “habit stacking.”

The food-focused resolution basically means that you shouldn’t beat yourself up if you slipped up and ordered a triple cheeseburger and a milkshake. But, the article points out, foods are not good or bad, and if you assign such moral values to food, you risk “conflating what you put in your mouth with your value as a person.”

“Habit stacking” refers to identifying good habits you have — and doing them more often.

“For example, you might decide to “meditate for just one minute while brewing your coffee,” the article states. “Do that until it becomes a daily habit, then you can stack on another one.”

Finally, the CTV tells us to not lose sight of the fact that any resolution is a directional hope rather than some sort of legalistic/moral contract.

“Resolutions help if we see them correctly,” Dr. Ganz Ferrance tells CTV. “If we see them as things we must hit otherwise we are failures, then they’re not. They’re just another tool for us to beat ourselves up with.”

So, putting this all together – if you set resolutions for 2022, pick things that are achievable steps to larger goals, rather than the harder-to-achieve large goals themselves. That way, your resolutions will lead to personal progress. As they stay, every long voyage begins with the first step.

A good example of “habit stacking” might be making contributions to your Saskatchewan Pension Plan account. If you are making the occasional contribution to your own retirement security, that’s great – but why not do it a little more often? Small amounts contributed today will add up to a bigger income when your future hands you your parking pass and makes that final commute home. Check out SPP today!

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