Here are 5 steps that will help you maintain good health. Following these rules will help you look better, feel good, and live a better life overall.

5 Steps to Maintain Good Health

1. Exercise and remain moderately active

2. Eat a Proper Diet

3. Avoid smoking and drug abuse

4. Practice stress management

5. Practice self-care

By practicing these 5 simple steps, you will maintain the quality of life you deserve.

If you work a graveyard shift, finding time to eat and workout can be a challenge. Fortunately, you can maintain good eating habits even if you work an unconventional schedule. The key is to create a detailed schedule and maintain good basic eating habits. 

Regardless of when you eat, consuming healthy calories and enough calories is vital.  Try planning your meals and packing healthy snacks.  You should eat your meals as usual on your assigned lunch time and your snacks during your breaks. Regardless, always avoid eating at fast food restaurants unless the items you buy are on the low-fat menu.

Deciding when to workout can also be a challenge. Listen to your body and it will indicate when it's the best time to exercise.  Your routines are more effective if you are rested. A good time to workout might be when you wake up or after work. Join a 24-hour gym or put together a small home gym to save you additional time. 

Working an odd shift can present problems, but with proper planning you can still have a fantastic body.  Avoid letting your work schedule become an excuse to not workout and eat right.  It doesn't matter when but how you eat and exercise.

Many individuals trying to lose weight wonder if they can drink alcoholic beverages. Although it's best not to drink alcohol, moderation is the key. Drinking daily or more than a few times a week will definitely hinder your efforts, but an occasional drink with friends on the weekend is not going make a huge difference in your results.

Drinking excess alcohol harms weight loss efforts in several ways. When you drink, you are consuming additional calories. There are seven calories in every gram of alcohol. A single glass of white wine or an ounce and a half of hard liquor contains about 90 calories; a regular beer contains 150 (a light beer contains about 110). If you drink hard liquor with a mixer, such as fruit juice or tonic water, the calorie count doubles. A martini contains 210 calories while a Piña Colada can have over  300 calories.

When you're trying to lose weight, excessive alcohol works against you. The additional calories don't provide any nutritional benefits. Alcohol also slows the process by which your body burns fat. The alcohol calories you consume aren't stored. Instead, they're converted to acetate, a type of fuel that the body burns quickly. As a result, you burn off your alcohol calories before you burn fat.

If you plan on having an occasional drink with friends, you should be fine. If you make drinking a habit, you will have trouble losing weight and maintaining a healthy body, along with other health problems. The key is to have fun but do it in moderation.

The key to reaching any fitness goal is sticking with your plan. Many individuals start the New Year with intentions of losing weight. Unfortunately, many people never complete the task. Sculpting your body requires setting a goal, planning, and executing. Don’t let another year pass without reaching your goals.