Fear not, it’s not quite January! However, tomorrow I’ll have completed another trip around the sun, so now is as good a time as any to set some new year’s resolutions.
I’m not one for setting goals on 1st Jan anymore, mostly because it’s bollocks and I’ve never managed to achieve goals that I start on that date. Twelve weeks ago, I decided to set myself a challenge that ends on my birthday, and while initially my main aim was weight loss, as it turns out I’m pretty much exactly the same weight I was 12 weeks ago 😆. That said, I have achieved a lot more than expected. Here was the challenge:
– 4 training sessions a week
– daily movement (even just a walk)
– drink more water
– get to bed by 22:00
– maintain good nutritional habits.
My biggest achievement has been the training sessions. Bar a week that I was ill for a few days, I’ve managed to maintain this for twelve weeks. I’ve done a combination of gym sessions, HIIT, yoga and walks, and I feel so much better for it. Work has been pretty stressful of late, and exercise has made all the difference.
Mostly I get to bed around 22:00, and overall sleep has been better. I have some great days and less great days in terms of drinking enough water and while I’ve been cooking my own food much more, I have periods of eating too much sugar too, and that’s the main reason I’ve stayed the same weight. Some of that will be muscle gain and fat loss, but really this is where I need to focus next. Overall movement is lacking too, as I don’t include the gym in that.
So what’s the plan now? Well, I’m going to start another twelve week challenge – basically the same one but focusing on nutrition (no sugar for me) and more general movement. I love the gym and exercising again so it’s just a case of keeping that going. Sleep is mostly good and I’ll work on the hydration too.
It’s a funny thing but every year I make a birthday, or whenever a new year rolls around I usually have feelings of guilt and disappointment that I’ve not done better on the health & fitness front, but I don’t feel that this year. I’ve started some good habits and I just need to maintain and improve them, and the rest will take care of itself. I feel good about myself, I’m happy and looking forward to the next year of life 🥳
I have a bit of a target in my head that I want to aim for in 12 months time, but I’m relaxing the pressure on that by just sticking to the plan to consolidate the basics, then I’ll take stock and refocus again in February and set my laser sights on my main goal 💪🏼😃☺️
lee the pea 
Great ideas here!
Thank-you! 😃
Excellent effort Pea!
On the nutrition front, our strategy, which has been unbelivably successfull, is to create a menu each week, and write it on a slate menu board hung in the kitchen…. we then shop specifically for that menu, and buy nothing else…. we add snacks, but healthy ones, in our case easy peel oranges, rice cakes etc, and the material for decent lunches, and very intentionally don’t buy crisps, chocolates etc….
Took a bit of willpower initially, but once we’d got into the swing of it, we started getting more and more adventurous with the meals we chose (Note: doesn’t equate with time consuming to prep and cook), and started to really enjoy trying new flavours, combinations and ideas….. and it became a pleasure rather than a chore to cook them!
Stick with your efforts…. you’re doing great, and we’re all very proud of you!
Thanks Magna 😃. I like the idea of a slate board! I aim to do similar on a weekend and batch cook for the week, or at least lunches for the week I can stick in the freezer and a couple of dinners, then I cook another couple through the week. My issue is buying cakes or biscuits at work 👀🙈 which undoes the good work with lunches! So working on that, ha. The lovely LuLu sent me a new cookbook today which looks fabulous, so I’m looking forward to making some recipes from it as I tend to make the same stuff a lot. As you say, cooking can be good once you get into it.
Thanks for your support XX