I have really been enjoying making a bunch of lifestyle changes so I can be fitter and healthier. I am exercising regularly, meeting and beating my 10,000 steps a day goals almost every day and I have lost a small amount of my body fat percentage, but OMG there is so much room for improvement! I’ve been thinking about the things I am not really nailing right now and how I can do a bit better. And when I say a ‘bit’ better, I really kind of mean that. I want to hold myself to account, but I don’t believe in extremes. I don’t think I could sustain that so I hope to take bite sized chunks at a time, because I want the changes I’m making to become real habits and not just a passing phase. I tend to burn out too quickly if I go too hard too early (I’ve learnt this from numerous experiences in the past so I am trying to pace myself). I feel I’ve reached a little bit of an impasse and I know I need to get my butt in gear and up the ante a little. I’m starting to feel bloated and slow again and I do NOT like this feeling now that I’ve had a taste of the good-for-me life!
Here are the things I want to improve on – starting now!
Nutrition
I have made some minor changes. But I’ll admit I have a looooooooong way to go. For example, I do not crave potato as much as I used to. In fact… *gasp*… I even find it a bit stodgy now and prefer cauliflower. It’s not so starchy, has less carbs and not so many calories. It’s also full of all the right flavours and textures to stop my cravings. A definite win for this spud fanatic!
However…
I have a new obsession with chocolate brownies. And sometimes I eat too much for lunch. And I keep buying little ‘treats’ at the shops, telling myself I’m just gonna eat them to ‘get them out of the house’…but then I go and buy them again. Repeat the cycle and really, we’re achieving sweet F A. Oh gosh, I am ridiculous.
Lately I’ve been procrastinating. Oh, I’ll eat better tomorrow. Or I’ll eat better starting Monday. You know the drill. We’ve all been there, right?
I don’t know if it’s the cold weather or my usual lack of resolve, but I know I need to do better!
I have bought myself some low carb brownie bars from the supermarket for when I have super bad brownie cravings. I am sure they’ll taste nothing like brownies and will be tiny (because correct portion sizes – hello). But they’ll be better than nothing when I am desperate. I am going to just point blank stop buying junk. If I don’t buy it, I won’t have any at home. I think I have a higher chance of stopping myself from buying the stuff than I do of not eating it once it’s in my cupboard/fridge. I gotta stop myself at the source!!
If I can’t stop myself from baking (it’s an addiction – a form of therapy for me), then I will give the stuff away (hey if I make everyone else plumper I will look smaller in comparison hahaha)!
This week, I ordered my groceries online. No impulse shopping. No face to face temptation. Healthy meals all planned and accounted for. Not to mention it helps with budgeting. I must do this more often.
Upper body
I’ve noticed some positive changes in my body. I feel stronger. I’ve lost some lower back fat and my butt looks a bit perkier (at least visually I feel there’s more shape and definition). I use the treadmill a lot. I’m great at walking. I’ve tried some good leg work outs. I just think I need to do more with my arms and my upper back muscles. I’d love to trim up and lose some fat in the ‘back of my bra’ area. As you can see, I did not excel at human biology, but I hope you know the bits I mean.
I’m going to try and do some more all over body type work outs. I have a Michelle Bridges DVD that involves a lot of push up type exercises (I tried it for the first time in forever yesterday – on my hard tile floor – and it wasn’t pretty) and I do love me some Fitness Marshall hip hop. I think I’ll search out some more good stuff to try. As much as I hate exercises that get me down on the floor, I think I should try a bit harder.
I keep joking that Mr Unprepared should get me a boxing bag for when I’m feeling angry, but maybe it’s not such a bad idea!
Drink more water
There are so many health benefits from drinking water. I know I need to do this more. My skin needs it for a start! Since I’ve started sweating a lot of stuff out, my skin started off with a great glow, but now it’s getting dry. I find I’m either full of zits and teenaged style break outs (my skin trying to compensate for the lack of hydration I think) or I just look old and flaky. Attractive.
That’s one of the shallower reasons to drink more water, anyhow. I do take dry skin as a symptom that the rest of my body needs it.
I am not sure how I can encourage myself to improve, other than to maybe start tracking my water intake on my fitbit app.
Setting small goals
I have some bigger goals in mind – getting to a healthy BMI, reaching 25% body fat, fitting more comfortably into my current dress size (12) and then dropping to a comfortable size 10 (a realistic goal at this point – although being a size 8 would be entirely ideal for my naturally small frame I do feel those days might be past me at this point – never say never).
But…I think perhaps having small events to look forward to might help. Like training for a fun run or even wanting to feel and look a bit better for upcoming social engagements. Things that can feel like a reward in themselves and encourage me to push a bit more. I’m not quite sure what I’ll do yet, but I will keep you posted when I figure out what will work for me.
Increase incidental exercise opportunities
I would love to get my incidental step count up, so that my work outs are just the awesome icing on the cake. If I’m not trying at all and it’s a normal day at home (i.e. much like the past week where the Little Mister has been at home sick a lot and we haven’t got out much), I average about 6000 steps incidentally doing housework and just walking around the house doing stuff (and that’s on a good day). I think I need to up my game. Do more housework (haha)? Stand up more often? Go for more walks? Dance in the kitchen? Any suggestions? I’m talking about the days when I can’t really get out of the house.
—
So those are the areas I want to work on. I have some ideas of where to start, but I’d love any of your suggestions. I haven’t really got many solid goals yet and I know that having specific, achievable goals is important.
What works for you? What do you need to work on? Got any suggestions for me to help me improve?
