After my holiday to Mexico nearly 2 weeks ago now, my diet and my exercise routine has been so bad. I don't like to talk about this but every now and then I suffer from bad anxiety attacks and It has been about a year since I got my anxiety really bad and last week I was getting very down and so on because begin far away is not easy at all.
So I felt completely off. If you follow me on snapchat you could see most of my meals were good but on top of that it was the full bars of dark chocolate 2 pizzas within 7 days. Some madeira cake my mother in law brought with a lot of caramel sauce ( A special one I brought from Mexico) on top. Also chips, wine and popcorn on Friday night.
I think I put on more weight this week that on my whole 2 weeks at home where I was over eating and drinking too much... But anyway let's forget about that sob by story and lets get back on the game!
What works for me?:
Before going home I was training 6 times a week. I was doing 3 days of heavy weight lifting, 3 days of intense cardio and an abs workout every one of those days. My diet was on point and felt better than ever:
And coming back to Ireland, there was no way in earth I could go back to that intense training straight away! I have to prepare mentally and slowly get back into it.
First of all I need to write down the things I want to get done in a weekly basis:
1. Drink plenty of water
2. Drink 2 or 3 herbal teas a day
3. Drink vitamin C and my probiotics (yes I constantly forget this even if it is small)
4. Plan my gym routine
5. Don't have a sugary snack before bed
6. Don't eat kids leftover foods in between meals or pick food: As a mother is so easy to give my boys snacks and have a bite or eat the leftover toast. But this calories add up and believe me or not this bad habit is one of the worst habit that sabotages for mothers who want to lose a bit of fat
7. Walk my dog everyday
8. Homemade cheat meal every week. Take away only once a month
But all above to me it is impossible to do at once. I have to take my time to get the motivation and get around do what I have to do. So here is what works for me to get to do all the stuff that is on my list:
1. I start by getting to drink water. I fill up a bottle in the morning but I am under no pressure to finish certain amount just starting to get the habit to fill my bottle every morning. By week two, I'd aim to drink the whole bottle and by week 3 I should be drink in my 2 litres a day
2. For me the herbal teas aren't hard to drink as I am used to have a cup after my lunch with a square of dark chocolate and I cannot go to bed without my chamomile tea as it really helps me relax as it has calming properties.
3. Taking my supplements, as easy as it sounds, I always forget, and when I remember I'm at the point or either doing something like chopping up veggies or resting and at both points I say to myself: "i'll do it later" or "there is no chance I'm getting up" so for this what it works for me is to set up an alarm on my phone at 11 in the morning and no matter what getting up and taking them!
4. Planing my gym routine really helps me to go and get it done. If you decide to go workout tomorrow but have no plan, then the tomorrow comes and you are like what? What am I doing? and you have no structure of what to do and you either end up giving up and not going or you go and walk a few minutes in the treadmill and maybe step up on a machine or 2 and then go home, you do this half hearted routines, then you weigh yourself and nothing has changed! This is why we need to plan the routine, plan your cardio, your weights, your classes and push yourselves in each one them to see results. This is why I plan, I write them down and then without thinking just go and get it done! Since I came back from Mexico I didn't work out the first week (not bothered, just getting my head around taking up the routine). The second week I went only 3 days. And this week Im aiming to complete 4 days. And from the next week on will go back to my 5-6 day routine. (This is just me loving exercising but 3 days a week is enough to maintain good health and weight)
5.. I think the sugary snacks are so hard for all of us. You know yourself kids are in bed, you haven't had a chance to sit down all day is peace and quiet, you want to chat up with the husband or any other member of your family that is over 12 years old and the first thing the body wants is a nice cup of tea with a treat! Uff the most difficult time of the day to me. What it works for me in this point is to always leave room for a night time snack so either I have some of my healthy treats prepared of have a handful of almonds but always have something! Otherwise you are there going crazy and end up eating more than you should! so plan the snack, have it and enjoy it!
6. Eating the kids leftovers is hard but it is something that once I start I can't stop myself from having a bite of their toast or eating their leftover couscous. Stopping you from picking foods all day can save you A LOT of calories so if you constantly pick at foods through the day and you want to see progress you have to be more conscious of this!
7. Getting into a routine to walk my dog is not very easy but once I do it I keep it up for a while. The weather is a huge factor as there is no way I would walk out in the rain (as a proper Mexican woman I am I prefer 40 degrees than rain, lol) but this is something we should all do for our pets. They need to be walked to keep their weight balanced as much as we do. Pets that are not walked have a lot health issues down the line and if you see the positive way you burn extra calories and you clear your mind with the extra fresh air. If you don't have a pet try to squeeze a few walks a week whenever you can.
8. Homemade cheat meals are just as tasty or tastier than a take away and you have no idea how many calories you save by cooking at home with less oil, with high quality ingredients etc! A homemade burger, made with low fat mince and grilled, has about half the calories of a burger which probably contains cheap high fat meat and is probably deep fried with re-used poor quality oil. So try to get into a habit to cook your own meals and leave space for one or 2 take aways a month.
So, saying all this, do it slowly, do it step by step, don't expect to turn into a healthy freak in 24 hours!
In my opinion and my personal case takes time, take small steps and have a notebook and a pen at hand all the time. Yes, as silly as it sounds writing down everything is an old tradition used a lot in meditation that is proved to help you plan and move forward with your plans and things you want to get rid of, such as: anxiety, stress, worry, people etc! So use it! Write down your feelings, write down your meals, write how you feel after eating them! This might help you to realise how certain foods make you feel bad, therefore you might not eat them next time!
Be kind to yourself and do the changes for you! for your health! for how you want to feel! If you do it to look like certain person on Instagram you are just setting yourself up for failure! Get it done for YOU, to avoid doctors, to feel good, to increase bone mass, not to look "skinny".
Hope this helps someone out there who's trying to make positive changes to their lifestyle. If you have any questions you know where to get me!
Love you all, UWalsh
