Being healthy is hard...

Do you ever have those moments when you're 10 months into the year and suddenly you realise you have achieved a grand total of 0 resolutions you swore to stick to back in January? Lose weight! Eat healthily! Lay off the McDonalds! Go for a run!

You catch a glance of yourself in the mirror and you’re greeted with all the unhealthy decisions you’ve made, knowing that you really should have taken more care, and the guilt and the gut aren’t a pretty sight to behold.

You guessed it! That happened to me. I realised I'm sick of not feeling like I have done anything productive with my year except drink untold amounts of wine and watch 200 episodes of Friends on repeat. I’m sick of feeling like a blue whale while standing next to my skinny minnie friends that can eat the entire contents of the Earth and end up losing weight.

(I know I shouldn’t compare myself to others but in this day and age it’s impossible not to, so I’m going to do it and nothing can stop me.)

I know that my weight now isn’t what I am destined to be my whole life. I have always had this feeling that one day in the future I will be thin and I will be fit. That time could be now if I just get my f***ing arse in gear.

It's easy to say to yourself "I'm going to do it this time" come 1^st January, but it's even easier to give up after day 4. We're used to our habits… which is why they are habits, and breaking out of them takes dedication and will power. The exact two things I seem to severely lack. Go figure!

The truth is, it's bloody hard. It’s hard to change your whole lifestyle because you have never had to do it before. You don’t realise how much work goes into it, not just getting on a treadmill and swapping a cake for a salad, but the mental workouts you go through too.

Sometimes I'm good at self discipline, depriving myself of a slice of cake because I know it's naughty. But then I feel like I need to reward myself for my efforts and end up eating an entire pizza. I'm not sure that's what they mean by 'balanced diet'.

But then what is my reward? I can be dieting for a while and not notice a difference, so I need a reason to keep going. I need that motivation and if a Victoria sponge becomes that motivation then so be it!

My issue is that I am all or nothing. My all is my strength because I give it everything I can and that alone makes me feel good, but then once I realise that I don’t feel like I have achieved anything, it turns into “what’s the point?” and then the ‘nothing’ takes over.

It comes down to goals. If you don’t have anything to aim for then what are you doing? You’re just running around aimlessly in the dark with no idea what direction to take, like you’ve skipped the tutorial and from here on out its just guess work.

You need to set yourself small goals on the road to a big goal. You can’t just start at the bottom and then jump straight to the top of a ladder; you have to take each step one-by-one. Reaching each of these steps becomes the reward you need to keep going.

It comes down to planning. A goal without a plan is just a dream. (And oh what a dream it is. Imagine being able to walk down the beach... in a bikini... confidently! And to not have to hide your stomach rolls every time you sit on a chair. Or not cry inside when you eat something that doesn't taste like leaves because you know you've probably just put on a stone.)

  

I've decided that there are 3 things you need to ask yourself in order to come up with said plan;

1. What are your dreams?

2. What goals are you setting?

3. How are you going to achieve them?

This way you can really lay it all out and look at how is best to achieve what you want.

Everyone’s plans will be different, so you need to find the way that works best for you.

My big goal is to drop 1 dress size. 

Along with doing the basics, eating right and exercising more, my first small goal is to run a 5k.

The plan so far:

·        I’m going to use this website to help me with my route planning because I’m terrible with measurements, I have no idea what 5k looks like on a map! This way I can change it up when necessary and I can plan a route from wherever I am in the world.

·        I’ll need to research some energising food / drink to consume before I attempt my first run to keep me going.

·        Make sure I have the right running gear; trainers, sportswear, a bomb ass playlist to listen to, etc etc

Week 1 -2	Week 3 - 4	Week 5 -6	Week 7 - 8
Run 2.5k  - Sunday, Wednesday & Saturday	Run 3k - Sunday, Wenesday  & Saturday	Run 4k - Sunday & Wednesday	Run 5k -Sunday & Wednesday

 

So, there we go. It’s as easy as that. It may not be the world’s most elaborate plan but I think it will suffice for now. It may work and it may not but there is only one way to find out.

Right I’m off for a rum... I mean run!