Welcome to your new decade.

I’m writing this on New Years day, and I can’t actually remember what day it is! I know it’s the 1st though.

I’m just going to kick off this post by saying, if you can do one thing for yourself, be kind to yourself. It really breaks my heart to see and hear so many people on social media asking ‘whats the best workout DVD, how do I lose weight quickly, whats the best diet to go on’. Be kind to yourself. I will be the first one to put my hand up and say yup, I have been a complete chocolate monster, but I have been balancing it out by getting out and running 5k every day.

Let’s try to reframe how we think about eating. One day of scooby snacking is not going to make anyone pile on weight. 5 days of going for it with take away meal and food dense with calories, well maybe thats a different story. One day of eating healthy will not make anyone magically transform overnight. 5 days of eating less and moving more, well that may make a difference!

As with anything in life, its consistency. If you have something you want to achieve, chipping away at it every day WILL make a huge difference.

For me, its deciding whats on the list of things to achieve. Losing weight is losing weight, but why do you want to do it? Is it just for a holiday or a function to attend? If so, what happens after the event? For me, a big issue for me has been overeating since I started going through the menopause, and the fact that when I walk to work from Central Station, I pass 3 branches of Greggs and a one Pret. Oh the lure of a bacon roll and a latte. Its not easy to walk past!! For me, my health and fitness is important as osteoporosis runs in the female line of my family and I want to do my very best to keep it at bay. A crumbling spine is not something I want for myself, or anyone else, which I why I will do my very very best to encourage people to get as much diverse movement into their day. Love your spine, and it will love you back.

A client of mine recently put herself on an 8 week challenge, which she made up herself, consisting of what she called a ‘sweaty 30 mins’ every day, which she made up herself and did at the gym, then batch cooking healthy food, and sometimes getting ready meals from Aldi (for the win!), who have their own brand of slimming and plant based meals to get stuck into. She has really inspired me, as she looks absolutely amazing and feels so happy for having done it.

If you were going to make up an 8 week challenge for yourself, what would it look like? What could you realistically fit into every day to really chip away at having great health?

This is just a short post for this week but let me bullet point some points for us.

Be kind to yourself

Don’t beat yourself up for overeating on one day.

Don’t think that starving yourself is the answer to anything.

Consistency with anything is the key.

Don’t get conned into buying workout plans or healthy eating plans online. A good friend of mine recently pointed out someone who sells a particular brand of a 30 day plan, but has glorified how much she has overeaten over the festive period and how much her stomach aches from it, but oh yes spend £170.00 with me and I’ll make it all better. Please don’t be fooled into spending money where you don’t need to. Shakes are not always the answer.

Be kind to yourself.