Focus on today and tomorrow is sorted

My daily "snack": blueberries and raspberries from Co-Op, screens and keyboard are optional extras.

Before we get into workouts, and recipe talk, I want you to stop and take a look at what you're doing right now in your life.

How do you feel? Be honest with yourself! Do you feel like you have high energy levels on a daily basis? Or do you feel drained simply going to work and commuting daily with little time to cook let alone exercise? These things all start from somewhere so let's take a closer look.

The basics of healthy lifestyle come from 3 main things: Sleep, Water and Meals. For me these are still a work in progress but below I talk about each of them and give you tips to make small but lasting changes. It's a bit of a long post but forms the foundation of building a health life. If you have any questions at all please leave a comment below :)

SLEEP:

As an ideal you need between 6 and 8 hours. You may be able to get away with less to function or you may need more to feel human. It's a personal thing and what works for you may send another person crazy. The main thing is to look at how much sleep you get on a daily basis and look at how you feel. Are you able to concentrate on your day or do you feel sluggish? Decide how much you need and then build it into your routine.  Factors such as work, social commitments, family and childcare will obviously need to be accounted for especially if they cannot be changed. Try observing your sleep for a week and note down how you feel on a scale of 1 to 10. 

Once you work out how many hours you need - look at creating a routine. Set yourself a bedtime and wake up time. For the first few weeks this may mean setting an alarm so that you wake up at your ideal time. Eventually you will be in the habit of waking at the same time each day. To begin with falling asleep may be tough but stick with it and don't give up. Try not to look at your phone or the TV for at least 30mins before bed. Create a bedtime routine that doesn't involve any high energy activities. Things to try include: read a book, take a hot shower, listen to your favourite music and so on. Try to make going to bed early fun and easier and your body will thank you.

Once you sort your sleep routine you'll find that eating right and training will fall into place because you are not playing catch-up. Sleeping consistently will also help you to maintain a training routine, keep weight off long term and help build a better immune system. All of this will leave you feeling stronger and more able to cope with the day ahead.

WATER:

This is the big one. Now you can't get away from the fact that you need to stay hydrated day to day. When you drink water regularly a LOT of things begin to improve: your energy levels, your skin, your outlook to name a few.  What I would say is make sure you drink between 6 and 8 small cups of water a day minimum. When you're starting out this is hard because the more you drink the more you need the bathroom. Once you get used to drinking more water I promise you that you will see and feel a difference. I do this with the use of a 1 litre timer bottle with markings on it for each hour. I then keep the bottle infront of me all day. If 1 litre seems to big to begin with then try half litre a day and gradually work your way up to 2litres a day. Be consistent and keep going! I find it helps to be able to see the water bottle only my desk. If one day you don't drink that much then make a commitment to drink more the next day without punishing yourself. It's not a competition, it is a self improvement journey.

The main thing is to recognise that you need to hydrate and to drink at regular intervals. Tips to make drinking water more of a habit: try lemon infused water or mint water, set reminders on your phone/computer to drink at regular intervals. You will be surprised how easy it becomes to drink a tiny amount regularly and then it will become a habit.

And finally......

MEALS:

You only need to Google meal planning to see the endless pages and pages of info that comes up. What I am suggesting here is a basic everyday routine. Are you getting three main meals a day and one or two healthy snacks? By this I mean having breakfast once you wake up or as close to waking as possible, then a mid morning snack followed by a balanced lunch. Later in the day you can have an afternoon snack before having a varied dinner. Obviously you need to make sure it feels right to you. For example when I workout in the morning I do so on an empty stomach as this works for me.

When I say balanced meal I mean that your plate should consist of different things in proportion. For example lunch could be grilled chicken, roasted vegetables and some white rice, each being a third of the plate. Food should leave you feeling energised and ready to keep going. Try to think of healthy food as fuel for your body and mind rather than something you have to eat. Dinner again needs to be balanced in the same way but as you are going to sleep the balance can shift more towards lighter foods.

Try keeping a food diary for one week and note down what  you eat and when. Also write how you feel through the day e.g happy, confident, tired, bored. Try to also note down any exercise you do too. For example if you go for a 20 minute walk at 5pm then write it down. Movement in your day is so important! 

Once you have a week filled in have a look back over it and see when you felt your best and when you felt lethargic.  Do you spot any patterns? Are you eating proper meals? Or drinking enough water? Did you get enough sleep? If the answer to any of these is no then that is your starting point. If the answer is yes to all these then the basics are there but the building blocks may not be e.g doing things you love every day, or finding challenging workouts and inspiring recipes. These can also be sorted - more in the next few posts so stay tuned.

My early food diaries would look something like this: Breakfast - black coffee, Lunch: pret salad, chocolate bar & fruit juice and Dinner: fried chicken & rice. Not only would I feel extremely hungry by 11am but I would also feel constantly tired and grumpy. I would push myself to the gym in the evening and wonder why by 9pm I was mentally and physically exhausted. I felt like I didn't have enough hours in a day to fit it all in if I was focusing on eating all the time. Keeping a food diary helped me to realise that I didn't start the day right and wasn't eating enough of a balanced meal to support my workouts.

If you are starving by lunchtime perhaps look at what your breakfast is really doing for you? If you are anything like me and skip breakfast to get more sleep/blog time/workout time in then both sleep and breakfast are something to work on :)

Eating a balance and healthy meal can sometimes be difficult after a long day at work or a hectic day filled with chores. Getting your mind into the routine of eating healthy takes time so try and do this one step at a time. For me water was the first thing I focused on and once I did that then healthy eating started to make sense and follow on.

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Meals are something I have always struggled with internally. Though I became addicted to training with my basics meals out of sync no amount of training could fix my eating habits. It is about consistency, discipline and yes willpower. It takes time to build these skills and it takes work to maintain them but the journey is worth it. Being present in your own transformation journey is a really empowering feeling. When you keep going one day you will look back and be amazed with how far you have come but you need to keep moving!  In the past 6 months I've come to realise absolutely anything is possible! There are countless ways of changing your focus away from junk food & destructive things to focus on things that are more uplifting and empowering.

REMEMBER: it is the smallest change that has the biggest impact! If you repeat that same small change over and over before you know it you will already be improving your health and fitness.

Coming up next post: Mindset & the most powerful thing you can do to live out your dreams.