Well now I am on our Winter break and I have decided it is confession time. Remember this post......ummm....yup, didn't happen. I think I was being a bit ambitious and not only did I fall off the health and fitness wagon I skydived off. My aim back then was to maintain my weight and create some healthy habits......didn't happen. What did happen was I started this when I was on holidays and I had time and I was not stressed and clearly maintaining that kind of timetable was unrealistic. My Support Teacher role is very demanding on many levels and by the end of the day I am exhausted and I then have to make sure I am putting in time with my family.
So we are now halfway through the year and I have PUT WEIGHT ON and I generally feel like cr*p. What happened I hear you ask. I am the queen of finding excuses, my biggest excuse has always been that I don't have time, I just don't, please find me 15 minutes in my day and I will use it to get healthy. Right there that is a big fat lie. I have really had to re-think how I look at my week, I do have time I just had to adjust my thinking. My weekends used to be my sit on the couch days and just veg out. I now look at my weekends as a way to wind down and then kickstart my week by exercising.
I decided to make 3 small changes in my week to help me get back on track.
1. Use my weekends to get my exercise started.
I bet like me you get to Saturday and you feel like a wrung out towel. I have 2 main jobs that I HAVE to do on the weekends. First is grocery shopping, the other is laundry. Here is where I find time :) I do not take my kids shopping, (sometimes my daughter will come with me but not both) Our supermarket is right near our local beach and walking track, so I make sure I am dressed for walking and then I do a 45 minute walk BEFORE I do the grocery shopping. I am finding it is a great way for me to let go of the stress from the week and just breathe. I go early and then the supermarket isn't as busy. I also do a 45 minute walk on Sunday mornings and this is my kick start, I also carry a couple of small hand weights to help stop the jiggly arms. What about the rest of the week I hear you ask. This is where I fell down at the beginning of the year, it really is hard to find time and motivation during the working week. On Tuesdays I drop my daughter off to a 30 minute piano lesson, while she is making music, I walk. Right there I have found 3 times a week I can fit in exercise. My "rest" days are now Thursday and Friday and I skip on Mondays and Wednesdays, easy to fit in 15 minutes of skipping in the hallway, I also plank every day. Goodbye excuses!
2. Reduce my time with the bottle
I love nothing more than to relax at the end of the day with a glass of red, a good book or a TV show. But, the calories I was putting in to my body have settled themselves on my butt and my muffin top. I do not want to jiggle! So here is the second change I am making, no more mid week wine, boo hoo. I am replacing it with tea. I allow myself Friday and Saturday drinkies and one week night if I really need it.
3. Increase my H2O
I am not great at making sure I am hydrated during the day and this is the other area I feel I can make a change. This will help me to reduce feeling tired and sluggish and help me flush out any toxins. I bought a water bottle that is easy to carry around and I make sure it is full in the morning and empty at the end of the day, it has also helped me decrease the amount of Diet Coke I drink.
