For many of us, 2020 was the year we fell off the fitness wagon. I know for myself, I found it very difficult not being able to go to the gym, after years of going 5x a week, to go from that to nothing, was a shock.
Taking care of my health has been a huge part of my life for a long time and fitness and nutrition is something I find very interesting. This was not always the case and after years of this being central to my life, suddenly being stuck at home made it easy to fall back into old bad habits. For the next two years I have found it really challenging to get back the motivation I once had, I would start going to the gym for a few weeks only to fall off the wagon again.
My diet has also not been great, although working from home has allowed me to make many more home cooked meals and baked treats. I know I am not fat but drifting so far from where I was in terms of fitness has been a challenge seeing my body change.
I know some people have the motivation to do home workouts but that just isn't me, I need the motivation of being in the gym with the music pumping and a bottle of BCAA in hand. Trying to get back into a routine has been a nightmare and it wasn't till a month ago I started to take things more seriously.
I was meaning to start my 'new year new me' thing when I ended up sick for 3 weeks for the first time in 7/8 years. Lying in bed with a chest infection that made covid look like a walk in the park, I promised myself that I would pay more attention to my health and fitness again (although don't expect regular posts).
Unfortunately, the chest infection led to a blood clot in my leg so I was further delayed and has made getting back on the fitness wagon much more difficult.
So after all of this I started to pull things together and get back into my healthy routines. I wanted to share what I've been doing and what has helped motivate me to start this journey again and how I found the motivation. I'm still not where I want to be, but I am also not focusing on where I was, rather, where I am going!
Finding the Right Gym
The gyms opening again has really helped first and foremost. But I still am lacking much of the motivation that used to come so easily to me. Something that has helped me is finding a gym that suits me and suits MY personality and schedule. This sounds a little silly but switching my gym has helped me so much in terms of fitness.
After being stuck at an Anytime Fitness which I just felt was so uninspiring, I decided to pay much more to go to a local fitness center that had more of a 'club' feel. Yes I know that sounds stuck up and maybe it is, but I like being surrounded by middle aged women going to play tennis and having a spa and sauna to relax in if I want. I also like having a restaurant so I can have dinner in the adults only area or even use it as a second WFH space during the day. Although this might sound inconsequential, having somewhere that it is nice to be has made a huge difference to my motivation. If you don't actually enjoy being at a gym you won't want to go...
Trying New Activities
There are multiple types of fitness and a load of activities to try! After my fitness hit the floor I knew I wouldn't be able to bounce back easily. Having the blood clot in my leg (although in a superficial vain) was quite painful and that combined with a lingering chest infection made exercise challenging.
Moving gym as mentioned above has however, given me loads of new classes that I can attend outside of the boring usual Les mills ones. I started off attending only Yoga, barre and Thai Chi and even just standing in a yoga pose was very painful. My circulation was also so poor that I could barely feel my legs and they were ice cold. Using the sauna and hot yoga class really helped improve this and I could feel a noticeable change after two weeks. Although it is slightly nerve wracking going alone, everyone has been really friendly and after a few weeks I now know what I am doing and have started going to more challenging classes.
For anyone who knows me knows I used to hate classes, but decided to give them after learning more about goal setting which I discussed HERE. So far they seem to be working really well for me and I have been doing 2-4 a day most days for the past month.
Fixing my Diet
Abs are made in the kitchen! Yes it is challenging finding motivation again, however it is just as difficult to change your diet! As mentioned before I have struggled being a greedy goose over the last couple of years so addressing some of my bad eating habits was a must. I have also been learning more about nutrition and health overall.
I find a lot of the fitness culture online to be very 'toxic' and the more I have learned about health and nutrition you see how unhealthy it is. I was quite obsessed for a while with the gym and eating a certain way that was promoted by fitness 'influences' but I never saw the results I wanted.
Moving forward this year with my new knowledge I want to find a more holistic and balanced approach to health and fitness. One where I still have a life and am not consuming a load of chemicals or eating shit (just read the back of a protein bar)
I have recently started to cut out seed oils and have been reducing the amount of sugar and carbs in my diet to replace them with veggies and more meat. I am also focusing more on gut health and effective supplementation to support my immune system and improve my energy levels.
(feel free to check out my IG stories for examples of my new diet)
Tracking my Progress
One of the things I have found most helpful is downloading Strava to track my activity. Although I mainly use it for walking and running, it can be very useful for tracking all your activity if you want something free! I know there are other better tracking aps but I have really been enjoying Strava. One of the bonuses is if like me you sometimes feel like you have done more than you have, you can look at the little graph to see how lazy you are ha ha.... also it can be useful for hiking if you get lost or need to check the route.
Rethink Your Wardrobe
Although I always advocate for using what you already have I also believe that having exercise clothes you feel good in goes a long way to helping you feel motivated! Over the past 3 years I have phased out a lot of my gym clothes and replaced them with sustainable and feminine alternatives that help me feel good when I work out! I am think about writing another post about my gym wardrobe in the future and the brands I like!
Detox!
Although this post is about fitness it is also about being healthy and there is more to that than exercising and eating well. One of the reasons I started my blog was to document my journey trying to live better both for myself and for the planet. The environment we live in is so toxic now that it is very easy to become sick and not understand why; I recently finished a brilliant book by Dr Jenny Goodman called 'Staying Alive in Toxic Times' where she details how we are being exposed to toxins and what to do about it. On her section on detoxing she mentions a few ways we can successfully detox the body. The ones that stuck out to me were, vegetable juicing, colonics and saunas which I will be doing all of in the coming month!
Saunas are especially important for detoxing from heavy metals and BPA which is stored in fat. She recommended saunaing for 10-20 mins with a towel to wipe off any sweat (so nothing gets reabsorbed) and then showering straight away after. You also need to drink an electrolyte drink after and do this a few times a week for 3 months which is my goal!
I hope you enjoyed my post! These are just some things that I have been doing personally and might not work for everyone...watch this space :)
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