So I Fell Off The Health Bandwagon & Here Is How I'm Trying To Hop Back On

After consuming way too much sugar around my birthday, it was high time that I had a good look at my diet as well as rekindle my love for fitness. Truth be told I hadn't really been feeling the whole exercise thing for a while, I'd been really unwell and that pushed me off fitness bandwagon but I know it's something that once I'm in a good groove with it I thrive. I've spoken so many times about the solace I find in fitness for my mental health and of course because it wasn't something I was doing my MH really suffered as well as the amount of sugar I was eating had a knock on effect. So here are the little things that I'm doing to get back on track that aren't life changing but like most things, it's always the small steps that make the biggest difference.

HYDRATION

I'm sure whenever I talk about fitness I always say that I need to make more of an effort with my water intake and as of right now it's terrible. When I do have a better fitness routine I am much better at drinking water as I'm obviously sweating and finding myself thirsty but on the days that I don't work out I can go hours and hours without drinking. Which obviously isn't advisable as we need water to survive, I'm not sure what it is but I just don't feel thirsty. Another bad habit of mine is only drinking coffee, especially at the moment my sleep is really suffering [not because of the coffee as I don't drink it late] and getting less than 5 hours a night is making me dependant on caffeine which is not something I like to do.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH AT THE GYM

I've been in a regular fitness routine for a few years but I've very much been doing the same thing with a few differences and I've become pretty bored with it. And generally when we become bored of something that we're choosing to do that's when we start to make excuses not to do it and I'm not someone who will just force themselves to go to the gym as I never want to resent it. So what I've done is pretty much started from scratch with my routine, I'm still doing elements of cardio because it's something that I really enjoy and it's something that makes me feel my best. But I'm trying different formats of cardio like HIIT workouts and then I'm also working with weights which is something that I've never got much pleasure from but I'm really starting to enjoy them. Starting something entirely new is exciting and makes me feel like I'm making progress instead of just treading water. Here are a few HIIT workouts I've been really enjoying;

NOT LETTING MYSELF MAKE EXCUSES TO MYSELF

We all make excuses to ourselves at some point in our lives, I doubt there is anyone out there who hasn't done it at some point. And I know that when I start to make excuses for myself the only person I'm letting down is me and I always regret it so much. At the time it's always so tempting to just stay at home or not bother but I know in the long run it's such a bad idea. And in general, I've tried to make myself stop doing this with a number of things and not put things off that I'm not all that excited about doing. Because it's much easier to just do something when we need to rather than putting it off constantly.

LOOKING AT MY DIET PROPERLY

Something I really struggle with is my diet, I by no means have a terrible one and for the most part, try and eat as well as I can. Earlier this year I discovered that my body couldn't handle fibre very well so it left me feeling pretty lost. I also have a huge sweet tooth and sugar is seriously addictive, I completely believe in balance and if I want to eat a doughnut then I will. But as I've grown older I've realised that when I eat too much 'junk' food not only does my body not handle it that well after a while but my brain doesn't like it either. I've always been fortunate enough not to feel any guilt towards food but as I've got older the more 'junk' [I hate calling food that but it's easier to say that then food without any nutrients] I eat the worse my body functions. I don't feel as awake, I'm tired and I just generally crave nutrients.

Like I said, my body doesn't handle fibre that well which means for a while I completely removed fruit, veg and all whole grains out of my diet till I could try and work them back in and saw what did agree with me and what didn't. I've learnt there are a few that I can eat and not suffer some dire consequences but it's very much a learning curve for me. As I'm vegetarian I do of course rely on veggies a lot and taking those out of my diet wasn't that easy as I don't like to just rely on all soy products either. So as well as taking fitness a little more seriously I do need to look at my diet too and see where I can improve and just generally make more of an effort with food than taking the easy way out. I'm not someone who has the healthy eating bug at all and don't feel all that much excitement towards food and I think we can all relate to that feeling as sometimes we just want to eat what's easiest

THE SMALL STEPS

Trying to reach 10k steps a day.
Drink a big glass of water before breakfast in the morning.
Never ever restrict anything in my diet, my body seems to crave balance on it's own which is awesome.
Try smoothies again rather than solid fruit.
Stretch after every workout without fail.
Switch up my workouts so that I don't plateau.