Healthy Living Diaries #1

I have never, nor will I be, a super slim girl. I am a girl with curves that I am proud of and that I would like to maintain, however I have always battled with parts of my body that I would like to change. I don't think anyone can say they are 100% happy with their body, for me there are parts of it I would like to change and it is only me that I can change. I would also like to add that these are my own personal issues and have not been inflicted upon by anybody other than myself.

I have decided to share with you my quest for living healthily and how I need to change and alter parts of my life in order to be more happy and comfortable with myself. For me this is not just physical changes, thinking positively is a big part of healthy living as it creates motivation and helps keep you on track towards your goals. Also being happy within yourself is important for your own self esteem.

The physical changes I am making to my life are, pretty obviously, my eating habits and my exercise and fitness routine. During the first couple of months of 2014 I managed to lose 1 stone by keeping myself on a healthy diet and doing regular exercise. However since then my diet has not been as great and the pounds are slowly creeping back on. I never used to weigh myself and the only reason I do is to see the weight I am actually losing rather than to compare my weight to the national average or to others-we are all different and therefore are weight and body size/shape is going to be different too.

So, in a bid to improve my healthy eating, I have devised a plan which I am hoping I can stick to. It isn't very complicated and does allow myself to have the occasional treat. I should point out here that my job involves shift work so creating a weekly menu can be quite tricky so I tend to think the day before about my eating plans for the following day. My 5 rules for my new diet (I say rules but I will allow myself to be a bit flexible) are as follows:
-Eat either 3 meals a day with 2 snacks, or eat 6 small meals a day, so effectively eating every few hours so that I don't allow myself to go hungry.
-Try not to eat after 7pm when possible as I find this can make me very bloated and uncomfortable.
-Drink plenty of water every day to help with bloating and water retention.
-Complete 30-45 minute workouts 3 times a week to begin with, and then increase this over time.
-Devise an 'Exercise Chart' to complete a mini exercise routine every day with the amount of reps increasing every day (e.g. Day 1 30 crunches, Day 2 35 crunches...)

As part of my healthy eating, I want to cook a lot of the foods I eat from scratch rather than buying ready meals or pre packaged foods from the supermarket so I know exactly what is going into my foods. I have a selection of recipe books to guide me through this and of course there are all those fabulous eating blogs to hep me!

In terms of exercise, I tend to get quite bored in the gym so I am creating some new playlists to try and keep me going, and I am also going to do some exercise DVDs and go on a few bike rides to mix things up a bit.

I have my own personal goals that I want to achieve however I don't know how much weight I want to lose, its more about me feeling happy and comfortable with my body. I don't know how often I am going to write these posts but I find reading others keeps me motivated so I hope I can help some of you to stay on track too!

If you have any similar posts please leave your links below, I would love to read them!