A Good Start

I’m allowing myself to feel a bit smug this weekend as my first 'proper’ week of 2019 went better than I thought possible. I think I already felt more confident because the first week of the year allowed me to get a lot of rest and recover my strength.

This week was when I returned to volunteering, to the gym, to ‘real life’ again. I volunteered on Monday and Friday, as planned, and got so much work done that I surprised myself. I think having a two-week break from it was exactly what I needed to be able to make a comeback and smash it.

What surprised me more was my sudden motivation to fulfil my exercise goals. I exercised every single day this week - I went to the gym and did my workout (which includes strength training and cardio, using my whole body) on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; on Tuesday I did a beginner’s yoga routine and attended physio; and on Thursday I followed an upper body workout video by FitnessBlender.

As a result of this utter madness, I am sore all over and my muscles don’t know what’s hit them. I also appear to have developed tendonitis on the top of my left foot, which is really painful and inconvenient. I’ve used the weekend to rest it and it’s gotten a bit better, so I hope it won’t become an Ongoing Thing. On a more positive note, my abs are sore for the first time in probably my entire life, which means they must’ve been working enough this week to make a difference. I also had an amazing revelation on Friday – I wasn’t absolutely dreading the gym! I won’t lie to you and say I was excited for it, but it’s just become another thing on the ‘to do’ list. Nothing to be alarmed about. And for me that is such a huge step in the right direction. I can only hope that I continue to feel neutral about it. I daren’t hope that I might enjoy it someday.

My new approach to eating has also been successful so far. I eat less at breakfast and lunch, and make sure to have vegetables and protein in my dinner. I have one treat (one piece of chocolate, one Jaffa Cake, etc), but this is only until my Christmas chocolate runs out, and then I won’t be buying more. I am still going to allow myself to have treats every now and then, but I’m being much stricter about it. I’m not counting calories, but I’d honestly be surprised if I was currently eating more than 1500 a day. And I think this, combined with my water intake going up again, is making me feel better already. I’m so incredibly worn out from the busy week, but I feel really proud of myself for being so productive.

At the moment, my naturally pessimistic brain is wondering how long it’ll be until I burn out, but I’m quite happy to ride the wave of feeling accomplished until that happens. Maybe it won’t. I can only hope!

I’m trying to get back into the habit of writing, which is why I decided to post this blog despite continually reminding myself that this is only interesting to me. Writing for an audience isn’t a priority at the moment; writing for myself and getting the writing bug back is my more reasonable goal for now.