Health & Fitness Overhaul: Learning to Love Yourself

For some time now I’ve not felt happy within myself – I don’t like the girl that looks back at me in the mirror, and find myself riddled with insecurities. A few months ago I made a commitment to stop being unhappy and to make a change to be the best version of myself and love myself a little more. I know I’m not the only one that feels these insecurities and body image pressures, so I wanted to share the little changes I’ve made that are working for me.

Exercise
I’ve never been a huge fan of exercising – I hate the gym and generally manage to talk myself out of every other sporty option – mostly through fear of not being able to do it. For so long I loved the idea of being someone who enjoyed working out but ultimately didn’t do anything about it. With that being said however, over the past month I’ve been running 3 times a week to an app called Couch to 5K. It’s a great app that builds you up to a 5k run over the course of 8 weeks. The beauty of it is that you’re not expected to have huge amounts of fitness when you start (it’s not called couch to 5k for nothing) which means it very slowly builds you up through a combination of running and walking.

Since starting this app, I’ve noticed a real increase in my fitness ability but also a huge improvement in my overall wellbeing. I actually look forward to heading out for 30 minutes after work in the fresh air, it gives me time to think and makes me feel amazing when I get home. I feel proud of myself for not making excuses to exercise and getting out there and doing something. 


Food
With my new exercise regime I’ve also over hauled my diet to eat healthier, cleaner food. One book I’ve been enjoying is Hungry Healthy Happy* by Dannii Martin which is a lovely cook book that makes clean eating easy. So often, when people buy healthy cookbooks they usually assume that they have to give up the foods they love. Thankfully, Hungry Healthy Happy is a book that proves this isn’t the case – it’s all about making healthy changes that aren’t restrictive, making your favourite food, but in a healthier, lighter way. I’ve been making meals at the weekend to keep me going throughout the week (being able to heat up my dinner quickly after a run is a real help) and packed lunches at work help keep me on the straight and narrow. I don’t feel like I’m being restrictive, or on a diet – I’m just making better choices – but if I want a little chocolate, I’ll have it. It’s about having a small bar, not an entire share bag.

To document my fitness/exercise journey, I bought this Food & Exercise Journal from Kikki K. This is a great book that allows you to document any of your health goals, as well as log your daily food and exercise notes. I find it really motivating to document my fitness and food routine at the end of each day, I feel pleased with myself for being good which spurs me on for the next day.

If you’re on a similar journey, I’d love to hear about what you’ve been doing to help you get to the place you want to be. As my journey continues I’ll be sure to keep you updated if you’d like to hear more!