Tag: 10000 Steps

February in Review

How cool is today? The 29th of February. This is the 9th Leap Year I have lived through and the 8th 29th of February I have seen (I wasn’t born in February 1988 to officially see it). I cannot believe we have two months of 2020 under our belts already. Where has the time gone?

I think February has been a productive month in a sense. Looking back over my goals for February I wanted to:

  • Do 10,000 steps a day
  • Introduce Protein Shakes to my diet
  • Not calorie count
  • Up my Water consumption

The 10,000 steps a day was a fail. I started off so well and pushed myself to go out…but when Storms Ciara and Dennis developed, I did not want to go out walking in the at times 80mph winds and the impressive rains. So I did not do as many steps as I would have liked to. I think hopefully with the turning point in seasons, we are very much at the end of winter so hopefully with Spring the weather will improve to encourage outdoor activity.

I did write a first impressions of the Protein Shakes, why I choose them and I still want to post this, even though my first impressions were over a month ago now. I would like to give a more prolonged view of them. The thing that held me back was taking photos. I did introduce protein shakes to my diet and stuck to it really well until perhaps this past week. With a new month though I am going to remotivate myself to take them.

I was successful in not calorie counting. I did make some delicious meal preps that focused on putting a lot of vegetables and looking at healthier options. This past week I have slipped though so I would to jump back onto that. I have also been looking at promoting healthy hair, whilst I think the quality and condition of my hair is very good, I would like to continue looking after it. I think it is important to keep a certain amount of good oils and fats in your diet so I have been trying to eat cheese and butter regularly. I think with the addition of Protein Shakes I am going to start getting a lot more protein into my diet to help with healthy hair promotion.

Water. By far this month I am impressed with my water consumption. I posted that the Microcurrent Facial was instrumental in getting me to drink water, prue water, not mixed with squash. I have largely drank either 1,600 or 1,200ml of water everyday since the 10th February. However, for March I am thinking of dropping this down to a goal of 800ml to 1,200ml. If you are not used to drinking at lot of water or you are not sweating it out…you body in the beginning does not know what to do with all this water, particularly as it is winter – you are not losing it through sweat as much. So I find I am going to the toilet ALL the time. Well that is an exaggeration but it feels like I need to go a lot more than normal, so I am cutting down for the moment. If I find myself becoming thirsty I will drink more.

I am really impressed though. This month I am not as bloated as I have been previously and I am finding I am not conscious about my weight. My issue I have always had is my stomach. I am happy with my body apart from my stomach which I felt was were I was carrying my stomach. Whilst it is still not flat and beautiful it is not as bloated as it used to be and this makes me feel better. I think I need to look into core exercising. Something I’ve never really done before to see if I can tone my stomach. I think trying to boost a healthy diet and tone my problem area is more important than what the scales are telling me and that I need to count calories.

The Weight Loss Journey Continues

So it is the 1st of February. The start of the last month of winter, my Dad has the belief that this is the hardest month of the year, but once you push through this month you get to Spring and with it longer, brighter and warmer days that make life a little bit easier. I do feel that January is perhaps a hard month to start a new year, in the middle of winter. It is cold and trying to break old habits, particularly if they involve diets that strip away comfort foods away and encouraging you to go out to get more fresh air and exercise…when it is cold and wet is not the best way to encourage these new steps. Perhaps it is better to start them in the spring or summer when it is a more pleasant experience to be outside or to switch warm, stodgy foods in favour of salad and uncooked fruit and vegetables.

Reflecting back on January…was it a success? I didn’t gain any weight, well that’s not strictly true I did gain 0.1lb of weight. This lack of weight gain however was more due to good fortune than me directly trying to improve it. I could have been a lot worse, but equally it could have been a lot better.

So what is the plan for February? Well I’m going to challenge myself to:

  • 10,000 steps a day. It doesn’t have to be running, although I would like to try and get running in there. Simply being outside and trying to get 10,000 steps in one or two bursts of activity a day would be good and sometimes going out for a walk in less daunting than going for a run.
  • Introducing shakes to my diet. Now the shakes I have chosen are NOT meal replacement shakes but shakes designed for women to introduce vitamins that are particularly lacking in a vegetarian or vegan diet. I follow a vegetarian diet and have done since I was 7. I think lacking in essential B vitamins does impact on one’s energy levels and in January I was feeling particularly tired all the time which impacted on my mood and my enthusiasm to do anything.
  • Zero calorie counting! This month is about trying to pick healthier options, including more fruits and vegetables into meals but realistically I am not going to restrict what I want to eat, especially not when I am feeling low and craving foods I like to eat.
  • Water. Lots of water and drinking more water over cola.

I’ll check back in at the end of February beginning of March to let you know what successful this month’s plan of action has been.