Sleep well, eat well, live well

On the 14th of May I signed up for a six week challenge to improve my overall fitness.  And I got a massive shock when I went in to have my vital stats checked.

Whilst I fall well within average weight for my height, my body fat percentage puts me at obese.  Not even a little bit obese either, morbidly.

So it begins, my quest to a healthier life.

One where I eat well, live well and sleep well.

Sleep Well

Sleep??

What’s that I hear you cry.  Well I don’t really know to be honest being the proud owner of two year old who has only recently decided he might like to stop having a party at 2am.  Yes, my two year old didn’t sleep and because of that I haven’t really slept for two years.

Given that you spend up to 25 years of your life in bed asleep it’s important to be as comfortable as possible.

It stands to reason the more comfortable you are the better you will sleep, the better you sleep the more rested you will feel and the less likely you are to reach for the junk to give you the boost you think you need.

There are little changes that you can make in your sleeping environment that will have big changes on your sleep…

video courtesy of Adjustamatic electric beds

Eat Well

There are so many diets floating around these days, anyone can become a dietician at the touch of a button and download the latest.

Juicing detox?  Not for me thank you very much.

The 5:2 diet?  Taking in only 25% of my recommended calories two days a week?  No chance.

No carbs?  No way.

And whilst all of these in theory seem like a good short term fix to lose weight, I’m not actually looking to lose weight.  I want to lose some of my body fat, but more than that I want to fuel my body right.

That means eating a mix of nutrients, a mix of food groups.  Including the dreaded carbs, the frightful fats and the terrifying dairy.

For me, eating well is eating whole food.  Cooked with love.  So I’ve been busy meal planning and cooking from scratch.

Though, if I want cake, I’ll have cake.  A little of what you fancy does you good I find!

Live well

A healthy life is a happy life, or so they say.  To be healthy you need to exercise, no two ways about it.  And this is where I fall down everytime, it is probably why my body fat crept up to 34%.

At the start of the year I took up running, methodically and slowly plodding through competing with my marathon running husband on how many steps we’d done each day.  Through the week I tended to win as I spent my time chasing after the boys but given that he can quite easily go out and run 20km it’s fair to say he beat me at the weekend.

Then the heat cranked up a notch, then a notch again, and again.  All of a sudden to run I need to leave the house at 5am and I haven’t the willpower or the dedication to do that.

I stopped.

Which is why I’m now signed up for 6 weeks of unlimited classes with EvoFit, where a combination of HIIT and strength training is available.  And those dreaded burpees.

Don’t know what a burpee is?

Pain, it’s pain.

Yet it’s good pain, horrendous whilst you are doing it but a sense of achievement once you are done.

Signing up to the 6 week course is probably one of the best things I did in terms of exercise – it means that I have to go because I’ve already paid for it and I HATE waste.  It also means I am held accountable, I go to a class and I look around and know that I have to work hard because everyone else is working hard.  It is a motivating driver for me.

Accountability

Which brings me nicely to accountability, it’s easy to say I am going to sleep well, eat well, live well.

Then a second glass of wine is on the table.

An extra slice of cake.

Miss this gym session today because you’re tired.

Stay up late because you need some time as an adult away from the kids.

It’s all too easy to slip back into the habits you are trying to break.  This is part of the reason I am documenting this journey back to health and *hopefully* back to a normal body fat percentage on Instagram @healthy_mummy_fitter_life and Facebook @healthymumfitterlife to show myself how far I have come, that I am stronger than I know and that healthy food is in fact much more delicious than McDonalds.

Except when you are hungover…