Okay folks, we’re 3 days in – how are your resolutions going so far? I’m doing pretty well, but then again… it’s only January 3rd. 😛 I haven’t lost motivation yet, and salad still tastes pretty good so I’m going to count that as a win. I wrote last week about some of my bigger goals and aspirations for 2018, but this post is all about the small changes I’m making in the fitness and health department to help with those goals.
Here’s the thing about many health/diet related resolutions…people tend to set them, succeed at them for a while and then slowly drop them like they’re hot. I am absolutely one of these people. For a long time, January 1st meant a new (usually extreme) diet, new exercise plan and this mentality that I had to deprive myself of all the things I love to eat: bread, butter, salt, sugar… is there anything else that’s even good to eat? I’M KIDDING, sort of. As I’ve gotten older though, I realize that I need to be easier on myself, and set more realistic expectations when it comes to diet and exercise. When I was single and childless (and younger and could stay up past 9pm on a weeknight), working out was an easy addition to my life. I use to head to the gym around 6pm and would spend between 1-2 hours there – which now seems insane and SO late. But, life is much different now and I have to make.it.work.
Health Changes I’m Implementing in 2018
More mindful food choices: While I would love to be the type of person that could eat a salad for lunch and protein and veggies for dinner every night… it’s just not gonna happen.
- Colorful Balance: Eating each meal with balance and trying to eat food that is colorful and fresh.
- Deprivation Never Works: Instead of going cold turkey on ALL the things I love, I’m going to just cut back and watch my portions which is way more realistic
- Write it Down: Hello MyFitnessPal, my old friend… here we go again!
- Family meal planning: This seems to help us tremendously because if we have a plan in place, we’re less likely to opt for pizza or Chinese take out when we can’t decide what we want to eat. We also decided to make one weeknight meal a big salad with fun ingredients. On the menu tonight is grilled steak salad with avocado buttermilk dressing (look for the recipe soon!)
Work it out: Expecting and Empowered
Guys, I’m so excited to be trying out these guides BEFORE I am pregnant to strengthen and get my body prepared for a *hopefully* new baby in 2018. The coolest thing about these guides is they are specifically formulated for women who are pregnant. They focus on essential exercises for carrying a baby inside, getting them out and the muscles you’ll need postpartum to care for that brand new babe.
I will admit here and now that the last three months of 2017 were an epic fail fitness-wise for me… and if I’m being 100% transparent, towards the end of the year I basically said forget it, I’ll start again on January 1st. Well, when I talked with Amy (E&E co-founder and friend of mine), these guides got me motivated to start getting back at it BEFORE Jan 1. I know, what a miracle. 🙂
There are guides for each trimester, they go week by week and include three sections: Flexibility, Pelvic Floor exercises and Resistance training. They recommend doing E&E three times per week and 2 days of cardio (I have been loving Amy’s walking treadmill workouts on my off days.)
A few reasons I’m so excited about this exercise program:
- I can’t wait to see the differences in an active pregnancy versus my pregnancy with Dane – which was less than active, to say the least.
- I can take it anywhere. We’re heading to TX this weekend to cheer on NDSU in the National Championships, and my sister and I are going to do the full body circuit in our hotel room!
- It’s challenging, but unlike other exercise guides I’ve done in the past – I could walk up the stairs the rest of the week and wasn’t too sore to do another workout. I can’t be the only one this happens to, right?
- The guides are beautiful, easy to understand and SO well done. The passion Amy & Krystle have is very clear and I’m proud to be joining in on this sisterhood.
Check out Expecting and Empowered on Instagram for some serious motivation.
The bottom line here is that I’m trying to do better – for my family and myself. Life is full of curve balls and I’m sure some weeks will be better than others, but setting expectations and not putting too much pressure on myself are going to be my keys to success! Cheers friends!
Staying Martha 