2016 is 2 days away and that means a whole bunch of new people getting into fitness - which is amazing! New Years Resolutions tend to have some kind of "get fit" "start working out" "be healthier" in them and that's why we see so many wanting to get on this fitness train. And for those of us who already have a seat on this ride, we tend to make new goals, we want to improve ourselves and keep going further. I personally am not a fan of setting new years resolutions, not because I think they don't work or because it's pressure put on myself to reach these goals, but just because if I wanted to start something new, or stop something old, I just start now (or tomorrow) rather than waiting for a new year to come around. I used to want to stop biting my nails every year and it never worked, until i got braces In March the year i turned 15 and I never bit my nails again because my dentist told me I couldn't if I wanted nice teeth. If you want to start/stop something, you can do it, you just need the right goals, the right mindset and the right reason. So I'm sharing my little tips for setting the right fitness resolutions and hopefully getting you to stick to it! 1. Be Realistic - and plan short term Decide what you really want, and make some short term goals. Rather than wanting to be able to run a 5Km or completely give up sugar, decide what a realistic goal is for the coming 2-4 weeks. Planning "Run a total of 10 Km in the first 2 weeks of January" is a lot more achievable than just planning "Run 5Km" It's basically going 2Km every second day. And saying "Have no more than 4 cokes this week" is easier than "Give up all soft drinks". At the end of those weeks, you'll feel better at completing one or two goals in the short term than you would have if you think it's February and you're not where you wanna be. Overtime, make new goals and keep going from there! 2. If You Don't Know What To Do, Get A Plan There are so many workout and food plans available - some for free, some paid for - to help you get into a proper routine to change your lifestyle. Remember this is not temporary and if you need help, that's okay! There are couch to 5Km plans, yoga e-books, workout plans, countless videos, books and apps for recipes and meal planning so there's really something for everyone! When you have a daily plan ready for you it's less stress on what you need to do. And it makes it easier for you to keep going. 3. Get Motivated You should be your own motivation - but I definitely understand how hard this can be at the start of a new journey. So until you start seeing and feeling those happy changes that WILL motivate you to keep going, find some people on social media that project a happy, healthy and inviting attitude to what your goal is. If you want to be a runner, find runners you like who blog or post about running, if you like yoga, follow some yogis you love, if you want to cook and eat healthy, find people who share their meals! 4. Prep Yourself Get your workout/gym gear all ready the night before and prep your meals in advance. I would make excuses all the time when I had to start a workout and eventually swapped to wearing my workout clothes from the time I woke up so that when the time came to do a workout, I just had to do it And when you prep your meals in advanced, you don't have to worry about what you want to eat or what's available. You decided on healthy meals and they are all ready for you, just warm them up and eat! It might not seem like much but it's the little things that help keep you going! 5. Make Friends Who Share Your Goals Everything is easier with friends. If you don't know anyone who has the same goals or ideas as you do, find some new ones. I'm not saying give up your current friends, just make new ones as well! It can be scary but the easiest place to start really is social media. Nothing beats being able to go to the gym or for a run with someone else but if you can't, it's just as awesome to be able to send a message to someone who shares the same goals you have. You'll motivate each other and you'll be less likely to want to quit. You never know where it can take you as well - thanks to Instagram I got to go to Royale Retreat and meet some amazing ladies! 6. Reward Yourself
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT! I don't care what a treat is to you, but every now and then, you get one. If you love chocolate but your goal was to completely give up sugar, find some sugar free (dark?) chocolate and treat yourself when you reach one of your short term goals. Buy some new activewear, go on a trip, have dinner somewhere you like. Do things that make you feel happy because you deserve a reward for hitting your little milestones on this journey! 7. If You Fail - that's okay! It happens to all of us. When you have a plan or a goal in mind and you fall off the track, it's easy to want to give up. Sometimes it seems like that's the logical thing to do since you didn't get what you wanted. But failing this once is not the end, you took a few steps back, but you can keep moving forward. Whether you fall sick, skipped a few workouts, had "unhealthy food", it's going to happen, if it didn't happen now, it would have later on. You just have to realise that it's okay for these things to happen. We just keep going! Whatever your goals are for 2016, I hope you stick to them and find that they're a lot more achievable than you might have thought they once were (working out used to be so scary to me!)
0 Comments
When you're a child, your life is pretty much 100% up to your parents. They choose your food, your snacks, what you do, what you do to be active - if anything at all. You can't really blame kids for having unhealthy eating habits or not being active, for being overweight or developing health problems. Unfortunately many of this is just up to their parents. But I personally feel that there are definitely factors that are sometimes beyond the control of even parents; financial issues, availability of healthy food, the community they live in etc. Still, many times there's a stage in those kids lives, when they grow up, where they start being able to decide what they eat, what they do, who they surround themselves with and if they want a change. It is definitely not easy for someone who's grown up eating and living a certain way to just change it all on their own. We can't just pick up and move like it's nothing and it's quite scary to think about making a change to every aspect of our lives suddenly. People do better with support, motivation and encouragement. There are people who have an endless list of excuses. "I always have soda, I can't go without it." "All I eat is fried food." "I'm just not an active person" "Everyone in my family is overweight. It's genetic." At the end of the day, when your life is in your control, there's no room for excuses. As long as you can afford to do it (and no, not just financially) you decide what you eat, who is around you, what you do to stay active and healthy. If you wanted it, you would do it. I had excuses, I told myself it just couldn't be done. But then one day I changed my mind and I did it anyway.
It won't be easy, it won't be fun at the start, but if you do it eventually you'll love it. As an adult, when you have the option, it's no longer your parents fault for feeding you bad stuff when you were a child because they don't feed you anymore. It's not your family genetics fault for making you overweight because you can overcome that and you choose how to change your current situation the best way possible. It's not your friends faults for being bad influences when you get to choose your friends - and as scary as it is, giving up bad friends is actually very satisfying! It's not a stores fault for selling candy/desserts/soda/fatty foods when you choose what you spend your money on. I'll admit, even I have certain areas I could improve on but I don't make excuses for myself. I accept the situation and make the best choices possible. I can't always afford to go to a gym to pay for classes, so I workout at home most times. There are so many equipment free workouts available that work wonders, and water bottles, walls, bags all make good alternatives to equipment as well. I'm not able to cook all my own meals, so I eat what my mother or grandmother cooks for the family. But when I do make my own meals or eat out, I pick something I love and that I know is good for me. If my 14 year old cousin (who is overweight) can get up and exercise 5 days a week without anyone telling her to - and sometimes she'll do my workouts as well - so that she makes a positive change, you sure as hell can too! It's not always as easy as we think it is at the start. But rather than sitting around and making excuses for yourself, making this change and realising you're in charge of your life is the better option. Body confidence is one of the hardest things for people to have. Sometimes it seems like society makes it for acceptable for you see flaws in your body and to want to change it than for you to love your body. You're vain, stuck up, full of yourself or whatever else they want to say if you're confident in your own body. But if anyone were to say they wish they could change their legs, get leaner, lose weight, gain weight, whatever, somehow that's just normal and okay to think. Why is that? Sometimes it also seems like loving your body and wanting to make improvements can't exist at the same time. Apparently, if you want to change, you can't love what you already have. If you followed my journey and seen my old posts, you'd know I came from a place of once wishing I looked completely different. It took me a while but eventually I realised that even though I didn't look the way I wanted to, I had to love what I had. So I did! In all 3 of those photo above, I had already started loving myself and my body. It was not something I openly announced to anyone at the start because I figure that if I did I'd probably find support from only a few people and probably receive comments along the lines of "You could still lose some weight" "Your bum's quite big though" "But you're so chubby" "You're not skinny" And even if you thought you felt comfortable, these comments can still hurt. Today, I can honestly and happily say i really do love my body. It still isn't perfect but I love it just the way it is and I'm more than happy to say it. I learned that really being comfortable and happy in my body means that I can announce it without being afraid of what other people might say. Even if someone thought I didn't look good, I still look great to me, and that's the only person's opinion who matters. I've received messages on Instagram from people who said they were unhappy with their own bodies and wanted to know what I did to get my body to look the way it does now. I could keep telling everyone to eat better and exercise, to cut out sugar or have less candy and fat. But at the end of the day, you need to start with a good midset. I didn't start running thinking I wanted to lose weight, I start running because of a game. Yes, a game! I had no goals, I probably had no intention of actually getting fitter or improving my body. It just ended up happening along the way. And when I started running, I already accepted what I was, and I loved myself. Eventually I changed what I did and decided why I was doing this but it all started in a good place. So, love your body. That's step one. Look in the mirror everyday and tell yourself what you love about your body. I still do that every few days, it does wonders after a few weeks! Take photos and don't delete them, know that this is you and you are beautiful, wonderful and loved just the way you are. You will definitely have moment where you hate those photos but I promise, one day you won't. I kept many of my old photos that I once thought were just disgusting and now I see them completely differently. And just for a little bit of happiness, dance in your room, sing out love and dress the way you know will make you feel happy. It makes the biggest difference. And after this, if you want to change, go for it! try new workouts that you LOVE doing. There's 1000s of options so don't stick to something you hate. Eat food that's good for you AND also eat food that you love. If you want some chocolate, have some. Eat veggies cause it's good for your body and eat cake cause it's good for your soul. You stick to changes a lot longer and it is a lot easier when you have a positive mindset. I love my body. And you all should too! It's December, which we all know means only 1 thing - CHRISTMAS IS COMING. It's officially 7th December and so we have 18 more days till that happy day arrives and we all are just hoping for a wonderful christmas. By now I figure most of us would have done our christmas shopping and I was a little surprised to get asked to write this post by so many of you! (Yes, I still take snapchat questions so feel free to send questions on snapchat: Queenof-Hearts) A Perfect Christmas list seems like it should be filled with all kinds of physical items that I wish I could own if I was rich enough, or that I probably could but would never buy even if I had the money - we all do that, don't we? Even though I probably shouldn't have, I decided to think a little deeper. So, lets say Santa was real and he could get you anything at all (anything not evil that is!) I'd have a very different list to think about. My Ultimate Perfect Magic Christmas List:
I know, it's a whole bunch of "you better keep hoping" and "maybe in like 1000 years" but a girl can dream, can't she? Life is what it is and I remember when I first learned more about christmas. I don't come from a christian family/christmas celebrating family but my parents have always let us enjoy christmas goodies since their friends had us over for parties and christmas dinner. I was a little upset it was a religion specific holiday. With all the other holidays our schools would make a celebration out of it for everyone but since Christmas was in December and we were all on holiday it didn't seem like much of "everyone's holiday". Still I can be sure at about 10 years old I'd be hoping to get a huge endless chocolate cake or maybe every princess related item in existence (once again, a girl can dream) More realistically though, I'm sure people were looking for a more doable christmas wish list. So in the world where Santa is just your parents dressing up and putting "santa's presents" under the tree, this is what I think would make a happy lady on christmas morning - I stick to the idea that good presents are things you want but can't afford to buy/wouldn't buy because there are more important things to pay for, like bills! I personally have a limit to everything I would let myself buy so anything above that limit just ends up on a wish list unless there ends up being a huge sale!
4. New Runners Even though I buy my own runners and feel like it's always worth it to spend the money on a good pair, sometimes I just don't get them replaced in time. Some people need more than one kind of shoes as well. So Nike and Asics are always amazing! And can you really have "too many" pairs of runners? 5. AuquaSwimwear Clam Shell Bikini I have no explanation for it. Sometimes you just want a cool bikini that makes you feel like a mermaid! The truth is that if I was rich I would definitely own this bikini with every bottom possible! 6. A HOLIDAY! Even if the rest don't apply, I think anyone at all would love a holiday. We all need time away, sometimes we want a happy break to just relax, go to the beach or stay in a spa or even just relaxing in a resort room for a week! The idea of seeing a new country, learning about new foods and cultures and seeing how beautiful the rest of the world is, that just puts a smile on my face! I think my wish list is something that's easy to guess even if i never told anyone what I really wanted. People might find it silly but I'm someone who'd even be happy with new socks for christmas! (Socks are the one thing I never really think about buying until I need it)
At the end of this, I just hope everyone gets something they wanted to christmas, and even if you don't, enjoy the day with your family and friends! With body scrubs, coffee is the base everyone seems to want, and that's okay, but it's nice to have a change every now and then. So, I got a body scrub for you guys that is not all about coffee! (but it still is all natural! YAY! ) If there's one rule that I stick to - and I figure you guys would know by now - its all natural. I have my few exceptions but the more natural, the better, a rule I hope many of you have decided to follow as well. Hello, I'm Roar is a new company so when they asked if I wanted to try one of their natural products, I definitely said yes. I may have a soft spot for small companies - i don't even know why! It's just in me, I guess cause everyone starts out small and you gotta work your way up! Now, I'll be honest, even though they sent me a pack of their Lemon +Peppermint Skin Scrub, the opinions are completely my own and I stick to the idea of never promoting a product I have not tried and loved myself. I used their scrub twice a week for 4 weeks before starting to write this review so I think it's fair to say I wouldn't have kept using it for so long if I didn't like it! Do I love this Lemon + Peppermint Scrub? Short answer: YES Long answer: HELL YES. okay seriously though, The change from a coffee base was actually very refreshing. I'm not saying that coffee scrubs are bad, but I genuinely liked trying something new. I may have some high expectations when it comes to what constitutes a "good shower" but Hello I'm Roar passed my test. First things first, like I mentioned before - all natural is best! And it's also amazing to know that they are animal cruelty free, though today I would say It would be quite shocking to find a new company that did still think it was okay to test on animals! But seriously though, now for the stuff you guys really wanna know. I think first impressions matter, so it's important for a scrub to have a good smell. If a scrub smells bad, it better make my skin go from cracked to as smooth as a baby's bum in 5 seconds or I'm not using it. Thank fully, this one didn't have any problems with its smell. I opened it and was definitely happy with how sweet this body scrub is. You know when you get a cupcake and you can smell the caramel in the icing? Yeah, I could smell the sugary, lemony goodness in this pack. It was almost "eat me" sweet, but of course, don't eat the body scrub. The scrub includes - Sucrose, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Water (Aqua), Grape Seed Oil, Organic Cold Pressed Coconut Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Rosehip Oils, Jojoba Oil, Argan Oil, Natural Lemon Grind, Organic Peppermint Oil With all that in there I'd be surprised if you didn't find yourself with soft skin and feeling completely relaxed after a shower. I wasn't expecting it to, but the scrub was definitely corse enough when you first put it on and massage it into your skin, but after you leave in on for a few minutes, it starts to dissolve and you're left with an amazingly smooth layer over your skin which you just rinse off. I'd say it's all the oils that stay after and give my skin a soft touch (without being oily) after the shower's over. Because it dissolves, I also found it easier to use on toucher spots like my knees, elbows or the soles of my feet because I massaged the scrub into my skin until it was completely gone. The only downsides: because of how sweet the scrub is, you need to make sure you seal it completely after use every time or you might find some ants in your pack with the next use!
And be careful not to get water in your pack - i did get some in mine and was left with a few wet clumps in my packs, not a enjoyable as dry scrub! But in the end, I'd definitely love to use more Hello I'm Roar products. They also have detoxes, mists, other body scrubs, body butter and lip scrubs so you can get a full body treatment just from their store! It's something I'll be looking forward to soon :) |
Get Started With Yoga!
|