New Year, New…. Nothing

I have decided that this year I won’t be making any resolutions, I won’t be working on a new me and I certainly won’t be taking out a gym membership! 

Only 8% of people that make New Year resolutions actually achieve them and 80% of people fail by February! That’s one hell of a statistic that I don’t want to be part of (again), that, and the fact that I don’t want to change anything this year. 

I’ve spent so many years hating the way I look and wanting to get fit and year after year I fail miserably, that was, until 2 years ago. 

After having my little boy I swore that I would shift the baby weight, it just so happened that he was born in December so it made perfect sense to start in January. I still didn’t make it a resolution though, it was more of a mission. For those last 2 years I have worked on me but not necessarily for a “new me”, more for a “better me”. 

2017 was an odd year for me, it was horrible and stressful in one sense but on the other hand it was a really great, positive year and I’ve come out stronger than ever. I worked on my weightloss and finally found a comfortable weight and then towards the end of the year I found yoga and now I’m working on that which is helping my back problems while maintaining my weight. It’s taken me 2 years to get to this point but I am happy with “Me” for the first time in, well, as far back as I can remember. I think the point I’m trying to make here is; don’t make resolutions, they’re a short term goal. Make a change and make it long term. 

If you decide that you want to lose weight then do it for your own happiness. So many people find it stressful and get obsessed with the number on the scales, they binge eat when they gain 1lb even though they’ve “been 100% all week” because “what’s the point”, then they’ll starve themselves for having a slice of pizza (I know this because I’ve done it myself). The best tip I can give when it comes to weightloss is: Enjoy it. Enjoy what you eat, plan ahead so you look forward to what you’re going to eat and for god’s sake don’t stop yourself from having a little bit of something you “shouldn’t have” because otherwise you will fail. Make your weightloss journey fun and you will find it easy. The same goes for fitness, find something you enjoy. Don’t waste your money on a gym membership if you’re not going to use it. Here’s another statistic for you: Brits waste £558 MILLION a year on unused gym membership. I have been one of those people. Personally I hate gyms, I have not had great experiences with them and the reason I stopped using my membership was because I don’t feel the personal trainer I had listened to me at all when I told him I have serious back problems and it ended with me putting my back out. If you want to try the gym then find somewhere that offers free trial sessions or only sign up for a shorter period. They are businesses at the end of the day and they want to make money so they will get people to sign up for a year and then they don’t care if you go or not because they have you locked into an airtight contract.

If you’re like me and not a gym bunny then YouTube is a great tool. There are so many exercise videos available which you can do from the comfort of your living room. Failing that, just get outside! I found that finding time for exercise was near on impossible when little man was small so instead I used to walk. I am quite lucky in the fact that I live close to the seafront so I could do 5k while the baby napped. I now have the opposite problem with a toddler, he won’t nap in a buggy so walking long distances is out of the question. You just have to find what works for you and as I’ve said, it’s taken me 2 years to find what works for me.

I hope you all find health and happiness this year and good luck. For a bit of inspiration then go follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/after_baby_blog/ and my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/afterbabyblog/

Happy New Year