As the 'working' week comes to a close, and my exercises are finished for this week (at least the YouTube videos are) I can look back on a week that I am extremely happy with. It is full of eating right, eating the right foods, not consuming the wrong foods and also ensuring that I am fully focused on putting myself firmly back in control of the healthier lifestyle I want.
There have been many times this week that I have wanted to nip to the shop and buy a brace of beers and throw caution to the wind, mainly because of how absolutely lovely it is at the moment. To sit outside with a cold beer, reading and eating a lovely burger from the barbecue would have been my version of heaven. Instead I substituted beers for a champagne flute full of fizzy water and that surfaced. Perhaps the fact that it was in a champagne flute made the difference, I don't know; but I do know that I didn't have alcohol and I felt much better for it.
There have been other goals reached this week, with my ability to talk myself out of eating unhealthily progressing exponentially. I have had a number of conversations with myself and I am constantly finding new and inventive ways to stop myself eating the ice cream in the freezer or nicking a piece of chocolate from the cupboard. Now I know a lot of people say that if I take out those things from the fridge/freezer/cupboard, then I won't be tempted...bu then how do I cope when I am at a friend's house, or out for dinner and those things are there or offered. I need to have them in my house and be able to resist them in order to not go back to the way I was. The temptation will always be there in different places at different times and if I am not armed with the willpower to resist them and the ability to talk myself out of having one, then I'm still in the same position I was when I first started this.
I am feeling a lot more energised at the end of this week than I have been for a long time, so something must be working by doing this. My weigh in day is tomorrow (even though I started the seven day challenge on Monday) so I am going to extend it to Saturday next week and see if I can maintain my good work until then and then see what I want to do.
Because this has gone so well, I now find myself wondering whether I will incorporate what I am doing into my 'moderation' routine. This is because of how this has made me feel both physically and mentally. Getting up in the morning has been hard at times but it really has set me up for the day and I do and have been feeling better throughout it, not simply in the morning. Along with this, having the ability to set it up as a routine has also helped enormously. I will have to see what my weight has done tomorrow and see if I want to keep pushing. I will have to look at maybe doing a different video though, as variety is the spice of life and that video isn't pushing me as much as it was when I started following it last week.
I have also found myself now writing more and being more creative, whilst also not being as argumentative with my wife or the kids, a bonus of what I am doing, I think. The added mental health benefits on their own could make me wonder whether sticking with this until I have reached my goal and then simply upping the calorie count to maintain - as well as upping my exercise routine - would be something I would consider.
Life is full of ups and downs and staying healthy, both mentally and physically, in this time of lockdown is essential for social stability. I think I picked a great time to get back on it, because I didn't realise how much this lockdown was affecting me physically, mentally and emotionally until I began doing this challenge. Now that I can see all the benefits and all the energy, the better night's sleep I am getting, the less grumpy I am, the more alert - the more I realise that a healthier lifestyle is absolutely essential for me as a teacher even when things get back to normal.
This week has made me realise that being a teacher is normally draining. Most jobs drain us more than we think it does. But by maintaining a healthier lifestyle, eating fruit and veg, moderating the unhealthy treats (treat means once in a while, not once a day or week), cutting back on the alcohol, exercising regularly, will help me to be better at my job and for it to not be as draining as it was before this lockdown took us to weird and crazy lifestyles. I am more alert and more creative and this will aid my school work and my teaching. I am more energised and this will help my teaching and my school work. I am more resilient and this will help me to do my school work and teach. Everything I am feeling will help me in all aspects of my life.
And this is why I believe that I will be maintaining what I am doing past the seven day challenge, past next Saturday and into the rest of my much healthier life.
And I am grateful for this knowledge. I am grateful for tiger energy levels. I am grateful for thinking more creatively. I am grateful for walks and exercise and my health in general. I'm not at my goal weight yet and feel great...imagine how I'll feel when I am.
Until tomorrow, stay safe and stay strong.
Thanks for reading.
Sean.
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