Category Archives: Healthy Living

Frugal Living

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I’ve been planning my budget for when I start my new job and moving into my house. Living at home with my parents has meant I have a nice disposable income, so I have had to revisit those times when I lived alone and plan my budget accordingly.

My diet is something I really want to get a grips with before I move out. I am doing Weight Watchers, but will need to change the foods I buy slightly to fit in with my budget. This will make me meal plan as I want to only buy the foods I’ll get each week, rather than stock up for the future (unless that is a worthwhile deal to be taken advantage of). This got me thinking about frugal living.

Definition of Frugal:

  • economical in use or expenditure
  • not wasteful
  • entailing little expense
  • requiring less resources

This definition reminds me of my Sustainable Diet post and also my desire to live my life in a more environmentally friendly way, which also supports my application for Chartered Environmentalist.

I have also found a few blogs that have given my inspiration for recipes:

I decided to take a good hard look at my current diet and eating habits. I have found things I can definitely cut back on. I have found things I refuse to give up, but can cut down on. I have found alternatives to things I currently have for much less expense.

I plan on spending the time between now and moving to create a series of costed recipes I can make adaptable and a staple part of my diet. I can then use my meal planning to budget for food and lose weight. I want to use whole and healthy ingredients and cook from scratch more. I also want to cook meals for the week so I don’t have to cook when I get back from work. I want to use my time and resources efficiently.

So keep an eye out for some recipe posts coming soon!

Also if you have any tips for frugal living do let me know, I’d love to hear from you :)

Things I’m Loving… Jillian Michaels Podcast

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I love writing these posts, they make me happy, which was the whole point I started them. I also have a whole list of things I want to write about, but I’m trying to not get too far ahead of myself as I want them to be in the moment.

This week it’s all about Jillian Michaels Podcast!

This is weekly download from iTunes. I got into the habit of going out on a walk and listening to one a week, but with all the swimming and running I’m doing and also the nights are closing in I haven’t had the chance so I have been listening at work this week.

I find them motivating and real at the same time. Jillian doesn’t just tell you can do something and it’s easy, she tells it like it is. Maintaining fitness and a healthy lifestyle is not easy in today’s modern world of convenience.

It’s also not all about fitness and nutrition. There are guest who come on to talk about money, pschology and relationships. She doesn’t claim to be an expert on those things so gets people into help and it feels like you are learning right a long with the team.

The team is fantastic. Janice and Jake get involved and get their perspectives, which really helps all sides of a story come across. Having callers phone in and ask questions is also a great part of the show. Again this takes it back to real life.

For me these podcasts remind me of what I already know a lot of the time, but in low periods forget. Then there is new stuff that I just have to research as it resonates with me.

I love listening while walking, but I do find them a great help in work at time when I am totally unmotivated. I listen back to old ones randomly or pick a topic that I want to hear about again.

If you haven’t listened to one of these podcasts I would totally recommend giving one a try if you like Jillian Michaels and want some instant motivate and advice.

 

Take 20

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Moving on from Take 10 and Take 15, I started doing Take 20, which means I had to set my alarm earlier in the morning!

I love meditating first thing in the morning. I feel like I start the day off right. A calm, relaxed person, rather than an anxiety driven, crazy woman. It allows me to gradually wake up and be in the moment.

This feels a lot harder than the Take 10 and Take 15. Those extra 5 minutes started out waiting for it to end. But Andy, the guy who talks through the meditation from Headspace, gets that and helps you work through that and become comfortable with the longer time. There is no goal to the meditation, it is about being present, whatever that might involve.

I really liked the bit that brought in dealing with discomfort in the body. I often found I needed to move half way through, which is fine, but does distract from the meditation. I also found that the less talking meant I worried that the file had stopped playing. I got better as time went on, but depending on how anxious I am about life, the more anxious I am during the work.

I unintentionally took a week off in the middle of 20 days when I went away and noticed a difference in my anxiety levels after a few days. This was eye opening for me. I hadn’t realised how much taking this time out each day was helping.

I do like to keep to routine though and do not like fitting in later in the day if I have to miss it in the morning. I have linked it now to the Commit app on my phone. I have set up some commitments to myself everyday and it send reminders and then tracks how many days in a row you keep the commitment. If you miss a day the tally goes back to zero. I think this will be useful when I go away or find myself out of routine as I will have reminder to make the time to do it.

Overall I am enjoying doing this and like having a guided meditation everyday. I plan to follow the next series called Discovery.

Updating Motivations

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I’ve been having a look at my motivations again this week. I have realised that they change more often than I thought so restating them every so often will help to focus myself again.

Weight wise I’ve been doing great – even with a wedding and break away!

  • Last Weight: 224.2lbs (17th August)
  • Current Weights: 220lbs (7th September)
  • Lost 4.2lbs in 3 weeks :)

So how am motivating myself to keep going?

After doing quite a bit of reading about motivation I know I need to be specific to improve my quality of life. I also know I need a powerful emotional connection with my motivation and goals. A lot of my motivations are about increasing my confidence to do things out of my comfort zone.

  • I want to be strong both mentality and physically.
    • This one involves beating depression and getting of the medication when I’m ready.
    • Also getting strength training in my fitness schedule.
  • I want to go out with friends and on dates and not feel ashamed about my body.
    • This is about getting more confident about being in social settings and feeling comfortable in my own skin at all times.
  • I want to spend less money on crap food for binges and spend it trying new activities.
    • I have made a list of things I would love to try but can’t because of cost.
    • I’ve set up a spreadsheet for when I spend money on food I don’t need to to compare to what I could have spent the money on.
  • I want to do a Triathlon and a Spartan Race.
    • For the challenge.
  • I want to have a healthy body fat percentage.
    • This relates to the strong motivation.
  • I want to be able to wear anything to work or out socially just because I feel like it, not because it fits.
    • This also relates to confidence .
  • I want to get into the ‘bid dogs’ lanes at swimming.
    • This is a goal to aim for and I can compare my swim sets to those lanes to see how far I am away.
  • I want to run with the main running group for longer runs.
    • Again I can compare my progress to what they do to see how far I have come.

So those are things that are currently motivating me. They all relate to my longer term goals in some way and are all about making progress towards those goals. I am going to keep track of my motivations more regularly than I have been doing to make sure I still relate to them and if not update them with new ones that are current. These are more about getting me to go swimming, running or to the gym. I can remind myself of them and why I am working hard right now and that it’s worth it.

I’m worth it!

Take 15

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It took me a while to get into Take 15 after doing Take 10, but once I made the effort to wake up 15 minutes earlier each day and do it then it has made such a different.

Even after a few days I noticed how relaxed I felt going into work. This makes such a change from dreading boredom and anxiety that seemed constant. It also started staying with me through the day the more I did it every day. I struggled with taking time out on the weekend to do this, which is something I will work on with Take 20.

The premise of Take 15 is to build on Take 10 by adding 5 minutes but also to think about why you are doing it a bit. The benefits to you and other people. I didn’t get this to begin with. It wasn’t until I started noticing the calm that stayed with me through the day that I realised I was also calmer with people. I wasn’t jumping to the wrong conclusions and my anxiety didn’t spike right away. Don’t get me wrong, the anxiety and boredom is still there, but I have felt better and been more productive.  Also you start with your eyes open, which was weird, but started to feel more natural towards the end of the series.

I like starting the day with just checking in to see how I feel. Part of the series was to check in during the day and I would like to do this. The Headspace app allows you to set reminders for random times in the day to stop and do a few breaths and notice how I feel. This is the hardest part. I know I get stressed during the day at work and want to avoid those feelings. I know this will probably help a great deal, but allowing myself to feel while in an environment where I feel vulnerable is a challenge. I am thinking I need to take a mini break mid morning and mid afternoon and get out of the office for 5 minutes.

I am struggling with what people think of me at the moment. I want to be liked, but I want to be liked for me – flaws and all. But I don’t want to alienate people through the decisions I make. Taking mini breaks to go outside feels a bit like that in the office. People notice and think there is something wrong, which is nice, but annoying too. It sometimes feels like you have to be chained to your desk. The environment stresses me out, which is why I am working to leave it, but I also have to cope with the now. I know doing the Headspace series have been working as I come into the office calmer, but staying calm is another story and the next area for me to work on.

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