Week 1 - Healthy Habits Check In

I have finished my first week of implementing my new Healthy Habits.  You can check out my Diet, Exercise and Sleep Log for the week here, and my plan for these new habits here.

I’m not very happy with how I went this week, but I have learned some valuable lessons – and filling in my log every day has been the key to it.

The biggest thing I have worked out is that the days I am not at home, or I am busy, my diet goes completely out the window – quick, easy meals on the go, completely devoid of any nutrition and completely obliterating my budget.

The second thing I have learned is that exercise is something I need to place a higher priority on. Yes I have exercised twice as planned, but I only exercised yesterday because I KNEW my deadline was looming and I’d have to report in…  I kept putting the 2^nd session off all week.  But you know, once I got started I enjoyed it…

And thirdly, my sleeping was going to plan until I started snacking on Dark Chocolate before bed – I am very sensitive to caffeine and Dark Chocolate contains WAY too much for someone as sensitive as I am, to be having before bed and still sleeping soundly!!  And a sleep in on Sunday morning left me lethargic all day.

Week 1 has been a bit of a letdown.  But, as with everything in life… there were lessons learned!

The sleep issue won’t recur seeing as I no longer have any dark chocolate left, and am reminded once again of my caffeine sensitivity!  I also think that if I am back to my normal sleeping routines, the Sunday sleep in won’t happen.

I am due to do my fortnightly grocery shop on Tuesday, so today I am going to spend the day planning my meals and shopping list for the fortnight to include as many meals that can provide leftovers, to freeze, as possible.  I am also going to bake some snacks to pop into the freezer so I can just “grab and go” on the days I am going to town or busy.

As for exercise…  I have to see the physiotherapist on Tuesday morning to work on my upper back/neck/shoulder issues that have been causing my right eye pain, so once I know what they want me to do, I will have to incorporate that into my plan. 

I think the only thing I can do is plan on exercising the minute I get out of bed – the chaos of the day can’t distract me, I can’t talk myself out of it, I won’t have exhausted myself throughout the day… OR I turn the TV off of an evening & exercise then - I only watch it because its on - there's nothing I NEED to see.  It really is mind over matter for me...  Once I get started I love exercising, I just find it hard to get started.

So as unhappy as I am with the week, I do feel like I have learned some valuable lessons and have some plans in place to try and do better this coming week.  And I guess that's the most important thing - to see where I'm needing to improve and make the adjustment.

At least I am VERY happy with how much water I’m drinking – definitely reaching my 2l per day!