Tag Archives: Healthy Lifestyle

Building Healthy Habits – Decide to Stop Deciding

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Disclosure: This page contains an affiliate link which means that, should you click through and make a purchase, at no extra cost to you, I will earn a small commission .

The main aim of this blog is to share with you all my journey of becoming healthier by losing weight sensibly. A big part of this journey has been building healthier habits into my day-to-day life. One of the things that has helped me most with this aspect of my journey is a book called ‘<a href="http://<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ac&ref=tf_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=fatfightingfo-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=1444769014&asins=1444769014&linkId=1c6d618cb61639ef446759d6dd055e1d&show_border=false&link_opens_in_new_window=false&price_color=333333&title_color=0066C0&bg_color=FFFFFF"> Better Than Before’ by Gretchen Rubin. I came across this book when listening to Rubin’s podcast Happier and thought it sounded like just the thing I needed to help me to build the healthy habits that I have struggled to get to grips with so far.

In the book, Rubin shares 21 strategies to use for building good habits. Not all of them are applicable to everyone – after all different things work for different people – but I thought I’d share with you some of the strategies that I’ve found work best for me, starting with…

Deciding not to decide

When people are struggling to build a new habit, they often talk about lacking willpower or self-control. Rubin refers to studies showing that when we try to use willpower to resist temptation, we are only successful about 50% of the time. She argues that instead of relying on willpower to help us form new habits, we should instead rely on decision making. Habits don’t require us to make decisions; we just ‘do’ them. For example, we don’t decide to brush our teeth each morning or wear a seatbelt every time we are in a car, we just do those things out of habit. So we should decide that we will adopt a healthy habit, and then stop making decisions about that habit: we’ve already decided we’re going to do it, so we no longer need to keep thinking about whether or not we are going to do it or trying to resist the temptation of not doing it, which requires a lot of willpower.

I’ve used this to good effect in helping me to drop a couple of bad habits and establish a good habit over the last few months. At the school where I work, we’re lucky enough to have a plentiful supply of biscuits and bread and butter for toast in the staffroom. In the past, I have over-indulged in these items or found myself eating them even when I’m not hungry – I find them hard to resist, especially if I’m having a hard day. So, when I went back to school in September, I made the decision that I don’t eat biscuits or toast at work. I’ve found this to be really liberating. No longer am I doing daily battle with my self-control in resisting the temptation to indulge because I’ve already made the decision that I don’t eat those things in that setting.

The habit which this strategy has made the most difference with so far, is exercising regularly. I’ve never been that active. I’ve had many fits and starts of exercising but I’ve always found it difficult to maintain a regular exercise routine for a sustained period. At the beginning of the summer though, I decided that I wanted to give it another go as regular exercise is so important for good health. So I decided that I was going to exercise 3 times a week. End of story. No further decision making required. As with the formation of many habits, at the beginning I was really motivated to keep up with it. As time has progressed though, there have been occasions when I’ve not really fancied going, for a variety of reasons, but when this has happened, rather than getting into an internal dialogue with myself about why I should or should not go, I’ve just reminded myself “You’ve already made the decision: You go to the gym 3 times each week”. No will-power battle required. I’m now 17 weeks in and I haven’t missed a single session. Not even when I’ve been on holiday or away for the weekend. I’m still often surprised that I’ve managed to establish this habit so securely and that it has felt so easy to do so compared to my previous attempts.

There are several other strategies I’ve employed as well to help me form these healthier habits, including the strategies of scheduling, accountability and convenience, but I’ll talk more about these in future posts.

Are you trying to form any healthier habits? How could you use the strategy of deciding not to decide to help you on your way?

Progress Report – October 2019

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I’ve decided to approach my progress reports slightly differently for the time being for a couple of reasons:

  1. I was finding writing weekly reports a bit tricky to keep on top of
  2. It’s probably not that interesting for you to read each week whether or not I’ve lost weight

So I’ve decided to try monthly updates instead. I think it’s important for my obliger nature to have the external accountability of letting you know how I’m doing, but hopefully it’ll be more manageable for me and less boring for you!

So, how’s my month been?

Weight – altogether in October, I’ve lost 5.5lb bringing me to a total of 1st 4.5lbs lost so far.

Inch loss – 12 inches lost in total and I’m delighted to see that my collarbone is beginning to reappear. I haven’t seen that for years!

Exercise – I’ve continued to maintain my exercise schedule, even when I went to visit my mum for the weekend, and I’m definitely seeing my endurance and strength improving:

Exercise Starting Point Current Performance
Plank 3x 1 min 3x 1min 15sec
Side Plank – 3x 1min each side
Deadlift 3x 20 reps 16kg 5x 20 reps 24kg
Lunges 3x 10 reps 10kg 5x 12 reps 10kg
Chest Press 3x 20 reps 12.5kg 5x 18 reps 20kg
Bicep Rows 3x 20 reps 15kg 5x 18 reps 20kg
Upright Row 3x 20 reps 10kg 60sec recovery 5x 20 reps 10kg 30sec recovery
Lateral Raise 3x 20 reps 3kg 3x 20 reps 4kg
Lateral Pulldown 3x 20 reps 20kg 5x 18 reps 25kg

I’m really not a fan of having my photograph taken but I was pleasantly surprised to see the difference in a photo taken this time last year to one taken now.

My biggest challenge this month was having a 2 week holiday from work with the temptation to sit around eating biscuits and chocolate all day that that brings. Although I did indulge in a couple of treats, I generally made healthy food choices and rigorously stuck to my training plan and even added in a couple of walks.

Speaking of food choices, although I have generally been making healthy choices, I haven’t been tracking what I eat so that’s something I want to focus on in November as it’s very true that we often eat mindlessly and forget what we have actually consumed.

November is sure to bring with it some challenges as the nights get darker, we get closer to Christmas and it’s also my birthday month, but I’m just going to keep on trying to make healthier choices for the benefit of my future self and with the shorter term aim of looking as good as I can by the time my Christmas holiday comes arounds.

Thanks for reading,

FFF

Progress Report 1.10.19

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Weigh-in Result: -2lb

What do you do when plans go awry? That’s how my healthy eating plans have felt this week. I’ve been trying to streamline my meal planning and shopping process to save me time but this is in the early stages and this week I ran into a few problems involving missing ingredients. In the past, my reaction would have been to throw any ideas of sticking to my plan out of the window as I headed to the chippy. But this time has been different. I’ve reminded myself of the progress I’ve made and how much better I’m feeling and I honestly haven’t wanted to resort to takeaway food.

I’ve been back in the kitchen baking along with the Great British Bake Off and this time it was the turn of my colleagues to ensure that I didn’t eat the entire cake!

This week was book club week and, as I mentioned last month, this would usually be an excuse for me to indulge in a glass of wine and a slice of cake without tracking either of them. Last time around I chose cake, this time, I opted for wine. It was actually the first glass of wine I’ve had since my summer cruise and it was nice to savour it whilst discussing this month’s read.

The weekend saw me visiting my parents in Wales. Previous visits have always had quite a boozy theme to them – although there are 9 pubs in the small town (population 2013) that she lives in, so it can’t really be helped! But this time around, my mum knows how focused Mr FFF and I are on improving our health and fitness so, rather than just getting us some drink in for our arrival on Friday after work, she asked us about it first and we politely declined.

We went out for dinner on Saturday night (almost all of the pubs serve delicious, home-cooked food) but I again stayed in control of my eating by having a light breakfast and lunch and only having two alcoholic drinks with dinner.

A warming bowl of cawl made a delicious lunch.

I continue to surprise myself with my attitude towards my fitness. Rather than seeing spending the weekend at my mum’s as an excuse not to exercise, I took my walking boots to Wales with me. Unfortunately, we were thwarted by the Welsh weather but we managed 20 minute walk and also walked to and from the pub! What I did notice was that climbing the steep hill on the way back from the pub no longer leaves me breathless.

I’d also booked an appointment with my PT for the Sunday afternoon when I got back and was delighted that I was able to tell him that I’d been gyming-it consistently whilst he’s been on holiday.

After a busy couple of weeks, I’m looking forward to a quieter time over the next couple of weeks.

Here’s hoping…

FFF

Progress Report – 24.9.19

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Weigh In Result: STS

As I wrote about last week, I knew that this week was going to present the biggest struggle so far in terms of sticking to my exercise goals because it was a busy week involving several changes to my normal weekly routine. I had a governor’s meeting on one of my normal ‘gym nights’; my PT is on holiday; my mum came to visit from Wales and we went to the cinema; I had to work on Saturday morning; we went out for a meal on Saturday evening; and I’d made arrangements to meet up with friends for coffee on Sunday.

Fortunately, I’d taken the time to think about how I was going to deal with each of these situations and so I was well-prepared for them when they rolled around.

Exercise – Due to the meeting, I’d changed my gym night to Friday. Not how I’d ideally have liked to start my weekend but it was the only other week-night option due to my mum visiting on the Wednesday and attending my WW meeting on Mondays. I also had to rearrange an essential appointment (getting my nails done!) which I’d booked for the Saturday morning before I knew I was going to have to work. The only time I could reschedule for was straight after work on Friday. This made me even less inclined to go the gym on Friday night. I asked myself “Would it really matter if I miss just one session?” I decided that no, missing one wouldn’t hurt, but I didn’t want to miss one. So I got myself to the gym, completed my program and went home feeling rather smug!

Cinema – In days gone by, a trip to the cinema would be an excuse to eat a ton of junk – a hot dog, ice-cream and popcorn would be pretty much standard. But I made the decision to rein myself in this time. I cooked an easy but tasty meal for us to eat before we went and I took some skinny popcorn with us to share. My mum also brought some chocolate to share which I hadn’t planned on. I took a smaller portion than I would have normally and savoured every mouthful.

Saturday working – When we have to work on a Saturday morning, we always get sausage or bacon butties and hash browns along with cakes and donuts to eat during the break time. In the past, I’ve also had a standard breakfast (usually a bagel or porridge) before leaving home too as I get up early and would be ravenous by the time we got to eating the butties. This time around, I considered not having a butty at all, but reasoned that this was the one positive aspect of having to work on a Saturday. So I decided to have some melon and quark before leaving home then to enjoy the butty and hash brown but avoid the cakes and doughnuts as I’m never usually hungry by the time they come out anyway – I only eat them ‘because they’re there’.

Dinner Out – We went out for dinner for the first time since getting back on track with my healthier eating goals (we used to eat out at least once a week but usually, more like two or three times). I decided that just because I was eating out didn’t mean I had to consume a day’s worth of calories in one meal. After all, it’s definitely not going to be the last time I ever eat out. Instead, I planned ahead and made some small changes to enable me to enjoy the evening but stay in control of my food choices.

Coffee with friends – I’d arranged to meet up with some friends for coffee on Sunday. We met at this fabulous book farm that has a café where they serve the most amazing array of cakes. I knew that with both of my friends would be ordering some and I’d most definitely feel I was missing out if I didn’t indulge in a slice. But I had a couple of strategies for working it into my healthier eating plan: as we were meeting at 2pm, I decided to class the piece of cake as my lunch. With this in mind, I had a 3-egg omelette for breakfast which I knew would keep me feeling full and planned a simple Sunday roast for my evening meal with only a small amount of potato and plenty of veg. You’ll be pleased to know, I’m sure, that my cake was delicious and I actually couldn’t finish it all! I may have only left one mouthful, but this is progress indeed!

I’ve got to be honest, I’ve found it difficult to stay focused this week, especially with completing my gym sessions, but I think this was simply down to the fact that it was a busy week with several schedule changes. Now I’ve gotten to the end of it though, I’m really pleased that I’ve managed to get all of my exercise sessions in as I’m not likely to get a week much busier than this one has been. I’ve shown myself that it is possible to juggle my schedule and prioritise my healthy lifestyle goals even when life gets busy.

What has been a great motivator this week is that two people commented on the fact that they can see I’ve lost weight which made me feel great and determined to stick with it.

Thanks for reading,

FFF

Make Small Changes

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When embarking on a new ‘diet’ or healthy living program, lots of people steam in and try to change everything all in one go. They tell themselves that they are not going to eat any ‘unhealthy’ food, they’re going to stop eating out and are going to go to the gym 5 days a week.

I think that these views are often fuelled by TV shows such as the biggest loser where we watch in admiration as people spend hours each day with a personal trainer and eat only healthful, nutritionally balanced meals and the weight of course falls off. But is this realistic for those of us who are not being paid to be on such a show? We have to remember that these participants are basically being paid to lose weight – it’s their job to do so.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not being paid to live healthily and lose weight. I have to go out to work every day. And I haven’t got a team of chefs planning and preparing my meals.

When we try to change everything about our lifestyle in one go, it can often lead to overwhelm and can become unsustainable. So it’s often recommended that instead of overhauling every aspect of our lives, when trying to create new habits, we choose a few key areas in which to make small changes.

For me, this time around, that’s what I’ve been focusing on. I made the decision at the start of the summer to change just three things – I was going to start tracking my food, start exercising 3 times a week and stop eating out so often. Then I went on holiday and I decided that I was going to make a couple of small changes to how I would usually behave on holiday: I decided to continue going to the gym 3 times a week; to make the most of the healthy food options that were available and prepared for me rather than always choosing the most indulgent options; and to avoid drinking alcohol during the day.

I’m pleased to say that I’ve been sticking to these changes and have been seeing weight loss on the scales, reductions in my measurments and improvements in my fitness.

This weekend, I went out for dinner with friends for the first time since refocusing on my weightloss and health improvement goals. We went to a local steak house and again, I made some small changes to how I would normally approach a meal out: I decided I was only to going to have one glass of wine; we didn’t have starters although, if we were going to, I’d decided to order the salad option; I ordered the ‘lighter option’ version of steak accompaniments which saw my steak served with a delicious mixed salad instead of fries and fried onion loaf; then for dessert, I chose to order a peppermint tea with a mini-pud.

I left the restaurant feeling satisfied having enjoyed a delicous meal and great company, but I still felt in control. I also didn’t feel so stuffed that I spent the rest of the night feeling uncomfortable.

So, if you’re thinking about making big changes to your habits or lifestyle, maybe think again and just think about a couple of small changes you could make to get you started.

Have you decided to make any small changes to your habits or lifestyle? Let me know in the comments section.

Thanks for reading,

FFF

Progress Report – 17.9.19

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Weigh In Result: -2.5lb

Last week’s STS weigh-in was the first real test of thelatest attempt to shift my excess weight. I’d been ‘good’ all week, sticking to my food and exercise plan, and seeing no movement on the scales did leave me feeling a bit deflated. I could almost hear a tiny voice telling me that I might as well just forget any ideas of being slim and dive headfirst into a large bar of chocolate!

But I soon had a word with myself and reminded myself of a few things:

  • staying the same is better than gaining weight
  • I’m continuing to exercise which is good for my physical and mental health
  • I’m continuing to eat more healthily which is good for my physical and – I’m coming to realise – mental health
  • I’m in it for the long haul – the weight didn’t go on overnight so it’s unrealistic to expect it to come off overnight

So this week I’ve dug in and carried on making the choices that are going to have the compound effect of helping me move towards a healthier, slimmer body.

This was my first full week back at work following the summer holidays and I knew that the marking and lesson preparation would start to build up. In the past, I’ve used this as an excuse not to exercise. But this week I just told myself that going to gym twice after work was a non-negotiable.

Even after a incident involving some superglue and two of my fingers (we’ll say no more about it. Other than it was actually two fingers and two thumbs) which made me half an hour late and put me in a pretty foul mood, I still hauled my backside to the gym, telling myself that I’d just do half an hour. Well it turns out that once I got there, I realised that being half an hour late for my own schedule was not going to cause the world to end and ended up doing my full program. And I’m so glad that I made myself go because my mood was much improved once I’d finished my workout. And I’ve thrown the superglue away.

I’m continuing to make steady progress with my exercise program too. I’ve increased my plank time and started to do side planks; I’ve begun to walk-jog-sprint on the treadmill rather than just walk-sprint; I’ve increased my speed on the rower, reps on my lunges and weight on the lateral pull down.

Next week’s test is going to be two-pronged: I’ve got a governor’s meeting which clashes with the  day I’d normally go to the gym and my PT is away on holiday. But I’ve got a plan to deal with both situations: I’ve timetabled my gym session for another night and I’m focusing on being able to say to my trainer the next time I see him that I’ve still completed three workouts each week – after all, he’s the one on holiday, not me!

Thanks for reading,

FFF

Run Fat Fighter! Run! V.3

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I’ve never been a lover of exercise. I spent most of my senior school PE lessons side-lined with an ingrown toenail with notes to excuse me written regularly by my mum*.

(*There’s a reason why our signatures are so alike. I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions about what that reason is…)

But I do appreciate that exercise is a vital part of maintaining a healthy body and mind. With this in mind, I have, with varying levels of commitment and longevity, tried a reasonable range of activities to try and get into the exercise habit over the years.

One of the things I’ve tried is the Couch 2 5K Program (C25K). This is a free program developed by the NHS which promises to take you from sitting on the couch to running 5km in 9 weeks.

I’ve tried it a few times over the last few years. It’s always started well but I’d previously never gotten past about week 4 or 5.

This new year, rather than making ‘resolutions’ which are easy to break and then forget about, I decided to set myself some goals which you can keep working towards even if you have a bit of a set back. One of my goals was to finally complete the C25K program.

I downloaded the latest version of the app and actually went for my first run on Christmas Day last year. “Christmas?” I hear you ask, “I thought this was a ‘new year’ goal?” Well yes, but I’m a planner and I’d decided on Christmas Eve that this was going to be one of them so I thought I might as well strike while the iron was hot and try to balance some of the Christmas calories that I was about to consume.

The first week has you running for 60 seconds at a time with 90 seconds of running in between for a total of 20 minutes. Mr FFF came with me and encouraged me every step of the way. Despite the fact that it was only 60 seconds of running at a time, that only just felt manageable. It felt like I’d never get to a point where I’d be able to run for 30 minutes without stopping, but I knew that I could get to at least Week 4 (the running periods increase gradually each week) so I persevered and made it to Week 5.

Now, in Weeks 1-4, each of the 3 weekly runs is the same, ie in Week 1, you run for 60 seconds and walk for 90 seconds for a total of 20 mins and you do this 3 times in the week. But in Week 5, this pattern changes. I did not know this.

So the first run in Week 5 went: 5 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, 5 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, 5 minutes running. I coped well with this and was feeling pretty good. On my second run, I was feeling a but tired as I’d had a late night the night before and then a particularly busy day at work. But I tied my laces and headed out anyway, not really paying attention to the introduction that my chosen coach (you can choose from the NHS’s own coach or a couple of celebs. I chose Sarah Millican) was giving on how the run would be structured as I chatted to Mr FFF whilst completing our 5 minute warm-up walk. Sarah told me it was time to start running and I picked up the pace expecting to run for 5 minutes. As I was running and waiting for Sarah to tell me that it was time to walk, I was finding the going surprisingly hard. My legs felt heavy and it felt like much more of a struggle than run number 1 of the week had felt. When she finally told me to stop running, she congratulated me for managing to run for 8 whole minutes! No wonder it felt harder.

This was the hardest week as run 3 (which I looked at the schedule for after getting home from run 2!) increased again to running for 20 whole minutes!!! I suddenly remembered why I’d never made it past this point on my previous attempts.

At first I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to do it but I reasoned that the plan had been devised by people who know what they’re talking about. I also knew that I could always repeat this week or the previous week if I found it too hard.

But guess what? I did it! I managed to complete Week 5! Having passed the point at which I’d previously quit really spurred me on to complete the program and I carried on. Even when Mr FFF couldn’t come with me to cheer me on and provide that accountability that I need as an Obliger. Even when the weather turned really wintry and it was snowing. I kept on doing it and I COMPLETED THE PROGRAM!!!

I was so proud of myself for sticking with it and achieving my goal. Even thinking about it now, months later, I still feel really proud.

So, if you’re looking for a way to get moving more**, I’d highly recommend the C25K program. The app is great. It’s free,you can listen to your own music and your coach will tell you when to run, when to walk and will give you words of encouragement throughout each run. You also get a gold tick in the app for each run you complete and a virtual trophy at the end. The program builds up the running time gradually and each week feels like just the right level of challenge.

I’m still fighting the battle with getting into a regular exercise habit, but completing the C25K program has definitely helped me to alter my mindset and believe in my physical abilities.

What are your top tips for getting into an exercise routine? Let me know in the comments section.

Thanks for reading,

FFF

**I am not a doctor. Please check with a doctor or other suitably qualified healthcare professional before beginning any exercise program.

Progress Report – 10.9.19

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This week’s progress report will cover the last two weeks (I’ve been trying to organise an actual timetable for my posts and changed my mind about the best time to schedule updates). Ordinarily, they’ll be a recap of how I’ve been getting on over the last week. But anyway, here’s what’s been happening over the last couple of weeks.

Week 1: 1.5lb loss

This was was first week ‘post cruise’ (for more about my recent cruise, click here) and the last week of my long summer holiday before going back to school.

Ordinarily, I would’ve used the ‘just back from holiday’ excuse to avoid exercising and continue eating rubbish until I’d been for my first weigh in. But this year was different. Before I went away, I booked an appointment with my PT for my usual timeslot on the day I got back to help me stay in the habit of exercising.

Because I’d exercised, I also didn’t feel like eating rubbish so I called into the supermarket on my way home from the gym to pick up some stir fry for my dinner and some eggs for breakfast. I then took time in the evening to plan my meals for the following week and shopped for them the next day.

The last week of the school holidays usually sees me making the most of the last opportunity for a while spend my days sitting and reading whilst eating chocolate and biscuits. I still took the time to do some reading and watch some of the new series of OITNB on Netflix, but I made sure I still went to the gym and rather than buying a big bar of chocolate and kidding myself I’d make it last for the week, I bought a small bar of chocolate to eat at the end of the week.

I also spent some time doing some decluttering and tidying of the house which helped to keep me a bit more active than usual and distracted me from craving the aforementioned chocolate and biscuits.

Week 2: STS

This week saw my return to school following a lovely, long summer holiday. I used the weekend before going back to school to plan and shop for my meals for the week ahead so I was good to go on the food front.

My challenges this week were sticking to healthier eating at school and changing my exercise schedule to fit around work.

On the first couple of days back at school, we always have sauage or bacon batches and pastries for breakfast. I always (over)indulge and this can be enough of a trigger to get me thinking that I can’t resist the temptation to eat unhealthily at work. But this year, I had a little word with myself. Although I enjoy bacon butties and breakfast pastries, it was more important to me to break the habit cycle of eating unhealthily at work. So I had a really filling, healthy breakfast before I left home and rather than having a bacon butty and a hashbrown when I got to school, followed by whatever was still left at breaktime, I just had one hashbrown and I tracked it. I used the same approach with the pastries. Rather than helping myself everytime I went into the staffroom until they were gone, I chose one, tracked it and enjoyed it guilt free.

One of my other stumbling blocks at school is indulging in dessert every day. Lunch is provided on training days and there is always some kind of hot dessert with custard. Up until now, my philosophy has always been to never refuse free food. This time around, I made the decision in advance to refuse the free pudding and instead take advantage of the free fruit. When we went for lunch on the first day back, the new caterers had not provided a hot pudding – only fruit. Bizarely, even though I’d decided not to have it anyway, I was really annoyed that it hadn’t been provided! My friend suggested that I was actually annoyed that I hadn’t had the chance to not have it. I felt much better the next day when it was offered and I was then able to refuse it so she was probably right.

I’m very pleased that I still went to the gym twice this week. During the holidays, I’ve been going first thing in the morning to get it out of the way and this is definitely my preferred time to exercise. However, as I’m not willing to get up any earlier than I already do to enable me to train before work, I’m now having to go in the evenings after work. I made both of my timetabled sessions this week even though I’d had to stay at school a bit later than I was hoping to on both evenings. I’m just hoping that I’ll be able to keep this commitment up when things start to get busier as we get into the swing of the term…

What are your top tips for fitting exercise around your work schedule? Let me know in the comments section.

Thanks for reading,

FFF

One Won’t Hurt

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Photo by kylie De Guia on Unsplash

I’m sure we’ve all used or heard this expression. I know I’ve definitely used it to justify:

  • having a cake
  • having a biscuit (even though I usually only eat those in twos)
  • having a glass of wine
  • not tracking a meal or snack
  • missing a workout

And it’s true. One won’t hurt. But if you’re having ‘one’ every day, eventually this adds up and has an impact. Darren Hardy talks more about this in his book ‘The Compund Effect’.

…decisions shape your destiny. Little, everyday decisions will take you either to the life you desire or to disaster by default.

The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy

I try to keep this principle at the forefront of my mind whenever I’m faced with making a decision about what to eat or whether to exercise or not. I ask myself a simple question,

“Will doing this take me closer to or further away from where I want to be?”

I’ve been seeing someone.

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It’s been going on for weeks. Mr FFF knows and is all for it. The ‘someone’ I’ve been seeing is a personal trainer and so far, it’s going well.

I made the decision back at the beginning of the summer. I have a personal training session once a week and then I go independently another 2 times. My reasoning for paying more on top of my gym membership for PT sessions is that I’m an obliger* – I find it difficult to meet expections that I set for myself but easy(er) to meet someone else’s expections of me. I don’t want to turn up to my PT session on a Saturday and have to say to my trainer that I haven’t been since I last saw him.

I’ve also chosen to go with a gym program for a couple of reasons, despite the fact that I’ve previously always found the gym to be mind-numbingly boring. Historically, I’ve always preferred to attend group exercise classes such as Zumba, Step and Body Pump. I love the music and find that I push myself harder when there is an instructor watching me (there’s that obliger tendancy again). However, my busy schedule during term time means that meeting or training sessions sometimes cause me to miss a class. The problem is, rather than simply going again the following week, this can be enough of an excuse to kick me out of the habit. Going to the gym, however, means that although I’ll still have scheduled times for attending, if I can’t make it for some reason, I can simply go at another time that day or during the same week as I’m not relying on a class timetable.

I’ve been going since the second week in July and so far haven’t missed a session, even when I was on holiday. Before I went, I also booked a PT session for my usual time on the day I came back from holiday to get me straight back into the swing of my healthy lifestyle rather than letting any holiday laziness continue until the following Monday.

So far, it seems to be working and I’m seeing small steps of progress. I’m already lifting heavier weights than I was when I started and finding it easier to do so. The thing I am most proud of is that I can now do 3x 1 minute planks. Previously, I’d always struggled to get to 30 seconds when doing them in a group class, but when there’s someone sitting right next to you with a stopwatch in hand watching only you, (that obliger tendancy kicks in again) you dig that bit deeper.

The real test is going to come now that I’m back at work and have to exercise afterwards rather than getting it done out of the way first thing in the morning. I’ll update you in a few weeks and let you know how I’m getting on.

Thanks for reading,

FFF

What are your top tips for keeping to your exercise routine when you’re busy with work? Let me know in the comments section.

(*For more information on obligers and to find out whether you are an obliger, upholder, questions or rebel, visit Gretchen Rubin’s website to find out about her Four Tendencies Framework.)