Time flies...when you get a new job!

It's been a while since I have last posted - I have lots to report!

I have a new job!

I've been in my new role for 4 months now and although it is very time intensive, I absolutely love it! I never thought I would find a job (that I actually get paid to do!) that I would love. It wasn't easy to find this job, and it really happened very quickly, but it has made me realise just how important it is to love what you do.

Completed Couch to 5k!

I can't believe I've done it! But I did! My fitness levels are significantly better than they were!

Ditched "Diets"

I love loosing weight quickly, but I have learnt something about myself - if I deprive myself of something, eventually I crack and do much worse than I would have done if I had just had it in the first place. I am no longer open to going on diets. I am looking to change to something that will last forever. As a result I am eating more veg and even a tiny bit of fruit. I still have chocolate and I still eat carbs, I have just reduced the quantity.

Weightloss 

My weightloss has been really slow - my heaviest weight to date has been 72kg - thankfully I didn't stay there long. 

At the beginning of my new "change" I weighed 70kg. Since ditching diets & increasing my exercise I have lost about 1.5kg in a month - very slow to say the least. I don't think my body likes me very much. It must be very confused after nearly 3 years of yoyo dieting.

Fitness

Since completing the Couch to 5k programme, I have kept up my running. I can now jog for 7km - admitedly still very slowly - but without stopping! 

The last 3 weeks I have been doing 1-2 workouts a day with one rest day. I vary between 60 minute hot yoga classes and jogging. I have done a few kettle bell workouts at home - but I can now tell that I really need to ramp up my effort with weights - after all the dieting and lack of exercise, my lean muscle mass is incredibly low - probably making my metabolic burn rate low - hence the lack of weight loss.

What now?

- 1-2 workouts a day - 1 rest day per week

- Eat less processed food

- Eat more veg

- Eat less processed carbs

- Drink 2 litres of water a day

- Need to find a good way to get a strength workout that will really hurt the next day...

My Sister's Challenge to Me!

Hello! I'm back!

As you can probably tell my self improvement project has been a little lacking over the past couple of weeks - definitely in the blogging department! 
I was talking to my younger sister a couple of weeks ago, and told her about my project (I really haven't told many people, which is ironic as I am posting on the big world wide web!) 

Anyway, my sister said I am trying to do way too much all at once (I know, I know - I even said that!) but I find it really hard to choose which thing to do first and I really just want to do everything straight away. My sister has taken a far more realistic approach and rather authoratively told me that she will be setting me a challenge for two weeks. I am not allowed to focus on anything else I want to achieve, or be hard on myself if I don't do other things, apart from this one challenge. 

The challenge: 
To wear make-up ever day for two weeks,regardless of whether I was going to the gym, running late or just staying in doing the laundry!

This probably doesn't seem very difficult to someone that does this all the time - if you would have said this to me 18 months ago I would have said the same, but for whatever reason I have let myself go - hence the self improvement project! 

So on the search for the best version of myself I have now been proudly and happily wearing make-up every single day! Even when I went to the gym! My little confession here is that I actually really enjoyed this challenge and wearing make up. Weirdly (or not?) it has made me feel better about myself and even more confident - all it took is a little mascara, sometimes foundation and when I was feeling very motivated blusher and lipstick. I have actually had quite a few compliments over the past two weeks! 

I am really glad I completed my sisters challenge! More importantly I'm expecting to wear make-up tomorrow - just because I want to!  

Life Lesson tips: 
"Successful change is gradual, pick one little thing you want to change on a daily basis and do that one little thing every day for two weeks." 

You will feel proud when you have completed your challenge to yourself - who knows it may be a little thing that sticks!

The beginning...ish

My "Self Improvement Project" unofficially started ever since I can remember - probably even when I was a child. There was always something I wanted to do better, or was sure I would be able to do some day like play the cello or be an amazing singer - don't we all?! It just seems that everything I started ended up being more of a phase - which I always assume is normal for a child.

Well I am not a child anymore - far from it, and I am still always torturing myself about something I really must do, or very often not do...it just seems inevitable that I will always have great intentions, but not much follow through. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I do badly, there are just so many things I would like to do, in fact I do believe that is my problem; there are so many things I want to do/achieve/improve that I simply cannot choose a single goal - I have more than I can remember! I've tried focusing on just one thing, but I am not a patient person, if I think of something I want to do NOW. So I guess its pretty obvious why I never finish anything...it is so clear what I should do and yet I can't make myself stick to just one thing, mainly because I don't want to. 

Instead, I am now going to blog about it, which will help me record what I have done, hopefully encourage and keep me on track. It also means I'm doing something else I have always wanted to try and not quite had the courage to do - blog! So here I am blogging about all the things I want to do and achieve, ultimately trying to be the best version of myself. Wish me luck!