Healthy Lifestyle

I decided that once the Christmas period was over it was time to start really working on adopting a healthier lifestyle, especially where eating is concerned. Since this blog focuses on keeping me motivated, I will be documenting my lifestyle changes and the effects these have on me. Each week I'll set myself a realistic goal that I'll try to stick to for at least the week, until I manage to transition to a healthier lifestyle- this week it's simply to get used to eating healthily after all my Christmas indulgences. I'm hoping to be realistic with this diet- no food is forbidden but less healthy foods are limited. I definitely don't intend cutting them out all together, I really don't think that will be sustainable. I'm also trying to do a little bit of exercise (Wii Zumba- it's fun and super effective!), but again. I'm trying not to push myself too hard with it. I want to be able to keep it up, and I won't if I'm constantly making myself tired and worn out. Though I'd rather focus on the health benefits of my lifestyle changes, it would be nice to lose a bit of weight too, so I'm taking photos of my body regularly (either monthly or fortnightly) in order to track my progress and keep myself motivated. I'm also hoping to gain a clearer mind, better concentration and focus, feel happier, have more energy and clear my eczema up at least a bit. I'll try and post frequently about how I'm doing with these changes, and whether I've gained anything from it. I'm also thinking about doing posts about meals I've enjoyed over the month, which will help me remember what I liked eating so I can have it again. I might post recipes of the ones I make, too.

It's been around a week since I started making the transition and I think I've done OK. I haven't completely stopped sugar but I've cut it down a lot, and I'm eating much more healthily (three meals a day with minimal snacking in between). I've even managed to incorporate a bit of exercise into my routine. I think I've been fairly successful in achieving m goal this week. As for effects I don't think I've lost any weight, my eczema isn't much better and I don't feel like my energy levels have increased that much, but I couldn't expect drastic changes in such a short space of time. One thing I have noticed, however, is that I feel a bit happier. Before this I was feeling really down, but I've found a second wave of strength and right not I feel better than I thought I would. I wonder is this is down to my dietary changes?

My goal for next week is to stop sugar for the week.

Improved Confidence- December

I've decided that I'm going to make monthly posts up until I go to university (and possibly even beyond then) where I keep track of everything I've done in the month that has gone towards improving my confidence. These things would usually be stuff I wouldn't have normally done, but could also include things that made me feel much happier and gave me a better perspective on life. This will hopefully help me achieve my aim of improving my confidence over my gap year. These are the things I've done over December:

• Gone over to my neighbour's house (like actually going over there and knocking on her door) and had a conversation with her
• Met someone I knew in one of my AS classes and had a conversation
• Attended a second interview for the same company I had my first with, but at a different store
• Filled in the online application for the job I had been interviewed for immediately after I got home (they did things in a weird order)
• Got rejected after the two interviews by an automated email
• Filled in another online application which took forever (I don't particularly like online applications, as you can tell), and handled the rejection well enough

If I'm honest I didn't do much confidence wise this month. December was kind of a step backwards, disappointingly. I 'relaxed' a little too much over the Christmas period, which didn't really do me any good, and by the end of it I ended up feeling like complete shit. I'm trying to pick myself up from that now, and if these feeling bubble up with the same potency again I will definitely try and work them out in this blog (or at least my tumblr one). That is the whole point of this blog, working out my feelings and preventing me from completely crumbling in this 'gap year.' I'll at the very least try and do something addressing all of this, and maybe set up a self help day, which I'll blog about. I'm rambling now, so I'll stop. Hopefully January will be better.