Staying Successful - How to Change Your New Years Resolutions into a Way of Life

Hi everyone! I hope your 2016 is going great so far!

Towards the back end of 2015 I posted on my Facebook page and Twitter how I wouldn't be making any new years resolutions. Rather, I was making a year end resolution. That year end resolution was to finish 2015 fitter and stronger than when I started. And I did! I'd been following my fitness programmes and eating clean (with a little balance thrown in on occasion) since October. I'd lost weight, toned up, and was beasting my workouts because I was fitter and stronger *round of applause!*

I've never been one for new years resolutions, I can't really see the point. Surely if you're that bothered about losing weight/giving up smoking/cutting back on alcohol/insert your vice here... then you'd just do it. Wouldn't you? I'm always surprised that people are willing to wait until January 1st to make the change.
Oh, please don't get me wrong. I'm playing devil's advocate to a degree here. Anyone that makes an effort to start a journey towards better health and fitness is frickin' awesome in my mind. It's not an easy thing to commit to and I salute anyone that goes balls out for it. It's just the January 1st bit that I don't get. Forgive me?

Anyway, so as not to run the risk of offending anyone who has made a new year resolution to get fitter, stronger and healthier in 2016 I wanted to give you some tips on how to keep that momentum going.

After the initial excitement of it all the reality hits and excuses start creeping in as to why you don't have time to work out today, or some of those unhealthy favourite treats start to creep into you shopping trolley. But you know that if you want it bad enough, if you have a strong desire and motivation to do something then you'll find a way! If you're not highly motivated then you'll find excuses instead.

So here are my TOP TIPS FOR STAYING SUCCESSFUL WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH:

Number One

A strong 'Why' or driving force to change your nutrition and fitness levels is absolutely essential. I made sure to ask my challengers in our recent 5 Day Introduction to Clean Eating group what their 'Why' is. It's easy to answer "to lose weight" or "to look better" but it's often deeper than that. Lack of confidence, health concerns (either current ones or potential issues in the future), worries that you won't be able to keep up with your kids/grandkids as they (and you!) get older, a desire to set a good example to your children, wanting your family to be proud of you, wanting to feel ALIVE again! The list is endless and much more involved than any superficial 'vain' reasons.

The point is that you have to really want to change. If your 'Why' is strong enough it serve as an internal motivator that keeps you going even when the novelty wears off. You have to want to change more than you want to stay the same!

Number Two

Be committed. You have to commit in order to succeed. You have to be willing to do whatever it takes to get there. You've gotta go all in!

Number Three

Stick to good nutrition. The 80/20 rule won't put you far wrong! Have a treat then get straight back into the game. Make sure you're drinking lots of water. You may find it helpful to track your daily food intake in a journal. You will make steady and healthy progress.

Number Four

Trust that you'll be successful. If you really want it you can have it! So give yourself some credit - you can do it! It may be trial and error for a while. It may take some time to find out what works best for your body, but it'll come. Go ahead and tweak things as you go along. Progress is slow, you just have to have faith that you'll get there. Give it time and don't give up too early because you've got this!

So now you’ve started, don’t let anything stop you!

Chicken and Broccoli Cheesy Pasta Bake

Point winner dinner! This new recipe went down a treat. All 3 boys asked for seconds! This one is definitely a keeper.

Chicken and Broccoli Cheesy Pasta Bake (Serves 8)

230g uncooked fusilli wholewheat pasta
375ml unsweetened almond milk
500g cooked chicken breast, chopped
125g mature cheddar, grated
1 large head of broccoli
4 tsp pure butter
2 tbsp wholemeal flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

1.  Turn the oven on to 190deg C.
2. Cook the pasta according to the instructions and set aside.
3. Cut off the broccoli florets and steam for 6 minutes. Chop into bite sized pieces.
4. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the flour and whisk for 1 minute.
5. Slowly add the almond milk to the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly for a few minutes or until it thickens.
6. Reduce the heat to low and add in the cheese, salt and pepper, stirring constantly for a few minutes.
7. Add chicken, broccoli and pasta and stir through.
8. Tip into a baking dish.
9.  Bake for 15 minutes.

ENJOY!

Roasted Vegetable Soup

Oh yum! Dee-licious! Roasted vegetable soup. You've gotta try this recipe. Guess what the best part is??? It's got 3 portions of vegetables in one serving! Yep, you heard me right, 3 of your 5 a day in just one heavenly bowlful! This is my most requested recipe so far. Try it - you'll love it!

Roasted Vegetable Soup (Serves 6)

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
6 medium parsnips, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
2 medium onions, peeled and cut into quarters
1 medium pepper (red, orange or yellow, cut into large pieces
1.5 litres reduced salt organic vegetable stock
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 200deg C.
2. Put all the chopped veg into a big bowl. Add the oil, thyme and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix together so the veggies are covered nicely in the oil.
3. Tip into a baking tray (or 2) and roast for 40 minutes.
4. Blend the roasted veg together with a total of 1 litre of vegetable stock until it's nice and smooth. You'll probably have to do this in batches.
5. Put the blended veg into a saucepan with the remaining 500ml of stock and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir and heat through.
6. Serve (or portion out into 6 containers to enjoy later!).

2016 (so far).....

Evening everyone!

I hope you've all had a good weekend and are feeling rested and ready for a brand new week.

Time for me to reflect on the past couple of weeks :)

 

The first thing I want to say is that I've been struggling to find time for blogging. I think that's because I'd been focusing most of my time in preparing for my 5 Day Clean Eating group. This actually took up a LOT of my time and I'd definitely underestimated it. I kept going over and over the same things time and time again to check I was happy with it and that I hadn't missed anything out. It was important to me that the group was useful to my challengers. I mean, that was the purpose of it right? I wanted to be able to teach and show people what clean eating was all about and how they could incorporate it fuel their body with nutritious food and achieve a healthier lifestyle. It was really important to me that I got it right. So, yes, I did spend a lot of time on it and my blogging suffered as a result. But I now have the basics organised so that next time I run the group a lot of the work is already done. Yay! And now we've had the opportunity to run the group I'm glad I spent the time on it that I did. More about that in a minute!

 

Right, so this new workout that I've been doing.....well actually it's going GREAT! I truly didn't know how I was going to take to this one as it's so unlike anything I'd ever done before. I was worried about using weights so much. I didn't even know if I was strong enough for it! My biggest worry though, was that without loads of cardio exercise how would I even maintain my current weight, let alone drop any more pounds!?! The proof is in the pudding as they say. About one week in I started to feel really bloated and pudgy around my belly area. I could see that I was already toning up my legs and shoulders but my tummy had started to look way worse than it had been a few weeks earlier. I mean, it was really quite big when I looked in the mirror from the side and it just felt really flabby. I wasn't making it up, Rog agreed with me but he said I should ignore it and not worry. Then I made the stupid mistake of getting on the scale in the hope that it would be the same as it was before, proving that I shouldn't be discouraged, but to my absolute horror I was 4 pounds heavier than I had been the week before!II was so upset and I truly felt like I'd taken a massive step backwards. It wasn't the number that upset me particularly, I just felt that all of the work and effort I'd put in over the weeks before had just been undone. Needless to say I was really quite upset about it and it made me question if I wanted to continue with the programme or go back to my old one. Luckily I had Rog on my side and he managed to convince me to keep going. I googled it (I love Google! What did I ever do without it?) and found that other people doing this workout were also experiencing the same sort of thing. This put my mind at rest especially when it was made clear that this is actually quite a normal reaction when using weights at this sort of frequency when you haven't been used to it before. Apparently it's caused by inflammation. When you work out, it causes little tears in your muscle fibres (that’s why you feel sore after a workout). When your body heals those little tears and strengthens the muscle there’s so much going on that the area swells up. The fluid needed for this obviously weighs something—and that might show up on the scale. But it’s temporary. I'm a scientist at heart so that made me feel a lot better about it. And wouldn't you know it.....in this last week I've dropped that 4 pounds back off and all of the water retention has gone leaving me feeling that I'm exactly where I should be!!! So it's full steam ahead with the workout schedule! 

So, back to my clean eating group! I was really nervous about doing this. I'd never done anything like it before and I wanted it to be worthwhile. Plus I'd given myself a deadline of a start date so I couldn't get out of it, even though I did consider backing out a couple of times! I thought that it was highly possible that nobody would be interested and I wouldn't even have any challengers. But I was wrong!! I got a full quota of challengers in the group (each one of them approaching me rather than me having to pester them - bonus!). It was ideal. It seemed to run well and my challengers were actively involved, posting about their days and asking lots of questions. They encouraged each other and it was a really positive experience. I've also found some opportunities for improvement so I'll be making those tweaks for the next time I run it (I'm hoping that this is something I run every few weeks depending on interest). Let me know if you're interested and I can start to build up a picture of how to plan these for the future :) I've had great feedback from my challengers that they're ready to start to make some lasting changes to their health and fitness. I'm so happy!!! 

 

At the same time as my clean eating group some of my very good friends have started a fitness routine where they're following a workout schedule (one of the ones I've previously been doing) and it's been awesome listening to their daily trials and tribulations, as well as their daily successes! I'm so very proud of them and I love being able to help and support them. They're telling me that they're seeing improvements every day and I know they're going to crush it! 

 

I honestly have to say that 2016 has started on a really positive note and I cannot wait to see what everyone will accomplish this year!

Kitchen Essentials for Clean Eating

 

When you're eating clean there are a number of essential ingredients that will always come in handy. You can use these to knock up a meal even if you don't have fresh meat or vegetables available. Here is a list of items that I try to keep in my kitchen at all times. It's taken me a while to build this up. I've been buying one or two items each time I do a food shop and it soon adds up. Most of these items last a while as well, so you won't be having to buy them all the time. Obviously this is just a starting point - there are loads more that can come in handy!

Vinegars / Sauces

• Cider Vinegar
• Red Wine Vinegar
• White Wine Vinegar
• Wholegrain Mustard
• Dijon Mustard
• Lemon/Lime Juice

Herbs / Spices

• Sea Salt
• Dried Basil
• Dried Oregano
• Dried Bay Leaves
• Dried Thyme
• Dried Rosemary
• Fresh herbs (I grow these in containers on my patio: Bay, Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, Basil, Sage, Chives, Coriander, Mint)
• Garlic Powder
• Garlic Granules
• Onion Powder
• Ground Cumin
• Ground Cinnamon
• Smoked Paprika
• Mild Chilli Powder
• Mild Curry Powder

Oils

• Coconut Oil
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Nuts / Seeds

• Pecans
• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Cashews
• Natural Peanut Butter
• Almond Butter
• Chia Seeds

Tins / Cartons

• Chopped Tomatoes
• Passata
• Tomato Puree
• Black Eyed Beans
• Butter Beans
• Kidney Beans
• Chickpeas
• Tuna
• Almond Milk

Sugars

• Honey
• Pure Maple Syrup

Dried Fruit

• Raisins/Sultanas
• Dried Coconut

Pasta / Rice

• Wholewheat Spaghetti
• Wholewheat Fusilli/Penne
• Wholewheat Lasagne
• Wholegrain Rice
• Wild Rice
• Black Rice

Oats

• Rolled Oats
• Jumbo Oats

Other Dried Items

• Quinoa
• Spelt
• Freekeh
• Mixed Grains
• Easy Bake/Fast Action Yeast
• Organic Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• Organic Chicken Stock Cubes
• Fruit/Herbal Teabags

Flours

• Wholemeal Plain Flour
• Almond Flour (Ground Almonds)

Refrigerated Items

• Pure Butter
• Eggs

What's in your kitchen cupboards?