What I am doing to be healthy and happy this week – By Julz

Every Sunday I am going to start giving you an update on what I am doing to be healthy and happy this week.  I am glad the first working week of 2016 is over, and I am feeling more settled into my routine, and focused for the year ahead.

My 5 Key Focuses To Be Healthy and Happy This Week Are:-

1.)  Being 100% on FAST FOCUS plan

I want to get to my ultimate target weight, this is my year. No broken ankles, No severe pelvic instability, No pregnancies, No breastfeeding or baby weaning, Just pure focus on ME achieving and maintaining my optimal weight.  I am in ketosis now, and glad to be here, and now I am keeping this simple in my mind, 4 new you meal packs, 4 litres of water, aiming for exciting weight loss results!  2016 is going to be my year.  My health is the most important thing this year, I am going to make all decisions based on my health.

I recommend you get the 4 week bundle and get my free online course – MAKE 2016 YOUR BEST YEAR YET.   If you already have bought the 120 or 240 bundle this month then please log in to see the new modules that I have added! xox

2.)  Getting up at 5am

Getting up early was something I wanted to try, and I did this last year from August until I got the flu in November, and it really was life changing for me, I want to get back to that!  I have always been a night owl, and grew my business through working into the wee hours when my babies were asleep. This was great at the time, I worked well and the house was quiet so I could focus and do good work.  As time and life has developed I realised that being a night owl wasn’t going to be suitable.  I was waking up tired and felt the days overwhelming and I lost my focus.  Getting up earlier I feel I start the day more empowered and excited.

I have a nice routine that involves lighting some candles and drinking a hot pineapple fat burner drink to kick start my metabolism and then following the next 3 items on the list.  I am aiming to do this for 66 days in row, as research has shown that doing something repeatedly for 66 days installs the habit so that it is harder to do it, than not to do it.  If you want to join me then please do, I will be posting every morning in our Secret Slimmers group on facebook at 5am 🙂

3.)  Daily Exercise

This year I need to get fit and strong.  I really need to do this.  My body has been through the mill over the last 6 years.

I fell pregnant with Isabella in 2010 and within a couple of months I developed Severe Pelvic Instability (SPD) this was caused by my body producing “too much of the the pregnancy hormone called relaxin”.  Approximately 7% of of women can get an extreme case of this, unfortunately I was one of those very extreme cases.  I could not even stand.

Isabella was 9 months old before I was strong enough to go out with her on her own, in March 2011.  I went up to 17 stone 10 in first pregnancy, due to comfort eating and not being able to move due to the extreme pain, the complete loss of my independence, I could not even dress myself it was that bad.  It was such a hard time of my life, and I am so grateful for my husband who was my full time carer through this time.  This photograph is me with Isabella when she was 6 months old and 18 months old.

By June 2012 I felt well enough to try for another baby, I knew the risk of having the same condition was very high, but I was mentally prepared and understood the condition and was determined to not let it impact me so much.  When I was 6 weeks pregnant, I fell and broke my right ankle very badly.  I should have had surgery, but if I did I would risk losing my baby.  So they said they would operate in 1 or 2 years after the birth.  Then the SPD condition kicked in, and I was in a wheelchair from 2 months pregnant.  When my daughter was born, this time by a planned section, we moved house when she was 4 days old, and I could not walk.  I went to physio 3 times a week, and 6 months later I could walk without a visible limp.  10 months later I fell and broke my other ankle.  I started 2015 in a cast on my left ankle, and a very weak right ankle and a weak pelvis.  I have got myself to a place where I can walk and I can do yoga.  I still get sore ankles and sore pelvis, hopefully as I build more strength this will improve.

Besides from the toll that this has taken on my ankles, pelvis, tummy, and back.  My whole body just feels weak.  I really want to build muscle this year and build exercise into my life.

In 2016 I want to get really fit and strong, this is MY YEAR to put my health and fitness and strength first.

I am starting with daily walking and yoga, to build up the daily habit and to build fitness and some strength.  This morning I did 20 minutes of yoga in my livingroom, and then when everyone woke up we went for a walk with the dog in our local park.

I am not too sure exactly what I am going to do 1 month from now, as long as I am improving and enjoying what I do, and getting fitter and stronger I will let the year unfold.  But for now walking and daily home yoga practice is what I am focusing on.  I got a fit bit for Christmas and I am in the process of figuring it out to be honest! lol  Hopefully next week I can update you more on the fit bit.  But, if you want one then I recommend that you join our JANUARY WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE and you could win one every week just for taking part.

4.)  Meditating

I love this photo.  It was taken at a culture day in Belfast when my friend and yoga teacher Kim Constable, was leading a yoga session outside in the city centre.  My little girl Isabella who is 4 years old is meditating in this photo!

I have found that having so many responsibilities sometimes I feel like I never stop thinking, learning how to meditate has helped me to become calmer and focused.  I started to try meditation last year, and although I might not have done it every single day, I did do it a good few times every week.  The more I did it, the easier I found I could “get into the gap”.  Meditation might sound weird, and very new age, but I really recommend you approach it with an open mind.  Mediation is really about creating silence, it is not about thinking, it is just about just being and breathing.  Its is just giving your mind a rest from thinking sooo much.

I am currently trying out a new app called HEAD SPACE.  This morning I did the 10 minute guided mediation and it felt like 2 minutes.  You can get a free trial of the headspace app here.

Other forms of meditation could be doing a type of exercise, like walking where you just get lost in the rhythm and you are not thinking.

We have so much distraction in our lives, emails, social media, television, it never seems to stop.  Try taking 10 minutes of silence and not thinking everyday, and you will be amazed at how much more focused and centred you feel.

5.)  Sharing my New You Journey to Health & Happiness

At the moment I am wanting to share my personal new you journey, how I am building in healthy happy habits for 2016, and that is why I have started this weekly blog post, and why I will be posting every morning at 5am in our Secret Slimmers group.

I will be sharing my new you journey here on the blog, in our daily emails and in our secret slimmers group on facebook.  In the past couple of years I have found sharing my journey to be an added pressure that I could not really take on, but now that I feel healthier, happier, and stronger, due to spending a lot of last year building in the healthy and habits above that I am refocusing on now.  I really am looking forward to 2016, and for us all to be healthier and happier together!

I hope as I share my journey, that it might help and inspire people to take action to create their new you this year too.

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I hope you have a happy and healthy week!

Love,

Julz xox