Here's To A Joyous January

I hope as you read this you are well and excited to have a fun Christmas. After almost 4 weeks trying to recover from a chest infection I finally feel a little human and have found some festive cheer, yay!

I wanted to write about enjoying Christmas and my philosophy on the approaching New Year.

I am a big fan of Christmas, spending more time with my friends and family, eating delicious food and having time to recharge my batteries ready to start 2018 with great energy.

If you already have thoughts of your New Year health and fitness goals then I say write them down and put them on hold for a few days. Now is the time to enjoy a little or a lot of what you like with your favourite people.

Equally some people like to choose a couple of days to eat and drink whatever they fancy and then go back to normal eating. I like to fit in a bit of exercise, not to burn anything off but simply because I have time to do what I love and it's generally very quiet going for a run, riding my bike or hopping in the pool!

If you've ever been out on Christmas Day for a run (my personal tradition is a Christmas morning run) everyone you meet says Happy Christmas and I honestly think it's the one day a year when everyone is kinder to each other, big love for that!

Okay so let's move on to 1st January and those goals you wrote down. I don't train my clients differently in January to any other month of the year. I do however find myself giving the message of moderation in this month a lot more!


My personal advice on how to get fitter, stronger, healthier:

• Have a sensible, achievable, longer than 4 weeks long goal
• To make January joyous add a healthy dose of patience to your goals
• Avoid anything extreme; extreme diets and extreme exercise
• Try to keep your list of new habits to no more than 5. Overhauling your entire diet and exercise in one hit is mentally and physically challenging. Don't burn out in January!
• Focus on achieving those new healthy habits rather than giving up everything you enjoy
• With exercise, if it's been a while since you regularly worked out, start with a goal of being active 3 times a week, hit that for 12 weeks, that's consistency and it's key
• Your body needs time to adapt so keep the workouts shorter initially and see how it responds
• Mindset changes take many weeks so think longer than January, maybe set your first target for the end of February or 1st March
• Where nutrition is concerned avoid cutting out major food groups and all your favourite foods
• 3 Simple ways to feel healthier; walk more, drink more water and eat more green veg
• It is possible to enjoy the process of becoming healthier. If there is no joy then rethink some of the changes you have implemented

This is a great article
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/nutrition/enjoy-christmas-still-healthy-new-year/

By taking a more relaxed approach and focusing each day on implementing your new habits January can truly be more Joyous. That way you hopefully get to the end of the month with those new habits still a part of your life. I hope so!

Wishing you a fun Christmas and a Healthy and Happy 2018 x