#27 - Get Active
At the ripe age of 69, my father loves to walk. He walks at least twice a day and racks up between 18-20k steps a day. He's a true inspiration in so many ways and I have him to thank for motivating me into getting active over the past few weeks. When he came to stay just before Christmas he and I spent many mornings beating the pavement and not only was it great, health wise, it also gave us some quality time together. I'm thankful for that.
My dad and I a few weeks ago...#motivatesme #kickstartineeded
Exercising, for some, can be quite challenging. For me, my challenge is maintaining the momentum. In the past I've started with a hiss and a roar and then something happens that de-rails me. It can be a simple as missing one day of exercise and then my self talk kicks in and says, "it's just one day, use this as a rest day". Then that rest day turns into two rest days, three, four and so on and before I know it it's been a week or more!
To stop that cycle of self sabotage, I've spent the last couple of days thinking about what I need to do differently on this quest. It's quite simple actually, plan and execute!
Here's a list of my core actions.
Plan meals the day/night before - we get My Food Bag which we love. All our meals are planned from Monday - Thursday and they are really healthy and simply delicious. Most meals take no more than 30mins to cook so it makes getting dinner ready after work relatively straight forward.
Drink water - we all know 8 glasses is the recommended which is what I follow. I'll use a drink bottle to help me track my intake.
Complete an hour walk before work - this means setting my alarm to 5:15am, out the door by 5:30am. I am definitely a morning exercise person and find it sets me up nicely, mentally as well as physically for the day.
I think this is a great starting point for me and I'm sure I'll add/remove/adapt as the weeks go by. I'd be keen to hear what you might do or find has helped you get active.
Until then, if you're around the Porirua area, check out a list of walking/cycling tracks below. There's a great range from easy to challenging, long and short, something for everyone.
Top 12 Tracks - walking and cycling maps
With love, me x
My weekend walks using this cool app I found, MapMyWalk. There's always time for selfies :)
