Category: fitness

Accountability & how to do it.

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I can’t be the only person that seems to be living life at 1000 WTF’s an hour right?

Honestly, life is a juggling act right now, please don’t think for one moment I’m complaining because I know I asked for this to come into my life and therefore I’ve fully accepted it. However it’s still a lot of plates to keep spinning all at once, and I know I’m not alone.

Work work work

You’ve seen the people posting gym pictures, flashing abs like ‘Hey look at me I just spent 1.5 hours in the gym and now I’m going to eat pizza!’ For those people that’s great and yes you deserve pizza but for the remainder of us, those with kids they have to pick up after being at work all day then entertain and clean up after, or if like me you work full time, study and write a blog or maybe you work two jobs (double hustle) maybe you commute across the country, or you’re just so slammed at work right now under staffed and passionate about what you do that you’re willing to work 50 hours + All of this while keeping on top of the everyday life expectancies of us all such as maintaining social lives, eating, and yes you know it… WORKING OUT.

It’s freaking hard work!!!

For all of us!

That’s why I wanted to talk about not only intention, but how I hold myself accountable. FOCUS GOES WHERE ENERGY FLOWS

Last year my job was not demanding at all, and I wasn’t studying. I had the luxury of going to bed at night sleeping for 8 hours feeling refreshed waking up going to the gym doing my 9-5 job heading home cleaning and food prepping. It was so easy it was boring, that said when I went on holiday last year, I honestly looked the best I’d ever looked.

Now my job is so much more demanding but engaging and fun, I’m studying a minimum of two hours a day, looking after a house hold and still trying to balance my meals and workouts, and honestly some times I just don’t want to go to the gym!

Now to give you an idea my weekly workouts include the below:

• 3/ 4 x weight training

• 3 x lunch time runs

• 2 x Pilates

• 1 x yoga

Exactly… no surprise it’s rare I actually successfully accomplish all of this a week, but that’s all changed!

Multiple workouts

Here are a few of my tips that have helped me stay accountable for my workouts:

1. Schedule it in! Yes that’s right I’ve started to schedule in my diary when I’m working out, not only that but I get specific, real specific. If I have to think about my workout and start to make decisions it’s easy to talk myself out of it. What do I want to train today? Well not really anything so I won’t bother. Where do I want to run to today? Maybe JQ, or Mailbox or JQ or Mailbox… Oh I don’t have time now I was too busy deciding…. Take the decision making out of the equation! My diary already has my workouts scheduled in and what I’m doing, where and when. Added bonus it means I can make sure I’ve got the right meals planned to help recovery. Run days I make sure I have plenty of carbs to come back to, whether it’s my favourite ‘sausage’ and pasta dish or my home made Vietnamese ‘chicken’ vegetables and rice.

Daily plan

2. Buddy up! 100% unless I genuinely feel awful I’m not going to let a friend down when it comes to a session. If you agree to train with a friend you’re holding each other accountable and helping one another. Don’t make some wishy washy plan, like ‘errm yea maybe. I’ll be there for like 7ish?’ NO! Set a time, agree a workout. Now somebody else has had to ensure they align their leg day with yours, it’s just rude to let them down now.

3. Tell the world! Okay you don’t have to announce it on social media, but if you can’t get a buddy for a day tell a friend what you’re doing and when. My cousin and I do this sometimes, I’ll message her and say ‘hey I’m training legs nice and early tomorrow!’ Every time she’ll text me around 8, ‘how was your leg session?’ Checking in with someone helps hold you accountable.

I hope you enjoyed these few tips, they’ve really helped me especially since hitting the books again. What do you do to ensure you stick to your workout? All motivation tips accepted here!

Comment below.

Love

Tee

x

Step out of your comfort zone

Published on by realiTEE1 Comment

So, let’s get right to it. I don’t like treadmills. 

You run and you run, and you stay in exactly the same spot. When I have been on a treadmill, I tend to set the speed and incline to a percentage I am comfortable with. See what’s wrong with this already? Comfort zones are BORING!! 

This past week I’ve really being trying to push myself out of my comfort zone. One thing I am bad for is sticking to the same weight when I train. I mostly train on my own and so, not a partner I’m accountable to or pushing me, means I can stagnate. However, I need to stop using that excuse not to bump up the weight a little.

We all need to step out of our comfort zone from time to time, in order to grow. I’m a strong believer in the saying:

‘The definition of insanity is doing the exact same activity over and over then expecting different results.’

If you want a different outcome you need to switch things up. That doesn’t mean change your routine every week because to really improve you  need consistency and patience, but you do always need to keep it interesting and challenge yourself in the process.

Personally, I like to switch my routine up every 6-8 weeks or so. Some people do every 12 weeks, some people don’t even have a routine.

For me, getting out of my comfort zone helps me tackle another issue – anxiety. That’s probably the last thing you expected to read especially on my activiTEE page, but it’s true. 

Routines, knowing what’s coming up and what to expect helps me feel in control. When I feel in control, I’m less anxious. However, you can’t be 100% in control every single day, so pushing myself outside of my comfort zone even when it’s at my own discretion really helps.

One of my favourite activiTEE’s is yoga and so many people have excuses as to why they don’t do yoga. “I can’t touch my toes,” or “I have poor balance” and of course, “if I fall people will laugh.”


Well all you ‘yogi phobies’ out there guess what – GET OUT YOUR COMFORT ZONE!

If you’re that nervous try doing it in the comfort of your own home, it’s putting yourself out there that’s the important thing here. You never know you might enjoy it!

How do you get your sweat on and is it working for you? Are you a pilates goer? Barre lover? Weightlifter? If so how do you mix it up and keep it interesting?


Love 

Tee

X

Move on by

Published on by realiTEE2 Comments

Happy Sunday everyone! 

How are you spending your day? Are you seeing your family, having a ‘me’ day or just binging on Netflix? 

Whatever way you choose to wind down on the weekend is completely up to you, but how concerned are you with staying active?

When I first thought about starting this blog I really considered what I wanted to write about and what I was most passionate about. Anyone that knows me personally, knows how important I consider health and fitness to be. However, I am after all your everyday everything girl, I have a lot of stuff to do and I don’t spend two hours a day weight training to create the types of fitness blogs I see today. 

I’m also pretty sure that if you are interested in fitness then you already follow hundreds of fitness accounts on Instagram that post workouts, food diaries and flash their abs in super cool gym wear. However, that’s not me.

What I am passionate about is keeping active, please note that this DOES NOT MEAN BUSY! I mean keep moving, getting in that 10k step count and getting creative with how you do it. If you follow my Instagram you know I run regularly, train and love to stretch it out to yoga videos in my living room. My favourite activity of all time though is being outside!

Honestly there’s so much to gain from fresh air and having the sunshine on your face. Not only do we need that vitamin D but there are so many studies that emphasise the importance and overwhelming power of being out doors. Whether that’s a family walk in the park, along the canal or doing bit of gardening. There’s no excuse, even us city folks should be getting out on lunch breaks, even if you have to take the conference call on the go!

Not convinced? Did you know spending time outside is known to help:

  • De-stress the mind and therefore help the body. You know your shoulders are meant to live under your ears right?
  • Eliminate fatigue. Everyone has experienced that over powering need for a nap post lunch right? Ever experienced it after going for a walk? Didn’t think so!
  • Boosts your immune system. I’ve seriously being suffering with some bizarre cold/hayfever symptoms lately, which has resulted in me sitting at my desk sniffling and wiping my nose on the harshest tissue known to man (probably because I didn’t go out at lunch to by some nice soft ones). However, when I went running last week, although the start of the run was hard work it actually got easier and my breathing got easier despite how blocked up I was.
  • Increased focus and creativity….. I think we can ALL benefit from that, am I right?

 

Yes we all love a day inside hibernating from the rain and wind, sitting in front of the TV but with that said, anyone who truly knows me knows that after about two weeks of wet miserable weather I’m the last person you want on a night out with. Honestly I will be so grumpy and sad, my mood can rely a little too much on the weather and in the UK that’s not a great trait to have. Good job all these active hobbies I have are helping me to release these positive hormones – right?!

Here are my below tips for getting active in fun ways:

  • Got a FitBit? Do your friends? Even if you don’t have the most up to date wearable technology our phones all count steps every day, why not set yourself a challenge and get your friends and family involved. Who can walk the furthest in a day? Who does the most steps in one day over the course of a week. Can you combine your steps to walk all the way to Ibiza? From Birmingham that’s 1399 miles and on average it takes 2000 steps to walk a mile so you only need to rack up 2,798,000 steps. You up for the challenge?
  • Lunch on the go? I know there’s a lot to be said about sitting down to enjoy a meal but why not grab your office BFF head out of the office and go for lunch, even if you pick something up and walk around the office block a few times you’d be surprised at how quickly the steps add up.
  • One thing I try and stick to at work is whenever my phone rings I get up and answer it while walking around as much as possible. Although this can be annoying when the person you’re on the phone to says, “I’ll just send you this email to look at…”
  • Make it fun… the same thing day in day out on your own will get boring eventually. Mix it up, keep it interesting and rope a friend in with you to help keep each other accountable.
  • Reward yourself. No not with a slap of chocolate cake although I do love a protein cookie post workout. Did you manage to walk to Ibiza, congrats you now deserve a nice pair of new shoes, tired from a long day of calls walking around on all those calls? Sit down and enjoy that new book.

How do you stay active in your day to day lives? What’s your favourite activity?

Share below, I’ll start I actually love dancing in the bathroom while brushing my teeth.

Love

Tee

x

I got stitch… duh!

Published on by realiTEE3 Comments

Hi again, it’s been a while since I’ve done a full blog post so if you haven’t seen on my Instagram I have recently signed up to run the Birmingham half marathon. Yes I know it’s not until October but I thought while the motivation was fresh I’d start some basic training and get myself into running, fortunately for me there’s a small group of people in my office that do this for fun at lunch. Madness I know running instead of eating but I’m actually starting to enjoy it 🙋🏼‍♀️

From one everything girl to another… You know that rule ‘thou shall not eat an hour before you go swimming’ (or something like that)? Well turns out it applies to running also!

I’ve recently started running at lunch with a small group of people in my office and also seem to get a stitch. Turns out it’s that pre-run snack I’ve been munching down me, 15 minutes before I head out!

Life hack: you should leave a large meal for up to four hours to digest before you go running and a snack 1-2 hours.

Lesson learnt…when running I need blood in my legs not still digesting my food. The body is an amazing thing but it still has limitations. I  love food so planning my workouts around my food plan is my idea of fun (yes I know I’m a nutrition geek!), getting in the kitchen cooking/ experimenting and knowing what food best to help recover after I train is an additional benefit.

Pre-run snack try and aim for slow releasing carbs to keep your body going we all know oats are a great source of energy and for anyone that says ‘I don’t like oats?’  I don’t believe you! There are so many fun delicious ways to eat oats you just have not found a way you enjoy yet.

My cousin Sara became a porridge connoisseur last year with a multitude of fun ideas and each bowl was a work of art.

Personally, my favourite part about my run, post run meal! Running uses up so much energy it’s important to get your carbs in post run to provide your body with a new energy source along with some protein.

Post run (or any work out) meal of the week:

• Red lentil pasta (you can get this in most super markets).

• Chicken sausages (I’m currently on a two week vegan challenge & have switched these for vegan friendly Linda McCartney sausages and they taste just as good!)

• Garlic

• 1 tin chopped tomatoes (I like the one with the herbs infused)

• 1 chilli

• Mushrooms

• Paprika.

This is such an easy meal prep idea the night before and a great refuel meal!

Simply cook your pasta and sausages to the instructions. I fry off the mushrooms until brown then add in all the other ingredients, once cooked stir in pasta and chopped up sausages. 

Not a fan of pasta? Noodles work just as well as you can see. I use Myprotein zero noodles they’re great when you’re high on carbs already that day.

What’s your favourite post work out meal?