Bloggers for Health: Overcoming Challenges

This week for Bloggers for Health we’ve been asked to post about the challenges we face when it comes to reaching our health and fitness goals and how we can overcome them. I mentioned in my first BFH post that I didn’t have any specific goals i.e. I’m not trying to get down to a certain weight or training for a triathlon or anything like that. I do think I need to set myself some sort of goals though so I’ve decided to use an old goal setting technique that I learnt at university.
I’m sure many of you have heard of SMART goals before. SMART being an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
So lets get Specific...
Rather than a vague “I want to be fitter and healthier” I’m going for “I want to do an hours exercise 4 times a week and eat healthy balanced meals 80% of the time allowing myself treats for the remaining 20% of the time.”
Measurable..
I have a calender on my kitchen wall which I am going to use to keep track of my work outs. I’m also going to be using a website called My Fitness Pal to keep track of the food I’m eating. It’s amazing the difference that writing down what you actually eat in a day can make! My exercise is also going to take the form of fitness classes so I’m going to use my progress in these to measure myself. For example can I manage to go up another weight size in my Kettlersice class? Can I move onto proper push ups instead of girly push ups in my Legs, Bums and Tums class?
Attainable...
I think my goals are attainable because I’m not trying to lose 10lbs in a week or do anything too crazy.
Realistic...
I think my goals are realistic because they will stretch me enough to be a genuine challenge but they aren’t so far beyond my reach that I am setting myself up to fail. I already work out for an hour two or three times a week so I don’t think upping this to 4 times a week is asking too much of myself. I’m also not saying that I’m not going to eat chocolate or carbs for a month. Instead it is realistic to expect that 80% of what I put in my body will be good for me, healthy and nourishing and 20% will be a little bit of what I fancy!
Timely...
I’m going to the Monaco Grand Prix in May so I think that's as good a time to aim for as any! So by mid-May I want to be in the regular habit of exercising for one hour four times a week and I want to have good eating habits in place.
Now onto the challenges I (and all of us face) when trying to reach out fitness goals...
First and foremost for me is finding the time to exercise. I leave for work at 8am in the morning and return at 7pm at night. I have this blog to maintain and I’m working on launching a shop on Etsy. I have cats to feed, a boyfriend to spend time with, friends and family to see etc. etc. This is one of the reasons why I decided to choose fitness classes as my form of exercise. They are on a specific times which I can plan my other commitments around i.e. don’t arrange to meet my friend after work on a Wednesday at 7pm, that’s spin class time!
Second is finding the money. We’re saving up for a new house and want to save money for that as well as having all our current monthly bills to pay, two cars to run, holidays to save for, a serious shoe addiction to fund (that’s my addiction, not Mr Juicy’s. It’s a wonder I get him to leave the house wearing any shoes at all to be honest!) For the past few months I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet of my monthly expenditure and for a start I spend £10 a month on an Amarya Beauty Box and a ridiculous amount on fashion magazines! I’m not going to give up my beauty box or my mags but the point is, despite my household bills and and all the other expenses I mentioned, I still manage to find money to spend on magazines and beauty boxes so I have no excuse for not being able to find the £27 a month I need for my fitness classes. Also, if money was that much of an issue I could just exchange my fitness classes to going for a free run around the park!
My third challenge is to resist peer pressure. My boyfriend is a pizza junkie and he would order us a Domino’s take away every night if I let him! I also work in the center of Glasgow where we are surrounded by loads of tasty restaurants and most of my colleagues go out for lunch everyday. It’s very tempting to join them but I’m going to overcome this by joining that every once in a while as a treat so as not to completely deprive myself.  At all other times thought I will be bringing a delicious but healthy lunch to work so I’m less tempted to go out and grab something filthy and quick to eat!
The last challenge is having the confidence to exercise in a room full of people who may have been attending the fitness classes for months or even years and know what they are doing and are much fitter than me. Personally, although I am very shy I also pretty much have no shame when it comes to flailing around like an idiot in class full of people I don’t know. For those of you who are nervous about this though remember: it was everyone’s first time some time. If it really bothers you though then why not start off with a fitness video in your bedroom or living room where no-one can see you?
One more thing from me before this post becomes unreasonably long..........be really really  honest with yourself. Are there challenges preventing you from becoming fitter and healthier? Or are there excuses? It’s a fine line.
Lisa x