Blimey I am so glad to see March! Not that February was really bad, I just felt totally out of the routine I’d got into in January due to half term and James being on holiday. I did okay with the goals I set myself though…
FEBRUARY GOALS
- Review family finances and see a financial advisor – kind of, didn’t see a Financial advisor, but we did review our finances.
- Continue to work out 3 times a week and complete Yoga a day challenge – kind of, completed all but one day of yoga. Did struggle with the working out 3 times a week, by the end of the month I’d given up trying for it as I couldn’t see how I could work it into my week.
- Be more mindful of portion sizes and try calorie counting for a week or two to get a better sense of how much I should be eating – Success! I did try calorie counting and learned quite a lot from it, see below.
- Take a day time nap 3 times a week – total fail! This could be related more to the fact that Finley’s sleep improved a lot.
- Improve Finley’s sleep – Success! It’s still hit and miss but having a more consistent routine has meant that most nights we get a couple of longer stretches in.
- Moisturise 3 times a week – kind of, struggled to do it three times but managed at least twice each week.
- De clutter the flat – kind of, did a huge declutter of the kitchen and my wardrobe but I still need to sort out my desk space and Finley’s things.
- Start Finley with some first foods – Success! Weaning has been going really well so far.
- See my friends! – kind of, I had a lovely time seeing my best friend, but as weekends have been taken up with work I haven’t seen my other friends as much
A bit hit and miss, but I feel like I’ve learned a lot. The calorie counting experiment was useful, I found that most of my calories were in snack form which is less than ideal, so I’ve been trying to bulk up my meals with added calories to make me less picky. I also identified that I boredom eat a little too much and that breast feeding probably contributes to having a crazy appetite sometimes! I stopped weighing myself as I forgot and I’m not sure if I’m going to start weighing myself again. I know that my clothes fit better and when I’ve bought new clothes in my usual size they have been looser than I would have expected, all good signs that the weight is slowly coming off.
I did actually achieve a few things this month that had been goals for January such as getting my hair done and listening to the manifesting audios from Denise Duffield Thomas aka Lucky Bitch. I’ve also loved walking with Finley!
On the blog I shared recipes for:
- Butternut, Lentil and Feta Lasagne
- Double Chocolate Chip Pancakes
- Raw Chocolate recipes as part of my healthier ways to eat chocolate post
- Harissa Chicken and Avocado Salad with tahini lemon sauce
My fave posts included:
- Happy Health Chat podcast on Sugar!
- How to cope when you can’t get any sleep
- Being a mama: Finley at 6 months
- February Edit
March Goals
- Really refocus on eating well – need to eat larger, more filling meals and reduce snacking considerably! Have a focused and clean eating March.
- Make our kitchen gluten free
- Work out 3 – 4 times a week including one run and one yoga workout
- Complete the squat challenge!
- Focus on business development – make the most of mentoring programme and start working with a virtual assistant
- Declutter desk area, Finley’s things and beauty drawer in bathroom
- Paint nails once a week
- Moisturise twice a week
- See a financial advisor to get a solid idea of what mortgage we can afford
The biggest change for me this month will be Finley starting nursery. It’s going to be hard to leave him, but I know it’s right for both of us. With him in nursery two days a week and one day with my Mam, I can start and refocus on building up Uniquely Healthy. I have some big plans in the pipeline and I’m getting some 1-2-1 mentoring to help me take things up a notch, as well as starting to work with a VA. Having week days to get work done means I’ll have more free time at weekends to do things as a family too, as well as working out. I’m going to miss my baby boy loads, but at the same time I know this is the right balance for us all and I can’t wait to embrace a new routine.
As well as eating really well and making sure that meals are a bit more filling, we’ll be making our kitchen gluten free. It’s a long story, but we believe that James may be gluten intolerant or celiac. He’s been experiencing several health issues for a long time, and (eventually) he’s listened to some of my advice about what could be causing things. He’s getting tested, but whatever the test says we’ve agreed that we need to give gluten free a try. Since I don’t eat much gluten anyway, it makes sense to just clear all gluten foods out of the kitchen and go from there.
Of course I’m looking forward to this as well!
Over the moon there’s loads of you joining in as well!
I’m thinking March is going to be a good one :-)
How was February for you? Anyone else find it a strange month? What are you working on in March?
Squats challenge sounds like a tough one but I am up for it! My bum could do with a little lifting ;)
I hope the gluten free kitchen helps James out with his issues. Men can be so stubborn when we give them advice can’t they!?
Sending you lots of love for Finley starting at Nursery. I bet it will be tough for you but also will be amazing as you will have time to build up your already fab business!
It is useful to write down what you are eating sometimes isn’t it? We are having to write a food diary for a week for school and it is interesting to see how much I am eating with being so over worrying about every morsel I eat! I think sometimes I just finish my food as I feel I should even though I am full. Funny isn’t it!
Oh yes they can! We are a couple of days in and having fun finding gluten free options he likes! I always think keeping a food diary is useful, you learn so much from it!
I eat through boredom as well! I try at least to make sure the eating is healthy – so a green smoothie or houmous with veg or nuts. But sometimes the thought of snack-time coming up gets me through the day!
Squat a day sounds hard Laura! I didn’t manage my Savasana a day for Feb, but I did have a lot going on to think about with my first semester nutrition exam (now all done!!). I’m going to stick with yogaglo which I can do at least 2 or 3 mornings a week. I’m really loving it and it’s so flexible (and cheap compared to classes!).
Good luck with your March goals :)
Well done for getting through your exam!
I had a biopsy a few years ago to rule out coeliac disease. That’s really the only way they can confirm it. Even though it came back negative for me i was told to still limit gluten which i do find really hard! I still eat bread most days to be honest. My IBS makes life difficult! I hope James gets some answers. If he’s having IBS type symptoms then Low FODMAPS is definitely worth exploring.
I have to agree about February – i’m not a fan! I might try a few squats this March!
Thanks Anna, it’s a range of things with him, hopefully we’ll start figuring things out. He’s had a blood test so we are just waiting for the results but as we said we are going to limit and see how we get on anyway, fingers crossed it helps him!
I think you did amazingly with the goals last month – nice work!
Sorry to hear James has been having a rough time with food. Good job you know a lot about this area, eh! Men are so difficult at accepting advice though, right? Ben never listens to me when I harp on about strength training for running…but then one of his mates will say something and boom it’s like he’s suddenly convinced and joined a gym!! Honestly! You can lead a horse to water…
Thanks Anna, you are not wrong there I’d been trying to suggest things for ages! They like to think they’ve come up with it themselves I think!
Arrgh I find squats so hard! They’re painful while you’re doing them, and they’re painful for two days afterwards. I’m sure they’re worth the pain somehow…!
I just keep thinking of the more pert bum I’ll hopefully have after I’ve done them!
You have done really well- it is great that Finley is sleeping a bit better now- that must make a huge difference to your days too.
Hopefully with cutting out gluten that will help James too- you seem to use so many alternative flours like coconut and buckwheat anyway, so hopefully it won’t be too much of a challenge for you.
I am just hoping now that the weather warms up a bit, although today we have had a bit of sleety rain so not good!
Thanks Maria, yep it makes a huge difference having Finley sleep better! I’m with you on the weather, I keep thinking it’s spring but this weekend it’s been really breezy and cold!
absolutely 300% agree with you. Breastfeeding makes me hungry, boredom can make me snacky. I am back to counting ww points and calories as I need to really focus on eating well. I found cutting all refined sugar and only having fresh fruit as sugar so beneficial I want to et back on track with that! Sleep is also improving here but I find as I get into a deeper sleep more now I feel worse before better so am giving myself a break.
At 10 months post partum I think I look ok for someone who had a baby but I want to look ok as me now. So counting calories, back to working out and also signed up for a 12km run!
I also feel like I lack nutrients fri growing babies and breastfeeding so long so want to have green juice, soups and smoothies daily to get the vitamins in!
I’m glad I’m not the only one, my appetite is through the roof! Yep, I’m ready to feel more like ‘me’ now, I always thought that BFing would make weight loss easy but as you have said I think your body likes to hang on to a bit doesn’t it!
Sounds like you did well on your goals. I dislike Feb immensely, last month I got injured, got really bad flu and just felt in a funk all round. Glad it’s over and the weather is getting better, and the evenings are lighter. Happy March!
Blimey I bet you are ready for March, hope you are feeling a lot better now!
I like that your goals are really focused and easy to measure – that’s important for goals I think.
I am aiming for much cleaner eating this month, and no alcohol of course.
Hope you enjoy being alcohol free, I had a glass of red a couple of nights this week and I think I’ll be giving it a miss, as nice as it was I felt crap!
If you want really filling meals try having soup – it’s amazing how filling soups are and how long they keep you going for. I’m working on loosing my pregnancy weight and all the weight I put on afterwards (my ‘babies’ are now all in their 20s!) and have found that I make a huge impact on my weight by having one week each month where I have juice (apple, spinach and cucumber with 1/2 a lemon) for breakfast and then soup for lunch and dinner – I have no desire to snack at all. To make the juice more satisfying I add psyllium husks and eat a raw carrot or celery stick at the same time. Works a treat.
That sounds like a great idea, I love a bit of detoxing but with me breastfeeding Finley I have to be careful with it. Once we’ve finished with that it’s just that kind of approach I’ll take I think. Love that you do that one week a month, sounds like a great approach x
I am trying to do the squat challenge although somehow find squats less enjoyable than yoga! I went back to calorie counting at the start of the year and realised that I was getting the same calories from snacks as I was meals – I don’t want to get stuck into constant calorie counting again but it was definitely useful to see where I was going wrong and make some changes. In March I am looking forward to running the Paris half marathon and upping my long run distance by the end of the month ahead of the marathon in April – I have a feeling the month is going to go by quickly… x
haha, thanks for joining in Lily! It sounds like you’ve been similar to me, it can be useful as a checking in tool sometimes. Wow, hope you enjoy your races, I saw you had one this weekend, go you!