By Shana Adams (@bbgtonline)
I’ve been on a fitness/weight loss journey for a while now. I’ve set some goals for myself and I’ve accomplished some of them. What I wasn’t prepared for were setbacks that made reaching my goals difficult. Recently, I went through 3 weeks of unfortunate events that made me put going to the gym and eating right on hold. I had to take my car to the shop three separate times, spent an arm and leg fixing it then a week after the most recent repair, I was blindsided by another driver, totaling my car. On top of all of that, I had to move into a new apartment. Talk about stress and aggravation! Honestly, I did not go to the gym and I didn’t watch what I ate closely. I’m planning to get back on track this week (April 28) but I’ve had to dial back on goals that were too aggressive or not realistic with all of the things I have going on. Here are some things that I plan to change to help when life happens.
Make goals that are reasonable so that you can adjust them if something cray cray happens. Don’t try to set yourself up to lose 20 lbs. in a month. It’s not possible to do that healthy in such a short amount of time and you’ll likely stress yourself out trying to do it.
Relax. I would say I’m stressed at least half of the week and that’s got to change. I’ve decided to take a yoga class once a week that my gym offers. If that’s not feasible, I would suggest some quiet time in your room, at the park, or go to your car and scream. Whatever it takes to let it out, do that.
This is so important to any life goal. I admit it: I try and do too much. I’m a microwave girl and I want things right away. I don’t take the time to appreciate the journey and how far I’ve come. I don’t sleep enough. Because I’m stressing out about something, I don’t sleep well. I’ve decided I’m going to take the time to rest. When 10:00 p.m. hits, I’m going to turn off my lights, and close my eyes. Life will be there in the morning.
Shana is a 25 year old communications professional who took her health into her own hands and started her weight loss journey mid 2010, but really took charge when she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2012. She is the creator of the health and fitness blog Big Boned Gets Toned! You can also view her Big Boned Gets Toned! weight loss vlog on YouTube.