Once upon a time I was exercising 9 times a week, minimising carbs, rationing my food and eating 6 meals a day. I was so busy being fit that I didn’t have time for anything else. (This is when I was preparing for a bikini competition and this lasted around 4 months)
Today is a different story though. These days my life still revolves around fitness and health as I’m a proud owner of Peak Physique Hot Yoga Gabba, however I have much more time for socialising and seeing family, I’m focusing on improving our business and myself personally, exercise now is a form to calm me as well as get super fit through improved breathing, strength and flexibility, stress has reduced and it’s certainly easier to live a fun and healthy life.
How did I make the change? Well, it certainly wasn’t easy as after the fitness competition, weight started to pile on due to not maintaining the same routine and introducing carbs back into my diet. The important thing I had to really focus on was self love and that not having a completely flat tummy was absolutely normal. If I hadn’t of focused on this I would have completely gone off health and fitness and given up completely.
Much of what I do now is listening to my soul and what I need rather than allowing external factors to sway me. Here are my 3 tips below:
- Daily movement
I realised that I have at least 15 hours in a day to do things. So somewhere in that time I fit in a work out of some sort. Since I’m a yoga teacher I’m lucky enough to be doing Hot Yoga most days when I’m teaching or participating in a class. If I have a day off teaching I will either do 10 Sun Salutations (usually only takes around 15 minutes), take my dogs for a walk, do some core exercises or do some yoga poses that will help increase my flexibility. Each day for me is different so I don’t have a set time that I exercise, I simply wake up and have a look at what I need to do in my day and see when I can fit my exercise in. Making fitness a priority is something I chose to integrate into my daily life to enhance my mood and is purely for myself, no one else.
2. Keep Learning
There is so much new information out there about how you can integrate a healthier lifestyle into your daily life. I love to listen to Podcasts and read books to keep my knowledge current and up to date. It’s also great inspiration and motivation! My favourite health podcasts are:
- The Model Health Show
- The Ultimate Health Podcast
- The Joe Rogan Experience (He talks on a variety of topics – however often has some great health podcasts to listen to as well!)
My favourite book on eating that I’ve read this year is: Medical Medium Life-Changing Foods: Save Yourself and the Ones You Love with the Hidden Healing Powers of Fruits & Vegetables. This book will make you change the way you look at fruit and veggies forever!
3. It’s not all about your body
I’ve also tailored my training to include mindfulness and meditation. It gives me the foundation, clarity and peacefulness to make better decisions and simply enjoy life to its fullest. Having a mindfulness practice massively aids in diminishing that negativity bias that regularly plays on repeat in my mind. I meditate for a minimum of 15 minutes per day at a time that suits me best depending on what I have on that day.
