It’s a rainy Friday evening at the end of a long week.  I feel in desperate need of a vacation.  Not the one where you stay at home and end up running errands for a week, only to trudge back to work the following week wishing for two more days to “really sleep”.  Not the two vacation days tacked on to a business trip.  Not the mad dash to Miami or New York for a few days to seefamilyfriendsshop and go back to work happy but drained.

A REAL vacation.  The ones you see on Instagram with beautiful beaches or mountains or wherever is your ideal place of relaxation, whether in your country or in someone else’s.  A place where you don’t have to cook, clean, do laundry, work or any of the everyday routine. What does this have to do with being fit and healthy?  Isn’t that  relegated to “eating clean” and sweating in somebody’s boxercise class?

It’s actually the rest part of general wellness.  The part that so many of us neglect in our daily lives.  It’s a common theme I’m finding with many people I know, especially women, with or without children.  Everyone is so tired.  Everyone wants to feel better health-wise but can’t commit to the effort.

For me, it’s been an absolute struggle.  If I have to break for more than a few days from an exercise routine, it’s a mess trying to jump back onto the wagon.  I’ve been a member of 6 gyms, tried a couple fitness plans on Apps, I’ve done the personal trainer thing, the nutritionist thing, the meal planning thing, I’ve tried yoga (which really helped with my injured back), pole fitness and I recently began swimming classes (because I couldn’t swim).  I’ve seen results and I’ve sabotaged those results.  At points I was really enthusiastic and consistent and other times I paid for a month at the gym and because of work and life I wasted my money.

And let’s not start with food.  That is a whole other story.  The truth is, all I want is not to huff and puff when I walk/run up the stairs and some decent muscle tone (over 30 dimples are a killer) I want to not have to take blood pressure medication or at least, not add any more NCD’s to the one that I’m almost ashamed to say that I have.

I’ve recently found it more difficult to make the gym before work and I think it’s because I was pushing myself too hard.  It wasn’t fun any more and if there’s alot to do the evening before, better believe that I am not getting up at four anything to go anywhere.  Not any more.  I’m currently trying to decide how I will split the week between morning and evening exercise so it’s not such a burden and to incorporate activities that I actually like.  So no more treadmill.

I have an extremely high metabolism, so I have to eat often or I feel like I’m going to pass out.  After meal planning like a madwoman and eating lots of bush and shakes, I decided to keep it simple, little to no processed food (e.g. hotdogs, chicken nuggets etc.), more water, few to no sugary drinks and no fried food except for the occasional cheat treat.  That worked to an extent.  I definitely saw the benefits of the water in my skin and I didn’t have bloating or gas like before.  But, old habits die hard and when you’re tired and it’s 8:00pm and you didn’t cook the day before and you just got home, you grab the easiest thing you can find.  Anybody say hotdogs?

Sigh.  The good thing however, is that we can always start over, especially if we have an idea of where we want to go.  So I will try my best and try to stick to my plan and as much as I can, continue to cook every few days so there’s more food in the house than not.  I’m also going to plan for shorter periods, like, down to the day or maybe the week and not make it about doing it all in 30, 60 or 90 days. Just doing it, day by day for the long term.