Wellness Strategies I Adopted This Year That Boosted my Creativity
What wellness strategies have you adopted this year? Have they worked for you? I started this year with goals mostly related to building my business, and the personal ones I figured would just be like hobbies, but they’ve proved otherwise. In this post, I will be totally transparent about some strategies I adopted and share my wins (and losses) with you. Yikes!
Consider this my flashback of the first six months of 2018. I had so many breakthroughs. Continue reading as I share below…
Change No. 1 – Working Out
I started exercising three days a week with personal trainer, JoyFit World. Well, that’s what I started out with. Eventually, I joined her Saturday morning boot camp and before I knew it, I lost 2″ on my waist, 1″ each on both arms and legs, and I thought I was good. However, I was struggling with my eating and mindset. I still did not want to get up in the morning, still made excuses for why I would skip some days and still felt I could crap out on all kinds of snacks in-between meals. I fell off, weight back on! Clearly, I was trying to celebrate too quickly, so here’s what I did…
I changed up my workout routine to include HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) exercises, conditioning and stretching on my off days because I’m on a quest to lose back those 2″ on my waist and more. The result – I’m feeling great mentally and physically and everything feels connected. I am challenging muscles I didn’t even know I had lol.
Change No. 2 – Intermittent Fasting
I started Intermittent Fasting, which by all accounts means you eat for a limited number of hours and fast the rest of the time. (If you like I can do a separate segment on my experience with it. Just drop a comment below so I’ll know.) Anyway, after two months of doing the 16/8 Method, I can honestly say it works for me. I did not skip breakfast though. I eat from 9am to 5pm every day and drink water or tea in between, being sure to be done by 7 pm. The result – it certainly helped my acid reflux. Reflux be gone!
*I must note here that the recommendation from a well-known naturopathic doctor is that women adopt this strategy for 10 hours and for a total of 3-4 days per week because it’s healthier for our hormones.
Change No. 3 – Eating Whole Foods
So, because I was fasting I had to ensure I was getting all my nutrition during the required eating times, which meant no unnecessary snacking. I incorporated foods that only gave me energy. For instance, breakfast consists of my fav acai or yogurt bowls with fruit and granola OR oatmeal with fruit and nuts OR a spinach omelet and protein muffin. Lunch and dinner consist of high protein and veggie meals; snacks mostly popcorn, and of course the occasional Friday pizza pigout. The result – I’m currently 50 days in and I’m happy to say that I’ve finally found an eating regimen that satisfies and does not make me feel bloated or like I ate too much. And not wanting to OD on snacks is the best thing ever! Find you a healthy snack to compensate. Quality over quantity!
Change No. 4 – Daily Meditation
Meditating every day, first thing. and chanting both morning and evening. The result – I’ve been more centered and when I lost my creativity for a couple weeks, of course, I was angry at first bc living in this world we have FOMO. But I ramped up my efforts and used it as downtime to catch up on reading as well. Now that I was committing to waking up for my 6:30 am workout, it meant my morning routine was impacted. I now include my morning meditation either a little earlier or later after my workout. I opted for earlier because it got me into a ‘right’ mindset to go into my workout. Having a spiritual practice helps!
Change No. 5 – Reading
Dedicating one hour or more every day to reading. Not just books. I shared a video somewhere in these innanet streets with some of the books I’ve been reading lately. I also subscribed to great news and magazine topics that stoked my interests via the News app on my phone and created an evening time reading hour to ensure I get it in. Knowledge is key!
Listen, right now everything is working in sync and I don’t want to interfere because I’ve gained so much! I finally found my rhythm! And the BENEFITS!!! Omg! The biggest reward is that all of this was no cost or low cost!
Bowel movement on point. ✓check; Muscle gain. ✓check; Eating on point. ✓check; Cravings are gone. ✓check; Butt grew some inches. ✓check; Mental energy at 100. ✓check; No sluggishness. ✓check
My new personal goal for the rest of 2018 is to lose 10 -15lbs and come in with those Angela Bassett arms. Yes, I started doing a little boxing too. Watch me work!
