My journey to a healthier lifestyle

Silly sweaty selfie

Allright, so instead of boring you out with the story of my life "first post". I will be telling you about my road to actually starting to enjoy working out.

Let's set out a couple of rules first: 
(Things we never should be thinking when creating a healthy lifestyle)

- No body shaming ( Not even yourself) 
You are beautiful just the way you are. And yeah, maybe it is cheesy, maybe you feel that it's not true. But you actually are! Who said we should compare ourselves to someone else's standards?
We should all learn how to embrace ourselves, our bodies and the way we look.

- You are not too weak.
Sure, your muscles might not be toned and all pumped up, you don't usually do so much cardiovascular training, therefor you are not fit to run a marathon.
But remember, no one started training because they were already fit.
You have to keep in mind your own abilities and set a plan (TODAY, not tomorrow, not on Monday, and definitely not after summer).

-DONT SAY: I will start doing intense workouts after I get stronger in the gym first
There's is no need to do that. Did you know that all exercises have modifications? Different intensity levels? I strongly recommend you to do an exercise as instructed in the class. If you really feel its to hard, then you can go on with the modification.

- Working out is not for me
Okay, fine. You might not enjoy running 10 K, workout in the gym by yourself, go to group training classes or dance. But could it be true that you don't like any form of workout? I would say that you haven't found your niche. Whether it's dancing, swimming och yoga, any form of sports will improve your health and day to day mood. You don't have to have a gym membership to work out. You don't have to have time to work out. You can skip the elevator and take the stairs. You could get off the bus 1-2 stops ahead of your destination and walk the rest. You could ride your bike that's been collecting dust to work. There are many changes in your day to day routines that will definitely affect your well being.


- Im on a juice diet and will be going to the gym 6 days/week
DONT DO IT! All I can tell you is that is the best way to harm yourself. In order to train and get results from your hours at the gym. You need to be eating proper meals and food.
Yes, to lose weight you will need to cut some calories, but not starve yourself. Your muscles need fuel. Would you ever ride a car without gas? What would happen if you did?



Okay back on to my story.
I have always had a gym membership. Never been really committed. I was always (and still am) uncomfortable with my body. A little bit of too much here and there.
I would call my training as "hobby training". I went to the gym, I spent about 45-60 min on a treadmill or crosstrainer, stretched a little and then I was done for the day. I didn't keep any specific pace, nor did I invest energy in being creative in my workouts. It was mainly about shedding those extra kilos. Sometimes I watched a full episode of a series. That's better than the couch right?

Well I'm not saying that I didn't get anything out of those workouts. But they weren't effective for me. To reach the targets I had set, this was not the way. Sure you will be slimmer and skinnier, but what about strength? What about your metabolism? Does my training improve those? No.

I started working in the reception at Nordic Wellness in March 2018.
A few months before that I started working out according to a 5 day plan that my PT had made for me. And in just 2 months I felt stronger and slimmer. NOTICE I did not drop any weight at all!!!

After another 8 weeks I saw difference on the scale. I had now lost 7 kg. I was so happy with the results. Starting eating unhealthy because hey I feel skinny and I'n not gaining any weight. I became so fixated on the scale, so that when I gained some weight again after 3 months of unhealthy eating I became very aware and stressed out about it.

That's when I bumped into a PT colleague of mine. We played around with their different body analyzing methods. According one of the scales I was too skinny (not true), the other one (too fat, BMI over 25) and the third one I was just fine.

He told me: Do you see what happened here?

Imagine if you relied on the first one, you would never have trusted the results because we can both see that you are not anorectic. If you had trusted the second, the results would have cracked you. And even with the third one, you would not have been completely satisfied.

What you need to do is to understand your body. It's limitations and start working out more intensely and smart.

You don't have to work out 6 days a week to look like a Victorias Secret model. Set a realistic goal. Understand why you are working out. And please don't let it be about the looks. Make sure the reason is way more profound.

This is me today, way more confident than
before wearing a croptop at the gym??!!