Good morning all
So I went out for a quiet couple of drinks to watch the rugby Saturday, and ended up being led astray and out for a 12 hour shift haha
What an amazing night, totally unplanned, and one of the best!
Now I get people asking me healthy tips for going out all of the time,
Here’s what I do, and what I did this weekend
I only had 2 bottles of beer (corona) then drunk vodka soda water the rest of the time
I never drink a lot of beer, cocktails or wine, I always stick to the healthier option
As we knew we were going out to watch the rugby we pre planned our evening meal, which was a lovely chicken, feta, rocket and noodle salad
Our breakfast and lunch were healthy as normal, protein porridge after a morning workout, then an omelette and salad for lunch
I had a protein bar before going into town, and as it happened didn’t eat my salad that I had prepared when we got home, as I was too tired
We never have fast food after a night out, we always ensure we have something healthier prepared at home
Sunday, hangover day!
I actually was suffering quite badly when I woke up, so I only had one small piece of toast
Fell back to sleep and a few hours later had some bacon and poached egg
Then for dinner we had the salad from the day before, with a very small (3 desert spoons) ice cream a few hours later
We made sure we went for a long walk yesterday, even though we weren’t feeling it, and it was raining
Ok so this wasn’t the healthy nutrition I would usually have, however, after drinking alcohol this is pretty dam good!
it is possible to go out and enjoy yourself, but still stay on track with healthy nutrition
You don’t have to go for the really bad take away, fast food, sweets and chocolates
weekends can be a massive set back for some people, completely undoing the hard work they put in all week
I find this so crazy, as you are constantly living in an all or nothing mindset, never truly achieving the goals you set yourself
Remaining unhappy within yourself and then disappointed with the results
Why is it so hard to plan and prep, to stay on track?
What makes it so difficult for you?
is it lack of time? lack of commitment? lack of knowledge?
Well for a start time is something we can make, by managing our lives better
Commitment we can also give, something that is our choice and can be changed at any time
Knowledge is FREE everywhere you turn these days
Social media is full of healthy meal tips, and people like myself give out FREE advice all of the time so again lack of knowledge not really a good enough excuse
I personally believe that mindset is the biggest obstacle here
Some people don’t want the results bad enough, to put the work in
Whereas some people genuinely have underlying issues stopping them from fully committing
So many people believe it’s laziness, but having learnt a lot about how the brain works, I disagree
for most people they have no idea that the brain is influencing your decisions
Our animal brain when taking over can cause us to make irrational decisions, provoke anger and is so hard to override
This can be triggered at any time and for a million different reasons
Yet not knowing this, not recognising when it happens and having tools in place to deal with it, is lethal for trying to stay on track with dreams and goals
Managing our emotions, not giving into them and understanding how we can manage them better when they kick in, is vital for success in all aspects of our lives
Controlling the animal part of our brain is hard, but can be done, with knowledge and understanding of it
Coaching programmes help massively with this, and help you recognise these emotions, as well as give you tools to deal with them, to ensure they do not take over your thought process
Going out and drinking is a typical trigger for the animal brain to kick in
It kicks in for protection
Protection against threat, alcohol, possible threat whilst under the influence and then the depressed, pitiful feeling the next day
This is exactly when the animal part of our brain would say ‘forget it’ about staying healthy and on track
It would just want to protect and give up on anything ‘safe’ so goes into automatic defensive mode
This is when all our good intentions go right out of the window and we crack, falling off our healthy plan and giving into temptation
so as you can see when you blame yourself for being rubbish, lack of self control, lack of commitment and so on, that isn’t always the case
It can just be that you are unaware of your feelings and emotions and need a little guidance into understanding them better
So that you can begin to manage them better
Mindset really does matter most!
Once you improve your mindset, learn how to recognise your triggers and how to prevent them from taking over,
Then and only then will you truly be successful in your fitness and nutrition and get the results you want
Healthy mind = healthy body
www.lifeshaper.org
Keep fit, happy and healthy. Invest in yourself, health is wealth
Emma xx