We all caught a bug over Christmas but it didn’t stop us all having a good time. As I entered the gym after a two week break, a few ideas ran through my head and I’d like to share them with you today.

I think a new year comes with lots of motivation and things you may want to achieve. Unfortunately, I also believe a new year comes with lots of pressures and expectations.

Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day

We’ve probably all heard the saying. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was your health and fitness. Important work takes time. So you’ve let your hair down over Christmas? Big deal! I normally put on around half a stone over Christmas, sometimes a little bit more. Don’t put yourself under immediate pressure to lose the festive weight straight away. By simply dropping back into your regular routine is usually enough to shift those extra few pounds.

If you’re looking to lose the extra weight and some, joining a gym may be the answer. My family and I have recently teamed up with the guys over at David Lloyd Clubs. If you’re looking to join a gym / health club, David Lloyd is definitely the place to be! With gym facilities, tennis courts, a swimming pool and much more – you literally have everything at your finger tips! Stay tuned to see how we all get on over the coming months.

It’s important to set yourself specific goals though, such as a timescale. I’ll be uploading another blog post soon, all about creating yourself a SMART plan. This is something I learnt recently when I completed my personal training qualification.

A Healthy Timeline

Amy wrote a post about this last year. I have a love / hate relationship with social media. I love the fact I can reach complete strangers with my posts and point them back to my blog. I don’t believe my blog would be where it is today if it wasn’t for social media.

I have now personally left Instagram as well as Facebook. I’m still on Twitter, for now. One of the main reasons for leaving both was time. I was finding I just wasn’t being productive enough throughout the day. I was finding the time putting stuff on social media was just as time consuming as the stuff I was seeing and reading.

Another reason is that no-one really cares. Sounds harsh but it’s true! I think people just like being nosey rather than genuinely interact with you. I hate myself for saying this but when I saw friends liking other people’s pictures and not mine, it got to me a little. I understand you may not actually ‘like’ it! Vice versa, I found myself looking at accounts and not liking what I saw. Ranging from pictures that made me feel uncomfortable to posts that genuinely changed my mood. Don’t forget, social media can damage the emotional wellbeing of some users.

Speaking from experience, you need to make sure you follow the right people and create yourself a healthy timeline. I include myself in this! If my social media accounts don’t do it for you anymore, please unfollow me. Having a social media clear out is good for the soul. If you don’t like a certain newspaper, you stop reading it. It should be the same for social media and blogs.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who does follow me and I really appreciate you taking the time to read my posts.

I also believe we don’t print out enough photos these days. I have childhood memories that are triggered by remembering certain photographs. I was starting to think that maybe my kids were missing out on pulling the old photo album out once in a while and reminiscing. So I created and printed a photo book from the last few years and the kids love it!

I also printed out a load of photographs and created this photo wall. It’s in between our living room and the kitchen so we walk past it every day. There’s always a different photo that grabs our attention.

So there you have it, create yourself a healthy timeline and don’t put yourself under pressure so early in the year.