{"id":13854,"date":"2019-02-26T09:25:02","date_gmt":"2019-02-26T14:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mayahoodblog.com\/?p=13854"},"modified":"2024-02-04T21:57:48","modified_gmt":"2024-02-05T02:57:48","slug":"the-year-of-putting-myself-first-heres-what-i-learned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mayahoodblog.com\/the-year-of-putting-myself-first-heres-what-i-learned\/","title":{"rendered":"The year of putting myself first – here’s what I learned!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I sit here to type my thoughts about this past year, I actually can’t believe it’s been a year. Sadly, I can’t remember to ever committing to anything this longer (other than my marriage and kids). So… where to start? The beginning is always a good place to start (name that movie anyone?).<\/p>\n

So a year ago to this date, I made one of the most important decisions of my life! I decided to prioritize myself and my health. I can’t recall exactly what it was that made me begin this lifestyle transformation, but something inside of me sparked. I mean, I spent years of being inspired by others, going on healthy binges, and having my husband ‘push’ me to workout. But FINALLY, something stuck within me. Deep inside me, I was ready to make the change. I think the reason was two fold:<\/p>\n

1. I wasn’t happy with how I looked and felt. Yes, a bit shallow, but it’s true. My body resembled how I looked postpartum; except my youngest was over 3 years old at the time. I just knew my body was capable of more and I knew I needed to feel comfortable in my own skin. 2. While I was definitely NOT overweight, I wasn’t healthy. I hadn’t done any form of exercise in close to two years at that point. Whereas in the past, I used to complete a half marathon almost yearly. I just always felt low on energy. I knew I needed to do something for my health and to also be able to be a better role model for my kids (not to mention, be able to keep up with them).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I decided that instead of going hard-core on a ‘diet’ as I had in the past, which worked, but only temporarily, I was going to focus on both; exercising regularly and watching what I eat. After all, I know the fundamentals for eating well. I just wasn’t always following them. I started doing Beachbody workouts, which I loved! First of all, you can do them from home and they are fun and effective. I completed two Beachbody workouts (80 day obsession and LIIFT4) before the weather started getting nice. That’s when I started focusing on my running again. Anyone else who’s planning to start a fitness journey should consider buying comfortable gym clothing<\/a> items to help them get motivated to workout.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This time around though, something shifted in me again. Running became my energy release. While I always enjoyed running in the past, I actually started to fall in love with running. I would look forward to it and always challenge myself to go further. I mention this because in the past, John would literally have to push me out of the house to go for a run. When he asked me how far I was running, I used to say 2km, or 3km… I never wanted to go further than 5km. Now I was running a minimum of 10km and all by choice! No one was forcing me or begging me. I was the only one pushing myself and I felt great about the process. Not to mention, it gave me an hour + of uninterrupted alone time (which I crave).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In September, knowing that the weather would shift again soon, I decided to sign up for BBG (via @sweat app). Another workout program that you can do from home that I heard about from some of the people who had inspired me throughout my transformation. You can read more about my comparions of BBG and Beachbody in THIS<\/strong><\/a> post.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So while working out has been a consistent this past year, it wasn’t always perfect. There were weeks where I just ran and didn’t do any strength training. There were weeks where I did nothing too. And while my eating was mostly good, it wasn’t GREAT. Could I have eaten healthier and made better choices? Fo sho! But you know what, I’m not hard on myself. I was living life. Enjoying the cottage life meant drinking more than I should be and overindulging. Do I regret those decisions? No, I was living my best life… but I’m realistic about what it meant for my transformation. It’s a learning process and my diet is something that I’m going to be focusing more on in the next year.<\/p>\n

So here I am, a year later. Stronger, but not necessarily wiser. I’m still learning A LOT every day, and I know that my journey has only just began. After all, this is a lifelong change. So while it’s great to know that I’ve stuck to it for a year, I also know it’s just the beginning. I’m excited for the year ahead as John and I start exploring the health benefits of a vegan diet, and I have started thinking about running my first full marathon!!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So… what are my big lessons from this journey thus far? Here are the big ones in a nutshell:<\/p>\n

Lessons Learned:<\/h4>\n
    \n
  1. You can do hard things. Look, this past year was hard. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t. But you know what, getting fit and healthy is hard work. If it wasn’t, everyone would be doing it. Hard things are worth it. Do I LOVE working out? Not really. But you know what I do love? How I feel after a work out. I also love that I have so much more energy now. It’s helping me deal with Seasonal Affective Disorder. I’m more flexible, stronger and happier.<\/li>\n
  2. The WANT to change and transform needs to come from within. Once it’s real, and you will know when it is, everything will just fall in to place (with a lot of hard work). No one can push you or tell you to do it. Inspiration helps, but it is not the catalyst.<\/li>\n
  3. Once you find that internal spark, surround yourself with a community who supports you, who cheer you on, who think and act like you and most importantly, who inspire you. Some days will be harder than the other, and you will learn to rely on these people to help you get through the hard days.<\/li>\n
  4. Focus on the big picture. Don’t expect change to happen overnight. Once you reach your goal, set another one. Keep striving for more and don’t give up. Certain changes take a long time to happen. Keep believing in the process, yourself and your journey.<\/li>\n
  5. Don’t compare your journey to anyone else. We might all be on a health and wellness journey, but we are all taking different roads to get there. Our bodies and hormones are different. You can’t compare yourself and your results to anyone else. You would be doing a disservice to yourself and everything that you worked so hard for. Self love is going to be your best tool when you go through this journey.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    I would love to hear from you if you have been going through a transformation. What are some of your big takeaways or lessons learned?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As I sit here to type my thoughts about this past year, I actually can’t believe it’s been a year. Sadly, I can’t remember to ever committing to anything this longer (other than my marriage and kids). So… where to start? The beginning is always a good place to start (name that movie anyone?). So […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"It's been a year since I decided to prioritize myself and my health. It's been an amazing year full of ups and downs but also so much success and triumph. 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