Routine
I’m a pretty organised person. You have to be when you’re juggling work and a busy family life. In fact the kids have a better social life than me and the hubby so we need an organised calendar to keep track of all the parties and activities!
For our household having a daily and weekly routine is the key to success of a less stressful life. Usually everybody knows what they’re doing each day and where they need to be. This limits the panicked, last minute arrangements and that dreaded question of ‘what are we having for tea tonight?’ Of course it’s only dreaded if you don’t know the answer. When I started Weight Watchers this is one of the first things I introduced to our family, a weekly meal plan. From a personal point of view it helped me to track my points for the week and see what extras I had left for treats (mainly alcohol and cake, ha!) By making a plan for the week you can also create a shopping list so you can do a weekly food shop because let’s face it ‘nipping’ to the closest shop several times a week diminishes the pounds in your purse not your hips.
The next thing we plan out for the week is exercise. The actual time that we can do the activities does vary because general life of course gets in the way and we have to be flexible around the kids. We do however know that every day involves a dog walk. Four days of the week are big dog walks so at least an hour of relatively fast paced walking. Two days of the week are a dog jog, usually a couple of miles including the killer hill. I’m hoping this hill becomes less of a killer the more we do it. Fingers crossed! I also do a 15 minute stint on my weighted hula hoop 3 times a week. As I try to shed a few more pounds and improve my fitness I’m looking to slot a few more varied activities into my weekly routine or at least alternate between activities each week. I’m keen to try a box jump work out and the hubby is keen to get me in the gym for weight training and boxing. He might regret that one, ha!
Fail to plan. Plan to fail. But let’s not be really annoying about it. Life is busy and sometimes we have to be flexible. It’s fine if you miss a work out or forget to plan a meal. Work around it and move on!
