keepin' active in quarantine

Recently I put a poll on Instagram asking you guys whether you'd prefer me to post some more information about nutrition or about fitness on my blog, and although the votes were pretty even to begin with, eventually fitness won with 64% of the vote. I'm still going to keep up posting about both (YAYA!) because I love both, but I thought that I would start getting some of my fitness blogs into action.

During this time of lockdown it's so easy to stay in our pj's all day. Let's be real, I love being comfy in my pj's and have probably been spending about 94% of the time during lockdown in either comfies or active-wear and the other 6% dressed up to go and pick up an order or something... So, I thought discussing a few ideas on how to stay active will be really helpful in keeping our move on during this time (even though it may be ending soon!)

1. A morning walk every morning or as many mornings of the week as possible

I've always thought that I'm a night-owl and that I prefer sleeping in, and I probably would more naturally stay up later in the evening and wake up slightly later in the morning because I love the buzz of it being nighttime; staying up later and going out for dinner, watching a movie with the family etc, but as I'm getting older I'm actually starting to realise that I'm loving the morning more and more, and when I just wake up at six, grab a warm cup of tea and go for a nice long walk with my mom, I feel so refreshed. My morning walks are a time to chat to my mom, clear my mind and pray. When you're on a walk you can't be doing the dishes, or schoolwork, or planning, so it's just time to rest, and on top of that it's also an exercise, aaaand you feel like you're beating the day... win-win if ya ask me!

2. Eating healthy and not over-eating

I know that this can sound quite cliche, but I often find that I feel more motivated to workout and keep active when I've been eating nutritiously. I'm not sure about you, but if I eat something really unhealthy and maybe slightly too much of it, I tend to feel quite full and maybe even too full to workout, whereas when I eat healthily I feel energised, light and refreshed. This way I feel more motivated to workout and I enjoy it x

3. Running and putting some disciplines into place to make sure I actually stick to it (insert laughing face emoji here)

Setting some disciplines or goals for when you're going to go exercise and maybe go for a run, is so helpful in maintaining that you're still getting that exercise in and not forgetting about it or allowing the comfort of your lounge-wear from holding you back. I enjoy going for a run on top of going for a daily morning walk because I see the run as being the time where I burn calories. Personally I love hill-sprints because they're intense and quick - they don't take forever. I often find that going for a long run (which I end up loving when I go and would love to start doing more often) can be more mentally difficult because you've got to keep telling yourself that 'you're almost there'. If you find that you're battling to go for a run for a similar reason, find what works for you, and enjoy doing it, whether it be a few hill sprints, a long distance run or a few kilometres. Find a safe hill or a beautiful running route and 'just do it'! Just putting these disciplines in place means you're getting that exercise in, keeping your activity up and if you're doing that on top of your morning walks, you'll definitely be burning calories.

4. Mini-workouts throughout the day

Probably my final point for now would be doing little mini-workouts as you go along throughout the day. It's quite funny that during isolation although, yes, there is more time, it still feels very busy, and I still end up doing schoolwork up until about four or five everyday. I've found hopping down and doing ten quick push ups or twenty sit ups and then carrying on with my day means that I'm still getting some workout in throughout the day, so that if I don't find the time at the end of the day to do a full on workout, I've still got some exercise in (wow - I said 'day' a lot in that sentence). You may feel like relaxing when evening comes and so had having already done some little workouts already helps ya cause!

Hope this really helps, ya'll! We're all on this journey, learning how to live more nutritious lives and how to find that healthy balance. Don't be hard on yourself; enjoy it and have fun doing it!

Ciao!

grace charlotte

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