February 8, 2020 • Life
✼ Wellness Doc 01
I started my wellness journey in 2016.
![Picture from Pixabay](https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/08/05/19/29/rock-1573068_1280.jpg)
If you’ve followed me on social media for a while, you’d know that I have kept myself accountable on my wellness journey mostly through social media. It may sound silly to those who just have the motivation, but it worked. 🙌🏻 It worked for me anyway. Knowing that there were people I was somewhat keeping myself accountable to helped me move my butt everyday!
I enjoyed documenting it online, but wanted to write more detailed posts about my continuous wellness journey on my blog alongside the occasional workout selfies I snap on Instagram. So here’s the first one! I don’t know how frequently I’ll write these, but let’s just begin!?
January 2020
Just like everyone, I felt the usual New Year motivation and set myself some pretty ambitious goals.
As the month went on, and I slowly got back into the swing of work and life, I found that prioritising my health started to make its way from top priority to second to third… And that’s the truth!
I’ve still made the effort to move my body and get to the gym at least 4 times a week, sometimes 3 when certain weeks were just too much. For February, I want to keep health as my top priority because “letting myself slip” in January affected me badly. By the end of the month, I felt so burnt out.
💪🏼 Workout Split
![January 2020 workouts - it's cool to see it all come together at the end of each month.](http://18.132.103.141/wp-content/uploads/IMG_5983.jpg?fit=1024%2C296&ssl=1)
I’ve continued to work with my PT, Ryan Kitto (who I highly recommend if you’re in the Leeds area) I’ve mostly continued with the strength / hypertrophy program mix I’m currently following with Ryan. It’s currently set out with 3 power days (heavy weight) and 2 hypertrophy (high rep) days, my week look like this at the moment:
- POWER: Hamstrings & Glutes
- POWER: Upper body
- POWER: Quads & Glutes
- HYPERTROPHY: Upper body
- HYPERTROPHY: Lower body
- REST x 2: usually just stretches and light cardio
I’ve been enjoying myself with this set-up, but I think it might be time to switch things up a little bit.
At the end of January, Ryan and I threw in some new exercises which challenged me a lot – it was fun. My goal this year is to continue improving my strength, but I realised in January that I missed being lean and fast. I definitely will be revisiting my workout routine!
![...I love this Gymshark set!](http://18.132.103.141/wp-content/uploads/6C1C9167-8C8C-46D8-8CEB-E6D0040A7FD3.jpg?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1)
🍽 Diet
*Disclaimer: when I talk about junk food, I am referring to food that make me feel physically unwell.
I’ve felt like I’ve not found a good balance with food yet. At the start of my health journey, I went cold turkey for a few years – going full “monk” mode. This obviously wasn’t fun or healthy; I’m not a fan of any type of restriction.
But then I have started heading back towards “junk” food eating. It’s always good for a second then I feel terrible for hours after. Not worth it. 😳 The “junk” food I’ve been consuming recently has also affected my energy levels so much, I’ve felt depleted even though I’ve slept well and done everything to fully rest.
💭 Mental health
I found myself doing a lot in January. I tried my best to remind myself of how bad I deal with burnout, but as excited as I get with all these ideas and opportunities, I find myself saying yes more often than I probably should. And admit it – sometimes I took work home, and I’m sorry. 😬 It became a bad habit a few months ago that I banned, then I found myself doing it again a few times last month causing me totally self-inflicted stress and worry.
![Go outside with nature more often](http://18.132.103.141/wp-content/uploads/IMG_4440.jpg)
On the plus side, I’ve been consistent with writing in my gratitude journal. It really sets out my day on a positive note, even though sometimes I’m anxious about the day ahead, my journal reaffirms me that everything is just fine.
![Sleep data](http://18.132.103.141/wp-content/uploads/IMG_5985-1-902x1024.jpg)
My sleeping pattern has been pretty consistent too. I’ve also started tracking my sleep using my Apple Watch with AutoSleep, it tells me my “readiness” score and most nights my readiness score is quite bad which reflects how stressed or anxious I feel. It’s been pretty spot on!
I’m trying to improve my sleep further – because I still wake up lacking energy. I’m starting to understand it relates to my food habits! It all contributes to wellness.
Numbers in January
Numbers aren’t everything, but are good indicators to me on progress. I wasn’t very good at it when I first started the fitness side of my journey. I want to keep track this time round!
I also wanted to remind you that these are my numbers, and aren’t some “ideal” standard you should aim for. Everybody is different, and every body is different. 💜
Body Composition
![Body Composition Measurements](http://18.132.103.141/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot-2020-02-05-at-19.31.28.png?fit=1024%2C125&ssl=1)
I’m particularly proud of the muscle gainz I’ve made in my arms. 💪🏼
Random numbers from my scale
*Not sure how totally accurate it is, but a good pointer either way
![Final numbers of Jan 2020 as gathered from my smart scale](http://18.132.103.141/wp-content/uploads/IMG_5984.jpg?fit=838%2C1024&ssl=1)
This month’s “goals”
- Improve my relationship with food. Experiment with what makes me feel good, remind myself that just because something makes me feel good for a second, it’s not worth the crappiness I feel after.
- Switch up my current workout split – not sure how this will look YET!
- Say no more often, chill more often. It’s OK that I’m not at every single event or doing every single thing possible. It’s OK to just lay around doing nothing. 😊
That’s it for my first Wellness doc, I don’t know how many of these I’ll do throughout the year but it definitley was a fun way to reflect and keep myself accountable. Hopefully it inspired you with your own wellness journey – we’ve got this! ✨
![PN in Greek](/_next/image?url=%2Fsignature.png&w=256&q=75)
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