It’s the new year – but will it be happy?
I’ve already lost count of the number of texts I’ve received telling me how lazy you’ve been, how much you’ve eaten and how much weight you’ve put on over Christmas. I could react in one of 2 (or, in fact, thousands) of ways. Firstly, I could tut and tell you how silly you’ve been for eating more than you need over Christmas and not going out running/working out, just because I wasn’t in the park… OR I could say ‘hey, it was Christmas, you’ve worked hard all year, you’ve had a good rest (which your body will thank you for) and you’ve now recharged your batteries and are ready to come and enjoy working off your excesses!’
Whether or not you’re beating yourself up for not having kept up your healthy eating and planned fitness programme over Christmas, it’s likely that most of us (yes, me included) will have put on a few lbs. And so? We just need to work them off again. It’s taken 2 weeks to put the weight on, so it won’t take longer than 2 weeks to get it off again (much faster if you want it to be!)
If you’ve been indulging in all the usual festive treats (mince pies etc) then it’s likely that at least some of your weight gain will be water retention. Eat clean and workout hard and that will be history in no time. If you’re convinced that your body fat percentage has increased, then you need some fat burning exercise, er, like what we do in the park 😉
The hardest bit about all of this, is not the weight you’ve put on, but how you feel about the weight you’ve put on. In reality, the biggest challenge is getting your head back in the right place to work the weight off, not getting your body back in shape. I know. I had whooping cough (yes! unbelievable in this day and age – but don’t get me started on people who won’t immunise their little darlings….) and so didn’t workout in the whole of December. I was going stark raving bonkers. I also started to feel quite low – endorphin withdrawal was partly to blame – if I don’t workout, I don’t wake up with energy and when I don’t have energy, well life is just pants!
So, unless you’ve still got the lurgy (and I’ve never known so many people struck down with either flu, whooping cough or gastro-ness) then don’t think too much about how bad you feel. Just get your workout gear ready, put it on and get to the park. Don’t think just do. You’ll be glad you did.
So, Happy New Year? Entirely up to you.