Self-care and healthier habits thread

[yatapina]

Anyone else care to join?

I was asked to list some good things about me today and I honestly couldn't - my skin is shite, I'm overweight, I'm not particularly fit, I don't sleep well, I don't eat well, my brain never has down time, I've become quite a negative person and I am slipping back into smoking a bit too often.

I don't want to feel shit about myself so I'm going to change it. I'm not going to promise a drastic overhaul but take little steps to make myself feel better.

Starting today with drinking more water instead of fizzy juice.

[FagAsh]

I quit the fags weeks ago and have dropped a few years off my face....
Have upped water intake hugely
No wine or coffee since new year

Need to tackle my sugar addiction now and started that with a couple of days of low carb

[FagAsh]

How old are you?

[yatapina]

Apt name 😁

I'm 33 so got a few years healthier living left in me hopefully... I "stopped" smoking daily 14 years ago when I was pregnant with my eldest but I've never been able to quit in social situations particularly where alcohol is involved! Recently though I've found myself craving a smoke when I'm on my own as it's been quite a stressful few months. But it's a slippery slope.

[QuornQuiche]

I was recently reading an article about what drains your energy / what boosts your energy.

My life feels stressful, but I realised that the things that I do to relax don't necessarily boost my energy, but often zap it some more. TV, drinking wine, eating crap, internet

I am aiming to exercise more, go out, eat and drink mindfully. I think this time of year makes it harder, so requires a little more effort and forward planning.

[QuornQuiche]

I was recently reading an article about what drains your energy / what boosts your energy.

My life feels stressful, but I realised that the things that I do to relax don't necessarily boost my energy, but often zap it some more. TV, drinking wine, eating crap, internet

I am aiming to exercise more, go out, eat and drink mindfully. I think this time of year makes it harder, so requires a little more effort and forward planning.

[QuornQuiche]

I was recently reading an article about what drains your energy / what boosts your energy.

My life feels stressful, but I realised that the things that I do to relax don't necessarily boost my energy, but often zap it some more. TV, drinking wine, eating crap, internet

I am aiming to exercise more, go out, eat and drink mindfully. I think this time of year makes it harder, so requires a little more effort and forward planning.

[QuornQuiche]

I was recently reading an article about what drains your energy / what boosts your energy.

My life feels stressful, but I realised that the things that I do to relax don't necessarily boost my energy, but often zap it some more. TV, drinking wine, eating crap, internet

I am aiming to exercise more, go out, eat and drink mindfully. I think this time of year makes it harder, so requires a little more effort and forward planning.

[Allcrimps]

Watching! I'll come back to this thread later. I need an overhaul!

[QuornQuiche]

[ILiveInSalemsLot]

The internet both drains me and energises me so I need to reduce the draining. I think the draining comes because of too much time on it.
It energises me because I always get inspiration from it to do real world stuff like finding good walks with lovely views or a book to read or some amazing place to see. Even healthy eating plans and good skin care routines.

What I need to do is stop looking at it all online and just go do it

[yatapina]

Yes, to reading about healthier things rather than just bloody doing them!!

I've decided that I'm going to change my mobile phone habits - mindlessly scrolling takes up so much of my time. Thinking of keeping my phone in the kitchen when I'm at home instead of always having it to hand and switching it off at 6pm every night.

Going to need to get an old times alarm clock though 🤦

[PeninsulaPanic]

OP, I keep my mobile on silent and leave it on the carpet next to my bed so I can reach it easily when the alarm goes off, but don't even hear it vibrate if there's a call or message while I'm asleep. You could try that. Personally wouldn't go back to having an alarm clock for various reasons too boring to list!

I want to up my self-care but find it very difficult to motivate myself. I'm not a 'joiner' but have yoga dvds, for example, that are almost complete strangers to the dvd player Only this evening I sat looking at them thinking how great it would be to start a proper routine of doing some, but knew in my heart of hearts it was just wishful thinking because I don't. make. myself. do. it I sometimes feel I'd benefit from having an online buddy to check in with who's trying to achieve something similar.

I also need to get out in the fresh air and walk more, and more often. This time of year it's hard to stick to any resolution in that respect because I hate the cold! And in the summer months I'm happy to go swimming (local leisure centre) but for the rest of the year I rarely go because I don't enjoy coming out into the grey,cold and/or rain after my swim. Don't drive, so the cross-town walk to the bus stop to get home also puts me off. Someone with more integrity would see that as an opportunity. Me, I just see it as a reason excuse not to bother going

Excuses, excuses, excuses. I could write a bestseller about excuses, except I'd probably never get round to actually doing it. God knows I could use the money though!

I've got various ongoing health issues, despite a pretty healthy diet. Stopped drinking almost 13 years ago, stopped smoking over 3 years ago (addicted to nicotine gum though ) and don't need to lose weight as such. (But toning and strengthening my core - if I even have one, haha - would be lovely.) I'm shocked at how much I've aged in the last year or two though, the elastic is going out of my skin and I often look pasty and tired. My energy levels are all over the place and I spend far too much time watching soaps and trawling the internet, often to no useful end.

Please someone wave a magic wand over my life! Make me help myself!

Seriously though, this is a great idea for a thread and I hope it runs and runs (there's an idea!) so that I can keep an eye on it and possibly even get inspired enough to change my so-called life...

Wishing you all the best of luck

[chazbl]

I just did one of those blood tests and got my results back and apparently have very high cholesterol which means I need a better diet / have to do more exercise (nightmare).

Any tips to do this and still enjoy life (I hate running).

[Jmommy]

Hey, was thinking to start a similar thread, so was perfect to see someone has done it already!
I really feel like I need to do something to improve my health. I’m not overweight but haven’t exercised for years (!) now and have recently stopped breastfeeding my 1yo.

I seem to catch colds much more frequently than my DH, got some mild chronic allergy like symptoms (since years), my digestion could for sure work better as I’m constipated quite often, and my gums are often bleeding when I brush. I have recently looked into low grade inflammation and start to think I probably have that.

So I have started considering small changes that I can easily stick to, and take on more later. Right now I have started having one meal a day based on green veggies, having a serving of berries a day, as well as switching one coffee to green tea (drink too much coffee anyway). This way I hope my intake of vitamins and antioxidants should increase.
Started taking cod liver oil for omega3 and floradix for iron. Have had long term issues with low iron levels, but my gut doesn’t tolerate the tablet supplements too well and don’t want to suffer from those symptoms.

Look forward to reading this thread through carefully when I got more time and getting more ideas.