I’ve seen lots of people dismissing the idea of setting new years resolutions these past few weeks like it’s super uncool or something. If January feels like a good time for you to set goals and focus on the year ahead then that my friends, is absolutely fine.
I hosted Christmas for all the fam and so I never really got round to making any plans or new years resolutions. But then one of my all time Insta crushes announced she was doing Yoganuary. Yoga every day in January. And to me that seemed like a great place to start.
I’m not a yogi. I’ve been to about 3 classes over the years… by three classes I mean, three times. I’ve followed Cat Meffan for a couple of years now and she is such a ray of light. Super sassy, mindful and with hair to die for. So I mentally signed myself up for the daily YouTube practice. I knew I wanted to start finding a way of looking after myself more. 2017 was a bit of struggle for me in the old mental health department. Being severely sleep deprived and managing an emotional four year old was taking it’s toll. Just to mention that although the challenge is called Yoganuary it doesn’t mean it has to be done only in January. It’s absolutely something you can pick up at any point.
We’re 25 days into January today. I have missed three days. I caught up with one day along the way but I’ve not overly worried about those three stray days. If there’s one thing I’ve taken away form the last 25 days it’s to be kind to yourself and to make your journey through yoga your own; if one day doesn’t feel right then don’t do it. In all honesty I’m pretty bloody proud of myself for sticking to it. I have found spending half an hour to myself each day has really helped reign in my erratic mind and switch off from the madness that is life. Considering for the last 17 months (since my second baby was born) I’ve told myself there is no time for exercise, the fact that I’ve completed 22 out of 25 days feels pretty astonishing.
I’m going to report back to you in a week or so when the full 31 days are done to let you know how I’ve found the whole process, how I feel yoga has affected me and what I’ve taken away from it. Really looking forward to talking about it in more detail and hearing about what it’s done for you too.
After chatting to Lauren about Yoganuary I got to thinking about what else I could commit to that’s going to help improve my life and my wellbeing; both mentally and physically. And there was a very clear answer.
I, Becky, am a Chocolate Digestive-aholic. And I’m not even joking.
I’ve always been a biscuit lover. Always. But since my second son was born I would say that I have had a chocolate digestive almost every day. The issue is it’s not only one. I can quite easily eat 7 or 8 in one sitting. Imagine that at least five times a week. That’s a lot of biscuits. And it’s quite embarrassing. It has turned into a real addiction that’s lead me to feeling the need to eat something sweet after every meal and at random times through the day I feel myself crave it and often replacing my lunch.
My skin isn’t great and I do notice that after a particularly big binge it flairs up. It makes me really unhappy. I feel lethargic after a binge and the worst part about it is that I know I’m going to feel that way so why am I doing it to myself? So friends, as of today, I make a pledge to the Rock My Style community to give up both Chocolate Digestives and chocolate in general for 30 days. I also include biscuits in general because there’s no point swapping the digestive for a Custard Cream is there? I am going cold turkey.
Like with the yoga I’m going to come back and update you on the effect it has over the four weeks. So that leads me to ask… What is your vice? Are you partial to a biscuit or 12 every day? Maybe social media is your vice (I might use that as my next 30 day challenge; to reduce the time I’m on my phone) or perhaps you can’t stop drinking fizzy drinks?
Please feel free to join me in the #digestivedetox challenge? I’m going to journal it on my Instagram Stories if you want to follow along and keep me company. Wish me luck!
Love the yoga idea – I’ve persuaded my husband to do a yoga DVD instead of watching tv some evenings. We just have to get off our bums and open the DVD player now 😂
Haha Sarah! And the DVD is a great idea. I don’t think you have to apply much time to practice either really it’s just 20 minutes or half an hour for yourself and your mind? x
Loving the ‘double Becky’ today! 😘
I’m sitting here with yet another massive big spot on my chin, after vowing a week ago to stop eating junk and start exercising more (not even more, just exercising AT ALL). This is my current range of emotions and how I respond:
Tired? Eat chocolate.
Stressed? Chocolate.
Happy? Time for a choccy treat.
Bored? Ooh chocolate!
I reeeeaaally need to sort myself out. Fix my diet and get happy with how I look again. In two months I hit 40 and I want to get there feeling good about myself rather than buying all the baggy, long sleeve dresses.
So anyway, I’m in. Starting today I won’t detox but I’ll certainly vow to make a huge change in choosing what I eat.
(Disclaimer: Apart from tomorrow, I’m meeting friends for lunch in a cake shop tomorrow and can’t be held responsible for anything that goes into my mouth or on Instagram)
Thanks for the motivation my love! 🙌X
Cake is 100% not part of my ‘detox’… a term I use very loosely. Cake is 100% still on the treat menu 😘
That’s exactly it… Treat menu, not every day as 60% of my actual diet 😂x
I’m in! After a sugar and caffeine detox in December forced by illness I’m back to crazy levels of consumption and I feel awful for it but as said above, stress – eat sugar, tired – eat sugar and so on. Big work changes and a non sleeping 2.5 year old has made for a rough January but I have not helped myself. It’s my hands reaching for it, my gob eating it, my waistband showing it and my self feeling it. My choices. My bad choices. So before a Trainspotting style monologue develops about choice, I’ll stop there and make a change today. Good luck to you Becky. And thank you. This Rock My corner of the internet really is a cracking wee place to visit each morning.
YES Steph! Why do we do it to ourselves. I know I’m going to feel awful but yet I carry on and I can’t seem to just do it in moderation either… It’s pretty much all or nothing. I couldn’t have just one! But I’m hoping to be able to get to that place. Good luck to you too! x
Love the yoga everyday idea! About a year ago I gave up all refined sugar. I too would happily eat a (packet) of biscuits everyday. At first I tried just giving up biscuits but I just replaced them with other sweet stuff. The first six weeks were horrible – headaches the lot. I allowed myself a chocolate orange over Christmas and do you know what – didn’t do anything for me! I feel a million times better since I gave it up so stick with it. 😀
Mandy you are like my hero, I did quite well really cutting back after my first daughter was born then I’m not sure what happened (sleep deprivation probably) but slowly more and more sugar was re-introduced and I ended up back to where I started. Becky and I have similar diets.
What do you have as a “treat” may I ask? I actually really love fruit, and have been making a massive effort to have a healthy smoothie every morning. Unfortunately this hasn’t meant I’ve ignored the biscuits – I have those as well.
x
Everything Charlotte said… What is a good non sugary snack? Or do you just get to the point where you don’t crave the sweetness anymore? I don’t know if I could cut all refined sugar out… it’s everywhere isn’t it! But massive well done to you for achieving what so many try to x
Roasted coconut chips. They are still not particularly healthy, but they have the sweetness with a relatively low natural sugar content. Plus you can chew them for ages, which means you eat less (and possibly get bored of eating them…).
Mandy I have tried this a few times and while I’ll say that my sugar intake is way lower than it has ever been, I admire you for cutting it out altogether!!!
Charlotte & Becky, baked fruit in the evening is DIVINE. I love baked bananas and maple syrup. Peaches and coconut cream is also lovely.
I get most of my refined sugar-free treat ideas from I Quit Sugar’s blog: https://iquitsugar.com/recipe/
Oh these sound good! I am going to investigate 🙂 Thanks x
Im such a sugar addict and keep trying and failing to quit!! I’ve signed up to a four week program this morning to see if it helps as the lady running it posted a video that really resonated- sugar is as/more addictive than hard drugs yet if a drug addict did so many days drug free you wouldn’t then think it was ok for them to have “a little bit” which is what I do EVERY few days and then I’m back to square one!!
Well done on the yoga Becky – it’s so hard with little ones. I tried a work out yesterday whilst my 7 month old was on his mat. Think I managed a total of 5 very interrupted minutes xx
5 minutes is better than no minutes right? Well done you! Just managing to do anything is such a massive achievement. Sometimes I think… yes! I got the mat out. I’ve essentially already done it 😉 x
I bought myself a very fancy yoga mat last year, did one YouTube stint and then rolled up the mat never to be unravelled again. Until now that is! Feeling inspired by you Mrs S and also guilty that I’m the one who kicked off the thoughts about ditching the digestives. You can do this! x
I’ve been telling myself that 1st February is the time to start getting myself into better eating habits but Becky you’ve inspired me to start today! No more chocolate bars/couple of biscuits with my 3:15pm cup of tea. I’m not even hungry at this time, it’s just a bad habit amd extra calories that I could definitely do without.
That’s me all over Suzy! Eating them without needing them whatsoever! I always remember when my Grandad gave up smoking. He was quite a big smoker and then one no smoking day he just stopped. Forever. So there really is no time like now I guess? Good luck! x
Haha, my Grandad did the same (and liked to tell this story to my husband who uses a e-cigarette every time he saw him!). We definitely to channel the old-fashioned Grandad resolve!
Way to go Becky, that’s really inspiring! I made a decision to exercise every day, it can be anything really yoga, a run, Davina dvd or a good walk. I wake up before the kids to try and fit it in although as you say 20 or 30 mins is doable if they are playing happily. It honestly has really helped my headspace and patience levels! You have may inspired me to ditch the chocolate next…
Ella I am so envious of the morning workout. We have just tackled some sleep issues in that our 17 month old now finally sleeps through the night but he now wakes between 4:45 and 5:15 so getting up before him is nigh on impossible. I have to wait until his nap or bedtime before I can clear my head but at least I’m still doing it at some point I guess. And actually a mid day shake up isn’t a bad thing and brings my patience levels back up to not-bat-shit-crazy… Just about. x
I’ve seen you speak about Yoganuary in Instagram and was interested but, at 29 weeks pregnant, I just sat back on the sofa and put a box set on instead! I’ve done yoga on an off for years and always enjoy it when I do a class but I’ve never experienced the benefits of doing it consecutive days so this has inspired me to give it a go. You’ve done really well!
Also inspiring (forcing) me to seek a new path is the phone call I got from the hospital to let me know I have developed gestational diabetes.. I’m going to the diabetic clinic at the hospital this morning to find out all about it although I obviously know I will now have to give up sugar.
I gave up sugar for almost a year in the run up to my wedding, and was pretty good whilst on maternity leave with my daughter but going back to work and managing a child/job/house gave me some terrible diet habits that I am now being forced to face! Annoyingly I have been much healthier this pregnancy than my last one, when I swear I ate Terry’s Chocolate Orange most days, but it has not paid off. So wish me luck!!
Jennifer you watch that box set! You deserve it. I had constant tests for gestational diabetes throughout both of my pregnancies (I had a Frosties craving… What can you do?!) so I know that process very well and I’m sorry to hear you have the diagnosis to manage with this pregnancy. I hope you’re ok and that you get all the information you need to make sure you and baby stay nice and safe until he or she is here 🙂 x
I have loved flllowing this on Stories! And Leo on the mat with you just makes my heart sing. He is the bestest little yoga dude.
Will look up the challenge and maybe have a go in February. I’m quite a big fan of new year stuff- in 2013 I decided to learn to run and it had made a huge impact on my life. Maybe a ten minute yoga practice is exactly what I need- I love yoga but never seem to be able to put a routine or flow together.
If you want more yoga in your Insta feed please give my lovely friend Sarah @travellingyogini a follow. She is an amazing person, funny and warm and tells it straight- she’s so brave and honest. And she works in Portugal and the Philippines so always has sunny pictures to share.
Lucy I have found just after 25 days I have totally nailed the sun salutations… I don’t seen need to listen to her tell me the moves anymore. It must be to do with the consistency of it, the continual practice. I feel dead proud of myself when I nail it! haha. Leo is a bloody joy when it comes to the yoga. He makes me laugh so much! x
Oh, and on biscuits, my husbands nickname at school was Philly Bourbon because he would eat a whole packet a day. He still eats dark digestives and dairy milk like crazy at work- he must be the only person who lost weight over Christmas because he was at home with me judging his consumption levels. When his metabolism crashes he is going to be in deep trouble.
I wonder if it’s easier to give something up, than take something up. I guess depends what it is – just putting it out there.
I’ll report back Siobhan because I’ve had exactly that thought. Either way you’re making changes aren’t you but is it easier to integrate something than remove it… Let’s see x
I have been following your Yoganuary on insta-stories, and well done for sticking with it!
My mother (mentioning her a lot today) has been following a daily yoga thing for a good few months now, having practised on and off for most of her adult life – and she loves it.
I’m still trying to up my own exercise from my once-a-week pilates session, which I can stick to because it is a class and I have paid for it, and am failing completely. Food-wise I’m really focusing on increasing my veg intake, and making those the heart of my cooking (treated myself to a few new cookbooks). But I still have a big problem with eating all the chocolate – always find it hard to shake after Christmas when the cupboard is full of goodies people have given us as presents, and a lot of what Karen said above resonates too. So I might just join you on your chocolate detox (once I’ve finished the current bag of dairy milk buttons that’s in the cupboard 😉 ).
And I’m going to mention it because this feels like a good place to do so – the biggest change I’ve made this year is that I’ve decided not to buy any new clothes all year. So far so good. I’m trying to blog my experience, though only a few posts up, so far. Fingers crossed I can actually keep going.
Rebecca I read a story a couple of weeks back about a woman who did that and saved herself 17 grand?! How incredible is that!
I too am trying to up my veg intake a bit and am enjoying trying new recipes, it feels like another bit of time that I get to myself? You finish those buttons and have one for me because day one so far? ALL the cravings. x
That’s pretty incredible! I’m going to be honest – I’ll be satisfied if I can save myself a few hundred quid over the course of the year.
Hi Rebecca, would love to hear how you’re getting on. I’ve got a post in my drafts on this topic. Hope it explains the lack of fashion posts recently as this is something I’m experimenting with too!
I always start my new year resolutions in February.
I do then it because of religion, but it makes so much sense once you try it.
The days are that little bit longer as the sun is coming back, bringing with it new life, making us more hopeful and inspired. It gives you the worst month of the year (broke, cold, getting over Christmas) to decide how you want to improve, to motivate yourself, get information, make a plan, and by Feb you’re bursting to go.
This year I’m going back to running, something I loved, until I got pneumonia, twice, and had to stop for 6 months. That was 4 years ago. So back to the c25k for me.
Love this way of looking at setting goals Bekki! x
Ooh, really interested to hear that Lauren, as your capsule wardrobe and fashion posts over the last few years (along with a few other people I’ve been following for a while) are one of the reasons I’m going down this route. I have been very aware of the accumulation of clothes that don’t get worn over the last couple of years – partly down to changes in job expectations, baby, etc. – but have tried and failed to plan capsule wardrobes, because I find it very hard to let go of things. I’m hoping that this ban will help me re-assess what I actually need, what I like and encourage me to get a bit more creative again.
So far I’ve been doing ok – and have noticed a drop in the amount of time I spend browsing my favourite clothes shops online (which is how I’ve been doing most of my shopping recently) though I’m still looking a little bit. And of course, in the gloom of winter I’m mostly reaching for my same jeans and jumpers, and haven’t really tackled the creative aspect yet. Pondering ideas like doing a 10×10 challenge, or actually picking out a mini-capsule just for Feb to try and get myself going.
And (she says, very shyly) if anyone does fancy a nosy at my reasons, or to see how I’m getting on – my blog is at https://lostamongstthebrambles.wordpress.com/ With a word of caution that it’s in no way a pretty blog, and is mostly just me throwing my thoughts at the screen.
Thanks Rebecca, I’ll be sure to check in and see how you’re getting on x
I’ve recently started following Cat Meffan’s beginner-level yoga on Youtube, and I love it and her! I’m not quite ready yet for yoga everyday, but I’m going to work my way up to it.
I think it’s healthy to have a resolution/focus for the New Year, even if it falls by the wayside over the next few months at least it’s given a positive start to the year! xx
Thank you! I really needed to read this! I’m in a real January slump, every day is a pity party and instead of getting off my back side and doing something about it, I’m just blaming January.. I never usually set myself goals for the new year because I don’t trust myself to stick to them. I arrive home from work (in a primary school) and crave something and given I won’t buy biscuits or cake, I make toast and hot chocolate and it has become a habit. I feel tired all the time and am miserable because it’s grey outside. Soooooo… thank you for sharing Yoganuary… I’m starting tomorrow! All the best to you Becky for the rest of January… looking forward to reading how great you feel!
Oh Becky!! I can’t believe you’re giving up chocolate digestives?! You go girl! I know you have such a huge love so I bet it will be tough but I believe in you!!!! You may inspire me to do the same… I too am a biscuit and chocolate in general obsessor!!! It’s my birthday in 3 weeks time tho… Can I have one day off? 😂 Xx
Coming at this late – but good luck Becky!!!!! I am a serious sugar junkie, or more specifically chocolate (and chocolate digestives at the moment – heavily pregnant…). It is AWFUL, and I know how bad it is, but as others say – sleep deprived, tired, happy, bored, not even hungry but fancy munching – chocolate is the answer. I gave up sugar for lent last year and felt so proud of myself. But on Easter Day I was straight back to square one, I had no sugar rush or anything. And then I got pregnant so… But once this baby is out (and preferably before if I can summon up any will power at all) I am DETERMINED to kick the habit as much as I can. 50g of dark chocolate a day is my aim to begin with (yes that sounds like a lot but I have to be honest with how much I consume now and let’s just say it is more than that…), as I can’t get through the sleep deprivation without something, and then I shall be trying to cut it out entirely except maybe one day a week. I am also determined to lose the baby weight much quicker (or rather, lose ALL of it at some point as I failed last time as well, I got to a comfortable level and then just plateaued as my chocolate consumption restarted…). Good luck!!!
Sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get through don’t you? The only reason I feel like I have any hope of doing this at the moment id because Tayo has finally decided to sleep! I’m sure you’ll do it if you set your mind to it. Good luck with baby 🙂 xxx