making positive changes

Following on from my post where I spoke about trying to make myself happier, I decided it was time for a bit of a lifestyle overhaul. While I'm usually fairly healthy by my own accord, I'm sure you all understand how hard it is to get back into a routine when you're in a negative place. With that in mind, and motivation at an all time low, I decided on a few small things in order to make some positive changes to my lifestyle! I started with something as simple as picking up some new stationary from Kikki.K - they're all super cute and filled with inspirational quotes and good ideas to pick yourself up. 
Next up, my diet. I have a naturally slim build and luckily I can go through phases of eating what I like and not suffering too many repercussions. That being said, I know that I need to wise-up a little bit in terms of making sure I'm getting enough nutrients and vitamins - this is especially important as my CFS always takes a dive when I eat terribly. I've found that whenever I'm miserable I eat awfully, as I'm sure so many of us do. So when So Shape approached me and asked if I'd be interested in trying out their challenge, I jumped at the chance. The concept is, you choose how long you wish to eat the Smart Meals for, and then order accordingly. There's about one billion different flavours to choose from (or 22 to be precise), but me being me, I went for all the sweet options in the hope they'd be like drinking a milkshake. They're easy to prepare with water and the bottle you get when you order and pretty simple to have on the go. I've been having one in the morning then two regular meals for lunch and dinner. I've been trying to up my vegetable intake and eating loads of grains etc alongside. After 14 days I would say that I've noticed my energy levels peak slightly (as far as mine can...) and my stomach feels a lot flatter - notably because I've cut a lot of the rubbish out that was constantly bloating me. I didn't really have any excess weight to lose, so that wasn't why I did it but I have noticed I feel a lot less sluggish. You can read more about the challenge and smart meals here!  Speaking of my CFS, it leads on well to my need of more sleep. I have a terrible routine of going to bed ridiculously late and replying to emails at 1am, so that needed to stop. I picked up Lush's Sleepy cream after reading so many good things about it and have been using it every night religiously. I'm not sure if it's just a placebo effect, but it seems to be actually helping with falling and staying asleep so it's a yes from me. You can get 10% off a 14 or 28 day challenge with the code GEORGIA10 too!
Lastly, exercise. Now, I have the fitness levels of an elderly sloth so I needed something that wouldn't be too taxing, nor exhaust me too much - calling yoga. I downloaded the Daily Yoga app and have been doing their challenges which I find so much harder than I should haha. I really struggle with getting my breathing right and by the time I've nailed it, it's onto the next pose! Either way, I'm slowly getting there and it feels refreshing to just be actually doing something to be honest. I'm thinking once I've got a little bit more confident with it, I'll try and find a local class and convince a friend to come with me.  I mainly accredit all of these things to building a routine - it's so much easier to stick to things you do daily without too much thought than it is to find time randomly. Now I've finished the So Shape challenge, I've been able to fill the meal replacements with healthy smoothies and keep up the 5/6 a day that I was managing whilst drinking them. I'm also into the swing of getting yoga into my daily (or every other day at least) routine and putting my Sleepy cream on every night before bed. Simple things and yet they all make such a difference.
Post in collaboration with So Shape, but as always, all opinions and words are my own!
lots of love xxx

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