Diet

I first took action by researching all the foods that I can start eating that can help reduce my high cholesterol. My first change was to switch my breakfast from cereal to porridge oats. 4 months in and this is my go to healthy fulfilling breakfast. I also introduced nuts (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts and oily fish (tuna, mackerel, sardines, salmon) as well as swapping unhealthy snaking with fruits and using the slimming world technique of weighing portions and using lots of speed food to bulk out my main meals. Speed food for me is lots of vegetables (the greener, the better) My diet change feels like it is more permanent as it is part of my routine and forming as a habit. I have also cut down my caffeine intake making it a luxury instead of a habit making water (4 bottles a day day) and fruit tea as a much healthier substitute. 

I am now entering my 4 month running. My 4th week running 3 times a week for 30 minutes after completing the 9 week couch to 5k program. I feel this has now become a habit.i love being outdoors and love walking where it is green, the woods and where thee is nice scenery. I love the blue sky and the sea as it is calming and satisfying. When i started couch to 5K i found i difficult with motivation in general so this was a challenge for me. Running for 60 seconds let alone 30 minutes (5K) seemed like an impossible thing to do. I noticed that when i stopped putting pressure on myself and tried to enjoy it then i actually started to enjoy it. I found that putting on my favourite music helped motivate and inspire me and really helped with focus. I remember that after my first week we went on a family holiday to butlins and i ran along the seafront which i really enjoyed.  noticed that the more i did it i could create a playlist of my favourite bands and music and just focus on listening to them while i followed my virtual assistant on Couch to 5 K really helped with the nerves and build my stamina. The more i did it i found it easier and as my stamina built so did my confidence. I was now able to run for 60 seconds with greater ease increasing this to 90 seconds, 3 minutes, 5 minutes. I Started to enjoy going out for my runs 3 times a week in the mornings. I noticed after around week 3 after i had completed a positive batch of 5 minute runs i started to find it more challenging and was tempted to give up. Especially when i say i had to run for 10 minutes straight!