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Health and wellness

spring two

Spring

spring three

Spring has well and truly sprung in our little piece of Eden.

Our lime tree that sits in a wine barrel on our tiny porch has flowers for the first time promising fruit this summer.

Little birds jump along our window sill awakening life to the sound of the morning.

And my post pregnancy body is ready to move again and get back into shape for summer.

As I read stories of friends and families who completed marathons yesterday, I am both inspired and terrified for the year ahead.

I am inspired because I desperately long to fit back into my pre-pregnancy jeans, but terrified about the eternal roller coaster of emotions that dieting and exercise bring into my days.

We have scales in our house for the first time in five years and my husband and I have a goal to lose a certain amount of weight by a certain time, with a reward at the end.

My husband is off and racing, inspired and encouraged at his progress already and I am quiet in my despair that another go, another app on my phone, another list of to do’s and I will fail again.

spring four

You see Charl is a body builder by trade, a Muay thai fighter by night and a personal trainer by profession.

I am a cake baker, a people lover, a hospitality fiend and a writer by passion.

None of my characteristics lean towards success in this area but overall health and wellness is imperative for my future and family.

Charl and I had a profound conversation last week, with the words he said still ringing in my heart.

He kindly said;

‘The problem is babe, you are so focussed on diet and exercise that you will always fail because it is not a natural part of your make up. You need to change the tone and language, to health and fitness. When you are focussed on wellness and training for life, your motivation towards change is so much more apparent.”

Health

Wellness

Training

Fitness.

That I can do.

I want to live a Healthy life, for my future, my potential, my passion and my privileges.

I want to train hard towards goals like the city to surf, because I want my children to be proud of their mum who is motivated at the school gate.

I want to choose nutrition that is about wellness and energy, allowing me to bring my best to all the areas that demand me of my time.

I want to look at my camera and not delete photos so that a record of my current shape is removed from my hard drive.

I want to live free from the shame of being overweight and unfit.

Day by day.

Choice by choice.

I want it to be a lifestyle not a fad and unfortunately the amount of years that the latest diet has plagued my fridge is way longer than the amount of years I have lived with my husband, who encourages me towards healthy living rather than strict plans that fail constantly.

Here is a toast towards wellness this spring.

Making choices that are healthy rather than starving myself away from nutrition and wellbeing.

Step by step.

Run by run.

Moment by moment.

Choosing life.

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5 thoughts on “Health and wellness

  1. I am cheering you on,
    Always
    xox

  2. Cheers from me too. Good message to get out there. What I’ve learnt from the body builder I live with is that moderation and persistence are the long term keys. These are underpinned by the belief that the body is a wonderful machine that needs to be treated respectfully and not as a vessel to be filled with the results of our emotions (ie too much yummy cake).

  3. YES! I am on board with this mentality and way of thinking. Making better health decisions every day. My super fit, olympian brother always says to me “Ruth, you deserve more, your body deserves more, you deserve better… have some more self respect and self love… put food in your body that makes it sing!” – that gets me going… and so does this. big love.

  4. This is awesome!!!!! It works!! Good on you Amanda. But be kind – liberty is young and you are still in and will be for awhile a very demanding stage of life x

  5. Bless you for writing this! It’s super encouraging to me and so what I needed to read. Love your vulnerability & honesty. You’ve always inspired me creatively and now you’ve just inspired me on a whole other level! Thank you, cheering for you. T x

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