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Hi Eveyone!

Happy Ney Year! I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas & that 2015 will be a great year for you!

For my first post of 2015, I thought I’d talk a bit about resolutions.

A few years ago, I realised that, at least for me, resolutions never last. I start with great intentions, but one slip up & I give up! I think I’d read somewhere that, for example, if you were wanting to loose weight, saying “I’m going to reduce the amount of sugar in my diet” means you are much more likely to achieve your goal than if you were to say “I’m going to cut out sugar from my diet”.

This ties in nicely with Chloe from Chloe's Concept has a campaign to 'Take Back What's Yours'. The message of this concept is simple – taking positive steps to improve your life! Whether it be improving your self-esteem, health or any other aspect of your life through positive & realistic changes.

Because of my health, 2014 has been a bit of a rollercoaster. My ability to work has been affected & I’ve (eventually) come to the realisation that the only career I’ve ever wanted is not feasible. I reached my heaviest weight because of my medication & felt really low. Having accepted all this, I want to take positive steps forward.

2015 is going to be a big year for my husband & I, as we are going to be trying for a family. While this is a big change for all couples, for us it will be even more so as I have to come off all my medication as none are safe for use during pregnancy. There are a number of steps I want to take to improve my life.

My #TakeBackWhatsYours resolutions are:

To reduce my weight

This is something that will happen naturally when I come off my Gabapentin, but I want to make a real effort before hand. At present I consume WAY too much sugar, which isn’t good for me. I know I do it to help me fight the fatigue I experience but, while it helps at the time, it probably makes things worse overall! So I will be working to reduce my sugar (& caffeine) intake. This will also have an impact on my self-image & self-esteem.

To purchase less makeup & really utilise what I already own

Dan & I are realistic & know that I may end up housebound while I’m off my medication. Couple this with the added level of fatigue I am likely to experience, I really don’t know how much I’ll be wearing makeup! I often feel guilty when I purchase makeup, as well as when I see things I have bought not being used. By purchasing less I will enjoy what I do buy & will feel good when I use products up. A bit of a tedious link to self-esteem, but never mind!

To be more organised

As a kid, I was always organised, it became more difficult when my migraines started but I was able to keep on top of things though. When my PTSD kicked in, that all changed. My brain was all over the place. I didn’t know from one moment to the next what my emotional state would be & what could set a flashback off. Keeping on top of things couldn’t have been further from my mind. I’ve collected a lot of paperwork, letters that haven’t even been opened & many, many other things! As my Dan & I are going to try for a family this year, it’s high time I got myself organised! I’m going to be starting a #throwoutthursday series to work through my clutter, as well as coming up with things I can put in place to keep myself organised. I always feel better about my self when I'm organised, which can only be a good thing in terms of improving my self-esteem!

To keep a diary – 5-year diary & MyFitnessPal diary

The final thing I want to do is to keep a diary. This will be in two parts. The first will be to write a few lines in my 5-year diary that Dan bought me for Christmas last year. I wanted it to be able to reflect back on the process of starting a family, but was a little hit & miss with filling it in! I’m going to keep it in the kitchen & fill it out after dinner rather than just before bed as I’m often too tired to do anything at this point in the day! This will reaffirm the good things that have happened during the day & will give me a platform to reflect on things that didn't go so well & how I can learn from it/react better/do it differently.

The second part to this ‘resolution’ is to accurately fill in my MyFitnessPal app. This can be used to aid weight loss, weight gain & keeping a stable weight. The app allows you to enter your daily food intake & exercise you do. It shows you not only whether you’re over or under your calorie goal, but also let you see your consumption of each element (protein, etc.) verses your GDA. I’ve used this app in the past, but once I reach my calorie limit I stop making entries for the day, as though by not entering foods into the app my body won’t be consuming the calories! If I’m going to continue this way, I might as well not bother so I’m going to complete each daily entry & reflect back to see how I can improve my diet to loose weight (bringing us nicely back to my first ‘resolution’).

The 10 bloggers I nominate to take part are:

Chloe from Clos Beauty Spot

Beth from Beauty In Beta

Monica from Moth Loves

Cat from What Cat Says

April from HELLO APRIL

Haná from hdotxo

Dee from Prompts By Dee

Courtney from COURTZMELV

Beth from Mermaid In Disguise

Hollie from Hollie Beca

What are your resolutions to Take Back What’s Yours?