A Week of Healthy Living

A couple of months ago, I stopped doing my usual ‘monthly goals’ posts. (It’s OK, I didn’t expect you to notice…)

Actually, I didn’t just stop posting about my goals: I stopped even making them. Honestly? It just seemed like a bit of a waste of time when every single month I’d make exactly the same promises to myself, and then every single month I’d fail spectacularly to keep them.

“THIS will be the month I’ll start eating better!” I’d tell myself. “THIS will be the month I’ll get back into working out more than once in a blue moon!” But it never WAS the month, was it? No, instead of just knuckling down and smashing those goals every month, I simply became very, very skilled in the fine arts of procrastination and making excuses. In fact, if I’d made THOSE my goals, I’d be feeling pretty smug right now, because “I’ll start tomorrow!” I’d tell myself, while ripping open a chocolate bar. “It’s too wet to go for a run! I’m too tired to work out!”

And so it went on: I gained a couple of pounds over Christmas, lost them in the first few weeks of the year, gained them back during the my holiday in March, and have so far done absolutely nothing to try and shake them again. I’ve been exercising sporadically, eating Haribo Mix as if my life depends on it, and why YES, I will have a slice of that cake, because I am TOTALLY starting my healthy-eating regime tomorrow, and I might as well make sure I get all of the junk food out of the house first, amiright?

Considering that 2016 so far ISN’T turning out to be the year I finally get healthy, then, when Aveeno asked if I’d be interested in taking part in a week-long healthy living challenge, I was pretty dubious, really. I mean, if they’d said “Week-long-eating-sugar-and-liking-it” challenge, I’d have been all over that, but this seemed suspiciously like setting myself up for failure, and, I don’t know about you, but one of the ways I like to avoid failure is by not trying things I know I’ll probably fail at (file under ‘Things We Learned from Homer Simpson’), and… wait: why are you all looking at me like that? I mean, that sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?

OK, OK, I’m kidding: luckily I do know that avoiding things just because they’re hard isn’t, in fact, a great life plan, and I also know that if ever there was a person who needed to kick-start a change in lifestyle, I would be that person. So I’m doing it. All of this week, I’ll be taking part in the Aveeno ‘Inside & Oat’ challenge. I’ve been sent a healthy eating plan, filled with sample recipes for healthy, nutritious food, a set of exercises to do every second day – oh, and some Aveeno skincare products to pamper myself with, too. The idea is basically that good skin starts with a good diet and healthy lifestyle, so I’ll be putting that to the test: as you might know, Aveeno’s skincare products are based around natural ingredients like oatmeal, which helps to soften the skin without drying it, and by using their Daily Moisture range, doing some simple exercises, and making an effort to eat better, I’m hoping to end the week feeling – and hopefully looking – a bit brighter than when I started it.

I’m also hoping to at least make a start on developing some better habits, which I can try to keep up with in the long-term. Obviously a week isn’t a long time in the great scheme of things, so I’m not expecting any miracles, but I would really like to stop the cycle of always telling myself I’ll start being healthier “tomorrow”, so hopefully this will be just the kick-in-the-butt I need. Luckily for me, the plan I’m following is a fairly flexible one: I don’t have to wake up at dawn for a ten mile run, before eating a rigid diet of lentils and kale, or anything like that, which is good, because CAN YOU EVEN? All of the exercises can be done at home, and the meal plan offers suggestions which can be adapted as required, so, I mean, how hard can it be, really?

I guess I’m about to find out…

[This is a sponsored post.]