A little over a month ago I decided to embark on a 60 day life reset. After all, pandemic or no pandemic, you can’t sit around until 2pm every day watching Judge Judy in your pjs. I needed to make some positive changes. Fast! So I started with a 30 day full body reset in the hopes that if I got my body in better shape, my mind would start to follow suit.
For 30 days I focussed on taking better care of my body and my overall physical health. (No more cookies for breakfast!) Here’s how my 30 day full body reset went and what I learned from a month of treating my body better.
What is a 30 day full body reset?
The idea was simple – spend 30 days introducing simple, but sustainable healthy habits into my daily routine. Get off the couch, eat more veggies and feel better about myself.
The goal was not to see how much weight I could lose in 30 days. I wasn’t aiming for a jaw-dropping transformation. I just wanted to move more and eat less cake. I hoped that if I made healthy changes, the weight-loss would follow eventually.
I set myself 5 daily goals to keep myself on track:
- Burn 500 active calories
- Exercise for at least 30 minutes
- Do some kind of toning/strength exercise for at least 10 minutes
- Eat clean and record what I eat in a food journal
- Drink three bottles of water
Did I stick to it?
Well…yes and no.
I drank more water, ate more vegetables and did lots more exercise. I didn’t do 10 minutes of toning exercises a day and I can’t promise that I drank three full bottles of water each day either, but I made some huge improvements.
What I began to realise quite early on is that done really is better than perfect. It’s better to burn 400 calories than nothing. It’s better to go for a run and forfeit the crunches than to sit on the couch and do nothing. Any step in the right direction was a success and I didn’t focus on the ‘imperfections’.
And this is just the jumping off point. I have every intention of keeping up these healthy habits and I can keep building on them from here on out.
What were the physical results?
One of my most regular forms of exercise over the last 30 days was running.
I know. Who am I?
Before this challenge, the longest I’d ever run in my entire time on this planet was 8 minutes. And it hurt. By the end of this challenge I could run for 20 minutes. It still kind of hurt, but was also extremely satisfying. Y’all – I’m a runner now!
As for aesthetic changes, I didn’t expect to see any. After all, I skipped out on my crunches and I didn’t think 30 minutes of exercise a day would make a noticeable difference in a month. Then I saw my before and after pictures side by side and I was pleasantly surprised.
It just goes to show that small, sustainable changes can add up.
What were the mental results?
As much as this challenge was about taking better care of my body (after all, it’s the only one I have), the bigger aim of this 60 Day life reset is to improve my mental health and to help get my out of a rut. So, did the 30 day full body transformation have any impact on my mental health?
Yes!
Sometimes all it takes it getting up and doing 20 minutes of Zumba in your living room to help lift your mood. You can literally shimmy the stress away! I also got a huge sense of satisfaction from observing how much stronger and faster I got over the course of 30 days. The challenge also got me outside, which always makes me happier…even when I’m running in the rain.
And one of my favourite discoveries during this challenge was the impact pyjama yoga had on my mental state. “What is pyjama yoga?” I hear you ask.
Well, it’s just getting out of bed and doing yoga in your pyjamas.
Each morning, I did a quick yoga routine (5-25 minutes) before getting dressed, having breakfast or (get this!) even having my coffee!
I’m not a morning person and I usually struggle to function until midday, but pyjama yoga really gave me a wake call. It helped to clear my morning brain fog and set me up for the day. If you’ve never tried it, I 10/10 would recommend it.
So overall, my 30 day full body reset was a success. I feel a little lighter (physically and mentally) and more energised. Now I’m taking on the next part of the 60 day life reset – the 30 day mental health reset, but I’ll be taking my new healthy habits into next month with me.
