The secret is in your daily routine.

18th August 2015

You'll never change your life until you change something you do daily.  The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.  John C Maxwell

How true is that quote!  Especially when it comes to weight loss success, it's the little things we do every day that make the difference, the tweaks, the good habits we put in place, they all make a difference.

So even when we've had what we see as a bad day, some of those good habits will still have occurred to stop us from going back to where we started from.  Things like skimmed milk in our drinks, drinking more water, cutting out sugar in our hot drinks, low fat spread or none at all.  Eating at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, choosing wholewheat bread, pasta and rice instead of white processed stuff.  It's not just about weight loss, it's about health and it really does matter what we eat from a health point of view.  Then there's being active, that's another great habit to get into also.

Yep the secret really is found in your daily routine.

I worked most of yesterday, naughty I know because Monday is the one day of the week I don't HAVE to do any paperwork if I choose not to, but I wanted to get on top of things and get notes and stuff out, so I'll let myself off :)

I did stop long enough to go and pick up moms new toy, she's had a coffee machine, a Nescafe Gusto one which makes coffee like you'd get from Costa, we had a play and she'll never work out how to use it herself, but I'm happy to be her barista and serve her hot coffee at command.  I'm surprised she slept at all last night, after trying every flavour I'd bought!  Good job I didn't buy a dozen!

I also made us a tasty meal,

400g sliced potatoes (8pp) (skin left on for the fibre) then steamed till cooked

1 large courgette sliced (I chargrilled the slices on George Foreman)

2 large onions & 2 peppers stir fried in 1 tbsp olive oil (4pp)(for flavour, oil isn't evil - it's all about balance and portion control)

When cooked I layered it all in a dish and topped with low fat 150g grated Cathedral City cheese (12pp) and popped in the oven to let it melt and brown.

The result was a Meat free Monday feast of cheesy potatoes and veggies, total 24pp, served 3 of us for 8pp each.  Really tasty and filling too.  Plus included 3 of my five a day, the others I'd had in my nutribullet drink that morning.  I'll never be a fan of fruit but I can happily include it in that drink each morning. 

See that's one of the daily changes I've made, I bought it back in May, thinking the novelty would wear off but it hasn't, 3 months later we still have one a day, always contains spinach and whatever fruit I have to hand, some taste better than others, but it's not difficult to close my eyes and down the not so good ones quickly, it's a bit like medicine, it may not always taste great but it's good for me so I suck it up!

Another daily change I've made is my morning water routine, I drink at least a pint, usually two before having my first cup of tea, which in turn has caused me to drink less tea.

Yeah there are lots of changes that have been made in my household that mean we lead a much healthier life, I bet there has in yours too.  So the next time you're having a 'bad' diet day, remind yourself of those good things you've still managed to do and how much healthier your attitude really is, don't just beat yourself up.

Here's to a great day, I'm off to check out the cupboards to see what I can knock a meal up from later, I have one more BIG courgette to use.  I also have one that weighs half stone that I've been carrying round the meeting as a weight loss visual, not sure that will be edible at the end of it all though ;) after all that man handling!