Survival of the fittest...

The first day of my 'detox week' was not an easy one...

This morning, my train was delayed for 45 minutes. My commute usually takes about an hour in total. So, on the first day of a week when I'm trying to avoid stress because I want to allow my body to properly heal from the ear infection that kept me away from work for most of last week, I arrived at work late. I'm sure you can imagine that I wasn't exactly stress-free by that point!

When I finally got there, and got an overview of all the work that had been waiting for me during my absence... Well, let's just say that it didn't really ease my mind.

On the other hand, I was a very good girl today. Had some lovely tomato soup for lunch and a healthy drink based on green tea. I had fruit in the afternoon and I drank only 2 cups of coffee in the morning. And best of all, I said 'No thank you' when a colleague offered a chocolate-filled treat for dessert.

It turned out to be a long day, but when I got home, my husband cooked dinner and gave me a chance to relax on the couch for a while. In the evening, when hubby was watching sports on tv, I did the flexibility exercises that I had planned and even had enough energy to work with my 2kg weights. With every movement, I could feel my muscles stretching and the stress of the day was gone...

One thing I do want to clarify: this detox week is not about losing weight. I'm perfectly happy with my 173cm and +/-55kg, so that's not the point. So why am I saying no to chocolate and desserts? Simply because I want to eat healthy food and give my body what it needs to feel better. There's nothing wrong with chocolate, and I will be having some...next week! :-)

Now which picture could I use to illustrate this post? I just realised that there are hardly any pictures of RA while he's working out. Here's one from Strike Back!

 John Porter tries to stay in shape while he fights to put his broken life back together again (and what a lovely tattoo!)

Richard Armitage as John Porter in episode 1 of Chris Ryan's Strike Back

Source: http://www.richardarmitagenet.com/

Giving my body a break...

Here it is… my very first blog post that has absolutely nothing (?) to do with a certain beautiful Brit.

This week, winter finally came to Belgium. And boy, did I know it! I just spent a week at home, in bed, recovering from a rather painful ear infection. That was no fun at all. And did I mention that it was painful? And being ill was boring!

The pain is now mostly gone and I’m going back to work tomorrow (Monday), but this week has made me realise that I have not exactly been kind to my body lately. A lack of sleep, many hours at work, stress, not always the healthiest food, and a lack of proper exercise have made my body weak. No wonder that it caved the second the weather got worse! And I paid the price.

So this week, I’m going to give my body a break. And not even just a break, I’m going to pamper it relentlessly!! I know a week is very short, but it's a start, and I'm sure I'll feel the difference!

This is the plan:

• Detox: Make time for breakfast every morning, limit the caffeine intake, drink water and herbal tea, stay away from sugary snacks, chocolate and alcohol
• Exercise: spend 30 minutes a day (or more) on exercise
• Taking care of the outside: my skin, my hair, my face, my legs, my hands, my nails, my back, my feet,…
• Getting enough sleep: this is the most difficult one for me as my brain seems to wake up at about 10pm and I find it extremely hard to go to bed before at least 1am. But I’ll try…

I won’t bore you with every detail of my week, but I’ll try to share one of my ‘easy ways to pamper yourself’ every day this week. If you have suggestions, don’t hesitate to share!

I’m officially starting this detox week tomorrow, but I started today with an extremely easy way to pamper myself. After my shower, I allowed my skin to enjoy my favourite body lotion, a super-soft moisturiser for my face and another one for my hands. Yes, you probably do that every day, especially in winter. But today, I applied it more than once, a few times even. And now, my skin feels beautifully soft and healthy and it smells great – and I feel good!!

And here’s a little treat to motivate me... I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist just one picture! Need to pamper my eyes as well! :-)

Richard Armitage as Lucas North in Series 7 of Spooks

Source: www.richardarmitagenet.com

Stay tuned for more and stay warm!