Lent is about more than Chocolate

As lent officially starts today, I thought I’d share with you some of the things I’ll be giving up/changing up for lent.

I must admit that I’m not particularly religious, but always try to involve myself in lent and most years I give out the usual ‘No chocolate for lent’, ‘No sweets for lent’, ‘No alcohol..’ etc. etc., and I don’t know about you but to me 40 days is a little outside of my willpower range to be starving myself of skittles!

So, this year I’m going to be looking in a bit of a different direction for some things to abstain from. Don’t get me wrong I’ll still be hoping to shape up a little (and hoping that letting you guys know about it will stop me from falling off the wagon!), but I won’t be taking it to the extreme and instead treating this 40 day period as a bit of a teaser as to things I would like to change about myself but not sure how I’d get on with them full time. Think of it as a bit of a try before you buy! 

1. Healthier & Fitter Me

Like many of you (hopefully!), on January 1^st I gave out some pretty extreme claims about losing 2 stone blah, blah, blah, and then as soon as I realised Christmas was definitely gone for another year and winter was here to stay for a while, those chocolates soon found me again. Therefore, before I find myself over-indulging on all those irresistible little huge chocolate eggs in a few weeks’ time, I thought I’d treat my body to a little refresh and detox.  I always seem to find detox a much easier word to swallow than diet as it doesn’t seem quite so final and you know you know there is light at the end of the tunnel!  So, I’ve recently purchased a few items to help me with this process.  The first is a little gem that I’ve found in the soft drinks aisle of Asda; the Aspire Health Drink in the flavour Apple & Acai – which makes it taste a little like non-alcoholic cider bonus!  It promises a reduction in body fat, which I’m yet to discover but it has no calories, sugar or fat so at least it’s better for you than a can of coke and it even contains green tea so gives you a little boost!

To coincide with my attempt at lowering calories, I’ve also purchased the Davina McCall Fit in 15 DVD.  She has bought out a newer one for this year, but as this was quite cheap and I’m not sure how long I’ll be keeping it up, I decided to start with this one then progress if possible.  I’ve tried so many different things to keep fit in the past, and I’ve wasted so many gym memberships that I was beginning to lose hope. But, this DVD is made up of four 15 minute workouts each focusing on a different part of your body and they even advise you to start with one workout at a time then slowly build up from there.  Now for someone as unfit as me, 15 minutes is a perfect little boost to make me feel good, increase endorphins and then moan about how hard I’ve worked for the next few hours days.

2. Happiness is Key

As I said above, I always find January, February and March the hardest time of the year as Christmas has gone, but we're still sitting around waiting for Winter to leave and Spring to appear.  So, as lent falls right in the centre of this difficult time of year, what better time to focus on making yourself happier. I've also been dealing with a lot of stress and anxiety recently, so will be focusing on basically making more time for me.  I'm a serial non-respondent when it comes to text messages and phone calls etc. so want to make sure I surround myself with everyone that I love and see all my friends more often.  One of my girlies is getting married in April (Eek!) so I can't wait to start wedding planning and lots of girly nights in DIY-ing all of the decorations.

I've also been on a big beauty haul recently (Beauty, Fashion & Lush Haul) so will be trying them all out, and treating myself to a few, more than a few, pamper nights.

3. Re-energising

Once the new year starts and we've all over-indulged on food, cocktails (in my case) and late nights, you can quite easily start to feel a bit lethargic and run down, especially with darker mornings making it a little harder to get up.  Therefore, one of my main plans for lent is to have a little re-fresh to build up my energy.  

I must admit I'm a bit of an old maid when it comes to bedtime.  Of a weekend, if I don't have plans I can quite usually be found in my PJs and fluffy slippers by 6pm.  However, although I'm usually in bed by 9.30pm on a weeknight - don't judge! - I find myself being unable to sleep until around midnight.  I know that it's due to me being on my phone of an evening, but find it so hard to switch off and just lay and relax.  Although, the last few nights I've been leaving my phone on the other side of the room and curling up with Cosmopolitan or Glamour instead and found it so much easier to drop-off. I've also invested in a range of herbal teas and am trying to swap them for normal tea, not as easy as it sounds by the way!

I'll be keeping you updated with my attempts. Let me know what you're planning to/attempt to give up for lent!

Love Sara