Taking My life Back

 

It has been over a year since I've shared an update on my health journey, particularly in line with my circadian clock. Covid-19 has changed our world, and I feel like its implications insidiously affected me emotionally and physiologically. As a result, I have struggled with my health, hormonally and weight wise. This year I am 41 and the hormonal changes are becoming more apparent, though not quite there. I recently started using a bio-identical natural progesterone cream to balance my hormones as I have been experiencing hormonal imbalances. I'm also on a few health supplements, of which details I'll share further blogs.

                                                                                                            

From this month of December, I reflected closely on my health and made a decision to take some steps in a direction that will enable me to live a more vibrant life as I undergo changes through my 40s. I am still passionate about health and wellness and would like to pursue this area full time to walk alongside others by offering coaching, so I am currently doing my coaching course with 'the body coach club' and thereafter will start coaching clients.

Back to my journey, there are various ‘lifestyles and diets’ being advocated nowadays in the healthy lifestyle world, and some of them actually feel like one is in prison.
Personally, I have concluded that all healthy lifestyle practices/ diets do work to some extent, but there are many factors pertaining to the success of each and one might find that what has worked for a couple of years or so may not necessarily work today depending on what stage of your life you are at. So, it is important to regularly check-in with yourself regarding your lifestyle and if it is yielding the results for your health goals.

I shared in the past that in 2010 I lost 16 kg (35lbs) which I had pretty much maintained for 10 years, though from December 2017 I noted my weight would go up more than usual after every Christmas and New year’s. This year in May, was the worst and I gained back up to 10 kg (22lbs) of the weight lost in 2010. This was because of trying to eat and exercise intuitively, which unfortunately did not work out for me. I know there are many who do so, but for me, it's still quite a challenge till now.

Anyway, I had tried to intervene by modifying my lifestyle, but it has been a challenge. My family has been adjusting to having my husband work away from home and only getting to see him every two months. We also recently moved house after being in one house for 7 years, that was quite exhausting, and we are still settling in our new home. So, on my health side, 4 weeks ago I went back to the drawing board to plan to incorporate small changes I was going to make to revitalise my health, even if it didn't mean losing the weight I had regained. I was sick of feeling lethargic and drained all the time.
I believe that living my life in line with my body's circadian clock is the best thing I can do for myself to experience a vibrant and healthy life. So, I decided that I would once again re-align my everyday life with the circadian clock to get back my life.

There are several aspects to work on when it comes to the circadian clock, the major one I believe is sleep, the others include eating, activity etc. In my case, now sleep is a bit of a challenge, or rather sleeping in good time, so I chose to start with my eating window.
For the past 4 weeks, I have been time restricting myself to eat within a window of between 8 -10 hours. I've been having 2 to 3 meals with no snacking in-between most of the time. To my amazement, I feel more energetic, have started incorporating different exercises rather than just walking, I don't have any more cravings and I have removed 2.4 kg (5lbs). I would like to remove another 1.5-2 kg (4lbs) if my body will allow it. Otherwise, I am encouraged with my results, which have confirmed how aligning one's lifestyle with the body's circadian clock is the ultimate way of achieving a healthy you. Now, there is a lot to unpack when it comes to the circadian clock, so in the next few weeks, we'll be digging deeper into that, whilst I also share my own progress as I implement the changes I am making. Until next time, stay blessed.