During this lockdown period I’ve had a lot of time to reflect and think about what I can be grateful for and how far I’ve come on my journey. I want to use this platform to share my experiences with you all and how I’ve overcome challenges.
I started my health and fitness journey 12 years ago when I was a UK size 24. I struggled a lot with my weight and tried a number of ‘fad diets’ in order to try and lose weight. However, after reaching the point of rock bottom, I realised that being able to lose the weight and maintain it would only come if I accepted that I needed to have a complete lifestyle change. Now I can say I’m a healthy UK size 8. I have been able to keep the weight off, through a healthy diet and exercise as well as a complete mindset reset. Since then I’ve launched Body by Cathy as a way to share my experiences and encourage others on their journeys.
One of Body by Cathy’s mission statements is that we believe “your body is a work-of-art, intricately designed to create wonders and accomplish amazing feats. Your body does not function in isolation, it’s influenced by lifestyle”. Body by Cathy is inspired by my personal journey and driven by a united vision to help people live healthier, more fulfilling and happier lives. I believe that people reach this point once they have learned to connect their mind, body and soul.
Often, when we usually talk about ‘health and fitness’ a lot of us tend to focus on ‘dieting’, however I want to share with you all that my journey was not just one with the end goal being ‘weight-loss’. Before I lost my weight, I was very insecure - I had been bullied for years about my weight, people used to tell me that I could never achieve anything. I had reached a point of desperation, however I soon realised that I had to accept who I was at that moment and realign my thoughts in order to transform who I was, going from a deeply insecure and self-conscious person to more a confident woman who can achieve anything she sets her mind to. I am sure of myself and most of all I am happy. I decided to embrace each stage of my weight loss journey and I want to encourage everyone reading to love who they are now and be hopeful of what is to come.
Hitting Rock bottom
When I hit rock bottom, I realised everything had to change. Rock bottom for me was doing dangerous things that risked my health all in the name of ‘weight loss’. Being completely honest, it took me reaching this extremely low point to come to the revelation that there had been a disconnect in my mind, body and soul this whole time. I realised that if my mind isn’t in the right place, how could I except the same for the rest of my body – everything is connected after all. This had been what was stopping me from effectively reaching my goal and going around and round with these unhealthy fad diets. Although for me it took reaching rock bottom, in no way am I saying you have to reach rock bottom to make a change. I just wanted to use this as a cautionary tale, it’s important to recognise the signs of when you could be going down a downward spiral and stop it before it becomes disastrous. Throughout the rest of this article I will be giving you tips on how to manage each stage of your weight loss journey and tips for putting your mind, body and soul is the correct place for the most positive outcome.
Start by boosting your self-esteem and self-confidence
Like many of my clients today, I initially struggled with believing that I could lose 10, 20, 30 pounds or more. So, to establish a positive, healthy relationship with myself, my first steps where to establish a new pattern of thinking in a way that I embrace my body and learn to love it no matter where it is. I thought if I truly loved myself my response would be to keep moving it and keep it healthy, whereas if I have the mindset of hating my body, I’m not going to feel motivated to keep it moving and healthy. Giving myself positive affirmations was one tactic I used to keep positive thoughts flowing through my head. You can either do this by repeating positive words and phrases about yourself whilst looking in the mirror or by leaving sticky notes on your mirror listing positive things about yourself. For example, you could write, “I love my legs!”. Every time you’re getting ready you can read and repeat this affirmation to help strengthen your relationship with yourself. Be your own cheerleader! The moment I started doing things to connect with myself, I realised that there was a massive shift, not only in my physical body, but also in my mental space.
Clear your mind further
Start small - In his book Stick With It: The Science Of Lasting Behaviour, psychologists break lifestyle changes down into ‘dreams’ (long term), ‘goals’ (medium term) and ‘steps’ (short term). If the ‘dream’ is to get fitter, then the ‘goal’ might be to run 10k in the next three months, and the first ‘step’ would be to decide to walk to the post office instead of driving. Each step should be small enough that it takes fewer than two days to accomplish. Stimulating the brain’s reward system every two days has been shown to keep us motivated over a longer period and gives us a sense of achievement.
Re-frame anxiety - Effectively dealing with chronically high cortisol levels (this is the hormone released when you feel stressed or anxious) might be the most impactful thing you can do to improve your mental wellness. Next time you’re feeling stressed or anxious, try telling yourself you’re actually excited. The bodies physical reaction to excitement and stress is very similar (sweaty palms, butterflies, pounding heart) and, according to researchers at Harvard Business School, this simple linguistic switch could be more effective than consciously trying to “calm down”.
Sit up straight - Research shows that adopting an upright posture (back straight, shoulders pulled back but relaxed) can, even over just one day, make someone with mild depressive symptoms feel significantly more positive and less tired. The University of Auckland study looked at 61 people with mild to moderate depression and found that good posture was associated with higher self-esteem.
Exercise with others – Studies show that group exercise can improve emotional well-being, in this time of lockdown why not try joining some zoom workout sessions.
Cycle to improve memory – Now that gyms are closed, why not try cycling, not only has research found that cycling improves memory, it improves your ability to store and retrieve memories, both during and after cycling. It also has great physical benefits.
Take up resistance training to protect your brain - This could mean deadlifts and squats, 10 press-ups at the end of a run or even carrying bags of heavy shopping – just make sure your muscles are moving against resistance at some point each day. Researchers from Rush University Alzheimer’s Disease Centre followed 900 people in a Chicago retirement community over four years. They found that those with greater muscle strength were significantly less likely to experience cognitive decline.
Start your day right - The tone of your day begins with breakfast, so make good choices! You want to eat something that’s full of protein in order to get a boost of energy. One delicious (and easy!) favourite of mine is egg muffins with spinach, feta cheese and chicken. Simply beat 4 eggs, add the chopped spinach, diced chicken, a few feta crumbles and black pepper. Pour the egg mixture into muffin tins and bake on 180C for 15 – 20 minutes. Serve with chopped fresh tomatoes and coriander. You now have a wonderful, healthy breakfast for six days!
If eggs aren’t your thing, no worries, you can always do a protein packed shake! A ½ banana, a handful of strawberries, a cup of almond milk and transform by Cathy protein powder is all it takes. Take a look at my ‘Meals by Cathy’ cookbook for more healthy recipes.
Boosting your body
Be kind to yourself - There are a lot of myths around food and nutrition, so it’s important not to get caught up in it all. Instead focus on the positive steps you can take and not on that you want to change. Weight is not a behaviour, so it’s counterproductive to focus solely on that. Focus on actionable things, like eating more fruits and vegetables, finding ways to sneak more movement into your days and trying to get more sleep.
Try HIIT - High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is quite effective in creating energy, this is especially important as we get older and our metabolism slows down. Studies show that HIIT can actually not only halt this trend, but it also boosts cells ability to generate energy.
Perhaps start by alternating three minutes of fast walking and three minutes of slow walking for 30 minutes or more, four times a week. You can then start alternating between fast walking and running. Remember to make time for recovery by alternating your workout days.
Hack your circadian rhythm – Proper sleep is also vital for creating a healthy lifestyle. If you have difficulty going to sleep at the right time, there are some fairly basic steps you can take to make sure that you’re not delaying the production of melatonin – this is the hormone that makes us sleep. Having a big breakfast and an early light dinner can help you sleep better, because food and digestion delays the onset of melatonin. Also, exercising in the morning rather that the evening and making sure that your bedroom is between 18 and 21 degrees C will mean you’re more likely to drift off – warmer temperatures may disrupt out ability to fall into REM sleep.
Cut down your eating hours - Restricting meals to an eight-hour period (and having 16 hours of ‘fasting’) will help lower insulin levels and cause your body to start burning its fat stores. This whole process is also great for brain health, as it can help reduce the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Try eating between the hours of 10am to 6pm, you can also be quite flexible with this and change it to fit with your schedule, just remember not to eat dinner too late.
Add ferments to every meal - A healthy and diverse microbiome (the ecosystem of bacteria in our intestinal tract) is thought to improve our immune system and guard against everything from heart disease to depression, it’s even been found to reduce feelings of anxiety. Adding probiotic foods such as natural yoghurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir and miso to every meal has been shown to increase the diversity of our gut bacteria.
Nourishing your soul
Experience something awesome – Now that life has slowed down significantly for a lot of us, now is the time to take moments out to experience things you might have overlooked. Taking the time out to experience nature, such as going for a walk through a country park or through a farm. Studies have shown that taking steps like this makes people feel more ‘connected’ they no longer feel isolated and it challenges peoples self-involved viewpoints and gives us a sense of perspective on our problems. It allows people to appreciate the simpler things life has to offer, like beautiful views on a nice summery day and which has been shown to increase well-being and made people feel like they have fewer time pressures.
Be grateful - The words “gratitude journal” may make you cringe, but regularly writing a list of things you’re grateful for has been shown to foster a deep and lasting sense of contentment. Writing these down even just once a week has can lead to reduced stress. Try to be specific “I’m grateful that my partner brought me tea in bed this morning,” rather than “I’m grateful for my partner” – and you should reflect on what it was about that moment that made you feel particularly good. This allows for a better outcome.
Find your meaning - A sense of purpose, a passion or a thing, person or place that gives our life meaning has been shown to help guard against a number of health conditions. Studies have found that men who reported a greater sense of purpose were significantly less likely to die of a stroke or cardiovascular disease. Studies have also found spending a week taking pictures of all the meaningful things, places and people in our lives, and then reflecting on them gave participants a stronger idea of their life’s purpose and they reported a greater feeling of meaning and contentment. In this lockdown period finding simple things to do where your usual daily tasks have been affected can inspire you to continue to work towards the other things you are finding meaningful such as your health and your families health.
In Summary
I hope this article has inspired you to learn from my journey and take control of your overall physical and mental health by following some of the steps I’ve shared to connect your mind body and soul. Remember health is more than just ‘weight-loss’ or maintaining your ideal body weight, it’s also about being in-tune with your body, finding the beauty from within yourself and understanding what your body needs to thrive. Follow my journey on Bodybycathy.com and understand more ways you can connect your Mind, Body and soul.