4 TIPS ON A NEW HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Hey girlies,

How are you?... no seriously how are you? How are you feeling right now? Up until four weeks ago, I was feeling rather crappy. Yes I was getting down, my sleeping pattern was awful and I just felt so angry all the time, plus I was putting weight on which made me feel even worse. Yes, I blame lockdown for it. We have gotten into a state of mind of not knowing what was going to happen next so the comfort eating and bad habits start.

I sat down and I had a little chat to myself, yes I tend to do this a lot and it really helps. I told myself that "the only person that can get you out of this rut, how you feel so bad about yourself, is you." I was scrolling through Instagram and I came across The Bod and noticed they were about to start a 6-week iso shred challenge. I said to myself, "Just do it" So I signed up and four weeks later I am 2.3kgs lighter, I would have liked to have lost more, but I am starting to realise it isn't about the scales, it's about how I look.

Well, hubby has noticed a difference in my bum, I have been using the glute bands and I recently purchased the body bands too. I think I am going to cancel my gym membership, I don't need it. Checkout Arena Strength for some fab bands, that don't ride up and they stay where they need to be on your body. I have seen such a difference in my body even my bras are getting big. Yep, I am happy about that girlies. I was very well blessed but if I can drop a size or two I will be happy.

So what do I think you should do hey?...

1. Get into the right mindset - focus on you and just YOU. Grab a journal and write down these few questions and answer them honestly.

i) What do you want to achieve?

ii) How do you want to look?

iii) Are you prepared to put the hard work in, and stick to it?

2. Challenge Yourself - Find a challenge, app, Instagram, class, something that stands out to you and it answers the questions from above. Once you have found that challenge, sign up to it and get yourself prepared. Do you need weights, bands, mat, clothes? Don't go out and spend use what you have at home. The challenge I'm doing, you don't need anything but yourself. If you want to get bands, dumbells etc.. then check out the above links ( I am not affiliated, it's my recommendation) join the Facebook community group that is linked to the challenge. Everyone is so nice and you will be surprised how many are feeling the same as you.

3. Find the motivation - So you have signed up, prepped and it is the night before you are going to start. Get to bed at a reasonable time. Put your alarm on 30 minutes before you would normally wake up. Get up, get dressed, have a glass of water and find the spot in your home you are going to work out. Get that music on. Spotify has a fab selection of workout music. Now you tell me how you feel after that workout? Sore... obviously, but don't you feel great? Don't you feel like you have accomplished something and set yourself for the day?

If the challenge has a meal plan, I always look at the next days, the day before, so if I need to prep anything I won't be stuck in the morning, wasting time trying to prep everything and feel all flustered and stressed.

4. Keep a fitness diary - I have opened up a private Instagram account and have started a fitness diary. Maybe one day I may share, but need to get my confidence and in the right frame of mind to do that. I don't think the world is ready to see too much of me. In this diary, I have taken photos, of me before (front, side & back) starting the challenge, plus my weight and me sharing a photo of me all red in the face, recording that I have done that exercise for the day. Add what your food changes are in there. You add any type of photo you like, it's for your own record and for you to look back on how far you have come. Every week I take photos of myself (front, side & back) and I also add an image of my weight too.

You will be surprised how much change can happen week after week. I find this is keeping me going. Almost 4 weeks in and I'm seeing change, it won't happen overnight, you need to put the work in to get the results you want. If you feel like giving up, just give yourself a pep talk again and just keep asking why are you doing this? Then that motivation will kick in.

I am feeling more motivated and have so much more energy for the rest of the day. I like to exercise first thing in the morning, I think if I left until the evening I wouldn't do it and just make up an excuse. But I must say, I am so grateful to my boys, they can see how hard I am working on making change. The days I feel like giving up, they come and join in with the exercises to keep me going and motivated.

They say it takes 21 days for a habit to kick in. It is so true, now I know in my mind that I have to wake up and go and exercise. The days you know you have to be at work or be doing something at the time you have been training, do it an hour earlier don't do it tomorrow.

Don't forget to drink plenty of water, you will see such a difference in your skin too.

If you want to chat then I have a group over on Facebook The Kobelles Club (the girls club) we talk all things us girlies need to talk about. Come say hi... I would love to hear all about your health journey.. we are in this together girlies and I believe in you and your goals.

Speak soon

Christina

xx

#fitnessdiary #healthylifestyle #changeyourhabits

FAREWELL 2019, HELLO 2020!

Surely I am not the only one that seems to think that 2019 has just come and gone...

What a year it has been, mentally, physically and healthwise too. 2019 started off with me having no sleep due to running to the bathroom every five minutes and it wasn't because I had too much to drink. I had caught some sort of virus (well I thought I had) but in fact, it was the beginning of my health issues, which found me running backward and forwards to the doctors the first few months of the year.

At the end of January, we packed up our home we had been living at for over ten years. It was our first family home, we took home three beautiful children and definitely had some highs and lows. We had "SOLD" it back in September 2018, we applied for our eldest to go to senior school which is why the move had to happen. December had come and nothing was happening with the buyers, so we made the decision to go and rent a place closer to the school we wanted Stavros to attend.

On the 2nd February, we moved out of our home and into rented accommodation, then a few days later our buyers had pulled out of the sale for some unknown reason. We were stuck with rent and a mortgage for the next eleven months. Around March time I really wasn't feeling myself so I decided to go to the doctors. I had tests done for suspected IBS which to discover I actually have polycystic ovaries and a polyp. They then discovered a shadow on my kidney but thank God it was nothing serious to which the doctors were so happy about. Fast forward a few months I had a colonoscopy and had polyps removed from my bowel and also polyps removed.

I started to feel better, Stavros got into the school we uprooted our whole life to get into and we finally sold the house again in October and completed on the 23rd December.

It was time to say goodbye to our home. But I can honestly say I am really looking forward to the next chapter in our lives.

Christmas was really nice the kids broke up from school and we kept them busy from day one of the holidays.

They went and had breakfast with Santa, cooking class and then they had a movie night at yiayia's (grandmas) house. We also welcomed a new little addition to the family, my sister gave birth to my nephew, who is absolutely beautiful and precious.

New years Eve came and we went as a family to a dinner and dance that the greek community centre was holding and it was a lovely evening.

We welcomed the new year in 2020 and took our babies home.

2019 was over in a blink of an eye, it was a stressful one, but also a time of growth, figuring out which direction to go for 2020 and closure of a chapter in our lives.

2020 is about FOCUS and FUN.. making more memories with the family and going on a journey for myself too. Ticking off the goals I've set myself.

Will there be challenges along the way? most certainly, but how can we expect to grow if there aren't any? Take each day as it comes and always show up as YOU, believe in yourself and your halfway there.

So are you ready to start your journey?

Xristina

xx

Don't give up on YOU!

I don't know what happened but this week I got the fire back in my belly. Well actually I know why, I haven't been feeling myself in-fact I don't know just yet but I am having tests, scans and lots of blood tests to find out what is going on. I feel I have no control of my body right now and yes I have had to slow down and take a step back on a few things I love doing. Why? because I am not giving my all and putting my heart into it. So I decided to take a step back and take a couple of months away. But me being me I have found a new passion I am so excited to get started on.

Do you believe in the universe? Do you believe that you can manifest things to happen, come into your life? Well I do...

About a year and half ago I was thinking about rebranding my business, I was in search for the domain name beautyandthekids.com it was taken... Then I had an email sent to me on Tuesday night which really gave me a knock in the sense that I am not good enough in what I am doing and sharing with you ladies. So I got into bed and asked the universe to help and guide me to what is the way forward for my future and business. Well ladies, on Wednesday morning when I awoke, something was telling me to check on the domain site for beauty and the kids.. to my excitement I saw it was available and to the right of it in small letters it said BLOGGER PROMO, yesssss ladies it was my sign that the next move I was going to make was the right thing to do.

believe in yourself

I urge that you don't give up on your dreams, it may not feel that things are going the way you planned, but do you know what? The journey you are on is making you a stronger, wiser woman to get you to control what you need to do when you hit that GOAL... you know, the one that scares the crap out of you. If we don't get out of our own way, out of our comfort zones, then how are we to succeed?

When you have passion for something, I believe you should get up and go do something with it. Go and do YOU.. be honest, be yourself and watch where your journey will take you.

I am a mama of three, a wife and almost four years ago I decided to take a chance on me and jump into something I was so so scared to do. I had no confidence, hated the camera and never spoke on a video nor in front of a group of people, the thought of all those eyes on me... OMG!! feel sick just thinking about it, but forward two years I stood in front of 250 women and I shared with them what was helping me grow my business on social media, I flew out to Las Vegas on my own (no family or kids) to the most powerful women in network marketing event, WOW WOW WOW it was fantastic.

So ladies all there is left to say is believe in yourself and #justDOyou

Beautyandthekids

xx

P.S I would love to hear from you, so make sure to leave a comment below.

xx