5 Things I did in January to help me achieve my 2019 goals

Every month I am planning on summarising what I have done in the last 30 odd days that have helped me work towards achieving my 2019 goals. It’s half about accountability and half about keeping track of the month and making sure that I am still making positive strides forwards.

January has been mainly health related. I’ve started making little changes to my lifestyle in order to make my goals more achievable. I don’t want to feel like I’m constantly depriving myself or that achieving what I want to by the end of the year has been a massive chore. I plan on enjoying my year as much as possible – I have just booked our first family holiday and we have travel plans for April and November. I’m really looking forward to facing February head on and achieving some measurable goals – specifically weight related.

But right now, here are 5 things that I did during January that, in one way or another, have contributed towards me achieving my 2019 goals.

1. Diet and exercise.

I haven’t started any fad diets, no Slimming World and no liquid meals. Just good old fashioned healthy eating and ensuring the portion sizes are smaller. I can’t lie, it hasn’t always been easy. For the first two weeks I did find myself feeling pretty hungry around 10pm and wanting to reach for a little late night snack. Fortunately for me, incorporating a healthier diet into my lifestyle hasn’t been difficult as we meal plan and cook all our meals from scratch. The changes have mostly involved eating less, ensuring that I eat a good amount of protein each day and making wiser snack choices. I have lost some weight and at first I was pretty happy about this. But then I loaded up Facebook to find that someone who joined Slimming World a week before had lost the same amount of weight that I had lost all month, in just one week. I feel pretty disheartened despite people reassuring me that I’m doing well and that some people lose weight more easily than others.

2. Omega-3 fish oil supplements.

Throughout January I was also taking Omega-3 fish oil supplements. As a vegetarian (or not, now?) I really struggle to get enough Omega-3 fatty acids into my body. After doing some research, I was genuinely stunned by how much those 3 acids that we hear about so often contribute to our body and overall health. Omega-3 acids can even help with mental health! I’m definitely going to continue to take fish oil as not only is it good for the inside, it has also made my hair super shiny and my skin is better than ever.

3. Changing the way I drink.

I’ve been drinking water almost exclusively. Occasionally I’ve had a glass of squash, but that has mostly been during the evening or when I have had a sore throat and craved something with a bit of flavour. I’ve also cut sugar out of my coffees! When I was pregnant with Oscar, cutting coffee out of my life was the dietary change I struggled with and I’m not so keen to cut coffee out of my life again. I am happy to cut the sugar though and I have adapted to life without a spoonful of sugar in my coffee remarkably quickly.

4. Diet changes mean saving money.

Fortuitously, eating more healthily and reducing portion sizes has actually meant that our food shopping cost has decreased slightly. Things that we were eating and drinking, such as lots of cheese, squash and alcohol are now limited in our meal plan, if they’re even on it at all. We’ve also stopped buying snacks like crisps and biscuits, instead replacing them with supermarket own versions of Ryvita and rice cakes.

5. Matched Betting.

Back in November I started my matched betting journey and immediately decided to sign up to Profit Accumulator (use my code
329538 if you choose to sign up). Sadly, as Christmas loomed near, I dropped the ball a little bit and matched betting was forgotten about for most of the month. Last week I loaded everything up again, checked my balance in my exchange accounts and shifted some bits around. Now I’m back on the bandwagon and hoping to place some bigger bets and bring in some more money.

I’ve made other changes too, but I think these are the most notable ones. The money saving and ‘looking after my body’ seem to cross over, which is helpful!

Have you done anything this month that has helped you work towards your 2019 end goal? Let me know in the comments! Also, if you happen to know any amazingly tasty vegetarian recipes that are healthy and relatively cheap to make, hit me up.