Surviving an Early Wake-Up Call: Gifts, Green Tea, and Goals

​Today started earlier than I’d hoped, thanks to the postman delivering yet another gift for my daughter’s upcoming birthday. Her birthday is fast approaching, and while the quantity of presents doesn’t look like much, I’d estimate I’ve spent about £400 so far. That’s not even including the iPad I got her last month or the new coat I picked up for her recently. Teenagers are definitely more expensive than kids, but it’s worth every penny to make sure she’s happy and has a good birthday.

Being woken up early isn’t ideal, but it did give me a bit more time to ease into the day. I started things off as usual with a cup of coffee. I cut down not too long ago to just one coffee a day because I’ve realised I’m quite sensitive to caffeine. Any more than one cup and my sleep really takes a hit, so now I stick to just one in the morning.

Yesterday, while doing the food shop, I picked up some green tea, so if I do fancy a hot drink in the evening, that’s my go-to now. There’s a rumour floating around, or maybe it’s just a common misconception, that tea contains more caffeine than coffee. It doesn’t. I feel like people often make that mistake, but for me, green tea in the evening seems like a much better option than another coffee.

For food today, I’ve had a bit of a ‘picky’ day. After my coffee this morning, I kept it simple and had a banana, an apple, and two plums. Nothing too heavy. Then for lunch, I had the leftover chicken curry I made last night. That hit the spot, and to be honest, it’s kept me full for most of the day. It’s now 7:30pm and I’m still feeling pretty satisfied, so I’ll probably just have a small snack later if I get peckish.

Last night, I didn’t end up watching a Halloween film like I’d originally planned. Instead, I stumbled across Home Alone and decided to put that on instead. It was one of the first things I saw, and honestly, I couldn’t be bothered spending ages scrolling through options to find the perfect thing to watch. I enjoyed it though—it’s a classic, after all. Today, I decided to watch The Lord of the Rings. I put the first film on earlier this afternoon and as I write this, I’ve just started the second one. Perfect for a Saturday when there’s not much else going on.

Today was meant to be the first day of a new 30-day home workout plan. I just finished the previous 30-day plan yesterday and was set to start this new one today, but it’s getting late and I’m thinking of just pushing it to tomorrow. One day off won’t hurt, and I still want to have a bath and unwind a bit tonight. That being said, I don’t want to slack off too much—especially now that we’re heading into winter. There’s something about the colder months that makes it even more important to stay disciplined, and I want to make sure I push myself harder through winter with both my diet and my workouts.

Yesterday, I also picked up some effervescent vitamin D tablets. It’s something I do every winter, really. With the lack of sunlight and shorter days, it’s harder to get enough vitamin D naturally, and I find that taking these supplements helps keep things balanced. Normally, I stay away from vitamins because my diet covers all the bases, but during winter, it’s smart to make sure I’m keeping my vitamin D levels up.

I have a kind of 90/10 approach to my diet. Most of the time, I stick to whole foods and keep things clean, but I allow myself a little flexibility. Like yesterday, with the homemade curry—it wasn’t 100% in line with the plan, but it’s all about balance. You’ve got to have that flexibility to enjoy things and still stay on track overall. I think that’s going to be important during the winter, especially when comfort foods are more tempting.

My plan for this winter is to really focus on both consistency and intensity when it comes to fitness. The colder weather and darker days can make it easy to fall into a bit of a slump, but I want to use this time to build momentum instead of losing it. I’ve already started on the right foot with the workouts, and now that I’ve finished one 30-day plan, I’m looking forward to seeing what I can do with this next one.

That’s pretty much been the gist of my Saturday. After I finish this blog post, I’ll probably wrap up the second Lord of the Rings film and then head for that bath. After that, I’ll try out the green tea I picked up and then settle in for a quiet evening. I didn’t do anything too exciting today, but I think it’s important to have these slower, laid-back days every now and then.