who says January has to be blue?

Let's face it - January can feel like the worst month of the year, what with the cold wet commutes to work and the long wait for pay day, not to mention the almost essential January diet. But being the optimist that I am, I think it's important to find the silver linings in the huge grey rain clouds.

I've always been a self-confessed yo-yo dieter, eating salad all week and pigging out at the weekend. The thought of 'the healthy option' has always made me miserable. But for some reason, 2014 has given me a new lease of life, and for the first time I've stuck to something for more than a week. 

feta in my salad made it a bit more exciting.

half of a home-made pizza with tons of  fresh salad.

My friend Jess will confirm that I'm always the first to come up with an excuse to miss that dreaded gym class, but I've been more determined now than ever before. I've been going to a few different classes at my gym, one of the best by far being Metafit. If you've never heard of it before you must check it out, and believe me it sounds a whole lot easier than it actually is. 

We tried this back in October, and although you feel like your heart is beating so hard it might jump out of your chest, and that your knees are shaking and you think your life might be over, I will promise you that you will feel amazing about yourself an hour later!

however, this is how we looked after our first session!

As well as that, I even started going for early morning swims before work! Needless to say, the getting up and feeling motivated at 6am hasn't been easy, but I have been feeling refreshed and particularly chirpy for the rest of the day after my 40 lengths.

looks like I even surprised myself! 

So who says your January health-kick needs to make you miserable? I can honestly say I feel better in myself than I have for a long time. I'm learning to enjoy the variety in healthy meals, releasing all those endorphins from the exercise and of course there's the amazing self-esteem boost that comes with the realisation that you now fit into that dress that was just too tight in December!