In my previous blog post Becoming a Healthy, Holistic Homesteader, I went over a few goals that I set for myself during the month of December 2024 that I wanted to strive for on my journey toward becoming exactly that - a healthy, holistic homesteader.
One of the goals that I set for myself was to ride my exercise bike for 10 minutes every morning and 10 minutes every afternoon for 30 days in a row.
Although I'm still short of the recommended 30 minutes of moderate physical activity per day, we all have to start somewhere.
Being someone who has never particularly loved exercise, I definitely knew that 20-30 solid minutes of cardio per day would have been pretty much impossible for me to stick to.
I know for a fact that I would have hated every minute of it and there's no way that I would have stuck to it, which is why I broke it up into 2 x 10 minute sessions per day.
As mentioned in my previous blog post, I read that it can take up to 30 days to form a new habit, so, once this becomes as natural and automatic to me as brushing my teeth before bed, then I will look at ramping it up a little in order to hit the recommended 30 minutes per day.
Being someone who has never consistently exercised regularly, I'm looking at first making the habit stick so that I don't get so overwhelmed that I quit (been there, done that too many times!).
After the 30 days, although I still don't necessarily love my 2 x 10 minute exercise bike sessions while I’m doing them (I don't necessarily hate them either, 10 minutes just feels like such a loooong time when I'm exercising and I often find myself wishing for it to be over!), I must admit that I definitely did notice a change in my mood by about the second week.
I've read plenty of times that exercise releases endorphins and puts you in a good mood however, until my 30 day mission to exercise twice a day for 10 minutes at a time, I can't say that I'd ever actually experienced it myself - until this challenge!
I found that over the course of the 30 days, my mood improved significantly. Before I started the challenge, I'd recently started a new job (a very full-on, demanding, high-concentration job) and to say that I was feeling overwhelmed is an understatement.
I found myself stressed, anxious and I cried often. On top of not wanting to start a new job in the first place (my previous employer informed me that they were relocating from about 10 minutes from my house to the middle of Brisbane city - and I HATE the city!), I also started in a new and unfamiliar industry - aviation to be exact.
My boss is a lovely lady but she can be very abrupt at times and if I’m being completely honest, is not a very good listener.
She also has an odd way of explaining things that makes me feel confused - not because I lack basic comprehension skills, but mainly because she makes me so nervous sometimes that I forget how to do things that I've done nearly my entire working life like scanning or photocopying a piece of paper!
She also often thinks that she's told or shown me something before when I know for a fact that she hasn't (because I ALWAYS write down EVERYTHING that I learn so that I can reference it later if I need to!).
Although I didn't (and still don't) necessarily dislike my new job, I did find myself crying regularly on a Monday morning and spending most of my Sundays with a knot in the pit of my stomach anticipating the start of a new work week.
Anyway, about a week and a half into my 30 day challenge, I really noticed a change in my mood and my mental clarity.
I found it so much easier to concentrate and not just to understand things that were being explained to me, but also to remember them.
When I first started, if I didn't scrawl down notes the instant an instruction came out of someone's mouth, it was almost as if I couldn't remember a single word they'd spoken, which I found very frustrating and intimidating.
I also found that the harder I exercised the night before, the better the following day would be for me and noticed a significant change in the way that I responded to stress.
I noticed on many occasions that certain things that happened (for example, I might have made a mistake or something might not have gone quite right or my boss might have been a little abrupt, which, before the challenge, would have had me fighting back tears for the rest of the day), weren't affecting me at all. I found it so much easier to brush things off that normally would have bothered me.
Another change that I noticed during the 30 days was how much easier it became to live my everyday life - chores like washing dishes, preparing meals, cleaning and housework didn't feel as much of a hassle as they had felt earlier.
I actually found myself with energy to do things! I wouldn't describe it as the type of energy that made me want to spring out of bed in the morning to run a marathon, but it definitely gave me the type of energy I needed to get through my day without grumbling about my daily chores and responsibilities - which to me is a big win!
I'm also happy to report that at the beginning of the challenge, I measured the circumference of my waist which was sitting at 35.5 inches.
At the end of the 30 days, I measured 34 inches, meaning that I lost an inch and a half from my waist - not bad for being only 30 days in and making no other drastic changes (apart from my back exercises and drinking 2L of water daily, which I will go over in my next blog post) to my routines!
My stamina definitely improved significantly over the 30 days, too. During my first week, every minute that I sat on that exercise bike felt like 10 - my legs burned, my hips hurt, I couldn't breathe and I would get way too hot.
One time I got so out of breath I wondered if I might actually die. Haha, not really but almost! I was definitely genuinely concerned there for a minute or two!
Now (currently starting month 2), I find that I only really struggle during the last 2 minutes of my session - not physically, but mentally. It quite literally feels like the longest 2 minutes of my life - every time!
One thing that I do enjoy about my AM session is that it helps me wake up in the morning. It's a good way to sit with my thoughts and start my day.
Some tricks that I employed to help me stick with my exercise sessions over the 30 days were:
In the mornings, I would get out of bed and get changed right away. After changing into my workout gear, I would head straigt to the lounge room and get on my exercise bike before doing anything else (except maybe a trip to the loo!).
This way, I had no excuses and couldn’t procrastinate by getting caught up doing something else and running out of time.
I also did the same thing in the afternoon - I would come home from work, and the minute I opened the door, I'd head straight to my room to change and then right back out to my exercise bike. That way, no excuses!
Another thing that I would do was set out my workout gear so that I could easily see it. If I laid it out the night before, I couldn't forget to do my exercise in the morning and if I laid it where I would easily see it upon returning home from work, I couldn't forget to do my exercise in the afternoon.
The last thing that I did to ensure my own success was to pick a workout that I could do at home because I wanted to make it easier on myself.
For me, personally, the thought of leaving my house to do exercise feels even more of a chore than exercise itself. If I had to leave my house in order to do it, there was no way I would have been able to stick to it (I just know what I’m like!) for 30 days. Not a chance!
If you wanted to do something similar yourself, you might be thinking that you don't really want to spend money on an exercise bike (or treadmill, or stepper, or elliptical or any other piece of exercise equipment) but it doesn't have to cost you a fortune.
Second hand equipment can be just as good as buying it brand new. Many people get rid of this kind of stuff nice and cheap because they don't feel that they use it enough to justify keeping it around.
Scour your local community Facebook groups, Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, Craigslist etc. I got my exercise bike and my elliptical on Gumtree for $50 each! You can also buy some fairly decent, cheap exercise equipment on Ebay, Amazon or Temu.
Or, if you try a workout like floor Pilates or resistance training using your own body weight, you won't really need any equipment at all.
Trust me, getting your exercise done is MUCH easier if you don't have to leave the house. Bonus points if you can do your exercise indoors - that way you can't use bad weather as an excuse to skip it!
How do you feel about exercise - do you love it, or do you hate it? Are you currently sticking to any sort of exercise routine, or do you maybe you intend to start something soon? Let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear from you!
Happy to have you here and I hope you have a great day/ night!
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Hope to have you back soon. Thanks for reading.
Lisa. 😊 xx
I really need to start doing stuff like this! I find myself starting something and then stopping all the time! Excellent read 😊