Whenever we go through a big life change such as moving, changing jobs, having a baby, going to grad school or whatever it may be, we have to learn to adapt our lifestyle to our new life. I know many of you reading this have experienced at least one or more of these types of changes in the last year. During periods of our lives we develop certain eating, working out, sleeping, activity, leisure and social patterns. When we have a major change, we have to figure out how to adapt our patterns to the new life, and sometimes we even change certain patterns.
I have moved and changed jobs four times in the last two and a half years. Once I graduated from school and started working I developed a certain lifestyle which stayed pretty consistent throughout my many moves. This move however was the biggest and has required the most adaptation for me, especially eating and working out patterns. When I first moved here, I had fun trying all the different types of food, no matter what it was. Most of the local food here is not exactly the healthiest. My kitchen consists of a stove top range, a microwave, and a crockpot so I don't have a full kitchen or a kitchen full of supplies to cook with either.
Let's start with breakfast...In the beginning during my first two weeks of training, I would eat fruit for breakfast and during a mid-morning break, my doc would buy me these amazing pastries from the Swiss bakery downstairs everyday. For lunch and dinner, I tried a new place almost every day, many meals involving way more refined carbs than my body has ever been used to (white rice, noodles, bread, etc). Due to the expense of alcohol here, I have switched to beer (cheaper) instead of my usual liquor drinks back home. Since my body is not used to this lifestyle, I could feel the changes in my body the first few weeks of being here. Before I left Cleveland, I was eating the Slow Carb way, just as an experiment, NOT to lose weight. I was also on a heavy lifting plan to gain more muscle. This new lifestyle was a dramatic change for my body.
After a few weeks of this and finally getting settled in here, it was time to get back into a healthier lifestyle again. I am back to eating eggs for breakfast and a fresh squeezed juice mid-morning. For lunch, I am making healthier choices; vegetarian cuisine, salad with protein, or sandwich with protein. For dinner, if I cook at home, I'll make a piece of fish and sauteed vegetables. I still go out for dinner a few nights a week to try new things and for social time. :) For now, I try to walk a lot on the weekends for my cardio. I rented a bike for the first time last weekend at a place called East Coast Park and rode for an hour and a half. Once July hits, my goal is to invest in a good pair of tennis shoes and start running again. A gym membership will be in the future when I've been here for long enough. :)
I did not make all these changes at once, but took one step at a time back into my healthier lifestyle. I still have some more goals to get me back to the level I was at before health wise. I feel more comfortable with the changes thus far and finally feel more settled into my new lifestyle. :)
Happy healthy living! :)
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