I’m Back!

Hi There!

We made it back from our amazing trip in Peru! It was an incredible adventure filled with lots of history, culture, wild animals, jungle walks, hikes, tiny towns, big cities, and a few amazing new friends. I do have some upcoming posts to share much more about our journey in Peru, so stay tuned for those posts to come!

 

(Sneak Peek: Machu Picchu Photo)

For now, I wanted to give you some tips on transitioning back to real life after a vacation and fill you in on how I motivated myself to start to return myself to an exercise routine after being gone on vacation.

I had to hit the ground running and return to work the night after we returned from our trip. It’s certainly been strange transitioning from waking up at 4 or 5 AM to going to bed at 5 AM instead. Sleep was tough to come by this week because of the change and I felt very sluggish for most of the week. Putting the extra effort to go workout when I didn’t feel great really helped me and ended up increasing my energy levels after despite having little sleep for most of the week. I am just starting to get back into the swing of things with work, working out, eating healthy, etc. I’m glad I feel more like a human again!

What helped me re-adjust to being home and re-establish healthy routines?

The first thing I decided to do when I got home was eat a very healthy breakfast and lunch. I know it is kind of weird, but when we got back I was more than ready to eat a giant salad, so that’s exactly what I did. A fresh Acaí bowl with fruit, nuts, and seeds for breakfast and a giant salad with grilled chicken on top was a welcomed change. I did try to eat as healthy as I could on this trip and we got quite a bit of exercise, but since we were on a couple of tours (in the jungle and the Inca Trail), the non-processed healthy options were more limited most of the time.

We definitely had delicious food in Peru, but the cuisine is rich, hearty, and involves lots of carbs and starchy tubers, which my body is not used to. I didn’t realize how much I missed leafy green, and red/yellow/purple/ orange vegetables. Don’t get me wrong, I love to indulge, and do so quite regularly.  However, after extended periods of time, my body just doesn’t feel great anymore, and it wants to get back to more consistent healthy habits and occasional indulgences.

The second thing I did was go to the grocery store to re-stock the house with fresh ingredients. It was a more important task than unpacking or doing laundry. I knew that I would eat better and cook at home if I had everything I needed here. I bought all healthy foods and avoided any temptation to buy treats. That was the best decision I made. I was able snack on healthy food and cook simple, but healthy meals right off the bat and continue to do so for the remainder of the week. I think this was the most helpful thing I did after returning this trip, and will continue to do it in the future.

After going to the grocery store, I decided to go to my first CrossFit class.  Another great decision. I didn’t realize how much I missed the workouts and the people at my box. It was a fun class, and I am glad I talked myself into going. I was definitely more sore than usual the next day, but that is to be expected.

The next day, even though I was sore and didn’t have a lot of sleep, I forced myself to go to another CrossFit class. That was an extremely difficult class to get through, not only because it was a difficult workout, but also because my body was so low on energy. It took a little while after the class and a shower, but it did pay off as I felt more awake and  it helped me get through the night.

Even though I was still sluggish the following day, I felt like I wanted to be active and enjoy the time that T still had off from work. We decided to take a trip out to Malibu with our pup, eat a nice lunch (surprise: another big salad for me), and enjoy long walks around town and on the beach with Scout.

We missed our girl and wanted to get outside and spend some time with her. The bonus: we got to exercise, enjoy ourselves, and feel like it was mini respite from our return to normal life.

               

On Friday, we were in search of another fun activity, so we decided to go out to my parent’s house, visit, and play racquetball. I got my butt kicked by T, but it was fun! We finished off T’s final day off by taking a nice hike near our house. Nothing too difficult, but the occasional hills and length of the hike made it a fun outing for us and Scout. We obviously felt guilt for leaving her and needed to make up for it!

Finding something active to do every day helped me feel like I was getting the exercise I needed while slowly getting back into a healthy routine and having fun! It also helped me want to fuel my body with natural, whole, and healthy foods. It’s important to get back to your healthy habits as quickly as possible, but it’s also important to listen to your body and ease back into the more intense activities. I have found that starting with re-setting my diet is the number one priority, as the desire to be active and exercise usually follows when my body feels good.

I think we are now ready to return to more intense CrossFit classes this week and get ourselves into some harder workouts because two of our closest friends are marrying each other next weekend and we have a lot to celebrate!