KIC co-founder Laura Henshaw says it's important to set realistic goals when it comes to fitness. Photo / Supplied
KIC co-founder Laura Henshaw says it's important to set realistic goals when it comes to fitness. Photo / Supplied
We've all been there: signed up for the gym, bought the cute workout gear, and then as life gets busy, working out and eating healthy slides to the bottom of the priority list.
Suddenly, we feel like if we're not hitting the gym three times a week or chugging green smoothies, it's not good enough - and it becomes all too easy to give up.
But this mindset isn't good for us - and it's something that Keep It Cleaner founder Laura Henshaw wants to challenge.
"An all or nothing approach is so unsustainable when we're thinking about health and fitness," she tells the Herald.
"Whether we want to eat a little better or move a little more or sleep better or look after our minds more - what we really want is to live longer, we want to have more energy, we want to feel good within our own skin."
Here Henshaw shares five small changes we can make to look after our health and wellbeing that don't involve strict workout plans or diets.
Be realistic
"We set really unrealistic goals and targets," Henshaw says.
"You have to find things that are actually going to work with your lifestyle. For example, if you hate running and decide to do a running programme to get fit, you're setting yourself up for failure, because you don't really want to do it. So it's important to find things that you enjoy. If you want to sustain something, you can't hate it."
So if you know you're not the type to wake up early for a morning run, don't try to become that person. Instead, fit a workout into your evenings, she suggests.
"I know that I have to do it in the morning, so know those things about yourself when you're planning when you're going to move your body. Also know that sometimes life gets in the way, and that's okay," she adds.
Henshaw says the all or nothing mindset isn't good for us or our health. Photo / Supplied
Bite-sized workouts
You don't have to spend an hour at the gym to tick exercise off your to-do list, but even five minutes a day is better than nothing, Henshaw says. Keeping with this ethos, KIC has launched a series of five and 10-minute mini-workouts.
Fitness isn't about finding the "perfect" routine that will give us the best results, she says.
"Any way that we get moving, our bodies release endorphins which make us feel good and it also gets blood flowing through our bodies.
"If I have 10 minutes in my lunch break, sometimes I'll use that just to get some energy, because a lot of us sit at our desks all day. And if I haven't exercised all day, I sometimes find doing a 10-minute mini when I get home makes me feel good too."
Let go of food guilt
When it comes to healthy eating, it's important to let go of any guilt related to food - something Henshaw says is "one of the most negative parts of toxic diet culture".
"Healthy eating is not just steamed chicken and broccoli with no flavour - no one wants to live like that. Food is such a big part of enjoyment in life."
Home-cooked meals are always healthier, she adds. "It's also great to eat seasonally, because it's more affordable and the fruit and veg is fresher."
And if like me you often come home after a long day and can't bear the thought of cooking dinner, planning and prepping ahead of time can be a huge help.
"It's just like putting out your exercise clothes the night before, just removing those barriers and remembering that healthy eating can be delicious."
Best friends Henshaw and Steph Claire Smith founded Keep It Cleaner together. Photo / Supplied
Find a mindful moment
"It's super important to look after our mental health. For me, I am not someone that is able to meditate for 30 minutes," says Henshaw, who says running is her form of meditation.
"Every day is different and I know that some days it's hard to get in that zone. You don't need to do 20 minutes.
"What I often do is five minutes in the middle of the day, even if it's just a breathing exercise just to slow down. It makes the biggest difference. We can all fit five minutes."
Connect with people
It turns out spending quality time with the ones we love is good for our health, too.
"Connecting with people is really important," Henshaw says, recalling that during the Covid-19 lockdowns, isolation caused her to "lose all motivation".
"Feeling lonely is hard on your mental health and overall health and it all seemed too hard - now whenever I have dinner with a friend or whatever it might be, it just fills my cup.
"So for me, no matter how busy life is, finding time to connect and be present with friends and family is so important. It's a big part of our health and wellbeing."
• Laura Henshaw and Steph Claire Smith are bringing their KIC wellness tour to Auckland on October 9
