Well February was a pretty good month in some aspects whilst being not so good in other ways however, it is done now and we are looking ahead to a new month which will hopefully see even more goals ticked off the list which will be coming in a post tomorrow. For now though it is time to take a look and see how many of the goals I set myself for February played out...

That is the shortest month of the year over and done with but it has been a busy month filled with plenty of fun filled activities. It looked like it would be a quiet month to begin with however, things really started to pick up and things got busier than I ever expected. Thanks to it being busy though I have discovered a fair few new favourites whilst also rediscovering old ones, so here is what made the cut for February's favourites...

Seeing what I own 

Thanks to redoing the bedroom I have finally had to sort out the dreaded wardrobe. I am so glad that I have had to do this though as it has helped me find clothing items that were long forgotten about and that would be beneficial for the style I am hoping to achieve from now on. This has meant that I don't actually need to buy as much as I first anticipated which I am pleased with as it will save me a fair bit of money until I need a restock due to sizes.

Sneakers

Adidas Forums

I said that I wouldn't be wearing these sneakers everyday however, I have worn them most days still as I am absolutely loving them. They are so comfortable and the velcro strap adds a little extra to the outfits. I am definitely needing to move away from these soon though as they don't really go with the style I am opting for once I put a bit more effort into outfits plus they are now starting to look worse for wear and need an upgrade if they are going to be worn as much as they currently are.

Fitness

Back on the football pitch

After a bit of a break from the game I am finally back playing but for a new team this time. We are only training and playing friendlies at the moment but it is so good to be back on the pitch finally enjoying the game once more. Being back on the pitch has led to me enjoying creating football content too so everything is finally falling into place at long last and I am loving it. Now to start performing better on the pitch again as I am a bit rusty. 

Lifestyle

Getting through jobs

After what felt like the most unproductive year in 2023 I am so glad that we are making good progress in 2024. February's favourite is definitely getting through the jobs that got put off last year as there is no need to delay things any longer. The bedroom just needs a few finishing touches and the gym planning is already underway. We have also started making plans for the spare room so we can jump straight into the next jobs once the previous is done. We have even started putting together a list of other jobs that we want to get done in between the bigger jobs so we can make as much progress as we can.

Book

Fangirl

I have put Alex Scott's book to one side for a little bit to give myself a break as I fancied reading something a little different. I have had Fangirl sat on my bookshelf for so long now so when it came to picking a book to take to the spa there was no other option for me. I haven't got too far in the book just yet due to me now juggling two books however, I am actually enjoying what I have read so far and can't wait to spend more time with this book. 

Podcast 

What's Good Games

What's Good Games had been on a break for a while however, it has finally returned thanks to a recent PlayStation State of Play. I had really been missing listening to the podcast so to have those regular episodes back is fantastic and I am back to looking forward to catching up on latest episodes on weekends after their Friday release. Let's hope there are no more extended breaks from the podcast any time soon.

Overall highlight of the month 

Mentality changing

February has been another month where I have noticed an improvement in my mentality. I am not letting things get to me if they aren't going to plan anymore and I am keeping a positive attitude even when I am being tested which to be honest isn't as much as it previously has been. The mentality change is definitely helping in many aspects of my life and I am really hoping that it is here to stay and can only get better.

Favourite thing I have learned

Slow and steady wins the race

Previously when doing jobs around the house I have wanted everything done as soon as possible however, with the bedroom work I have realised that slow and steady wins the race. By breaking the jobs down and taking them nice and steady things are getting done properly and with a better finish. Even taking time to pick out the accessories is making the room come together better as we are looking at details rather than buying for the sake of it. Let's hope I can keep reminding myself of this as other jobs take place in the house.

It is safe to say February was a short month that was packed with plenty of fun things to make it another great month. I am really impressed with how the year is going so far as it is certainly 10 times better than 2023 was. Now let's see what March has in store for me...

What were your favourite things from February?

We are slowly but surely making our way around the house redoing all the rooms we rushed to get done when we originally moved in nearly 6 years ago now. The spare room is basically the box room of the house however, it has become one of my most used areas in the house as this is where I keep all of my football things and where I create all my content whether it is for social media or the blog. With this area being multi use I really want to maximize it's potential and I will be more or less splitting the room in half. One side will be for content creating, blogging and everything football whilst the other side is going to be more of a dressing room vibe, I will do another post in the future detailing the plans and how things are progressing but for now today's post is going to be all the things I would love to add to the room. 

It is all about making this room a nice space to be in and making it easy to create content in whilst still making it easy to keep clean & tidy. So here are the items I would love to add...

Longer floating shelves

At the moment the shelves in this room are tiny and you can barely fit anything on them. The plan though is to get some much longer ones that run across the smaller wall in the room, if I could fit 4 in here that would be great as I can have a few for Lego displays and maybe a few for football things however, until they are up and the room is decluttered the only guaranteed shelves are those Lego ones.

Longer clothing rail

For the dressing area of the room I want a clothing rail mounted to the wall that is a bit longer than my current one. I want somewhere where I can hang my clothing for the week and any bits I need to shoot content for, it can also be for hanging in those new in bits that I need to take pics of so I know exactly where they are.

Somewhere for my hats

I have a lot of baseball caps and it is about time I found somewhere to store them properly so I am thinking of maybe having a few hooks on the wall to cover these. I am not sure whether to just keep my favourites hung up or current rotation with the excess going into a storage box ready to be easily accessed. I am just fed up of these getting ruined as some have cost a fair bit of money. 

Shoe rack

Now this one will only be small and will go under the clothing rail and up against the Alex drawers. I won't be filling this though as it will be reserved for the footwear that makes up the current rotation at the time. Hopefully this will also mean I rotate the footwear I wear rather than wearing the same pair day in day out like I do currently. 

Storage baskets

I have a Kallax unit that holds all my football shirts but the plan is to condense how many sections I use for this so I can add some more of the storage baskets in here. These baskets will hold some football memorabilia and so blogging accessories such as notebooks or paper work. It just means everything will be in one spot rather than being all over the place. I am also going to keep one for all my football training things such as shin pads and bag fillers which I use every game day alongside my training clothing. I am also thinking a nice basket for under my desk where I can put in all those new in bits I need to take pictures of so that everything is again in one place.

Frames for the football shirts

This one I already have the frames for however, I haven't sorted them yet as I wanted to wait until the room was redone so I weren't having too many holes in the wall. I have 4 or 5 frames so this should cover the football side of the room well without it being too crowded and will house all my special shirts. Over the years I have picked up a fair few signed shirts and it is about time I displayed them so they were looked after too.

IKEA pegboard

Every time I go to IKEA I get drawn over to the pegboards and have the ideas going round in my head for what I want to include on the board if I did get it. The plan for this is to get a board and have it for all the little tech bits that I constantly lose such as the adapters for my Macbook and cables. I am really hoping I can get one to fit in the room as it would be very beneficial.  

I am determined that this room is going to be a nice mix that isn't just football like it currently is and fingers crossed it flows nicely throughout. There are so many more plans to make for this room but it is 100% guaranteed to be completed in the first half of this year which means the jobs in the house are well and truly going to plan. I am sure there will be plenty of posts about this room as things progress but for now I need to get the bedroom finished before moving onto project number 2.

2024 is the year where the biggest day to day focus is going to be on my fitness and weight loss journey. I am determined to absolutely smash my goals in this category and see myself heading towards that end weight I set myself way back when. January was always going to be the month of building a new routine and working out what actually works for me and doesn't. I went into the new year with a much better attitude than I had in the whole of 2023 and let's just say that new attitude paid off and I have had the best start to the year. So here is January's journey wrap up 

Start weight : 104.5 kg

End weight : 101.3 kg 

Total lost : 3.2 kg

I can honestly say that I did not expect to see myself recording a 3.2 kg loss in the first month, I thought I would be lucky to get to 1 kg at one point as the scales have been very inconsistent. Stepping on the scales on the 31st and seeing that final number though was just absolutely fantastic and shows that it all works out in the end and it left me entering February on a high ready to keep up with the habits to hopefully see another great change by the end of the month.

Gym sessions attended : 2

I had two great gym sessions in January however, I really do wish I had got to more but for a variety of reasons this didn't take place. At some points in the month I wasn't well so the last thing I wanted to do was go to the gym around other people. Then there were also some sneaky last minute changes that led to plans changing last minute and me not being able to attend. 

Football sessions : 4

This number is also not as high as I would have liked it to have been but this is due to a number of reasons again. One big reason was the weather, a few times it was called off duty to snow and ice which is typical around January time. There was also the illness factor again which spoilt a few sessions for me. 

Weight lifting sessions : 0

Unfortunately the first few weeks classes weren't running and then I fell ill so I didn't manage to hit any of the sessions I had hoped to. I am really hoping to get back to these classes asap though as I am missing them and I know they will really benefit me on my journey. 

I have really been working on my nutrition in January too and the meals out have been massively reduced meaning I have spent more time in the kitchen for a change which is something I am really not used to. One of my favourite things to make has definitely been a simple dish of turkey bacon, egg, spinach & mushrooms. This meals keeps me feeling full for ages and even though it takes so simple it is really nice. Plus it is super quite to make so within 10 minutes you have a lovely filling meal ready to go. I have also stopped myself from ordering McDonald's breakfasts far too often and instead I have been making my own take on a sausage McMuffin. Again this is really quick to make and is not greasy like a McDonald's so I consider this a healthier alternative.

Throughout the month there have been so many high points and I am really pleased with how many I have actually had. So here are the two biggest high points...

Seeing the scale drop

Obviously this was the biggest thing I was hoping to see in January and I saw it drop more than I could have ever imagined. I was worried that things weren't going to move at one point but I kept on pushing and the results started to roll in. It just goes to show for me a bit of patience goes a long way and the results will soon roll in. I don't think any other months will have such a high drop but we shall see.

Learning not to let the negative thoughts in

A big reason I believe I ruined my progress in 2023 is by letting the negative thoughts in and letting them bring me down meaning that I didn't want to do anything and just binge ate instead. Throughout January I have been working on not letting those thoughts creep back in and instead I have been working on adopting a more positive attitude which has really helped me achieve that drop. 

Of course as with any journey there have been some low points too but I am happy to report that those haven't been too low and have actually been out of my control. So here are two of the low points from January...

Getting ill

Unfortunately around the middle of the month things started to go down hill and I spent a few days in bed unwell however, thanks to me learning though about those negative thoughts I allowed myself some proper rest and recovery and in the end I was ill for a lot less time than usual. So it may be a low point but it wasn't too low.

The weather

I am putting it down to the weather for why I got ill in the first place however, it also caused a fair bit of disruption. It meant football was cancelled a few times and in some cases it also meant that I was unable to get to the gym meaning a few sessions were missed. I can't help the weather though so we go again and just plan better next time around.

After the success of January though it is time to set myself some goals for February, another month which I am hoping to smash and see some brilliant progress on my journey. Fingers crossed that I can start picking up some of the rewards I have set myself soon too as the progress is going that well. So here are the goals I am setting myself for February...

Get under the 100 kg mark 

I have 1.3 kg to go until I hit the 100 kg mark but I think with a good push I can get myself into the 99 kg bracket by the 29th of February. This would help keep me heading in the right direction for the end of the year goal but will also give me a bit of a confidence boost I think. The 99 mark is a more realistic goal however, 98 kg I believe would mean I am 1 stone down so I would be over the moon if I achieved that.

Limited the eating out

I did really well in January when it came to eating out and I am determined to keep the momentum going in February. I have a few things coming up in the month however, I want to try to just stick to these events for the eating out rather than constantly adding more days out to the list. If I want to see that progress I can't be reverting back to old habits. 

Gym twice a week

I have two full body sessions per week that I need to head to the gym for so I need to make sure I am getting there twice a week no excuses. By going twice a week I should be able to get into a nice routine without neglecting other aspects of my life too which is a win, win situation.

Football 6 times

Before February started I had chance to sit down and work out realistically just how many football training sessions I could get to and the answer was 6 so we are going straight in and aiming to hit every session possible within the month. These sessions will definitely help me on my journey but also get me back into the game I love and I really can't wait to attend the sessions.

Smash my first reward goal

My first reward goal is at half a stone down and I am hoping to smash that in February so I can go buy myself some new shin pads but I also want to be well on my way towards the 1 stone mark which will really push me towards the 3 stone by 30 goal. 

Feel great going into my first friendly

My first game with my new team is on the 18th so I really want to work towards feeling good about myself by then. I want to feel confident heading back onto the pitch as I have had a long time out and put a lot of weight on since the last time. I know that if I feel good heading into it I am more likely to perform better on the pitch so fingers crossed.

So those are my goals and now onto the things I am wanting to change going into the new month to help me push on even further. First up I want to be more organised, I know that more organisation will lead to me hitting more sessions as I won't be double booking or burning myself out. I am also hoping that cutting out the late starts on a weekend will also help me along, by getting up a few hours earlier I will have more time to get on with my day and that extra hour could determine if I work out or not. Finally I plan on making sure I am hitting those full body sessions, there is no need to keep putting them off and I know I will see a big change in my body if I get them done.

Overall I feel absolutely brilliant with how my progress is going and I have surprised myself with how well I have done in month 1 I didn't think I would be capable of a 3 kg lost in just one month but I guess that self doubt can disappear now. The progress in January has definitely more determined to keep going in February so let's see what the month holds for me...