New Year New You? Guest blog by Mountain Buggy Terrain Ambassador, Mel

I’ll be honest with you, I don’t like January. There’s a massive post-Christmas come-down.  Even though I only had two heavy nights, my body feels toxic. I sacrificed sleep – it’s hard to have a proper conversation until the kids are in bed, so instead of retreating when my body was telling me to, I stayed up to spend precious time with family and friends. I ate a lot of cheese. I barely made 8,000 steps each day, and most of those were clocked up whizzing around the kitchen like a Tazmanian devil. Then there’s the pressure and the expectation to do something new. To make resolutions/ detox with dry January/ embark on the next fad diet – Summer’s on the way! Get your bikini body* here in just four weeks! Drink this rancid overpriced tea every day and you will wake up with a six pack! It’s everywhere you look; the papers, the magazines, social media. All this and I haven’t even mentioned the grey, dull, drizzly weather, or the fact that it’s still dark before 5pm.

Look, I’m not daft. I know that I could be starting January feeling less poisoned and more energetic. I could have avoided the brie and the G&T. I could have made exercise a priority over the Christmas period. It’s just not how I operate. Christmas is stressful enough without denying myself what I fancy, plus I’m absolutely shattered by the time the day actually arrives. So, here’s my reality: it’s the start of January 2018, and I feel grotty!
*Don’t get me started on the whole bikini body bull. Put a bikini on your body, et voila.

The one good thing about January
There is one thing I do actually enjoy about this month and that’s the return of routine. It used to pain me admit that I’m a creature of habit – in school when we were doing all of those tick-box career tests to find out what we should be in life, I always thought that the care-free, spontaneous boxes sounded way cooler. Turns out I was in denial, and the routine life chose me.
I’m itching to get back out with the buggy! Fresh air therapy, time where my youngest is strapped in and I actually know that he’s not wrecking something, new routes to explore, a 10k next month… I’m so ready!!

If you’ve been thinking about starting exercising post-baby, I highly recommend a running buggy. It has solved so many problems for me. No childcare but want to exercise? Get a running buggy! Only have a small window of time to exercise? Get a running buggy! Live in a field? Get a running buggy! Want to go out running with your other half but have no one to watch the baby? Get a running buggy! Ok, so my subliminal messaging isn’t that subtle. But if you want to try something new this year, I cannot recommend one of these enough.

If you’re nervous about starting a fitness journey, that’s totally normal. Here’s a little story about my three year old that might inspire you to take the leap…

J’s Journey
I’ve been gently encouraging (nagging) J to ditch the nappies for a good six months. We haven’t had as much as a dribble on the potty – I was beginning to have visions that he wouldn’t be allowed to go to nursery in September because he would still be in nappies (dramatic, moi?!). On New Year’s Day we found ourselves in Tesco (don’t ask), and my husband randomly asked J to choose some chocolate for when he does a wee on the loo/potty. Fast forward to 6.15am the very next day and he’s calling for help to do his first wee and asking for a chocolate, result! It’s been five days and J has fully embraced the loo and his big boy pants. In fact, after the inaugural wee, he has flat out refused to wear a nappy apart from at bed time. Sure, we’ve had a one or two accidents. Weeing in his puddlesuit and filling up one welly to the brim has been the high(low)light so far. But, you know what? J woke up one morning and decided to change something. It’s all been driven by him (and chocolate).

So, if you want to change something this January, go for it! Do it for you, because YOU want to. Not because the media tells you to, or because Susan from your A level English class is telling you about how great her life choices are on social media. And if you hit a stumbling block along the way, dust yourself off and get back to it. J doesn’t care that he’s not had 100% success rate – he doesn’t think twice about it. He gets cleaned up, gets a fresh pair of pants and carries on the journey. Whatever you try this month (and I really hope it’s buggy running), take heed from the toddler in you. Get up, get to it and carry on regardless.