September always feels like the start of a new year to me. I spent 23 years of my life in school, and now have a son who is in school. It feels to me like it's a time to reset before winter comes. Summer is so short in Toronto that I always pack so much into those 2 months. We're away most weekends camping or cottaging or we have friends visiting from out of town, and we're socializing more than we do when it's winter time. This translates into more movement of my body, but less cardiovascular exercise. On vacation this year we spent time in the Laurentians, and we swam in the lake almost every day and golfed three times (my first time golfing in over 10 years!), but none of those got my heart rate going for an extended period of time. We also consume more calories in the summer with all the socializing that we do! It's fun to go for ice cream in the evening with friends. This is why I like to get back into a routine in September and back to my healthier Naturopathic habits.
I challenge you to think about your summer activities, which good habits you'd like to continue into the fall and which you'd like to change.
I'm going to work on being more organized with my meal planning and prep. I'm going to clean out my freezer and use up all the food that's in there by making some delicious soups.
I'm also going to get back into doing pilates weekly. I let it slide over the summer and my back wasn't feeling 100% when I would go running. With more pilates on the horizon, I'm also going to aim to run 3x/week until the snow comes because I will be strong enough to do so.
Let me know what healthy things you've got planned for the fall!