Enjoy a lifetime of adventure

Life is a daily struggle isn’t it, so why go through it unhappy?

Hi, welcome to Fit2Thrive, my name is Colin and this site is dedicated to how I turn my daily struggle into a series of adventures where my family and I use the struggle as a means to giggle, grow and generally build the life we want.

My hope is that through learning how we make our adventures come to life you will be empowered to have some adventures of your own and grow and giggle as we do.

I love all the modern time savers but I don’t like the health problems that can come with them and I don’t like the modern approach to health and fitness because it doesn’t work plus, it’s just plain boring.

What I got us all doing is to focus our lives on the adventures we want to have and the memories and experiences we want. So that everything from shopping to working to playing is about preparing for and living some kind of adventure.

Life is a beautiful struggle

Thinking of adventures encourages us to indulge all our passions from exploring nature in woods and zoos, to watching and playing sports and eating and making great food. I am progressively incorporating more fun and adventures into our lives and enjoying the benefits adventures bring,

Because adventures are what our ancestors always had the approach is working really well for us so far because we have more energy than we used to and ticked off tons of things in our 2016 bucket list. The challenge will be to adapt the approach as the kids grow and life changes.

Now I am sharing my approach with other like minded parents to help them do the same.

How do I start an adventure!!!?

I don’t have loads of time or money I just want to share my approach with people as an adventure coach (think lifestyle coach that focuses on adventure) and make it really easy to ask me questions, follow me and start living an adventure yourself.

So let me get you started right now. First I want you to think about the following question

“If money and time were no object what would you do?”

That is your dream, so the adventure would be setting out towards this dream. Now keep your dream in mind for this next question

“What is stopping you living your dream right now?”

These questions should have got you dreaming, they did for me and for everyone I’ve put them to. Just by thinking about your dreams you become a little closer to achieving them.

The secret to great health is to just find the healthy balance in the life you want to live. Do that and eventually what makes you happy will make you healthy.

Fit2Thrive in a nutshell

Everyday adventures

Develop the strength

To live your dreams

Here’s how Fit2Thrive works

At Fit2thrive I believe that “Play makes you strong” and use the fun in every day to become stronger and healthier.

Each day is a step that builds one essential aspect required for play to make you strong. The question being what will you explore today?

Wants: Follow your dreams: Practice following your dreams by doing something you always wanted to do. During the week you prepare for it and at the weekend you live that dream. Eventually living your dreams becomes why you are healthy
Needs: Make you strong: Learn how to combine what you need to do in life like pay the bills and get the shopping with things you need for strength like recovering, eating and moving well. So you get healthy with the life you already have instead of adding lots of extra work and expense.
How: Everyday adventures: If you follow your dreams a little every day and also get stronger by living your everyday life then everyday will turn into its own little adventure. Some adventures become epics, most are just little moments of fun but each day becomes a step towards learning how following your dreams makes you and your family stronger, healthier and happier.

The concept is as simple as using your existing life to find both health and happiness. I have a very holistic approach because all real health comes when you nurture the whole not just specific things.

It works because your body is always trying to support you and all the workouts you will be doing are a signal to your body what you want to be good at. So you will be training your body to be good at supporting the life that you WANT to live.

A simple journey

My approach is simple. Everyone knows that to be healthy they need to:

recover well
eat well,
and move well

But everyone struggles to actually do it all so that is the problem I aim to solve, the problem of fitting it all in and having a smile while you do it.

All you need to do is follow my adventures and I will show you incredibly simple ways to do it all and enjoy yourself at the same time. The idea is that over time you will learn how to do it for yourself. All the time I’m just an email away if you have any questions.

Everything you do each day puts you out of balance. The only way to maintain and grow your health is opening your mind to all the options you have to recover your balance on a daily basis

What do you want? Live your dreams

Everything started working for me when I embraced living a life of adventure. I’m not the big risk taking crazy type who only feels fulfilled by jumping off a mountain with a shark strapped to my back. NO, don’t worry that’s not what I mean, a life of adventure is about your attitude where you are open to following your dreams wherever they take you. there will be challenges, there will be upsets, but there won’t be regrets because you will living YOUR life not anyone elses and you will be learning how living your life makes you strong.

There are different kinds of adventure including:

epic: Big things like holidays, visits like duxford, french open, wimbledon, britmums, zoo
standard: medium size experiences like DIY, rushmere park, Country pub
micro: small experiences such as foods, shopping, DIY

The micro and standard adventures generally build towards the epic adventures and so the small workouts and challenges prepare me for the big and massive ones.

Motivation is the biggest problem we all encounter in sticking to a healthy lifestyle. It’s all easy when things are going well but when we hit tough times our will power is tested and often breaks. In fact the single biggest reason diets and healthy lifestyles fail is that people struggle to stick to the plan they follow. So the first key to success is to ensure you stay motivated throughout.

The secret of the healthiest and happiest cultures is that everything they do adds both to their health and their happiness which is why they don’t struggle to do the right things.

All you really need to do is understand what makes you happy and find ways every day to achieve a little piece of happiness and you will stay motivated throughout.

The best way to start adding more play, freedom and fun to your life and build you motivation is to start a bucket list. A bucket list is simply a list of things you want to do and experience, much like a list of things you want to do before you die. When you have this list you use it as your training guide and motivation because as you focus on ticking items off the list you begin to use your day to get fit and strong enough to do these activities properly while living the busy challenging life you live.

The list can contain anything you like including:

events like gigs, shows and sporting events. As a family we have visited many musicals, air shows and other events
visiting a zoo (we love Whipsnade zoo part of zsl), heritage site (checkout the national trust)
holidays, where would you love to travel too? Checkout our holidays for ideas
shopping: you might want a day to splurge (the bbc good food show is our favourite but what’s yours)
Restaurants and cafes: We love finding new places to eat and then exploring the area
Special occasions: What is your favourite idea for christmas, easter, your birthday or anniversary

As you build your bucket list you start to see how much fun there is to be had and great memories that you want to create.

Take a step towards your goals right now by picking something fun and doing it to see how it motivates you.

To put yourself in a playful mood you might:

get out in the sun shine: A few minutes of sunshine will get you some Vitamin D and improve your mood
listen to something: do you like listening to audio books, radio or podcasts?
get up: If you’re standing or walking you’re not sitting or lying. Just a few minutes each hour makes a difference. whether its a bathroom break, to check something with a colleague or run an errand
get out: Fresh air gives you a fresh mind, whether it’s popping to the shops or to run an errand
go get some nice food or drink.
- Fun, food and frolics: How to stimulate your metabolism while your chow down
- How can cream tea and fruit crumble for breakfast be healthy!!!
go play, on your own or with friends. I play tennis to move and recover well what do you do?

These are my examples so what would yours be? Ask yourself what makes you happy and go do it.

It helps to realise that play and its benefits have always been important, it is just something that often gets forgotten. On pinterest I have a long list of quotes on play and here is a shortened list giving you an idea of just how highly valued play is.

Life must be lived as play.~~Plato
Joy: The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time – James Taylor
Happiness: Happiness is not a destination, it is a way of life
Laughter: Always find time to laugh. It may not add years to your life but will surely add life to your years
Create a life that feels good on the inside, not just one that looks good on the outside
Laughing is, and always will be, the best form of therapy

In the blog posts marked play focus on helping you enjoy yourself while living your life and getting fit.

What do you need? What makes you strong? Use life as your workout

Bruce Lee shares how to find inner peace: Be water, my friend

30 September, 2022

Can takeaways be healthy?

12 January, 2016

Sleep like a ninja

4 January, 2016

Can you really clear a foggy holiday head playing hide and seek and snacking on fruit?

30 December, 2015

See all the ways we grow stronger

Life is just full of competing pressures isn’t it. You want to focus on your health but everything is against you.

At work you’re chained to a desk
you get around sitting in a car
grabbing food on the go
you don’t have time, or skills in the kitchen
at home you’re tired so you sit and eat the wrong things

It’s tough so don’t beat yourself up about it. Take me, I’m a software developer by day so I don’t get paid unless I’m sitting down. I was determined to find a healthy way of life that fit me as I am and as I want to be, instead of forcing myself and my family to fit into a generic healthy lifestyle that doesn’t fit us and our specific demands.

The solution is to take steps to learn to manage all the competing demands and find ways to fit everything in to your life. If you combine it with play you will have a smile while you do it.

The secret to fitting in all in is to see that the healthy lifestyle is right there in front of you in the life you are already leading and not in some magical place like:

the gym
the health foodstore
the mythical extra quiet time

When I explored fitting everything in I noticed that

the gym is my house or basically where ever I am
healthy food is just a wide variety of nice food, off the shelf or cooked by myself, it doesn’t matter
quiet time is never far away now I’ve learnt to tune out when I need to.

The brilliant result is that my healthy lifestyle:

Saves me time
Saves me money
Is more fun
Gives me more energy

This is what considering your needs is all about, managing your daily pressures so that they build you instead of breaking you.

You start by making a task list where you include everything you need to do each day and each week. It doesn’t have to be an extensive list at first just something that shows you how much you actually have on your plate and all the opportunities that already exist where healthy upgrades are possible.

Cleaning: doing the dishes, washing, car or house
Tidying
DIY
Shopping
Work
Travel and commuting

This isn’t a full list just an idea of the things we all have to do every day that can add to your health if you let them.

Each of these tasks is a chance to:

recover better
eat better
or move better

Getting them done counts as a step in meeting your needs

Need more motivation?

To get more motivation so you don’t put them off you take a step in play adding a little fun:

listening to the radio or an audio book is one of my favourites, what’s yours?
give yourself a treat at the end. Just think about what you were going to have any way so you’re not adding anything and only have it when you’ve got the job done.

Checkout the wants section for more ideas.

Once you have compiled your list take a step by doing one of the tasks, probably something simple and make it fun. An example is doing the dishes or cleaning while listening to the radio or an audio book. Seriously, it’s that simple.

Each time you chose to combine doing one of these tasks with something fun then you are taking a step toward managing your competing demands. Over time doing tasks like this becomes an opportunity to play because you replace the boredom with fun things.

The value to you is that you

move more
save time
get stuff done
reduce your to do list
create time for yourself

We all have lots to do and fitting it all in is the real challenge. It’s no good if health and happiness add to the pressure instead of taking it away.

The best answer is to use your existing pressures as different types of workout because if you want your life to build you and not break you then these are the pressures that you need to be good at dealing with. If you can’t then surely you’re not as healthy as you need to be. No bother, through the how section you’ll learn how it’s done.

Here are some of the pressures we all face

shopping: for food and drinks, clothes, house stuff
- popping to ikea for a stroll, some shopping and a cheap dinner
childcare: keeping little ones safe, fed and entertained and making it fun and not stressful
work stuff: coding (I’m a coder), sitting down, meetings, school, exams
house stuff: cooking, cleaning, maintenance (DIY)
celebrations: birthdays, christmas, easter.
- How I enjoyed christmas and got fitter!!!
- Fun, food and frolics: How to stimulate your metabolism while your chow down

All these things are part of every day life and put pressure on you but all need to be done. The key is to focus on how you do it, find a way to do it with a smile and you won’t put it off, you’ll do it and you’ll enjoy it!!!

How do you do it all? Everyday adventures. Try things, explore

Shopping and the value of boot sales: More treasure

19 December, 2015

Shoppping and the value of boot sales: Finding treasure

18 December, 2015

Dark mornings and epic skies 😀

15 December, 2015

Why I Started the day with a smile. Mince pies, pears, strawberries and grapes #roadtochristmas

9 December, 2015

See all our everyday adventures

No matter how brilliant your life is it does get boring and difficult at times and when you’re dedicated to getting happy and healthy the best thing you can do is find ways to make the worst times better than they would be.

For Every challenge you undertake and every problem you solve there is a fun and healthy way of doing it.

Combining your wants with your needs is how you find that way

This is why you need to explore new options to give yourself

variety
balance
inspiration
distraction

because coming up with new ideas to complement the old and building a bigger list of options is what all successful people do.

To build a successful healthy lifestyle focus on creating new options for:

movement
nutrition
recovery

and find ways to bake them right into your daily life.

Regularity and Simplicity are always the focus. There are 365 days a year. You only have to make one tiny change every day to add up to 365 changes over a year. That is a huge amount of change from just a little effort each day.

There is always a step you can take every day no matter where you are in life, and the experience of looking back through the list of what you achieved will motivate and empower you on a regular basis.

So start considering the next steps to get you closer to your perfect life. Some ideas would be

trying a new food recipe or doing something in the garden.
something simple like going for a walk at lunch, you might not feel you have time but if you combine it with shopping and getting errands done then perhaps you do have the time. Climbing stairs and hills can be a bigger challenge.
You might allow your errands to take you up or down some stairs.
You might simply do some errands before having lunch. Walking between each.
If you’re on your own its easy these days to listen to audio books, radio or music on a smart phone say.
You might start tracking all your activity by buying a step counter. Plenty of good cheap ones are available.

Simple ideas like these are all a great start. Start a list of options you want to try and then work through it. In no time you will start to expand your options and turn a bad into into a better one :-).

Just don’t try to do it all at once. A change every day is plenty because it adds up quickly. You might simply be having a stressful week so relaxing in your favourite coffee shop or visiting your favourite restaurant to wind down and get away from it all might be what you need.

Discovering how to do it all is about learning, exploring and finding out more about yourself and life. You can use the list of activities you want in your life and the list of activities you have in your life to help you build a list of steps to get from where you are to where you want to be.

Getting things done is about continual growth so the aim is to make you stronger and more able to overcome challenges. Eventually each challenge becomes manageable either because you can do more or because you break the challenge down into easier steps.

Create is all the things you try out and the experience you gain in adding improvements in:

places to play: new parks, museums, music and sport venues,
new recipes and food and drink options, whether it’s restaurants and eating out or eating in
health:
- movement (step quality and quantity),
- recovery(practicing active recovery),
- eating (trying new foods, balancing your diet and better nutrition)
effort and time required
- make effortless roast vegetables in advance
costs
- Can you make stock for free from takeaway leftovers?
Self knowledge: read about your body and learn how you work
- easy ways to prevent
  - Obesity: What you can do
  - Weight loss: How to lose weight
  - Cancer: Battling Cancer through exercise
  - Insulin Resistance: Can you reverse insulin resistance
  - Dementia and Alzheimers: Mental Activity may circumvent dementia
  - Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) Can you manage Coronary Heart Disease through physical activity?
  - Diabetes: Tackling Diabetes through exercise

Get your family stronger through adventures >

Who I am

Hi, I’m Colin and I’ve spent my life learning how to achieve maximal health while living the life I want to live. That means combining happiness and health and I call it Fit2Thrive.

I find that everything is easier with play including weightloss and improving your fitness and overall health. Join me on my journey exploring the funnest health adventures I can find.

How do I keep up to date?

If you want to know more click one of the “get your invitation” links on this page or sign up in the subscription box to get each of my adventures delivered to your inbox plus all the goodies I send out to my regular subscribers.

Now go start your adventure and take a step!!!