When life gets hectic, remember not to leave your fitness regime behind

I can’t believe it is May already. As usual, time is flying fast; Easter has already gone, summer is very close. Soon, it will be Christmas again.

I really enjoyed the sunny weather we had in the second part of April. The Cotswolds came alive with beautiful golden rapeseed flowers and deep green grass. It gave me the motivation to finally take my bike out of the shed and get back on the saddle.

For the past two years, until I won the National Chef of the Year award, I have had a strict exercise and diet routine. This

allowed me to lose over 4 stone in just over a year, and most importantly, to clear my head.

Winning the title suddenly added a massive amount of extra obligations to my schedule. My workload increased enormously. In the last 6 months, I have become busy 7 days a week, travelling around the UK and Europe.

April was full of exciting stuff: throughout the month, Food Network Poland aired my programme, ‘Kuba Winkowski – British national chef of the year,’ which was a great success.

On the back of that I was invited again to cook on a Polish national TV’s Breakfast Show.

My family and I were invited to The Craft Guild of Chefs Annual General Meeting lunch in London and to my surprise, I received an honorary membership until 2022, alongside some of the industry greatest names; I was in shock.

On top of that, I was nominated for Craft Guild Chef Awards 2019 in ‘Restaurant Chef award’ category. Wow.

With help from my sous-chef Rene and sommelier Zack we build the log cabin around my wood fired oven, so my garden ‘ultimate shed’ is well under way.

Don’t get me wrong, this is massively exciting for me and I love every minute of it, but there is one downside to all this: my life has become hectic and hard to predict.

Every week, something new pops into the calendar. I have completely lost my wellbeing routine.

I have stopped running or swimming in the mornings and lost track of what and when I am eating. On top of this, many of the occasions I attend lead to me drinking alcohol and eating rich food, and travelling also means eating junk food in airports and hotels.

On Easter Sunday, I had a revelation: I realised that I am getting tired mentally and physically; I am not fresh. I have gained weight. I need to get a grip and get back into the driving seat.

I decided to hit the nail on head straight away. The next day, the bike was out, cleaned, oiled and ready for new season. Since then, I have been swimming 3 times a week and I am back to running this week.

My meal plan is back too, as this is crucial to me. Food is my life; it is my passion, hobby and job, but at the same time it is my biggest enemy. What a paradox.

I am sure we all have moments like this in life. Too busy, too stressed, not enough time to take care of ourselves. It feels almost impossible to change, but it is possible.

I would like to wish the best of luck to all the chefs which submit their entries to this year’s National Chef of the Year challenge. The semi-finalist will be revealed later this month. I hope you can all see that the effort required to take part is well worth it. And remember: stay active!