September’s Fitness Goals Review

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My last fitness update talked about being motivated to move with a lot of exercise options being considered. It all felt like one huge flurry of activity last month. But by now the dust has settled and a rhythm is emerging.

Movement Goals:

1. Group fitness classes –

I’m really not a big believer in steady-state cardio, preferring short bouts of HIIT and strength training instead. However, exercising on your own is just no fun, I’ll admit to that 🙂

My group fitness classes get me out of the house, remind me to take care of my appearance (yes, this tends to be neglected when you become sorta hermit-ish), and is a means to socialize. So for this alone, it’s still a go, 3 times a week.

2. Fitness Blender Program –

I noticed I was skipping those workouts that were nearly an hour or more long, so I’ve since switched to a program geared for busy people with workouts that stay within the 30~40 min range.

3. 14-day power yoga class –

Went down the drain. I couldn’t access the online classes – thankfully, they’re free – and the perfectionist me just felt it was no use pursuing another program mid-month

4. Walking and swimming –

I wasn’t able to do as much because of this annoying and dangerous haze that’s already lasted for perhaps 3 weeks or so. I don’t know what’s being done about it but an otherwise sunny late afternoon can look like this:

So I haven’t been enjoying my walks as frequently as I would’ve wanted to. I hope it clears up soon! 😥
Diet Goals:

1. Plan for next day’s meals the day/night before.

I’m right on top of this especially where it matters most – on weekdays. I prep a lot of stuff the night before so I can just heat up a good meal after coming home from the gym. Whenever I have had a decent breakfast, my cravings throughout the day are almost completely arrested.

I think this one’s in the bag! 🙂

2. Intermittent fasting. (6pm to 8am).

The 6pm cut-off is still a challenge.

Dinnertime is busy, as you can imagine, and it’s even more so if it’s also the ideal time to go for a walk I’m still experimenting with earlier cooking times and mayhaps will have to move the cut-off to 6:30pm altogether. This is still a work in progress.

Breakfasts no earlier than 8am.

I’ve got this one. The only time I fail is when I forget! And this has happened only once in the past 2 weeks 🙂

So to wrap up, I’m still gonna focus on these same goals for October. My energy and appetite should even out as well and, here’s to coming out stronger and fitter on the other side 😉

Monster Appetite and Lethargy: The Downsides of Exercising?

Happy Monday peeps! I hope everyone’s off to a strong and positive start 🙂

Now let’s see … where do I start giving updates on my ‘motivated to move’ initiative for September? It’s difficult to think when you’re feeling lethargic

Quick Progress Report:

The combination of exercise type variety and group class obligation has served me well the past week. I’ve been able to stick to my goal of doing two exercise types on most days by being mindful of combining high impact with medium to low impact workouts.

Pitfalls:

1. Exercising in the mornings makes me feel lethargic throughout the rest of the day.I don’t know if my body will adjust in due time, but for now, I need my coffee and noontime siesta. Badly!
2. Meal schedule has been thrown out of whack. Because of my group fitness classes, I now eat brunch and then a heavy snack mid-afternoon. And if I’m not careful, a very late dinner too!
3. My appetite has definitely increased. I half-expected this to happen though, what with the sudden increase in activity
4. I munch the whole time. I alternate between craving sweets to salty food. I think this has much to do with the lethargy I feel the rest of the day.
5. There’s much less time for crochet 😥

So what’s the plan?

Moving for fitness is all well and good but if I am not mindful of what and how I eat, I am basically just shooting myself in the foot.

I am therefore going to focus on 2 things diet related this week:

❗ Prepare enough food the evenings prior so I can eat better (albeit warmed up food) the following day.

Leaving for the gym at 7:30 AM does not leave me enough time to prepare my own food. As well, I am usually too tired and hungry after a workout to even think of cooking. The result is that I reach for readily available junk food – refined carbs and heavily creamed/sugared coffee mostly – to fill my tank. This has to STOP! because it is only temporary relief from hunger and does not do me any favors, energy and weight -wise.

❗ 14 hours intermittent fasting.

This means no food after 6pm, and no food before 8am. This is just really disciplining myself to eat dinner earlier to facilitate better sleep, and so I can train my stomach to crave breakfast at around the same time each day.

 
And now comes the hard part – consistent application. Wish me luck you guys! 🙂

Wonderful July Achievables

Pssst! Let me tell you something highly unpopular, I love Mondays! Especially 1st Mondays of the month, they always remind me to seize the month and make sure I’ve planned for ‘achievables’. Which is a wonderful way of being productive and having fun. The best part is that by December we have a slew of gold stars to review and inspire us for the next year…

Thank you for having allowed me to ramble! 😀 And now for my goals – for July I’ve chosen my goals to be portable/flexible since we might be doing some traveling. Here they are:

Creative:

Finish my work-in-progress crochet shrug. I already have the width down pat, I’m just now working on the length since I want it to drape luxuriously over me a bit like this.

Intellectual:

I also miss reading, which took a back seat to podcasts last month. So I want to read and review at least 2 books this month.

Physical:

My body is craving some strength building exercises, and browsing videos on YouTube I’ve noticed that I’m drawn to gentle body weight exercises that also enhance balance and flexibility. It could be yoga, it could also be some type of cardi-yoga fusion. I plan to do a particular video 3 times per week, and I’ll keep myself accountable by – how else? – posting weekly reports on this sexy blog 😉

Well that’s July! And I’m pretty stoked about it 🙂

So now back at you: what are you bringing into your life in July?

Losing Weight & Crushing Homesickness

It’s the last Monday of the month sexy people. Time for a fitness review! 🙂

This month I decided to start each weekday with a power walk – how did I do on this?

Before I share my performance report, here are a few of what I have come to appreciate about this challenge:

⭐ It gives me something to look forward to in the evenings. I prep my stuff the night before and I’ve gotten so efficient that I can now make it out of the house in much less time than I used to.

⭐ It gives me the satisfaction of having done something for myself first thing in the day.

⭐ It’s my “me & nature” time, time to just let my thoughts run free without interruption, or to just feast my senses on the beauty of nature.

⭐ It’s kicked my morning cuppa caffeine, since it makes me crave only cold water.

⭐ It’s steered me away from white bread to sturdier fare to better satisfy my appetite.  (Making healthier breakfast choices was also a challenge for June).

⭐ I’ve lost some weight. Which is a relief as I discovered mid-June that I was starting to wear my homesickness around my waist & hips.

All the above have helped me immensely in overcoming my homesickness, which I’ll talk more about in a next post.

Meanwhile, I also said that I wanted to level up by trying running. Well I did give running a try, for 2 weeks to be exact, but it kinda took the fun out of it.  So I scaled back and just focused on brisk walking as it’s enough to get my heart rate up, gives me a good sweat and makes a tall glass of cold water taste like heaven! 💪

I am pleased to report that – save for one morning – I have been on target. 🎆 🎆 🎆

And the best part is that it’s worked out so well, I intend to keep this up for as long as I can. It’s no longer just a 30-day challenge for June. It has incorporated into my daily routine almost effortlessly that I feel it would be nothing short of a waste to stop 🙂

So how about you? What did you bring into your life in June, and how did it turn out?

30 Dr. Seuss Quotes That Can Change Your Life

Quotes are a lot of fun and can really help the decision-making process when referred to at the right time.  My experience is that often it’s the simplest quotes that are the most potent and memorable.  Here’s something I was really delighted to find floating about on the internet.  I couldn’t resist getting a copy for this blog 🙂

My favorites are #3 and 11.  Which one is yours?