Today, I finished my three-week workout challenge! I think that this is the first workout series that I’ve ever done all the way through. YAY!
As I prepare to start my next three-week series tomorrow, I wanted to spend some time reflecting on what I did, why I did it, and what I learned, so that this can hopefully be helpful for others who are looking for inspiration or new techniques to try.
First, this post of mine from 6 months ago explains a bit about the most recent events of my weight loss journey. Since then, I’ve made a lot of progress with getting back on track with my eating. I tried to sprinkle in physical activity here and there, but about 4 months ago, I knew that I absolutely needed to put my full focus on healthy eating first. And so day by day, I slowly got back on track with being consistent in tracking my meals and not overeating each day.
So with all of that being said, here’s an overview of what I did, divided into 4 tips:
Tip #1: Set goals that focus on building consistency with specific habits, rather than on how much weight you want to lose.
Looking back on my weight loss journey (which began in 2013), one of the most important things I’ve learned is how I personally view the connection between eating well and getting physical activity. What works for me is doing physical activity that I enjoy, and doing it because it helps to improve my mental health. When my mental health is in a good place, I’m more likely to make better eating choices and to stay consistent with tracking my food. Now that my eating habits are back where I want them to be, I decided to begin getting regular physical activity back into my routine again.
For a while, I felt like I was floundering with exercise, like I couldn’t really commit to anything. So I decided that I wanted to focus on building the habit of doing at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day. No excuses; just set aside 30 minutes each day to show up for myself.
I knew that doing physical activity would help to improve my mental health (and therefore, my eating), but I also knew that I needed some more structure to help me accomplish this.
Tip #2: Choose a duration that works for YOU.
There are some wellness challenges out there that last just 5 days, and others I’ve seen that last 5 months. When thinking about how long you want to spend on trying to build a habit, be honest with yourself about what your patterns usually are and when you’re most likely to give up.
I decided to do three weeks because I could spend the first week adjusting to my new routine; the second week would be for repeating what went well in the first week and making improvements to work out any kinks; and then the third week would be to help make the new routines and habits really stick.
Again, this wasn’t to see how much weight I could lose in three weeks. It was to set a small and manageable goal, and use that success to build up momentum (like a snowball rolling down a hill) to keep myself moving forward.
Tip #3: Choose physical activities that you enjoy doing.
One of the most common questions that I see in weight loss forums (including this one) is: Which exercises should I do if I want to lose weight?
Personally, I think the best form of exercise is whatever motivates you to move and keeps you wanting to come back and do it again.
I’m a runner, but I couldn’t use that as the basis of this challenge since the weather has been a little bit too cold here lately. So I looked through a few different workout videos, but I felt frustrated because none of them really seemed to be the right fit for me. At a certain point, though, I realized that I was beginning to use searching for workout videos as a replacement for actually working out. So, keep in mind that there’s definitely a balance with this. Don’t stick with a workout series that you truly don’t enjoy, but on the other hand, you also shouldn’t spend hours or days doing research when a big chunk of that time could have been spent doing some kind of physical activity.
I decided to do the “21 Day Fix - Real Time” workout series, for a few reasons: It’s 3 weeks long and each video is only 30 minutes, which was a perfect fit with the amount of time I’d given myself for the challenge. I liked that there was a lot of variety in the workouts, so that I wouldn’t get bored.
I also have a membership to Corepower Yoga’s streaming yoga app, so on some days, I swapped out the 21 Day Fix workouts for ones in the CPY app. I’ve really started to enjoy the Yoga Sculpt videos; it’s like combining yoga with bursts of cardio and resistance training.
Tip #4: Reflect on your journey and celebrate your victories, even the small ones!
As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t want this to be about the number on the scale. I also didn’t want it to be about the specific number of inches that I lost. Everyone is different in this regard, but for me, I knew that if I was using this time to track those two metrics going down, that pressure would always be at the front of my mind.
I wanted to keep my focus on showing up for myself every day. Move more, improve my mental health, and use that positive momentum to help myself stay on track with eating.
I figured that if I focused on improving my habits, the weight loss and inch loss would come in due time. So today, while I may not be celebrating specific weight or inch losses, here are some of the positive changes that I’ve noticed in myself.
Compared to where I was three weeks ago:
- I’m more consistent with pre-tracking my meals before I eat them.
- I eat fewer snacks each day.
- I do at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day.
- I can lift heavier weights.
- I can do more repetitions of weight-lifting exercises.
- I can hold a forearm plank for a longer amount of time.
- It takes me less time to run a mile without stopping.
- I haven’t needed to use my inhaler during workouts (I have exercised-induced asthma).
- I’m starting to get loose skin in multiple areas of my body.
- My clothes fit me a lot better.
- I’m almost able to fit into my smaller size jeans again. 3 weeks ago, I couldn’t even get them halfway up my thighs. Today, I can pull them all the way up, and hopefully I’ll be able to button them again soon!
- I feel more confident, especially when I look at myself in the mirror.
So, what’s next for me?
I’m planning to keep the ball rolling by doing another 3-week daily workout challenge. This time, I’ve created a custom schedule for myself that's a combination of strength training and yoga videos. (For anyone who’s familiar with the Beachbody On Demand app, it’s a hybrid of videos from LIIFT4 and The Work, but avoiding the leg videos since I have some knee issues). I also want to keep improving how long I can hold a plank, so I’ve set a mini goal to increase my time by 5 seconds each day. Slow and steady wins the race, right?
I hope this was helpful for any of you who have been struggling to do more physical activity, or to start doing it consistently, but you keep finding yourself giving up before you’ve really even started. I’d definitely encourage you to work on your eating habits first, though, since I truly felt that having that foundation already set in place made it a lot easier for me to build consistency with working out.
In other words: Developing an eating routine and developing a workout routine are (at least for me) two separate initiatives. If you try to do too many new things at once, you might find yourself burning out too quickly and giving up on all of your new goals because you’re too overwhelmed. But never stop believing in yourself. You’ve got this!
I’m super excited to start my new Day 1 tomorrow!
[link] [comments]
from loseit - Lose the Fat https://ift.tt/36gn70U
No comments:
Post a Comment