So, if you follow me on Twitter, you may know that I started a 100-squat challenge. In this challenge I do 100 squats every day for 30 days. I decided to do this challenge because it guarantees I work out every day even if I don’t do anything else. I won’t let my emotions affect my work outs again. Here is what I did during week five:
Monday: Strength training, lifting pallets, 30 second planks 10 reps. Tuesday: 2-hour walk in the cemetery. Wednesday: 1 hour walk in my neighborhood. Strength training, 10 burpees. Thursday: 2 hours of stretching. Friday: 2-hour walk in the cemetery. 100 squats. Saturday: 100 squats, 30-minute stretching. Sunday: 100 squats. 30-minutes of Yoga. I’ve done 300 squats so far in my 30-day challenge and my entire bottom half is extremely sore! I can’t imagine how I will feel the next 27 days. I am excited to see my leg and booty transformation with this challenge!
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Excuse my face in the picture. It's my attempt at smiling while taking a picture I am not happy with. I've only been doing daily exercise for a month and haven't changed my diet so I can't expect much progress. On the bright side, there is some progress. I have lost a few inches in my waist. It's not a huge amount, but it's something. I know if I change my diet, weight loss will come easier, but maintaining the diet is extremely difficult for me to do on my own. If someone else would join me on changing our diet I feel I would more likely succeed. Now onto week four:
Monday: strength training, lifting pallets Tuesday: 30 minute bike exercise Wednesday: Strength training, pallet lifting Thursday: 30 minute bike exercise Friday: 1 hour stretching Saturday: 1 hour walk through Walmart Sunday: Strength training 30 second plank for 5 reps. 30 minute walk. I had a harder week during week four and didn't do much exercise like I had originally planned. I felt depressed that week, so I did easy stuff that I knew I could do. I was also housesitting for my mom so I was pretty lazy. I'll do my best to not let that happen in the future. More updates to come. I am pretty sure you are tired of reading the same exercises every week, but here is the thing, with my job I am limited to very little time; so I do what I can. Here is exactly what I did this week:
Monday: strength training, lifting pallets and Tricep push-ups. I went for a 30-minute walk by myself in the neighborhood. Tuesday: 10 minutes of stretching. 20 minutes walking in neighborhood with Anthony and Kaleo. 5-minute dance session at work. Wednesday: strength training, planks for 30 seconds each, and lifting pallets. 30-minute stretching session. Thursday: 1 hour of Zumba. 20-minute walk with Anthony and Kaleo. Friday: strength training lifting boxes and moving pallets. 20-minute walk with Anthony. Saturday: 30 minutes of Yogilates. (Yoga and Pilates) Sunday: 30-minute walk in neighborhood. If you guys are reading this fitness journey and wonder why almost every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I am lifting pallets, let me explain; I work as a job coach and I work at a few warehouses and they require me to help my participants lift and move pallets. I assure you I don’t just lift pallets for fun. I actually hate moving pallets, either with a pallet jack or just with my hands I absolutely hate moving pallets! They can get heavy and sometimes I get the jack stuck in the pallet. This week I really tried to incorporate a lot more stretching because I am not as flexible as I used to be, and I feel if I increase my flexibility, I will be able to do more exercises I can’t do right now. I have lost a few inches in my waist and I am pretty proud of that. Unfortunately, I have not lost any weight, but I am not going to let that stop me! I will continue this journey until December and hopefully by then I’ll have lost a few pounds, only time will tell. For next week's post, I will post my monthly update picture. Week two was similar to week one I did a lot of slow but effective workouts. My week consisted of:
Monday: 30-minute walk. Strength training lifting pallets. Tuesday: 30-minute walk in the cemetery. 30-minute walk with boyfriend in our neighborhood. Wednesday: Strength training PIIT28 workout and 30-minute walk in neighborhood. Thursday: 30-minute Pilates workout. Friday: Playing outside for 30 minutes with Kaleo. Saturday: Strength training, planks. 30-minute stretching and yoga session. Sunday: Walked around the mall for an hour. Walked in the neighborhood with Kaleo and Gaby. I did a bit more intense workouts other than just walking. I focused on more strength building even if it wasn’t my assigned day for strength training. This week my mental health seemed better than any other week where I am not doing daily exercise. I like the progress I see in my mental health. I hope it continues in these months while doing this fitness journey. My first week was difficult. I did easy workouts for a beginner, but I still felt it and the end of each day. My daily workouts were this:
Monday: Strength Training, lifting pallets. I also went for a 30 minute walk in my neighborhood. Tuesday: 30 minute walk in cemetery. Wednesday: Strength training, Tricep push-ups. 30 minutes of Pilates. Thursday: 30 minute walk in the cemetery. Friday: Strength Training, lifting pallets and boxes. 30 minutes of stretching. Saturday: 30 minute walk in the casino. Sunday: 30 minutes of stretching. Gardening, and walking in Walmart. I know, I didn't do a lot of intense workouts, but I haven't actually worked out in months. I feel it is better to start off slow because I won't feel burnt out as quickly. As I feel more comfortable with daily exercise I will intensify workouts. I am a person who struggles with my weight and body image. I refuse to wear a bikini because of hatred of my stomach. I hate wearing tight fitting clothing because I feel fat. Whatever it is, I will always find something wrong with my body. One of the reasons I decided to do this fitness journey is because I feel unhealthy and out of shape, but I also decided to do it because daily exercise helps improve mental health. I decided for the beginning of this journey I will take it slow, and gradually intensify it as needed. I chose to document this journey because I feel it will be more motivation for me. I notice eating healthy and exercising on my own I tend to fail a lot, but I feel forcing myself to write about my experiences and showing monthly progress pictures will help me to succeed. I plan on doing this journey on my blog for six months to force myself to exercise, I may do monthly updates from time to time, but this will not be a permanent feature on my blog. So now for my plan. For my first week, I will be doing daily exercise for at least 30 minutes (or more) a day. This will be different things from intense work outs to more moderate work outs. I intend to do strength training 3 times a week. These strength trainings will be part of the 30-minute daily exercise. I will not do 30 minutes of strength training until I feel comfortable enough to do so. So here is my baseline picture and weight. I currently weigh 165 pounds. My goal weight is 145 pounds, but if I don’t reach my goal in 6 months it’s not a bad thing. Next week I will talk about my work outs I did during the week and how I felt after my first week. Wish me luck everyone!
So since this is a Fitness Page, I've decided to do a piece by piece installment of my own fitness journey. I plan on posting each week (if possible) a work out plan. I will also post a monthly progress picture. I am going to do my best to get more active in the next few months. If I am lucky in this time I will lose some weight too. My goal for this installment is to not only better myself physically, but hopefully it will help with my mental health too. I've been struggling a lot lately, and hope that becoming more active will help. Studies show that daily exercise helps with anxiety and stress levels, so I am pretty hopeful that I will have a positive outcome. Stay tuned for my fitness journey.
Have you ever eaten healthy, drank plenty of water, exercised every day, and still didn’t reach weight loss goals? If you answered yes, there might be a chance you aren’t sleeping enough. Did you know, that not getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night can potentially cause you to gain weight? I didn’t know this until recently. I suffer from insomnia, so my weight constantly fluctuates. I’m sure some of you are thinking, “how can lack of sleep affect my weight?” I’m sure when you lack sleep you notice a difference in your entire body. You feel tired, hungry, sometimes you feel cranky. Well, your metabolism and fat cells feel just like you. Your metabolism starts to slow down, and you are likely to notice weight gain. Sleep deprivation make you crave different food. This may sound weird, but it is true. When you lack sleep, your brain doesn’t produce the hormones that help you feel full and lose weight. When these hormones aren’t produced it is nearly impossible to lose weight. I would like to apologize to the gym junkies out there when I say this, sleep is way more important than going to the gym! So, take that nap, you deserve it! When people try to hate on you for sleeping more, tell them, you’re sleeping to achieve your weight loss goals!
Motivation, something I never have when it comes to working out. Most of the time I would rather just bum around and hope that I won’t gain weight. Don’t get me wrong, I love working out it makes me feel good both inside and out. Once I start working out it’s super easy, however, the hard part is actually getting up and doing it. I am sure I am not alone in this situation. Recently, I decided to find ways to motivate myself to get in a workout every day. My first motivational tool is to write my work out into my daily planner. I am an extremely busy person so if I have some sort of plan for the day, I make sure I get everything done. So, if I literally write down, “Work out for 30 minutes” in my planner, I am more likely to get it done. After scheduling a workout in a planner, it might help if you plan your outfit for your workout. Me, personally, I don’t usually plan outfits for anything, but maybe doing this will help motivate me because it is a visual representation of something that needs to be done. I have said it before, another huge motivational tool is finding a friend to exercise with you. Recently, my friend Gabriela and I have decided to go for walks in our free time. Not only do I get in some exercise, but I get some much needed girl time with my good friend. My brother-in-law has also invited me to go to the Gym with him when he is off, and when I have some free time during the day. Having these two people willing to work with me makes me feel a little more at ease than I normally would. Something I have used in the past and it has always worked for me is music! As I have mentioned before, I am a licensed Zumba Instructor and a lover of dancing, so music is my life! Creating playlists for different types of work outs is so much fun and listening while exercising will keep you going. My final motivational tip is to change your view on why you are working out. Avoid working out for vanity purposes. I know for me, when I would work out because I was “fat” not seeing results right away would lower my self-esteem then I would just give up. I feel once you change your mindset from vanity to overall health you will have better luck finding motivation for workouts. I hope these tips help some of you get the motivation to work out. Remember, not everybody is a fitness guru, we all need to start somewhere and not give up.
When you think of fitness what do you think of? Exercise, healthy food, weight loss? Do you think of stretching? Did you know that stretching is almost as important as exercise and eating healthy food when it comes to being physically fit? If you didn’t, don’t worry you’re not alone. A lot of people are unaware of how important stretching is for the body. It’s best to stretch before and after a workout. Stretching helps increase flexibility and it keeps your muscles strong and healthy. Stretching regularly keeps your muscles long, lean, and flexible. If you work stationary all day your hamstrings will tighten up. Being a writer, and a cashier, I’m usually stationary all day, the most movement I get is turning around and scanning what people left in their basket. By the end of the day my body feels tight. Not only is stretching good for you physically, it is also good for you mentally as well. Studies have shown that stretching is good for mental health. Stretching allows you to recharge and allows blood to flow throughout the body. This can result in a calmer mindset. I need to get into the habit of stretching every day. I used to stretch everyday back when I taught Zumba regularly. Looking back, I was a lot more flexible and I seemed a lot happier. But I let college and work become my excuse for not stretching daily. My goal for the rest of the year is to increase my flexibility so that way I can be healthier.
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DreaAlways remember to love yourself. Archives
June 2020
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