You're doing great, you have a routine, you stick to it, you eat fantastically, you feel amazing and then..... it ends. You get sick or you have a holiday or you just lose track because you got too busy. It happens to everyone at some points - multiple points even. And that's completely okay! It's happened to me a few times and every single time I try my hardest to get back on it right away and it's almost like nothing ever stopped me. But this last time. This time was different. I got busy, a little sick, very tired, had other things I wanted to do and basically just lacked the motivation to add a workout into my day when it was 11:30PM and all I wanted to do was sleep. This meant I did workouts about once a week for nearly 3 weeks and that made me feel terrible. Not because I felt bad but physically I felt lazy, like I lacked energy, I was sleepier and ate worse because I missed eating as much as I did when I worked out regularly. I really didn't like this so I knew I had to up my game again. And right when I was thinking this, both UFit and F45 presented opportunities to help me. So what did this teach me? 1. IT'S OKAY TO FEEL WEAK When I made the decision to get into my routine, I jumped right into UFit bootcamps, boxing, intermediate yoga and many F45 classes. I figured since prior to this bump I was very active, I could keep up and it'll come back to me to me. The truth is as much as I loved being active and not feeling so lazy again, all of those classes kicked my ass. I felt weak. So weak. Like I almost lost all my strength and stamina. It's definitely not like I wasn't able to get through a class, but it left me feeling like I was struggling to get through the hour. I wasn't expecting a miracle, but I did expect that the workouts would feel easier. It did disappoint me to realise how much I had lost during this "break period" but after just a couple of days I realised this was how it works. That's why normally I keep going, because I like taking steps forward, not back. But this wasn't me taking a step back. It was me listening to my body and resting because I needed it. So feeling weak wasn't me giving up, it was me taking care of myself and that is completely okay. When I'm ready (like I am now) I get back on track.] 2. CHANGING YOUR ROUTINE HELPS Every other time I've "fallen off track" I get back into it by doing the exact same thing I did before. Same workouts, same equipment, same space. As someone who gets bored of her workouts easily, it was never a great idea to go back to the same thing. But I guess I never really thought about changing things up. This one time that I did, I enjoyed working out way more than I ever thought I could. I already loved it because of how it made me feel, but I was now doing completely different workouts, challenging myself, meeting new people and actually didn't have to plan my workouts. It was all ready and I just had to show up. I loved it, I was way more motivated and it felt great to introduced to a new way to get stronger and take care of myself. 3. START DRESSING FOR YOUR WORKOUT If you haven't realised, I'm a huge fan of dressing as colourfully and bright as I can. I love prints and different fabrics and coordinating my workout clothes. It feels fantastic. But because I was trying something so different and I was going to be around other people AFTER taking so much time doing almost nothing, that fancy outfit did not make me feel any better. The first day I went for a class to "jump into it" Instead of actually planning an outfit that I knew could make me feel great, I just wanted something to help me breathe, feel comfortable for the workout I was going to and not make me question if I had the wrong pair of tights on. Now, let me explain - Before all this, I worked out 4-6 times a week and was so comfortable doing strength, HIIT and yoga that it doesn't matter what I wore. As long as I had a good sports bra on, I'd feel fine. Compression or lightweight tights don't matter, loose or tight shorts don't matter. But this time I needed to be comfortable and feel fine because I knew there was a good chance I would be sore and tired and I would want to be comfortable. So for F45 and bootcamp workout I picked tights with support, for yoga I had my comfiest lightweight (and somewhat loose) tights on, and for anything outdoors it was 7/8 length black tights with support all the way. But most importantly, wear the right shoes. A workout is a workout regardless of what you wear, but dressing in the right pieces actually did help me feel better and perform better - especially now when I needed it. It felt great to already be on track and know what I needed to do, but having this little bump in the road and having to start it over helped me change things and improve myself. There's more to it then the 3 points listen above, but if you need some help getting motivated to start working out again or if you want to find a way to make things feel better (especially if you get bored like me), take a step back and see what you can change or need to learn to help yourself do better.
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Depending on where we start our journey and who our motivation/inspiration is, we all tend to have different ideas of what constitutes healthy habits. When it comes to food there are so many people within the community saying completely different things – vegan, vegetarian, paleo, raw till 4, low carb, no sugar etc I can’t be someone who claims to know what to magic healthy diet is that will fix all my bad eating problems (though I am leaning towards vegan), but whatever the diet is, and whatever other people preach, I just hope they promote a healthy relationship with food before anything else. See these two photos up there. The one of the left is a piece of homemade "Ondeh-Ondeh" (made of sweet potato, tapioca flour, gula melaka and coconut shavings) and the right, MANGOES! They're both delicious sweet treats, unprocessed (that I would know of), vegan and I could easily overeat my serve of either of these in one sitting. Sure, the mangoes would be healthier option because there's gula melaka in the Ondeh-Ondeh, but that doesn't mean I should completely avoid one and feel bad if I were to have a piece. I'd eat both of these and feel exactly the same - satisfied, happy, healthy, and probably like I would want more! There would be no regret, no sadness or calorie counting, no getting upset or trying to "work it off" later on. Why? Cause unless it makes me sick, the food I eat is never a bad option, never a regret, never a failure or a lack of self control. My food is just that, food, to nourish me. There are way too many people on social media who promote the idea that “pretty girls don’t eat” or that to be a “pretty girl” you have to restrict yourself and get skinny to be pretty – apparently the idea that the smaller the better still exists. I am completely against this idea and against everyone who promotes unhealthy restriction on diets.
It’s usually coming from people who don’t know what they’re talking about – but there are the exceptions as well! I can’t blame them all – especially when they’ve been doing it themselves, were completely uneducated about healthy eating or had an idea that this is completely acceptable. And sometimes they know the truth but fast results make for more likes than a gradual healthy change would. If only we lived in a world where everyone was taught how to be healthy. I have always said, I'm no nutrition expert. But that didn't mean I wanted to listen to someone else just because they were a doctor, were confident when they spoke, had a lot of followers or were lean. And you shouldn't either. I put in my own time and effort into making sure I understand how food works, how the human body works and how it all goes together. I understood how my body reacted to foods and found the best way to eat and live. Right now there's no blanket solution (though there could be one out there somewhere) like some people claim, but at least I know how food works in my body and I made an informed decision. This is exactly what you guys should do. It’s all gotten out of hand. Calorie counting every little thing you eat, restricting carbohydrates all day long, forcing yourself to leave food on your plate, the 5-bite diet, 24/7 juicing, ruining your food so you can’t eat it. Does any of that really sound healthy to you? All girls should eat; in fact all people should eat. We know this isn’t just a problem with girls – it just seems that way but there are just as many men as there are women who struggle with diets and self image. We should stop being afraid of food and thinking that beauty is associated with a certain size or how much we decide to eat. Learn what your food is made of, learn how calories actually work and what different calories do. Did you know calories are not always equal? Yeah, shocking! Trust me, 100 calories from tomatoes and 100 calories from a steak are not equal in the same way 100 calories from strawberries and 100 calories from strawberry sorbet are not the same. Everyone is beautiful. And we need to treat ourselves that way. When you think of food, think of energy and nourishment. It’s not a set of numbers, it’s not evil or punishment. There are no cheat days or cheat meals because you shouldn’t think of yourself as doing something bad when you choose what to eat. Eat because you need to, and eat well because you love your body. I will always say, have healthy food because your body will love you for it, and have your treats (whatever you consider a treat) because you will love you for it. P.S. nana ice cream and acai bowls falls into both those categories and I eat it everyday for breakfast! Imagine getting ice cream for breakfast every single day! |
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