Here is why I am writing this article: I have been struggling with my own fitness and wellness plan. In the past year, my fitness routine has been useful, until two months ago when I realize that it was not travel-proof. In those eight weeks, I have been traveling between four states, I missed the gym seven weeks out of eight because I did not know how to exercise without any gym equipments, for six weeks I stopped counting my calories – I did not know how to count the calories of the food that they gave me in conferences (I do not even know what is in fake meat!), for three weeks I suffered from lower back pains from bad sofas, chairs and beds, for two weeks I slumped into my starve-binge-purge cycle, my immunity dropped, and for a week I was down with fever, flu and cough.
In the past two weeks I have been picking myself back up again. I am reconstructing my fitness plan to tackle all of those issues.
Disclaimer: I am not a qualified health and fitness instructor, all the information I put into this entry is my sharing of my own personal fitness routine, and it is not an advice for anyone to follow, although it may serve as a guideline to others. Everyone has a body of their own, with their own lifestyle, biochemistry and mentality, thus, a health and fitness plan that works for one may not do the same for another.
NO TIME
I am a final year student with up to nineteen hours of classes to attend weekly. I run a local AIESEC chapter as Vice President of Project Management. I also have a social life. My weekly schedule involves 17 hours of classes a week, and at least 10 hours of AIESEC work.
I spend an hour a day, five times a week on a planned workout routine, and on rest days, if I feel like a good kid, I throw in a nice cardio day – maybe a jog, maybe a swim. I maximize the single hour I get on workout days by working as many muscle groups at a time – burning more calories while toning all the muscle groups, at the same time.
A lot of exercises can be done outside of the gym. It saves time, and on the long run, money. Invest on a Jillian Michaels’ fitness DVD, a yoga mat, a pair of weights, and if you’re less tight on your budget – elastic bands, a heart rate monitor, an exercise ball and/or a Bosu ball. Your gym is now right at the comfort of your own home, and you get to cut down on the time you take to travel to and from the gym.
Wake up a little bit earlier in the morning, or squeeze some time in before dinner at home.
Always find time to eat! I eat three main meals a day with snacks in between. I keep my meals simple, but I always make sure that I have enough food, diversified – with vegetables and fruits, that I am not skipping meals nor ‘bringing it forward’ to the next one, and that I always have a healthy snack handy in case I get hungry. It keeps my metabolism constantly up, and that way I know my body is functioning at its optimum, and I know it will not shut down to switch to starvation mode and start storing hard-to-burn fats.
It is great to map your workout routine and meals ahead. I plan my workout on a monthly basis and my meals on a weekly basis which I split to a three or four day plan, not just to have variety or so that I do not get bored with my food or exercise, but more importantly, I like it when I am in control.
Sometimes, when you live in a country like Malaysia, festive celebrations are all-year round. But celebrate each occassion only on its first big day, and do not make it a whole month’s celebration. Enjoy yourself, and feel good. I normally wear a form fitting, body hugging top to keep myself more self-conscious about what I am putting into my mouth as I am visiting from one open house to another.
NO MOTIVATION
There are going to be days when I will allow myself leniency about the food that I take, and maybe I will get myself a bottle of beer. I know I deserve it – the seven calories per gram of alcohol are what I have earned to enjoy occasionally, and I can burn them because I exercise on a daily basis. If you are not burning 500 Calories each day of the week and you have pounds to lose, then I shall remain the only one who deserves it.
Discipline is seldom the problem. Unless I am ill or out of town, I do not miss the gym because I actually enjoy it, and I look forward to it. I like it when I sweat, and I know my muscles are getting tone, and my body fat is being burnt. It makes me feel good, and I will return again the next day, for the same effect.
But I admit that I do get bored easily. Even a routine that works very well for me will not be appealing a month later. And if I am not attracted to what I am doing, I may be mentally inhibiting my body from performing at its best – making the results look even less appealing. Now, I work my way around this by diversifying my workout routine. This is how my month’s plan looks like:
Fitness Plan for July 2009
It does not look so boring, does it?
Besides keeping it exciting, my body does not have the chance to get too used to the routine, avoiding habituation or lazy movements. Some of the programs I am on are primarily high intensity cardio workouts for maximum fat burning, some are for core conditioning for my lower back and abs, and some are strength exercises, for muscle toning. Some takes a whole week to run through every major muscle group of the body, some takes half the week, and some covers all over within a day. I do not consider the abs as a muscle group on its own. I work out my abs as I am doing core conditioning exercises like Pilates, but in a lot of exercises I do, the abs are incorporated into the movements, and it does not need a workout on its own.
There are so many workout plans out there, and not all may be suitable for me, but I can also always be creative and add in some modifications. It gives me a sense of ownership to my effort, and I can give myself an extra pat on the back when I start seeing results. Now, I even plan for exercises on possible travelling days – I use programs that do not require gym equipments but can still help me sweat and burn to the max.
If you are struggling to stay in your workout plan, find a gym buddy, or make your fitness goal public. It is easier to stick to your plan that way because you have made a commitment not just to yourself, and you will not want to let those people down, because it will reflect just the kind of person that you are. That must be exactly how they perceive who you are, at work, in relationships, and in society.
NO KNOWLEDGE
Read. Weigh your food! Learn how to count your calories. I use Google, and not all the time I know what to search for. Three years ago, I did not know the training you do to improve your jumps is called plyometrics – I learn along the way. Search – start with the general keywords like ‘fitness’, ‘exercise, or ‘health’. Then Google every new and interesting term you come across along the way.
Get to know your active metabolism rate. Google it. This is a calculation that will tell you how much calories you need in a day for your body to function at its finest based on your daily routine – to do basic physiological tasks like keeping your heart beating or your brain working. If I am maintaining my weight, I will stick to having this much net calories a day. If I am in my last few pounds to lose, I may have a deficit of 500 Calories a day. Nothing less than this, or else the body switches to starvation mode and slows down the metabolism to conserve energy. I will know all this based on my active metabolism rate.
Keep your heart rate up while you exercise. Sweating alone does not promise you weight loss. You may be fooled into thinking that you are losing weight when you perspire, but you are really only losing body fluids which you will be gaining back the moment you thirst, and drink that bottle of water. To make your workout really count, your heart rate should be 75% – 85% of your maximum heart rate.
I will not get the body I desire if I am not meticulous about my food. Working out alone may take me close to the physical outlook I am wishing for, but if I am not careful with what I put into my mouth, it leaves me with frail health, and I will soon be back to square one. Sure, I can keep by my allocated daily calorie intake at 1,200 Calories a day with 1,200 Calories of chocolate, or, I can have a healthy diet made up of, for example:
Food Log, June 25th, 2009
Now that you have learnt your calories, do not stop there. Learn where the calories are from. Have a balanced macronutrient ratio. I keep my carbohydrate to protein to fat ratio as close to 50: 35: 15 as possible. I try to front-load my carbohydrates by taking in most of it during the first half of the day and lesser for my dinner because I am most active during the day and not so much at night.
Next, you will also want to know if your carbohydrates are low glycemic foods or otherwise. Low glycemic foods are food that breaks down and releases glucose to the blood stream in a slower manner, and more steadily, avoiding the sugar-rush, sugar-crash situation.
Practice volumetrics – choose low to medium calorie foods that are in middle to large portion to keep you satiated, instead of smaller volumes but with the same or higher calories yet leaves you still feeling ‘empty’.
Keep your sodium level low, because it makes you bloat up. Yes, it is essential to regulate body fluids and blood pressure; it plays an important role in signal transmission in the nerves and to the muscles. However, an average female like me need only 500 mg a day, but with a Chinese take-out, I can easily be taking in up to 3 g of sodium from just one meal! I try to keep my daily sodium intake at about 1,500 mg a day, just enough to replenish the supply I lose from the day’s worth of exercise.
Drink a lot of water – I drink about 80 oz a day which is about 2.4 L. It makes you run to the washroom a few more times a day, but take that as an added exercise. Water does not make you bloat; instead, it works the opposite way because it flushes out the sodium with every trip you take to the loo.
Eat more fiber! I try to take at least 25 g of fiber a day. Fiber, with water, soaks up everything in the digestive track and makes it go quickly. Way to keep a firm tummy. Besides that, fiber fills you up without a lot of calories, and keeps you feeling quite content for a longer period of time.
You will also want to know what food to avoid, not just trans fat food, but processed food too. Read your labels! I read them to check the expiry date because rotten food is bad for me, and so is processed food. Good food tastes good, too, but you will never believe me until you try it yourself. Start with, for example, skim milk instead of full cream milk; whole grains bread instead of white bread; olive oil instead of hydrogenated vegetable oil; wild rice instead of white rice; almonds for snack instead of fatty ice cream.
It is OK to be high maintenance. When eating out, do not reach for the bread basket, ask for your salad dressing to be on the side, and get your lean meat grilled or baked, instead of fried. You can save even 400-600 Calories that way, and that itself is already a meal on its own!
Know also your micronutrients, the ones you need to sustain your lifestyle. You are not on a diet – you are on a healthy eating plan. You are keeping to this lifestyle from now onwards. Therefore, you need to make sure you are not deficient of any nutrients that may jeopardize everything.
Finally, get your health check. Sometimes, your weight is telling you that you have a health problem. Sometimes, it can be hormonal. See an endocrinologist, and get help with keeping your hormones in balanced. By the way, guys, it is not just a ladies’ problem.
NO MONEY
My parents are not rich, I am a student with no side income, and no scholarship; yet I get to workout, eat well, travel to and from other states on a monthly basis from my attachment to AIESEC, and still have enough to shop for new gym clothes now and then.
Get acquainted with Microsoft Excel or any other simple software that can track your finances. Or, go old school and record it down on a log book. I have a monthly budget where I plan my expenditure based on my monthly allowance of RM750 from my parents, including rentals and bills, groceries, travels, school expenses, entertainment and household needs. If I do not travel around so much or have any social engagements, I can easily have an excess of RM100 to RM150 a month (and I deserve every single cent of it!).
It is better to invest on your health and fitness with good food and access to good exercise, than to have to foot for those expensive medical bills later on in life. Limit your spending on empty calories – these are calories with all the same energy content of other calories but without the nutritional profile such as vitamins and minerals.
I do not spend on things I do not need. I make my clothes look good, not the other way round.
So, I am now on a brand new start to fine-tune my program, when do you start? Tell me about it!
