Insanity Month 2 - Start & New Goals!

I've managed to survive through Month 1 of the Insanity program, along with the following recovery week (1 week worth). The recovery week is there for you to allow your muscles to recover and get stronger through all the wear and tear you gave it through month 1. I do have to say that recovery week was still pretty intense. I did feel very exhausted after each workout video with Shaun T constantly advising that I shouldn't be feeling exhausted. But then again, my diet wasn't the best. It goes to show that the saying "you are what you eat" holds true. Whenever I went out to eat an In-N-Out cheeseburger, I felt very heavy and slow throughout the entire day. On the other hand, eating healthy leafy greens and good quality protein made me feel lighter and more energetic. I've learned that eating healthy is crucial to keeping a consistent fitness lifestyle.

When I first started exercising, my main goal was to become skinnier. I wanted to look like the girls on Instagram who posted pictures of their muscular abs, thin waists, and lean biceps. I wanted to be skinny so that I could fit better in my clothes. But I think that's not the right way to approach fitness. By going through the typical cycle of thinking that I have to exercise everyday, missing one day worth of exercise, feeling an immense amount of guilt for missing a day of exercise, and finally feeling discouraged after criticizing myself for not being consistent, I realized that my exercise routine was unhealthy. Nobody should expect themselves to exercise every single day immediately after living an exercise-free lifestyle. It'd be nice to stay consistent and exercise at least 5 days a week. But if you haven't been exercising for a while, it may be overwhelming in the beginning. One major reason why people give up on an exercise program is because they get tired. Their muscles wear out, and they don't know that they need a day's worth of rest in order to recover. Most exercise programs require a consistent 5-6 day per week exercise routine. For some, that may be too overwhelming. Going slowly to change your lifestyle is key to a long-lasting change.

As of now, my goal is just to live a healthier life. I want to be able to exercise 5 days a week, go through workout videos once a day, eat healthy, and become healthy. With exercise, a healthy diet will be craved. With a healthy diet, a healthy body will be achieved. With a healthy body, I can achieve more goals in my life. Imagine all the possibilities out there if you can have a healthy, strong body. I want to be able to hike an entire trail without stopping or feeling tired. I want to be able to mountain climb one day. I want to be able to learn how to surf one day. I want to be able to explore around the world without feeling as tired than I did before. It's not about being skinnier, or becoming more physically attractive. It's about learning more about myself, and to try and be the best version I can make of myself.

I just finished Max Interval Circuit,  and it was terrible haha! 2/3rds of the way, I did fine. The last 1/3rd was filled with rests and heavy breathing. I was terrible at it, but I still went through the entire video slowly, at my own pace. The key to a healthier exercise routine is to not get encouraged. Go at your own pace, and one day you'll breeze through that same old workout video that you couldn't even finish. I'm planning to go through the 60 day Insanity program one more time after this month. So let's see how much I improve the second time around. Wish me luck, and hope my words encouraged many of you going through the same fitness journey. Stay strong, and good luck! :)

Other People's Success is Your Happiness

Exercise was never something that I liked doing. When I was little, being the fastest was important, being the strongest was important, and being good at tag was the most important of all. But when it came to exercise to be healthy or to lose weight, I hated it! As I grew up, health was emphasized everywhere. Being in sports was what made you look cool, and PE was mandatory. Maybe it was the fact that exercise seemed mandatory that I hated it so much. It was the same feeling I got when my parents would tell me to do the dishes, to do my homework, or to do the laundry. I would do them on my own if nobody told me to, but once someone would tell me to do them, I'd feel this sudden resistance to actually do the task I was told to do. Exercise seemed like a constant nag that I became immune to hearing. But one day I got sick, and that was when I realized that health was important. I wasn't exercising to do other people a favor. It was for me.

Now, it does feel good after you finish that tough workout video. It definitely feels good when you look in the mirror and see improvement unfold in front of your eyes. But even this has a limit when it comes to keeping me stay motivated. Once I reach that nice slim body, I lose motivation and I go back to my unhealthy ways! Looking at improvements gets boring after a while sometimes. But then I found something that REALLY motivated me. It was when I saw improvement unfold amongst my friends and family.

I just finished the last exercise for Week 4 of Insanity, and I have been following the program with my dad. When we first started, he could only finish the 1st set of the warmup section. I expected this because my dad has a hard time doing any type of cardio workout. It's been a while since he actually started a good workout routine, and Insanity is a pretty difficult program. I kept urging him to follow along with me, and now he is able to finish all 3 sets of the warmup section without resting! I know that may sounds like nothing, but knowing my dad, I know this is a big improvement. He has never been the type to consistently follow a workout program till the end, but at this rate, it looks like he will finish Insanity with me. Seeing myself improve has been a big motivation, but seeing my dad improve has been a bigger motivation and inspiration in itself. Helping my family to become healthier has been my strongest push to keep going on my fitness journey. I have never been this excited about fitness ever before. :)

I really think finding a workout buddy really helps to keep a fit lifestyle. Try to find a friend or a family member to workout with you. Maybe you can make it into a game by betting who will last the longest. When you see them improve, you'll know what I mean when it helps you to keep going. :)

Week 3 of Insanity DONE!

Finally finished Week 3 of Insanity's workout calendar along with Day 1 and 2 on Week 4. I have never reached this point on the Insanity program ever. I always gave up after finishing Week 2 of Insanity because I felt my body was getting too exhausted. But I finally was able to keep it up, and now I'm not only done with Week 3, but I'm also moving along Week 4 smoothly. It's only been 3 weeks into the Insanity program, and I have to say that I am seeing results. I woke up this morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed my arms were slimmer, and my stomach seemed flatter than before. It's not perfect, but I can definitely notice a difference. I know that I won't see chiseled abs by the end of this Insanity program. A defined, muscular body is built with consistency and dedication. Diet plays a strong role in making the body of your dreams. I may be consistent with my workouts, but my diet is still in need of improvement. I'm still having a hard time cutting out those cup ramen noodles. I know how bad they are. They probably have lots of MSG, sodium, and preservatives that I don't want in my body. But I want to remind everyone that I feel taking things slow is what's important to a long lasting lifestyle change. I've tried changing my diet immediately on the spot, and it didn't last for me. I think what works best is when I slowly change my diet by replacing one food item with something healthier a day at a time.

I also want to touch up on something I learned by going through the Insanity program. There are times during the week (especially Tuesdays) where your body feels extremely exhausted and the workout videos just seem 10 times harder than before. When I say exhausted, I mean that your muscles feel tired, and they don't seem to be holding your body up in good form properly than before. This is the point when it's very difficult to continue the workout program. I find that when I'm put in this situation, I tend to feel this immense force of disappointment and discouragement. But just don't listen to what you're thinking. You might start to think that it's pointless to go on when the same workouts don't feel easier than before, but it's seriously all just in your head. Sometimes saying out loud, "I can do this!' can block out your thoughts. Change the way your head used to think into a more motivational, and encouraging thought process. It's ok if you have to go through the workout in lower modifications, or if you have to pause for a few seconds to catch your breath. You do get better regardless. I promise that you do get better! :) It might also help if you think of your daily workouts as time slots during your day. Instead of thinking "I have to workout for 40 long minutes?!", try to think "It's only 40 minutes of my day. Let's get it over with now!" Looking at my workouts as small portions of my day helps me to not get as intimidated to start. Hope this helps, and let's make our 2016 goals count!

Fitness Life & the Menstural Cycle - Listen to Your Body

As I was working out today, I realized something that might be helpful to a few women who are trying to lose weight. This post is only focused on the women menstrual cycle, so if there are a few men reading this post, please skip ahead to future posts unless you don't mind, then you're free to read this post.

Let me start off by saying that I've always had terrible cramps. When the time of the month comes around, I have the worst pain to the point where advil doesn't help at all. I've tried everything from a spoonful of molasses diluted in warm water to heat pads on my stomach. Nothing really worked. The biggest problem I had with my cramps was when I worked out. Any type of heavy, strenuous exercise caused me to hyperventilate. I don't know why, but it always happened.

With a consistent workout routine, healthy eating, and drinking lots of water, I found that the cramps are almost nonexistent at this point. I no longer have any cramps, and I no longer hyperventilate when I work out. The only problem I have now is the exhaustion. I feel heavier, dizzy, and just tired. Those workout moves seem 10 times harder than before, and I have to pause a lot more often to catch my breath. But if I compare myself to how I used to hyperventilate, this is a pretty big improvement for me. I still workout on my heaviest days, but I take things down a notch. I make sure I'm resting, taking a breather, pausing, and slowly easing back into my workouts.

Regardless of how important exercise is, I want to emphasize that you must take care of your health. Don't feel bad just because you're going slower than before. Don't feel like you have to push yourself to your limit every single time you workout. The only thing that's most important is that you found the motivation to take some time to workout today. However, if you are still feeling excruciating pain due to your cramps, it's ok to take a rest for that day. Listen to what your body wants more than what you think is best. If you're body is tired, give it a rest. If you're having a very hard time breathing while exercising, go for the lower modifications and take things slowly. As long as you're slowly improving little by little, that's all that matters. And of course, stay hydrated and drink more water than before when you're going through your menstrual cycle. Stay strong, and keep up your goals to a  better and healthier tomorrow, ladies! :)

Day ?? - Starting a New Way of Posting & Thinking

When I started my first post, and got up to Day 33, I had a pretty concrete schedule to workout, and pretty much knew what I wanted to say every day. But I got to a point where I didn't have much to say, my workouts seemed repetitive, and I just didn't think it was fun for anybody to be reading the same thing over and over again. Then life got in the way with finals, graduating from college, finding a full time job, finding a new way of making a living, etc. I never had time for exercise at all. It's been a very long time since I last posted, and I want to get back into posting about my healthy lifestyle once again. So instead of giving myself a daily deadline to post, I think it's best if I just try my best to post as much as possible about the important aspects of fitness and living a healthy lifestyle. We'll see how that goes.

While I was absent from blogging for the past few months, I did stop working out for a while. I had a new full time job after graduating from college, and I just didn't have the time to workout at all. But while talking with my coworkers, they were all worried about fitting in a workout schedule along with eating healthy. While we were all complaining about how we never have time, one of our coworkers had everything ready. She brought healthy lunch everyday, she squeezed in at least 30 minutes a day of exercise, and she seemed to be pretty good at keeping her routine. Just observing her daily routine was just enough to motivate me to start working out.

Commuting to work was a big portion of my day. It took me about 1 hour to get to work on time, and 1 hour to get back home. I worked 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. In total, I was putting 10 hours a day for my job. By the time I got home, I was exhausted, and only had time to get ready for bed to wake up early the following day so I can get to work on time. Upon realizing that I wasn't making enough to pay for rent, and I was paying a lot of gas, I decided that this job just wasn't meant for me, and I quit. Although I'd like to get a new job and earn a stable income, I'm actually not in a hurry to find one because my ultimate goal is to get into a DO school. I'd need to take some time to thoroughly study for the MCAT, and hopefully get in for fall 2017. There's no guarantee, but I do believe that I need to at least try my best, and hope for the best. If all else fails, then I can change my life goals to something that's more realistic. I like to think that our dreams and goals are never too late.

Of course, after quitting my job, I had more time to exercise. But I want to make it clear that I'm not suggesting that you quit your job for exercise. Having a stable job is important in anyone's lifestyle. It's how well you manage your time that's important. I was obviously not very good at it, so I ended up not investing as much to exercise. I do think that everything is very psychological. When we love our jobs, I think we wouldn't feel as psychologically exhausted, and we would find it easier to motivate ourselves to exercise at least 30 minutes a day. But when we dread going to work, the mental exhaustion would seem too overbearing to even think about exercise. It took me a few months after quitting to finally realize that I must continue my exercise routine.

With that being said, I did start a new workout routine a few weeks back. I remember when I said I would never do Shaun T's Insanity because I felt it was too hard, it made me feel winded and exhausted, and I just think I wasn't at the right fitness level to start. Well, a good friend of mine contacted me telling me that my fitness posts were motivating him to start his new fitness journey. He suggested that if I started doing Insanity, then he would start with me. I'm always up to workout together with others, and if it'll help them start a healthier lifestyle, I'm more than happy to help. I think what motivates me the most is knowing that I'm able to help others start something new and benefit from it, and also the fact that I'm not going to be the only one struggling through fitness. Just knowing that we're all together in this fitness journey is a pretty good motivation, which is why I think having a fitness buddy is one of the best ways to start a fitness journey.

I just finished Week 2 of Insanity, and I just finished Week 3's Fit Test yesterday. I did start Insanity about a month ago, but I ended up restarting because Christmas and New Years celebrations got in the way. No matter what gets in the way, I think it's best to just get back at it. I know some people get disappointed if they keep restarting their workout plan, but if you look at it differently, you can see that even if you're restarting, you're still improving regardless. Fitness is definitely a challenge, but once you get in the hang of your new schedule, I'm sure everything will be worth it.

Another struggle I noticed I had was getting into a healthier diet plan. I know that the healthier diet plan itself will demotivate me to workout. So I think it's important to just start whatever works best for you. If you feel that changing your diet drastically in a short period of time will scare you more than motivate you, then take things slowly. Change one food item at a time slowly. If focusing on one task at a time is better for you, then maybe not changing your diet just yet will be better for you. I realized that thinking about what to eat is the biggest de-motivator for me. So as of now, I'm not really thinking of what I eat. I'm decreasing the amount slowly, but I'm not really changing anything. Exercise is my main priority, so I'm trying to strengthen my body first before worrying about what I eat. I know there will be a lot of people who disagree, but I think it's best to go slow in order to make a life-long change to a healthier me. A healthy diet is very important, but if it'll prevent you from exercising because everything seems too overwhelming, then start exercising first, and then incorporate a healthy diet into your existing exercise program slowly.

I know this is a long post, and it was mostly me rambling, but I hope this post helps those who are going through the same struggles as I am. :)