Managing school and a consistent workout regime is very difficult to do especially when you have an exceptionally difficult course. Today, I had a neuroanatomy class at 8:00 am and a neuroanatomy lab at 1:00 pm. Every neuroanatomy lab has a quiz that I have to study. I was going over my notes from 10:00 - 1:00, and my professor opens the door to our lab while saying, "there's no quiz today". So I spent 3 hours studying for nothing! Well, when you make poor choices and cram a whole bunch of information at once like I did, your brain feels like it took too much work, and you start to feel tired throughout the entire rest of the day. For me, psychological effort is a lot harder than physical effort. When you work your muscles and burn, you feel like you're dying at that moment, but after you finish, you're only sore for the next couple of days and it disappears. But psychological work takes longer to ease out of. When you're psychologically tired, it's very hard to get yourself to work out. You just want to rest, and everything seems too tiring to do. But I figured out that it's all just in our heads. You may think you're tired, but you're actually not. You may think that you should rest on days when you're feeling down, but it's actually better to workout more during days when you're feeling negative. Stress releases cortisol in your body, which leads to your body storing fat right in your belly. It's a defense mechanism that's supposedly made to help you escape from dangerous situations (flight or fight stimulation). So, utilize that survival instinct you have in your body, and go for a run! Exercise releases oxytocin, which is basically your happy hormone. When you go out to run, dance, swim, stretch, hike, climb, or whatever, you'll feel so much better afterwards.
So you all know that I'm on this 21 day challenge. Today is Day 18. I only have 3 more days to go! At around Day 17, I realized I was getting tired of working out, things felt repetitive, and I just had no motivation. The workouts seemed to be too tough, I felt like I wasn't getting better, and nothing seemed to be going the right way I wanted it to go. This is usually when I stop working out, and I start eating junk foods. But I decided to try and challenge myself further, and see what would happen if I kept pushing myself to include all my workouts that I always do everyday. I was feeling psychologically worn out, and I didn't feel like doing anything. I decided to put on my workout clothes just to try and get in the mood. I dragged myself to my group fitness class even though I was tired, and guess what. It was the best workout I ever had. I had so much fun at Zumba, that I didn't even know time was passing. I just felt like I was dancing all by myself with nobody around me. I sweat bullets, and I felt amazing. I came home to two packages that had my "Train like a Beast. Look like a Beauty" sweater from ogorgeous.com, and my 21 day Fix Challenge Package with a 30 day supply of Chocolate Shakeology! I felt so pumped that I decided to finish my blogilates workout strong.
So the moral of the story for today is whenever you want to quit, don't quit and keep going. You'll realize how much you've improved both psychologically and physically. If you think you're not getting the support you need to continue, buy a new workout outfit that you'd want to use for future workouts, and to stay motivated. If you feel like you're doing the same workouts over and over again, try changing things up so you don't get bored. Look for cool ways to spice up your dishes, but in a healthy way through other awesome fitness blogs, Pinterest, and Instagram! You can even get creative and make your own dish! Take a friend with you to workout to help you stay accountable. No matter what you do, stay committed and keep going. It'll all be worth it at the end, I promise.
As mentioned above, I am planning to start my 21 day Fix Challenge. I'm planning to start in the beginning of March. So for those of you who want to join me, please feel free to let me know, and we can work together towards a stronger body.
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