My Nine Month Fitness Update

Well here’s a shocker to probably most of my P.E. teachers, it’s been 9 months since I started regularly working out and guess what? I’m still doing it! How wild is that? Well the last time I updated the blog sphere I was only one month in so it’s safe to say a lot has changed since then.

So let’s do a little side by side of the improvements I was noticing a month in and see if I’m still keeping at them.

My sleep schedule. I would say the main reason I’m still holding up to this is because I have to be, not because I want to be. I’m usually going to bed around 10:30/11pm and falling asleep before midnight. With my schedule/commute I have my alarm going off at 7:45am, during the weekdays which is still tough for me to do, but now it’s actually possible! While I’m still not a morning person, waking up that early gives me just enough time to dramatically get out of bed, use the potty, weigh myself, drink some coffee to function, make breakfast, eat said breakfast, get dressed (usually in my workout gear because it’s what I live in most days), and head out the door.

I do want to acknowledge that I while I do weigh myself each morning, this is more just to see how my weight is fluctuating from day to day and not something I’m hard on myself about. For a while now its been going up and down throughout the week, which makes sense.

Truthfully the number on the scale hasn’t changed that drastically in the past few months, like a very minimal amount. I just know for my own success, it’s helpful to weigh myself on my own just to get an idea of where I’m at. I also weigh myself once a week with my trainer, on a more accurate scale than my WiiFit, and we measure my Body Fat Percentage once every 2 weeks which is what I’m trying to focus more on.

One of my favorite meals to treat myself to is the Kale Caesar Salad from Sweetgreen. I switch out the chicken for tofu and then add avocado. I’ve even replicated it at home a few times but you just can’t beat their parmesan crips.

When it comes to my meal plan I’m still making smarter choices about it than I was prior to starting my health journey, but I’m still not perfect about it either. One thing I realized was that because this is a lifestyle change and not a diet, it has to be something I can maintain. I’m still cooking most of my meals at home, my go to recipe has become this Fried Rice dish that I’ve adapted a little (added carrots and mushrooms, got rid of the parsnips) that I try to make at the beginning of the week so that I can meal prep it and reheat the leftovers as either lunch or dinner throughout the week. I have gone back to a bit of a snacking habit but I’m portioning it way better than I have in the past because I’m not relying on the snack to fill me, it’s more because I’m craving the taste. Also still drinking a ton of water and having to pee all the time. I got a new Hydro Flask that is 32 oz and I legit go through the entire thing in a training session. I’ve also started trying new mixes for my water like Liquid IV and PUMP from Aluani Nu to help me through workouts since I’ve noticed with my cardio I’ve been starting to feel a little less inclined to finish the full 20 minutes. I’ve really only just started them though so I couldn’t tell you how much they’re really helping with this.

Money wise I’m spending less on food but stocking up on workout gear. When I first started working out I wanted to try a few different brands of leggings to see which ones I liked best. I got a pair from GymShark, Fabletics, and Lululemon (from their outlet as my reward to myself once I hit my weight goal).

My favorite of the brands is definitely Fabletics, and I wear them honestly every day. I really like their leggings for both the comfort factor, the fact that have ones with external pockets that fit your phone, and the price point.

Fun Fact: the first incline I had that I’d gone down a pant size was because I realized my pants were slipping down when I was boxing with my trainer and because I had my gloves on I couldn’t just pull them back up.

I also tried their sports bras recently and they’ve quickly become a favorite of mine as well. Their Oasis style in leggings and Mila style in sports bras are my go to’s in case you are interested. They also drop new styles each month. If you plan on buying a pair I’d recommend signing up for a membership (I think it’s technically $40 BUT you can skip it each month so you don’t get charged) because that’s how you get the discounted prices automatically. If you haven’t signed up before you can also use my link to get two pairs of leggings for $24 . This isn’t sponsored. I just genuinely love their leggings and sports bras. I brought my roommate to their store with me because she wanted to buy new workout leggings and she is now also obsessed.

And again, I’m not perfect at this, I’ll still look at myself in the mirror at the gym while I’m stretching and start to focus in on my “problem areas” but the thing that helps me snap out of it is knowing that:

1. I have definitely made progress even though I might not be able to see it right there in the mirror, and 2. I know I’m putting in the work.

In the past it would have been easy for me to beat up myself over how I looked in a photo, but a huge reason why I don’t do that anymore is because I know I’m putting in the time, the work, and the effort and that I’m making progress. There’s days where I also reflect that I’d probably be making a little quicker of progress if I was stricter on myself with my meals, and pushed myself a little harder with cardio, but I’m also know I want this to be something I enjoy and can sustain, and I feel like I’ve hit a good stride in that.

So to wrap this up I figured I’d give some tips for success.

For starters make a schedule, and actually stick to it. Figure out how many days you’re going to go to the gym each week, and which days you’re going to go. And actually go those days, trust me I know it’s really easy and tempting to just push it until tomorrow, but you’ll probably just keep pushing it off.

If you’re doing cardio, switch it up each time you go. Right now I’m usually getting in about 20-30 minutes of cardio each time I go in and I try to switch it up between walking on the treadmill on a steep incline, medium pace on the elliptical with a medium amount of resistance and height, a “casual” row on the row machine, or my favorite, a brisk walk on the woodway. I also try to improve upon these each month or so by increasing either my speed or the height/resistance. As I’ve vented about to anyone who will hear it, my trainer is now aware that I suck at running so that’s a fun new thing I’m working on. Right now it’s just 10 minutes on the woodway switching every 30 seconds between walking and sprinting and I’m very dramatic about it.

Use an app to track yourself. I’ve taken a step back in this with tracking my food and do it more when I eat out to get an idea of my calorie intake when I’m unsure how many calories something is at a chain/restaurant. It’s helpful though in being more aware of the calories and making smarter choices with meals. The main thing I use my app for is for tracking my cardio. It helps me log what I’m doing so I know to switch it up, while also knowing how many calories I burnt.

Find what works for you. Everyone’s different. Something that might work well for me, you might think sounds awful, and vice versa. Experiment and see what’s out there. Take a hike, go swimming, play a sport, sign up for a workout class, find something that you enjoy that doesn’t make you dread the idea of fitness. I’m very fortunate that in Los Angeles there are tons of different fitness classes available. I have friends who love Trainingmate and go as often as they can. I finally took a SoulCycle class a few months ago and decided it was not for me. I just started taking boxing classes from Rumble on occasion because of how much I’ve been enjoying boxing in my training sessions. There are so many classes out there, hell I’ve done a paddle board yoga class on the middle of a lake where I spent most of the time begging not to be the one who falls in.

If you want to make a change in your life, do it for you. Put in the time, do the research, ask for help and advice, hold yourself accountable. It’ll be tough, there will be days where you contemplate quitting, but please, don’t give up on yourself. Try not to view fitness as a fix to being out of shape, as I’ve said probably too many times throughout this post, view it as a lifestyle change. Make it something achievable and something you can maintain.

A genuine fear of mine right now is that I won’t be able to maintain the fitness schedule I have right now that’s been working really well for me, because I know in the past how quickly I’ve gained back weight when I was no longer following my plan. BUT I remind myself the biggest difference between then and now was the short term goal.

So I hope this rather long update was of use. Part of why I want to do these updates is for myself to be able to look back on throughout this journey and remind myself where I started but another big reason is that I hope that by sharing this that it helps motivate others to get up, get out, and get active.