After one month

Truth to be told, I was and I am still overweight.

And I was able to lose weight 3-4 times in the past while I stayed at home during the summer holiday. But once the highschool kicked in, I couldn't maintain a proper schedule and my nutrition so I ended up gaining the weight back (+ 3 kg or so in the course of 9 months).

And for a long while I thought that I can be healthy, that I am strong enough (psychically and physically speaking) to create myself a sustainable lifestyle and I just have to wait for a time when I'll be more independent.

Last autumn I went to university and I started to organize my life the way I wanted. To eat what I know it is good for me, to exercise when possible or just to walk (I am a huge fan of walking).

And I was really happy. I was really happy to get my life together and to build a foundation. I was slowly losing weight too and this was so beneficial!

On January I even started to do some workouts and feel really good. But then, on March, I had to go home as the COVID pandemic kicked in.

At home, I took again some of the bad habits and it was a mess to figure out a schedule with online lectures and seminars, how to eat, and so on. It was different because I was not alone, I'm with my family and it's really hard to manage my schedule when I have to sit longer hours at a desk, I can't leave the house (my parents do the shopping and so on) and I also crave for some unhealthy food because of the stress.

My PE teacher sent us some materials in April regarding our physical condition. I had to do some exercises, to write some results and things like that. When I did them, I felt literally miserable even though the exercises weren't hard. During the Easter holiday, I cleaned up the house and because of the activity, I actually had back pain. A huge back pain.

I was at the most miserable point of my life. Because of the lack of physical activity for a moth, I lost almost everything. My back ached a lot, I gained weight, I was kind of sleepy although I slept for like 7-8 hours a day and my flexibility was almost gone.

That was the moment when I realized that I had never had a psyhical condition as good as I thought if after a month almost everything is gone.

So I had to do something. Immediately.

Luckily I had a basic foundation of what it means to work out and build a healthy lifestyle as I had previously tried in the past. And I started to build it carefully, slow and steady.

The first two week (so after the Easter until 1st May) I concentrated on my healthy diet. I tried split the meals into 3 main meals and two snacks (in order to avoid craves, uncontrollably snacking and so on) and to be more aware of what I eat and how to combine them to get the nutrients that I needed. Also I started to exercise 10-15 minutes a day just to get my body moving, to get it accustomed with moving again (low impact exercises),

On 1st May I started to do more exercise. I started to squeeze 10-15 or even 20 throughout the day so that I could move. Probably, I did an hour a day split into 6 10 minutes sessions or 3 20 minutes sessions.

Then, as my online courses started to decrease in time I slowly added longer routines (the longest was 40 minutes). Now, I do 30-40 minutes a day, usually in the morning or before I go to sleep.

Also, I started to spend some time looking for pieces of information about a healthy diet, about superfoods and how to create a balanced diet without having to count every macro, every calorie, and so on.

And I am still doing that as nutrition is really hard at times and you know always learn something new about it. Fitness Blender is my help, I could have done half of the things I did this month without your help (and by that I mean articles, workouts, and the loving stories of this community!)

My workout routine is this one:

Monday - lower body

Tuesday - upper body

Wednesday - core

Thursday - total body

At least this the main focus and usually these four days are routines in which toning, strength training, pillates and low impact cardio are the key elements.

Friday - HIIT (Honestly, I love HIIT for the after effect)

Saturday - HIIT ( probably 20 minutes or so, but if I'm really sore after Friday I replace it with something low impact)

Sunday - rest day (usually I do some flexibility or stretching just to get my body moving as walking is not an option)

I want to add some workout for better posture 2-3 times a week but I don't know where to squeeze it throughout the week. Also, as my yard is a bit big I can play tennis too and I'll be really glad to add it as an outdoor activity, but I don't know which day. (Suggestions opened).

And now, my gains this month:

- my flexibility is back (and this is what it really makes me happy), I can even touch the floor with the whole palm!

- my back pain is gone

- I'm currently working on level 3 as a difficulty and I started at level 1-2. Also, I can manage a level 4 HIIT (I sweat like hell, but I can push through it)

- I lost 4 cm from my waist ( which it will be 1,5 inch I think)

- I lost 2kg (which it is 4.41 lb I think)

- my diet is a lot more cleaner, healthier and it gives me the energy I need (but I'm open to trying new recipes, so if you have any recommendations drop it)

I can't wait to see what June holds for me.

What I really think it made the change? The fact that I'm not concentrated on losing weight, centimeters, fitting into clothes. Those are just side effects, my aim is to create a healthy sustainable lifestyle that I can manage regarding the situation. This is what really makes the difference between my previous attempts and this one. I can enjoy every workout, every healthy meal, every choice without thinking about numbers, about a scale, about unrealistic goals. I can make a mistake and instead of having a toxic mindset I can move forward.

Thank you for all the help! Keep it up people!