Seeing Results - A Public Diary

A common question on here is "when do you start seeing results"? I thought it might be interesting to keep a public diary of my own fitness/results journey so that eventually people can follow along with more information than the usual "here is a photo after 4 weeks of workouts" type post.

I'm currently 6 weeks in to the most consistent period of working out that I've ever done. I will include some backstory for context as I suspect my experience is very common.

THE BACKSTORY - The Past Ten Years

I'm a woman, currently 40 years old. I've always done some form of semi-regular fitness since my early-20s, ranging from jogging to swimming, cycling and personal trainer sessions. However while I've always been moderately active over the long run, I've never been consistent week to week. Food wise I've always eaten relatively well, my greatest weakness is cheese. I don't eat a lot of fast food, sugary drinks and I am blessed to not have a sweet tooth.

My weight and measurements were stable from my mid 20s to my mid 30s: height 170cm, weight 68-70kg/154 pounds, waist 71cm/28". It never really changed much.

Then in my early 30s I met my husband

I became a stepmum

and I got a promotion at work

Over the following eight years my stress went up; relatives died, stepson worries, some bullying experienced, moved house twice, got married, and work stress went insane.

My sleep suffered, I started drinking wine most days of the week, I ate more and moved less. My work hours also increased from 7.5 hours to around 8-12 hours per day, and my commute became longer because I moved (I had previously cycled to work but the increased distance meant I had to take the train, plus helping out with school runs means I no longer had the time to ride to work).

All this resulted in a weight gain of 6kg and my waist measurement increased to around 31" from 28" (78cm up from 71cm). Which isn't a lot, but I was also constantly intermittent fasting, working out but inconsistently, and trying to cut down on drinking. The weight gain was slow but consistent and eventually my clothes no longer fit. I sew a lot of my own clothes so that was especially upsetting - to have all my hard work go to waste (or waist, haha).

Then COVID hit, and I started to work from home. At the same time work and home life stabilised, my stepson is older and more independent, and my commute time has become "me time" that I have put into working out.

NOW - 6 Weeks In

So that brings us to now. I am 6 weeks in to consistently exercising, I take 2-3 days off per week depending on the week. Every 4th week I tend to miss most workouts because of end of month requirements at work. I have also reduced my drinking to ONLY social occasions and maximum once a week, following a month of not drinking alcohol at all in Jan.

I started to feel the results around 3 weeks in, in that I was sleeping better and felt less stiff and more flexible.

Now, at the 6 week point I am starting to also SEE the results in the form of muscles taking shape under my fat, which remains thus far.

I am no longer intermittent fasting and it's such a joy to be eating normally without feeling guilty or like I have failed. In fact I'm not really watching my eating at all, though I know that to see more results and shift my fat (so I can see my muscles better) I will have to change to eating more natural food. At the moment my "diet plan" is "nothing out of a packet except bread and Hello Fresh ingredients".

When I am further along my journey I plan to post my "progress" photos from the past few years (all the same until now) as well as screenshots of my calendar showing completed workouts. Right now my photos are not showing any progress, but I can see it in the mirror when I flex haha.

Anyway, Thought this might be of interest to some of you so I will update it every time there's a noticeable change.

TLDR: I am finally seeing results after changing nothing except working out more consistently and dramatically reducing my alcohol intake.

March 9th - 2 weeks later

HI again people. An update for you today - but not a lot of positive change!

This past weekend was a long weekend in my state, and the work week prior to that was a week of meetings. Part of my role is to hold monthly meetings to check in on the progress of various contracts, there are nine of them and each meeting lasts 1.5hours. Throw in all the other regular meetings and it becomes 15-20 hours of meetings in what is supposed to be a 38 hour work week. I also receive around 150 emails a day and send around a 100. So...those weeks are always the weeks that I fall off the wagon with exercise. Because they are quite mentally exhausting, it takes longer to wind down at the end of the day and I end up going to bed later. And then of course, I don't get up early enough the next day to exercise, and on top of that I eat whatever is around the house as I am rushing from one thing to the next. Being a long weekend I also had some social drinks with friends.

So today, after about a week of no activity I am back at it today, and feeling as though I have lost so many of the gains I had made. Stiff muscles, flabby stomach, slow and sluggish. I think it's important to note to myself that this is more perception than reality...!

I did do some pretty heavy gardening for over an hour yesterday, and I've been for a couple of walks including one "rucking" walk which I enjoyed (google rucking if you're interested - it's walking with a weight in your backpack. I have only done it twice and still finding the right weight but I definitely noticed some different small muscles feeling tight the next day).

I also noticed on Saturday how horrible I felt with even a mild hangover from drinking the night before. I used to exist in that state 3-4 days a week! The less I drink, the less I seem to want to, which is one really positive change.

So, no "progress" from a visual sense, but I have come away with a new determination to really plan my meeting weeks so that they don't throw me off. It sucks to feel like I'm starting over again every four weeks!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the change in seasons, whichever hemisphere you are in!

Edited