Summary Week 38: Operation Get Fit No Excuses

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Week 38 Summary
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Week 37 Summary Operation Get Fit No Excuses

It’s now Week 37 of my fitness journey that I’ve dubbed Operation Get Fit No Excuses. This past week I’ve been dealing with sleep deprivation and battling chronic tiredness due to Epilepsy related issues. I absolutely despise when these symptoms pop up and affect my entire life on a daily basis but I have learned to be patient (most of the time) and get through as best as I can. 

I’ve managed to do some type of workout everyday, for a minimum of 30 minutes, despite my limits. Now, while I admit some days were a struggle just to get to that 30 minutes mark, I did it. I have no idea how I managed it either, but I did. 

While I do push myself to my limits sometimes and beyond, I know my body and listen to what it’s telling me. If you don’t know yourself that well, or aren’t sure how far you can push your own training, I urge you to be extremely careful. If you push too far, you might injure yourself physically and it’s a possibility that you could hurt your motivation mentally as well. If you push and something happens or you can’t reach whatever goal you set, do not allow that to discourage you from continuing a healthier lifestyle. Pushing your limits is great as long as you know when to stop. 

I have a confession now. I know I’ve written how important it is not to become obsessed with using a scale and being fixated on numbers, but that’s exactly what happened to me this past week. Since we came off vacation at the end of August, I’ve maintained a steady weight of 70 kilos (ranging 70.1 - 70.8). I’ve found myself weighing multiple times a day to ensure myself that I remained in this range, especially after eating.

Two days ago, I stepped on the scale and found that I had gained 1 kilo (which is about 2.2 pounds). I freaked out! See, I’m really good at sticking with my low carb vegetarian diet. I rarely, if ever, cheat. Well, I had eaten some ice cream and a bowl of a heavy stew with normal bread that day and think that’s where the weight came from. I returned to my normal diet and exercise regimen and now I’m back in my 70 kilos range. 

My point is that I should not have freaked out about 2 pounds. It literally could have been a matter of going poop and boom - I’m back to my preferred weight. I have been heavy for my entire life and I’ve worked so hard to lose the weight in an all natural and healthy manner, that my brain and emotions are very much connected to a number on the scale. 

When I saw that 1 kilo extra, I immediately thought ‘I’m going to be fat again’ and ‘My new clothes won’t fit now’, which were both absurd. But, when you are so conscious of and emotional about your weight, thoughts like that are like a default setting. I know they aren’t true, but the insecure, overweight me that still lives inside my head will always try to tell me negative thoughts. Any person that has struggled with weight for a long time will relate to what I’m saying. 

I have to accept that yes, I’m now much smaller and train my brain and emotions, to recognize this. I also have to back away from the scale and only use it once a day at the same time to maintain my weight. Becoming so obsessed with my weight that I actually end up standing on the scales almost every time I go in the bathroom is not good and can only end badly because we all know our weight fluctuates on a daily basis. 

So, now, with Padrone as a reminder and my support, I’m going to try and not give in to the compulsion to step on that scale more than once a day. I’ll let you know next week how I did. 

That’s all for this week. Thank you again for your encouragement and continued support. See you next week!

Week 36 Summary Operation Get Fit No Excuses

Hello and welcome to Week 36 of Operation Get Fit No Excuses! I’m late posting this week because I totally lost track of time. I’ve been working on making more videos for YouTube as well as exploring new social sites. 

Before I start, I want to let everyone that is in the path of Hurricane Florence and Typhoon Manghut know we’re thinking about you. This week has been a natural disaster nightmare around the world. 

Now, back to this week’s summary. For some reason, I have not felt especially motivated to exercise every day. Even with an almost complete lack of motivation, I have gotten up and done some type of workout every day. 

I have started making a weekly 5k outside and returning inside to finish my other daily workouts. I love trying new and different routines that I find online. It helps keep my body guessing and getting the most out of every workout plus it keeps me from getting bored. 

I have maintained my weight in the 70 kg range (70.1 to 70.9 - 154.5 to 156.3 pounds) while expanding my diet to include a few more carbs daily. I have had low blood sugar problems off and on my entire adulthood so it’s difficult to balance diet and exercise with weight loss. I’ve noticed a slight dizziness this past few weeks when I stand up to fast. Usually that means my body needs more carbs to function properly. I’ll let you know next week if adding additional complex carbs helps the problem. 

I’m working on a vegetarian recipe book that I hope to get finished and published by Christmas. It will have a variety of recipes that include Tofu, Mopur, and Seitan, which are all great meat substitutes. Last week, I mentioned I would post a simple soup recipe, so here it is: 

Veggie Soup in Tomato Sauce

2 cups of chopped mixed vegetables (for convenience, I used a frozen mixed vegetable brand that has 12 different veggies. Make sure the frozen brand doesn’t contain added salt or additives. You can use fresh if you like and whatever variety you want.)

2 cubes of beef broth

1 16 oz can of tomato sauce 

4 cups of water (may need more or less depending on the size of your pot)

Mix all together in a large pot and bring to a boil. Stir occasionally. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to minimum. Cook for 1 hour. 

I bought a medium sized round bread rosette and hollowed out the inside to use as a bowl for the soup. It was a perfect combination. 

It’s a very simple but very delicious meal! Packed with many vitamins and minerals and low calories. 

Thank you for your continued support and encouragement. Please leave any suggestions or comments below! See you next week!

Week 35 Summary of Operation Get Fit No Excuses

It’s officially September and the temperatures are definitely getting cooler. Welcome to Week 35 of Operation Get Fit No Excuses! 

As you may know, last week was our first week back from vacation and had me easing back into my daily workout routine. I didn’t exercise every day but did every other day to allow myself and my muscles to adjust to increasingly harder workouts. Now, I’m fairly confident that I am back to the level I was at before vacation. 

Yesterday, I was feeling very weak and tired so I didn’t workout during the day. I woke up and was wide awake overnight so decided to try and do a low impact mixed cardio routine. I got about 7 minutes into it when my right butt muscle started hurting. I immediately stopped the workout. I looked up stretching techniques and tried those, but none helped. I then decided to try relaxing in bed and that didn’t help either. 

After researching and reading many sites about different types of back pain, causes and cures, I decided to try a long slow walk to help stretch my muscles in a different way. I left at 7 am and did 3.24 miles at a medium pace, stopping once midway to stretch. It worked! After I got home, I stretched more and my pain was completely gone. Just to be clear, I’m not recommending this for everyone, just telling you what worked for me. 

Before you exercise, make sure that you do a small warmup first. Some people stretch before and after a workout. Do what you feel is right for you and your body. Pay special attention when stretching back and legs as you can cause yourself pain if you do it wrong. 

Next week, I’ll share a recipe with you for a quick and easy veggie soup with tofu. You can use meat instead if you wish, but it’s perfect for those brisk days and makes a great after workout meal. 

Thanks for your continued support and encouragement. If you have any comments, please feel free to leave them below!