CLUB100: To Be Fit Again and I Can Do This!

_{Throwback photo: The shoes I always wore when going to the gym.}

Last month, I lost 4.5 pounds by following the free workout program of Chloe Ting and ate twice a day with lettuce salad as my first meal. I am driven by the goal of getting back in shape and being fit again. With my current work and my previous study session, my weight kept on spiking up. I started from 54 kg to 59 kg, and then to 69.5 kg. It was definitely my heaviest weight.

That was when I started not posting pictures of myself online, just pure throwbacks. Even in gatherings, I didn't like to include myself in the group pictures. If my friends insist, I would place myself at the back, or not post the photos online.

_{This was taken two weeks before the board exam - I was at my heaviest weight.}

After the exam, I told myself to start working out, and so I did. I used to work out in the gym, but that was ages ago and I didn't want to start on a heavy exercise. I started from 10 minutes and slowly increase until my body can cope with an hour-long exercise or more. I also ordered dumbbells, a resistance band, and a yoga mat just to feel more pressured in exercising since I bought something. hehe

Then I stopped working out again for more than a week. I tried figuring things out what went wrong. So I watched transformation videos and weight loss journeys. I have decided then to continue and strictly follow the eating and fasting window. To help me with that, I downloaded an app that will remind me and keep my record.

With all the videos that I have watched, I learned more and more which helped me in figuring out a suitable weight loss plan for me.

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Strict intermittent fasting

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_{App's name is Fasting Tracker}

I used the 16-8 program for a beginner like me. But I sometimes fast for 17 hours and my eating window is 7 hours. My longest fasting time is 25 hours and my shortest eating window is 5 hours if I am not mistaken.

I break the fast by drinking water with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. During the eating period, I try not to eat snacks in between. One thing that I started to adapt is to eat and chew slowly.

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Eat fruits and vegetables

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_{Left: Overnight rolled oats with yogurt, almond milk, chia seeds, banana, and dried cranberries
Right: Beef with broccoli stem and crown}

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I make sure my meal has vegetables. If it's unavailable, then at least I can have one veggie meal every day. Though I am trying to lose weight, I didn't want to deprive myself. I even ate in an unlimited Samgyup restaurant and had a feast with Japanese food, as well. Hehe. My cheat day tho.

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Drink at least two liters of water

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_{Left: Apple cider vinegar that I used
Right: Drink at least 10 glasses of water}

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This is not new to me since I always drink water. I jokingly refer to myself as a camel. In the app that I downloaded, it doesn't record the intermittent fasting only, but it also has a feature where you can record the number of glasses of water I drink in a day.

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Exercise at least 40 minutes.

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_{Left: Yoga mat and one of the dumbbells that I bought
Right: My face right now, still chunky but not that the same as before}

As mentioned, I started for 10 minutes until my body remembers how it feels to be working out again. I am not a morning person, so exercising during the daytime exhausts me big time. With that, I exercise around 10:00 PM or 11:00 PM. I sometimes finish working out at past midnight.

My routine is 20 minutes of yoga, followed by 30-45 minutes of strength exercises, then 5-10 minutes of cardio. I want to build more muscles since they burn these unwanted fats faster.

I still have a long way to go. But I am seeing changes and good progress, enough for me to be more motivated and dedicated to continue what I have started.