Hey y’all! So I officially made it past a month of this physical fitness experimental transformation I’ve been on. And while it has been filled with struggles of endurance and self motivation, I’ve made it to week five with a few updates.
As of now, I’m still in the process of shredding weight while building some muscle so to do so, I mix up my workouts with outdoor runs and indoor gym training and weight lifting. And while I struggle with eating as clean as I should, I think I’m on the right path and the results are showing.
I got off to a late start this week. I did not work out at all from Friday to Tuesday and to me, that felt like a long stretch. I ate like crap this weekend, and drank on top of it too. And while I did great and worked hard the previous week, the long weekend made me feel like I waddling more than a few steps behind in my progress. I was one more beer away from a gut which is not a all a happy feeling after you’ve started to see abs poke through. However by Tuesday, I was guilty determined to take control of the situation. That afternoon I had a doctors appointment and then met up with my friend Bernice to help her move. It was the perfect opportunity to change it up with my lifting. While I usually use gym appliances to build my biceps, I used her furniture instead. Do that for a few hours and you’re tired and your arms and legs are kind of sore. But knowing that couldn’t be my only workout of the day, I headed to the gym for a late night cardio session. Tuesday night I ran 2 and a half miles, and did 100 squats. It felt good to be back.
Breakfast: Oatmeal and a banana.
Lunch: Blueberries and two chocolate chip cookies.
Dinner: My (moms) famous baked cheddar spaghetti. (about 1000 calories too, oops)
Wednesday, I changed up my path. I took my workout outdoors for some street cardio and decided I would venture downtown. (I’m kind of sad I didn’t bring my go pro because I think it would have been awesome footage, but I will next week.) This run was yet another 2.5 mile run, (unintentional) but this time my route was filled with stop lights, businessmen, students, cars and sadly a lot of homelessness. Much different from my neighborhood run to Piedmont park I had to be extra careful of my surroundings. With city running, I find you have to be more vocal and let your presence be known. People don’t always see you sneak up behind them, and it’s as dramatic to them as it is to you when you accidentally bump into them, scaring them shitless.
After my run, I headed to the gym for a leg day. I need to figure out a different routine for my legs. While my machine leg curls have been working, I’m afraid that my body is getting used to it. Any advice anyone?
Breakfast: forgot
Lunch: ….
Dinner: Nacho Totochos, grilled chicken, carrots, celery, hummus, buffalo chicken soup, and a beer. (What happens when you work at a restaurant).
Thursday was a tough one. It took me hours to motivate myself to get up for a run. I was in denial that I was actually going to do anything but after seeing a few friends snapchat stories of them working out made me suck it up and get to it. By the time I was ready, it was beaming outside so I decided to take it to the gym. I had no motivation AT ALL to do anything, so anything at this point was better than nothing. I started my workout with a mile run on the treadmill, did 100 squats, about 50 arm curls with 15-20 weights and 50 40-pound reps on the bench press. On Thursday’s I have football so I wasn’t too concerned about going so hard.
My football game was a double header and we won both games! Yay us!
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Vegetable soup with a protein shake. My shake had whey chocolate protein powder, a banana, 1/2 cup of oats, a tablespoon of peanut butter, 3/4 cup of chocolate almond milk and 1/2 cup of water.
Dinner: Beef lo mein.
Friday and Saturday and Sunday (holiday weekend)
Oops. I done fell off the wagon on this one. Did not attempt to do any real physical activities and ate really really dirty. A holiday weekend has a tendency to through people off a little. With so much going on in the city, I took time to explore. I finally made it out to the Chattahooce river. I hit up Atlanta’s night life a few times with friends and worked.
Overall, this was another week in progressing this transformation of mine. While my weight has gone up slightly due my last few days, I know that’s something I can get back under control.
Here are 4 things I learned this week.
- Change up the path sometimes.
- Allow others to motivate you. You’re not always going to want to work out, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and do it!
- Doing something is much better than nothing.
- Allow yourself to fall of the wagon every once in a while. Freedom makes it feel less of a chore but know when to hop back on.
While my weight did go up a pound and a half, I’m not too concerned about the overall picture.
APRIL IN THE A 