What I've Learned So Far in This Fitness Thing
Oh, fitness. I can't believe I'd ever get to blog about fitness like maybe one or two years ago because I've never been obsessed with fitness like I am now. Some years ago, I considered myself fit for doing yoga once a week BUT I ate everything and anything, drunk beer, wine etc. on a weekday and slept late and woke up early.
Now -- I actually plan my workouts for the week using Guava Pass, plan my workout outfits, count my macros, lessened my sugar intake, drink water more. I now enjoy sweating cos I think I release the salt I eat and yes, it is scientifically true that sweat is indeed fat crying.
1. Eating or a well balanced diet is the key to fitness. Working out is less than 50% of it. I initially thought that the only way to lose the unwanted weight I was gaining and that I gained it in the first place because I had been living a sedentary lifestyle. What I realized was that in the last two years, I ate more food in general, ate junk food at any time I craved for it, didn't eat enough fruits and vegetables and ignored my hormonal conditions. For this particular lesson, I thank my favorite YouTube channel, Dr. Eric Berg, who talks about insulin resistance, how to eat well and maintain weight loss.
2. Working out did give me a boost of energy and lowered my sluggishness. I admit that I did feel a lot more sluggish than last year so now that I've been working out regularly {started at everyday for 1 month then transitioned to 5x a week}, I feel like I have more energy in the mornings, I don't get sleepy in the afternoons and I can sustain the day and my mood is just better overall.
3. The more I worked out, the easier it was for me to eat well. Of course, when you've struggled to complete a boxing session or deadlifted several kilos off the ground, I kinda didn't want to ruin my progress by eating cake or rice, as opposed to always eating a LOT of RICE when I was younger after every workout.
4. I used to be scared of lifting. I didn't want to bulk up and look manly so I ran away from it. Of course, having friends who are also in fitness {whether working out or eating well}, encouraged me that lifting doesn't automatically bulk you up -- it only does when you're eating at a caloric surplus of fat and protein. At this point, I eat up to 1200 calories a day or less. Lifting have had a tremendous effect on making me stronger {I can deadlift 50 lbs, hooray!} which means I can carry our water gallon when it needs replacing LOL. I also noticed that I've lost abdominal fat faster when I lift {combined with eating healthy, avoiding sugar of course.}
5. Sugar is my enemy. Of course let me say that I can't fully avoid sugar since most fruits are also high in glycemic index but I was told by my ex OB years ago that I had PCOS but me being me, didn't ask a lot of questions and just dismissed it for a reproductive problem. What I learned about it recently that I have been experiencing gaining weight was that PCOS is a hormone problem, wherein my insulin receptors are smaller than the average human, hence, and I'm oversimplifying it, I can't properly digest sugar. This is why a lot of women who have PCOS don't lose weight as easily, some have fertility problems and some develop diabetes. I have to admit it's not an easy health problem and I don't think there are much treatments but this is my personal way of managing it for fitness purposes.
6. Hormones are just as important as working out in fitness. Going on this fitness journey made me review the state of my health, my TSH, T4, T5 {thyroid} levels, insulin receptors, manage my insulin sensitivity. This made me gauge more or less how fast I digest and process food. More importantly, I also learned that junk food is really junk because it's empty and our bodies have a hard time digesting them, so they only get stored in the body. Still, I allow myself to indulge in chips on special occasions like the Game of Thrones finale. I learned that in intermittent fasting, I can manage my leptin and ghrelin {hormones that makes one feel satiated and hungry, respectively}. That every time I'm hungry, it's basically a hormone that signals my brain to eat or to stop eating.
7. Most importantly, listen to your body. I used to think that feeling bloated after eating huge portions of carb-y food {I still eat carbs, but in small portions} was a good thing until I started eating healthily and I feel much lighter, I digest faster and sleep better. I have more energy and I don't feel sluggish as much.