Week 35 runs from Monday 24th August — Sunday 30th August, 2020.
I really liked the format last week so I’ll keep it for now! For more information on what, why and how I’m tracking everything, including my health & fitness goals, please click here.
The Week in Fitness & Food
8/24 – Monday. Completed 10:43.
Videos completed: MadFit 5min Warm Up, MadFit 30min Full Body Dancer Sculpt, MadFit 10min Beginner Lower Abs, MadFit 5min Cool Down
Today’s schedule was almost exactly the same as last Monday’s, except I swapped out the Cardio Abs video for the Beginner Lower Ab video I really liked last week.
Flora and I exercised together again, and I would have to say that I think today’s workout was average, but really not bad. I started off having had a very good night’s sleep, though my sleep tracker app says I woke up once during the night. I don’t recall that happening at all so I overwrote it.
To be fair, I could have gotten up much sooner but I kept on trying to put myself back to sleep after waking up at 8:25, failing, then deciding to just get up at 8:50. I don’t know if that meant I ‘overslept’ or what. I felt decently rested when I woke up at least.
The only thing I would change is that I was pretty hungry part-way through the workout. Flora really wanted to exercise early so I didn’t have time to eat beforehand, so it’s possible that I wasn’t able to exert myself as much as I could have had I eaten. However, I really went all-out for the 30min Dancer Sculpt video. I did not drop my arms during the arms part and ohmygosh it hurt like crazy. I had to pause the video to drink water and breathe for a few minutes after.
I couldn’t really do the bird-dog crunch move properly because my arms were still shaking because of that, though, and by the time the ab moves came along I was starting to get hungry. On the bright side, my arms had recovered decently by that point and my legs weren’t shaking nearly as much as they were last week.
I actually managed to do the entirety of that video and still have energy left despite being hungry (plus I managed to not drop my arms at all on the arms bit!!), so if that’s not a sign that my body is getting stronger, I don’t know what is. I’m very happy with that.
I wasn’t able to go all out for the Lower Abs video though. I did what I can, but I think I tired my body out from the intensity of the first video. That one felt like HIIT to me so it’s unsurprising that I didn’t have energy to do strength training afterwards. My bad, I should have started with the strength video (and now I understand why Chloe did that in her schedule for her Flat Belly challenge).
My weight has decreased again today, and I think it really has shown physically. Flora, Noah and I were chatting on video call last night and they joked that I only got my perfect body after my wedding, lol.
I can definitely see where they’re coming from – my physique has improved; I am slimmer. But right now, my ideal body is one that can do 10 real pushups, which I have not yet achieved. Once I’ve achieve that, I’ll decide what would constitute my perfect body next ;)
In terms of my body shape, I’m not gonna lie – I’m very happy with the changes I’m seeing. But more than that, I’m really happy with the energy that I feel from pushing my body to improve and fuelling it with yummy, healthy, satiating foods. Jacky also comments that I look so much healthier these days.
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 23:55 | 08:50 | 8hr 55min | 5hr 50min | None | Rested | 122.4lbs |
8/25 – Tuesday. Rest.
This morning I woke up with a headache. I don’t know if it’s because I drank alcohol a couple of nights ago or if it’s because I woke up 4-5x last night at varying degrees of discomfort (too hot, too cold, whatever). Either way, I figured I’d see if I could exercise in the afternoon if I was feeling better by then.
Unfortunately, afternoon rolled around, and while my headache had dulled significantly, it still seemed to put me off-balance. So I rested today. I ate well most of the day (highly satiating, low calorie-dense foods) but was craving a burger in the evening, so we got Habit Burger.
I didn’t realise that subbing my bread for Sourdough meant an additional 130 calories! Whoops. Won’t be doing that in future. It was really yummy though and I don’t regret it at all.
Weight-wise I am so far trending exactly 0.6lbs lighter than last week but I did just eat Habit Burger for dinner, so we’ll see where that ends up tomorrow. So far this week seems to be matching last week pretty evenly in terms of everything!
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 00:55 | 09:00 | 8hrs | 5hr 15min | 4-5x | Headachey but decently rested | 123.4lbs |
8/26 – Wednesday. Completed 10:56.
Videos completed: MadFit 5min Warm Up, MadFit 10min Beginner Lower Abs, MadFit Love Handle & Muffin Top Workout (1 set), MadFit Senorita Ab Workout, MadFit How Do You Sleep Ab Workout, MadFit Boy With Luv Full Body Workout, MadFit 5min Cool Down, MadFit 2000’s Dance Party Workout (afternoon)
Today was ab day, could you tell? Haha. To be honest, the lower ab video was already enough to really tire me out. I loved it, I really felt it. But man it took a lot out of me.
I tried to do the second video but was barely able to push through the first set but by that point I think I was mentally tapped out already. Plus Maddie moves so fast I can’t even begin to keep up.
I think the hardest part was that I couldn’t even do one of the moves with correct form (because I was struggling so much) before she already moved onto the next one. That was a bit discouraging. And there are no breaks!! I don’t know what I was thinking when I put this video in second to be honest.
Next time, though, I’ll just pause the video and go at my own, much slower, pace. I did still try to do as much of the 3 dance videos as possible though. They were motivating purely because the songs were fun so I wanted to do them, but I don’t really think I did very well on them either. My body had kinda given up on me by that point.
My weight didn’t drop by much so we’re no longer following last week’s trend, but that’s okay! Tomorrow I’m excited to try one of Natacha’s workout videos. I am mentally preparing myself for the need to go much more slowly and probably pause the video multiple times, but I will give it my all! Then follow it up with some dance videos because they will be fun for me to do no matter how exhausted I feel.
It may be that I still wasn’t feeling my best because I had a headache yesterday. I was also going to speak to a doctor today about some other symptoms of something I’ve been having, so it’s possible I was anxious about that and was thus distracted. I also didn’t manage to sleep early last night as I was looking into my symptoms and speaking with Annie about it.
Anyways. I can make excuses all I want, the bottom line is I didn’t go harder than last time, but I do think I went as hard as I could have at the time. In the afternoon, as I was preparing tomorrow’s workout, true to MadFit dance party fashion: I couldn’t help myself. I did another workout video. They are just so fun!! Average heart rate 147bpm for the 15min. Works for me!
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 01:30 | 09:05 | 7hr 35min | 4hr 20min | None | Decently rested | 122.6lbs |
8/27 – Thursday. Completed 14:26 (videos), completed 16:07 (walk).
Videos completed: Natacha Oceane 20min Full Body Workout, MadFit 15min Folklore Dance Workout (partial).
Videos incomplete: MadFit 2000’s Dance Party Workout, MadFit 5min Cool Down.
I wasn’t feeling that great today either. I was a little lethargic and had a very mild headache again. As such, I worked out as best I could, and then went for a walk later in the afternoon.
I had been so excited to try out Natacha’s video. It was killer, as expected. I had to pause multiple times and did consider giving up a few times. But I didn’t want to give up so I pushed myself to keep going and I’m proud I did.
There are elbows-in knee pushups built in, so I was able to count a new record: 4 with decent form! Not bad for not feeling my best. I can get in 5, but my 5th one has really poor form, and I wasn’t able to get the 5th one in during round 2.
I love Maddie’s dance party workouts, they are very motivating and fun for me, but today I just felt weak. Funnily enough, I slept okay and didn’t have a headache when I woke up, though I still felt a bit tired. I was originally going to exercise in the morning but I got hungry so ate instead, and worked out in the afternoon.
Unfortunately, I got progressively more tired as the day went on. It might be because my period is coming soon. Plus, after Natacha’s video I honestly was about done. I managed to get through the first song in her Folklore workout video and stopped there then had a late lunch before going for a walk.
The air quality has improved and it’s been much cooler lately, so I really enjoyed my walk. I wasn’t able to walk as fast as I normally would, but it was lovely to be able to go outside and get some ‘fresh air’ (as fresh as it could be under my face mask at least).
Mentally it also made me feel better that I was able to do the cardio because I was disappointed I wasn’t able to workout as hard today. I love exercising and pushing my body so it sucked that my headache meant I couldn’t go harder than last time. Still, I’m happy with what I did today.
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 00:35 | 09:05 | 8hr 25min | 4hr 45min | 1x | Decently rested | 122.4lbs |
8/28 – Friday. Completed 16:56.
Videos completed: Natacha Oceane 10min Warm Up, MadFit Toned Ballet Legs Workout, MadFit Dancer Thigh Sculpt Workout, MadFit Ariana Grande 7 Rings Workout, Pamela Reif 15min Daily Stretch.
I did these videos in 2 sets because I woke up still quite fatigued with a mild headache (though I’d slept decently well; it was a weird feeling), which seemed to dissipate as the day progressed. I ended up only being able to do the first 2 videos before feeling too tired to continue, and went to have some food instead.
In the afternoon I’d wanted to go for a walk but the air quality is back to poor, so I finished the rest of the videos I’d planned to do. It wasn’t nearly as difficult to complete this week, and I can’t tell if that’s because my muscles weren’t as fatigued given the long break between the sets, or because I’d gotten stronger. Or perhaps I had poor form.
I recorded myself exercising for the first time and it was pretty interesting to watch. I could see where my form could have been improved so I’ll definitely be recording myself more in future to check if I’m doing the movements correctly.
I’ve been feeling quite tired on/off these days despite sleeping early, though I’ve also had fairly disrupted sleep and hot flushes at random. My weight has also increased. Lol, it’s so ironic that as soon as I mentioned in my last post that I have to be careful about getting overexcited about weight loss and end up overeating and gaining weight again… the exact thing happens immediately after. Wow, me. Good job. I haven’t improved a bit, have I?
That being said… it’s possible that my recent weight gain (as well as all the other symptoms) could be attributed to the fact that I’m supposed to be starting my period any day now.
Apparently weight fluctuates a lot during your time of the month and many women retain water weight and experience weight gain due to hormonal fluctuations. I’ve been mindful not to overeat or snack too much these days but I’ve still felt bloated anyway. So perhaps this week it’s more of a PMS thing.
Or perhaps it’s a plateau thing. Time will tell! I’ll continue to be more mindful and we’ll go from there.
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 22:30 | 09:15 | 10hr 40min | 6hr 45min | 1x | Well rested | 123.4lbs |
8/29 – Saturday. Rest.
Well… whaddya know. I could barely sleep last night because I started my period in the middle of the night. In fact, I got woken up by that all too familiar sensation in my lower back and I just knew it was coming. So I hauled myself up to put in a tampon (did not want to faff around with my DivaCup) and didn’t even get any blood on my pantyliner – win.
I felt weakness in my body and those lower back pains throughout the night. I must have woken up 6-7x; my Watch registered 3x where my sleep was disrupted enough to track. My average sleeping heart rate variability was only 42ms (very low). Ugh.
Most of the pain left me by morning (ginger lemon tea seems to work wonders to ease the pain, as well as cinnamon oatmeal in the morning – salmon for lunch should also help) but I’m still feeling weak and bloated. We’re aiming to go to Costco later this afternoon – that’ll be my exercise and cardio for the day.
Weight-wise, I can now note down my median weight for the week: 123.2lbs. Honestly, I more expected this weight for last week haha. I guess I’m back to where I started? Or possibly a little lower than where I started? It’s okay, I took it a little easier on my body this week. I’ll keep going and we’ll see what happens.
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 00:05 | 09:25 | 9hr 5min | 6hr 10min | 6-7x | Weak, tired. | 123.2lbs |
8/30 – Sunday. Rest.
I was so tired this morning. Despite sleeping many hours, I could barely keep my eyes open through church. I don’t know if it’s because I ‘overslept’ or if it’s because my body needed to recover from the excessive screen-staring I’d been doing, but either way I ended up falling asleep again from 10:30am – 11:45am.
I decided to quit YouTube / Instagram / digital entertainment for a week to see how it goes (I’ll still be using Facebook Messenger and Instagram for communication purposes, but won’t be browsing the feeds anymore). It has become rather addictive to me in a bad way, and I think the amount of staring at the screen like a zombie I’ve been doing lately is negatively impacting my health too.
I know that too much screen time has given me headaches in the past and made me feel fatigued, as well as need more sleep to recover from the screen-staring. I reckon that may have happened to me recently too. I became someone who was paralysed by productivity and instead chose escapism through entertainment.
It took over too much of my life. I would watch random YouTube videos all day and then wonder where the day had gone. So, coupled with my period starting, it’s just not been the best week for me.
I’m trying to vlog the process and see how it goes. I’m hoping the decreased wasted time will result in increased productivity so I can actually edit the video and upload it.
Today, I’m glad my body caught up on much-needed sleep, though. We went to Costco today because I ended up feeling too tired and headachey yesterday (too much screen time + 1st day period is not a good combo) and felt much better after. I had enough energy to bring up groceries, unpack them, cook, wash dishes, clean and sort out the storage issue on my phone.
I’m currently blogging as I wait for my phone to finish syncing. We’ve still got a small grocery run to get to afterwards, but I was just sick of my phone telling me I’ve run out of storage etc. Trying to vlog on my iPhone means storage caps out very quickly, unsurprisingly.
Weight-wise, as well as being bloated (and a bit constipated), I realised that I’ve been drinking a lot more water this week. Usually I drink a lot of water anyway, but this week it’s gone into overdrive because I’ve had this:
This is a 32oz jar (approx 946ml) and I’d down 5-6x of these every day, sometimes more. I’m drinking a way more water than I need to, so I’m going to try to tone it down a bit moving forward.
But yes, given that I’ve been drinking up to 160-192oz (4.7-5.7L) water every day this week, plus it being the week before my period, I wouldn’t be surprised if a good amount of this weight gain is water weight. I don’t feel like I look any larger in the morning at any rate. As such, I’m not too worried!
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 23:25 10:30 | 08:30 11:45 | 10hr 20min | 6hr 10min | 1x | Tired. Decently rested. | 124lbs |
End of Week Summary
Days Exercised: 4
Pushup Count: ??
Median Weight (Tues – Sat): 123.2lbs
Weight Change (if any): +1.2lbs
Days Slept 7.5hrs+: 7
Days Slept Before Midnight: 3-4
Workout Summary
Gah! After all of the grocery runs and cooking and cleaning and being bored/distracted, I totally forgot to finish updating this post with the summary, so I’m writing this on Monday 31st August instead, whoops. The week was though – I was feeling pretty weak and tender, but after Saturday I could 100% confirm that my period was coming and that was probably causing a lot of the weakness, bloating, etc.
I did not do an end of week pushup check so I’m not sure what the updated count is, so let’s just say there was no improvement on the previous week (if anything, given how weak I’d been feeling, I imagine it would have been even worse.
Weight Summary
Well… what can I say… Haha. Not sure about the massive weight gain, to be honest. I don’t particularly think I look much heavier. I definitely look a bit puffier and more bloated. But as I wrote above on Sunday’s update, I’m attributing it to water weight for the time being.
I’ve been drinking a lot more water this week, and it was also pre-period, where hormone changes have been known to cause women to retain more water weight. I’ve felt bloated, tired, puffy and all that good stuff.
That said, I think I also haven’t been eating as well this week because we’ve run out of the majority of our veggies so we were due a major grocery shop. Also because I was about to start my period, I’ve been giving in to a lot more chocolate cravings.
I’ll go back to dieting properly in the coming week!
Diet Summary
This week I have eaten healthily I’d say maybe only 50% of the time? I tracked my calories for only 1 day, which probably wasn’t the best idea. I am pretty certain I overate almost daily this week and I allowed myself snacks and treats I usually wouldn’t eat.
But what the hey. When it’s pre-shark week, I just need to be extra gentle with myself.
Sleep Summary
I slept a lot this week, but despite sleeping a lot I didn’t feel very energetic most days. Pre-shark week, lots of rest needed apparently. Let’s see if next month follows suit.
Date | Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 8/24 | 11:55 | 08:50 | 8hr 55min | 5hr 50min | None | Rested | 122.4lbs |
| 8/25 | 00:55 | 09:00 | 8hrs | 5hr 15min | 4-5x | Headachey but decently rested | 123.4lbs |
| 8/26 | 01:30 | 09:05 | 7hr 35min | 4hr 20min | None | Decently rested | 122.6lbs |
| 8/27 | 00:35 | 09:05 | 8hr 25min | 4hr 45min | 1x | Decently rested | 122.4lbs |
| 8/28 | 22:30 | 09:15 | 10hr 40min | 6hr 45min | 1x | Well rested | 123.4lbs |
| 8/29 | 00:05 | 09:25 | 9hr 5min | 6hr 10min | 6-7x | Weak, tired. | 123.2lbs |
| 8/30 | 23:25 10:30 | 08:30 11:45 | 10hr 20min | 6hr 10min | 1x | Tired. Decently rested. | 124lbs |
Muchos love,