Week 39 runs from Monday 21st September — Sunday 27th September, 2020.
For more information on what, why and how I’m tracking everything, including my health & fitness goals, please click here. To skip to the end of week summary, please click here.
The Week in Fitness & Food
9/21 – Monday. Completed 16:44.
Video completed: Trifecta Pilates Full Length Pilates Class.
Today I woke up with a mild headache again, which was probably caused by me falling asleep with my hair wet… again. I usually shower at the end of the day even if I work out earlier because it’s so hot that I end up sweating in the afternoon again anyway, but I’m so sick of the constant headaches (pun intended). I showered at 8pm today and blow dried my hair so we’ll see tomorrow if that helped.
Anyways, coupled with some mild soreness from yesterday and general fatigue from PMS, I decided to take it easy and try out some lighter pilates so I can still exercise without going too crazy. I also hoped the slow and controlled motions within pilates would be able to help my form.
I found a bunch of pilates channels but ended up trying out this one because the instructor is licensed. I feel like the instructor was clear in her instructions and helpful with explaining where you should be positioning your body etc. Thanks to that, I realised my form did improve for certain ab exercises. I liked that there was plenty of stretching throughout the workout so I didn’t need to do a separate warm up or cool down. As intended, it didn’t push me very hard but I still got a decent workout from it and felt energised after.
Unfortunately, I also found it a little long and boring. I stopped the video half way through because I got bored, so I decided to do my weekly pushup count to give myself a change of exercise and pace before finishing it. I wouldn’t do this video again, but I will try pilates again because their movements are excellent for core training, which I still need. The instructor has other, shorter workouts too, so I may try one of those next time.
For my weight, well… it kinda doesn’t surprise me either haha. We ate a lot last night. Jacky’s increased even more than mine did. I ate my normal diet again today (oatmeal, wrap, protein bar, leftover Thai food) so I think my weight should be the same tomorrow, and start dropping back down again later this week.
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 00:10 | 08:30 | 8hr 20min | 5hrs | None | Somewhat rested | 122.4lbs |
9/22 – Tuesday. Completed 10:30.
Videos completed: Natacha Oceane 10min Warm Up, MadFit 10min Toned Arms, Natacha Oceane 10min Abs, MadFit 10min Beginner Lower Abs, MadFit 5min Cool Down.
The 10min Beginner Lower Abs video is back! But this time at the very end of the workout because I put the “easiest” at the end so I still have energy to do it. I loved today’s set.
I woke up early feeling pretty refreshed. We slept early last night and my hair was already dry from showering earlier in the evening. I was able to exercise with Flora this morning because we started early enough.
Maddie’s 10min arm workout was so intense. I was in pain – the very good kind. I would love to do it twice in a row to really push myself next time. Same with Natacha’s ab workout. It was killer but oh-so-great. I also want to do that twice in a row next time, so I’m planning to do that on Thursday.
I felt like I had more energy today even if it wasn’t at max level. I can’t believe I even managed to do one of Natacha’s ab videos haha. To be fair, I went significantly slower and did most of the easier variations, but I was focusing on getting it right, which I think is most important. That’s why I want to do it twice next time – because the first time I did it I was only able to find the right form towards the end of the 45 seconds.
Weight-wise I dropped an entire pound from the day before, which I attribute to just eating my regular diet again during the day and being mindful not to overeat.
Today I made these burrito bowls with tofu again and we had these for both lunch and dinner. I made extra portions of the tofu so that Jacky can bring some to work for lunch the next day. It’s incredibly tasty, filling and decently low calorie since I omit the sour cream and only use a little rice (I prefer it that way).
I was craving chocolate again so ate Kinder Bueno before I went to bed basically passed out on the bed at 11pm lol. If you read below’s update, you’ll know that this part is written on Wednesday so I already know how my weight changes :p but if I were to guess yesterday, I’d have guessed that it’d stay about the same anyway I think.
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 00:20 | 08:25 | 8hr 5min | 5hr 25min | None | Decently rested | 121.4lbs |
9/23 – Wednesday. Completed 16:53.
Videos completed: MadFit 10min Warm Up, MadFit 15min Leg/Butt/Thigh Workout, Madfit 20min Long & Lean Legs (half), MadFit 15min Dancer Thigh Sculpt, Madfit 15min Cool Down.
Welp. Last night I was half way through writing my update when I felt really tired, so I plopped forward on the bed to rest my eyes for a few moments before continuing to write, and next thing you know it’s morning. Looks like my body really needed the sleep. Also, know that everything after “weight-wise” of yesterday’s update was written today.
I felt more or less completely rested (in that I know I had a good night’s sleep and did not feel the need to sleep any longer) but at the same time I still feel tired. I’m going to chalk that up to PMS. I was woken up once in the middle of the night when Jacky came to bed, but I must have fallen back asleep almost immediately since my Watch didn’t register it as a disruption. I’ll still note 1x below though.
Looking at my sleeping patterns, I had more restful sleep as well as longer periods of restful sleep the night before, whereas last night, I was dipping in and out of restful sleep the entire night. That might be why I am still feeling tired despite having slept for longer. My weight remained stable if increasing a little, which was kind of expected: I’m still bloating these days and I still had cravings for sweets and chocolate. Lovely to see my PMS symptoms are still in full swing ;_;
I originally planned to workout this morning but my body was not having it, but I managed to exercise in the afternoon instead. Whew! Today’s set was intense too. I think MadFit’s 10min warm up (I substituted some of Natacha’s warm up moves during the jumping parts) and cool down videos would have been more suited for my set yesterday where I did arms and abs, so I’ll switch that up or find a different warm up video next time.
Today was leg day. I am very glad I did her 15min leg/butt/thigh workout first – that one was the most intense so having it first worked perfectly. I was really able to feel it in the right muscles today and could see my form has improved a little more. I took the first wall sit to rest because, honestly, I needed time to breathe. The second wall sit I actually did a horse stance because I didn’t want to run to a wall. It worked out well.
For the long & lean legs video, I actually only did one round before I decided I couldn’t keep going with it. My right ankle kept clicking whenever I got onto tip toes and the other moves were a bit too cardio-y for my liking today. I’m also glad
The final video I also really felt it in the right muscles. I felt it more intensely than when I’d done this video the previous times, and I can’t tell if that’s because I now have better form than before, better mind-muscle connection than before, or if it was just because I was still working the same sets of muscles and they had already been worked from the previous videos.
I’m going to go with a combination of all 3, but overall I loved actually being able to feel the burn in the right places today. I think it means my muscles have become strong enough to actually do the move properly, especially since many of the moves depend on having a strong core, which I have been training more recently.
Jacky made a delicious chickpea curry this evening and, uh, I may have overeaten. So… yeah I’m definitely not dieting properly this week haha.
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 23:15 | 08:25 | 9hr 10min | 5hr 15min | 1x | Well rested but still tired | 121.6lbs |
9/24 – Thursday. Completed 18:43.
Last night I slept surprisingly well and woke up pretty well rested, but guess who started their period and was therefore not going to do any intense exercise today? That’s right, to the surprise of absolutely no one: it was me. Actually it started last night so today was technically day 2, but I still didn’t really feel up for working out fully, so instead I did some light cardio by going for a walk. I walked to meet Jacky at the boba place half way between his workplace and our home again.
I didn’t go harder than last time but, I have to say, I am still chuffed to bits that I am now able to consider a 2.26mile walk at an average pace of 16:50/mile “light cardio.” The 2.26miles took me only 38mins, I didn’t feel out of breath at all and my average heart rate was only 111bpm.
To be fair, elevation was minimal, but even just back in January, when I first started working out again, I was exhausted from ‘jogging’ 1.94miles in 35mins (aka an 18min mile) on a treadmill. My 20-22min mile walks back then elevated my heart rate to an average of 137bpm. I’m just so happy by that improvement.
On the way back, Jacky and I stopped by our local farmer’s market and… well… we may have purchased way too many hummus dips and those ridiculously good pita chips to go with them. Those things are drowning in oil and ridiculously moreish. I overate again. Darn it. This is less of a problem of weight and more that my stomach now feels heavy from bloat and grease, and it’s making me nauseous.
Tomorrow I will want a big bowl of salad or something much lighter, I think.
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 00:00 | 08:30 | 8hr 30min | 6hr 25min | None | Decently rested | 122.0lbs |
9/25 – Friday. Rest.
Last night I must have slept poorly without remembering it because Jacky asked me with genuine concern if I didn’t sleep properly because I had large, dark circles under my eyes. Lol, thanks, hubs :p
I hadn’t felt like I didn’t sleep well or enough. I didn’t like that I slept so late, was all. But my sleep app says my sleep was disrupted multiple times, with one of them being more than a 2hr disruption?? I don’t remember that happening.
I do remember waking up a few times thinking I could feel the breeze on my head since the window was open. It had been hot the night before so Jacky had opened the window for me. But it still wasn’t cold enough to warrant me getting out of bed to close the window in the middle of the night.
My app was also showing random periods of no data throughout the night, which it’s never done before. I’m so confused. That’s why I’ve just noted a bunch of question marks below. Perhaps my app picked up on something I have no recollection of?
Still, I’m guessing I slept okay and whatever disruptions there had been were just normal sleep changes given my period. But I don’t know if what Jacky said had a placebo effect on me because I began feeling quite tired shortly after he asked (especially after I looked in the mirror and realised, yup, those dark circles were pretty visible). I decided I didn’t want to exercise after all.
I ended up running some errands, which I thought would mean a decent amount of exercise, but it turned out that only clocked up 1,600 extra steps. That said, I didn’t eat much today, though I had some instant ramen with beef potstickers and some salad for dinner, so I don’t know if that means I was still in a caloric deficit or not.
My diet has been poor this week and my weight’s been increasing but whatever. PMS needs take priority haha.
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 00:55 | 09:10 | 8hr 15min | ?? | ?? | Somewhat rested | 122.6lbs |
9/26 – Saturday. Completed 18:27.
So I woke up this morning and yet again my sleep app claimed multiple, prolonged disruptions in the middle of the night, plus a bunch of data missing at random intervals. I know I woke up once to use the bathroom, but that was about it. I checked the app for an update and lo’ and behold – there was one. I updated the app and hopefully tonight it’ll show legit data again.
Last night I was ridiculously tired so I was basically in bed by 10:30pm and asleep by 11:10pm. I slept man hours and still felt tired this morning when I woke up. Thankfully, though, I was determined to go do some cardio, so in the afternoon Jacky and I went for a walk.
I tracked my walk in 2 sections: 2.84miles was done at an average pace of 16:18/mile and a final 0.54miles was at a cooling down pace of 19:56/mile before we got back home.
I’m super happy with that – I walked harder and faster than last time and my average heart rate was still only 119bpm. Actually, I was initially a bit confused that my heart rate was still so low and our average pace was only 18-19min mile that I ended up jogging for a little bit to get my heart rate up.
Anyway, I felt much more energised afterwards, and really happy we walked for almost an hour. I’m trying to work my way up to a jog next time. For some reason, though, my watch claims that in my 3.43mile walk, I only walked 6,500 steps.
That genuinely doesn’t make sense to me because I apparently walked about the same number of steps on Thursday when I only walked half the distance. Jacky’s Fitbit said he’d walked 8,000 steps before our walk ended; I imagine I walked at least that many steps today because his legs are longer and he doesn’t need to walk extra steps to compensate.
Food-wise, we didn’t really eat dinner because we got back home and neither of us were hungry, and we had a welcome night at our church to attend over Zoom. We ended up having some golden kiwis, then afterwards I got peckish and had some popcorn, as well as ate a small portion of Coach Greg’s french toast. I’d be very surprised if my weight doesn’t decrease a little tomorrow.
My median weight for the week is in! It’s higher than last week, but we all knew that was going to happen this week anyway.
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 23:10 | 09:55 | 10hr 5min | ?? | 2x | Somewhat rested | 122.0lbs |
9/27 – Sunday. Completed 18:02.
Videos completed: MadFit 5min Warm Up, MadFit 10min Toned Arms, Natacha Oceane 10min Abs, Lilly Sabri Smaller Waist in 14 Days, MadFit 15min Stretch & Cool Down.
We went to bed shortly past midnight last night but I guess I just couldn’t sleep. There are still problems with my sleep app, which may be caused by the recent update to the app as well as my recent iOS and WatchOS update. Not sure what’s going on, but if it continues to show insufficient data I’ll try a different sleep tracker app instead.
Weight-wise I am back down a little, as expected – not by much though, but again this doesn’t really worry me since I’ll always bloat and weigh more during shark week. Not to mention I’ve been eating a lot of those delicious pita chips that are dripping in oil. Sigh. I really need to stop eating those. Thankfully we’re almost out, and we won’t be buying them again any time soon.
Today I wasn’t planning to exercise, but in the afternoon I started watching workout videos again and just really wanted to do some arms and abs. I was already tired from not sleeping too well and I was also generally not in the right mindset anyway, so today’s set was really difficult for me.
I also forgot that the 5min warm up was insufficient for the arms workout that I wanted to do so very quickly during the arms workout I discovered my wrists hurting and my elbows hurting etc. I wasn’t able to do a fraction of the pushups I’m usually able to do, but I was pleased that my form had improved significantly on the pushup hover move (not that I was able to hold it for very long but still!)
I think Natacha’s ab video was too advanced for me today. I struggled a lot and wasn’t able to do it properly. But I enjoyed Lilly’s ab video as that one was more at my exhausted state fitness level. I liked that the moves were ones I wasn’t used to doing as well, and I was able to feel the burn through most of it.
I kind of wish I took today off to rest since I think my body may have needed it, but I mentally really wanted to exercise… so… yeah. Maybe I’ll rest tomorrow.
| Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 01:00 | 08:30 | 7hr 30min | ?? | None | Somewhat rested but still tired | 121.8lbs |
End of Week Summary
Days Exercised: 6
Pushup Count:
Median Weight (Tues – Sat): 122.0lbs
Weight Change (if any): +1.4lbs
Days Slept 7.5hrs+: 7
Days Slept Before Midnight: 3-4
Workout Summary
I have not worked out this many days in a week for a long time. In fact, I’m really surprised I worked out so many days this week when it’s shark week. I’m not sure what I was thinking since I really should have taken it easier, but at the same time I am pleased that I have been determined to exercise and actually done it.
At the beginning of the week I felt much stronger, but towards the end of the week I was just tired, tired and more tired. My strength and endurance for bodyweight exercises maybe isn’t as good as it was at the start of the week, but I am happy that my cardio has improved!
I really want to go for a jog at some point if possible, but it might have to wait because we’ve got another mini heatwave happening next week unfortunately.
Weight Summary
Wellllll… lol. Diet went out the window this week so weight also increased, naturally. But that’s okay because next week is a new week.
I tend to crave junkier foods once a month and when I crave them, I’ll just let my body eat them. No point in restricting because I know that my body also craves vegetables and salads the rest of the month.
I’ve been snacking on high calorie-dense junk rather than fruit recently. We’ve kinda run out of fruit, so I need to go buy some next week for me to snack on again :)
Diet Summary
See above :p
Sleep Summary
Either I had a lot of sleep debt or I just haven’t been sleeping well due to PMS. I kept sleeping for hours and yet waking up only somewhat rested or still tired. How bizarre. Also my sleep app stopped working properly half way through the week.
It’s just been a weird week overall. I’m not very happy with this week. But next week is a new week :)
Date | Sleep Time | Wake Time | Hrs Slept | Restful Sleep | Disruptions | Awoke Feeling | Weight |
| 9/21 | 00:10 | 08:30 | 8hr 20min | 5hrs | None | Somewhat rested | 122.4lbs |
| 9/22 | 00:20 | 08:25 | 8hr 5min | 5hr 25min | None | Decently rested | 121.4lbs |
| 9/23 | 23:15 | 08:25 | 9hr 10min | 5hr 15min | 1x | Well rested but still tired | 121.6lbs |
| 9/24 | 00:00 | 08:30 | 8hr 30min | 6hr 25min | None | Decently rested | 122.0lbs |
| 9/25 | 00:55 | 09:10 | 8hr 15min | ?? | ?? | Somewhat rested | 122.6lbs |
| 9/26 | 23:10 | 09:55 | 10hr 5min | ?? | 2x | Somewhat rested | 122.0lbs |
| 9/27 | 01:00 | 8:30 | 7hr 30min | ?? | None | Somewhat rested but still tired | 121.8lbs |
Muchos love,