Week 37 runs from Monday 7th September — Sunday 13th 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

9/7 – Monday. Rest (ish).

Today was Labour Day in the US so Jacky had the day off. Because he had the day off we just lazed around and had a leisurely breakfast this morning instead of exercising. I was also feeling a little tired and sluggish, probably because it’s been so hot lately, but also because I slept late last night.

In the afternoon we decided to go to a nearby mall to walk around, be outside but not actually outside, and — more importantly — get me Cinnabon. Haha. There were loads of sales going on but I was just interested in the Cinnabon buy-one-plus-a-drink-and-get-one deal. I ate half of one and am saving the rest for another day.

I didn’t exercise today, so I took a random photo just now. The top I’m wearing looks a little large for me and the bat wings under my arms look to have shrunk significantly, both of which are perfectly fine by me haha.

To be honest, I’m very not used to not exercising two days in a row anymore, especially if one of those days is on Monday. Or maybe it’s just I’m really not used to not exercising on a Monday (I did walk a lot more than usual but it was only 6,000 steps). I feel a bit bleurgh and want to work out. It’s too late now because it’s bedtime, but I cannot wait to get back to challenging my body again tomorrow.

I’m taking that as a good sign because I’ve learned that exercise is a reward and it is a joy and pleasure to take care of my body by pushing it to grow stronger. I love working out now; I love working hard during a workout, I love the feeling of accomplishment when I’m able to do one more rep than last time, I love the challenge of keeping good form, I love how energised I feel afterwards.

I did do my weekly pushup test today though!! I did 10 elbows-out knee pushups with actual good form (Jacky was very impressed) plus 3 more where my form was getting increasingly poorer. I then did 1 elbows-in knee pushup with good form (I think?) before I collapsed. I rested for a few minutes and was able to do 5 more elbows-out knee pushups. Result!

There was no change in my weight, but that’ll probably go up tomorrow given my Cinnabon and lack of exercise heh heh.

Sleep Time	Wake Time	Hrs Slept	Restful Sleep	Disruptions	Awoke Feeling	Weight
01:25	09:25	8hrs	4hr 45min	None	Somewhat rested	122.4lbs

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Week 36 runs from Monday 31st August — Sunday 6th 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

8/31 – Monday. Completed 11:21.
Videos completed: Natacha Oceane 10min Warm Up, Natacha Oceane 20min Full Body Workout, MadFit 15min Folklore Dance Workout, MadFit Ariana Grande 7 Rings Workout, MadFit 15min Stretch & Cooldown.

Today was really cool! I managed to get through the entire workout without taking breaks outside of the ones that were built in/letting the video play til completion. I have been recording myself to watch my form and um, looks like there’s a lot to be desired at times. But for many of the movements, my form was really not bad at all.

I realised that my pushup form is actually poor. Despite how much it hurts and kills to get back up, it turns out watching my form in the mirror was one thing, but actually recording it to see how it looks is an entirely different beast. I will probably have to reset my pushup count, sigh.

I do think I was able to do one arm-in, knee pushup with good form though. Natacha’s video has them built in, so I was able to watch back the footage and see how poorly I’d been doing.

I’m really glad I added in Natacha’s 10min warm up to this set because (aside from no longer being weak from PMS) it really helped to prepare my body for her actual workout. She said in the video that she used the first movement as a workout, but she is 10 different levels of athlete above me, so my poor body definitely needed a proper warm up.

Flora was amazed I was able to keep going (to be honest, I was too) because she was really struggling, and her fitness level is typically way above mine. I also struggled hard the first time for Natacha’s video because my body was just not used to moving that way (see last week Thursday).

But today, my body was more familiar with the movements so it was a matter of stamina. Flora wasn’t feeling her best anyway so that probably made it harder. I imagine next time she does the video it will be no problem for her!

I didn’t manage to sleep well last night unfortunately. Technically there were no sleep disruptions and I suppose the restful sleep figure is great, but I had vivid dreams that kept me from sleeping soundly. I was also in bed by 00:30 but I just could not sleep.

I kept trying to figure out what it could have been because I literally did not remember drinking any coffee in the afternoon, but then I realised it must have been the 2 diet cokes I had after our Costco run, one of which I had at like 9pm. Lesson learned.

Thus, I’m even more pleased that I managed to have a really good workout today! Yay for getting stronger. My average heart rate for Natacha’s video was 148bpm, and for the two MadFit videos it was 162bpm! SO pleased with that because I think it means I am now able to go harder by maintaining that higher heart rate for a longer period of time.

I took the photo above just now. If I look healthy, it’s because I really feel it too. Yay!

Sleep Time	Wake Time	Hrs Slept	Restful Sleep	Disruptions	Awoke Feeling	Weight
01:30	09:15	7hr 45min	4hr 20min	None	Groggy but decently rested	122.8lbs

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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

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Week 34 runs from Monday 17th August — Sunday 23rd August, 2020.

Hello hello! Firstly, yes… that’s right, I’m very sorry I didn’t complete the Chloe Ting 2019 Flat Belly Challenge – but please do read the end of that post as I have a very good reason for it. It’ll also provide more insight as to how I want to be documenting my fitness journey moving forward, which is…

I’m trying out something new: weekly updates, which will include fitness in the week, sleep throughout the week, approx diet throughout the week, and a weight tracker. I’m not sure how well this format will work, so it’ll likely change as I refine it in future. But for now, tracking everything in one place should help me better understand my body and why it’s doing what it’s doing.

Obviously if there are weeks I haven’t exercised as much, then the post will be much shorter, so I may combine a couple of weeks into one heh heh heh…

So here’s how it’s going to work:
(I’ll only be explaining this one time so subsequent fitness posts will be much shorter, don’t worry. If you want to skip past the explanation and get straight to the tracking section click here. If you want to skip to the end of week summary click here.)

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