Tag: fitnesslifestyle
Blogmas Day 7: Ways to relieve stress
- Exercise
- Eat healthy
- Sleep or take an nap
- Reduce your caffeine intake
- Avoid procrastination by managing your time
- Spending time with animals
- Writing/Journaling
- Take a Walk
- Spend time with Friends and Family
- Laugh
- Listen to music, sing, dance
- Get a massage or take a warm bubble bath
- Read a book
- Yoga
- Draw/Paint
- Avoid substances like alcohol etc.
Doing things you enjoy doing is a great way to relieve stress whether that is working out or relaxing with a good book, a cup of tea and a good book on the couch. Your mental health is just as important as your physical wellbeing, so take care of yourself.
Blogmas Day 6: What fitness apps do I use?
- MyFitnessPal: Especially at the beginning of my journey I would frequently use mfp to track all my meals. It’s also great to track your progress and it creates a chart/graph of your weightloss. I also get a weekly reminder to weigh in.
- Twinbody: Amazing social network for people to follow each others jouney and post status updates, pictures or videos. People are very supportive and it’s a great motivation.
- MapMyRun: As the name already says it tracks your run or walk (distance, duration,pace). I only use this app when I decide to do cardio outside which is quite rare.
- VeryFitPro: Which is the app for my fitness tracker (tracks the usual steps, heartrate etc. and is also my alarm to get up in the morning).
- VitaDock+: That’s the app that’s connected to my smart scale. It shows approximately how much bone mass you have, bodyfat percentage, BMI, progress since your last weigh in etc.. The app also sends me reminders regularly to weigh in.
- DietBet: You bet Money mostly around $30/35 that you will lose 4% of your Bodyweight in 4 weeks (there’s also different ones though). At the beginning you get a weigh in Word that you have to write down so it’s visible in your picture (once your weigh in gets approved it will notify you and also let you know what your goal weight for the bet should be) at the end of the dietbet you do the same (weigh in with a new word you will get). If you managed to reach the goal or even lose a little bit more you will split the pot with the rest of the winners. It can be a great motivation no one likes to lose money, right? Also people participating in the same bet are very supportive of eachother share recipes and tips and some hosts have giveaways and so does dietbet itself (if you’re a member). I have participated twice so far, but since I’ve been stuck on a plateau I haven’t done any more dietbets.
- Instagram: Not really a fitness/weightloss app but I document my journey there (my profile is linked, in case you want to follow me). I’m currently working on posting more often. Also a great source of motivation and inspiration for me, I follow a lot of people that are also on their weightloss journey, motivational pages or athletes.
Blogmas Day 4: The benefits of working out alone
- No distraction, you can focus 100% on yourself
- You can workout when it’s most convenient for you and don’t have to work around someone else’s busy schedule
- No long breaks between sets due to conversation
- You can tailor your workouts to your bodys needs and fitness goals
- For me my workouts are my “Me-time” (mental health) it’s a great stress relief to put on my headphones, blast my music and just kick ass.
- I personally feel more motivated working out on my own and pushing myself to the limits (I feel like my workouts are more intense by myself)
I have built my own little Home Gym so I’m very used to working out on my own. I might show you around in a different post (it’s not super fancy, the garage is not pretty…but it’s functional).
Blogmas Day 3: What I eat in a Day
I’ve been doing Intermittent Fasting (16:8) for about 2-3 Months now, so I have my first Meal at 2:00 p.m. and continue fasting at 10:00 p.m.
To break my Fast I chose to start by eating a meal that’s high in Protein.
My First meal is Chickenbreast,Spinach and little Potatoes.
About half an hour later, I have my first Protein Shake with 1 scoop of Collagen.
Around 4:30 p.m. I have a Bowl of Oatmeal which I prepare with boiling Water and 1 packet of sweet’n low
I eat my last meal around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. which is Chickenbreast and mushroms (or other vegtables) and have my second Protein Shake of the Day.
Throughout the Day I mainly drink Water (I try to drink at least a gallon a day), black or peppermint tea (1 packet of sweet’n low), about 1-2 times a week I will allow myself to have a Coca Cola Zero (Sometimes I go weeks without having any at all..).
Sometimes I sneak a teaspoon of Peanut Butter into my Day as it has become my guilty Pleasure..
During fasting periods I only drink Water and unsweetened Green Tea.
*I don’t eat potatoes every single day, probably like 2-3 times a week. Also I used to eat Rice instead of potatoes before, but I had to replace it because I developed an intolerance to Rice a few months ago.
Blogmas Day 2: What are my favorite fitness Websites?
I enjoy learning new things and educating myself about fitness related things. Like nutrition and how to best perform certain exercises or new exercises to improve certain areas of my body.
My main sources for that are http://www.bodybuilding.com (where I also get my supplements, like protein powder) and http://www.t-nation.com.
I enjoy reading their articles because they are mainly written by athletes and nutritionists, so they’re people who are not only speaking based on text book facts but also speaking from their own experience.
Blogmas Day 1: What are my goals for the next year?
- Lose the last few pounds towards my goal
- Build more muscle
- Maintain my weight once I reached my goal
- Feel 100% comfortable in my skin
- Being able to wear shorts or crop tops in public
- Add Yoga to my Workout program
- Stepping out of my comfort zone more often
How my journey began (Part 2)
When I decieded it was time for a change I asked my Brother who is a fitness trainer and bodybuilder for advice. I told him it was time for a change and that I’m absolutely serious about it, I couldn’t continue living the way I was living before. I told him I was willing to do whatever it takes to achieve my goal of losing weight and living a healthy life.
He took his time and we kinda worked on a plan or let’s say guidelines on how to change my eating habits. He taught me on what I should focus when it comes to my diet. With his help and lots of disciplin I managed to lose 17 kg (37.48 lbs) until July 2015. By that time I had also finished my apprenticeship and soon started a new Job.
Unfortunately my new Job was extremly stressful (it took me about 2 hours getting there, so I traveled 4 hours each day sometimes even longer) I felt devastated at the End of the day. I barely had any time to get to the gym and I felt way to tired to actually do so. I didn’t take the time to meal prep anymore like I used to do before. Since I was always on the run I started to gain weight back again (about 10 kg to be exact), I fell off track. I started to feel burned out soon, I was basiclaly living to work and nothing else. Anyways that job didn’t last to long (for different reasons) which I’m glad about.
Anyways sometimes when one door closes another one opens up. I had the opportunity to move to the US, which I decided to take. It’s always been my dream and I have to say I finally feel “Home” I feel as if this was one missing puzzle piece for my happiness.
Back to the Story, I was struggeling to lose the weight I gained back. I started working out regularly again and maintian my diet but no matter what I did I couldn’t lose weight. I was stuck on a plateau for pretty much the entire year 2016 which was extremely frustraiting and just recently broke through it. Actually I’m now down exactly 20 kg (44.09 lbs) since I first started my fitness journey. To finally see progress again sure is a big motivation. If things continue the way I want them to (if my metabolism plays along) I may be able to reach my goal weight by the End of 2017. But I’ve got so much more I want to reach,I will probably do a separate post about that.
Honestly looking back, falling of track has shown me how much I really want this and made me stonger and more disciplined since getting back on track was really difficult yet I never gave up.
P.S. I will try to start posting more regularly so stay tuned to read where my journey will lead me.
I will soon publish my experience with the contraceptive pill and what impact it can have with building muscle and your health in general.
How my journey began (Part 1)
My life completely changed by the End of 2014, when I came back from my vacation. After being back home I took a look at all the pictures I’ve taken during my holidays and looking at them I couldn’t recognize myself. I was shocked. That was the time I’ve reached my maximum weight of 94.1 kg (207.45 lbs) at a height of 1.63 m (5’4″). I hated what I saw on these pictures, I was unhappy and uncomfortable with myself.That was the day it klicked, the Day I decided to change my life completely.
But first let’s start with a flashback so you get to know me and my journey better…
I’ve never been very slim or skinny especially since I hit puberty, that time I started gaining weight like crazy my hormons were completely out of balance. No matter what I did I couldn’t lose weight I was putting on more and more so I went to the doctors to find out what was wrong with me. My doctor at that time didn’t really take it serious he took blood samples at least five times but never really told me what was wrong with me, since I was still underaged my Mom went to have a serious talk with him. The doctor told her I had hypothyroidism which meant my thyroid didn’t produce enough hormons which made my metabolism very slow and therefore easier to put on weight. Long story short the doctor said to my mom, this was not such a big deal since I’m very slim which means he didn’t even really look into my case. He then gave me the smallest dose possible, I still didn’t feel any better I would still put on weight, was always tired and lacking in motivation. That time I could probably sleep all day long. Anyways I don’t want to get to deep into my medical history at this point or waste to much time in the past.
I’m sure not that unblameable about putting on weight too, I have an enormous sweet tooth that’s definitely a weak point of mine. Funny in my early Childhood I couldn’t stand sweet food and candy at all.
I tried a lot of disputable diets during these years but none of them really worked, even if I lost a little weight after a cuple of days I had it all back and some more on top. In the end it just made me unhappier. So somehow I kinda gave up on it. Emotional stress always somehow affected me while struggling with my weight.
Back to 2014, the Year I finally realized it was time for a Change. As I mentioned before emotional stress always affected my weight, at that time I was in a very unhappy and unhealthy Relationship. Of course being that unhappy with myself, actually to a point of hating myself didn’t really help. The way I looked at myself at that time and before attracted the wrong people. Anyways by the End of 2014 after ending that unhealthy Relationship, I decided it was time for a Change. Actally ending that Relationship tourned out to be the best thing that could ever happen to me, because i could focus on myself and becoming happier and healthier without anyone trying to manipulate my progress.
Stay tuned for the second part of How my journey began.
Let the story begin..
I’m a 22 year old girl and spent most of my life in Germany where I was born and raised. By the End of 2014 I decided to change my lifestyle completely.
All my life I struggled with low self-esteem and self-confidence, I decided it was time to finally love myself and my body and therefore change and shape my body and mindset the way i always wanted to. First I started exercising and after a while I changed my diet completely. Due to the improvement I was making by losing weight and the things I learned about the fitness lifestyle my whole mindeset began to change.
The journey is not easy at all and takes a lot of discipline. Sometimes you may get off the track which is ok as long as you get back to it, that also happened to me, but was important to show me how serious this is for me.
Follow me on my journey to become a healthier and happier person and maybe I can inspire you or someone you know.
Everything I write about is based on my personal experience and opinion. I’m losing weight in a healthy way which takes time so be patient to see results which I probably will share from time to time.
I want to thank my older brother (who is my coach and also a bodybuilder himself) for always being such a big support in every kind of situation and always believing in me. Without him I wouldn’t be where I am today.
*On my next post I will talk about how exactly everything started and go deeper into my personal story and the reason I started this journey.
-Simone
Fitgirl in progress 