My Health and Fitness Routine Since Jan 2016
I made a post similar to this in October but I couldn’t edit it for some reason. So here’s the updated and more detailed version.
Winter 2016 - just calorie counting (1350 cals), lost weight from this. I has cheat days 2x a week where I’d eat pizza and fries (2000 cals)
Spring 2016 - same, but plateaued in around April. I still restricted calories like I did in the winter. Ate the same food pretty much.
Summer 2016 - calorie counting and the occasional HIIT workout. Because I was vacationing there were days I ate more calories than I set for each day. It was hard to count calories because I was in a country that doesn’t put calorie labels on food so In went by intuition. I didn’t eat perfectly. When I came back to the US I stopped counting calories and ate okay. I gained weight and wanted to put a strict plan so I can lose it.
Fall 2016 - diet eating, high protein, no bread, limited junk food, sugar free stuff, protein shakes, protein bars, and lots of peanut butter. Mostly calorie counting, some walking and hardly any at home exercising (I did a few workouts but they were low impact and basic). Occasional cheat days. This made me feel sick and very unwell in the end (pale, hair falling off, skin flare ups, very stressed, etc...).
Winter 2017 - calorie counting, some walking. Kind of similar to Fall 2016 but ate different stuff (ate bread). No real exercise, sedentary 99% of the time.
Spring 2017 - starved a lot I almost passed out in class. So I had to eat more (I went on a huge binge at the mall for a week). Calorie counting but eating more than in the winter. Rare exercise. I forced myself to eat super healthy but ended up binging because I felt pretty deprived, even if I was eating enough calories. My food was so boring.
Summer 2017 - vacationing, not strictly counting calories. Walking but little exercise beyond that. Still eating like I did in the spring - healthy mostly but did binge a lot because I felt deprived
Fall 2017 - I switched to eating less calories (1500) and went vegetarian. I binged often of course because my diet was restrictive. i did not exercise.
Winter 2018 - calorie counting, eating healthy and binged a lot because I felt deprived. I did mild strength training workouts (bodyweight, circuit style, fast and not too challenging) for 5-10 minutes a day.
Spring 2018 - same as winter but I was going through a lot of stress so I binged often (not too mention being too restrictive with my diet).
Simmer 2018 - I graduated and moved in with my family. I counted calories occasionally but did not eat very healthy (binged because I felt very deprived and unorganized). Light circuit style strength (nothing challenging).
Fall 2018 - going through some stress, didn’t count calories nor did i eat very healthy. Light resistance training. I was ready to give up because I saw no results and was dealing with a lot of stress.
Winter 2019 - stressed and unmotivated, did not eat healthy nor did i exercise. I gave up.
Spring 2019 - same
Summer 2019 - felt pretty insecure, ate low calorie and healthy but binged often because of that. I binged like crazy (especially on German chocolate). Plus I was on vacation so I had a lot of good food. Not a lot of exercise (just lots of walking).
Fall 2019 - decided to prioritize my health. Ate high fat low sugar and walked a lot. I counted calories and macros. Occasionally I did some light bodyweight resistance workouts.
Winter 2020 - incorporated more light resistance training. Ate very healthy, but ate more carbs (healthy ones). This was the time where my eating was the best it’s been in my entire life.
Spring 2020 - ate more balanced macros and ate very healthy, but did feel deprived here and there. Became discouraged because I wasn’t seeing much progress/change. Cardio and light resistance training. Of course it takes time to see changes but I didn’t think the workouts were doing anything for me because I found out later that the best way to tone up is with weights and HIIT.
Summer 2020 - ate healthy for the most part, no calorie nor macro counting. I did feel deprived to a certain extent. Scattered workout schedule - trying to figure out what works for me). I did HIIT workouts, but every now and then just to get my body used to it because I was new to it and pretty intimidated by it.
Fall 2020 - so far, eating healthy but not perfect. Far more in touch with my monthly cravings, which helps a lot. Looked into weight lifting and did a bit of that to get my body accustomed to it like I did with HIIT in the summer.
Writing this timeline really helped me with pointing out where I can improve. I can definitely do more challenging strength training workouts. 2020 was the year of practicing healthy habits (eating clean and balanced --> HIIT --> weight lifting). Now this year I want to put all those healthy habits together instead of doing one and not the other. It will take time but the effort is definitely worth it.
~HEALTH IS WEALTH~
