Back to the Basics of Fitness!


The basics of fitness!

I decided to give up! Not on trying to get fit, I am giving up on trying to change myself and my bad habits in one day because by doing so I am only setting myself up for disappointment. This past week I became disappointed early on because I had an unhealthy meal and so in my head I had already failed. As a result, I didn’t go to the gym, I didn’t work out and my diet consisted of unhealthy meals for the rest of the week. In my opinion, I feel I tried to tackle my fitness journey all at once. Instead of taking small steps, I tried to transform myself into a fitness guru in one day and failed miserably. I truly believe that if I just start with the basics, I could really succeed in my fitness journey. So now I sit back asking this question, what are the basics of fitness? Well with a few diet changes and some reconstructions to my fitness thought process I really feel that I could finally kick start my fitness journey into gear!

  • For the past two weeks I have tried desperately to rid myself of every single type of food that is unhealthy. I tried to partake in a very low fat, high protein diet but failed. I have found that the leap towards a healthy lifestyle is a lot more difficult than I thought. I find myself indulging into the unhealthy temptations, which face me daily. In order to overcome this difficult task I have decided that I should start avoiding the small things and work my way up to the bigger things. For example, I could stop drinking the daily soda I usually consume, stop eating at fast food restaurants and I could cut back on the junk food. If I could do that then eventually I could work my way up to the low fat high protein diet with ease.
  • I need to cut back my workout routine to only 3 days a week instead of five so that if for any reason I have to miss a day during the week, I will be able to without feeling disappointed that I missed out on a day. I also have to train my mind into accepting the fact that it is okay to miss a workout day, instead of convincing myself that the whole week is ruined and give up.
  • I need to stop relying on supplements! They are called supplements for a reason. They supplement your daily diet and are not the primary source of any workout plan! More often than not I run out of the supplements I consume due to the fact that supplements can become pretty expensive. When I run out I feel that I won’t be able to work out the same without them but that fact of the matter is that supplements just aid you in your workout process it is you alone that has the power to get fit and stay fit. If I could train my mind to think this way then the next time I run out of the good stuff I won’t have a problem at all.
  • Finally I have to make going to the gym a priority! I have to put it up there along with daily chores (an enjoyable chore though because I hate chores!) Believe it or not I could convince myself of all these things I mentioned before, I could read every book ever made about how to get fit but at the end it takes me going to the gym and doing it myself in order to have success on my fitness journey.

I am hoping that by getting back to the basics of fitness I could finally start making my way towards my fitness goals!

If there is any other advice that could help me through my fitness journey, Please feel free to leave your comments!!

 

First Week: A Complete Fitness Fail!!


I was not looking forward to this day at all. As a matter of fact, I almost convinced myself not to write another post but I made a promise that I would keep everyone up to date on my progress (In this case no progress at all.) As you all know from my previous post the week started off great! I hit the gym, ate healthy meals and felt good. That’s it…… That’s all the good fitness progress I have for the week….. Pathetic!

The following day I was right back to my old habits again. It started off when I got home from school at around 4:30 pm. I had eaten some Chicken breast with corn and a baked potato (which was healthy) but the mistake I made was not having a healthy snack a few hours later while I was at school. When I got out, I was HUNGRY!! It was the type of hunger that not just any little thing was going to satisfy my appetite. So what did I do? I got myself a large pepperoni, extra cheese pizza and let me tell you it was delicious!!! By me giving into temptation, it set me up for a whole week of eating pure junk food. Since I had convinced myself that the week was ruined, I used it as an excuse to skip the gym. I only went once during the whole week, that is all!! My first week of my fitness journey and I couldn’t even make it past one day!!

I am truly hoping that this week will be different. I really have to overcome the urges. I have to break my old habits if I am to see results. I knew when I started this blog that it would be tough. I knew it would be full of bad news. I just never thought the bad news would be coming to you so soon. I guess the only advise that I could give to myself and those that might be in my situation is to not give up! If you mess up by eating unhealthy or missing the gym just know that tomorrow is another day. Keep focused on your fitness goal and DO NOT make the same mistake I made this week. I gave up way to soon and now I got to start this week all over again. I hope that I could be the same motivated, excited person I was the first day…..

If anyone out there has faced the same problem I did and found a way to overcome the obstacles please feel free to leave a comment. I am open to any type of advise and will try anything that I feel could help me on my fitness journey!

My Fitness Journey Starts Now!

Me at 197lbs

Day 1:

After a weekend of eating everything in site from Pizza to Taco Bell, from chips to about a gallon worth of Pepsi the time that I have been planning for has finally arrived. Today marked the first day of my fitness journey and although the journey will be tough, I have done plenty of research that has helped me prepare myself for this day.

My main goal is to lose some of my body fat and gain some lean muscle. Knowing that protein is one of the main things your body needs for muscle growth, I had to figure out how much my body needed to consume in order to reach my goal. I used the personal protein calculator that you can find at Bodybuilding.com and it calculated that my daily protein intake ranges between 193 and 308.8 grams. (1.0-1.6g/lb bodyweight) Many foods such as Chicken breast, Fish, Lean red Meats and Egg whites are all a huge source of protein but would it be enough for me to reach my daily intake? In order to be completely sure that I could reach my daily goal I purchased some protein powder. I went with Nitro Tech Hardcorethat I have used years ago when I first got into weight training and it worked very good. I also purchased some protein bars, which I figured I could snack on while im at work instead of the occasional snickers bar. My diet asks to eat 6 small meals per day and although I slept in, not giving me enough time to eat 6 meals, I did try to consume as much protein as i could.

  • 11:00 am: Protein shake blended with 4 egg whites
  • 2:00 pm: Turkey and Chicken breast sandwich on wheat bread
  • 5:00 pm: 2 chicken Breast, 1 baked potatoe, 2 mini corn on the cobs
  • 9:30 pm: Protein shake blended with 4 egg whites

My meals throughout the day really gave me lots of energy for the gym where I spent 2 hours. I figured that if I want to gain muscle I have to go heavy so my sets consisted 5 to 7 reps each. I decided to go with my old routine, which has really worked for me in the past. Feel free to try it out for yourself.

  • Monday: Chest, Shoulders, Tricepts, Abs, Cardio
  • Tuesday: Legs
  • Wednesday: Back, Bicepts, Abs, Cardio
  • Thursday,Friday,Saturday: Repeat above
  • Sundays: Rest

Although, getting back into the groove of things is tough I really feel that this time around I got the motivation and persistence I need to reach my fitness goals. This morning I woke up totally excited about working out and starting my diet and as I end my first blog post and get ready for bed, I truly hope that the excitement continues because I owe this to myself and now I owe it to all of you who read this! So wish me luck!