Heyyy guys and gals! For my debut blog post I would like to share with you an area of my life that I have become super passionate about recently: Fitness! I have been on this amazing journey for about 14 months now and I must say it has brought so many positive things into my life! I hope that this post can inspire some of you to get on the fitness bandwagon so you too can reap the amazing benefits that fitness has brought me.
Me Before
OK so let me start off my post with my stats; before I embarked on this journey I was 5’5” and 155lbs which put me at a BMI of 25.7 which put me into the ‘Overweight’ category. Now before all of you get all up in arms regarding the problems with BMI (which I am well aware of), I also did a DEXA scan which revealed my body fat percentage at 28%! For reference, 21 – 24% is considered the fitness body fat range for women (14 – 17% for men), so I was quite above that range. This was my initial target, which seemed achievable, unlike the ‘athlete’ body fat range which was 14 – 20% for women and 6 – 13% for men (basically this is the body fat range in which you can enter the ‘ripped’ range and milk all those Instagram likes).
Lifestyle wise, I was also fairly sedentary, except for the weekly (and leisurely) jog or cycle around my neighbourhood, perhaps for 1 or 2 hours every week. Never played any sports in high school or college, was essentially a typical book nerd.
Catalyst for the Journey
Now if you looked at my ‘before’ stats, while I was definitely ‘not fit’ I wasn’t significantly overweight either. In fact, I was decidedly ‘average’, which isn’t really the sort of condition that triggers personal crises that result in a drastic life changes.
So what was my catalyst then?
So in March 2015, my bestie, Lucy, somehow convinced me to go to the gym with her to lift weights. Lucy had jumped headfirst into the cult of Crossfit in mid-2014, and like most new recruits, was very zealous in seeking out new converts to the religion. On my part, I had long resisted lifting weights as I labored under the pervasive myth that lifting weights would make women bulky! For more on this myth, check out this excellent article.
Anyway, she convinced me to go to a gym (just your regular 24hr fitness, not her Crossfit box, which is was at that time WAY too intimidated to go to) and guided me through some basic lifting exercises: squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses.
How did that workout go? To put it mildly: embarrassing. Watching Lucy, who was also 5’5” but weighing in at about 140lbs effortlessly squat and deadlift using the ‘big boy’ plates while I struggled to squat and deadlift more than 95lbs and could barely overhead press the empty bar was an eye-opening moment for me as to just how unfit I actually was. Plus the soreness the next day! So painful yet strangely satisfying.
Now I know you noticed that I didn’t describe Lucy very much besides her height and weight, so let me tell you now: she is absolutely beautiful and totally fit as well! Basically a total package (sorry guys, definitely no pics!). Before she started Crossfit she too was just an average sedentary girl, and her weight was about 150lbs. Not fat but not toned either. I must say that seeing her physical transformation combined with her athletic performance was a total inspiration as to what I too could achieve!
After that fateful day I took the first step on the tough yet rewarding fitness path and have never looked back since.
My Current Routine and Lifestyle
That was 14 months ago, so what is my current routine and lifestyle? Well, not to bore my readers with extraneous details but I’m basically following a routine called the Ice Cream Fitness 5 x 5 routine. It’s a 3 day a week lifting program, and I have seen some great gains from this program, both strength and physique wise. I’ve also maintained my weekly running or cycling routine and added in yoga twice a week as well! So I’m basically training 6 days a week, with only one rest day. If you had told me two years ago that in two years I would be training 6 days a week and enjoying it I would have told you that you were crazy! Haha! How life changes; isn’t it amazing!
In terms of diet, I have also cleaned it up although I’m currently not following any specific diet plan. Haha I love my cookies and ice cream too much! I’ve definitely cut down on that though, and have increased my protein intake as well. Moving forward, diet will be one area in my life that I can improve as well on this journey.
Well that concludes this post, I hope you enjoyed reading it. Come back soon for more updates! <3