The 2020 Glow-Up: Fitness, Health, Career
GIRL – your fitness game is on another level – how?!
So, 2020 has had some major shifts and one thing I want to make crystal clear is that everyone handles extreme events differently. Some were affected by the pandemic and other worldwide events much more than others. Have compassion and empathy. This post isn’t to flex or preach - this is simply sharing what works for me. I’m huge on sharing those tips especially if it positively impacts, even just one person 😊. Now let’s get to the details!
You may have noticed me posting more about my life outside of art on my Instagram, and part of this includes a peek into my journey with health and fitness. A bit of context for this post – I’ve been weight training consistently for the last 3 years, primarily am vegetarian (occasionally pescatarian) and work a busy 9-5 work schedule alongside freelancing. I’d mention more about a social life but #pandemic!! 😌
I am not the most productive human being ever. Admittedly I procrastinate, sometimes struggle with focusing and multitask more than I should. I will say though that my time is structured around a routine that keeps me content and present. Here’s a rundown of how I make that happen!
TIP #1: Make fitness a hobby, wherever you are
Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve been weight training and consistently working out for the last 3 years. Before that, I learned bodyweight exercises from researching online and because I hated the gym (for reasons like people watching you, feeling uncomfortable and not knowing what I was doing), I chose to work out at home. My goal at that time was to “change” how I look so I feel more confident – obviously that didn’t work out well, because I ultimately lacked consistency and never reached that superficial goal. I decided to shift my goal with the help of friends in fitness professions to become strong, focused and disciplined. That’s truly what transformed my mindset with exercise – it became an outlet for me to shut out the world, focus on me, and push myself mentally to reach the end goal that I know I could attain.
Fast forward to now: I train with my close friend and trainer Sameer from The Essense for the last year and a half. He knows about my fitness goals, daily schedule and instinctively knows what I’m capable of achieving while pushing the bar. Through personal training, I found consistency and made fitness a hobby. I started to invest in equipment for my home gym to keep me accountable (… and also because I still despise commercial gyms lol) and incrementally started seeing results in my strength. The other bonus of having a home gym meant that during quarantine, I had no excuses and can continue with my workouts! Also, don’t forget to have fun with your fitness – experiment with different types of training (HIIT, boxing, plyometrics, tabata, etc.) and compliment with sports!
Exercise is great, but you also need to balance it with therapy and treatments when necessary. I spend most days sitting and working, and use my hands/arms a lot to draw and type. Because of this, I’ll find my hip flexors and shoulders feeling unusually tight which affect how I move. By July, I began to regularly seek treatment with Dr. Don Rey Juan and Essen Chavez at The Trinity Health Collective. Not only do I have amazing conversations with these wonderful beings, they take the time to teach how to move your body pain-free, being in tune with your mind and optimizing movement.
TIP #2: Nutrition is everything
You know how everyone says abs are made in the kitchen / your health starts from within? It’s true! Naturally, I paid more attention to what I ate to stay healthy, but realized something was off since I struggled with food/dairy intolerances, hormonal/cystic acne and bloating. I became more serious about nutrition after speaking to Stacy (@stacydasilva), a close friend, certified Metabolic Balance nutritionist and fitness expert. She coached me through her experience with the program, and I decided to try the Metabolic Balance program in mid-July of this year. In essence, the all-natural nutrition program optimizes your metabolism, rebalances your hormones and helps to manage your weight over time. I naturally have a faster metabolism, but what gravitated me to this program was mainly rebalancing my hormones and learn healthy eating habits given I loved to snack and binge-eat cookies 🌚.
This was also around the same time I started a new role at work with a lot more responsibility, so I found it helpful to form my new eating habits around my work schedule given we’re still working from home. Within 3 weeks of the program, I noticed myself get super lean, while retaining my muscle. I had so much more energy to sustain my busy work day, had little cravings for snacks, and most importantly: my intolerances, acne and bloating subsided! After 10-12 weeks, I graduated from the program by transitioning the program rules into my day-to-day lifestyle. This meant I could have treat meals mindfully since my body is able to bounce back without issues, and incorporate new food with ease since I knew which could trigger a negative response.
Seeing these results over such a short amount of time really proved to me that eating mindfully is truly the game-changer. Pick your foods wisely, find time to prepare your meals, treat yourself appropriately, get creative with cooking, and don’t forget to drink your water!
TIP #3: Schedule your time and daily rituals
An example of timeboxing – the yellow boxes show my real day-work schedule, green are for my meals, purple are my workouts and blue is client work. Look at all that white space after!
My final tip is to take control of your schedule. Don’t let events dictate your day-to-day. Note down your tasks and daily rituals for the day through journalling (I can teach you how 😉), your phone calendar, time-boxing, Excel… whatever works for you. From there, adjust how you see time. Rather than counting down to an event (which can trigger your body’s stress responses), see it as time that you can spend on a task without pressure. For example, say if I exercise between 4-5pm and had to meet a friend for 7pm. Optimize those 2 hours in between by time-boxing small tasks. In this case, I would shower/get ready, maybe address some client work and then head out. Once you mentally/visually mark these events down, you’ll notice all this white space, which are your treasured pockets of time! That’s time you can spend doing anything else! You’ll feel less anxious and more in control of your day.
Questions from Instagram
What helps to motivate you on the days when you just don’t want to work out?
I definitely have these days - what helps me is reviewing the workout I want to do, get myself to do a quick activation circuit (like 20 squats, 20 jumping jacks, 20 lunges) and change the environment - workout outside, go for a walk/hike instead etc. I also listen to my body – if I truly feel like my muscles needs a break, I’ll do yoga!How do you not burn out, but make room to do more?
Try to assess and reflect on your current habits, schedule and tasks on a regular basis. Find things that are working in your favour, and cut out any distractions that don’t serve you. By periodically checking in on yourself, you’re becoming aware of your mood and triggers, which will help you decide what to take on and at what time. If you find yourself edging closer to burn-out, cut back on some tasks and take a day or so for yourself. Allow yourself time to restore – you can only help others if you help yourself first!Do you ever find yourself overwhelmed on all fronts? How have you overcome these hurdles?
Absolutely, yes! This goes with that feeling of burning out – at times like this, I try to vocalize how I feel with confidants and reflect on how I can take control of the situation. Usually for me, this means I have to learn to say no to projects, and spend time on hobbies that aren’t related to work.What’s your advice to any beginners who are feeling lost with exercising and don’t know where to start?
If you’re mostly introverted like me, try spending time researching credible sources online and absorb that knowledge so you can confidently begin your journey with fitness. You can also seek the help of friends, colleagues and industry professionals in your network. The beauty in today’s hustle culture is that information is made available so easily - so many entrepreneurs are willing to share their knowledge openly. Talking about health and fitness also normalizes experiences and reduces any stigmas people may encounter – your journey will be unique, and sharing it with others will only add value!
