thesweatzone

[thesweatzone]

POSTING SCHEDULE

This is the first post I will be making on this blog concerning what, when and how I will post. My schedule may wary a bit based on my private life, so I ask you to be patient, but one thing I can promise are regular updates that will keep me, as well as you, motivated to continue our journey.

•MONDAY: Meal Monday

•WEDNESDAY: Community achievements

•FRIDAY:  Fit Friday

•SUNDAY: General weekly update

If you look at the schedule above you can see roughly how chapters will look every week. I will give you frequent updates on how I am doing with my fitness program and I will do weekly and monthly overviews where I will summarise all my progress and what I have learned.

-On Mondays I will also give you tips concerning foods, meal preparation and I will write about different types of eating habits.

-On Wednesdays it is your time to shine. I will be collecting updates on your weight loss journey too. If you decide and feel like this could maybe be something that would help you, you can DM me and join us by writing weekly or daily updates about your fitness journey which I will then gather (from multiple users at the same time) and post every Wednesday so you will all be able to read the journeys, struggles and victories of your fellow followers of this blog (of course this is optional but the more updates, or even just short thoughts, we get the better; you can be anonymous or credited).

-On Fridays I will post about different workouts, their reviews and tips on how to make them as effective as possible.

Those are the things that you will be able to see every week in this book but there will be other chapters, which will come randomly.

-M

[thesweatzone]

WELCOMING NOTE

Hello my friends!

Let me introduce you to a new blog I've decided to start writing for and posting on. In this first post I will briefly write about what I want to achieve with this page, the structure of it and, of course, what exactly I will be going on about.

First, let me start by introducing myself. This blog is called the Sweat Zone and I will reffer to myself as M, which is just the initial of my name. I am a young female trying to reach my fitness goals while focusing on my academical, social and emotional goals as well.

I started this blog for the purpose of motivating myself, as well as all of you, to try and achieve your goals and start your fitness journey just like I did. And most importantly sitck to it long term. This blog will include a journal about my fitness progress, lots of tips and tricks to make your transition into a healthier lifestyle a little easier, some workout suggestions as well as reviews of their effectiveness, workout playlists, motivational quotes, advice and many other hidden surprises.

My goal is to create a community of people, who are supportive of each other and can help motivate one another so that we can all slowly but surely (while enjoying ourselves) achieve our target weight, feel happier and healthier or reaching any other goal you came here to get motivated for. I ask you all to be polite with criticism, because I am always open to new suggestions that I strongly believe will help us all, but I would really appreciate it if you would voice your concerns or any thoughts in a kind way, as that is, in my opinion, the best way to communicate.

I would like to start this off by saying that I am by no means a medical care professional nor am I a fitness trainer or nutritionist of any sort. I am here purely to share my limited knowledge on the topic I am really interested and invested in and have been for a very long time now. That is breaking down the scientific reasoning behind gaining and losing weight and learning to incorporate better habits into our daily life by understanding these reasons.

All the examples and tips shared in this book are open for anyone to read but you should decide and test out what works for you best alone, only if you feel good about it, and consult your doctor before starting any intense diet or training program. These things work for me but they won’t neccessarily work for you, Everyone is doifferent. 

Lastly, I would just like to thank you for embarking on this journey with me. I can't lie and say it'll be easy, but things that make you grown won’t ever be easy. The start is always the hardest part and maybe you are half way there just by reading this blog (if it motivates you enough). I sincerely hope any of the things written in here will be able to benefit you in some kind of way. My DM's are always open if you need any help at all. You can comment your questions (or anything else) or anonymously ask me anything, and I will always try to answer it promptly and helpfullyč

Welcome to the Sweat zone!

*I would also like to excuse myself for my bad grammar skills, since English isn't my first language. If you spot any grammatical errors don't hesitate to correct me and I will fix them. Thank you*

~M

[thesweatzone]

BACKSTORY and FITNESS PROGRAM

BACKSTORY:

I have always struggled with my weight. I was never overweight to a point where I would have troubles with my health but it did limit some of my abilities and it lowered my self-esteem. I was really overweight as a child but then my rapid growth caused me to look slimmer than before and I was only round. Basically I was and still pretty much am skinny fat.

About two years ago I decided I wanted to become skinnier, so I started working out more. I realized now that being skinny is far from my goal and I truly want to be healthy and have a strong body but working out did give me solid foundation on which I explored my interests in sports, which I never liked before. I found the ones I actually enjoyed and the ones I did not enjoy quite that much. I started losing some fat. But then I became lazy and the fat came back.

This repeated itself many times throughout those two years. I slowly realized my biggest problem were my eating habits. I was really picky when it came to food and I always chose the wrong one. I also binged, then ate very little for a while and binged again. I even contributed to the weight gain with drinking smaller amounts of water than I should have and my sleeping schedule was all over the place. I realized only working out won't do that much. At least not for me.

I slowly started incorporating better foods into my diet and changing up my lifestyle but I never committed enough to see it through until the end and obtain obvious results. I was also very confused where and how to start, because there is so much information out there about what is right and wrong. The main problem was that I didn't give any program I created for myself time so that I could actually see results and see if it works.

 RIGHT NOW:

Now I want to stick to my plan for longer than one or two months at a time. I want to achieve results that will last and work on my confidence too. I am currently 173 cm tall (which is roughly 5,8 feet) and I weigh 65 kg (roughly 143 pounds). Though I am tall I feel like I am quite heavy since I do not have that much muscle mass so the lbs are higher than I wish they would be, because of fat. I have stubborn belly fat while I'm not really visibly round in any other areas of my body as much. Of course you cannot spot reduce (I will write about that in one of my future posts too) so I will have to lower my body fat percentage and gain a lot of muscle mass in general to see the belly fat disappearing too, since I am striving for a stronger not skinnier body.

Right now I'm in a good place, though I still have many things to focus on to perfect my daily routine. I've been working since the start of the year (6th January, 2020) and lost 4,5kg (roughly 10 pounds) in five weeks. I constructed a workout and diet plan for me as well as I could, since I haven't got that much control over a lot of things going on in my life because I'm still in school and have work to focus on besides my fitness goals, though I am trying to make them a bigger priority in my life.

Some people said that this program seemed a bit challenging for a beginner when they took a first look at it. That's why I wrote a short paragraph in which I spoke about my work out habits above. They are not that bad and I tend to work out quite a lot so I’m not in such a bad shape - food will be a bigger issue for me. If the program seems though for you and you do your workouts completely differently, I encourage you to continue doing it your way. The same goes for if you think it is too easy. I designed this the way I did, because I know what I am capable of right now and what I would like to be capable of in the future.

 MY PROGRAM:

Duration: 8 months (until the end of August)

Goal: Build strength and muscle mass, achieve a flatter belly and leaner physique, gain confidence, build better habits

 Workouts:

I've tried many workouts on the internet already and I decided to follow some good fitness channels on Youtube and follow their work out videos, since I don’t have time to go to an actual gym. I will link them in some future posts. I made a weekly workout schedule too.

On Mondays I do half an hour to an hour of yoga targeting my core (abs), on Tuesdays I do body weight exercises targeting the legs and the glutes, on Wednesday I have another day of body weight exercises targeting the abs and on Fridays I have weightlifting to strengthen my arms and back.

I also have one active rest day every week when I am allowed to do nothing or just some light cardio. That is Thursday for me, because I arrive home late (around 7 p.m.) and it's the day that is the most tiring for me in the whole week.

On weekends I have one scheduled full body workout on Saturdays. I usually do pilates or some HIIT workouts. On Sundays I can take a day of if I feel like it, because I don't want to push myself over the edge but if I feel alright I do an hour of cardio.

Speaking of cardio, it is one of my favourite workout categories because I love to run, dance, hike, swim… and these are all workouts that fall into the category. I try to do cardio at least three times a week even if it isn’t scheduled (just because I actually enjoy doing it) but if the weather is nice I take a walk everyday anyway, since I like some peace to think and be alone.

Through the week I work out at around 6 p.m. and on the weekends in the morning or at least before noon.

 Dieting:

For me it is really hard to meal prep since I am in high school and I have a lot of my meals prepared for me by other people. I evaluated my eating habits and realized I consume too much sugar and carbs and my diet lacks fiber. I can’t completely follow a low-carb diet but I will be aiming towards consuming less carbs and try to eat food which is low in sugar and high in protein and fiber.

I also challenged myself to eliminate all sugar I could from my diet for at least 40 days but I can happily say that I'm already on day 45 (I started on the 6th of January) – I decided to just continue with it and try to reach 70 days. I planned it for a long time and I can say I am quite satisfied with the outcome. I've tried including a lot of healthy foods, vegetables and high protein foods and minimize foods with a lot of carbs but there are days when I just don't have the option to eat anything but something high in carbs or not as healthy as I would wish it would be. 

If you want to, I will definitely write a post about what I eat in a week after I test it out, see how effective it is and perfect it completely. 

I have already tried intermittent fasting (will be explained in future posts) in the past once and it worked miracles for me. I felt more energized, way less bloated and I felt better in general. I will incorporate it into my diet again I decided to do a 16:8 ratio – I eat in a time frame of 8 hours. That equals 16 hours of fasting where I don't consume any food I just drink a cup of green tea in the morning.

 Drink:

I used to drink very small amounts of water throughout the day but I carry my water bottle with me everywhere I go now and I try to drink as much as possible. These are my main rules for drinking:

-drink 2 water bottles of water a day

-one cup of green tea in the morning (or lemonade)

-don't drink milk in the evening

 Sleep:

I try to go to sleep before 11 pm and get up around 6 or 7 am. For me it is pretty hard, because I am a night owl, but I do try, since I see a big difference in my energy and ability to work efficiently throughout the day.

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That is how I designed my workout and diet program. All details will be specified in further chapters since it is still a bit rough around the edges (especially the diet part), but I cannot meal prep since it is really hard for me to prepare my own food. 

I thought I should explain what and how I'm doing everything, since I will be writing about it. This is a basic overview and I didn't really go into detail. If you want me to be more precise, especially about my eating habits and how I'm trying to change them, I will make a post about it. This is just my story and my program. I can't guarantee any of these things would work for you or your body but maybe you will get any idea or find some useful information. You now know my story and my goals.

I always struggled with my self-esteem and body image but I am on the path to changing everything and I want to share the lessons I'm learning and my story with you. I hope it motivates you and you can see you are not alone. You should also remember that even though my measurements and fitness goals don't match yours and you maybe see different numbers than me, you aren't working any less hard or doing anything wrong nor should you be discouraged. We are all on our individual journeys and you have the exact same chance of reaching your goals as I do or anyone else reading this blog.

Whenever I start doubting myself I just avert my thoughts somewhere else because I am positive we all can do this. Remember to love yourself no matter your weight. We are all beautiful and what we are doing and the changes we're making are only to better ourselves physically and mentally but our weight or appearance doesn't define us nor does it define our worth.

Thank you for joining me on this journey!

-M