Its been a while since I posted about my fitness routine. Here is what’s cooking/working out for me
If you had followed my previous posts, you would know that I have always been working out regularly at the gym. I have no issues hitting the gym 3-4 times a week. However, after my usual workout for almost 3 years now, I feel like is I hit a plateau. Nothing works anymore. No change in my body or scale. The only driving factor has been the feel-great-factor after my gym session. This kept me going no matter the number on the scale or my waist. To be honest, I do not want to be fixated with a body image. For my mental well being I just want to work out to get the sheer joy of finding myself, finding peace, getting into the meditative state, finding some ME time.
But at the same time, I also want to challenge myself and push myself to meet a commitment, a goal to keep the fitness momentum going. After working out for almost 4 years one key factor that contributed to my consistency is putting effort in being motivated. Motivation is not something that our mind does or picks up automatically. We need to work on motivating our mind so it triggers us to gather energy & reasoning for working out day-in & day-out
I have always dreamed flat abs. After motherhood no matter how much Im working out my abs are hard to be seen. So, to strike that off from my bucket list, I decided to work towards defined abs/strong core/flat abs. I put all the visual pictures in my office room to feed my mind. I did some google & book research on how to get defined abs. More or less, all the data seems to point in one key factor, which I conveniently ignored all the time before, which is my NUTRITION or the FOOD I TAKE.
I have been working consistently 4 times a week at the gym but I undermined the importance of food tracking. I knew I had to eat less than my total energy expenditure for a day to lose weight & get lean & build muscle. But I had this trial and error approach to estimating my food intake. I always planned/tracked my workout but never did I tracked my calories intake. I was eating protein in every meal but how much of protein, how much of cards & how much of fats- My macros are all messed up before.
I realized all along I was doing only 20% of what is needed to see the results. I did not hit a ‘Plateau’ as I thought. I only did my workout regularly – that is it. I thought I ate clean food. But when I started monitoring, the sneaky sweets/carbs that I ate, without much thought, thinking they will be matched up for the workout I did- were adding up at the end of the day/weekend and messing with my workout results. It was my food that is hindering my workout results.
Now after 4 months of working out, along with the nutrition plan, I have great results. Flat Abs are still far away but I know my path is right to get there. I have lean muscle
Nutrition plan that I follow: (This is after discussing with a coach & is here for reference & might not work for everyone)
- Breakfast (350 Calories)
- 2 eggs (boiled or omlette) with any bread slice w/butter
- Coffee with milk&honey
- Lunch (428 Calories)
- Rice (150 gm cooked rice)
- Chicken/Soya/Paneer/Fish/Lentils curry (120-150 gm) w/Veggies
- Pre-Workout meal (200 Calories)
- 1 Banana or any fruit or protein bar
- Dinner (428 Calories)
- Rice (150 gm cooked rice) or Rotis (w/50gm wheat flour)
- Chicken/Soya/Paneer/Fish/Lentils curry (120-150 gm) w/Veggies
This is close to 1400 Calories. I also give space for 100-200 extra calories in a day to account for any cravings but being mindful. With my workout plan, I spend close to 1800 calories a day. So this plan (1600 in and 1800 out) gives that 200 calories deficit everyday. This deficit over a period of time with my workout is giving me the lean muscle gain & definition to my body.
To be honest, I did not 100% stick to this plan. I did eat 2000 calories on some weekends. Some days when I miss my breakfast, due to my busy work schedule, & I still follow the plan- it gave me more deficit. Overall, what this plan gave me is being MINDFUL of what I put in my body. This made me not to starve and also not to overeat just because of my mood/work/stress etc.
Now to the workout. I workout at a gym with this set plan 4-5 times a week
All of my workouts begin with treadmill run for first 15-20 mins (walk/stretch till warm up & then run) followed by 40 mins of weight training (3 sets of 12 reps)
2 exercises for each muscle group/3 sets of 12 reps each
Day1- Lats + Biceps + Abs
Day2- Quads+Calves+Abs
Day3- Just Cardio day (Run or Walk or Zumba)
Day4 – Chest + Shoulders + Triceps + Abs
Day5 – Hamstrings + Glutes + Abs
I also started being active throughout the day & not just sit all day & be active when at gym 🙂
Got fitbit & try to hit 10K spread across the day- like 5K before lunch & 5K from afternoon to evening. I do 10K for almost 4 times a week & around 7/8K for the rest of the days.
With all the planning and tracking and doing the grind everyday, sometimes I just stop the routine (like after doing it for 2 months straight), I do nothing but just walk everyday.
I do go off track but after a while will miss the feel-great-factor & how my body starts to ache & feel lethargic – then I go back to my routine & my fitness journey continues…
Sowjanya Amirapu 