all out august!


The thing about exercising is, it kinda changes you. And kinda changes you big time.


When I started exercising a few months ago, it was all about a certain weight goal for the primary reasons:

  • I didn't like how I look anymore. I was chubby and I felt really heavy, I had bad skin, even hair, and I swear I could hear my clothes whisper to me—lose weight. And even though I knew that confidence should anchor on what's inside, I couldn't help but feel guilty when I look in the mirror.
  • It was affecting my health. I needed to go to the doctor last year just to check what my back pains were all about. The doctor gave me a general checkup, asked me what my age and weight are and said, "You don't need me. You need to exercise. Come back to me when you still feel it after losing weight."


The Challenge




After attaining my weight goal, I drew up another goal—get abs. As I exercised all throughout this month though, that goal seemed to lose importance, was pushed out of the priority list, and was replaced by one:

Get on the challenge of exercising every single day this August, and have fun

And have fun, I did! I was super into this challenge called All Out August by Amanda Bisk! I learned about her and her app through my friend Gladys who's a nurse in London. It was in May when she did Amanda's May Madness challenge even after long hours of duty. She never failed to post her progress on a daily basis—super inspiring! You should follow her on Insta!

By July, I felt like I had outgrown my usual, everyday, 30 minute bodyweight workout that I started mid-May. I continued it through the month though but I wasn't challenged anymore. Also, at this point, I didn't want to lose any more weight because I really don't want to be skinny. I started reading about apps when I remembered Gladys, so I checked out Amanda Bisk. She's a former Australian pole vaulter, a physiologist, an athletics coach, and a yoga teacher—she's that amazing! (Can you here me gushing?!) You should check her out.

And then... I found out she had a challenge for August and that sold me in.

It has been an amazing month and I really, really, REALLY enjoyed the journey. I've never been so sore in my entire life and at the same time proud of going through it! (But I've never exercised consistently either before this year 😅). Her month-long program was a mix of different things and they all worked so well together. Some of it are:

  • YogaSculpt - becoming my new favorite
  • Yoga - perfect for warm ups and sort of rest days
  • Tabata tone - a form of HIIT
  • Lots of circuit training, no/low/high impact - focuses on different parts on different times which allows the others rest while the other one is crunching

I really love how it challenged me and turned me into this enthusiastic, "what's the workout for tomorrow" kind of person. I swear, she's an inspiration!

By the way, some of you asked in my previous post, I exercise between 6-8PM, but Amanda's exercises don't exceed 50 minutes.




Yoga Class on Sundays


Another person who inspired me this month is my friend Ate Ode! She posts her yoga routine every morning and I got curious so I asked her. Turns out she has a 1 hour class every Sunday morning (free for now as she's just beginning teaching). Her pace is perfect for beginners like me who's physically uncoordinated. I'm nervous when it comes to anything that requires me to follow instructions like exercise or dance classes cos coordinating my body parts is not very natural for me; I have to think about each and every step before doing them. Luckily, she takes time to wait for me to raise my left leg and then... my left ar—oops—right arm before doing the sequence.

If you're interested, check her out on Instagram and join the free class!

Stretches are awesome, but I have a lot to learn! (Sorry about the bra, I forgot! Haha)

Food


I tried food services this month. I order meals on weekdays at 1200kcal a day—breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, but I skip dinner cos I'm used to eat that way by now. In a day, I guess I eat 800-900kcal. I'm not very strict though, I have sodas/juices during my meals, and on weekends, I eat whatever I want. I still eat during an 8-hour window (8AM-4PM) everyday.

If you're in Manila, I recommend Delicious Diet! 😋

Results for August


So, so many!

  • My favorite would be—I had lots of fun!
  • Got stronger and more flexible
  • Noticed I have better endurance
  • Gained arm, back, and leg muscles
  • I lost 0.5 kilos end of July and 2 kilos this August. All in all, March til August, I lost 10 kilos. Which I know is a great thing.

I'm still adjusting to it though, and I haven't decided what I think about it yet, cos it was never my goal to be skinny. I think I'm having a separation anxiety from my fats to be honest. Losing lots has made me realize that I love being huggable and a little bit on the soft side, and has made me rethink my abs goal (seriously). Now I see hints of my shoulder blades and ribs and my hip bones and when I do certain exercises they poke on the fortunately thick mat. I know it's a good problem, it's just that I need to decide what I feel about it. 😅

My real "woke up like this" look. Very, very sore, ha!


Aunt Flo Visits


I mentioned in my previous post that I have terrible mensies. I can be superwoman all throughout the month but I usually fall off the face of the planet during these days and baby myself (movies, crying, chocolates, chips, crying bring it on!). I thought I was going to skip the terrible part because the exercise rhythm was going so well, but... no. But to be honest, it's less painful unlike the other months, so I think exercise still helped. Both PMS and period weeks were manageable, but still painful. Some of the core exercises fell on those days too, so I decided to replace one day with a yoga routine. I did two days of challenge exercises the next day though. #notquitting 💪🏼

And yes, it changes the cycle, thankfully for me, just a little bit. When I switched from my 15 minute to 30 minute exercise in April, I got a slight delay. This month though, the red days decided to extend their visit.

For women, I think, physical exercise is more complicated. Still studying about it, but I think I should be really mindful of how it affects reproductive health. My baby eggs come first before my dream abs. 😊

Rewards!


I've always been a fan of delayed gratification 😆 so I bought a set of exercise clothes in June, and a thicker mat this month that has been absolutely helpful protecting my bones.

First time to see the sides mid-August
In love with my thick mat (cos my 200-peso mat was not enough for yoga)
First time to use my Salonpas strips from March! This challenge IS THE challenge 😂

What's next?


Have more fun, I guess 😉

After losing 10 kilos and doing all that, my abs are still... absent 😂 But I really enjoyed this!

***


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