30 Day Life Challenges

Day 16 of Challenge #1 – Stress Reliever

Committing to something has its ups and downs, highs and lows. Last night, I went to bed tired and sore (a testament to how out-of-shape I am) and this morning I did not want to get out of bed. I woke up feeling the opposite of rested – grumpy and already resenting the day.

Fast-forward, though, and something magical happened! I’ve been working on a new project that has a tight deadline and I’m unfamiliar with a lot of the components. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been anxiously tackling a mile-high to-do list, frantically pacing back-and-forth, overthinking things. To say I’ve been overwhelmed is an understatement. Today, however, I felt very calm and even-keeled. I was able to process information a lot better and take measured steps towards completing a majority of the project.

It turns out exercising, under the right circumstances, can reduce cortisol levels. While high intensity exercise increases cortisol levels in the short term, as a response to the physical challenge, it lowers these levels at night. Habitual training does lead to an improvement in cortisol response levels. Even working out at a mild or moderate rate, defined as 40 – 60% of maximum effort, positively impacts the reduction of cortisol at night (though it’s physically less demanding and therefore, doesn’t cause a spike in levels immediately after exercise). Research also suggests that the length of a workout can affect the release of cortisol. Longer doesn’t necessarily mean better.

Hubby and I do work out at moderate levels and have consistently exercised for 30-minutes a day for the past couple of weeks. It’s a high possibility our bodies might be adjusting to produce lower cortisol levels. I consider that a win.

I don’t have an apple watch, but hubby will vouch that I was with him doing the same exercises.

Day 15 of Challenge #15 – Halfway There!

It was MLK Day on Monday! While we wish we could have volunteered that day to celebrate the teachings of Dr. King in some way, neither of us got the day off (to be clear, we do volunteer throughout the year). We did, however, both get the perk of being able to work remotely. Working from home certainly has it advantages. We cuddled with pup as we checked emails and watched the Theranos documentary—The Inventor: Out For Blood in Silicon Valley—in the background. Highly recommend it.

After the work day was over, we put on our gym clothes. I don’t know if going to the gym is quite a habit yet, but the feeling of getting it over with is as strong as ever. It almost serves as a benchmark of productivity for the rest of the evening.

Hubby now has a standing racquetball session every Monday and Wednesday at 6 PM. With that scheduled and someone else depending on him showing up, there’s a higher standard of accountability for him. His session also influences me because I’m encouraged to head to the gym at the same time. By the time I knew it, 6:30 PM had come and gone. We were finally able to say that we successfully reached the halfway mark and were closer to completing this challenge than starting it!

Day 14 of Challenge #1 – Be Patient

Here I was, almost half-way through the 30-Day Challenge of working out 6 days a week, expecting the pounds to melt off. And yet, our physical results all but cemented the certainty that losing weight has more to do with the food you eat than any amount of exercise. We were aware of the science, but thought that if we had kept our diet at a constant and increased physical activity that we would experience some weight loss.

Well let me tell you, Hubby and I have had mixed results. Hubby’s weight has continued to decrease, albeit at a slow pace (a total of 5 lbs so far), while my weight has yo-yo’d around +/- 5 lbs. The centimeter/inches lost give us a little more to be hopeful about, but then again, we realize there’s a margin of error in our measurements. We can’t definitively say that we’re measuring identical areas every week. We’re in the ballpark of course, but the likelihood of the measuring tape laying across the same circumferences each time is doubtful. Still, the fact that our clothes fit the tiniest amount better provides some support that our bodies are changing.

More importantly, there’s greater evidence that those who lose 1 to 2 lbs each week are more likely to keep off the weight than those who experience rapid weight loss. With that in mind, there’s still 2 more weeks of this challenge left. Let’s also not forget that working out isn’t just for the physical benefits, but also mental health.

Day 13 of Challenge #1 – Counter Inertia

Weekends are meant for sleeping in (unless you work on weekends, then I hope weekdays are there for you). A typical Saturday for me is sleeping in until 10 AM, depending on how late I stay up the night before, and rolling out of bed at noon…maybe later. On days like these, I tend to realize that I’m more lethargic the longer I stay in bed, even if I’m awake. Makes sense! My energy levels basically reflect Newton’s first law of physics, inertia: an object at rest stays at rest, while an object in motion stays in motion.

Despite knowing the obstacle that inertia presents, I struggle to get up and at ’em at a decent time if I don’t have a concrete reason to do so. I marvel (from the comforts of our bed) at how Hubby manages to get up at 8 AM to walk our pup and start his day, conquering his list of to-dos at full-force, as if the weekend was just any other day. I just don’t operate that way. Not surprisingly, it was established early in our relationship that Hubby’s a full-fledged morning person and that I am not.

This Saturday, though, I decided to shock myself into action as a way to overcome inertia. I didn’t force myself to get out of bed at an earlier time, but I did vow to exercise the moment I was ready to get on with the day. Once I had started moving, especially at a faster rate, it was easier to keep moving. I think this simple action propelled me to do more the rest of Saturday than if I had sluggishly gone about the day. In an ideal world, all Saturdays following this Saturday would have me out of bed the second I wake up and at the gym. We shall see what transpires in reality.

Day 12 of Challenge #1 – Proper Form

We’ve upped our game and decided to continue alternating our workouts: one day on the elliptical/one day of something else. Not only does it avoid monotony, it also helps work out different muscle groups. Don’t get us wrong—the elliptical’s great. It’s low-impact and benefits several muscle groups. The movements on it easily activate the lower body, and can also activate the core, arms, chest and back with a little extra work. The key to a total body workout on the elliptical is engaging the muscles and using proper form.

It turns out that focusing on form is essential to making any work out better. An improvement in stability, oxygen flow, and performance are just some of the benefits of proper form. And oh yeah, you’re less likely to hurt yourself (our highest priority)!

With that in mind, we decided to do the same routine I did 2 days ago: rowing machine, pectoral fly, rear deltoid, leg presses, pull downs, and a variation of the rowing move. Hubby started doing the rowing machine, but I saw that he was pulling with his back. After pointing that out, he straightened his back and started pulling with his arms instead. He ended the exercise using the machine properly, although he said it felt unnatural. I feel that in a couple weeks time though, it’ll feel more intuitive. Every day is a learning curve!

Day 11 of Challenge #1 – Support Those Arches

Dr. Scholl’s Orthotics for Plantar Fasciitis at Target

We were in a pickle on Thursday. Our tender feet made us question whether it was a smart idea to do cardio. We were still experiencing a mild case of plantar fasciitis, with the bottom of our soles sore to the touch. I read up a little and much like most ailments, the possible remedies for plantar fasciitis spans from at-home care to procedural options. A treatment can be as simple as RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) or popping an ibuprofen (Advil, etc.) or naproxen sodium (Aleve).

Our situation didn’t warrant any of the serious treatment options, but we did want a long-term solution to prevent the inflammation from flaring up again. Enter orthotics! We had gotten our workout shoes well over a year ago from Fleet Feet, a store that provides customized recommendations for your running needs. Turns out the shoe inserts we had gotten were practically worn down to the bone.

Depending on usage, shoe inserts tend to have a short life-span—about 6 months for normal wear and tear, less for extreme exercisers. We dropped a pretty penny for our last insoles, but didn’t want to shell out the same amount if we could avoid it. After researching reviews on several affordable orthotics, I landed on Dr. Scholl’s Orthotics for Plantar Fasciitis. The product had great reviews, was targeted to our specific issue, and was less than $15. We bought them, cut them down to our shoe-size, and placed them in our shoes. Our tender heels immediately felt supported and less painful. The results below don’t lie!

Day 10 of Challenge #1 – Diversify Your Workout

We’ve been using the elliptical for the past 8 workouts. It’s been fun-enough, but on Wednesday we decided to switch it up because: 1) I was experiencing plantar fasciitis and 2) it’s nice to have diversity. Hubby got an invitation to play racquetball, which allowed him to socialize while working out. I decided to hit the weight machines in an effort to start my journey of building some muscles.

When getting into the habit of exercising, there there’s nothing wrong with doing the same thing for awhile. After all, when I first resolved to do this challenge, my only aim was creating a routine so that working out would become more a part of my daily life. Having a desk job, it’s easy to pack on the pounds and not get enough physical activity, which I experienced. Still, experts recognize the benefits of switching up your workout routine—one of them being prevention of overuse injuries. There is also documented benefits of combining cardio and weight lifting to achieve maximum weight loss. Sign me up!

With this in mind, hubby played a little over 30 minutes of racquetball and burned a whopping 420 calories! My work out, while not as sweat-inducing, was also as challenging. I used the rowing machine for almost 4 minutes to row a distance of 500m. 4 minutes may not seem like a lot, but I tell ya, your arms turn to slush at the 2-minute mark (if you’re as untrained as I am). I also used the weight machines to do 3 sets of 10 reps of the following moves: pectoral fly, rear deltoid, seated leg press, pulldown, and a variation of rowing. I set all the machines to 30 lbs. because I’m a weakling right now. Still felt the burn!

The rowing machine tracked all these fancy things…half of which I need to figure out.

Same machine used for the pectoral fly and rear deltoid

Day 9 of Challenge #1 – Block the Clock

Struggles—the word that best sums up my Tuesday. I haven’t been off to a great start this week. My mood has fluctuated left, right, and center—from from being tired to feeling glimmers of optimism to flatlining around grumpiness. Perhaps I would be in a worse mood if I weren’t working out? Other external factors aside, devil’s advocate would suggest maybe not working out would lead to a better mood (or feeling less tired), but medical experts have proven otherwise.

Anyway, hubby and I did make it to the gym. Hubby felt like his workout time flew by. For me, the 30-minute workout felt like an eon. The seconds counted down like grains of sand in an hourglass. I was imagining all of the things I could do in 30-minutes as I was plodding away on the elliptical. X would take 5 minutes, Y would take 10, etc.

Usually, I would apply the opposite train of thought and think – you just wasted more than 30 minutes, you could have easily worked out. That was not the case this time. Instead, 15 minutes in, I had to block the monitor featuring the timer. It was easier to focus on the sounds coming out my headphones afterwards, and the time, even though a constant, felt like it moved faster. Yay for not giving up!

Day 8 of Challenge #1 – Soldier On

Mondays are rough, particularly when it feels like Friday was just yesterday. The beginning of the week brings about a case of “I don’t want to”: I don’t want to get out of bed, I don’t want to go to work, and I certainly don’t want to go work out. Sunday didn’t really feel like a rest day or day of rest for us. While we didn’t go to the gym, we didn’t get to lounge around either (we were busy tackling other things – a.k.a. life). In my dreams, 3-day weekends would be a thing.

But we must soldier on! We dragged ourselves to the gym because we are really trying to commit to our commitment. Working out is not ingrained in us yet, so it still feels like a chore. Maybe this feeling will change one day? Let’s hope. Right now feelings of guilt are attached to working out, as in, if I don’t go, I’ll feel bad. I’m hoping that’ll switch to, I want to go work out because I enjoy it. A girl can dream a lot of things…

Proof that we went to the gym even when we really didn’t want to

Day 7 of Challenge #1 – Small Victories

It was the first time in 7 days that we didn’t work out and truth be told, we didn’t miss it. It felt good to not have to fit going to the gym into our already jam-packed day. Sundays are rarely ever a day of leisure in our house. We’re doing errands, cleaning, meeting friends, meal prepping, and generally preparing for the week.

We did manage, though, to measure and weigh ourselves to see if we made any progress in the past week. Hubby lost 3 pounds; I lost 1…so is life. The centimeters didn’t really melt off either, barely, if I’m being honest (see below). BUT a positive difference, however small is still a win! It certainly beats gaining weight.

Also, I checked out FitAmbitiousBlonde’s post on body types and identify myself as an endomorph, which means the results might not come so quick. Hubby, on the other hand, seems to be closer to a mesomorph – lucky duck! We shall see how our body types come into play with any differences in the next 3 weeks.