Yes, sugar is just the devil in an angel costume… it’s legalized white powder… I love it so much. Thank you very much for your kind words @healingme and support. It means a lot.
Reminding me to love myself is hard… allowing me to actually love myself is even harder… I’ve struggled with that my whole life. But, I’ve learned that in order to allow myself to be successful I have to quit being the worst person in my life and quit all of the negative thoughts and feelings. Not being my own best friend has kept me from being the person I want to be and the person I know I am on the inside.
I am planning on working out… I believe in listening to your body and not overdoing it. So I have found I need consistency, otherwise I will not stay on track and I literally go off the reservation. I don’t do well with a few days a week… I need daily routines. I need consistent routines for when I go to the gym and for when I do the things that are important to me. So I do workout the same as I do when I am not fasting… and the same as I do when I’m not fasting, I listen to my body. If my body or mind is screaming at me not to work out, at worst I go to the gym and stretch, then go home. If I don’t really feel motivated to work out and 15 min into my workout I still don’t feel motivated, I stretch and call it a day. (Generally after about 15 min of working out the endorphins kick in and you feel motivated to work out… so on the off times they don’t, I listen to my body.) Sooo I have always done low weight and high reps as this helps keep muscles strong and lean… I’ve just started doing 4 sets of 20 reps on about 4-6 machines (depends on how much time I have), I do some abs, and IF I feel so motivated, I do some cardio on the treadmill or elliptical. I just started incorporating some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) into my cardio, where I do 1 min of running on the treadmill at a high speed (whatever I can tolerate - some people elect to do 30 seconds and a higher speed that they can maintain for 30 seconds, I prefer 1 min), then I rest with my feet on the sides of the treadmill (so I don’t have to adjust speed) for 1 min, then I start back again. I’ll do this for a set number of min… 10 min is 5 reps, 20 min is 10 reps, 30 min is only 15 reps… BUT AGAIN, the most critical part is listening to how YOUR BODY FEELS… If you just aren’t feeling right… I say stretch… If your head is pounding… I say stretch or do some walking or light jogging (sometimes walking or light jogging can actually help headaches)… if you feel dizzy, get some salt and minerals and watch your hydration and just do some stretching as soon as the feeling goes away.
For me, one of the most important parts of working out is that I maintain a healthy mental state about it… if every time you go to the gym, you are thinking… “Oh my god, this sucks…” or “Ugh, I’d rather be in bed…” etc. you aren’t going to feel very positive about your workout… if you walk into the gym telling yourself, “Alright, I’m gonna get it!” or “Working out and feeling sexy…” or whatever it takes, then I feel motivated. Something that also helps is by taking a breath, and forcing yourself to naturally smile (natural smiles also have squints around the eyes - one way you can tell if people are truly smiling or forcing a smile)… I’ve noticed that if I go into the gym and look down, don’t talk to anyone, and just do my own thing, then I don’t really feel like I should be there… I feel like I’m there “faking the funk” if you know what I mean… I’ve noticed that if I make myself smile naturally, and say good morning when I walk past people (so looking at and acknowledging people) that I feel like I belong and they look at me and acknowledge me back and help make me feel the same way… otherwise, for me going to a gym is too intimidating… Plus I’m naturally an introvert so it honestly takes a lot. I’ve learned though, that by doing these simple things, I see a lot of the same people, I talk to a lot of people, a lot of people actually talk to me, and I feel more like a part of the community, even if I’m not in good shape or the shape you would expect for an avid gym goer…
I got the 15 min from when I used to be a consistent runner and would regularly (4 days or so a week) run 10-15 miles at a given time… I almost always would do out and back runs… then on days I just didn’t feel like running, I would convince myself that I could do 15 min. I would go out on a run for 15 min, and if I decided I just wasn’t into it still, I would turn around and go back… so it was technically a forced 30 min run where I’d get in 3-4 miles, and I still felt like I was not going to be working out, because I only mentally did 15 min of running before turning around and going back… So anytime I do a cardio workout (even on the treadmill) I stick with my 15 min (although if it isn’t a down and back run, it’s only going to be a 15 min workout and not 30 min)… which is still good, because it takes at least 10 min for the endorphins to kick in and give me a mental chance to desire to complete my workout. Almost always if I workout for 15 min, I’ll feel like continuing and finishing my workout, so it really does help.