I am already on my 4th sprint and it has its own share of challenges. I stopped tracking my fasting behavior as that has been automatic to me on the last 2 sprints.
My lack of sleep is a challenge. I became more conscious of this as my 2 fast interruptions took place at night. I hope to get to 8 to 12 hours sleeping time soon and use that as part of my fasting times.
I tried going back to juicing on my 3rd sprint. However, I was not successful in making it as a meal replacement. However, I intend to try it again soon.
My love for rice still remains. However, I intend to balance it by replacing it veggies from time to time. To make raw vegetables easier to digest, I will try fermenting them (or eat kimchi instead).
Commitment
I downloaded the
Zero Fasting application. I will use this to track my fasting, take on challenging fasting activities, and monitor eating hours.
I also decided to listen to my body more. Take a break from my exercising if I have body pains. Take a break from working if I feel my neck is beginning to get strained, among others. Although this affects my daily exercise routine at this time. However, I will begin experimenting with routines, alternating them, so I won't be doing the same daily.
When I indulge more than usual, I feel that heaviness inside even when I am already in fasting mode and had to get them out in my system. It is hard to say in absolute that food is not a reward or consolation as I still find myself in eating situation from time to time. However, I am more conscious of it and can bounce back. Hopefully, gradually improve each time.
How do you want to look like?
Whenever I meet a prospective coach, I usually get asked how do I want to look like a year from now. I have seen my old photos through Facebook memories that reminded of my "fit" state and in a lot of those, I was not exactly in my happy times. I was getting fit not for myself.
A year from now - JULY 10, 2020 - here are some of the things I am thinking of:
- I would like to be healthy enough to qualify as a regular blood donor. I will see how far I am in that state on or before the end of this year.
- I would like to continuously lose weight. At least 1 pound a month and be capable of keeping it off. It will be great to fit into medium-sized clothing again soon.
- Be active in swimming, badminton, and running. Do any of it monthly will be awesome.
Rewards
I intend to reward myself for every 5 pounds of weight loss with something interesting non-food treat. This incentive can go in tandem with my reward after completing every 4 sprints.
Reflection
If my sprint 4 will end as intended, I hope to be able to lose 5 pounds already since I started my first sprint. Here are some of the changes I observed that occurred to me during this time:
- Physically - I exercise regularly. My routine now looks like 40 each of jumping jacks, squats, modified push-up, lunges (on each side), sit-ups (plus leg reach), hip lifts, leg extensions, leg/hip raise, burpees, etc. Around 400 repetition count in total per day. Focused on the balance and intensity of the exercise rather than duration at this time.
- Emotionally - My tracking worksheet helps me focus and bring me back to the zone whenever I tend to falter at times. I now consciously reflect why those things happened in a rational manner. I also find it emotionally rewarding whenever I "graduate" or "remove" a tracking parameter in my worksheet recognizing it as an "auto" behavior already for me.
- Intellectually - I learned more about fasting and diet this past 2 months. That awareness is a big help to my journey and in sharing it to others. I developed new routines as well such as drinking coffee with stevia in the morning to maximize its benefits.
- Spiritually - In my 3rd sprint, I started including Bible reading and hope to gradually improve on this in the sprints to come. I want to tie-in fasting as a spiritual exercise in the long run.
When I think about dieting, losing weight, and exercise, my attitude about it has changed a lot. It is not necessarily a punishment and a reward anymore. It is an investment I have to make to make my family, personal, purpose, and legacy aspirations a reality.
Coaching
My breakthrough in this journey came in when I finished 1 of 3 coaching programs I enrolled in last April. I still have to finish the other 2 on my plate and intend to complete it this July.
I now use the knowledge, certification, and my own journey in developing new habits to help others in overcoming their challenges. Being able to share my own self-leadership challenges and how I gradually cope with it (including faltering and bouncing back) helps in my teaching, mentoring, and coaching engagements.
Growing the Community
I started the
Self-Leadership: Towards Better Health community last June 14. I was at first uncertain on whether this will make a dent or not. I am glad to find community members who took the time to answer the same questions as I did while they are also pursuing their own journey. We are 33 members as of this writing and hope to grow more in the months to come.
I only share the group through my blog post to ensure that those who join have a genuine interest in the topic.
Also to those whom I have seen are active in their pursuit of self-improvement or have programs aligned to it.
