How I Choose to Schedule + Week 2 Weigh-In

Scheduling

I have always found getting started was difficult, but keeping myself accountable was more challenging. It’s so easy to say that I need to exercise, or that I need to eat better overall. Reluctantly, I give Keto a try or try intermittent fasting. After 2-3 months, I make enough progress to become noticeable on the scale and in the mirror, but stop when I reach a minor victory. I don’t create new goals, or push myself to be better. So, I’ve decided to link my exercise to something I do religiously from October to June each year. Keep reading for more!

On the left is a screenshot of my calendar app. It’s hidden in plain-sight, but most of my scheduled days and times for workouts are right there. I get a notification the morning of, and I can make sure my partner knows. After all, life is busy and it’s hard to commit time to a workout when I could be doing something like homework, parenting, cooking, or something fun and relaxing. “Life is busy” is a cliché, and an overused excuse for me.

Before, I would think “I need to go to the gym 3 or 4 times a week”, but could never settle on a set schedule, and would choose not to go Monday or Tuesday because I could always go on Thursday or Friday. Come Thursday and Friday, I didn’t want to either. So what is a time and schedule I could adhere to, that takes the schedule out of my control, and ensures I got to the gym consistently? Spoiler, it rhymes with Mancouver Manucks.

I have always loved hockey, and I watch my favorite team, the Vancouver Canucks, almost religiously. Pictured on the right is Elias Petterson, who is the Canucks’ best player, and the best Swedish born player since Daniel and Henrik Sedin to don the black, flying-skate jersey. I could write a blog just about the Canucks, but with how their season has gone, it would just be too depressing.

Since I am already going to watch the games, and it was easier to not have to schedule the time myself, I decided that game-time would be my workout-time. On game day, I open up my TELUS TV+ app that connects me to all the channels I have at home; I stream the game from my gym, and typically stay for the first 2 periods, if not the whole game.

Since December 26th, I have only missed three game workouts: January 21st, I was in Vancouver to see the game against the Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid live. I may not have been exercising, but my heart was racing cheering for Bruce Boudreau in his final game as head coach; and, on January 25th and 27th while recovering from illness. Fun fact: There was two other players in this photo, but they were Oilers and needed to be magically erased. (Photo by Tyler Dean)

So far, I have found this to be a successful strategy to ensure my weight-loss and overall fitness keeps on track. Typically, there is at least 3 games per week, sometimes 4. On top of the scheduled hockey games, this semester’s class schedule is great for getting me to the MacKinnon gym. On Mondays and Thursdays, my cohort has our Health and Physical Education in the MacKinnon building from 10:00-11:20am. Our next class starts at 1:00pm; usually, 3-4 of us go to the free MacKinnon gym from 11:30-12:20, giving us plenty of time to get changed, eat lunch, and get to our next class in Maclaurin. Having someone to go with has been incredibly motivating.

Further scheduling considerations I want to explore include meal plans and/or carb cycling(just heard about it today). However, things like particular diets or intermittent fasting have not worked for me long-term because of its expense, and because it’s time consuming to sometimes have to make separate meals. It’s much easier to make one meal that everyone can eat. I would also need to be able to fit something like carb cycling with my workout schedule.

Weekly Weigh-In

Don’t I look so lively at 6am? (meme is in reference to week 2’s photo)
I was really excited about the Free-Inquiry, so I posted my first free-inquiry post early on the 17th. At that time, my measurements were:
Weight: 259lbs/117.5kg
BMI: 37.2
Fat Mass: 92.8lbs
Body Fat %: 35.8%
Skeletal Muscle: 89.6lbs

Today, January 31st, my new measurements are:
Weight: 256.6lbs/116.4kg ( ↓ 2.4lbs)
BMI: 36.8 ( ↓ 0.4)
Fat Mass: 90.2lbs ( ↓ 2.6lbs)
Body Fat %: 35.2% ( ↓ 0.6%)
Skeletal Muscle: 89.8lbs ( ↑ 0.2lbs)

Although the weight loss has been more gradual than I am used to, I am quite happy with the results so far. My endurance during cardio has increased, I’m able to lift slightly heavier things, and I’m not feeling winded crossing campus or going up or down a flight of stairs. In general, I just feel better than I did physically, and I am starting to notice some changes in the mirror too. Tune in next week for another update, and to learn more about three pieces of tech that I use on a daily basis for tracking my progress and so much more!

Thank you for digging down to the bottom of this post! You’ve earned these 🙂

(Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash)