For the majority of the year, gyms have been closed which has made staying in shape really hard. Personally, I lose any and all motivation for working out at home. There’s something about being close to my bed or laptop – where I watch all of my shows – that entices me to forget staying in shape and becoming a couch potato. Whereas, when my school gym was open, you could find me there three or four days of the week for hours, putting in the work.
However, that doesn’t stop me from buying equipment that I think will motivate me to start working out at home. I bought a jump rope and an ab roller wheel from Amazon a few months ago and have used it, maybe, three times since it came in. I also bought a waist trainer, thinking that maybe it’d work to rearrange my organs the way others have found it useful. HA! It just made it hard to breathe and made me feel stupid for giving into fitness trends that don’t produce the outcomes that hard work does.
So, I did a little research. Everything that I found about nutrition and losing weight has repeated the same thing. Calorie deficit in combination with working out! This means that you need to eat less while doing some type of cardio and toning exercises. For calorie deficit, people have found that eating a lot of fruits and vegetables not only fills them up but also doesn’t use up a lot of their calories for the day. As for cardio and toning, it should be based on preference and ability.
Personally, I find it easier to eat based on a meal plan and so I researched the keto diet since I found it to be highly recommended. The standard keto diet entails eating 70% fats, 20% protein, and 10% carbs. Studies have found that it has health benefits for cancer, epilepsy, heart disease, and more. Essentially the body uses fat for energy versus carbs.
So taking into consideration everything I researched about the keto diet and weight loss in general, I put my plan into action. I made a grocery list full of vegetables, skinless chicken breast, and certain fats like butter and avocado. I found keto recipes that included easy meals for when I am super busy and different desserts, which I found pretty surprising.
In addition to eating on a meal plan, I’ve started walking about two miles around my neighborhood a few times a week. I end each walk by doing ab exercises, leg toning exercises, arm toning exercises, and 10 minutes of jumping rope. Most of the exercises I found didn’t need equipment but with the use of resistance bands and small dumbbells that I happened to buy a while ago (which have just been sitting in my room without purpose), I found that I could expand my exercise plan and work my muscles better.
After three months of consistency and effort on my journey, I lost 15 pounds. While this may not seem like a lot, it’s a healthy amount for the time span and it’s about half of what I want to lose. Not only did I feel healthier, but I felt better about my body and could see the changes. I looked more toned, and my pants fit loosely which, in my mind, means I must be doing something right.
However, due to not working for a month now because of COVID isolation for multiple reasons, the weight that I worked so hard to get rid of has come back. I’ve had no money to purchase groceries and eat healthily, and being isolated in my room, my depression and not being able to go outside has made it hard to do cardio or have the motivation to do toning exercises in my room. While my mind wants to believe that not eating would make me a skinny legend, I know that’s not how it works. Believe me, my depression has created a lack of appetite, so I think barely eating for a month and gaining weight has proven that it doesn’t work.
The last four months have taught me that losing weight and not gaining it back is a lifestyle, a healthy lifestyle. While I may not go back to the keto diet when I have money to afford food again, it definitely has taught me about proportion sizes and what’s better to eat versus their alternatives. In the end, a diet isn’t supposed to last forever, but it’s the teachings of the diet that stick with us.
