Get-Fit-February

I was talking to a friend of mine this morning discussing how we couldn't believe it was already February. She is going on a trip in about two and a half weeks so the conversation turned inevitably to expressing concern over getting in shape for her trip and how we hated the dreaded "bikini countdown". That terrifying moment where you realize you only have x number of days to get into shape because you'll have no choice but to be in a bikini. 

This lead of course to the both of us mentioning how we both are unhappy with how we look at the moment weight wise, and how we need to start eating better and actually get off our asses and go to the gym, as January was a particularly bad month for both of us in that sense. She even happened to mention how she can't stand to look in the mirror these days. 

Thus the creation of Get-Fit-February. Other possible names included No-Fat-February, Fuck-Fat-February, Stop-Being-A-Fat-Fat-Fatty-February, and Fuck-Get-Off-Your-Fucking-Ass-February, but they didn't seem as fitting for our purposes and were a tad wordy. 

Our goal/ my goal for this month is to actually go to the gym every day. Or to do some sort of workout or exercise, however big or small (preferably big, but there are always those rough days and something is better than nothing). 

I am terrible with working out. I hate it. I am not a gym person. I like the results and how I feel with all the endorphins and what not, but it is next to impossible to actually get myself to go. This is also why I tend to use diet to control my weight primarily. I find it much easier to just not eat than to burn off calories. 

People are sometimes surprised when they find out I don’t go to the gym, because I will eat in front of them, don’t work out and am not obese ( at the moment) but what they don’t see is the times I’ll restrict like crazy to compensate. It’s not exactly the healthy way to do it but it’s what I find the “easiest” and takes the least amount of time.

Anyways, about actually working out. The last time I actually managed to go to the gym consistently is when I was competing with my housemate in a similar kind of workout every day challenge thing so that's why I have a little bit of hope that I could potentially pull this off. 

I managed to convince myself to go to the gym today at least, which is a small accomplishment as getting started seems to always be the hardest part. Unfortunately it was crazy busy and I didn’t get as good of a workout as I would have liked but I’m hoping it’ll improve if I go every day.

Also managed to stay under my calorie limit for the day. I consider the amount listed on the ABC diet list for each day to be the upper limit of what I can consume, because I’m not going to force myself to eat more if I don’t feel hungry or want to.

Food for today

-Eggs with green peppers and mushrooms cooked with a bit of olive oil on toast

-Coffee with sugar and milk (they were out of sweetener unfortunately)

-Dried Mangos (my housemate offered them and I couldn’t resist)

Cal- 350

Just as a side note is anyone else paranoid that the nutritional information on stuff is wrong or that you measured or counted wrong and that you had more than you thought and you’re actually consuming way more calories than you accounted for? This is why I normally add 10% of my total calories to my calculated total for the day, just to cover my ass.

I also don’t trust the machines at the gym that say how many calories you burned, or online calculators for other exercise so I choose to not factor that in at all. It’s a pass/fail kind of thing for me with working out, I either did or I didn’t. I try to push myself harder each day but I don’t base it on calories burned.

This not counting what I burn at the gym mindset of mine has to do with an article I once read than people will eat more to compensate for the fact that they are working out, as they feel entitled to it, which works for some people but not all. The problem is that a lot of people apparently undo any progress they made at the gym when they adopt this mindset.

 At the end of the day its calories in/calories out so its great that you burned 300 calories at the gym but if you eat 300 calories as a reward for working out you aren’t going to make progress. Yes, you could argue working out builds muscle, which increases the total amount of calories you burn in a day so it’s not as big deal but it still slows progress none-the-less. I just don’t want to fall into this trap so I eat as though I was completely sedentary all day. 

So in summary:

Calories: under allotted amount = Pass

Exercise: worked out = Pass