Welcome to Week 2 of my journal as I share with you my journey to improving my own health as I strive to help others do the same. In case you missed it, click the link below to read Week 1 to better understand why I am tracking certain metrics.
Last Sunday…the Super Bowl. I enjoyed watching the game. I enjoyed some good Super Bowl snacks. I however did not enjoy how that one off day made some of the rest of my days feel…namely as a result of my sleep being off.
I had to fight to stay awake to watch the end. How dare it be a close game and I just couldn’t go to bed knowing who won?! For someone who is barely up past 9:30pm most nights, that 11:30pm bedtime did me in. I woke up Monday morning thinking, “I already can’t wait to go to bed tonight!”
I did try to “bank” some extra sleep the night before, but it still didn’t change how I felt the next day. Thankfully for the most part, I was able to be more consistent the remainder of the week. I am striving for that 7-hour minimum (missed it by a minute the one night!) and was able to accomplish that. My next goal is to get to 7 1/2 hours consistently. I was able to get that 4 out of 7 days this week, so I will consider that a small win. I do have one other outlier for bedtimes this week and that was Saturday night where I worked 4 hours at my per diem nursing job. You won’t know about Sunday till next week, but I did sleep 7 hours last night.
Other data up above is also my workout schedule. I strive to get my workout done each day between 12p and 2p. Except for Saturday where I held a seminar at the gym that didn’t get done till just after 12, I was able to be consistent with that. Being 1 hour off is not something that bothers me as it is still relatively close to my routine workout time.
Next, my adherence to my goal macros.
I didn’t track on Super Bowl Sunday. I prioritized high protein, low fat foods in the morning, as well as my carb-based meal pre-workout. In the afternoon, I enjoyed some foods I don’t regularly eat. At any time, I didn’t feel as though I was eating beyond what I had a desire to eat. I never at any time felt like I was over-eating. I have no regrets about what I ate on Sunday.
Monday, I did deal with cravings and I believe it was secondary to poor sleep the night before. I actually took a short nap on the couch when I got home from the gym and when I woke up, the cravings had passed. I ate supper and moved on with my evening.
Wednesday was another challenging day for me. I kind of slept in a little (again…Sunday night carrying over into the rest of my week) and was in a rush in the morning…and felt like I was rushed the rest of the day. As a result, I didn’t get around to tracking or preparing some things. My networking group had a special breakfast that morning and it is likely that I overate according to my macros for the day and that is why I went ahead and yellowed that line out for the day. I ate a bigger breakfast than normal because I knew I didn’t have time to pack/prepare my “second breakfast” and wouldn’t have anything else to eat before my lunch around noon. I am not a person who likes to be rushed and I had to manage through that all day that day. Live and learn!
The remainder of the days in the week, I was in alignment with my goals. Sometimes I can be challenged by “off” days and I am proud of myself for bouncing back into my routine for the most part.
Next is my hydration.
I knew I’d likely be eating outside my goals on Super Bowl Sunday, but I knew I could still hit my hydration target. I am happy to have accomplished my goal average of 100 ounces of water a day or better. Again, Wednesday was my “off” day where we see how something else was affected by my lack of planning, preparation, or prioritization.
Next, my “outside time” (the data in the right column)
I am happy with how I did this week. I continue to gradually increase each day. Having to shovel snow twice this week helped! Some other days, I had to make the intentional decision to get out and go for a walk. Although I much prefer to do it when it’s daylight, I did have to settle for one night where it was getting dark. Perfect is the enemy of good and I am happy with my data here this week because it is definitely more than I was prioritizing or doing before I started being mindful of this.
Lastly, my daily weight:
A bit of fluctuation this week. I expected a weight shift following consumption of salty foods that I don’t normally eat, but it was bigger than I was expecting. I also knew my sleep was trash the night before and don’t rule out that impacting my metrics as well. I then had my anticipated weight fluctuation Saturday morning following my favorite Friday meal. I didn’t dwell on the number each day and focused more on staying the course and had that gradual trend down. Sunday morning, I woke up and was at 171.4.
There have been times in the past where knowing my weight in the morning, if it was higher than I was anticipating, I would sometimes feel “heavy.” Sometimes I’d carry that feeling into my training and wouldn’t feel like I performed well that day. This week however, I didn’t feel like that. If anything, I felt mildly dragged down by my sleep being off.
In conclusion, despite some challenges this week that I had to work to overcome, I did have some better moments!
- I got a PR on my Power Clean for the second week in a row. That number has barely moved in years and I have improved upon it twice in the past 2 weeks!
- I got a PR on my Close Grip Bench Press this week as well! Upper body strength is something I have to work really hard for and I appreciate signs of improvement there.
- I enjoyed my aerobic intervals workout and am happy with my paces and efforts there.
- I got outside each day, even on the days I didn’t feel like it.
Some lessons from the week:
- Just because one aspect of your day is thrown off, doesn’t mean your whole day is a waste. For example, I strived to make sure at least my hydration was on point for Super Bowl Sunday even when I knew other things would be off.
- Planning, prioritization, and preparation will always help a day go much smoother. My win for the upcoming week would be to not have another Wednesday!
Thank you for following along and I will catch up with you again next week!