My Fitness Journey: Part 2

Hi guys, welcome back!! Here is the second post of “My Fitness Journey”. If you missed last weeks’ post, you can find it here!:)

Writing this post was actually a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, only because it was so hard deciding what to share, and how to share it, and how to make everything flow. I kindof call this my “figuring it out stage.” If that makes sense.

So without further ado

THE MIDDLE

During my senior year, a few months before heading off to Baylor, I let myself add on a few extra pounds, but nothing drastic. I knew that I wasn’t going to let myself gain the freshman 15 though. Nope, not this girl. Not the girl who worked so hard to lose the weight in the first place.

OH HAILLLL NO WAS THAT GOING TO HAPPEN!!

Well, it did.  #awkward & it happened all before the fall semester had even started. I went to Baylor and started classes at the beginning of July, so I was a month ahead of everyone in the gaining weight department.

( Poor Eating and Cardio )

By this time, I had gained half the weight back that I had previously lost. But how was this happening?! I wasn’t doing anything that different. I mean, I was still working out?

Like we (a group of 8 girls #freshman) would go to the SLC everyday and do cardio for like 25 minutes and then abs. Like WHYYYY was I gaining weight??? And it’s not like I was eating any differently from them… like we all ate pretty healthy, right? I mean, they were skinny and we were doing like the same things?

Sound similar to earlier?

I had lost focus. I lost focus to MY fitness journey. I forgot that I am not like everyone. I am not naturally thin, I wasn’t born with a 6-pack. I lost focus on the fact that I have to work harder. I forgot the number one rule in that you cannot ever compare yourself to somebody else, because everyone is different.

By the end of Freshman year, I really noticed how much I had gained, so once again, I cut out all fast food/soda/white bread. By doing this, I was able to lose some weight by the fall, but it wasn’t until Christmas time of my Sophomore year that I decided I needed to step up my game. I started doing a lot of research, and realized that the biggest mistake I had been making the past year, was that I stopped doing weights. When I began lifting, I saw almost immediate results, and I was hooked. I could rant for days how amazing weights are for you, but this is long enough already.

Side note – I cannot solely blame only doing cardio and not doing weights as my reasoning for gaining my weight back. While that did play a major role, so did the partying. I was drinking way more than I should have been (so much sugar!), and had way too many Chick-fi-la // froyo // Whataburger runs. The combination of eating poorly, and thinking that a little bit of cardio was going to make up for my poor eating habits was the root cause of my weight gain. 

(The picture to the left is with clean eating & cardio only,  then the picture to the right is after three months of weight training & clean eating)

I followed the plan below for over three years. Each workout was about an hour long, consisting of 45 minutes of weight training and around 15 minutes of cardio.

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Monday: Legs – 10 mins on bike

Tuesday: Shoulders – 15 – 20min stair stepper

Wednesday: Cardio – Run Bear Trail (little < 3 miles)

Thursday: Back – 15 to 20 min stair stepper

Friday: Arms – 15 to 20 min stair stepper

Saturday: Chest – Run Bear Trail

Sunday: Yoga

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For three years, my life revolved around that workout plan and eating a set diet. It was a lot easier to find time to work out at Baylor than it is now. I talked a little bit about it in this post. The difference is, while in school, you have a lot more personal time than you do when you graduate. I don’t know how to explain it, but I am telling you right now, BAYLOR DOES NOT WARN YOU ABOUT THIS. Baylor does not warn you that once you graduate, you will not have time for life. Plus, due to walking campus, I moved so much more compared to now, #deskjob. 

Diet wise – absolutely no fast food, soda, or white bread. Only fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats and whole oats for this girl (To this day I still eat like this, but I am more lenient).

Are you guys catching on to how  big of a deal it is to cut out fast food, soda, and white bread? Okay, cool. Just making sure.

 I want to say, this was a great routine for me, & it could be a great routine for you to follow too! I will post soon on the exact work out I did for each day.  What I want you guys to get out of this post is, how important weight training and clean eating are in reaching your goals. As well as how important it is to not compare your fitness journey to others, because as I said above we are all different. 

Thank you guys for stopping by!

xo,

Lauren