I Trained Like a Fitness Influencer for 120 Days: Week 3

Read Week 1, Week 2.

Do fitness influencers cheat on their diet and exercise when no-one’s looking? Because I sure did. It seems pretty early on to take a break, but I needed a week-long break. It seems that ultra-regimented life might break some minds.

What started as a little fire under my butt and an exciting journey into fitness and mental wellness turned into a mini-breakdown where I questioned life. I felt overwhelmed, overworked, and under-appreciated. The Covid-19 lockdown might be getting to me as every part of my life turned into a strict routine and a to-do list segment.

So, while Weeks 1 and 2 saw me struggle with diet, week 3 turned into a non-work week where I skipped all forms of exercise in lieu of garden work. I turned to raking, weeding, and digging up dirt to relieve the mental tension. This ultimately supplemented my non-workout week while I reset the eating habits back to more normal proportions without the endless snacking. Working out nearly every day gave me an insatiable appetite in the previous weeks, making it nearly impossible to stick to a strict diet while I was on the workout plan.

The (New) Week 3

I gave up on meal planning this week. The veggies keep going bad and I can’t keep up with cooking for the entire household on a consistent basis with the meal plans provided by the fitness influencers. It’s a great idea if you have a personal chef or you’re living alone, but not when there’s a family waiting on a meal three times a day.

Instead, I’m simply focusing on eating foods that satiate without being overly unhealthy. I’m making tuna salads, bean salads, and quesadillas with whole-grain tortillas to keep me satisfied. I’m also starting to use the protein powder again for shakes in between meals.

The most realistic route here seems to be eating within calorie boundaries without obsessing. The constant obsession over macro-counting and health levels leads me to ultimately over-eat as I fool myself into thinking that I’m somehow depriving myself.

The Body Changes

Absolutely none so far. In fact, I feel like I’ve gained weight since the progress shots in week 1. My midriff is a bit pudgier and my hip flexors hurt a lot more. Not the changes I was looking for, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this is temporary.

I do feel stronger, especially since I was able to move fully felled trees in my yard last week. I dragged enormous trunks and branches to the side of the yard as I worked on clearing it after a long winter. This is a pretty good indication that I’m on my way to entering the Strong Woman competition..Kidding.

I thought I'd be ripped by week 3- instead, I was just exhausted and burned out.

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Nataliya Ogle

Founder

Nataliya Ogle likes making sure others live to their full potential. She publishes articles on her primary website styletomes.com and works as a freelance writer for other women's interest sites. Her physical body is in New York but her presence can almost always be found online. The internet is her first love.

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