Today I learned a little lesson I should have considered as I embarked on this journey. As I have mentioned before, I’m practicing a way of eating called intermittent fasting. I eat within an eight hour period, usually about 9AM to 5PM and then I fast for the remaining 16 hours. This allows my digestion to be completed before I go to bed and also allows my body to rebuild and rejuvenate itself because it isn’t focused on digestion. While I sleep, there isn’t food sitting in my digestive tract in various stages of digestion and putrefying in there.
This is mostly a good thing and I really love waking up feeling like my stomach is empty. It makes me feel lighter. I also feel like I slept much more deeply and have more energy than if I had gone to bed on a full stomach. The downside however, is that if I want to go to the gym early in the morning, as I did this morning, it could be problematic. I got there, set myself up on the elliptical for a good start to my session, and promptly realized that my blood sugar had dropped. I was a little light-headed and didn’t feel quite right. I collected my belongings and went home so I could have breakfast. I had a couple of phone meetings and appointments this morning so I’ll have to go back to the gym later today. But I WILL go back. Remember…I’m changing habits. This little revelation is not going to derail my efforts to go to the gym more days than not.
What do you do when your plans to support your healthy lifestyle get derailed, at least temporarily? Do you let that blow up your whole day? Or do you work around the derailment and get back on track?
A few months ago, I might have used my blood sugar issue as a reason to leave and not go back. But that really doesn’t serve me in my commitment to improving my diet, my exercise and my lifestyle. I know I need to eat a few hours before going to the gym. I want to exercise on a somewhat empty stomach so I can use stored fat as my energy. I also do not want to exercise on a stomach that hasn’t been fed in over 14 hours. So I’ll go back to exercising later in the day after I’ve had two or three meals. That seems to work best for me. Everyone is different and it’s important to find what works best and is on a schedule you can consistently follow.
Try to get at least 30 minutes of movement in your day every day. Movement should get your heart rate up a bit, if you aren’t actually exercising but optimally, you should be actually exercising at least thirty minutes daily. If you have a desk job, make sure you consume half your body weight in ounces of water so you have no choice but to get up to use the rest room. That rule applies to everyone but desk jockeys tend to not move much during the day when they’re consumed by their work.
The bottom line is, as always, find a program that works for you so that you can incorporate healthy lifestyle changes a little at a time and you consistently adhere to your healthy choices. Once you see the changes in your energy, your body and how you feel over all, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it years ago.
As a health coach, I work with women who are facing serious health challenges like heart disease, metabolic syndrome and diabetes or who have been diagnosed as having a precursor to a serious health issue such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol or high blood sugar. I help them make food and lifestyle changes so they can get healthy, live longer and enjoy a fuller, happier, more energetic life. If you would like to have a free consultation about the health challenges you have and the improvements you would like to see in your health, click here to schedule a no strings attached call.
