My Health and Fitness Regime
My new health and fitness regime is working.
With my last blog, I had a habit of posting my fitness and health regimes. It spurred a new blog that eventually became defunct in 2016.
My Current Routines
Last year Saigon was locked down for 5 months. I did not go to the gym for nearly 6 months. Despite being locked in, I was above to lose 10 kilos (22 lbs) from the previous year.
One of the biggest exercise changes I made during the 5 months was to add a cardio workout inside my room. Mostly, I just jogged around my room for 30-45 minutes. I played YouTube podcasts on my computer to help keep me focussed on continuing my routines.
It worked. I could lose weight during the 5 months.
I also changed my dietary practices as well. Before the lockdown, I had a habit of eating dinner between 7-and 9 PM. Last July, I gave intermittent fasting a try. I have not looked back.
Since the lockdown ended, I maintain my in-room cardio workouts and intermittent fasting. I also added back my weightlifting workouts when the gyms reopened. I go to the gym between 3 to 4 times per week now. On my off days, I will do cardio work at home.
How do I track my vitals?
For two years, I have tracked my health vitals with my Garmin Vivoactive 3 watch. I gather the trend and then input all of them into my Excel spreadsheet. I do this daily.
Previously I used my Fitbit watches, but I feel Garmin watches do a better job of collecting the data that I need.
The trends I get from my data have helped me reshape my diet and regimes. In the past, I tried veganism and a strict vegetarian diet. It lasted about 6 months and then I switched to a pescatarian diet. The chart above makes it seem I eat a lot of meat, but the amounts of fish, chicken, or the occasional red meat, are small in portions. I limit how much meat I eat.
As I mentioned above, I also intermittent fast from 7 PM to 11 AM every day. Yesterday I fasted until about 1:30 PM.
One enormous improvement in my alternative lifestyle is that my resting heart rate is better. I used to have an average resting heart rate in the mid to high 60s. Now I get it in the high 50s.
Watch the below video about the benefits of fasting. Yes, I know the New York Times just posted an article that found no benefit to time-restricted eating. Research is still early.
I will update my progress more often. I plan to post more of my workouts again.