Holiday Food Freedom

As the holiday season approaches, not only are the streets and stores laced with dazzling decorations, holiday treats are also beginning to crowd the scene. From shortbread cookies to exotic cheeses to Christmas edition chocolates—how is one supposed to stay on their fitness train?

I remember I used to feel so anxious and stressed about the holiday season because of the surfeit of dine-outs, gatherings, baked goods, and drinking that threatened my fitness goal. I couldn’t show up at dinners and not eat without being rude, neither would the decadent celebratory meals meet my dietary criteria. For years and years, I used to either starve myself until the party or punish myself with cardio after the parties, just to burn a little more calories.

I want to share some of my struggles and lessons-learned with you, in the hopes that could avoid some of the angst and guilt that I used to feel. There are three tips that I found particularly helpful at arriving at holiday food freedom—both physically and psychologically.

Tip 1: Ditch the All or Nothing Mentality

As I’ve mentioned in my previous post: 6 Tips for Weight Loss and Healthier Lifestyle, the All or Nothing Mentality is detrimental to one’s fitness journey, particularly if you are looking for long-term, sustainable results. For me, I had noticed that the All or Nothing Mentality had often triggered binge eating, because I’d think to myself: If I am already off track, I might as well just make a cheat day out of it and get back on track tomorrow. Except, that is not how the law of thermodynamics works. Our caloric intake and expenditure don’t cap off according to a 24-hour clock when the clock strikes midnight. All the additional calories I had consumed, was carried over to the next day or even to the next few days until my body burns them off, or stores them as fat. Therefore, instead of throwing all of your hard work away, enjoy what you wanted to eat and stop there!

Tip 2: Nourish Your Body

Tackling fitness as a lifelong goal is imperative in changing your paradigm about food. Not all calories provide equitable value to your body. Nourishing your body with nutrient-dense foods first will not only better regulate your hunger level, it will help keep your insulin level more stable when you consume other snacks/desserts later. Another benefit to this? You will also have less room for other treats that may make you feel guilty! Win-win.

Tip 3: Give Yourself Permission

Give yourself permission to indulge in the time with your loved ones. Since losing my grandparents some months ago, I have been reconsidering the priorities in my life. I wish I had shared more meals with them. I wish I had learned my grandma’s recipe. I wish I had focused on the conversations with them over our meals shared, rather than quietly counting calories and macronutrients in my head.

Exercise is king. Nutrition is queen. Put them together and you’ve got a kingdom.

Jack LaLanne

I also want to acknowledge that these Tips are harder said than done. Even after years of practicing, I still sometimes find myself feeling guilty for having over-indulged and wanting to abstain from eating the next day to make up for the caloric surplus from the night before. But all things worth fighting for are deserving of hard work and nothing and no one else is more worth fighting for than your health and mental wellbeing. So don’t give up! Keep working on it!

Happy Holidays💙

Recipe for Building a Healthy Lifestyle

Discipline and Consistency, Plus a Splash of Flexibility

Some time in the last few years, “Discipline” and “Consistency” have become two High Frequency Sight Words in self-help books and motivational essays. As an ‘everyday girl’, I wholeheartedly subscribe to the significance of them both. HOWEVER, what I think is not as commonly communicated, is the Flexibility that can symbiotically coexist with Discipline and Consistency. In fact, I believe that in order to achieve lifelong Consistency, one would REQUIRE Flexibility in their practice.

So often, there is this rigidity that is associated (or even celebrated) by those who are considered to be Consistent and Disciplined. The ‘5am-club’, the ’16-8 intermittent-fasts’, the ‘keto diet’, the ‘upper-lower-recovery workout split’ — just to name a few. Don’t get me wrong. Those routines and habits are great; there is nothing inherently wrong with them. Except, how often is life neat and tidy, such that it allows you to rigidly execute those routines?

Flexibility is Paramount

The ‘All or Nothing’ mentality is one that often causes people to stay astray when your routine gets interrupted. Here’s what I mean:

  • “I need 45 minutes to finish my set and I only have 20 minutes left before I have to go. Might as well just skip it.”
  • “With all my friends visiting from out of town, I’m going to be having dinners at restaurants all week. Might as well take this week off as ‘cheat week’ and go back on my regular diet when they’re gone.”

Now, imagine adding Flexibility to your routine and execution. On the days when you are not delivering the most ideal outcome, you can still show up and move towards your goal:

  • A 20-minute workout is better than no workout at all.
  • Just because you are having dinners with friends that may not align with your dietary goals, it doesn’t mean you have to sabotage your breakfast and lunch, too.

Healthy Lifestyle is a Lifelong Endeavour

“Becoming limitless involves mental agility; the ability to quickly grasp and incorporate new ideas and concepts with confidence.”

—Lorii Myers

As we expand our minds about science, nutrition, and fitness, it is important that we consciously pivot and grow our routine. Healthy lifestyles are not built in a day. Give yourself some grace, allow some flexibility and fluidity as you intentionally and consistently move towards your goal. You will sooner reach the results that you are looking for than you would with a rigid routine!

Rigidly Disciplined – All or nothing mentality, which included uncontrollable episodes of binges, followed by punitive fasts and cardio sessions.
Flexibly Disciplined – Any opportunity towards taking care of my body and mind are cherished. I am much happier and stronger now!

6 Tips for Weight Loss and Healthier Lifestyle

THANK YOU for all your generous support of my writing endeavour! It really means the world to me.🤍

As a way of giving back, I thought I’d start a series on Health and Fitness—something that I am unabashedly passionate about, and have invested an obscene amount of time researching on—in the hope that it could be of some use to you.

If you have recently decided to embark on your Health and Fitness and/or Weight Loss journey but are not sure of where to start, here are some simple, easy-to-follow tips!

1. There Are No Quick-fixes

The only guarantees in life are death and taxes. There are no quick-fixes, no guaranteed rules that will help anyone lose weight miraculously. If anyone were to tell you otherwise, they are lying to you.

2. Calories In and Calories Out

The law of thermodynamics is strictly what governs the success (or failure) of your weight loss journey. To burn a pound of body fat, you will need to reach a deficit of around 3,500 calories. When you have reached a deficit of 3,500 calories, then you will lose a pound! No magic, just math.

In order to calculate your caloric deficit, you will need to first figure out how many calories you roughly burn every day, which is also known as your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). This entry level calculator will help you get started. Our TDEE is more complex than what the calculator gives us, which I will dive into later in this series, but for now, this calculator will do the job!

3. Start with a Small Change

Increase your daily activity level by adding a short exercise routine that you can commit to—one that is realistic and not a daunting task for you to accomplish every day. Start with 15 minutes, which is only the approximate length of 3 songs only!

4. Eat More Protein

“Thermic Effect of Food”, or TEF, is the increase of the metabolic rate that occurs from digestion. The simple act of eating foods that has a higher TEF will biologically require your body to burn more calories when digesting them. As a general guideline:

  • Protein: 20-35% of calories burned through processing
  • Carbohydrates: 5-15% of calories burned through processing
  • Fats: 0-5% of calories burned through processing

5. Avoid Drinking Your Calories

There can be a lot of hidden calories in drinks, usually from all the added sugars. Besides the undesirable calories, another hidden pitfall of sugary drinks is the spike in insulin level. When your insulin level subsequently drops from the sugar spike, the dip is when your body sends you hunger signals. In other words, you may feel the munchies (and potentially consume more calories) that your body does not actually need.

6. Change Your Self-talk

Be kind about how you talk to yourself. You are courageous enough to embark on this journey for yourself; allow yourself the grace of patience and time. Weight loss and/or lifestyle changes are not easy nor expeditious. A paradigm shift on this journey will allow you to enjoy the process and make more lasting, sustainable changes. In the grand scheme of a lifetime, what’s a year?

Thanks reading! I hope you found this entry helpful. Stay tuned for more specific workout regiments and nutritious meal ideas.

Change begins at the end of your comfort zone

Roy T. Bennett
Your friendly neighbourhood fitness enthusiast

365 Days of Fit

Winter of 2018

This was taken in 2018, when I was the most cut I had ever been. I did it to test my physical and mental fortitude. Little did I know how much it would’ve cost me to recover from it.

Was it worth it?

No. Nothing is worth one’s health and their relationship with food.

Would I do it again?

This is going to sound absolutely ridiculous and embarrassingly absurd but yes, yes I’d do it again if I were to go back in time. This ruthlessly painful journey, from training to recovery, indelibly defined a lot of who I am today. Because of it, I now have razor sharp discipline to carry through days when my motivations may be lacking. Because of it, I now have newfound appreciation of my body, of how it allows me to live this active life.

What does my current routine look like now?

Much has changed since then. Exercising is no longer on my to-do list as a task to cross off, rather, a mindfulness break I cherish.

As an ‘Everyday’ girl, I do the following every day:

  • Exercise
  • Cover 10km (walk, run, hike)
  • Intermittent Fast 14-18 hours (almost every day)
  • Stretch
  • Meet my macro split (1/3C, 1/3P, 1/3F)
  • Eat a high protein diet
  • Obtain my micronutrients from whole foods

Today, I may not have a chiseled six-pack that could grate cheese but I am healthy, strong, and blissfully happy. I have finally healed my relationship with food and with my own body.

Running 10km

Dec 12, 2017

Running. I am not built for running

I still vividly remember the summer when I first decided to start running. It was a warm summer day, a month after the Sun Run. I was inspired by all the talk of the race and wanted to challenge myself physically—and more importantly—mentally. I was lying on the cool hardwood floor of my ex’s apartment, next to my ex who was setting up the amp and various pedals for guitar practice.

“I am going to go for a run while you practice” I said, in a quiet, unsure voice.

“Sure,” he said. He was always supportive of what I wanted to do.

While I battled all the thoughts in my head, an hour quickly went by, and before I knew it, he was already packing up his guitar for he had finished practicing.

“I’m gonna start on dinner,” he said. “Are you still going for a run?”

Fast Forward to Now

I never finished this Running 10km post; however, I have run many 10kms since, and have been consistently walking/running/hiking 10km every day. It is no longer a daunting, arduous task, rather, one that I thoroughly enjoy and cherish. I can’t even remember how or when this paradigm shift occurred but once I changed my perception of what “10km” was to me, it no longer had dominion over me.

Life is empty and meaningless and it’s empty and meaningless that it’s empty and meaningless“.

If we are assigning our own meaning to life and the events that transpire within it,
might as well make it a great and exhilarating one!