Outside the Gym

Creating and maintaining a healthy lifestyle involves a lot of different and equally important factors. For example, your health could still be in shambles despite hitting the gym daily because you're neglecting other key factors. 

In this section, I'll share some of my thoughts about big dimensions outside of consistent exercise that really make the difference in our overall well-being. 

Note: I am not a professional trainer, nutritionist, or healthcare professional. These priorities are what I've learned as a busy college student speaking from personal experience and growth.

Diet

• Calculate your TDEE (calories burnt by being alive + exercise) online, then adjust your diet to suit your goals.

  • 1 lb of weight = 3500 calories, so...

    • Want to lose weight? Decrease your intake by 500 calories under TDEE.

    • Want to gain weight? Increase your intake by 500 calories under TDEE.

    • Want to maintain weight? Eat at your TDEE. 

• Whether you're in a deficit or surplus, don't make intake changes too severe.

  • Too much of a deficit or surplus is mentally taxing to maintain and it'll throw off your metabolism, getting in the way of your goals.

  • It's a marathon, not a sprint. A lot of nutritionists recommend a 500-calorie deficit to lose 0.5-1 lb/week, but this can vary depending on your exercise, sex, age, etc. As long as you're moving on the right track in the long run, you're all good.

• I focus on meeting my calorie goals without strict counting and prioritize eating enough protein and dietary fiber. 

• Instead of assigning food moral value (I hate when companies market food products as "guilt-free"), I acknowledge how less nutritionally dense food feeds my soul and balance that in the overall context of my diet.

• To preserve or gain muscle mass, make sure you exercise consistently - use it or lose it!

Sleep

• Do whatever it takes to secure enough good-quality sleep.

• Sleep affects every aspect of your quality of your life from your mood to your metabolism and productivity.

• A few sleep hygiene tips:

  • Create a night routine to get your body used to a schedule.

  • Sleep at consistent times (at least for the most part, we love weekends)

  • Try not to drink caffeine 6-8 hours before your bedtime. If that doesn't work, try stopping earlier.

    • Coop dirty chais are 11/10 any time of day, but I usually cut myself off by 5 PM to avoid keeping myself up.

  • Improve your time management skills and work efficiency.

    • You can spend 5 hours studying but only 2 of those 5 actually learning. Lock in, you got this.

    • By getting better at time management, you can also make more time for exercise and friends/other things you enjoy!

Stress

• Self-care comes in many different forms. One of mine is the gym, but that doesn't have to be yours!

• Poor diet, sleep quality, and exercise all significantly contribute to existing stress.  Target these first, and you open the door to much more progress.

Mindset

• • I believe we all deserve to love ourselves and show ourselves some patience and compassion.

  • Focusing on what my body can do for me (in situations ranging from doing pull-ups to helping my dad lift heavy furniture) as opposed to its appearance was a big first step in my self-image journey, but extending that by acknowledging that I am not purely defined by my achievements was game-changing.

  • The biggest question I ask myself at the end of the day is "Am I supporting or holding back my ability to live life to the fullest?" 

    • Thinking about what's truly important to me both now and in the future and framing how I treat myself through that lens helps me avoid getting stuck on the tiny details.

• • Viewing exercise as a hobby of self-love instead of as a punishment or an obligation helps keep my relationship to it healthy.

  • I pursue exercises that I find interesting to learn more about and progress in (lifting, mobility, and more recently calisthenics) which keeps me consistent and having fun.

To me, life breaks down into things within your control and things outside of your control.

• In fitness, that could be things like genetics compared to controllable things like diet, exercise, mindset, self-image, discipline, and more.  

• I've found that focusing on what's in my control as opposed to wasting energy worrying about what's not has saved me the most mental bandwidth.

I hope these reflections from my own experience help you on your own journey - you can do it, I believe in you!

~ Lizzy