This is Day 8 of the 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge held in Jan 2015 where we work on improving our diet and fitness for 14 days. The challenge is now over but you can do the tasks in your own time. Visit the overview page for all the challenge tasks.
Hi everyone!! :D It’s now Day 8 and the second week of our 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge. Let’s get started!
Challenge Tasks to Date
- Announcement and signup page: Join 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge!
- Day 0: Create Your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan | Comments
- Day 1: Drink 8 Glasses of Water | Comments
- Day 2: Eat 5 Servings of Fruits & Vegetables | Comments
- Day 3: Create Your Calorie List | Comments
- Day 4: Calculate Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure | Comments
- Day 5: Create Your Ideal Meal Plan | Comments
- Day 6: Follow Your Ideal Meal Plan! | Comments
- Day 7: Review & Set Your Plan for Week 2! | Comments
My Day 7 in Pictures
Here’s a recap of my Day 7 in pictures:
Brunch: Grapes and the same mushroom overload burger I’ve been having. Yum!
Dinner part 1: Mini-QQrice (with emperor vegetables) and grilled red pepper and tomato soup
Dinner part 2: Chickpeas and grapes
So dinner was kind of strange because I wanted to eat these salads that Ken got for me from Cedele, but couldn’t stomach them beyond the first few bites. The first was a potato salad which was way too creamy and thick; the second was this tofu salad which was just oily and didn’t taste fresh. Both were just terrible IMO. I think eating clean and healthy meals in the past week has made me very sensitive to overly creamy/oily food; in fact I just find them repulsive now! I subsequently passed the salads to Ken and went for chickpeas and grapes that you see above!
Supper: Dragon fruit and Tofu burger with pumpkin bun (I ate one full burger while the picture shows only one half of it)
Doing Day 7’s reflection task, I rate a 9.5 for my diet and fitness progress in the past week! :D 9.5 because I’m really happy with how I’ve naturally eased into my new healthier diet and fitness regime — being a part of this challenge and openly journaling my progress has definitely helped — but not 10 as there’s room for improvement in any diet/fitness plan. For example I learned some interesting tidbits last week from PE readers Paolo and Glenn about burnt carbs being possibly carcinogenic and bananas being the healthiest when they are the ripest. I mean, who knew?? (I sort of knew the former but didn’t know the latter. Now we know when to eat our bananas!!!)
As I was telling participant Mel, I’ve been seeing the positive, physiological changes from my healthier diet even though it’s just been a week. One, I look thinner, and I’m pretty sure I’ve lost weight in the past week (though I wasn’t aiming to do so in this challenge). Two, I feel healthier and “cleaner.” When you cut the oily stuff from your diet, you naturally will feel the same way too. Three, my complexion is smoother and more radiant than ever. While I used to have numerous zits on my forehead and the occasional pimple on my face, my zits are clearing up and I haven’t had a pimple in the past week! I already knew that this would be a natural consequence from cutting out fried and oily food (I realized this during my fast in 2011 when I didn’t eat for 21 days and had the most amazing complexion ever, hence realizing that many of our skin troubles can be heavily tied to our diets), but it’s still pretty awesome seeing it manifest in reality and so quickly too!
For Week 2, I plan to continue the same plan that I’ve done for Week 1. A sandwich, soup, and salad each day, as well as a jog every other day. Strategy to make this happen will be to stock up on healthy food supplies including weekly grocery shopping every Friday, taking away healthy food from Cedele/QQRice every other day, and to listen to podcasts during my jogs to keep them interesting!
Reviewing my 14HLC goals, they are
- Exercise at least three times a week – My first exercise for Week 2 will be tomorrow :D
- Cut out deep fried / oily food from my diet – Check! I kinda find deep fried and oily food repulsive now, actually! (Read above)
- Eat salads more regularly, ideally once a day if I can – 50/50. I ate salads today, but they turned out to be too creamy/oily so I decided to switch to chickpeas and grapes instead, which are cleaner. I’ll be making a homemade salad tomorrow!
Check out other participants’ amazing food logs and progress updates in Day 7’s comments section!
With that, let’s move to Day 8’s task, which is…
Day 8: Get a Great Workout!
Today’s challenge task is to get a great workout! :D Just like our diet, exercising is fundamental to living a healthy life. Even if one eats the healthiest diet and meditates regularly, one can’t hope to be truly healthy without exercise. There have been countless research that shows a strong link between increased activity and better health. Research has also shown that exercising daily brings tremendous benefits to our health, including increased life span (as long as four years), lower risk of diseases, higher bone density and of course, weight loss!
Now, note that while I use the words “exercise” and “workout” here, I don’t necessarily mean running 10 km or spinning for an hour. That’s cool if you enjoy them (I personally love a rigorous workout session to sweat it out too, though maybe not for 10 km!), but perhaps some of you aren’t able to do intense workouts due to existing body ailments/conditions/injury. If so, that’s perfectly okay. Today’s task isn’t about exercising till your body goes numb, but about engaging your body in more activity and incorporating more movement in your life. For example, walking for 30 minutes when you are usually sedentary is considered a form of exercise. Climbing the stairs when you normally take the lift is considered a form of exercise too.
So for today, let’s get out there and get a great workout! If you’re already planning to exercise as part of your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan, even better! Let’s all exercise together! :D
Some tips to integrate exercise into your life:
- Increase your activity level on a daily basis. Besides the standard sports and running, exercise can also come in other forms, such as brisk walking and stretching. Choose walking over transport for close distances. Climb the stairs instead of taking the lift. Go for a walk in the park.
- Pick exercises you enjoy. When you enjoy your exercises, you’ll naturally want to do them. Exercise isn’t about suffering and pushing yourself; it’s about being healthy and having fun at the same time!
- Have a variety of exercises to choose from. Adding variation can keep things interesting. What are three to four exercises that you enjoy? Rotate between them to keep things fresh. Of course, perhaps you’re like me — someone who prefers to stick with one same exercise for familiarity and convenience. If so, that’s great — do whatever works best for you! :D
- Group exercises. Individual exercises are great but sometimes they may get stale. Pick some group exercises every once in a while and work out with your friends. When you enjoy something, you’ll naturally want to do it more often and be more committed in it!
Home Aerobics
My exercise plans often get cancelled due to bad weather or when I’m traveling, and it can be very frustrating! If you share the same problem, here’s a solution: Home Aerobics! With home aerobics, you can get a great 30- to 40-minute workout whenever you want, wherever you are, regardless of the weather! In fact, I prefer this to actual class aerobics because it’s so convenient and I can do it whenever I want to!
What’s even more awesome is that YouTube has plenty of these home aerobic videos — free — so you can just load up one of these videos on YouTube and get moving! (If you want to download the aerobic videos onto your computer for offline use, here’s a website to download Youtube videos.)
Here are some workout videos from YouTube — you can even pick one of them to do for today’s task! :D
1) Standard Aerobic Workout (30 Minutes)
2) Latin-Dance-Style Workout (50 Minutes)
3) Ultimate Fat Burn Workout (20 Minutes)
More great aerobic videos on Youtube.
If any of you are interested in getting six-pack abs, read How To Get a Six Pack (series)!
Next, Follow Your Plan for Day 8 (Take Pictures Too!)
What tasks have you set for Day 8 of your 14-Day Healthy Living Plan? Do them today!
Take pictures of your healthy meals — breakfast, lunch, dinner, and mid-day snacks if any — and share them in the comments section. :D After all, a picture tells a thousand words, and when you share photos of your healthy meals, it inspires others to eat healthily and gives them ideas on what healthy food they can have too!
Post your initial comment sharing your results for today’s challenge task, then add on throughout the day as you have your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and/or if you’re doing any workouts. Attach photos of your meals by clicking the image icon on the bottom left of every comment box. As you add on to your comment thread, be sure to click on the reply button directly below your original comment so that you reply to your own thread (as opposed to starting a new thread).
Share Your Results (and Photos!)
Share in the comments section!
- What workout you did today
- Your progress with your healthy living plan today
- Pictures of your meals
- Pictures of your workout (if any)
Do check out the other participants’ comments too and share a word of encouragement or two. We’re all in this together, so let’s support each other as a group! :)
After you’re done, proceed to Day 9: Identify Your Healthy Living Pitfalls!
(Image: Women running, Workout)
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Hehe, I’m reporting on this at the most appropriate time: I went to yoga again yesterday after a long break! While I didn’t like that particular type of class and will be switching to a different one, I did discover that my ankle injury in October still hasn’t fully healed. Got to be careful with it, yet give it a little stretching and hope it gets back its full flexibility.
Fruit: had one clementine and a banana
Water: ~800ml
Hey Jade, I’m sorry to hear that your ankle injury hasn’t healed! What happened, how did you get injured?
I totally agree the need to be careful; yoga sounds like a good way to get exercise and yet not strain your injury at the same time.
Fell off a motorbike while commuting to work. A sprained ankle isn’t so bad though, considering it can go much worse. I had protective gear, which must have helped. I did develop a fear of bends after the accident and I’ve lost my appetite for motorbike riding. Strong injury-prevention instincts! I got a car shortly after that but for my next job, I’ll make sure I can commute by public transit.
Healthy Living Day 8 Get a Healthy Workout
At this point in my life, swimming, moving, exercising in the water is the best for me, plus I enjoy being outside in nature. Here in Puerto Rico, I go into the Caribbean Sea to get exercise, and in North Carolina in the summer, I go into the river to exercise when it is not too cold or fast-moving. I also do stretching exercises, which helps. I miss riding a bicycle and taking walks, hiking trails, dancing, and freely moving about in the world. Object is to drop enough weight to make double knee replacement surgery possible so I can eventually do those activities that I love. Very challenging to stay focused on a set discipline, but it is also very challenging to NOT stay on a fixed plan, since I am very physically challenged. I need to become more and more mobile, not less!
Today I exercised in the ocean, and had an egg and tangerines for breakfast.. A few raw almonds and walnuts were my snack, along with a guava, fresh from the tree. Nice! Lunch was a couple ounces of grilled chicken and a half of an empanada. Snack was a few nuts and fresh seagrape juice. Dinner will be fresh salad leafy greens and a black bean burrito with cheese. Where I could have done better would be having veggies throughout the day, which I usually do, which is good.
I am very sore from exercising today, but I am glad that I did that exercise. Plus, it was good for my spirits to be outside, get into the water, and move about. Celes’ sharing reminded me that there are youtube videos that can help me to be active also, so I am glad for that suggestion, thanks!
I was lagging in the challenge (work again), dropping a note to say I’m still alive and on the challenge!
Me too, Ken….I’ve been reading others’ posts and will make one or more of my own to do some catching up here. I’ve been on the challenge too, altho offline for a couple days. Glad you’re here Ken…let’s keep going!
Thanks Swann!! :)
Yep catching up on the past few days posts & activities :)
Doing the same here too catching up! :)
Let’s get this finished and more!
1. I am trying to do 3 workouts per week. And as of 2015 I have a new workout routine that I build with the help of bodybuilding .com so I feel pretty set for the year :)
Also thank you for the great exercise links, Celestine! There are really a lot of good one on the internet, lucky us!
2. I completed all my tasks except for the last one as I’m learning how to programme and couldn’t stop on time for all the excitement :)
3. & 4. I had similar meals as last week and no workout was scheduled for today – I’m still feeling the pain from yesterday’s session!
Hi Medalina, I am also a follower of Fitness Blender workout videos. Incidentally, today I did one of their abs workout.
I hadn’t seen this HIIT video before. I’ll try it next time. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for sharing the videos Celes! I tried the Latin Style Workout and it was fun. I loved it.
My Workout for Day 8
I did breathing exercises, yoga and stretching as I had planned in the beginning of the challenge. Then when it was time to do cardio, instead of doing what I had planned, I tried the Latin Style Workout as mentioned above.
My Meals
I had steamed bottle gourd cake & a glass of milk for breakfast. An apple as mid-day snack. Unripe papaya curry with rice & yogurt for lunch. A glass of coffee in the evening. Spinach & lentils soup for dinner with rice & mixed veg stir fry.
Oh you have such interesting meals, Vani!! Your spinach + lentil soup and veg stir fry in particular look so yummy. :D I never knew that unripe papaya can be used in a dish, that’s so interesting!!
Thanks, Celes! The credit goes to my mom. I am currently learning cooking from her.
I find your meals interesting too Celes, especially the different varieties of soups, salads and fruits you have. They look very colorful and yummy!
If you haven’t heard of cooked unripe papaya, you should try it sometime. It tastes good.
Caution: It is said that unripe papaya acts as natural contraceptive & sometimes causes abortion too, so women trying to get pregnant or are pregnant should avoid it.
I really like Fitness Blender’s workout videos and this one is the latest I’ve done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNZe01hqMW8
Great combo of HIIT and core exercises, it really gets you moving. :D
Fiu!!! Today has been the start of my abs workout. I’m gonna mark on my calendar 3 days to workout a week. I am so tired but I’m fulfilled. I also happened to follow my ideal meal plan today as well so I feel really happy about how my day was filled with calories and proteins today and few sugar. (But I’ll describe that on that days comment section).
I lifted #8 weights, took a small walk around town, did the ab workout video and played soccer with my baby nephew. (PS: am so tired from that workout video!!! It’s so intense!! But thank you for sharing. I’ll check out more videos about her. I like how her routines go.)
I drank a LOT of water today thanks to all the workouts and as a new goal I’ve added natural protein shakes. I found this awesome homemade natural protein shake recipe on a bodybuilder website 100% vegan and with 25 grams of protein per glass! I was gonna go for powdered protein shakes but after reading many negativr facts about them I will do my own natural protein shakes. (Plus powdered shakes are too expensive)
By the way, today I did take a pic of my lunch :) the yellowy orange rectangle is a typical food in my country on Christmas. It’s called ‘pastel’ or in English ‘meat cake’. This specific one is made with yucca and chicken. Not sure if this is eaten in Singapore so I felt like sharing a bit of my culture. The rest is rice with veggies, black beans, asparagus in olive oil, some hot chili sauce and for dessert raisins and water.
Sweet, I had black beans today too fufu! :D That orange rice totally reminds me of Indian food actually! What is this entire meal called, is there a name for it? What country/culture are you from? (I can’t believe I’m asking this because I feel like I’ve known you on PE for so long but yet I don’t know the answer to that!!!!)
And I’m so glad that you found the ab workout useful!! :D I did a few of the YouTube fitness workouts before (not that ab workout) and gosh I was so tired at the end of it. I’m going to try and see if I can get Ken to do one with me this week; it’ll probably be quite funny doing as a couple haha!
Mmm black beans taste really good even if they look weird haha and the orange rice is called in Spanish ‘arroz a la jardinera’. In English it’s called ‘garden rice’. I’m from Puerto Rico but I think the recipe is inspired on Chinese rice. And about you asking about my culture I think it’s kind of funny. Puerto Rico is a tiny island under the bermuda triangle, I don’t even know if people from the other side of the world knows we exist lol.
And I bet you’ll like working out with Ken. I’ve lifted weights and taken walks with my girlfriend and it gives us common goals to talk about plus it’s fun. The only thing I find hillarious in my case is that my girlfriend does all this advanced weights and exercises and here I am like a total newbie and she ends up becoming my trainer each time since I still have many basic things to learn aboug exercising. XD
Workout: tramping in the snow and snow removal. Not an official workout but it wore me out!
Food: Yesterday (Day 7) I had a good breakfast and then it was downhill from there — I ate unhealthy alternatives for the rest of the day. I plan to spend some time figuring out why.
I wrote yesterday in my review that I plan to cut out dairy because it causes bloating and other problems. But today I had more dairy — it seems that I will always love things that are not good for me!
But this is a new day and each meal is a new chance to practice making healthy choices, so I do not despair.
That’s ok. Don’t worry about mistakes. I’m one that fails every day Just now I drank a glass of cola and I wasn’t supposed to because I’m evading sugars but it tempts me when I see it. Let’s both keep trying and never give up. Practice makes perfect after all. :)
Hi Vicki, like fufu said, it’s okay! Actually my ideal diet is a vegan one but because dairy is so pervasive in the meals in Singapore, it’s really impossible to cut it out (for me), or at least I’m not willing to go the extreme mile to cut it out. For now I’m perfectly okay having it in minimal quantities as and when they’re mixed in the food; otherwise I’ll just not have it.
So maybe a question to ask yourself if it’s something that you want to cut out 100%, or you’re okay to have it in minimal quantities? Or perhaps to make a transition to eventually cutting it out one day, but in the meantime you can just focus on having it in reduced quantities. Just some thoughts! :)
Thank you both, Fufu and Celes, for the support. Not following the plan and not doing it perfectly is okay; but I think it is a good thing to look at *why* I didn’t follow it. Maybe the plan is too restrictive, or maybe it is because the foods that my husband can eat safely are not necessarily the things that are best for me… in fact, one of the less-than-healthy meals I had was triggered by the smell of one of his perfectly healthy-for-him meals. So the questions you suggest, Celes, are part of my thinking. These times that I don’t live up to my ideal are times when I can learn something that will help me make healthier choices and take good care of myself in the future.
Hi Vicki, I totally agree on the importance of looking why (which is incidentally the task for Day 9 today too, haha!!). That’s an interesting factor you uncovered, re: your husband’s meals having a gap with what your ideal meal is for yourself too. My situation is a little similar in that my husband has a diet that’s very, very different from mine (his diet is rich in white food/rice; he eats meat, has at least 1 McDonald’s meal a day, has a fair amount of oily/fried food (though not something he deliberately chooses but simply what the food outlet sells), drinks a LOT of coke / diet coke and beverages with preservatives, consumes a fair amount of dairy, etc.).
The interesting thing is that seeing him eat/drink any of these stuff doesn’t sway/affect me (I think I’ve spent so many years building, owning my right/need to eat healthily, and just constantly being around people who eat totally opposite diets from me that none of it bothers me anymore) but the one thing that doesn’t help is when he cooks instant noodles (or something not so healthy that I can eat) and I “smell” the smell. Instant noodles has no part in my ideal diet but say if I’m hungry and I’m smelling that, it does make me think of eating his noodles (since it’s already cooked, it’s convenient, I don’t need to make my own food, etc.). Or say if he got McDonald’s back and then there’s the smell/sight of the fries as he’s eating them. I really do think that fried stuff is yucky and not good for the body, but if I’m very hungry at this point, then the thinking tends to be, “Doesn’t hurt to eat just 1!” Then I eat some and it just makes me feel yucky later on.
What helps me in this situation is to ensure that my fridge is stocked up on *my* healthy food, and I never get to the point of super hungry (because that’s when the tendency to go for whatever is convenient will arise), after which I’ll then relish in *my* own healthy food as opposed to the less healthier options.
My first meal for today isn’t the most perfect, but it’ll have to pass. Reason being that I worked the whole day till late at night, and by the time I got out to buy food, almost all the shops are closed! Cedele, Subway, etc. In the end I got a vegetarian burrito, and I’m glad that I had something to eat!
The first half of the burrito as attached — it has lettuce, tomato, cucumber, BBQ sauce, black beans, corn, and mash potato. I’m not a fan of their grilling method which leaves some burnt parts on the wrap most of the times; I just tear away the significant portions when there are big chunks that are burnt (which was the case today). I’ll be having the second half later! Paired the meal with some grapes!
Grilled red pepper and tomato soup plus ginger tea. I’ll be going for my jog soon, which will be my workout for today!
Today has been a LONG day for me. Have a coaching call later (which I’m excited about). Just finished my jog and will be writing Day 9’s task now. See you guys in a bit! :D
Today is my last day off, so I’m full of energy to do my best today. Plan to take a walk out there (it’s -19℃ today, so I’ll loose a lot of energy for just keeping my body warm), as well as jog again on my treadmill.
For breakfast I had lentils, an apple and some coffee with milk, which was all good :)
Took a pretty long walk to visit my friend. Was freezing when I just got outside, but after 15 minutes of walking it went better and was tolerable. So, 1 hour walk was great. Here are some photos that I took.
Later on made a salad ( really proud of myself as I’ m not really into cooking ): chicken fillet, avocado, flax seeds, peas, dill, seasoned with flaxseed oil and balsamic vinegar. Consumed with Munich bread. It was great, will definitely repeat it soon. :)
Wow, those are gorgeous pictures taken during your walk, Maryna!! Where do you live, and when does winter end for you? (I assume it’s winter and not cold like this all-year round?!?)
I live in the South of Ukraine, so we have this kind of weather only for a week or two. The usual temperature for winter will be around -5℃ – 0℃. I don’t like when it gets colder then -10℃ as my face and hands always freeze and I don’t enjoy spending time outside that much. But we get all the wonderful views of winter and snow,which is great :)
Your lentils and apple look yummy, Maryna! I’m a big lentil fan myself! :D I love drinking lentil soup!
Drinking lentil soup sounds good, should definitely cook one ;)
Yesterday I didn’t get to reporting about the rest of the day.
For a snack later on I ate an persimon, some green peas and munich bread (one more time). I am not particularry happy with that meal as I ate too much of bread, instead of eating something more nutrient-rich. It was brown bread of good quality with sunflower seeds, but still, it doesn’t mean that my meal should consist of it.
For supper I had some eggs, an apple and herbal tea.
I did some jogging and burnt 400 kcal, and did some stretching throughout the day for adding some activity to it.
Wow – yummy! I love lentils too :)
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