Fitness Recap: How I Got More Defined by Doing Less

Drum roll please…

Last month, I disclosed what had happened to my body after a month of not consuming any alcohol and doubling down on my fitness routine.

This month, I’m going to share with you some new changes to my body, and exactly what I did to get more definition.

I’m the Worst Advocate for #Healthyeating Right Now

In full honesty, I have put minimal effort into nutrition. These days, what I call adequate vegetables is sprinkling frozen peas and carrots in my instant ramen. 

Do I feel great about it? Absolutely not. 

Truthfully, I haven’t been doing well mentally. The effort it takes to actually cook a healthy meal feels a little much for me at times, and I’m fortunate enough to have family members that will remind me and make me food during the day.

Why I disclose my mental state is important because all this has an impact on how much I’m eating throughout the day. I by no means am restricting my diet at all, I even drink in moderate amounts now. However, I also realize that on days when I don’t feel all well, it can have an impact on my appetite—leading to a decrease in calorie intake.

My Lower Impact Fitness Routine

Although I didn’t do things too different in terms of fitness, I’ve been noticing way more definition, especially around my arms and abdominals. It’s something that I’m actually super proud of. I don’t think I’ve been in such good shape in a while. In contrast, I’ll show you a picture from last summer.

I think a lot of this improvement, is actually a carry-on effect from what I’ve been doing for the past few months. Being consistent at the gym ( I go minimum 5 times a week), and incorporating some form of cardio at the end (just 15 minutes) seems to be optimal. Even though I didn’t observe drastic changes immediately, I think the results are really beginning to shine through.

Obviously, I don’t base my self-worth on how I look— because I know these things are prone to fluctuations. But I’m just extremely curious about how I got here.

Back to my Diet

I’m pretty sure there was a week where I ate full-fat ice cream (no Halo Top here, ladies and gents) every night.

 Breakfast usually consisted of toast and cream cheese. Lots of coffee.

Also, my lunch consisted of a pretty filling meal of instant rice noodle soup, with exactly two jumbo prawns, an egg, and a sprinkle of frozen peas. Pretty delicious actually, but most important this took 2 minutes to make.

Snack-wise, I’m always nibbling on dark chocolate or trail mix.

Alcohol, maybe once or twice a week, but in light amounts. And I don’t skimp out on happy hour snacks (truffle fries, anyone?)

Dinner is always whatever’s around, usually rice, some cooked vegetables, and light protein.

The point is here, my diet’s been effortlessly consistent, ice cream and all. I don’t feel the need to overeat or undereat. On most days, I’m probably not eating an enormous amount of calories, and some other days I’ll make up for it. Eating is just easy and follows whenever I feel naturally hungry.

Some people will preach you have to eat certain lean proteins every meal and a certain amount of vegetables, no carbs, or this amount of fat each day. But the truth is, sometimes when you overthink it—you set yourself up for a state of deprivation. You’re eagerly looking forward to the weekend where you don’t have to be constrained by these ‘rules’ you’ve created for yourself.

Food is a source of nourishment, energy, and also enjoyment. Don’t make it your personal prison. Although you might not get washboard abs by following my no-effort meal plan, it at least reserves you enough energy to keep up with moderate amounts of exercise and focus on other aspects of your life, like work, relationships, hobbies (or whatever else the kids do these days). Your results might come in slower, but at least they’re more sustained.

And I like pleasant surprises, versus always anticipating faster results, and being disappointed when you don’t notice immediate changes to your physique.

Working out is like brushing my teeth

The question is do you push yourself to the extreme a couple of days a week or do moderate levels of activity every day?

This is a tricky one. I like to do a blend of both. We all know our ‘breaking point’ when it comes to exercise, and for me personally, this is hit more so when I’m training with a professional or a group-led high-intensity class. This is the type of workout where you’re sore for days after. However, this type of fatigue also requires an ample amount of rest after. If you don’t, you might feel lethargic.

To me working out should feel like brushing my teeth. There’s no tension or negotiation because it’s just become such a regular part of my routine. I don’t dread it because I don’t associate it with ‘no pain, no gain”; rather it’s a source of release for me. The benefit of doing moderate strength training throughout the day is that you maintain and gradually build stronger muscles (which improves the rate at which your body burns calories at resting).

My usual routine is 4 sets of exercise and as many reps as I can until I hit burnout. This is the most effective way to build definition and muscle (although not necessarily for strength).

I try to finish with abs and cardio— for abs, I do weighted exercises to add more strain to my core. Using weights = More microtears = More muscles there. Cardio to really lean it out (at least I always feel slightly leaner when I finish off with it).

I’ll do higher intensity or longer cardio sessions 1-2x a week (things like spin or 7km run around the park). I also try to take long walks on the weekends if I can.

Again, the point is to make the routine so automatic and easy, but still has an adequate amount of challenge so I feel rewarded after doing it.

My Stress and Emotional Health

In terms of stress, much of it is correlated with my emotions. My emotional state has seen quite ample fluctuations over the last month due to some personal reasons and life changes.

Some days, it’s very overwhelming and I find myself crying a lot. I also have days when I’m just overwhelmed with fatigue.

Although this might have something to do with genetics, it could be that the stress has a little bit to do with the changes in my physique. Some people tend to overeat when they’re stressed, I’m the opposite. And I like to sometimes exert this pain through intensive exercises, like spinning.

Conclusion

All in all, there isn’t one defining reason for the shift in my appearance. For me to get here, has probably been the result of an accumulation of the work I’ve been consistently doing.

Consistency is key. And not restricting or overthinking your diet to the point where you’re setting yourself up for overeating on different days.

Also, I think not having a bottle of wine to myself, beers, and too many cocktails also help with the figure.

I want to make clear that the way my body looks in photos depends on the time of day (literally if I had water or not), the color of my outfit, the lighting…etc.

And hey, if getting in shape feels this effortless, I’m all here for it.