Second year of staying active - hoping to sustain it while interning abroad

[Ravery]

Hi all,

 

So here's my story. 
Last winter, my blood test results came back, and at age 21, I had high cholesterol and four other abnormalities.  I was had always been a big meat, dairy, and egg eater.  I often overate and was pretty much sedentary except for the occasional hike and swim.  My mom had also developed this inflammatory disease that bloated her legs and made any slight movement painful.  Now she has to take steroid medication to keep it under control.  I probably have a higher risk of developing this condition when I get older since my grandmother and aunt had it too in their mid-fourties/fifties.

    So I returned to school determined to live a more healthy lifestyle.  I cut back on red meat, started trimming the fat off my chicken, and ate egg whites only.  I didn't know much about how to work out efficiently, but I went to the gym everyday and added strength training to my 40 minutes of medium-intensity cardio.  My initial goal was to lower my cholesterol, so I was pretty surprised when I found that there was less to grab around my abdomen.  Now, standing at five foot nothing and weighing around 115-120 lbs at the time, I was not overweight, but had considered myself incredibly unathletic because I was always one of the worst in gym class.  So, this gradual change gave me more confidence.  My muscles felt more firm, and I could run longer distances without running out of breath.  I became more interested in general fitness and building physical strength.  I did more research on diet and exercise and tweaked things here and there, though I still struggled with cravings and overeating and skipping half a month of working out due to the stress of staying on top of my work.

     I came home for the summer and did another blood test.  My overall cholesterol had gone down to normal, though my LDL was still high (but it had decreased by 25%).  I started doing P90X because I had no access to a gym and had no idea how to design a workout that covered all muscle groups.  I went to visit my dad in Poland for a month and a half, and continued the program at his apartment, but had to skip a few weeks here and there when we went travelling.  I finished P90X after I returned to school in the fall.  Now, I know that these popular workout programs aren't the exactly best, but ir worked for me at the time, and I was probably the fittest I had been in my entire life.  Though appearance wise, I still hadn't reached the goal that I wanted.  I started doing Insanity, but being back at the school dining hall where food was always abundant, I still had problems with overeating.  Halfway through the term, I made the shameful decision to stop going to the gym entirely because I was juggling two senior theses.  My diet went to shit.  I gained some weight back and lost some of the strength and cardio endurance that I had been working towards.

 

    After graduating in December, it took me about half a month to start working out regularly again.  It's easier for me to eat healthy at home when there aren't so many temptations, though sometimes I have my slipups, like the time I finished a 1.5 pound bag of pine nuts in three days, most of it during late night hours.  I've been on track with Insanity since the start of 2013.  But I'm kind of worried about sustaining a workout habit, since I'll be living in a national park in central China (~3 months) for an internship assisting a research project on bird breeding behavior and biology.  I'll be living closely with the research team, working irregular hours, and eating whatever food the research station provides.  For a while, I'd given up on the notion of eating healthy and staying fit while I'm there, but I recently came across Steve's article on Staying in Shape While Travelling, and it's really inspired me to stick to my goals.  I've made the decision to abandon video workous since they're not tailored to my needs, and with the promise of getting you the best results fast, I think they either take up too much time or don't give you enough recovery time in between, and a myriad of other problems.  I want to work only with my body weight, build on strength and agility, specifically getting better at explosive and plyometric moves (secretly hoping to at least do some basic parkour one day).  My mom and I have always been very bad at anything that involves jumping, so I'm hoping that training extra hard will overcome my genetics.
 

My main concerns are 1.) After a long day of working, I won't have the energy/motivation to workout 2.) People giving me weird looks while I attempt not even complete push-ups and pull-ups outdoors 3.) Having very little choice in what I eat. Aside from having to eat rice at every meal (I did that for the first 18 years of my life), I'm not sure what else they're going to feed me at the research station.

At least currently, my motivation is still going strong.  Today will be my first workout without Insanity. I'm going to be doing a 45-minute full body routine.  Starting right about now.

[Laureleye]

You can do the beginner's body weight in your room (okay, you'll need to skip the jump ropes).  You can use anything heavy, including a back pack for the dumbell rows.  There should be lots of places to walk, so if you use that as your cardio, you should be set.  3 days a week body weight training, interspersed with 3 days a week walking.  Really, I think that if you stick to real food, you'll be doing fine.  Hope you have an exciting time and welcome to the rebellion. 

[marybelle]

Hi, and welcome! First off, your internship sounds amazing! Congratulations on getting it, I know they are competitive. As for the beginners body weight program, I do it currently, and it really is a workout, and it doesn't take long. I hope it works for you. Good luck with all your goals, and your internship.