“Huh, I guess being healthy makes you healthy.” - Me, an idiot

(If you want my friends’ unadulterated comments, click here 🤡)

September was a month of carbs and fat. It began with a birthday (eating a giant cheesecake for a week), then the Mid-autumn festival (way too many mooncakes), my friend’s birthday (she had a fancy tea party so we ate butter scones, macaron, cake, and everything that’s calorically dense), and finally my own birthday (an entire ice cream cake 💀). While they all tasted great, I frankly felt disgusting due to the gargantuan amount of sugar, cream, and butter I have put into my body. Furthermore, I succumbed to my cravings and even started eating candy bars that we bought last Halloween. Finally, one night after eating 6 Reese’s cups, I decided that enough is enough - I am taking back control!

So from 10/3/2021 to 10/9/2021, I will attempt the “Self Improvement Week” challenge. It is a week of purging all of my bad habits and entering a new, healthy, and exciting routine. Hopefully, by the end of the challenge, I will be able to either continue it or at the very least incorporate some of the changes into my daily life.

For this endeavor to succeed, I have elicited my friends’ help to hold me accountable at all times (Thank you :D). So, I will hopefully not slack off.

The challenge is:

1. bike (30 - 60 minutes) on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
2. strength training (35 minutes) on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
3. sleep at 12 pm every night for 7.5 hours of sleep
4. eat nothing oily, spicy, sweet, or just anything that tastes nice in general. Only fruits and vegetables + minimal rice + protein. About (but less than) 1.8k calories per day.
5. no breakfast for intermittent fasting (which includes Starbucks as well ;-;)

I slept for 9 hours today, so I woke up at 10 am feeling very energized, ready to face a brand new day :D. (55.8kg D:)

For lunch I ate:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• 3 Braided pork cubes (150 calories)
• Spicy chicken (200 calories, oops it was a bit oily but I didn’t have much)
• 1 Mandarin Orange (50 calories)
• Total: 550 calories

I persuaded my dad to get a bike (minor rant but why are American bikes so expensive reeeeeeeeeeeeeee), and it was so fun :D! I forgot how liberating it is to soar through the streets at full speed and fly down the hills. So yeah, that was a fun 30 minutes >.<. I subsequently got home for dinner

For dinner I ate:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• 3 Braided pork cubes (150 calories)
• Fish filet (150 calories)
• 1 Mandarin Orange (50 calories)
• 12 Broccolis (60 calories :O)
• Total: 560 calories

Midnight protein shake for daily protein supply :D

• One scoop of protein powder + some milk (300 Calories)

Total calories of the day: 1410 calories

I woke up today at 7:55 feeling as fresh as ever :D. 7.5 hours of sleep indeed proved to be the reinvigorating I needed (55.4kg).

The packed lunches are:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• 3 Braided pork cubes (150 calories)
• Fish filet (150 calories)
• 10 Broccolis (50 calories)
• 15 Grapes (30 calories)
• Total: 520 calories

For dinner I ate:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• A lot of Korean beef (450 calories OopSies)
• 20 grapes (40 calories)
• Total: 640 calories

For exercise today, I followed my Nike Training Club program and had to do 35 minutes of leg workout 😭. Glute exercises are absolute pains as expected and I almost cried during one of them. I think I’m much more likely to cry during workouts for some reason, which according to google is because intense physical movements amplify and intensify hormones. So that’s good to know, thanks, google. Oh well, at least I have biking and a total body workout for the next two days to look forward to. After the workout, I had my daily protein shake:

• Protein powder + Milk (300 calories)

Total calories of the day: 1460 calories :D

Today I had a free block in the morning, so I slept until 8:35, equating to 8 hours of sleep :D. Strangely I still felt sleepy, but I am sure the tiredness will be washed away by waves of energy soon (55.1kg, lost 0.7kg already :O)
The packed lunches are:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• 3 Braided pork cubes (150 calories)
• Korean beef (200 calories)
• 10 Broccolis (50 calories)
• Total: 550 calories

Before dinner, I went biking for a bit (only 10 minutes because I had to attend LexMACS at 4 pm). Despite the short duration, I definitely felt the cardiovascular burn, so looking forward to biking for a full 30-60 minutes tomorrow :D. However, since I only biked for 10 minutes, I will do a 30 minutes full-body workout for compensation.

For dinner I ate:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• Stir-fried Shrimp + Celery (300 calories)
• Korean Beef (150 calories)
• 20 grapes (40 calories)
• Total: 640 calories

My legs ended up soring very badly 😩, so I decided against doing full-body exercise as planned. Instead, I will do that tomorrow and cycle twice as hard to make up for it. Not the smoothest day for Self Improvement Week, but we can continue it nonetheless :D

Since I didnt exercise, I drank half as much protein shake for my midnight snack:

• Protein power + Milk (150 calories)
• A mandarin orange (50 calories)

Total calories of the day: 1390 calories

(55.1kg, Forgot to write about morning 😬)
The packed lunches are:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• Stir-fried Shrimp + Celery (300 calories)
• Korean Beef (150 calories)
• 20 grapes (40 calories)
• Total: 640 calories

As promised, I went biking again. Unfortunately, before I did, I got into a heated argument on “what the tire pressure should be.” Needless to say, I stormed off to display my ✨ anger ✨, and ended up working too intensely and almost vomiting after only 15 minutes 🤡. So oopsie didn’t meet my goal of 30 minutes. Biking down hills is still one of the best feelings tho 👍.

For dinner I ate:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• Chinese dried tofu (150 calories)
• Stir-fried Shrimp + Celery (100 calories)
• Korean Beef (200 calories)
• 40 grapes (80 calories OOPSIE)
• Total: 680 calories (💀 I think intense biking really heightened my sense of hunger)

Fully body exercise tonight :D. It was exhilarating: tiring during it but so ✨ afterward. Looking forward to next one~

• Protein powder + milk (300 calories)

Total Calories: 1620 calories
(Forgot to weigh today morning D:, mind was kinda in an unclear state)
The packed lunches are:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• Chinese dried tofu (50 calories)
• Stir-fried Shrimp + Celery (150 calories)
• Korean Beef (300 calories)
• 6 Broccolis (30 calories)
• 20 Grapes (40 calories)
• Total: 720 calories (😩 how did I overpack so much reeee)

Today I went biking for 1.5 HOURS!!! I asked my friend Sophie to show me around and it was so fun! We went through woods and across Diamond Middle School, even meeting my friend Gabriel’s little brother xD. He was also biking. By the end, I was exhausted but also pumped with hype, so it was definitely worth it.

For dinner I ate:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• Scallop cake (200 calories, it was YUM 😋)
• Korean Beef (150 calories)
• Chinese dried tofu (100 calories)
• 270g blueberries (160 calories)
• Total: 760 calories (Felt so hungry after biking)

• Midnight protein powder + milk (calories)

Total calories of the day: 1780 calories

Honestly sleeping 7.5 hours is amazing. The difference isn’t always so obvious at first, but it’s definitely coming through. My hair has stopped aching/falling out all the time, I no longer collapse every time I get home from school, and my mood is just generally better and more energetic :D. Would recommend to ✨everyone✨. (54.7 kg)

The packed lunches are:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• Chinese dried tofu (100 calories)
• Korean beef (150 calories)
• Scallops (200 calories)
• 20 grapes (40 calories)
• Total: 640 calories

For dinner I had:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• Korean style Texan beef (500 calories)
• 40 grapes (80 calories)
• Total: 730 calories

Today I had an upper-body workout. Way too many pushups 😭 reeeeeeeeeeeee. My biceps and triceps are literally dead 💀. Both of my arms are just completely swollen 🙃. Feels pumped afterward tho so that’s nice

For midnight supplements, I had:

• Protein powder + milk (300 calories)
• A Chinese Mandarin (50 calories)
• Total: 350 calories

Total Calories of the day: 1720 calories

Today I slept for 8.5 hours :O. It wasn’t a multiple of 1.5 so woke up a bit disoriented, but quickly gathered myself and started the new day :D. Alicia and I agreed to bike together this morning, and so we did. From 9:30 to 1:00, we had so much fun biking! I finally beheld the famous minuteman trail (it is indeed very nice, deserving of its fame). Then, we went to the town center to stroll around Re-Discovery Day 😊. We got a couple of free stuff and Alicia even grabbed 3 different poster boards 👀. Sarah was there at work as well :p. Finally, the biking trip had to come to end since I had math class at 2, so we biked our separate ways. Overall It was a super eventful morning. 8 out of 10 would do it again. (54.7kg)

For lunch I had:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• Korean style Texan beef (400 calories)
• Scallops (100 calories)
• 50 grapes (100 calories)
• Total: 750 calories

For dinner I had:

• 2 spoons of rice (150 calories)
• Meatball and Sirloin with Curry (600 calories, it was too good 👀)
• Total: 750 calories

Midnight supplements:

• Protein powder + milk (300 calories)

Total calories of the day: 1800 calories

This week has honestly been amazing, perhaps one of the best I have ever felt. The two most beneficial changes I made are:

• Sleeping 7.5 hours per day: I am honestly shocked by how much sleeping has impacted my life. Even though it seems like I have 3.5 hours less compared to when I slept 4 hours, there is just so much more energy and time in the day that I couldn’t access before. I no longer completely collapse when I get home from school. Every morning, I feel energized and ready to embrace a new day, in contrast to before when I just kept yearning for the next sleeping opportunity. Most importantly, I am substantially more productive at night. Back when I slept at 4 am every night, I was not hardworking in those extra 4 hours, but rather just procrastinating and ultimately hating myself for doing that. Now, since I know there is a strict deadline at 12am, I work as hard as possible first, and enjoy the spare time afterward, often having an entire hour of leisure time to myself. This is a habit that I am definitely keeping even after the challenge ends.
• Exercising every day: Similar to sleeping, exercising every day was also a transformative experience. Honestly, the most immediate effect is not even the physical growth, but really the mental hype. I feel so proud of myself after each workout, and just that pride and endorphins really brightened my life. A quick 30 minutes workout and I feel fabulous for the rest of the day (and even the day after).

Both of these proved to be transformative experiences. Together, all of my health issues seemed to magically cease (Being healthy makes me healthy, who would have guessed 🙄). By sleeping sufficiently and exercising, in turn eliminating cortisol stress hormones, my acne disappeared, my hair stopped falling, and my face sharpened. I lost 1.1kg too (2.4 lbs) from 55.8kg to 54.7kg, so that’s a plus after last month of binge eating. Overall, I am definitely going to continue the aforementioned two changes.

One thing that I might change for the future is diet. As many people in the comments have pointed out, my calories are on the slightly lower side, which may not be ideal when I am exercising every day. Thus for the next week, I will attempt to eat a lot each day (no exact numbers yet but probably around 2.3k) while maintaining high levels of exercise. So I will update you guys on how that goes next week :D.

Finally, I challenge you to also take up ✨Self Improvement Week Challenge✨. Literally, just live your own ideal perfect life for one single week, and if you follow through, I assure you it will make a great impact.

Thanks for reading!
Feel to drop a comment on what you think~

CodeTiger
2021.10.9