This week in review (25/2/24 - 2/3/24)

Body composition

Body measurements

* second row of each table is simply comparison made to previous week
(using current measurement - past measurement)

Sidebar

Definitely the same message as last week, super confident about the body comp data, however not at all for measurements. I need to come up with some kind of standardization around where I take measurement from for each body part. I’ll need to do some research for this.

Observation

This week was a topsy-turvy one to say the least:

• Beginning of the week (on Monday) I think because my maid was on leave I ordered outside food (relatively healthy, not too many protein as I’d like to have) but minor deviation from general meal plan so no biggie.

• Same day, dinner order, from outside, burger + fries. slight biggie.

• Next day, large order around evening (from EIKO Patisserie) mostly junk and sugary treats. (6 items) and inhaled it all in one sitting with filter coffee on the side. big biggie.

• As latest as Friday, because I was sick with flu, instead of getting a simple soup - my order turned into cream of chicken soup (still alright) but then added alfredo spaghetti w/ mushrooms from one shop and as if that wasn’t enough, also got another HUGE order from EIKO.**) two orders placed (both largely unhealthy and unnecessary) in the the space of 10 mins.

As I was slurping through the soup and the spaghetti that arrived first, something inside me clicked.

Just as I was done with a lil’ over quarter of my meal I hear my huge baked goods order arrive.

Despite looking forward to the arrival and the impending gorge fest.

As soon as I looked at the quantum of food sitting in front of me.

1. I was slightly disgusted.
2. I went back to thinking this is definitely my old demons resurfacing.

So here’s what I proceeded to do.

• Remove myself from the room with food and ask myself few simple questions, if I ate all that food. Will I be able to have a great sleep?
• if I ate all that food. Will I be able to have a great workout with limited sleep and most likely food sitting in my stomach?

Answer was way to obvious so I did what seemed the right thing to do. got up.

• drove and kept the baked goods order near a place I know few homeless people go to - looking for a meal.
• fed dogs on my street - the most scrumptious looking alfredo spaghetti with cream of chicken soup on the side.

and as if all this food related drama wasn’t enough. on top of flu, I also pulled something above my right hip.

Lesson

I was fully expecting the weight to (at best) go up by one kilo this week and at worst, I had prepared myself to think of this week as a one off and not look at it empirically.

However, the fact that the number on the scale has still gone down despite of all the unplanned cheat meals is absolute madness.

What does it prove? Few things really -

1. Never miss a workout.
2. Go hard at each workout.
3. Track your macros everyday, but especially on days you feel like/ are actively cheating, so that you can visually see where / by how much you veered off the baseline and plan corrective measures.

Conclusion

I would love to one day discuss this as an entire blog post and talk more in depth, but for now, to mention it briefly - “With each passing day, I am realizing more and more, the importance of anchoring my day with a workout.”

Equation is simple as heck -

1. Day when you worked out and everything else went great. You’re 100% happy. Now these days are a rarity so cherish em’.

2. Day when you worked out and everything else that could go wrong went absolutely to hell. You’re 80% happy regardless.

3. Lastly, a day when you worked out and the day was neither too eventful nor too mundane, so something in between - you’re hovering b/w 80-100% happiness.

I think it should be clear as day now what needs doing, come what may.

That’s all from my side.

Until next time. Ciao!

— MM.