30-Day Slim & Fit Challenge – Let’s do it together!

Hi all, today is the first day of July and I’ve started a 30-Day Challenge on impromptu. What’s this challenge about? Well, I have failed in my previous attempts to resume my regular exercise and healthy diet. Therefore, this challenge is all about keeping slim and fit in the right way.

Just look at some of the food I’ve consumed in the past two weeks. Yummy…oh no! Cannot resist. LOL!

“You are skinny already!” Some of you may think that I’m slim enough (just like what my friends always tell me). However, I know my body well and I know when my shorts are getting tighter and how my thigh gap is threatening to vanish into thin air. :) And let’s not forget about the emerging tummy. 

I don’t want to wait till things worsen before I do anything (because it would be more difficult to get it corrected then). So, let me kick-start this 30 Days Slim & Fit Challenge. Trust me, it’s not easy to stay slim when you reach your 40s and are surrounded by good food (in Singapore)….and sit down too much due to job nature.

But hey, when there’s a will, there a way. 

As I’ve said, I’m going to do it the right way. Nope, I don’t like slimming pills or starving myself. Read on and see what I’m gonna do to regain a slimmer, fitter and healthier body.

 

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My 30-Day “Slim & Fit” Challenge

I’ve only set two goals for this 30-Day “Slim & Fit” challenge. One is about keeping fit and the other is to eat right. It’s going to be a challenge (duh!) because I have to do it for 30 consecutive days.

1. Exercise Everyday

Exercise can be in the form of aerobic or strength exercise and the duration must be at least 30 minutes. On days when I cannot exercise legitimately (e.g. going through aesthetics treatment), I can make up for it by walking 10,000 steps.

Aerobic Exercise Examples

• Jogging
• Swimming
• Biking

Strength Exercise Examples

• Weights Lifting
• Squats
• Push-Ups
• Sit Ups / Crunches

2. Eat Healthily

To achieve this goal, I must meet the nutritional requirements that I’ve set for myself through MyFitnessPal app. Specifically, I should not exceed the daily limit for Carbohydrates and Calories (e.g. 120g Carbo or 1200 Calories).

How to Calculate Daily Calorie? My daily calorie limit is calculated by MyFitnessPal based on my personal stats inputs. If I exercise that day, the free app will automatically increase the baseline limit of my nutritional requirements by synchronizing with my Fitbit Fitness Tracker.

Here’re the other things that I’ll be tracking to make sure I get enough nutrients:

• Protein
• Vitamin C
• Calcium

…and not too much of Fats and Cholesterol.

 

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Take “BEFORE” Measurement of Body Stats

So, I’ve set up my goals. How do we track the progress and results? Let’s do a BEFORE measurement of the body stats first, shall we? Here’re some of the things I’ve just measured today:

• Body Weight
• Body Fat
• Waist
• Hip
• Thigh
• Arm

And these are the tools I’ve used:

1. Smart Weighing Scale

I’ve recently tried out a smart weighing machine at my brother’s home and was happy to receive a digital report on my body fats, BMI, Muscle Mass, Metabolic Age and more. 

 

2. Body Measuring Tape

Get a good body measuring tape that retracts well and is flexible, lightweight and affordable.

3. Body Statistics Log Book

You can either use a mobile app to track your body stats or use a hard-copy journal such as this one.

 

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How to Track Nutrition & Fitness for 30 Days?

From today onwards, I will diligently log down my nutritional intakes and exercises. As shared earlier, I make use of MyFitnessPal to record food intake and Fitbit Charge 2 to track my exercises.

If you are a pen-and-paper person, you can track your results manually using journals such as this Nutrition & Fitness Journal.

> MUST-READ: 30 Day Slim & Fit Challenge – Here are the results

To force myself to keep up with this 30-Day “Slim & Fit” Challenge, I will record my fitness results here everyday (yes, in this post). You can pop by and see my daily progress and see if I’ve slackened. ;)

Live Fitness Log (Nicole from mBC)

• 1 July: 3.5km Jog + 90 Squats + 13,000 Steps (incl jog) 
• 2 July: 3.5km Jog + 90 Squats + 60 Push-ups + 11,000 Steps (incl jog)
• 3 July: 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 3-min Plank + 8,000 Steps
• 4 July: 1km Brisk-walk + 2.5km Jog + 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 15,000 Steps (incl jog)
• 5 July: 3.5km Brisk-walk + 90 Squats + Climb 10 Story + Strength Trg (3 arm exercises – 36 reps each) + 8,000 Steps (incl Brisk-Walk)
• 6 July (Sat): 180 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 3-min Plank + 3,000 Steps
• 7 July (Sun): 180 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 3-min Plank + 10,000 Steps

Thoughts after 1 Week: Tracking results really motivated me to exercise every single day, even on weekends when I normally don’t. As for diet, I’ve been meeting my goals of not exceeding Calorie and Carbo on weekdays. Weekends proved really challenging and I failed on both days, but not by much. :) Yum Yum….Singapore food is so delicious. LOL!

• 8 July: 3.5km Brisk-walk + 90 Squats + 11k Steps (incl brisk-walk)
• 9 July: 3.5km Brisk-walk + 90 Squats + 75 Push-ups + 13k Steps (incl brisk-walk)
• 10 July: 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + Strength Trg (3 arm exercises – 36 reps each) + 7k Steps
• 11 July: 3.5km Jog + 90 Squats + 10k Steps (incl jog)
• 12 July: 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + Strength Trg (3 arm exercises – 36 reps each) + 7k Steps
• 13 July (Sat): 180 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 3-min Plank + 8k Steps
• 14 July (Sun): 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 10k Steps

Thoughts after 2 Weeks: Getting used to exercising on weekends. That’s what 30-Day Challenges are for – to change our habits…for the better. :)

• 15 July: 3.5km Jog + 90 Squats + 66 Push-ups + 12k Steps (incl jog)
• 16 July: 3.5km Brisk-walk + 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 12k Steps (incl brisk-walk)
• 17 July: 12k Steps 
• 18 July: 120 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 6k Steps
• 19 July: 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + Strength Trg (3 arm exercises – 36 reps each) + 8k Steps
• 20 July (Sat): 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 14k Steps
• 21 July (Sun): 13k Steps

Thoughts after 3 Weeks: This week was quite tough in terms of maintaining my discipline on both food and exercise. There were 2 days when I didn’t ‘officially’ exercise, although I tried to make up for it by walking over 10k steps. I also didn’t jog as often as I wished I could because of an old pain in my left knee. 

Hope I can pull through this 30 Day Challenge. One more week to go. :) 

• 22 July: 3.5km Brisk-walk + 90 Squats + 60 Push-ups + 13k Steps (incl brisk-walk)
• 23 July: 90 Squats (with dumb bell) + 90 Sit-ups + 10k Steps
• 24 July: 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 10k Steps
• 25 July:  3.5km Brisk-walk + 16k Steps (incl brisk-walk)
• 26 July:  90 Squats (with dumb bell) + 90 Sit-ups + Strength Trg (3 arm exercises – 36 reps each) + 10k Steps 
• 27 July (Sat):  12k Steps
• 28 July (Sun): 180 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 10k Steps
• 29 July: 3.5km Jog + 90 Squats + 15k Steps (incl jog)
• 30 July:  11k Steps
• 31 July: 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 12k Steps

Thoughts after 4 Weeks: The final week of the 30 day challenge was not as difficult as the 3rd week. New habits have definitely formed such that I feel guilty when I didn’t get to exercise. In the last few days, my daily schedule was disrupted as I spent everyday in the hospital with a loved one who was down with Pneumonia. I made up for it by doing indoor exercises right through to midnight. 

I’ll write a post on the final results. Stay tuned! 

How about joining me in this challenge? Let’s keep slim, fit and healthy together. Can’t wait to see my results on 1 Aug 2019. :) 

Stay tuned and stay connected by subscribing and I’ll keep you posted on my results.

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Live Fitness Log (2nd Month)

• 1 Aug: 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + Strength Trg (3 arm exercises – 36 reps each) + 11,000 Steps
• 2 Aug: 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 8,000 Steps
• 3 Aug (Sat): 90 Squats + 90 Sit-ups + 6-min Plank + 12k Steps
• 4 Aug (Sun): 15k Steps
• 5 Aug: 8k Steps (Sick)