Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, and I am not trained or gifted with any type of physical fitness. I am just going to be following a popular challenge that has been said to work for many people. I have current physicals from my actual doctor, and I am a relatively healthy person, so this challenge is a way to increase my health and happiness during the school year.

These last two weeks were pretty hectic because they contained two of the worst days for working out: My birthday and Valentine’s Day. Now, I don’t know about you, but I love to eat sugar on both of those days and I did not pass up the opportunity to binge on sweets. My grandparents sent me a pie, my friends gave me candy and my best friend baked me a cake. Needless to say, it was difficult for me to care about working out this week.

On a big day like my birthday or Valentine’s day, I like to think about moderation. Stuffing yourself with sweets is not good for you and it doesn’t make you feel good. I have definitely eaten too many sweets before, and it makes you feel more sluggish.

According to a WebMD article called “How Does Sugar Affect Your Body,” your body naturally craves sugar because it gives you a surge of dopamine and a rush of energy at first, but eating more than you need can cause many adverse side affects. It can cause joint pain, builds plaque on your teeth, causes your skin to sag and many other problems.

Again, I try to remind myself to eat candy in moderation, and I also need to get better at reaching for apples instead of candy bars.

Another thing that I wanted to talk about is going to the gym. Because I was sick for the last two weeks, I have not done as much cardio as I wanted to at the beginning of this trail. Like I said last week, it is not good to push yourself too hard when you are sick. However, in the upcoming week I will be better and I expect to go back to the gym to get in at least three days of cardio. I am excited to talk about that in next week’s article and discuss the differences on the two workouts.

Week 3 reflection:

If I had to say one thing about this workout, it would be that I wish I would have started with two workouts a day. They are about 1 minute a piece in the beginning, and that isn’t a lot of time, so doing one in the morning and one in the evening would have been better. I think next week, which is my last week of this workout, I will do them twice a day.

I still really like the workouts in general. They aren’t that difficult, and I really like to do the long arm crunches, especially now that the workout is upping the number that we are doing. Although I haven’t seen a lot of difference in my physique, I think the workouts are making me feel more accomplished. Knowing that I have something to do that is good for me during the day makes me feel like I have done something worthwhile.

I actually forgot to do a workout this week and had to double up for one of my days, which just reminded me that I am human and sometimes you will forget to do things. Just like a forgotten assignment, you try not to let it get you down and continue to work harder. Setting an alarm on your phone or in your calendar for the days that you have to workout is a good way to never forget or skip one.