This week is the second week that I work and teach almost full schedule again after fasting month – and first week in with full CrossFit training on. My body is adjusting to it. The feeling is so messy and uncomfortable. I feel stressed all the time coupled with feeling fatigue, anxiety on ongoing data collection tasks as well as the hot weather condition. Next month, I am adding another class on top of my existing ones. All these classes need reviewing sooner or later. Sometimes, I feel that I could not sustain this kind of intensity day in day out for a long time. Then again, there are more instructors doing way more classes than me. I got to figure out how to take care of myself better.
I am so grateful for being able to teach fitness classes. It is one of the times that I do feel like myself and I could share my full authenticity with those who attended mine. It has not been so rewarding financially yet, but experiencing things like witnessing a fitness transformation of someone that I play a part of is so satisfying. I have never been happier at my work than ever before. I have progressed from teaching 2-3 classes a week into potentially up to 11 classes a week if I don’t have to cover for anyone else. I also look different, way better, more defined and muscular (the weight has not changed much). It is safe to say, I really like the way I am physically and never have felt better before. However, the fatigue that comes with it is so real, it really affects my life and overall daily functioning. I need more time for self-care like doing nothing, be alone and away from people (I meet people everyday), sleep and do self-audit like right now. It is the first week that I have been able to do this. I am not frustrated, just feeling a tad bit out of alignment.
My daily routine starts with getting up early at 5.00am if I am going to train or 6.45am to get ready for morning class. If there is no class, I would usually be at home by 9.00am, recover and get extra sleep for 2 hours. If there is class, I would be at home by 12pm earliest. I would do whatever to recover, whether eat or sleep before 2.30pm. Normally, my body would settle down and is OK to function at 3pm onwards. This is when I do other things that require thinking and calling people – those that are not fitness related. Then, by 4.30pm I would get ready to get to 5.30pm class, and usually stays out until 9.30pm earliest to reach home. I got a wee bit hours after that to relax and get in tune with myself before going to bed usually by 11.30pm or 12am-ish. My typical sleep would be 3-4 hours maximum. So, this is me with this non-optimal, consistently in pain and fatigue body. Something has to be done, otherwise, I would not progress and just stay in this cycle of agony.
Today, I actually was researching about my nutrition for hours, almost half of the day – looking for the most cost-effective way to stay nourished and hit my micronutrients so that I could function better. It was really crazy, I have never worry about what I eat before. Now it’s like, how could I hit 165g of protein daily? What are my options? Real food? Whey? BCAAs? What are the costs involved? At first I thought to myself, why was I spending so much time trying to solve this. Now it occurred to me, if I don’t change the way I eat, it will affect my job and my ability to function according to my values. It is the core, if I am not healthy and fit to teach and role model, there goes my salary. And I might not be able to progress at my CrossFit training as my body is almost always in pain after training. Creating balance with planning my nutrition intake with real food and supplement with restrained budget can be really frustrating. Maybe it is that hard, I need detailed planning and survey my options. I, for sure, am not alone facing this kind of issue.
Currently I am taking whey proteins as supplements. However, I feel that it affects my mood so much and I am consistently feeling inflamed and hot inside. That really bothers me, and my body, too, does not recover as quickly as I have expected it to. Probably I need more BCAAs (recommended intake 4-20g daily) and could use real food to fulfill my protein intake. So that is about 130-150g of protein spread out throughout the day – probably I could do something like 25g, 30g, 30g, 45g, 20g. What is left now, is to determine what menu to have depending on budget and my choice of food. Option 2, should I continue with whey protein (the hormonal effect I really diss, but let’s see for another month if it is going to become better); I could opt for 2 daily servings (50g), and then the 110g spread out in 4 meals so it could look like this – 20g, 30g, 30g, 30g. Looks achievable. My daily caloric intake could be around 2400-2600kcal, so there’s a lot of room for variety.
Next strategy, is to research potential high protein sources from food that is available to me and within my budget. I am looking for chicken, black beans, eggs, cheese, yogurt and tuna as my source of protein. What meals that could come out of this, I am still figuring out. My monthly expense for food normally goes around RM200-350 (this was before whey protein, and I was still undernourished). Good whey protein costs about RM250 a month, BCAAs around RM60-RM90 depending on the amount gram per tablet. I am really skewing towards BCAA for the cost and also for functionality as it is the speedy and effective muscle recovery that I am looking for. Whey protein has BCAAs too and I could potentially consume up to 20g of them daily. I can’t know for sure how my body feels until I go through and feel it. Cost-wise, with BCAA, I have got to buy more quality food. With whey, less food and I have to be selective with what I am going to buy. I have just ordered another month supply of whey protein. In June, I would start with this BCAA strategy. The most important thing now, what should I buy for groceries to cater for 110g of protein daily while not neglecting other nutrition needs like vitamins and minerals.
Getting in tune with my body and ensuring that I take care of it is definitely a process. My body is just so strained and stressed as I teach and train for about 4-5 hours daily. Theoretically, I know what had to be done. Practicing it is another struggle. I am determined to nail this and be good at it so that I will feel more confident when offering general meal suggestions towards my clients; and ultimately for my own well-being.