Shelley's food and exercise schedule
My life has been incredibly busy for a couple of years now and that definitely didn't change when I started my Master studies last September. I asked Santa for an 8th day in the week but unfortunately he wasn't willing to bend society's rules for me ;) However, I still do the very best I can to live a healthy lifestyle and to take care of my body.
I don't have 'normal' weeks so this food and exercise schedule is really just one individual week for me. Let me sketch my life for you a little bit. My study takes about 40 hours per week and you can find me at the #FITGIRLCODE HQ another 20 hours per week. Then I haven't even slept yet, and I try to make that at least 7 but ideally 8 hours a night. Moreover, I spend about 12-16 hours per week traveling from Rotterdam (where I live) to Amsterdam (where I study). You can probably imagine that next to studying, working, sleeping, traveling and of course eating and basic stuff like showering and doing groceries, there's not that much time left to maintain a social life, have some leisure time to relax the mind, and exercise regularly.
Let me be clear that I'm definitely not nagging about my busy life! I love staying busy, a little bit of pressure makes me thrive. And of course life is how you create it to be so if you don't like it, change it. That is also why I am choosing to have my studies as my #1 priority instead of getting rockhard abs (although I wouldn't mind having them ;)). At this point in my life the main goal is to earn my Master's degree with the highest grades possible and to maintain a healthy lifestyle next to that. I eat the foods that are good for my body and energy, but if a cheat presents itself, I'm not always going to shy away from it (which you can also see in my food schedule).
Being a student also means I'm often on the go and I almost never have a kitchen to my availability to cook awesome lunches in. However, that doesn't mean you can't have a nice lunch. I try to prep lunch sometimes but I'm still finding my way. If anyone has some good lunch-prep recipes that are nice to eat at room temperature, please help a fellow Fit Girl out! Although it's not in this food schedule, I do eat whole wheat bread frequently. I love really dark bread, and it's the easiest lunch to take with you to class.
Shelley's food and exercise schedule
This week I was able to exercise 3 times, but more often it's just 2 times. I'd like to increase my workouts to 3-4 times a week but that would probably mean giving up seeing my friends and my social life completely and that is not a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Once I have finished my studies, my life will look totally different so then I will try to increase to 3-4 times a week. And besides going to the gym, I do all sorts of small things to keep my body moving like taking the stairs instead of the escalators, bicycling or walking to places I need to go etc. I also try to drink a lot of green tea and water throughout the day and eat enough fruit and veggies!
I have to confess that I was actually a little bit hesistant and scared to share this with all of you, because I felt that my food and training schedule was not 'Fit Girl' enough. You can see that I eat a lot of the same things, like my standard oatmeal with banana and cinnamon breakfast. This is partly because it's easier to cook or prepare things when you've made it before and when I don't have a lot of time, this is the fastest option. Also, on a student budget, I try to buy food I can use for more than one meal. For example, that's why my lunch at Wednesday and Friday was the same.
But then I talked about putting my food and training schedule on here with Anna and she said that maybe there are more of you Fit Girls that could relate to a busy life or are students yourself - and she's right. And besides that, I am happy with the way my body looks now and with what I eat, so why not share it? I know that I'm doing what I can and that's what matters.
Can you relate to my schedule? And if you know some good lunch-prep recipes, let me know! You can comment below.
