Fast forward 9 months later and I still eat healthily and exercise, but for a completely different set of reasons . If anything, I wish there wasn't a sort of "only jocks exercise" stigma towards having a fit lifestyle, because if I had exercised as much as I do now (which is 15 minutes a day, five days a week . Yes you read that right, fifteen minutes), I know that my quality of life in general would've been much better, and much easier .
Why is exercising and eating healthy food important ? I'll start with the most important one .
You get sick less, and the severity of your sickness isn't as bad .
When Winter used to roll around it was the best of times and the worst of times . I generally enjoy Winter since it's usually sunny, and walking around in the Winter sun at noon lifts my spirits up higher than you could imagine . But what I hated about it ? Sick . Sickness, all the time, every time . I usually woke up with a sore throat and I always got a minor cold that consisted of sniffling and a sore throat, but having a sore throat as a teacher is as good as torture .
Since exercising helps to make your body stronger to a degree, I've noticed that those minor sicknesses I used to have basically been greatly reduced in the current Winter . Last month and this month marks what is known as 'influenza season' in Japan, which can be highly infectious and can easily make you stay at home . Last year around this time I had already gotten sick around twice, and I would come to find myself being sick again in March, as well . However luckily this time around, even with the very little exercise I do nowadays, I haven't gotten a cold or the flu in the midst of Winter . I'm actually pretty surprised because a lot of my students currently have influenza, and there are times where I can hear a voice in the back of my head saying "Here it comes, the part where you become sick since you have to stay in this classroom for 5 hours", but alas, I have yet to become sick during this time of the year .
I've also noticed that when I do actually get sick (this usually happens because I haven't physically rested my body properly, so not much sleep and then going out two or three days straight), it's not as severe . Before when I got a cold due to fatigue (weird, I know) it usually ensued a terribly sore throat, a man voice, coughing for days, a blocked nose, and at worst an accompanying headache . But recently now that I exercise...well I still have the man voice and blocked nose . But the throat isn't as sore and the coughing isn't as prominent as it used to be . I think the cold still lasts as it usually would, but it not being as severe definitely helped me out . Since I usually get these fatigue colds when I travel, the fact that it doesn't completely make life unbearable while I go out has really benefitted me, especially since I travel quite a lot as well .
In general, I've found that me getting sick has really minimised from how often I would get sick before, and this has largely improved my quality of life and productivity in general .
You may not necessarily lose all that weight, but it'll still help to get that body you want
I used to exercise three times a week anywhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour and a half . Coupled with an extremely strict diet and of course, I was thinner . Nowadays I exercise four to five times a week for around 15 minutes, but my diet isn't so strict . When I was exercising far more my diet would consist of a rice meal for brunch and a protein shake for dinner . Nowadays it's still a rice meal for brunch and a protein shake for dinner, but more often than not I add a little a bit of snacks here and there; and I often eat some fried food or creamy desserts twice a week . Has my shape gotten back to the way it used to be, before I started exercising though ? No .
And funnily enough, I'm pretty sure I eat more now compared to how much I used to eat before I started exercising .
If you want a better looking body, what part do you want to look better is the question you'd really want to be asking yourself . "I want to have a flatter belly", to "I want an arse like Kim Kardashian"; if you want a certain part of your body to look a certain way, you need to specify that when you look up your exercise routines .
This is simply because exercising isn't about losing weight but it's also about effectively sculpting your body as well . You don't just lose weight, there are some places of the body that need a bit of a touch up, and some parts not so much so . My tummy is still pretty flat and I've noticed that my overall body is still how it was when I was exercising a lot and dieting a lot; but the only difference nowadays is that I have a bit more chin fat and my tummy is a bit bigger than what it used to be . Regardless, the fat that I've lost in my arms have still continued to stay that way and my legs are still much skinnier than they used to be, because that's how I wanted it to be .
People usually think losing weight is ultimately what will get you that perfect body, but no, it's not . I used to exercise in order to lose weight and I wasn't particularly happy with the results . I then looked more into it and decided to do a variant of a 'bikini body' challenge and that's when I started to see more of the body that I wanted . Where on your body do you want to have less fat ? If you ask yourself that question and exercise based off of those results, I'm sure you'll find the end factor much more rewarding.
It's the best form of energy your body will feel
Now don't get me wrong, I haven't completely converted to the "I don't drink coffee anymore" squad, but as a teacher I have to sit through 5-6 lessons a day . How do students feel when they sit through lessons ? Tired and sometimes bored . The newsflash here is that ultimately teachers are humans too and it also gets pretty dreary for us as well . When I first started teaching I'd sometimes feel really bad for some of my classes since I didn't have a lot of energy to do them; I taught some lessons that were really sub par . There were some classes where I almost fell asleep . If the student felt embarrassed I felt ten times worse . This is actually another main reason why exercising has still been an important part of my daily routine .
Since I've started exercising, the tiredness that kind of always followed me around has really minimised . If anything, I wish the routine I had right now was what I did when I was in university, because I feel as though I would've been an overall better student . Since I've started exercising 9 months ago I can only really count one time where I've been so sleepy I could barely keep my eyes open (which believe me, is a huge improvement to the previous year) . I feel like I have enough energy to keep my students attention much more compared to the previous year as well .
Outside of the teaching realm, my concentration is much more sustainable and I feel like my brain is able to absorb more, as compared to how I was in university or hell, even high school . This becomes very much apparent to me whenever I study languages, which can be really exhausting for the brain if you simply don't have the brain power for it . I'm currently learning Japanese, Korean and French, as well as doing a Diploma . And truth be told, if I wasn't exercising I don't think I'd have the mental capacity to handle all of that at once .
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| And hey, healthy food doesn't always taste bad . :P |
And so there it is ! The real reasons why you should consider having an exercise routine, even if it means 10 minutes for five days a week . I made this article mainly because these were things I really wish I knew when I was a university student .
Because even if it was 10 minutes, it could've made all the more difference in the energy that I needed in my long days of university and having a part time job . It could've made a difference in how often I'd get sick even though I needed to work . It could've made a difference in how much I was absorbing while I was studying . If I didn't have this stupid "only vein people exercise" mentality when I was a student, life would've been a lot easier .
So take my heed and take my warning, and get rid of the thought that only people who wear yoga pants or take duck selfies exercise . There's more to it that'll be beneficial for you in the long run, believe me .
Signing out,
-THE TEACOAST .
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