Over the course of this term I feel that I had some success and some failure. As far as fitness goes I think I was moderately successful. I did the Fiton exploration for four weeks which I really enjoyed. It took the stress of planning a workout out of the picture. I also learned that I like working out from home sometimes. It allows me to do it whenever I want, reduced the overall time it takes as there is no travel time and I feel less “gym intimidation”. This was something that I didn’t think was going to happen. I thought in order to get a good workout in I would need to be in a more gym dedicated space, but turns out I could work up a sweat just as well in my living room as a gym.

While doing this I also explored green smoothies. I found a recipe that I really liked and was genuinely looking forward to drinking it everyday. I felt that it started my day off in a healthier way rather than the traditional bagel or ego waffle while running out the door like I usually do. That being said I did this for about 2 months and then gave up. I started waking up later which meant I did not have time in the morning to make a smoothie and I returned to the easy cereal or toast.

I also watched “Forks Over Knives”. While an interesting concept and one that I would not mind leaning towards, I did not feel that I had the time, resources or cooking skills to completely adapt my diet in this time. The idea of eating more plant based and less processed is one that ideally I would do, but I struggle with how to do it in a healthy way. I feel that I do not know how to eat in that way while still getting enough of my daily protein and micronutrients.

Finally, I did circuit workouts out with my dad doing circuit training. This was nice as I felt like I had a personal trainer and it fit the final piece of the puzzle into what it will take for me to make working out a lifetime thing. I really need a buddy who will create accountability for myself. I was doing all these workouts by myself and was struggling to get the motivation to do them. When I went home I was much more motivated as I had my dad there to support and push me through the workout.

Overall, I feel that I was able to jump start by fitness back into a place where going into summer I will be able keep building on my strength rather than start from scratch. I have more motivation to keep going and have already started a fitness challenge with my family and friends while in quarantine. As far as nutrition goes, I could have done better. I did not put a lot of effort into refining my diet. I was more cognizant about what I put in my body and tried to have more fruits and veggies, but to be honest most weeks I would have one or two good meals a day and then snack on junk food that night. This is something that this summer I want to try to tackle as I feel like something in my diet is making me tired all the time. I want to see if when I transfer to a more whole foods diet if I will be more energetic.

Through this process I learned that it is really important to go in with a plan. I had a loose plan, but I felt that as the weeks went on I was more and more lost on how to keep the inquiry going. When it is about fitness I felt like it was hard to do “checks ins” on my fitness as I was starting from scratch essentially. It wasn’t like between week 1 and 2 there was much progress. From week 1 to 8 there is, which can be noted, but it was hard to find things to write about that were not repetitive.

My advice then for conquering an inquiry would be make it something you are interested in or some goal you have wanted to always achieve. For me I wanted to use this blog as my source of accountability. So inquiry can be a way to push yourself to learn to sing, knit, draw etc. Something you have always wanted to learn. It does not have to be a topic exploration it can be a skill exploration.