My Mortal Enemy

For about a year now, I've been in a solid routine of waking up about 6am and starting my day right by heading to the gym before work. But surprise surprise, my consistency is slipping.

I've been struggling with motivation to work out for about a month now, which lines up almost perfectly with starting my cut, so I can definitely blame some of the inconsistency on that. But, by far the most impactful change has been what is now my mortal enemy - the power of the snooze button.

I've recently fallen into a pattern of sleeping far too late and not being able to wake up early enough to get to the gym before work. Combine this with a low-calorie, and specifically low-carb diet in an attempt to cut fat, it's no surprise I'm short on energy first thing in the morning. But I'm left wishing that the snooze button was never invented...

If my alarm kept ringing until I got out of bed, I'm sure I would find a way to complain about that too, but I know I would feel a thousand times better after I've done a good workout. But the way things stand, as long as I'm going to sleep past midnight, I can no longer trust myself to wake up for the gym in the morning and honestly, I wouldn't be able to keep up that schedule on 6 hours sleep.

When I first started going to the gym, it was new and exciting, so I was hellbent on making the most of it and I prioritised a good night's sleep over everything else. I would go to bed as early as 9:30pm, get 9 hours sleep and feel great the next morning. Now, after a year of pretty solid consistency, I'm wavering again...

I'm wasting time watching a series or a film until 1am, trying to squeeze every ounce of downtime I can get out of an evening. And sure, I've still been getting to the gym roughly 4 times a week, but with two sessions at the weekend, I'm now 'resting' for 3 of 5 weekdays. More specifically, I'm usually 'resting' Monday to Wednesday, which is probably the worst way to do a 4-3 split.

One of the biggest downsides to all this, is that if I continue to cut and don't workout very often, I might lose some fat, but I'll definitely lose muscle too. Meaning all the hard work I put in over the last year could just fade away over the next few months. Plus, I'm regularly falling short of my daily protein goal because I don't want to go over my calories. So, maintaining muscle mass just isn't possible. Something needs to change.

I need to find a better balance in my diet while still maintaining a calorie deficit, whether it's a longer cut phase with a smaller deficit to ensure I still have the energy to workout, maybe more carbs for dinner, or just downing a few protein shakes each day to keep the protein up. Either way, I need to realise the importance of sleep again and then maybe the snooze button will have less power over me.

Anyway, that's my monthly rant over. But I do have one last thing to say - if you're ever lacking motivation, feeling stuck or just disappointed in yourself. try writing it down. If there's one thing I've realised in writing this blog, it's that it is one of the best ways I hold myself accountable and move forward. Only in writing these posts do I really confront the issue, realise what I want to change and form a plan for achieving the goal. I started writing this very post without really knowing what I was going to talk about, now I'm leaving with a clear idea of what the problem is and what I need to change. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is consistently inconsistent like me.

See you in a month, when I'll have my **** together again.