Day two started better: the baby slept until 6:24 a.m. In Samsung Health I got 6 hours and 41 minutes of actual sleep and a sleep score of 88. My energy score said 57, which, rude. Deep sleep was solid, and REM came in around an hour and 8 minutes, a little under the roughly 2 hours I aim for. Close enough. I checked off my 7-hour sleep goal. I also shared that I have sleep apnea and use a CPAP at night, and a sleep apnea video is coming.
After getting the kids off to school and daycare, I headed to the gym for stair climber cardio. My big message today: you do not have to kill yourself in the gym. You don't need to crank the StairMaster to level seven or sweat puddles. I go slow and easy, and throughout this series you'll barely see me sweat. Especially if you're a bigger person or you've never really worked out before, your body can respond just to walking. Start there.
On Zepbound, my hunger was about a 4 or 5 on a scale of 10. No headaches and none of that keto-flu ickiness. I felt pretty good, just a little hungry and thirsty. My backup plan, if I got a headache, felt lightheaded, or got extremely fatigued, was to stop and have an electrolyte drink. I didn't end up needing it. Dry fasting is something I've found works for my body, water fasts are another option, and none of this is one-size-fits-all.
The step machine said I burned about 209 calories. Even going slow, my heart rate went way above zone 2, and my heart rate chart showed me in zones three and four for most of the session. It's a good reminder that the stair climber pushes you hard even at a slow pace. If your goal is true zone 2, walking may be a better fit, and if your heart rate runs high, it's worth bringing up with your doctor.
After the gym I signed into work and got a few things done. Then in the afternoon I did my red light therapy and sauna session early, while the little one was still at daycare. Squeezing self-care into the quiet windows is how I make this work as a mom.
By 6 p.m. I was at 6,636 steps, so I finished on my treadmill at home. Final count: 11,030 steps. That meant I hit every check mark on my list for day two: sleep, cardio, red light and sauna, and steps. Great success!
Day three is an active rest day with no workout planned, just 10,000 steps by any means necessary. It's too cold to walk outside in the winter, so the treadmill it is. Day three also brings my weigh-in and the end of my fast. This is my personal experience, not medical advice. Glow hard. GRIT harder.