Happy 1st Anniversary!
Hello friends,
My name is Gül. If you don't know me, I'd like to start with a brief or long introduction. After living in Canada for a long time, I returned to Türkiye with my children. After living in Türkiye for two years, I decided to return to Canada. I was divorced and had two children.
Actually, I was very happy with my life in Türkiye. I had settled into my life, bought a car, my mortgage was approved, and I had a down payment! I had replaced all my belongings. I had very nice plans for the future. My social circle, my friends... My days were wonderful. My neighbors, etc...
But when I saw that my son couldn't adapt at all, I realized that, no matter how much I loved him, he wouldn't be able to make it in Türkiye. The COVID situation, his inability to learn the language, the incredible difficulty he faced with it, etc. There was nothing I could do. Yes, I was comfortable and very happy, but I had to make the right decision for my children. I sold everything I owned. I came to Canada with $20,000!
Jan, who was my boyfriend at the time, and I decided we didn't want to live in Edmonton anymore and moved to Nanaimo. He moved in before me, and I joined him after I'd sorted everything out with the kids. My plan was to rent a separate apartment and live separately for a while, but nothing went as planned. Because I was a single mother and had no work experience in Canada, no one would rent me an apartment. I didn't have a job, and I couldn't find one. Even though I said I had money and would pay a few months' rent in advance if necessary, they wouldn't rent to me. During this time, we lived in a three-bedroom apartment for months with Jan, Jan's friend, another friend, my kids, our dog, and our cats. :)
Of course, it was great for the kids, the house was so much fun.
I struggled a lot during this period. I completely stopped studying. I didn't even feel like exercising, sometimes I didn't even feel like living. I was very unhappy. I constantly missed Türkiye, my life, my home, my living room, my balcony. In short, my comfort. And of course, the social life, the atmosphere of Izmir, the techno bars... I felt like I was in a retirement town. And my motivation dropped incredibly, I constantly found myself eating junk food, and I didn't stop for months. I ate, incredibly! I ate junk food, and also the carbohydrate-rich things Jan always made.
Then, by chance, the people in the apartment next door came out, and since we knew the landlords, we immediately called them and moved into their apartment. That's how Jan, the children, and I finally moved into a separate place. I didn't even consider living alone anymore, because everything was so expensive anyway. It was very important for me to spend my savings carefully.
The new house was quite good for us. We stayed in the new house for 6 months. And in the meantime, I got pregnant with our baby (planned) with Jan. I had already gained 10 kilos beforehand. And then I gained another 15 kilos during pregnancy. But honestly, I can say this was the only pregnancy where I gained the least weight and my belly grew very little.
During this process, my depression returned intermittently. My feelings of being overwhelmed, those "What am I doing here?" moments... I'm going to go back. Although it came and went periodically, my adjustment process had generally begun.
Six months later, we bought this new house we're living in and moved into our own home. Having our own home has been great. Everyone has their own room. I even have my own exercise area. The children were so happy that we wouldn't have to move again now that we had a house.
By the way, I haven't mentioned the kids at all :) They were always so happy that I came back to Canada and never wanted to go back.
I had a wonderful pregnancy. I even have pregnancy plans :)
Two months after my pregnancy ended, I decided I was ready to lose weight and reopened my Zoom groups.
We've almost completed our first year since last October. I've lost my pregnancy weight, and now I'm waging war against the weight I gained when I came to Canada :)
Below this post, I want to give you the first term Zoom workout program as a gift. A year ago, I started preparing the lessons, saying I needed to lose weight. I wasn't expecting any motivation or anything like that. I became very depressed. This is my life now. The man I love is by my side. My children are happy! I said to myself, if you can't see the good things you have, you can never be happy! And I decided to lose weight! Note: I love where I am now :)
Looking back on my first year, I realize I had some really depressed and unhappy periods. I questioned a lot of things. But returning to exercise really motivated me and brought me back to discipline. Then I understood that it doesn't matter where you are to be happy. Happiness is about me. I don't need to be in Izmir and partying to be happy. I can be happy on my own, enjoying nature, playing PlayStation with the man I love, or cleaning the garden. Happiness is actually about how you enjoy life.
This program will be for beginners. Zoom classes progress in stages and will take you from beginner to advanced level. If you have time, I would definitely welcome you to my live classes as well :)
The links are given below in order:
Important Reminder!
This is a 5-week exercise program, spread over 3 days a week.
Because I stopped my group classes after the seventh month of my pregnancy and couldn't fully return to exercise until my baby was two months old, the first week isn't actually our official starting week.
I scheduled the classes between October 24th and October 28th, 2022, as a practice week before the main classes begin, so they are short.
Do I need to exercise outside of the program?
I think NOT! You can continue with our routine this month if you want. Classes will increase in future semesters. You don't need to overexert yourself at first.
Zoom Group Class
The program you received is from my Zoom group classes. These are not edited videos.
These sessions involve high-intensity exercises. If you get too tired and feel like you can't continue, you can always pause the video and rest. You can spread the exercise throughout the day. However, please do not end the exercise before completing the stretching.
What should my diet be like?
I haven't followed any specific diet plan or imposed any restrictions on myself in this October-November program. I advocate for a sustainable system. We'll see together in the coming months whether my system works :) My suggestion is to make small changes this month without stressing yourself out. Big changes all at once might not be accepted and could completely discourage you. We don't want that to happen.
You can follow the other lessons from the links below: