By Victoria Q

It has been the fourth day since lockdown began (again). Not everyone enjoys the lockdown. In fact, no one loves lockdown – where you can only stay at home, limited car passengers, limited shopping time, limited staying outside.

But I do love lockdown. I do enjoy lockdown. Stay at home makes me feel a lot safer since I don’t have much contact with other people outside (my opinion, no sarcasm). I do my groceries shopping once a week. I make my own meal plans so I know what kind of ingredients I’ll use and reuse them since I’ve researched the recipe too. Listed down what I want to buy, gather everything and go on groceries shopping once a week.

It sure is a hassle to cook every single meal. Researching what to eat, how much the meal cost and how to reuse the ingredients may sound difficult, but trust me, it’ll save you time and money. Meal planning not only saving me from a lot of hassle thinking of what to eat for every single meal all the time but also, get to save money on food spending. Since I’ve already had certain meal plans with recipes on hand, it’s so much easier for the rest of the week.

We have access to basically any food we want out there, but it is never as healthy as homemade. Furthermore, what we can do now is staying at home, so why don’t we use this moment to create a new “me”? We always said we have no time to cook as we’re busy throughout the day, and here we are: the lockdown holiday.

People don’t view lockdown as a holiday but I do. Staying at home gives me a lot of time to do what I always wanted to do. I love baking, cooking, writing and especially watching a movie. Who doesn’t love a nice cookies/popcorn time with a movie, right?

During this lockdown holiday, I spent my entire day doing something I can never have done if I don’t get the whole day for myself. I wake up around 8 to 8.30 a.m, sometimes earlier when I’ve fully rested. But I set myself to wake up between 8 to 8.30 a.m because I love to sleep in. Then, I take a quick shower, get dressed (this makes me feel better even when I’m just staying at home) and have my breakfast. My breakfast menu ranges from yogurt bowl to avocado toast, toast with nut butter or oatmeal, depends on what I have in the fridge and what I feel like eating.

I have my delicious, healthy first meal to start my day rights by sitting at a dining table, eating peacefully without any distraction – no TV, no phone, just my food and me. After breakfast, I spent my entire morning writing, which I don’t get to do if I have to go out for work. I write until noon when my stomach gives me a signal that it’s already time for lunch.

My lunch menu is very convenient as it’s already in my meal plans with a recipe. My lunch might not be as peaceful as breakfast because everyone already woke up and there’s the noise of cars, dogs, TV and talking especially my lovely and lively family. I usually have lunch with my family, where we chatted a bit. Then, we get into our own stuff to do. I love to do a workout at midday when I’m still energetic and refreshed. I take around 30 – 40 mins after lunch and before workout to spend time with my dogs or do household stuff. Then, I change into my most comfortable workout clothing and hit the game.

I do full-body workouts most of the time. However, my workout routine still depends on my body condition. Sometimes I worked too hard on my arms and got sore the next day, then I’ll skip arms workout and do butt/leg and abs workouts instead. I let it fully recovered before working on it again to minimize the injury that might happen. That time, I’ll focus on the other part of the body. I love strength training especially weight training. I love to see myself getting stronger as the day goes by.

My workout usually lasted for about an hour half to 2 hours half. Afterwards, I give my body a post-workout meal which is mostly filled with fibre and protein. It’s always vegetables or fruits or both and protein, for example, lettuce or papaya or both with chicken breast or tofu. Post-workout meal is very important as consuming protein after a workout helps the muscles to heal and prevents the loss of lean mass.

I probably don’t have much energy left after the workout so this is when I give myself some rest time. I watch TV, play with my dogs, helping mum do whatever needed or I just have a lie-down.

When it comes to dinner, which is 2 hours apart from my post-workout meal, it gets very easy too since I’ve prepared the ingredients and planned ahead. I can be a huge eater during dinner. In fact, I eat the most during dinnertime. I either stick to the portion in my meal plans or double the portion. Again, depends on my body needs. My family and I eat dinner early from 6 to 6.30 p.m because my grandpa gets hungry early.

We sit down at the dining table, enjoy our food, chit chat and laugh off. People said dinner brings a family together and it’s definitely true. After dinner, we watch TV together – talking about a scene on the TV, getting excited and sometimes, getting emotional together.

If you noticed I haven’t shower after the workout, yes, I do it around 8 p.m. Come out refreshing after a shower, I have the movie night begins right away! Alcohol with a movie, popcorn with a movie, chocolate with a movie or cookies with a movie. Anything, pick one!

The movie has to finish at 10 p.m because this is the time I unwind myself and prepare for rest. Switch off my mobile data, put the phone away and start my journal writing. I do love writing a lot. I reflect on what I ate, how many workouts I’ve done, how am I feeling the whole day and lastly, comment of the day.

Next, I do the most relaxing activity which is slow reading. I turn my bedroom into the coziest state ever and begin my slow reading until I fall asleep. Most of the case, I fall asleep around 10.30 to 10.45 p.m.

This “holiday” won’t last long so I want to enjoy it till the max. This is a special time for me to take care of myself. Honestly, I won’t get to write this much and this often if it’s not a holiday. I get to write 4 – 5 hours a day, also, I get to workout 2 hours and above every single day (maybe sometimes only an hour above). I know when everything returns to normal, I’ll work my ass off again for my job. But for now, I want to give myself some slack time and enjoy doing what I don’t always get to do. I hope you, whichever country you are, whenever you’re reading this, will do yourself a favour too. If you’re like me, staying at home due to lockdown, try figuring out what you wanted to do the most, which you keep procrastinating or having no time to do, do it now (indoor activities)! Don’t wait for tomorrow but now, this is the best time to begin! I wish you safe and I’ll meet you soon with another post.