A Day In the Life of Maria in Vancouver

According to Earl Nightingale, “We are all creatures of habit. We can do most things without even thinking about them; our bodies take charge and do them for us.” And Maria in Vancouver is definitely a creature of habit! She gets used to doing things in the same manner every day and her daily routine is like second nature to her. What does a typical day for Maria in Vancouver look like?

DAILY MORNING ROUTINE 

I am used to getting between 7-8 hours of sleep during weekdays. I wake up around 7am and I take a quick shower. My husband and I   immediately run to our fitness club to check how things are going, which is hopefully, smoothly. While my husband holds meetings with staff and goes through accounting with our administrator,  at 8:15 am, I join our yoga classes which vary by the day. On Mondays and Fridays, it’s flow yoga; on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, it’s power yoga; and on Thursdays, it’s Hatha yoga.

Tree pose. Photo courtesy of the author.

I love starting my day by doing yoga classes as it helps me improve my flexibility, strength, and balance; it helps me to relax better therefore I sleep better; yoga helps me improve my general mood and manage my stress levels; and by joining our daily morning yoga classes, it connects me to a supportive community. It also helps me monitor how our morning classes at our fitness club are faring on a daily basis.

Dancer pose. Photo courtesy of the author.

By 9:30 am, I attend our strength and conditioning classes for an hour. Again, on a daily basis, our classes varied: on Mondays, we conduct core conditioning; on Tuesdays, we offer dance sculpt classes; on Wednesdays, we have our total body training classes; on Thursdays, it’s our total body conditioning classes; and on Fridays, it’s functional and endurance training classes. By taking these classes on a daily basis, it helps me reduce my body fat, heart rate, blood pressure and increase my calorie burn.

Goddess pose. Photo courtesy of the author.

By 11:00 am, my hubby and I go back to our home and I take another shower (a longer hot shower) and get dressed for the day while my husband goes through his emails and correspondences. By 12:00 pm, I join my hubby for our daily morning cup of black freshly brewed coffee with skim milk on the side and no sugar. We get our coffee which is the delicious Jose Martinez Pink Bourbon Colombian coffee from Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters. We also drink freshly brewed hot green tea, the Gyokuro Dango Cha which we buy from our favourite tea bar in Kitsilano, the O-Five Rare Tea Bar. I also tidy up our place around this time. However, on Wednesdays, we do have a loyal and trusted cleaning lady who comes and cleans our place once a week.

Coffee for two. Photo courtesy of the author.

Gyokuro Dango Cha green tea for two. Photo courtesy of Pexels.

DAILY MIDDAY ROUTINE 

Whole Foods on Cambie. Photo courtesy of the author.

Around 1:00 pm, my hubby and I do our daily errands. We usually go to Whole Foods to buy our groceries for the day. My hubby and I prefer to buy our groceries daily because it means the food we buy never gets thrown away or wasted. We eat what we buy right away. This may sound counterintuitive but by buying our groceries on a daily basis, it actually helps us stay on budget. We buy the same things every day: blueberries, raspberries, bananas, apples, tomatoes, Greek salad from the salad bar, cooked tofu from the salad bar, cooked chicken breast from the hot bar section, and my three bottles of Italian Sparkling mineral water — I drink at least two litres a day of sparkling water. Our grocery shopping only takes us half an hour because we already know what we want to get on a daily basis. 

Whole Foods on Cambie. Photo courtesy of the author.

By 1:30 pm, my hubby and I start our work shift at our fitness club business. I call all my prospective clients and schedule their appointments for the week. 

DAILY AFTERNOON ROUTINE 

By 2:30 pm, I start with my first client for the day. I give them a tour of our fitness club. This usually takes around 45 minutes. I show them the different sections of our fitness club starting with the Hammer Strength equipment section and I explain to them the different exercises that they can do with our Hammer Strength equipment section. I also point out to them the different benefits of each exercise. Then, I show them our stretching area and our weights section area. Again, I show them different exercises they can do at our stretching and weights section areas. From there, I show them the upper body and lower body equipment areas. Then, we go over to our cardio area, the vast studio area where our classes are held. I also show them our women’s only gym area. 

At our Hammer Strength section. Photo courtesy of the author.

Afterwards, I take my clients to my sales office and discuss the different packages that we offer and I process their payments and go through their agreements with them. I put their profiles in our system and give them their key tags in order for them to have access to our gym. 

Tractor’s salad bowl. Photo courtesy of the author.

By 4:00 pm, I eat my first and only full meal for the day during a half an hour break. I follow and practise a strict 16:8 Intermittent Fasting schedule. This means that I limit my intake of foods and calorie-containing beverages to a set window of eight hours per day. In my case, I eat and drink from 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm daily on weekdays. I abstain from food and drinks for the remaining 16 hours, although I still allow myself to drink water and no calorie drinks such as coffee or tea. 

Tractor’s classic kale salad with Caesar dressing and grilled tofu. Photo courtesy of the author.

For my first and only meal of the day, I usually go to Tractor on West 4th and I alternate my food choices between their salad bowls, soup and stews, and their hot and hearty bowls — depending on what I feel like eating on that day. 

If I have their salad bowl, I tend to build my own salad bowl. I choose their leafy greens (I skip their brown rice; I seldom eat rice) and add their Classic Kale Caesar salad market side which has shredded kale, brussels sprouts, toasted breadcrumbs, crispy chickpeas, and  Caesar dressing. For protein, I add either their grilled chicken breast without skin or their chilli lime grilled tofu. 

Tractor’s stew hot bowl. Photo courtesy of the author.

On other days, I get their soup and stews and I usually go for their Thai Vegetable hot bowl which has Coconut curry with eggplant, carrot, red bell pepper, lemongrass and kaffir-lime leaves without rice. On some days, I go for their Turkey chilli hot bowl which has roasted turkey thigh, lean ground turkey, tomatoes, black beans, chickpeas and spices. 

By 4:45 pm, I’m back at our fitness club. At 5:00 pm, I’m with my second client for the day.  I give them a tour of our fitness club and process their membership package and payments.

DAILY EVENING ROUTINE

Blueberries snacks. Photo courtesy of Pexels.

At 6:00 pm, I take care of my third client for the day and again, give them a tour of our fitness club and I process their membership plans. My appointments with my clients usually take around 45 minutes so I also take this time to have my fruit snacks before my next appointment. I feast on blueberries, raspberries, bananas and oranges. Sometimes, I eat my favourite chips, Sun Chips! 

Raspberry snacks. Photo courtesy of Pexels.

By 7:00 pm, I am with my fourth client for the day and go through the same routine — giving them a tour of our club, working on their membership packages and processing payments.

My 5th and last client for the day is scheduled at 8:00 pm (except on Fridays as we close our fitness club at 8:00 pm). Once again, I give them a tour of our club, walk through the different equipment sections and explain the different exercises they can achieve and the many benefits of using these equipment. I process their membership and payment. 

At our cardio section. Photo courtesy of the author.

We close our fitness club at 9:00 pm during weekdays. From 9:00 pm to 9:30 pm, I do admin work such as ordering for items and supplies we need for our fitness club.  I also take this time to do other paperwork such as scanning documents to our software system. Before going home, we do a final walk through and inspection of our fitness club and give cleaning instructions to our janitorial team. We live just a stone’s throw away from our fitness club so we’re home by 9:45pm. From Mondays to Fridays, I work 8 hours with a half an hour break. 

At our weights section. Photo courtesy of the author.

From 10:00 pm, I usually do laundry. I  take a quick shower before going to bed. I watch the news with my hubby, and we watch a movie on either Netflix, HBO, Crave or Amazon Prime.

By 11:00 pm or 12:00 pm (depending on how tired I am), I’m already drifting away to La-la land. Like I said, I prioritise my sleep habits and make sure I get at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night during weekdays. 

WEEKEND ROUTINE 

As mentioned, on Fridays, we close our fitness club at 8:00 pm. On Fridays, my hubby and I have our date nights so I usually have my first meal of the day between 8:30 pm and 9:30 pm. This means my 16:8 Intermittent Fasting is changed and I eat between 8:30 pm at night to 4:30 am in the morning — but to be realistic, I eat only between 8:30 pm to 10:00 pm because I’m usually asleep by either 11:00 pm or midnight. Which means that my first and only meal of the day on Saturdays actually starts at 8:30 pm. Weekends also happen to be my cheat days! I eat everything and anything on weekends! 

Fridates. Photo courtesy of the author.

On Saturdays, my hubby and I usually wake up at around 10:00 am. My hubby and I tend to sleep longer hours on weekends — anywhere between 9 to 10 hours of sleep. On Saturdays, we also take our time to get ready. We stay in bed for another hour and watch the morning news on TV. By 11:30 am, we have our coffee and green tea. By 12:00 pm, we take a shower and get ready to go to work at our fitness club. 

Once a week hair pampering at Suki’s. Photo courtesy of the author.

By 1:00 pm, I go to my happy place, Suki’s on West 1st and Burrard, which is conveniently located just below our fitness club! Once a week, I have my hair shampooed, conditioned, and treated at Suki’s. I have my favourite hair stylist, Kathleen who takes good care of my hair and makes sure it remains healthy and clean. 

At 2:00 pm, I start my work at our fitness club by manning our front desk. Between 2:30 and 5:30pm, I also attend to my clients. I usually have around 4-5 clients on Saturdays. At 6:00 pm, we close our fitness club. My hubby and I stay around usually for another hour to do some paperwork and inspection of our fitness club. On Saturdays, I work 5 hours at our fitness club.

Saturdates. Photo courtesy of the author.

At 8:30 pm, we go out for our Saturdate dinners. My hubby and I are passionate when it comes to food. We like to try new and exotic restaurants for dining. Mostly though, we tend to go to our favourite restaurants such as Giardino, Le Crocodile, Gotham’s, Hy’s, Blue Water Cafe to name a few. After dinner, we head home and watch a movie or two. I also take time to write my articles for my column, Maria in Vancouver. I usually write my articles from midnight to 2:00 am on Saturdays.

On Sundays, my hubby and I usually wake up around noon. We like to take it slow on Sundays as it is our day off and rest day. I usually finish writing my article during this time between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm. Around 4:00 pm, my hubby and I get ready and dressed. We stop by at our fitness club around 5:00 pm to make sure that the fitness club is closed accordingly. 

Self care. Photo courtesy of the author.

We have our pedicure and manicure done by 5:30 pm at our favourite nail salon in our neighbourhood. By 7:00 pm we meet up with my son for our weekly Sunday family dinners. We go to different restaurants and enjoy quality time with my son as we bond over dinner. 

We’re usually home by 9:30 pm. We watch the evening news, take a shower and get ready for bed. We also watch a movie before bed. I’m usually asleep by either 11:00 pm or midnight.

Sleep. Photo courtesy of Pexels.

And that’s how Maria in Vancouver lives her daily life! An ideal lifestyle is one that allows you to follow your dreams; your lifestyle should give you a sense of accomplishment and fulfilment. Your lifestyle should give you the freedom of choice on a daily basis. For me, I craft my ideal lifestyle by taking care of myself both physically and mentally. A perfect lifestyle for me involves quality and precious time with my only son, my hubby, and my sisterhood tribe. It’s often said that we only have one life to live so strive to make your life matter. We must define our own lives and we must live it with positivity, happiness and contentment.