DJtrippyT

hey, I am sorry to have ghosted on this. Right after my last update I was in a serious car accident - I was hit from behind on the highway and my car flipped, hit the guard rail, and was completely destroyed, but I somehow walked away with only minor injuries. So everything since then has been lawyers, insurance, chiropractors, and borrowed cars (until yesterday at least, when I finally got a replacement car) and of course loads of money wasted because the other driver ran and was never caught. I'm not allowed to post anything on SM about it because there's lawyers involved, but I'm okay, just not able to train as much as I'd like because I'm so wrapped up in getting all this sorted out, and I'm not going to be doing the open, because I can't get into the right headspace for it. But please don't worry, I really am 95% fine just some minor things and I should be back to 100% in a few more weeks. I'm still tracking my food and nutrition, etc but my weight loss has stalled since the holidays, so I'll be focusing on that more going forward (and getting back into the gym ASAP) Thanks for checking on me! I'll be back for another challenge soon.

well, it would certainly save on dishes Hi Rurik! long time 🙂

It's like you summoned me from the depths

This week has been okay so far, I'm having trouble with my food because of the holiday but now that that's over I'm hoping to make progress again. I've been stalled at 217 since right before christmas. I have tweaked my calories down to 1650 per day (from 1750) and we'll see how that goes. Monday's workout was power cardio; I really wanted to do leg strength again but it was too soon. I did it in the afternoon, because reasons. DL/thruster circuit Kettlebell swing/step-up circuit I did rower to warm up and then some balance work after. Tuesday (today) was straight cardio, which felt like being dragged over an emery board. I did the crossfit workout Triple 3, which was a games workout a couple of times. 3,000 meter row 300 jump rope 3 miles on treadmill I didn't finish the treadmill section, I was too gassed. I made it half a mile. Then I went home and walked a mile with my dog, so that was something. 43 days to go... eeeek. Starting to lose faith in this. I dunno.

yesterday was a good day. I got a nice strength workout in - pushing and pulling the sled with a real load (225) rather than the faster, lighter load. Two different male gym people came over to mention how impressed they were, which does wonders for my ego. I made my calories and (mostly) my macros, and I weighed in at 217.4 this morning, so I am right where I was when I left for the holidays. that's good, in the sense that I haven't gained the near-universal five pounds of Christmas weight, but bad in that I've plateaued for two weeks. But I'm back in the gym and I've cranked my overall calories down 100 per day, to 1650. I have to tell my training parter and see what they say, but it seems like a good plan, not only for the reduced calories but also because whenever I change my calories or macros I pay super close attention to it for a couple of weeks (the Hawthorne effect) so I eat more carefully. hope everyone has a happy new year! I will not be doing any burpees until Monday.

Also, forgot to add that I'm now working out in the mornings. This is (mostly) my workout schedule, except when it isn't. I spend a lot of the day making decisions, so when I was working out at 4 pm, my brain was jello before I even hit the gym. I tried working out at noon, but that wasn't great either, so now I'm going in the morning before I either work from home or a co-work space.

New challenge is here, though honestly I think you probably have better things to do.

This is a continuation of my previous challenge series (really more of a battle log) as I train for the Crossfit Open 2023, which is in 47 days. So far on this project my main improvement has been that I've lost 11 pounds (ish), largely by putting a friend of mine who's a former bodybuilder in charge of my food. I have to eat approx 350 calories 5 times a day, which is a complete pain in the ass, but it's working for now (I just hit a plateau over the holidays, but didn't gain any back) so I'm dealing with it. Egg whites are my new best friend. So. Many. Egg whites. (not raw though. gross.) Anyway my training is switching up a bit this month as I head into the final six-week push. I'm both upping my cardio and trying to do two pure strength days a week, to regain some of the strength I lost while prioritizing cardio in the fall/early winter. I am prepping myself for this to not be a particularly good showing at the open, since I'm realizing how much my fitness had gone down in the last 18 months while life went bananas, but it's part of a larger plan to do the Wodapalooza qualifiers this fall, see where I'm at, and then go hard for the Open in 2024 and the Wodapalooza qualifiers later that year with an eye to getting into Wodapalooza in 2025 in the Master's 55-59 category. If I can't do well enough to get an invite, I'll try to do open registration in the General Scaled category, and get my ass kicked thoroughly, I expect. Or I may decide I'm sick to death of Crossfit and go back to Strongwoman/powerlifting, which I like a lot. Anyway, you don't have to follow me here because I don't really follow other challenges; I realize I'm not holding up my end of the social contract, but I'm a fairly terrible person, no matter what @Tanktimus the Encouragerthinks. You can't really blame him. He's a cleric, after all. He always assumes the best. So, here we go...

It's good! I took the Christmas week off as a deload week, because I was in Savannah and planned to ride my bike as exercise but it was way to cold. I've just gone back to the gym this week. My only issue is that my weight loss plataued over the holiday, but I'm tweaking my calories/macros a bit and just keepin' on. We'll see what this week brings.

Okay I have truncated update for this week 'cause it's been super busy. I did okay with my food and macros; I think I hit it everyday. Workouts I think I missed one. I did my Fight Gone Bad test yesterday and my improvement was considerable! The last time I did this about 4 weeks ago I got 115 points, and yesterday I got 149. Which is fully 30% improved. PLUS I went up to Rx weight (75 pounds) for the barbell moves, from 65 pounds, so it was even more of an improvement. I'm feeling the lack of strength training in the OH press segment, getting 75 pounds up there over and over is a bear. But I can feel the difference in my wall balls for sure (finally, something to make wall balls more pleasant) The other big improvement this week is that I'm down to 218.4, so I've officially broken into the 10-pounds-lost range. It's not fast progress but it's (hopefully) sustainable, and it's 20% of my overall fat-loss goal of 50 pounds, so that feels impressive. It doesn't really show yet - I mostly feel the difference in my hands, because my rings are too loose and I have to move everything up a finger, and this morning I noticed that my calves seem skinnier. But it's nothing you would see right off the bat. Next milestone will be 12 pounds, though, and after that is 14 and at 14 pounds I think it WILL start to show and that will be addtional motivation when I'm gagging down my third protein shake of the day. Oh, and I wore my largest pair of jeggings yesterday and I had to fold the waist over because they were going to fall off if I didn't . I don't have measurements because my tape measure is buried under a pile of clean laundry and I didn't have time to dig it out this morning. And I had to have my blood pressure checked somewhere and it's down substantially as well. That's probably more important than anything. I am not doing a giant meal shop/prep this week, because I'm leaving town for the holiday on Wednesday and I think I have enough in the freezer to make a smaller meal prep. I'll just get some eggs and ground beef for chili. I have no idea if I'll get down enough weight to really have a shot at a decent Open. The last time I did one seriously I think I was at about 205, but that was four years ago. If I keep losing at 2 lbs a week (not guaranteed by any means) I would be right about there again. My training buddy doesn't want me to even start running until I'm at 190 because it messes up my knees at this weight, so I'm not sure if I can expect to improve enough. But, can't do anything but try. Today should be gym, but it's really nice out so I think I'm going to do a hike/power walk workout and do gym tomorrow instead. It's been raining all week here so I want to grab the sunny day while I can. 61 days Ouch.

It's the anti-aging tea that I brew in the microwave 😉

End of week update: Thursday was my rest day and my day off so I did nothing, but I made my calories and macros. Friday was a good day. I did the morning mile with the pupster, and I got a good, strength-oriented workout (deadlift, bench, leg extention, leg press). I don't get to do straight strength very often right now so it felt great to get under (semi) real iron again. Saturday wasn't as good, my workout was to power-hike 3 miles, but it rained all day and I wasn't very organized, so I didn't get that, or the morning mile, or my meal prep done, despite shopping on Friday. (I did brown the ground meat so it wouldn't spoil. )Made my calories and macros, despite my partner bringing home chinese food; by the time I got home I'd been stuck in rain-induced traffic and was famished so that actually worked out for the best. Sunday (today) it is raining again, so I'm trying to get all my house tasks and food prep done and go to the gym (I should be riding my bike). I feel like it's going to be a home workout, though. My partner is out of town today so I have free reign, so I'm doing all my food prep and organizing for the week and self-care and doing a zillion loads of laundry. I had to watch one of my favorite crossfitters, Khan Porter, drop out of the Dubai competition with an injury because he wouldn't give up on a power clean, which made me both exhilarated to watch and sad for him. (he didn't get visibly hurt during the lift, but the muscle strain made him withdraw later) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClxlZY2Idyh/ I don't have my full end-of week stats, because I need to do tape measures and my test workout FGB tomorrow, but I weighed in on Saturday and I'm officially at 219! 219.4, but let's not quibble. This is a big victory for me. My training partner didn't seem surprised, but I was. I was glad that he and I spent time Tuesday talking to him about coping mechanisms and reward behavior, because my immediate thought on seeing the progress was, "Awesome! I worked hard for this! I DESERVE PIZZA!!!" And while I certainly did deserve a reward for making changes and doing the work, pizza was a counterproductive choice, and I was able to see that. So I bought myself flowers instead, and still felt like my efforts were acknowledged. Next week should be good from a food standpoint as I'm prepping today, but I'm a little stressed about fitting stuff in. I am on a deadline for a self-employment project that is due Christmas Day, and my partner, who works in a retail-oriented establishment, has been leaning on me to come work there for the holiday rush. I've been pushing it off so far, but today he asked me to just come in Tuesday and Wednesday to do some deliveries and I agreed to do it because I do need the money (I'm not earning income right now) and I'm tired of him asking, when he knows about my deadline. But I also know I've just screwed the pooch in terms of either getting my workouts or getting my work done, because I'm not going to magically create four extra hours a day out of thin air. But I agreed to do it so I will just have to triage it and make it work. Tuesday is my domestic day anyway so it will only cut into one "Working" day. Anyway, thank you for listening to me bitch. Fight Gone Bad tomorrow, and I'll be able to really see how getting leaner and so forth have affected my fitness and what progress I've made. Yay.

Mid week update: Monday was kind of a wash; it was my partner's birthday so my day was kind of scheduled around that. Didn't work out. Tuesday was better, I did my gym workout in the morning(ish) which was core, and then worked the rest of the day. I made my calories/macros, which was good, but I sat in the coffee shop parking lot talking to my training buddy on the phone for half an hour without realizing I'd turned the key on, so I killed my battery. Triple A came to the rescue and I went home and did the mile walk with my dog that I should have done in the morning, but didn't. At least it got done, though! Wednesday (today) has been okay so far; I did the morning mile, then did my workout at 11am and now I'm doing stuff around my house (non-work related at the moment) I'm trying to decide if I should food shop today or wait; my prepped food is starting to thin out, but there's still chili, some chicken thigh, and eggs, plus some Kevin's Paleo chicken in the freezer. Some of last week's shopping didn't get used in time and went bad, which was infuriating. But in reality it was like 20 bucks and they'll make more, so I'm trying not to be annoyed about it. Making a huge pot of chili each week has been a good idea, this week I made bison-meat chili which came out really well, super flavorful but not spicy enough. Next week I think I'll try a white chicken chili of some sort. The big progress moment for this week so far was this morining, I weighed in and I was at 220.2, which is amazing. I started this whole thing at 227 and change, so I was really excited to crack into the next decile; my training partner thinks I will break 219 by end of the week. We talked yesterday about it, and acknowledged that it's frustratingly slow, but I'm closing in on 10 pounds down and that's 20% of my primary goal, so I am focusing on that. And honestly it's about half a pound a day; the only thing I've done that is quicker is OMAD and extensive fasting, but I feel like shit when I do that and it's not sustainable. So this is better, if slower. Today's workout was a strength oriented workout; I only get one of those every two weeks, since everything else is power or work capacity, so that was fun. Deadlifts, leg press, leg extension, and bench. Tomorrow is my rest day, and my day off, so I will probably take my dog to the park and just chill out.

Okay, I just wrote a fairly detailed update of the remainder of this week, and I clicked the wrong button and the internet ate it, so suffice to say this week has been just okay because I'm not writing it again. I was mostly complaining anyway and I'm not here for that. I did a giant meal prep yesterday that will carry me through most of next week I hope. I've started doing just scrambled egg whites for breakfast, instead of half whole eggs and half egg whites, which makes me feel like a lame-ass. But the Open won't win itself, now will it. End of week stats: Current weight: 226 224.4 221.4 221.8 Current measurements: 46.5 waist, 52 hip 46.25 waist, 51.5 hip 44.75 waist, 51.5 hip 45.0 waist, 50.75 hip All things considered, I'm okay with this week's stats. I'm back to my pre-holiday weekend weight and measures, and today I'm feeling pretty good after a tiring week. I was beating myself up pretty hard on Friday for missing workouts or half-assing them, but I am recently following this IG account that talks about the science of motivation and habit building, because there's nothing I like more than taking advice from a charismatic stranger on the internet, and they had a post earlier this week that resonated: His larger point wasn't that you *shouldn't* ever criticise yourself, but that sometimes it's more useful to spend that energy improving the structure of your habits. So I sat down with my schedule and made some changes. I normally workout at the end of the day, aiming for 4 pm and never getting there until 5 or later, and I'm pretty mentally toasted by then. I shifted my stuff around a bit and now 3 of my six days I will work out at noon instead. Tuesdays I already work out in the morning because I do something specific in the afternoon that I can't move. Fortunately I have a freelance sort of job so most of the time I'm on my own schedule, so I had the freedom to do that. (about once every six weeks I have a week from hell where I'm on duty all the time.) My workouts are going to change slightly as I go into the second third of my prep; I'm not doing two-a-days anymore, but my intensity will start to ratchet up a bit, and I have to add more conditioning (read: cardio. bleah.) I'm on a six-day week now, with only one rest day, since my load is a bit lighter and I have more time between heavy workouts. I'm also adding a one-mile walk every morning, which I'll probably do with my dog. okay, so that's it for now.

did she do that thing where she poked cloves all over it so it looked like a pincushion? My mom did that.