Hiroro

12/27 Update Sit down for dinner every day with my family - Was generally very successful with this. Move my body 6 times - 6/6. My body told me not to overdo it on the running - and that right now, 3 miles is definitely my max (SIGH). I'm still deciding what I want to focus on for the next month. Go to bed by 10pm - I...totally forgot this was a goal most of the time. But in general I wasn't too terrible. This will become more important again when I go back to work from vacation.

Thanks! It's been too long. I'm hoping to get back into OCR's next year just building up basic strength and endurance for now though.

12/20 Update Sit down for dinner every day with my family - Yes! It is not easy, and not pretty, but it's nice to have that time together. Move my body 6 times - I think I'm 4/6 on this so far. I've been better about doing at least some of my PT every day too. Yesterday I did a 30min barre workout for the first time since my hip injury took me down. I'm a bit sore today but all right - success! Go to bed by 10pm - hahaha not so much. I am happy to have time away from work but a little apprehensive about whether or night I'll actually get more rest. One benefit is that my husband and I can take turns sleeping in, while my usual work start time of ~7am means we typically get up when the baby wakes up 5-6am. BUT "sleeping in" for me still involves waking up when she wakes up to feed her, so it's not the same as uninterrupted sleep for sure.

It's been I don't even know how long since I participated in a challenge - maybe a year? I hesitated to post this, then spent a moment reflecting on the darkness of 2020, and found myself crying. So here I am. I've missed this wonderful virtual place, but this year has really knocked me on my rear - as it has for most people. Hiroro's 2020 in a (large) nutshell Parenting: my baby girl was born 12/26/19 - so she is approaching 1 year old! She started reliably sleeping through the night about a month or two ago (HALLELUJAH), which means this year has entailed several months of sleep deprivation. I am finally, sort of, feeling functional-ish again. Fitness: I started working out again a few months after the birth, and within weeks strained my hip/groin. Over the next few months the pain increased and my physical capability decreased until I couldn't walk more than a few blocks without pain. Months of physical therapy later, I've finally "graduated" from PT a few weeks ago. I can now run a few miles without pain - sometimes. I'm still doing my PT exercises and stretches on my own, though I'm not perfect about getting them in every day anymore. Nutrition: I definitely let this get haywire, I've been eating lactation supplementing treats all year as I struggled to keep my milk supply up while pumping at work (went back to work at the end of April). After putting a lot of pressure in the early months to try to get back to pre-baby weight, I decided to put it on hold while trying to get my hip fixed and my head on straight. So right now I'm probably sitting at about my highest pre-pregnancy weight, and it doesn't feel great. But I feel like I finally have the energy again to focus more on cooking and eating healthy - it helps that I'm planning to wean soon. A side factor is that my husband started a very extreme diet early in the year and after hitting his goal weight (and improving his BP and cholesterol) has fallen off the wagon. I'd love for us to be able to find a moderate middle ground. I've been working on buying and cooking more veggies, and preparing an actual dinner so we sit down and eat instead of the grazing we were doing before. Mindset: Speaking of my head, I fell pretty hard into a deep, dark, hole of postpartum depression. After trying to manage on my own for way too long, I found a new therapist who was a much better fit than the woman I'd seen before. Unfortunately she left the practice about a month ago, so I'm flailing a bit as I try to find someone new. Etc: My parents have been amazing support during this year, and I have no idea what we would have done without them. My husband was laid off halfway through the year, and I'm thankful that our financial position is solid enough that he was able to be selective about finding a new job - he has a tentative offer and expects to start in January. Since he's been stay at home parenting, this is going to be a big adjustment - wonderfully, my parents will provide childcare likely until some point next year when we feel safe sending the baby to daycare. Though he has enjoyed getting to spend extra time with the baby, being the SAHD has left him worn out all the time, and made it hard for me to take time for myself (and even when I do, with COVID going anywhere is anxiety-inducing). At work we've gone through two rounds of layoffs and are expecting a third early next year. While I think my job is fairly secure, we are understaffed and overloaded, and people I work with and like could be laid off - cue stress and anxiety. This challenge is well timed (even though I'm late to the party, as usual) as I feel like I'm finally seeing a small light at the end of the tunnel - to being able to be physically active, and take better care of myself, and find a new routine with both myself and my husband working. Thanks to a lot of physical and psychological therapy, I'm finally in a place where I am excited about the idea of setting new goals. At the same time, my pattern is to get overambitious and then peter out. So the plan is to start small, adding kindling to the tiny bit of fire I've found still burning within myself. Challenge Goals Sit down for dinner every day with my family Usually daily goals are not the best for me - but this seems very achievable. Even if it's a frozen pizza and a salad. Move my body 6 times Basically anything. I just bought a set of dumbells off a coworker friend who was moving away so those are a handy option when I can't get myself out the door to run. Go to bed by 10pm Since the baby has started sleeping better, I find myself staying up too late because I'm so desperate to extend the few hours of free time at the end of the day. But it makes me feel pants the next day, and I know better. Side Goals - just for fun Finish reading In Defense of Food Complete scrap yarn crochet basket I'm excited to be crafting again. I think a 2021 goal is going to be whittling down my yarn stash (it's taking up way too much of our limited storage space) so this is a head start. Do something fun on my own at least 1x/week (socially-distanced friend meetups count) When I'm not intentional about this, I find I stay home all the time trying to give my husband some relief, but really it just means we both end up worn out. When we each take time for ourselves it's better. Even though it's more difficult now, I can visit the library (people are pretty good about masking and it is sparse enough that I feel safe/comfortable) or meet a friend over a firepit. Looking forward to connecting and reconnecting with fellow Rebels!

After I fell flat a bit on the last challenge, I've decided to just hang out here for a while and do my own thing. Despite only doing well on 1/3 of my goals last challenge, I'm down ~14lb so far over 2 months. So I've actually surpassed my (A) goal early! I'm 6-7lb away from my (B) September goal which is amazing. Howwever, I think I've plateaued a bit over the last week or two due to too many carbs, so I need to refocus a bit. Still working on incorporating more veggies, while limiting sugar and alcohol. I'm also doing an 8-week workout challenge with my sister so hopefully that will motivate me to ramp up my workouts. Today I did a workout with my baby for the first time in weeks (she went through a fussy phase...) and she seemed to enjoy it. I'm back at work in 3 weeks which is going to be a huge adjustment and scary in a few different ways.

I clearly fell off this challenge, I did get more squats/pushups/planks in after my last update though. I haven't been perfect on the fruits and vegetables front, but I'm working on it. Looks like my goals were too ambitious and required too much tracking to be a good fit for my current phase. I'm debating whether to participate in the next challenge - I definitely need to recalibrate my challenge goals to something that works better for me. I did hit my 2 workout/week goal, so that is a positive. AND I'm down to about 162lb...probably mostly thanks to breastfeeding since my diet has been extremely inconsistent. I have three weeks left in my maternity leave, and then I'll be back at work and my husband will be on paternity leave. My team at work is currently doing a red team/blue team strategy where half the team is in for two weeks each alternating to reduce contact. Fun fact, we just found out this week that they're going to "reduce workforce" aka ask for retirements and lay people off until they cut by 10%. It's going to be a rough time. My husband and I both work for this company, and we think our jobs are fairly safe - mine more than his. But even if that's the case, it's going to be a period of high stress and low morale when paired with the fact that operations are continuing through the pandemic; my facility has been deemed critical manufacturing even though it's completely outside healthcare, etc. Since my husband is on an intense health kick due to his nutritionist mandated low sodium, low sugar, low saturated fat diet, over time I plan for us both to move to almost all whole foods. But right now I still have a lot of higher-sodium frozen foods from when I stocked up pre-baby, and I've tossed a few things that just aren't worth it but mostly will consume them myself (frozen quick pasta and Asian meals, potstickers, etc). Baby girl is finally adhering to a loose daily routine with 2-3 naps, but I have yet to successfully put her down for a long nap - so I am letting her trap me on the couch. Her nighttime sleep is still inconsistent, and I'm trying to be kind to myself while not just throwing caution to the wind and eating all the carbs when I'm having a rough day. Due to my strained wrist and the pandemic, I'm re-evaluating my goals. I had the crazy vague notion in my head that I could do a Spartan Sprint in June/July, but I'm not sure I want to focus on that anymore. My overarching goal is still to feel awesome when I stand up as matron of honor in my sister's wedding in September, but that's a long way away. I need something to work towards in a few months, that isn't an in-person race or a weight goal. A virtual race just doesn't have the same oomph...

Whoops so I've really neglected my thread this challenge - I'll just have to blame the little munchkin who's taken over my life. BUT I saw 164lb on the scale yesterday, so I'm continuing to lose weight at a solid pace. And I'm focusing on getting at least one veggie in - obviously room for improvement here.

Week 3 Day 2 Goal #1: Eat one fruit and one vegetable per day Week 1 - 5/6 Week 2 - 3/7 Week 3 - 1/2 Goal #2: 300 squats, 200 pushups, 100 minutes in plank, 10 workouts (15+min) Squats - 140/300 Pushups - 75/200 Plank - 5/100 Workouts - 5/10 Goal #3: Post every day Week 1 - 4/6 Week 2 - 5/7 Week 3 - 1/2

Last night baby girl slept 4.5 hours and then 3.5 hours, best night of sleep in at least the last week or two! I felt like a new person. Went to barre class and it was so tough but afterwards I had seemingly infinite energy. I just bought a promo for 4 months at my nearest yoga/barre studio so will do my best to get there at least once a week. My dad came over last night and babysat for our first date night out since the baby’s arrival, so that was great too. All in all a good weekend!

Week 2 Day 6 Goal #1: Eat one fruit and one vegetable per day Week 1 - 5/6 Week 2 - 3/6 Goal #2: 300 squats, 200 pushups, 100 minutes in plank, 10 workouts (15+min) Squats - 140/300 Pushups - 65/200 Plank - 5/100 Workouts - 3/10 (went for a short walk today) Goal #3: Post every day Week 1 - 4/6 Week 2 - 4/6 Way behind on my planks and pushups...going to have to step that up.

Week 2 Day 3 Goal #1: Eat one fruit and one vegetable per day Week 1 - 5/6 Week 2 - 2/3 Goal #2: 300 squats, 200 pushups, 100 minutes in plank, 10 workouts (15+min) Squats - 110/300 Pushups - 55/200 Plank - 3/100 Workouts - 3/10 (went for a short walk today) Goal #3: Post every day Week 1 - 4/6 Week 2 - 3/3 And I saw a new low on the scale today - 166.8lb! Almost down to my highest pre-baby weight ever.

Week 2 Goal #1: Eat one fruit and one vegetable per day Week 1 - 5/6 Week 2 - 1/2 Goal #2: 300 squats, 200 pushups, 100 minutes in plank, 10 workouts (15+min) Squats - 110/300 Pushups - 55/200 Plank - 3/100 Workouts - 3/10 (went for a short walk today) Goal #3: Post every day Week 1 - 4/6 Week 2 - 2/2 Today I ate more like 2 servings of fruit and 3-4 servings of veggies, so I feel pretty good about that. My dad was over in the afternoon, allowing me to take a walk and get a nap - glorious. I feel much better than yesterday. Tomorrow is baby girl's 2-month checkup and we are hoping she has continued to gain weight at a good rate - my arm muscles certainly feel like she has!

Week 2 Goal #1: Eat one fruit and one vegetable per day Week 1 - 5/6 Week 2 - 0/1 Goal #2: 300 squats, 200 pushups, 100 minutes in plank, 10 workouts (15+min) Squats - 80/300 Pushups - 45/200 Plank - 2/100 Workouts - 2/10 Goal #3: Post every day Week 1 - 4/6 Week 2 - 1/1 No vegetables today. Last night baby girl slept terribly and I just couldn't bring myself to care about vegetables or trying to workout today. Right now we're in the trenches - supposedly peak fussiness is right about now and it should get better over the next month or so - if it doesn't I don't know what I'll do. It really feels like all the parenting weight is on my shoulders, with my husband as a reluctant support player. I know he's trying, but I hate feeling like I have to ask for every moment to myself that I need, like he only thinks about the sleep/rest he needs because he's working and doesn't consider my well-being. I woke him up this morning an hour after his alarm went off - he says some days he just decides he's going to sleep as long as he "needs" to - if he's not going to set multiple alarms, I guess that means getting to work at a certain time isn't important? I know his job is flexible but it makes me feel like his parent rather than his partner. I keep considering volunteering to take all the nighttime feedings on my own except when she's too fussy to go back to sleep, but I don't trust him to find other ways to carry his weight at home and use that extra energy to support our family. Venting finished

Week 1 Summary Goal #1: Eat one fruit and one vegetable per day Week 1 - 5/6 Goal #2: 300 squats, 200 pushups, 100 minutes in plank, 10 workouts (15+min) Squats - 80/300 Pushups - 25/200 Plank - 2/100 Workouts - 2/10 (1 run, 1 walk) Goal #3: Post every day Week 1 - 4/6 Week 2 here I come! With more walking and planking!

Goal #1: Eat one fruit and one vegetable per day Week 1 - 4/5 Goal #2: 300 squats, 200 pushups, 100 minutes in plank, 10 workouts (15+min) Squats - 50/300 Pushups - 5/200 Plank - 0/100 Workouts - 2/10 (1 run, 1 walk) Goal #3: Post every day Week 1 - 3/5 Need to find time/brainspace to visit other people's threads, but baby girl just sucks up all my energy like it's her job (which I guess it is?). The squats are easy because I do them to calm the baby, but will have to make an effort to get in planks and pushups. Got to balance out all the bicep work of baby-carrying! Today we went for our first stroller walk around the block as a family, and now that the stroller is configured I'm hoping I'll be able to do this during the week more often while husband is at work. Weight has stalled because I'm snacking too much - when she naps on me during the day I want to minimize movement so as not to wake her up (not because it's bad for her, but because her being awake is more tiring for me HA)...which makes me realize I need to set myself up better with healthy snacks. Tomorrow I'll prep by cutting bunches of grapes, and put nuts by my usual couch spot.