Weekend Warrior - Annabelle's Battle Log

[Annabelle]

Alright, so after way too many "I'll get started next week" excuses, and failed attempts to get my act together at home I finally feel like I've got everything in place. My brother's girlfriend has been a huge help in getting me mentally prepared to kick this journey into high gear (she's considerably younger, but she's an avid weightlifter and is excited to have someone else to lift with).

 

One of my biggest goals is to improve my health faire totals from the last reading we did in May. My work does twice-a-year health faires where they do a weigh-in, waist measurement, BMI index calculation, and a few blood tests for cholesterol, triglycerides, etc. Every year, my bloodwork is phenomenal (thank YOU genetics!) but my weight, BMI, waist, etc all need to be reigned in. Our next health faire is either September or October (I don’t quite remember which) but keep up with this next 6-week challenge and beyond will get me where I wanna be.

 

Last faire's readings will be added tonight, they're at home still. Hopefully when we do our next faire I can add in the new readings and see what sort of progress has been made.

 

I'm hoping that once school starts, I can convince my boss to alter my schedule just a bit so that I can dedicate extra time to using the school's workout facilities before class. I'll be in class from 4pm to almost 9pm so that leaves me with very little wiggle room in terms of trying to get some extra exercise in. It's also going to be a very trying time to keep my diet in check. I'm horribly worried about failing to find food that I can keep in the car that'll keep me sustained between classes without wanting to run and grab fast food in between.

 

Everything can be made to work, though. I just need a little creative flair and every now and then I might need a kick in the pants.

 

 

[Annabelle]

Starting Stats for the 6-week challenge starting today (7/28)

 

Chest: 45.5"

Waist (Naval): 46.5"

Hips: 52.5"

Arms: 15"

Thighs: 28.5"

 

Also, the stats from the last health faire on 5/20:

 

Weight: 263lb

Waist (Not measured at the naval): 41"

BMI: 40

LDL ("bad" cholesterol): 52

HDL ("good" cholesterol): 52

Triglycerides: 84

[Annabelle]

/Thread Necro

 

So I've gotten on board with the Rebels, and I'm gonna cross post this from there too. It's been a pretty rough year & a half since I last posted but hey - things are looking up, yeah?

 

Warning: Tearful dawning of realization ahead

 

I've tried challenges before and (like some other rebels) I didn't make it to the end. I either lost my motivation, I got distracted, I got busy - whatever the excuse of the month (or 6 weeks, rather) would be. I was "too busy" or work was "too stressful" - I had too much homework, I had no time between work and school. I'd "get it done after class was over". That was 2014 - and frankly, 2015 too. Nothing but failed challenges, excuses, and an inability to buckle down and finish through sheer will. Nothing was getting me motivated. Not graduation in July. Not a fellow LARPer passing away at an event. Not even the prospect of a new job got me hyped up enough to get back on the train.

 

In December, I got a new job. A dream job - really. I'm in a much healthier environment in every sense of the word: bottles of water everywhere to sub out soda, a gym in the basement to use at my leisure (with a free freakin' personal trainer once a week!), my stress levels tanked from going prematurely grey to my 9 year old daughter telling me she's happy I got a new job because I'm not grumpy anymore.

 

And still - zero motivation. I even pre-ordered Steve's book and thought "hey, maybe 2016 I can get the ball rolling". I kept getting email reminders from people who's threads I've subbed to, and I still was stupid nonchalant about it.

 

This past Saturday, I threw out my back when I reached across my passenger seat for a bottle of tea from the console. Of ALL freakin' things... right as I told myself I'd start working out again.

 

And that's when it hit me.

 

NOW is when I need to make this change. Not later. Not 'eventually'. NOW.

 

So I soldiered on. I put on my big girl pants and came to work early on Monday to hit the gym and do some lifting. I pinged my back again, so I eased up but I didn't quit. I took Tuesday off (as I'd intended to) and went back today to see my personal trainer. He was excited I came back (I'd missed three weeks in a row - because of excuses. 'I left my gear at home' or I missed a day of work due to some bad weather and 'forgot' it was Wednesday) and worked with me and my janky back. Afterward, I took my lunch break, opened up my fitness journal (that I bought it JUNE... again, excuses) and wrote up a bit to keep me focused. I won't lie - I teared up. It was the tipping point for me, going back today after how bad I hurt Saturday and after straining myself again Monday. It was those exact kind of excuses that I'd give in to. If my BODY could do it - push through the workouts even though I wasn't 100%? My will needed to get its act together.

 

I am going back Friday. And after my session today, I realized I need to come back here to make it happen. i need to be around other people who've either hit that point where they realized they needed to make a change.

 

So yeah - that's where I'm at now. No idea where I am on measurements, I'll probably take a few now and for the end of the January challenge so I have a slate to start with in February too.

[Slayer]

Ugh, I totally understand the "injuring myself right before starting to work out again" thing. It seems like that always happens! I don't know if this will be helpful for you, but one thing that was good for me was realizing that no matter how sick I get or how much I injure myself (both of which happen, and both of which I have the tendency to use as an excuse more than I should), I always have control over what I eat. I usually get a bad cold or some other bug when I recommit to being healthy. For example, right as the current challenge started, I banged up my knee pretty good. But hey, eating whole foods is always something your body can handle!

 

Good job keeping on in spite of the obstacles! THAT is definitely a win!

[Annabelle]

Update time!

 

So my challenge thread has last week on it - and I'm keeping up with good progress. I don't know if what I'm dealing with/how i'm handling all this qualifies as a mid-life crisis xD but I dunno. This feels different than the 'hey I should probably go to the gym' from before.

 

I'm working on my epic quest - I don't have much yet, but I'm slowly fleshing out the idea of who I want to be and what I want to do before I'm too old to be able to enjoy the experiences. I talked it out with the hubs, and we're going to the Caribbean next winter And the big goal is for the summer of 2020, we want to go to Europe with our daughter. She has no idea yet (she's only 9, she'll be 14 by the time we go) but I'm really excited for the opportunity to get out there and do something.

 

Edit: I don't much care for my physical food log. It feels too tiny (and I have small handwriting!) MyFitnessPal doesn't quite cooperate with me (mostly for the homemade food since I don't have a scale to accurately get weight/etc) and so I think I'm going to start logging it here. I don't wanna bog down my challenge thread, but I want to keep track of what I'm eating and maybe get feedback if someone sees me making some kind of nutritional mistakes.

 

1/19

Breakfast:  1 Clementine & 24-ish oz of coffee with approx 2 tsp sugar & 1 tsp of powdered creamer

(On Deck) Lunch: A mandarin orange noodle bowl, 3-4 small sweet peppers w/ 2 tbsp fresh guacamole

(On Deck) Dinner: A small steak (palm sized?) pan seared w/garlic butter & bacon brussels sprouts

 

I don't think I'll make it to the grocery store before the snow gets here, which kinda stinks because I think half a sweet potato would be REAL good with dinner tonight. But it's definitely on my list of things to buy for next weeks meals

[Annabelle]

1/20
Breakfast: 1 Clementine, an egg/mozzarella/bacon muffin sandwich (homemade) & about 16-ish oz coffee w/(approx) 2 tbsp bourbon vanilla creamer
(On Deck) Lunch: Spicy Lime Shrimp noodle bowl, 1 Clementine, 3-4 sweet peppers w/ 2 tbsp fresh guacamole

 

No idea what I plan for dinner yet. I have chicken thawing, but I'm not 100% what I'm gonna do with it yet. I might bake it and shred it with some chow mien veggies.

 

I did have probably the equivalent of one scoop of ice cream last night - my friend left his over almost 2 weeks ago and it just had to go xD But I did well yesterday. Definitely think I need to add more protein though, because I shouldn't have been hungry. Either that, or I need to make sure I have my water bottle near my bed at night. It might have killed off the craving for chocolate if I'd had something to stay hydrated.

[Annabelle]

Last night I wound up frying up the chicken for the fam, but instead of the fries I made everyone - I only had a couple of them with my broccoli steam bag I didn't gorge on potatoes! That's a serious win for me.

 

1/21

Breakfast: Chobani Peanut Butter greek yoghurt & 24-ish oz of coffee with sugar and creamer

(On Deck) Lunch: Chicken noodle bowl & 1 Clementine & the last of my peppers w/guac
(On Deck) Dinner: No clue yet [Hubs is cooking tonight - I assume... I'm going to probably get derailed tonight xD It's Thursday, I guarantee the hubs is gonna want to order Buffalo Wild Wings]

[Annabelle]

So this weekend wasn't fabulous - but it wasn't terrible either. I had awful food for dinner Thursday - but bounced back Friday with some decent decisions. Lunch was a ham sandwich (instead of going to Hardees or something) and dinner was a chicken quinoa bowl thing from Bob Evans when everyone else wanted fried chicken/mashed potatoes.

 

Saturday was chicken strips on my way out to scout out some farm land for camping - so it wasn't terrific food but I definitely burned it all off out hiking in the cold. Topped that off with some walnut shrimp for dinner ^.^

 

Sunday was kinda a cluster. Hubs tried to make it easy on me and ordered pizza, which I should have objected to but I didn't. So definitely feel like I botched it pretty hard this weekend.

 

Today is already better though

 

Breakfast: Raspberries & a chocolate/pb Gatorade protein shake

(On Deck) Lunch: Tuna, green beans, and more raspberries

(On Deck) Dinner: Beef Stew & garlic biscuits - emphasis on some delicious veggies <3 Got some celery, carrots, and when I get home is when I'm adding the sweet potatoes and some cornstarch to thicken it all up.

[Annabelle]

So I got home and realized I had neither flour nor cornstarch - and the beef had way too many fatty drippings for my liking. =/ But after picking out the veggies and the beef that didn't have that icky layer of fat, it was still pretty tasty. The garlic biscuits were a huge hit! I dunno if anyone has seen the video circulating where people are taking canned biscuits, cutting them into pieces, and then putting them into a muffin tin - but that's what I did and they were so delicious!

 

Breakfast: Greek Key Lime Yoghurt & coffee
Lunch: A cup of kraft mac & cheese (queso) and a bag of steamed snap peas (which I'm glad I even grabbed this morning, because this morning was a giant kerfluffle from start to finish)

(On Deck) Dinner: Pulled pork w/buffalo cauliflower and I'm gonna make my paleo pumpkin chai bread to have for breakfast tomorrow and to bring in for the gals at work ^.^ I figure I can prep that while I'm making cornbread for the hubs with his portion of dinner. There should be lots of leftovers, so I'm banking on that being lunch tomorrow too.

 

Tomorrow is HIIT day with my trainer! I'm excited that I'm excited to go on Wednesdays with him. 

[Annabelle]

Holy moly was dinner delicious last night! I failed to make my pumpkin bread, because I left work about 45 minutes later than I expected to which killed my extra time in between cooking. It's definitely gonna happen this week though.

 

Bad thing was, since it didn't get made - my breakfast was pretty lackluster. I hit the gas station for hot chocolate and a slice of breakfast pizza >.<

(On Deck) Lunch: Leftover pulled pork w/guac and a box of veggies

(On Deck) Dinner: Chicken tacos

 

I'm making more chicken right now with the tacos for tomorrow's dinner - trying a coconut curry chicken in the crockpot. Really hoping that works out!