Draco

I didn't realize before how much the sleep affects my mood. One night this week I stayed up late arguing with a series of Verizon reps - didn't get to bed until around 11, didn't sleep well, and was totally bummed out and dragging all the next day. Gave up and crawled into bed at 8:30.... And woke up ready to fight some dragons! Last night 9:30. Feeling great this morning! This is so worth being more intentional about.

Day 9: achieved all goals (must remember though to lay out towels when I lay out my clothes). The water was a problem, but as long as you're willing to pay through the teeth it seems you can get water anywhere ($5 a bottle, really?) The walking was... A bit much. Pushed a wheelchair for about two and a half hours, with short breaks. I don't know the mileage. Then another half hour or so after the play. My left knee was hurting for the last few blocks (I'm surprised it didn't hurt sooner!), but nothing serious. I guess it was my reminder not to jump back into C25K again right away. I'd still like to before the challenge is over, but not if my knee doesn't want to.... Bonus: I have destroyed an old excuse! Last year I gave up yoga when I got a sinus infection. I told myself "I can't do yoga with all this stuff making problems in my nose - as soon as a tip my head I won't be able to breathe!" Well, I'm now doing a yoga routine where my head is upright 100% of the time. And I'm sure there are plenty of other poses that can be done with the head upright - a few come to mind right now! So I'm calling "BS" and burying you, excuse. Bye bye!

Yesterday was a rest day from walking, did my yoga, 80 ounces of water and 48 of coffee. I laid out only workout clothes and not regular clothes this morning because I'm off from work today and my wife and I agreed to have a slightly lazy morning. I did my yoga today, and started a little early on learning my next pose because I'm going to have scheduling conflicts and will not be able to watch the DVD this weekend. The "pose guide" feature of the DVD I'm using has sun salutations as a single pose - I'm going from start to forward bend and failing. My hamstrings are so tight I don't come anywhere close to bending as far as I need to. So now I'm trying to do stretching in addition to yoga, just so I can loosen my hamstrings enough to stretch them IN yoga. Lol I guarantee I will get my walk in today, as I'm going to be pushing my wife's manual wheelchair from Penn Station in New York City to Bryant Park, then to Schubert Theater on Broadway, and then back to the train station. I'm not going to bother counting mileage. There's no way I can avoid hitting my mile mark. lol:) So the only thing I have to pay attention to today is counting my water. That might be problematic, with going to the city and all. But I'm going to give it a shot.

Ah! I saw you in the Druids Lodge and didn't realize you had your thread already set up. Welcome! Two threads? Overachiever! Try to keep it within one - It'll be easier for people to find you! Just reply to your existing comment, and they'll all end up in the same place. It looks like this thread was probably intended to be a correction, so I'm assuming this is the one you are using. The progress you posted on the other feed is impressive though! I am seriously impressed. Just don't use up your energy and willpower all at once - building habits that you'll take with you is far more important than going 100% right out of the gate. Take it from someone who has crashed and burned before! Last year I was trying to lose weight (counting calories, eating salads - that kind of thing). I lost 20 pounds in two months, made amazing changes to my diet, and was rocking my challenges. Then life got in the way - I was unemployed for a bit, got a sinus infection and had a knee injury. I got out of my habits and was right back into my old eating habits. The real wins I've had from back then? I no longer drink soda, and I always bring a water bottle to work. Little things, yes - but they've made a big difference. So I'm focusing my challenge this time on making lots more little changes. If you can make paleo a habit, then kudos to you! Just hold to it and don't overdo to start. And you really can't go wrong.

Well, looks like you just jumped right in! Welcome to the Rebellion! I'm not a Druid yet, but I've got my eyes on their feed because I'm probably switching over for my next challenge. I think the most important sign-up step for the six week challenge isn't using the spreadsheet - you should create a thread where you post your goals and where people can come to find you. I would suggest posting in this section: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/forum/299-level-1-rebels-first-time-challengers/ Just click "Start New Topic" and make sure you put your name (49er, not your real name) in the topic heading. Some resources you might want to look over: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/33328-challenge-instructions/ http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/33335-challenge-faq/ And the general questions thread for the first timers: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/36622-general-questions-thread/ The six-week-challenge signup is at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHBINmhiRlpvdE12d1E4ci1rdG5HRnc6MA#gid=0 but I'm sure if you send a message to spezzy http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/user/335-spezzy/ with your information and telling her you think you goofed the signup - she always seems happy to help wayward noobies find their way back. If you meant the accountabilibuddies spreadsheet, take one step at a time! Get your challenge thread set up and I'll follow you over there so you have some accountability. Nice to meet you!

Yikes, don't forget to rest! Working out harder is great... Until you get hurt. You're going so strong in this challenge - I don't want to see you drop out from overtraining like I've done before. Just be careful out there.

Checking in: 96 ounces of water, 60 ounces coffee Had my mid-day walk Did my yoga routine (now with back bends!) And laid everything out for today while of the phone with Verizon for just about four hours - mostly on hold. You know, I talked to seven different people there and no two people were working with the same set of facts? Didn't sleep well - frustrated. And looking forward to dental work today. Usually I'm perky in the mornings, but today I want to crawl back in bed.

Not going to bed any time soon tonight. If anyone's ever looking for phone service I STRONGLY advise NOT going with veriZon. Their company lied to us several times and told us we were out of contract, and now I've been on the phone for hours because we cancelled FIVE days early. And they refuse to waive the fee even though we paid for the five days in advance and never would have canacelled if we hadn't been advised to. RAAARgh!

Forgot to mention - 112 ounces water, 24 ounces coffee. And a juice and a beer. Today was a rest day from walking, though I was probably around the mile mark just chasing the kids around lol:) And clothes are out for tomorrow, ready to go! Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk - now Free

Congrats on the pant size dropping! That's what got me motivated to start a year ago - I just got done buying a wardrobe of stretchy pants two sizes larger than the year before. And somehow it just clicked that I needed to change the direction around. I still wear the clown pants, but the belt has to be cinched up real tight. lol:)

Two out of five this week, so I'm right on target for where I was hoping to be. My shining hour? I filled the bathroom wastebasket with soapy water and used it as a mop bucket. Cleaned two birds with one stone.

Please pardon the mixing and matching quotes, but there was so much richness in the last few posts that I need to respond to.... I need to work on my crockpotting skills - I have one, but seem to always manage to burn things in it. lol:) Spaghetti squash I do fairly regularly in the fall. About every other week, probably. Usually with some homemade spaghetti sauce (crushed tomatoes from the can, herbs from the spice rack mostly - some from the garden, maybe some garlic and onion) And those are all good ideas - I can see possibly making some of those a part of the next challenge. I particularly like the idea of having something unprocessed available for each meal. How do you figure out whether lunch is unprocessed though, when you're buying at or ordering from a restaurant? Somehow I doubt that pizzeria pizza or sesame chicken from the local chinese food restaurant would pass muster. Tried the weekend bake-up too. Except my goal was feeding the kids, not paleo - so we had a nice stockpile of fried breaded chicken tenders last week. Maybe I just need to re-think WHAT I'm cooking up. lol:) I'm not going to torture everyone with quoting all the recipes (scroll up if you want them!), but I will certainly be writing them down later to try out in the kitchen. (I've gotten yelled at for putting the laptop on the stove before - my wife seems to think it's safer to write the recipe on paper, or something.) Riley (age 3) is learning to use tongs to take toast out of the toaster. Sophia (age 1 1/2) is learning to stir and pour. A toaster oven is still a bit advanced for both of them. lol:) Charlianne (my wife) has cerebral palsy. In her, it manifests as small motor control issues and balance problems. The small motor control issues mean that chopping is problematic - she can use the paring knife and a steak knife decently, but she doesn't dare try the big kitchen knives. It also causes problems with transferring liquids (i.e. moving a coffee cup from the counter to the table always makes some splatter, but nothing substantial). The balance issues are the reason why she can't use the oven. Can you picture trying to take something out of the oven if you can't balance? Especially something heavy? But yeah, she has no problem stirring. We were actually just talking about this, and she's going to try something tomorrow in the skillet with chicken (i cut it up and froze it - need to defrost tonight), peppers (i cut it up and froze that too), and orange marmalade (she will get at the store tomorrow). Sounds good to me. +1! Seriously, I can totally picture setting out little bowls of five or six different chopped veggies and having the kids design their own quiches! I don't have enough fresh veggies on hand to pull it off at the moment, but they are going to have some fun with this when we do it. I assume you scramble the eggs together and then pour? I can't picture just frying the eggs on top, but it's not 100% clear. I had no idea you could freeze pasta, but that doesn't sound too paleo anyway. lol:) I do the tacos occasionally, but I've always done them right then, not ahead of time. I'll have to try that. Sweet potato fries? I just happen to have four sweet potatoes sitting on my counter waiting for me to pick a way to prepare them. I think their execution date has just been set. MWAHAHAHAHA! Thank you both for your help!

I'm already starting to think ahead to my next challenge, so if I have a target to shoot for it might find its way into my list.

Just thinking about what you posted - if someone did want to go more paleo, what would you suggest to start? I have a horrible diet (cookie and candy addict), eat very few veggies and although I prefer real food to processed, I have some serious constraints: - have to feed a wife and two kids - on a budget - the kids have to actually eat the food - I have very little time during the week and often miss family dinners - my wife can't cook much that isn't preprocessing due to physical disability. We try new techniques from time to time, but it causes problems anyway. She can't cook in the oven (burn hazard), but stovetop or microwave is fine. Things have to be prechopped, but I can handle that. It only excludes things that require chopping after cooking. And she can't cook pasta or similar because she can't safely pour out the pot of boiling water. So unfortunately, the kids get a lot of Steam-Fresh vegetables and single serve meals. .... Any suggestions on where to start would be helpful.... I guess I have started, since I don't drink soda anymore. But there's no clear target for me to attack next.

Cute. Doing better on the water today. It seems like carrying around a water bottle makes all the difference in the world. I've already hit my daily quota, and it's only 2:30 pm.

Good morning! Day 6, Saturday: 48 ounces coffee, 80 water... But only because I had a lot of catch-up (48 ounces) after dinner. That bottle i filled mid-day? Finished that first bottle of the day at dinner. Not my finest hour. As a result, I am again changing up my bedtime routine: Lay out clothes for the day, plus workout clothes ( still in the bathroom until I think of a better spot) Leave the hamper in the kitchen if there's enough in it to warrant running a load. Lay out my yoga mat right next to it. And a full 32 ounce bottle of water, on the kitchen table. Beside my family's morning vitamins. Yesterday I didn't fill the bottle until almost lunch time. Today I've had almost 20 ounces by the time I finished my yoga. I guess yesterday left me thirsty. And headachey. This is what this challenge is intended to help with. I'm sure not everyone has weekly Sunday morning headaches. So it's something about my weekend, and I'm placing my bets on my sketchy weekend hydration. I ran the yoga video today - picked up a few pointers and corrections for the three poses I've been doing and added a back bend. My intention? Review the video again tonight or tomorrow morning, to gain comfort doing the new pose. Then continue daily without the video until next weekend, when it will be time to add sun salutations. That might have to be a day or two early, because I'll be out of town that weekend.

Hm, that's a thought. Not sure exactly where that would be, but I'll be keeping it in mind. Thanks!

Yes I do - usually just the shoes and tie, unless I have to mow the lawn or something equally dirty. But if I lay out my clothes before dinner, they'll get in the way of the kids' routines. Specifically, my underwear will be next to the sink while they're brushing their teeth. My three year old will tell me that's silly and ask me "can you put it away daddy?" Lol I just asked my wife, and she agrees that that's exactly what Riley would say.

So I messed up a bit last night. My wife went to bed early and I stayed up playing Skyrim, not thinking about the fact that the clothes I needed to lay out were now in the bedroom with my sleeping wife! Oops. So I did the natural thing - feel bad for screwing up and continue to do more of the same. Skyrim until nearly midnight, then crawled into bed exhausted. Water yesterday was 96 ounces, coffee 80 ounces. Did my yoga, some stretching and planking (the yoga must be working my abs more than I thought, because I went from yoga to plank and was feeling my muscles shaking instantaneously). It was a rest day from walking. Today I'm already halfway through the day. Did my yoga, mowed the lawn (I'm counting that as walking, mile or not. It certainly worked up a better sweat!) , but haven't touched water yet and it's 11am. The weekends are where I really need to pay attention to this one. I'm going to go get a bottle now and get started.

All that going on, and you're still holding true to Whole 30? Dude, that's AMAZING! I can't imagine doing more than a few days of it, and I certainly wouldn't have the willpower to hold to it through half the stress you're going through. I know this will sound uber-corny, but you're a hero to me.

I messed up my routine last night. I got home late (7:15-ish), so the kids were getting put to bed as I came in. Put them to bed, cleaned for a little while, then heated up some dinner and ate it on the couch. With the tv on. Sitting next to the laptop. I ended up playing Skyrim (just for a while) and my wife went to bed early. And then she was asleep, and the clothes I needed to lay out for tomorrow were in there with her. Oops. So naturally I compounded my error by staying up till 11:30, complaining bitterly that the NF forums were inaccessible, and crawling into bed exhausted. So one fail. But now I know- I have to lay out the clothes after dinner, not right before bed. Otherwise I might not have access to them. So we live and learn.

Definately a good idea to hold off on the major food projects. It's taken me a long time to get to that point, but my wife helped convince me to stop doing major baking projects for a while while we organize our house. I actually bought a pre-made cake this weekend, for the first time in... forever. I never buy premade - always bake them myself (even italian specialties like rainbow cookies or pignoli cookies.) Usually I have at least one major baking project going every weekend. Holding off for a bit saves time preparing, baking, cleaning up.... But as soon as the house is in better shape, I'm going to have to bake some cookies. Make sure you leave yourself some time to rest.... This challenge is another five weeks long. And cleaning the house is more of a marathon than a sprint. Thank you for the recipe!

I joined the cross-guild Bedtime Routine group. There's a lot of Druids in there, so maybe this will help facilitate my intended shift to their guild in the near future. Plus help keep me on my "lay out tomorrows clothes before bed" goal. And help me to remember to turn off Skyrim at some point and get to sleep.

Last night I laid out my clothes but didn't do much else - I was nursing some shoulder pain from hanging shelves this past weekend (I guess I overdid). But this meant I left things in disarray... and I inadvertently stumbled upon an improvement to my routine! You see, I got into the workout clothes I laid out last night, stepped out into the kitchen... and came face-to-face with the hamper that I dragged halfway across the house last night while I was picking up random stray socks and kids clothes. I looked at the clock - I have time to do a load! So my day started with running the laundry, yoga, shower, and then starting the dryer. I'll have time to hang my shirts before work (something that always gets neglected), so I won't have so many wrinkles in my clothes! Score! And tonight, I might just leave the hamper in the kitchen again.

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