Fonzico

Yes, I love this challenge! Small wins equal major future successes! So much home cooking already, that's awesome. I love that feeling when your body is just craving vegetables and you give them to it and it's so satisfying. I felt like nightly mediation really helped with my sleep (I need to get back to it). I use the "Let's Meditate" app, which is free!

I'm so feeling you on the workout/movement thing! I've completely abandoned all pretext of exercise and just haven't been able to get the motivation going to change that. Baby steps! I like your snail. I'll be joining you on the easing back into activity thing.

Come on now friends, can't we all stand to shake 2020 off a little?! I have a lot of habits, physical and mental that I would like to shed myself of, and replace with stuff that's going to make me feel good and happy and calm. We cannot dictate our circumstances, but we can change how we respond to them. Don't get me wrong, I am ALL for forgiving ourselves for whatever this past year looked like! No, I don't for a second believe that we should or even could have all come out of this as glowing gods and goddesses, full of new languages, perfect diets and workout routines and killer sourdough bread baking skills. Buuuuut I am also not here for another year of self-pity, depression and borderline alcoholism. "Happy medium" is always my favourite phrase and finding myself a little closer to the Middle Path is the Goal. So in pursuit of this, my goals for the next 6-ish weeks are: ONE: Follow the keto way. Because: 1. My clothes don't fit. 2. My mood is WAY more stable without the carbs 3. Energy levels are better too, once I'm long-term committed. This will help bring many aspects of my being into balance. Target is under 30g carbs per day. Mostly meats and vegetables. Week One: /210 Week Two: /210 Week Three: /210 Week Four: /210 Week Five : /210 TWO: Increase Activity Levels Because: 1. I want to regain strength and flexibility. 2. I easily injure myself, and I want to be more resiliant. 3. It will also help with mood stuff. Honestly, I don't know if I will ever be able to kettlebell again (I effed up my left ring finger... a year and half ago? 2 years? I can't remember. I've been to physio a few times since then, which has helped some, but it still gets aggravated every time I try to pick up a kettlebell, or even dumbbell). But there is plenty I can still do. I actually haven't tried yoga since shortly after I messed it up, and it was no beuno at that point, because I couldn't put weight on my hand, but it may have improved enough to handle that at least? But I can for sure do squats and lunges (I can even hold a weight, as long as it's goblet-style), I can ride my bike, I can do barre. For someone who used to work out pretty intensely on the reg, it does make me sad that I've lost that habit entirely. I just have not been able to make myself care. But it's not good, I don't like how my body feels! Not even just the weight thing, I just feel so much less capable. And it was a big part of how I identified myself, and I most definitely feel the void there. Now, I think this is an area where I need to really ease myself back in. I don't want to get discouraged. And January is going to be stressful AF, and I need to be mentally prepared to handle what I know is coming, and spend my energy and motivation where I need it most. But I also think it has the capacity to be a positive feedback cycle if I can get there. So, low bar to start, that I can crush NO MATTER WHAT. Week One: 25 minutes per week. That's ONE yoga or barre video. 5 minutes on the bike each workday. Two body weight workouts. I can DO that. I'll adjust this as it goes on. The only thing that doesn't count is walking. Only because that's the only thing I've actually maintained and the point is to increase. THREE: School. Work. I'm in the middle of an online class (Intro to Management, whooo so interesting). And by middle, I mean final 3rd, and I'm less than half way done with the course content. My goal for December was to finish my first assignment and write the midterm. I DID finish the assignment, but did not write the midterm yet. I still have 2 chapters to get done before I can do that. I still have 5 full days off before I'm back to work, so I am committing to myself RIGHT NOW that I will get those chapters read in that time, and start reviewing. Technically that's Week Zero stuff. Week One: Write Midterm and Lesson 8 Week Two: Lesson 9 and Lesson 10 Week Three: Assignment 2 Week Four: Lesson 11 Week Five: Lesson 12 and 13 Which leaves me with 3 weeks to complete the last two lessons and write the final exam. Since I'm working at work during week two, I'll have 5 hours of lunch breaks to work on this, hence the higher load that week. And 12 and 13th are suggested for one week in the sample schedule, so one of them is likely shorter. Technically I can request an extension for the course, but it's $200!!!! So no, that's not happening. So yes, between the timeline on the course, and that fact that I'll be working from work 1 /3 of the time starting in the 2nd week of January, I am expecting to have some elevated stress levels. But I am doing myself the incredible favour of eating right and getting some exercise to help me manage that. And I'm also pre-emptively forgiving myself for anything else that does not get done. If the house isn't as clean as it could be, that's okay. If I don't work on the side gig website, as absolutely does need doing, that's okay too. Pep talk to self: Straight up, you cannot do it all and stay sane. You've decided what matters the most, and you have to be okay with that.

I'm sorry it's been a hard holiday season. I hope you're doing alright! We'll get a chance to regroup in January.. until then, be kind to yourself! ❤️

I so get the feeling! I have had a similar year, where a lot of good things actually happened and life is going to be better going forward because of it... But I still feel beat to shit by the incessant bad shit. Ugh. Anyways. January offers a reset, even if it's a manufactured one! Good luck with finishing out the year sanely, my friend.

How was your weekend? I'm so glad to hear you have such amazing people to support you in your kink family - that mirror is such a beautiful gift and it sounds like you are so well loved, it warms my heart. I'm sorry about the nonsense at your work... Your employee really should have kept you in the loop! I'm glad you stood up for yourself though, and hopefully nipped that behaviour in the bud.

Week Two Day 7: Carbs: 22g (much better!) Meditation: yes! I did pretty decent on my to do list. - finish the hoodies and shirts - make decals for some water bottles (gift) - make a "neon sign" with some lexan and EL wire. I hope this works out because otherwise I need to come up with a new gift for a 15 y/o! - bake non-keto cookies. - bake a loaf of the keto cornbread mix that I bought. - trial the two loafs for stuffing. - figure out a gift for Grandma! I was going to crochet a scarf, but I'm running out of time. The decals will take no time. The sign is trickier... It's okay though. For Grandma, I ended up getting hubs to pick her out a cute ornament while he was out yesterday, and I'll drop it off with some cookies tomorrow. I baked eggnog cookies (didn't quite turn out right, but they're edible) and regular sugar cookies (much better). I'll ice them today. The stuffing did turn out, but gave me horrible indigestion! Hubs is fine though, and usually his stomach is much more sensitive than mine. Bah! Now I'm not sure what to do. Overall though, I'm feeling much more on top of things! My exhausting day yesterday was worth it. I still need to wrap gifts. And I'll have some food prep to do Christmas Eve, but I have the whole day off, so that's fine too. 3 work days left. I'm ready to be done!

Week Two Days 5&6: Carbs: 31g and 33g respectively. Technically over, but just barely. Stretching: eesh, nope. Classwork: nope - let's be honest, this is over for now! Meditation: also no. Would this help with the weird dreams I've been having lately?? Yesterday was Busy Busy. I still didn't take down as much of my list as hoped, although I did start on some things that I didn't finish, so partial points. - started working on some hoodies and shirts. 6 hoodies are sold and getting picked up on Tuesday and 2 shirts are for Christmas presents. - took the pups on an extra-long (by which i mean 35 minute instead of 25) trail adventure. - gave away our old loveseat. I was hoping to get a few dinero for it, but I wanted it out of my dining room before Christmas more than I wanted $50. - made keto eggnog. - baked a loaf of keto bread:(https://www.gnom-gnom.com/gluten-free-paleo-keto- -bread/) for my stuffing experiments. - replaced the dead string of lights on the a Christmas tree. - cleaned up the dining room, so I can put a folding table in there for now. Still to do today: - finish the hoodies and shirts - make decals for some water bottles (gift) - make a "neon sign" with some lexan and EL wire. I hope this works out because otherwise I need to come up with a new gift for a 15 y/o! - bake non-keto cookies. - bake a loaf of the keto cornbread mix that I bought. - trial the two loafs for stuffing. - figure out a gift for Grandma! I was going to crochet a scarf, but I'm running out of time. The stakes are pretty low. Only the hoodies HAVE to get done today. And the baking doesn't technically need to happen at all, if it comes to it. I think I'll make a meatloaf tonight, to go with the stuffing! Yum yum yum. I really could use an extra weekend day, but at least it's only 3 days of work this week! And then 11 glorious paid days off. Ahhh.

So he came home on Friday asking the question, "How can we take the high road on this?". Boo, high road sucks. I want to tell them why they're assholes! Ugh. But in the interest of actually continuing the have a relationship with them (the value of which I find debatable, depending on the day) we are going to try to avoid actually talking about why we're not coming. We are going to show up Christmas morning with a pile of gifts, and say our greetings distantly, outside and then go home. I made my hubby promise to tell his mom "NO HUGGING" in advance, because they just don't THINK. And yes, I am absolutely going to do keto baking too! I might attempt keto butter tarts, which will probably be a giant PITA and might not turn out... I also have the stuff for cheesecake squares. I'm still making regular cookies for hubs and to give away to people

Week Two Day Four: Yesterday was a big old "nope" on all my goals. I was just ravenous and tired all day, so I ate and did nothing else. Mostly keto foods, but still totally overdid it and didn't really track. I'll try to go back and record as best I can remember, in the interest of record keeping but it was certainly over 30g carbs. I'm super frustrated with my in-laws, who told my husband yesterday that it's "up to you if you guys want to come for Christmas". Effffffff you! First of all, no it isn't, it's actually illegal here right now. Second of all, it's categorically the WRONG thing to do. And third of all, how fucking cowardly of you not to be able to make that decision yourself and putting it on us instead. Plus, they are bringing their 17 y/o granddaughter here from across the country! That's safe, sure. I'm... Not surprised, really, this is entirely in character. I'm still upset about it though. And I did kind of imagine that his sister had a bit more sense, but apparently not. I haven't talked to any of them about it yet (I don't even know what to say! The truth could get ugly, I don't know if I can be tactful on this one though!) But my husband told them it was going to be a hard pass. So anyways, I woke up at 5 this morning, apparently so I could steam about that some more. Thank goodness it's Friday! We have a virtual Christmas party this afternoon, so that's nice - means we get to knock off a bit early. And then I have a zoom date with a couple of girlfriends this evening. This weekend I am finishing up a bunch of homemade gifts, and testing a couple stuffing recipes I am contemplating doing some actual Christmas baking - I'm not usual much of a baker, to be honest (I was gifted a stand mixer at our wedding, and it is permanently on loan to my sister lol). But I'm embracing this whole "Christmas by ourselves" thing, and even though I have no intention of actually eating any, I want to engage in the rite.

Happy belated birthday! Omg to the AC celebrations - that's wild! Nothing like an emotional overload from a video game! I hope your day was lovely though!

How's things, Maigs?

Week Two Day Three: Carbs: 21.2g Stretching: no Classwork: yes! Assignment is finished! Meditation: yes Yesterday was great. It was actually an excellent use of a vacation day. I managed to have a super chill day but get lots done at the same time! The dogs got two walks, I finished my assignment - it needs a proof read before I submit it, but it's essentially done. I domestic rangered and napped and it was great. Who knew that stopping eating things that make you feel terrible makes you feel not-terrible?

Ah I finally found it! I don't know why that was so difficult. Anyways, THIS: https://www.precisionnutrition.com/body-transformation-research?_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJhbWR1YmlrQGdtYWlsLmNvbSIsICJrbF9jb21wYW55X2lkIjogIm5GRWUzUiJ9 I would rename the article "a treatise in defence of half-assery"

Week Two Day Two: Carbs: 26.2g Stretching: a tiny little bit!? Classwork: no, but crushing this today Meditation: not last night, but I did the night before I think I forgot to mention. Yesterday I was just wired - keto induced caffeine sensitivity? It was weird, but not bad - no accompanying anxiety or stomach issues. I flew through my work day, took the pups on a lunch time trail adventure. Finished up making that logo for my friend. Made a super healthy big ass salad for dinner. Painted for a bit. Snacked a little, but on approved foods, and still came in right around my calorie target. All in all, it was a good day. And this morning I woke up to a very cooperative scale. I'm 4.2lbs down this month Starting to slowly pick away at the depressing amount of weight gain from the last (honestly couple years - this is not all 2020 related). Going in the right direction though! I'm so happy to have today off, even if I am just doing class work - it's still a nice way to break up the week, and having a slow morning is really enjoyable. I'm going to take the dogs for a wee little walk (it's supposed to be gorgeous this afternoon, so we'll go for a grand adventure then). Then shower and hit the books!

I am SO freaking proud of you! You set out to change one little habit, and look how it's leaking into other areas! And you area 100% right, home cooked meals are absolutely a huge step in the right direction - even if it's not the healthiest thing in the world, I guarantee it's healthier than take out. And you used your reflection about your mom in a positive way, which I bet your therapist is also going to be hella proud of you too. I also struggle majorly with moderation, I so so very much relate to the all or nothing thing. I read a really helpful article last year about this, that I sometimes make myself reread as a reminder to help internalize that the fact that ANY effort in the right direction actually IS worth it. And OF COURSE I can't find it right now. I'll keep looking though.

Yesterday's grocery shopping trip was... Ugh. Kind of awful. The one good thing was that it was completely dead in there, so I did not have to feel anxious about crowds. I had way too much on my list though we and spent a small fortune and could barely move my cart by the end! And then of course it's taking me some time to pack up my metric shit ton of groceries, and they won't start ringing in the next person until you're done, so I'm frantically trying to stuff everything into bags while the poor guy behind me with like 5 things watches. Eh, at least it's done now. And I have SO much appropriate and delicious food to eat! I just need to prioritize it by expiration haha. Yesterday's carbs came in right around 30g. All veg based though, so I'm not even mad. And I took tomorrow off! We have a planned power outage for a couple hours in the afternoon, but I'm just going to work on my class assignment and get that sucker DONE. Oh and I don't think I mentioned this yet - we have been told we get all day Christmas Eve off, paid, instead of having to work until noon! 6 more days of work until 11 glorious days off in a row! So needed. Even if I can't leave my house 😕

You really should! It's so good. I'm sure it's lovely and I appreciate the thought, but it simply must be bread stuffing. Great idea! I did buy some low carb cornbread mix, so I'm going to test that this weekend. I think I'll steal this as well though, and also try a homemade keto bread version. And maybe a mix of the two, just to be thorough. Lavish is my jam haha. Cooking is absolutely one of my coping mechanisms, so a lot of this is just trying to make up for having Christmas alone. I am going to try to find a little anti-fatigue mat! Then I can use it when I'm working in the basement AND use it in the kitchen - we have hard tile in the kitchen also. Great job home cooking though! I'm sorry your foot paid the price...

Week One Day Seven: Carbs: 24.5g Calories were a bit high though. Stretching: made a very half-assed attempt. Classwork: nope. Meditation: no Yesterday was great, actually. My foot felt quite a bit better. We finished up all the orders we have, delivered the local ones and the others are packed up to be shipped! And dropped off the gift I needed to. Finished up by 3, and felt super accomplished and able to guiltlessly relax for the rest of the day. I made nom nom paleo's cracklin' chicken for dinner, which was excellent. I'm actually excited to go grocery shopping tonight - I'm so bad for making more trips than necessary because I get a craving for something instead of making due with what I have on hand... So it's been a good exercise for me. But I'm very bored of the food I have! I'm going to clean out the fridge after work and then try to time it so I'm there around 7 - I think it should be decently not busy by then. Hopefully it's not too picked over. We've planned out our Christmas dinner, since getting together with family is officially out of the question I have only cooked my own Christmas dinner once! We didn't go home for Christmas one year when we were living away for university... I cannot for the life of me remember what we did though! I think I might have been vegetarian at the time?? Anyways, I'm making a full feast in the spirit of making the best of it. The only thing that I'm not sure about is the dressing. My family's bread stuffing is The Best, and I need it, but obvs not keto. I'm going to trial run a few different recipes this weekend to see if I can make an acceptable low carb substitute.... But if they all fail, I figure that's one worthy exception! I can live without potatoes and sugary desserts, but not this.

So agreed on front-fastening sports bras! I have one and it's great. Congrats on selling your house!! Whooooo that's gotta feel good! I'm having trouble bothering with my mobility goal too... But I still feel like it's SO necessary! (Omg I guess this means I should go do it right now... I don't have any excuses!)

Week One Day 5&6: Carbs: 26g and 27g respectively Stretching: no Classwork: Yes! I got quite a bit done on my assignment yesterday. Meditation: yes, used it last night, but not Friday. Friday was a pretty unremarkable day. Work, made meatballs for dinner. Watched some TV, went to bed early. Yesterday was all over the place. We took the dogs for a trail walk in the morning. Got home and worked on the several shirt and hat orders we got this week. Then I worked on my assignment. Then I started working on a graphic design project for a friend... Before realizing I felt like junk. Possibly because it was 2pm and I hadn't eaten yet... Ate. Felt a little better. Played Diablo III for a bit. Had a nap. I still didn't feel super great, stomach-wise in the evening, so I just had salad for dinner. I watched Love the Coopers in the evening, which was delightfully heartwarming and totally better than I expected. I've been watching Christmas movies and shows like crazy for weeks now (17 at last count, and that includes 3 series). It's been lovely - I'm making the best of this near-lockdown and bum foot situation, dammit! Today I need to drop off some Christmas presents for my parents to ship to my brother. Finish the shirts and hats we started yesterday. And that may be it.

I have no idea what caused it - there wasn't a specific traumatic incident or anything. The weird thing is that hubs had a similar issue right before mine started acting up - is it possible it's from the transition to hardwood floors?? It was REALLY bad yesterday, after being on my feet for a while in the basement (which is vinyl plank, not hard wood. I tried slippers, barefoot and shoes and by the time I was done it was excruciating. I spent most of the day icing it, which seems to have helped quite a bit. Fingers crossed... Very much a possibility that that's the case here too.

I do that skipping descriptions thing too! Don't tell my husband that's why I can read so much faster than him. If a book is good, I end up rereading a lot of it as I go, to make sure I didn't accidently skim over something I actually meant to read lol

Aww! I forgot about All Dogs Go to Heaven! I loved it as a kid but yeah, I'm sure so much went over my head! I've been super tired despite not doing much tiring stuff lately too... Maybe it's just the season. Body's like "we gonna hibernate? Yeah? Nah? Let's just try it, see what you think". I will have to see if I can get my hands on that series! Mostly, I just read what I can get though our public library's e-book collection, because a) no late fees (for someone whose mother had worked at the library for like 20 years, I am pathologically incapable of returning books) and b) I can't afford to buy all the books I want to read. Have a good Friday and weekend! Keep up the good water habits

Oof, bad Fonzico! I keep forgetting to update, but I'm still working on my goals! Week One Day 2-4: Carbs: 2: 18g 3: 40g 4: 23g Wednesday was just an insatiable day. Honestly I've been around 1400-1600 calories for 10 days straight (which is an abrupt change from before!), so I figured one high cal wouldn't be the worst thing. I kept to low carb foods, but it still added up. It's okay though! I was back on track the next day. Stretching: I actually did this on Tuesday, as promised! I did a few alarmingly difficult sun salutations, and stretched my back using my chin up bar and some physio-recommended stretches. Classwork: Ugh. No. This weekend though. Meditation: I used it one of the nights, Tuesday or Wednesday. I definitely didn't last night, and I regret it as I slept awfully! I feel like I woke up every 10 minutes. I think I may have mentioned this in my last challenge? But I've been having issues with my left foot. It's swollen and quite sore below my big toe. It was bad for like a week before, and then improved for a few weeks and now it's bugging me again. I suspect my winter boots and their lack of arch support are contributing (combined with working from home where I'm in bare feet all the time so zero support.) I need to get some insoles so I can test this theory... So far I've just been icing it and eating ibuprofen like candy. But anyway, I think that's what kept waking me up last night 😕 I'm currently doing a bit of a pantry/fridge/freezer clean out, primarily because I only want to go grocery shopping once more before Christmas, if I can manage it. We're nearly locked down here now - grocery stores are only allowed 15% capacity, so of course online ordering is insane - if you can even get a slot it's like 5 days in advance, and you won't get half of what you ordered anyways. So I figure I'm better off going in, maybe late in the evening will be okay. And then at least I can decide for myself what to substitute! And just stock up well enough that I don't have to do it again any time soon. I'm okay with paying a little extra to re-up on dairy at our (recently opened, hurray!) local general store, but try to keep it at that. I haven't gone since Dec 1st, and my goal right now is to make it through the weekend, and go Monday evening. I'm running out of vegetables though! I still have some (wilting) spinach and a couple bell peppers. And like half a bag of cauliflower rice. I can feed hubs the carrots and potatoes at least... but I might be going nearly carnivore for the weekend oO. You can bet that I'll be coming home from my eventual grocery trip with like half my cart full of frozen veggies!