Linada

So, once upon a time, my health was going up. I had figured out what caused my health issues, fixed my diet, and started building some muscles. And then things started falling by the wayside. I am not even sure what started it, but things slowly fell by the wayside. Stopped exercising as much, didn't pay as much attention to food, generally got stressed and overwhelmed and stuff keep happening. Looks like I need to up my game for this level. My last save point isn't that good. In fact, I think I may be playing a rogue like. I have unlocked a few things, but my character is a squishy level 1. So all I need to do is grind my way through the starting levels again. As the major problem is life getting in the way, I need to get better at preparation. First step is mainly meal preparation, but I need to generally design life so that it affords healthy behaviour, rather than coasting along. I'm planning to start a battle log, so I'll save details for there. Once food and sleep are sorted, the rest tends to be a lot easier.

Ok, so I am not entirely sure a challenge is the right format for me. So the concept is: have a big goal, break it down into smaller steps, make them measurable, implement for 6 weeks, see how you do. Plus be accountable to other. Have goal, break down goal is...trivial. Measurable? Well sort of. Some goals just don't measure well, but it's blatantly obvious if they are being reached. Do the same thing for 6 weeks? Most definitely not me. Stuff happens, priorities shift, goals become irrelevant. Be accountable? *shrug* I can't say it helps or hinders. I think the way I do stuff is just very small steps compared to a long challenge. The RPG stuff was a catching idea, but that's about it, and is going to change anyway. The goals I set 3 weeks a go seem to be missing the point, and I can't be bothered to update a lot. I've kept asking myself the past week "why am I here?" and I can't find an answer.

4.5 points last week. Didn't do the baseboards, but worked on my office as far as that's applicable. Bathroom is looking much cleaner. I am determined to do a good job on my room this week, as it's not only my bedroom, but living room and office too. I spend most of my day in here, so it ought to be as pleasant as possible.

I never consciously noticed a lot of GI problems before going off gluten, but now I do notice a lot more stomach pain and bloating if I slip up. It's not a major thing though. I have always been mildly sensitive to dairy in liquid form, but that seems to have been improving over time. Oh, I am not unhappy about the shawl project at all. Just about the passage of time It is a terribly fiddly and time consuming project by it's nature, but nonetheless enjoyable. It's just nice to have some quick wins in between too. Not sure how the overall calories work out. I have never really tracked over large amounts of time, so I have not got much data on trends. I am still ending up with some very low calorie days. ------- Week 3 review: Protein goal hit 5 days, calories only 2 days again. Quiet time: 5 days. Did very well thanks to time tracking, but got derailed by weekend shifts. Journaling: done every day and much more transferred from old scribbles. Fascinating to look back at stuff like that. Makes me wish I had kept a journal when I was a kid, but it's not really been a thing in my family. Shawl: might finish the fourth corner today. Have been distracted with new projects and working on some actual designed from scratch knitting. It's something I want to do one day, so not the worst thing to be sidetracked by. PvP: 4.5 out of 5 points. Skipped half a mission. Exercise: levelled up my pushups. Now allowed to do incline pushups. Still stuck on leg raises.

So far so good this week. Food wise, I have hit my protein targets 3 times, and will today as well it seems. Calories are doing less well, haven't managed one day Journaling has been going better with having the desktop version too, and my random text file notes are slowly being migrated to more sensible places. Time tracking has been very useful, not so much because of detailed analysis, but the sheer fact of 'do I really want to spend my time on this?'. I guess it's similar to food tracking to eat less junk. Being aware makes me reconsider spending my time on junk activities and I automatically do less. I have been doing much more knitting and reading as a result, and much less random web surfing. The shawl is going less well. It is quite a strenuous kind of knitting really, and progress is quite slow. I still haven't finished the fourth corner, just about half way with that. And then there is the entire lower edge to do. I may have bitten of a bit more than I can manage with that one.

Time for the weekly report. Food: hit protein target for two days, which means 3 next week. Only managed calories one time, so the number to hit is still two for the week. Quiet time: managed a total of an hour four times this week. Still not great. I have no problem having plenty of fun time, just not stuff that gives my brain some quiet time. I have managed to figure out how to set up a tracker for quiet time on my phone so it gives me a target automatically. Will see how that works. Journaling: wrote everyday, but still managed to spread things all over the place in the name of syncing convenience. Bought the desktop version of Day One so I have it on my mac as well. I'll be working on copying stuff over there in the next few days. Shawl: finished the third corner, and started the fourth.

Meal planning is not a huge problem. The lack of eating is mostly an appetite/cramming things into my stomach problem. The lack of taking things out of the freezer is easily remedied by a pantry meal I am going to stick the week summary in a separate post, but I've managed to hit both protein and calorie goal today Also, after flunking the last strength workout, I managed to level up my squats again today. And oh my word do my thighs hurt now. In a good way

5 points this week, although I have to admit there wasn't much to declutter. I guess the habit to not buy junk stuck from the last time I did Flylady. Did some extra cleaning to make up for it. Considering how rarely I do detailed cleaning, there was a lot of nooks that needed it.

Hi, sorry for being so quiet. The week has run away from me again. Totally fallen off the food tracking, and trying to get back into it. Really can't remember what I had for the start of the week though. The good news is that I still managed to hit protein goals twice already, and once for calories as well, thanks to LadyWitch feeding me tasty brownies. I have been tracking my time for the last days, so at some point, probably tomorrow, I am going to sit down and look at where it's actually going. There was at least one unnecessary TV marathon, but also a deep cleaning of the kitchen. Exercise has taken a back seat. I didn't eat well at the start of the week at all, and totally hit the wall trying to do the strength workout. And on that note, I should probably figure out what I am eating today, as I haven't taken anything out of the freezer.

Reviewing the week: Managed to get enough calories and protein one day a week, so upping the goal to 2 for this week. I have however fallen off the tracking wagon hard this weekend. Distractions abound. Word free time: Monday >1hour; Tuesday none tracked , Wednesday >1hr; Thursday 35mins; Friday >1 hour; Saturday >1 hours (tracked housework this time); Sunday half an hour tracked. Failed the goal 3 days out of the week, but I am not entirely sure about my tracking, see above. I have basically only tracked knitting time and some exercise. Journaling: One day missed. Shawl: not a huge amount of progress made, since I had to undo quite a bit of it to fix a mistake. Flylady PvP: all missions done. All in all not hugely bad, but no trace of developing solid routine and discipline. When I do stuff, it's still rather haphazard. I am thinking of trying to stick a firm schedule on my days, but I am not sure how good I'd be at keeping it when the inevitable interruption happens. I am prone to throwing the baby out with the bathwater in that respect.

Done all the missions for the week, 5 points. Clearing the entrance was apparently long overdue. We live on the first floor and have metal stairs going up to the front door. The top bit always floods because the 3 drainage holes get clogged up, so I gave that a good sweeping. Looks there are are actually 7 drainage holes

Hmm, self knowledge, I guess so. I've had plenty of opportunities to question my life, so lots of self analysis there, possibly a little too much sometimes. The bazaar is going well so far Chatting to someone. Shall see where it leads. I need to remind my brain not to get emotionally carried away from a few emails, just because the guy is single and not running away from my weird life yet

Just popping in to say I am still here. Just a little occupied with the dating thing. It's like a turkish bazaar. Everyone wants me apparently. Workout day today, leveled up my squats to the next progression. Started the next level of pullups and omg I suck. Only horizontal pulls, but can I get my chest to the bar? Pff, no chance. I either need a damn good pushups bra, or muscles in places that don't have any yet. Managed to hit the protein goal yesterday, so that's the food targets for this week sorted. Hurray! Eli, thanks for the compliment. Tbh I always think I didn't have much choice about toughing it out. There were plenty of days where I did little but cry, about missing out on things, about being in pain, about not getting enough help from the doctors..., I got through it in the end. No other choice really, right? Kel(?), my Yoga routine doesn't take more than 20 minutes. It's not so much the workouts I have trouble with, it's mostly the time to relax and take some quality me time. Making time for that seems to be harder than it sounds.

Mission 2 done. Found a few bits and pieces that had fallen behind my table, mostly bits of paper. Mission 3 done. Uncovered another stack of craft magazines. All except two have now been gone through. The last two have actual articles worth reading.

Ok,ok, updating: So yesterday was a complete write off goal wise. Didn't hit my food targets. Didn't exercise. Didn't have *any* quiet time. Didn't work on the shawl. Didn't journal. Mostly a bad night's sleep. A morning that went who knows were, a busy afternoon of work, and an evening of making a dating profile. Yes, throwing myself at the mercy of formal online dating. *eep* Nothing quite like it to make you go 'Who the fuck am I?' and 'Oh god my life sucks'. But I did do the PVP mission. Not that there was a lot to do. My room is looking disconcertingly tidy already. Will try and remember to update again after work today. Now to carve out some quiet time, and find out what today's PVP is.

If you are hypermobile then you definitely want to focus on strength and active stretching, rather than poses were you are passively stretching out a joint. Approach those with extreme caution. Keeping your muscles engaged and going slowly is always a good plan. Keeping attention on your posture would also be good. That can help prevent a lot of problems. People with loose joints tend to prefer end of motion postures and tense up quite a lot, which isn't terribly helpful for the joints, so being mindful of relaxing and keeping better posture would help to. (said while realising that I am on the way to sitting like a tied up pretzel again) have you ever seen a physio for the hyper mobility? A lot of them don't exactly know what they are doing, but I hear the ones educated in the area can be very helpful.

Yes, it seems quite fun so far. It hits all the angles in terms of translation both ways, and pronunciation. I have not been able to put in many hours yet, so I am still going through the basic sentences, but it's great at encouraging you to practice every day, and reinforcing vocabulary. Nothing quite like being able to say I am lvl 4 french, even if that's still quite bad

Love your gifs, especially the feels one. So appropriate. I want a scroll for doctors appointments now It sounds like you'll be quite busy. The thai chi sounds great. I wished I lived closer to classes. That's been one of the things that's hugely interested me. bet of luck with your challenge.

Hi there Your gluten issues sounds a lot like mine. I had mostly neurological stuff to deal with as well, various hurty bits, balance and coordination issues, brain fog, sensory overload (still to a degree), and utter battery empty fatigue. Tested negative for celiac, but gluten free helps. I don't think non-celiac gluten intolerance is on a lot of doctors radar, and with atypical symptoms that don't scream food issues, it tends to get missed. Frustrating, but glad you found the culprit too ! I attempted to get an earth sciences degree, but studying while I was so ill was a silly idea. No way I could focus enough. Trying to add some languages for work to my repertoire at the moment, but one day I'd like to attempt that degree again.

Just make sure you avoid anything that makes you ill. I am sure everything will else will be burned off instantly. Depending on how your metabolism reacts, it could also be very unhappy when/if it runs out of carbs while doing hard work. Mine gets very unhappy, but then again I don't have much fat to spare. Might also be a factor. You should have challenged him to squats or planks. By all accounts women are all about the legs, men about the arms. ....Not that I'd want to challenge the fitness levels of someone who runs around with a sword and shield a lot in the first place

Err, well, I have 2 and a half corners. Not much to look at yet. The patterns is this one. Probably more scary than inspiring PVP is at http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/33945-flying-with-the-flylady-july-29-sept-8/#entry625797 Burpee PVP sounds tough (probably because I can't even do one proper pushup). I do have a fairly comprehensive book of yoga poses. I usually just go through that and looks for something that seems like a good thing to work on. When I have been looking at videos I have always been fairly disappointed with the pacing, and finding it difficult to find the right degree of challenge. Can't really beat something that's tailor made for yourself. And I don't find starting from scratch too much of a challenge.

I don't really mind, either way. Reading through the missions so far I'll be taking a lot of shortcuts either way, but I guess it's having the mission handled that's the goal, not the size of the handling. I live in a shared house so a lot of the rooms are one and the same for me. I guess I will end up with a very tidy room at least Mission one: handled. I don't really have much incoming clutter, so it's a matter of weeding through what's there. Went through my knitting booklets and actually put the ones I don't like with the sell/donate stuff.

Right, day one so far. Food: hit calorie target for today, but not protein. Might be able to fit some more snacking in once dinner has settled. Took some stuff out the freezer for tomorrow, but realised I haven't yet included dinner in that. As I have an afternoon shift I need to check with housemate whether he feels like cooking. Relax: Did 15 mins yoga, and 30 minutes knitting. Also did a strength workout, but not counting that for quiet time as I fit most of it around work. Worked the sets a lot harder, and got more reps in. I should probably write up a slightly more extensive yoga routine. Wall push up: 40;44;42 Knee tucks: 22;17. <- I find it very hard to tell if I have good form in these, which might explain the differences. Reflect: Nothing relevatory today, basically just the above. Fake feeling of accomplishment, as I still have to do the flylady PVP mission, do 15 more minutes of quiet time, and ideally some language practice too.

I could do with this. But.. Which missions are we doing. Because there are only 5 for the week. What are the other 2 points?

I have recently been retrying this after slacking off for a long time. The ciliary (muscle based) myopia really does correct itself quickly. It's like any other muscle really. Rest it well, stretch it out a bit, give it the right challenge and it will adapt. I got a few centimetres worth of improvement from just a few days of trying not to keep my nose to the paper. I expect it will take a fair bit of hard work to change the actual eyeball shape based myopia, but if bones can adapt their shape to load, why not a squishy little eyeball?