Annabelle

-lurk-

I'm not allowed to post so late at night..LOL the final day was yesterday? WHERE DID THIS FOUR WEEKS GO?! Overall - I'd say I killed the soda goal. I think I had only three days throughout the challenge where I had more than the allotted 12oz of soda. Considering how often my husband offers to go grab drinks from places I count that as a HUGE win! Walks had some hiccups - some aging dog problems, but a pretty good future outlook. I hit the gym this morning for a minute, long enough to get my heart rate up and the narrowly avoid the random thunderstorm on the way home. I did, however, lose a significant amount of time this morning on social media >.> So I'm deleting FB from my phone so I'm not tempted to just sit and scroll. Nobody is that important Annabelle, jesus. Get yer shit together woman. Meal plan had a few hiccups too. I definitely learned a lot about how to have some 'emergency' meals prepared, for the days where the shit hits the proverbial fan at work and I get home an hour late (lookin' at you Friday!), or on gym Wednesdays where I can't realistically start to cook at 8pm and expect to eat dinner and have everyone to bed on time. That's going to be a huge challenge coming up in next month's challenge (along with my giving dairy the axe.... omg I'm not ready to give up on cheese) I'd probably only give myself a 'C' on the self care quest. I started strong, had some strong showings, but it was not at all as consistent as I'd like it to have been. And I'm gonna hear about it at my dental cleaning in just under two weeks I'm sure.. LOL Check-ins have been wonderful. Not the original (albeit overzealous) goal of every single day, but consistent enough to be able to see the good/bad/needs improvement throughout the challenge, which was the point of the goal. Guess its time to start prepping for round two! (and did I mention, I got those before pictures taken this morning? Conveniently located full body mirror in a stairwell with some barre stuff - it was empty, but MAN do I not like what I sawwww >.<)

Update! Where are we - end of week three now?! Quest: I am the type of person who will drink more water. I will limit myself to one 12oz soda per day at most for the next four weeks So far? Baller progress. Last Tuesday I definitely didn't stick to it thank to the ballgame, but otherwise it's been a very successful challenge on this front so far. Quest: I am the type of person who cares about her health. I will take the dog for a walk every morning during the work week, and every evening on the weekends. Walks have been amended, the poor gal can't get it done every day. I've subbed extra days at the gym/home yoga/whatnot for the days we don't manage to get a walk in. We did get a good one on Saturday and she was excited to go back out Quest: I am the type of person who enjoys cooking for her family. I will stick to my meal plan 4-5 days a week. Are planned non-plans a thing? Ball game Tuesday kinda threw things off, my hubby failed to cook Friday like he was told to before I went to work, and I struggled to put together a solid plan this past week. That was a total bust. I've got the next two nights figured out, but tomorrow night is "clean the fridge out because tomorrow is trash day" so I'll get a better stock of what I have then. Also my kiddo is going to the orthodontist tomorrow and getting her spacers fitted, so she's going to be a grouchy, sore mouthed kiddo for a while. Lots of softer foods on the horizon. Quest: I am the type of person who takes pride in her appearance. I will be more diligent by brushing/flossing both morning and night, along with a morning/night face wash I'm getting lax here. I can admit it - it's not been as on the ball as I'd like it to be. As soon as I update this, in fact, I'll be polishing off my bottle of water and brushing/flossing/washing before I wrap up my planner and get to bed. Quest: I am the type of person who is diligent in her commitment to herself. I will check in via the NF Rebellion (the 4 week challenge, or my personal battle log depending on the day) every. Day. to keep myself honest about my progress and my goals. Some days have gone two-three in a row without posting. I do try to at least peek in, and my mindset module diary has stagnated. I'm going to try to make a point to sit down one night this week and at least complete chapter 16. I'm aiming to finish chapter 17 at the end of this 4 week challenge. The 'what did you learn and can improve on going forward with a restart' system seems like a perfect way to cap off the challenge. My biggest hurdle I'm discovering, is I anticipate too much time at work to focus on things like this (my fitness plan, my meal plans, my mindset module diary, etc). When I get a heavy load at work - I don't make the non-work time for my check-ins, or making sure the meal plan is put together, etc. This is something I know I need to get better at, and plan on incorporating into the next challenge. I can't rely on free time at work to devote to this, especially with my increased workload, potential promotion, and within the next 4 weeks our office is moving into a new building so I'll be dealing with the move on top of my work responsibilities. I think this week I might look at my "typical" day and see where I can find the time I'm wasting (probably on social media) that could be put to better use going forward.

Are they cooked or raw veggies? Veggies can be hard to make in bulk because sometimes reheating isn't always uh... pleasant for texture/taste Es no bueno. Those breakfasts sound killer. I need to either make my bulk bowls again, or start cooking in the morning. The last two days were just a bagel and cream cheese, and today my hubby went and got me a breakfast burrito at McDonalds >.> Not the greatest breakfast, but I coulda been way worse. This week my lunches have been a couple strips of baked chicken, a decent sized salad, and a couple strawberries. I do have blue cheese/bacon in the salad though, I think all those fats are keeping me pretty satiated. Combine that with the chicken and I often don't feel the need to snack in the afternoon ^.^ But it also depends on work too. If its a hella busy day, I don't get hungry because I don't realize how long I'm going, yanno? If the day drags, I feel the urge to snack to pass the time. Which is part of why I wind up popping in here to update during the day.. LOL if I can be productive on here, in my planner, etc it keeps me from trying to get into the snacks. I did open the chocolate last week but I think I've had a total of like... 3-4 squares since buying them last week? I do have a good deal here at work though, I have a mini fridge in my office and we have a water cooler + ice maker in the lobby so i don't have any excuses to not drink water at work. It really helps!

Oh man... I relate to the "well what else is gonna happen in this shit show" day (and subsequent response of bad food and Blizzard games) like you wouldn't believe LOL I've had my share of "f this - I'm going to Azeroth" days. I'm trying to curb them, and I'm not on Warcraft every night anymore (in fact, I haven't logged on since Sunday!) But some days just call for stabbing/frostbolting/consecrating things. Snacks are kinda a bane for me too. If I bring them, I obviously need to eat them RIGHT NOW.. lol but once the initial urge to eat all the things passes, I can usually make 'em last a while. What are you bringing for lunches/snacks? I noticed bringing little cheeses is helping curb back on my urge to snack mindlessly - I don't know if its the protein in them or the creamy texture makes it feel like I'm eating more than I really am, but it's kept me from inhaling the chocolate at my desk, or the skittles (which are on like... week two?) in my little mason jar.

That's exactly why I made a check-in goal this go-around... I knew coming back in I'd need to keep myself logging in, keep accountable, etc. It sucks when life intervenes, but adversity is always the mother of invention I know you'll find a way to balance it all out. Super lucky on that travel insurance though! My trip in December is the first time I've bought it for my airfare, because I'm paranoid if the weather gets bad here that getting to my destination might be a struggle. (Thankfully we're also going out a day early)

Oh good - it isn't only me freezing in my office in a pair of leggings, a long sleeved dress, and a sweater O_O I'm legit debating taking a trip to my car on my lunch break solely to warm up. Its ridiculous.

So good news on the garage front(ish) is that I realized last night that we have a bulky trash drop-off day coming. Google tells me its actually this Saturday! So tomorrow/Friday my brother and my hubby are breaking down this dilapidated shed on my back patio (part of the LARP group stuff - the property the shed used to be on was no longer available and the shed was in shambles) and we're gonna haul all that off in my father-in-law's truck Saturday. If I can break it all down and tie it down properly I can hopefully get all the shed bits, plus some of the other big items off my list and off my property. My stomach has been bothering me all day today - I had too much soda yesterday (deliberate decision, my brother and I dressed up for Game of Thrones night at the baseball game) but I'm paying for it today But tonight my hubby and I hit the gym, along with two of my friends, and we'll get some of this yuck worked outta me. Speaking of the gym(!!) i looked at what classes are included with my membership and it was super misleading. Initially it says "Free participation in all aerobics classes, including water aerobics" - which kinda made me bummed... BUT THEN! I clicked on the list of "aerobic classes" and y'aaaaaall! (Spoiler tag because this is a long f'n list!) WHAT?! I'm so stoked now. They do warn that schedules/classes may pop up/drop based on attendance, and the schedules that are up are linked as being valid for April-June, but the schedule itself says December? So I'm going to bring the "current" list from their website tonight to the gym and see if they can confirm if its accurate or what's being held when/where/etc. The only bummer is that (obvs) there are a lot of classes scheduled in the middle of the day which isn't very helpful for people like me working the "normal" 9-5. But they open up at 5AM with classes as early as 5:30, so we shall see

OMG right?! I've been paying for our family plan at our local community center for about that long, and literally other than the last two weeks I think the last time I went before that was last summer? And that was a "let's go to the pool before breakfast" kinda day. Though with the kiddo getting out of school this week, I think her and her dad will use it more on the days he's off so there's that I suppose. But I really do like my gym, they have a bunch of cardio machines (eh), a lap pool, a great free weight section off by itself away from the rest of the gym so its private and you can drop as many weights as you want, grunt/yell/whatever and you're not looked at weird (woo!), and a sauna that I could literally live inside forever. I have great amenities but ugh I hate going alone because I don't do well surrounded by strangers. Double edged sword man.. I haven't looked into classes yet. I know the old gym I used had them for free with membership for most classes except like.. bootcamps and stuff. I'm not sure about this one. I do have an Xbox One/Wii/etc, but I don't have a kinect. I think I have a couple Wii games that are more active that I could definitely get back into. If I can find all the pieces to the Wii.. I let my daughter borrow it to stream Netflix in her room at one point. I think its in a box somewhere. Once I get my garage cleared out (I'm housing a ton of things for my local LARP group that will hopefully all be out of my house by July) I can get back out there for workouts. I have rubber mats, a couple kettlebells/medicine balls, a set of dumbbells, and a rickety but still totally serviceable bench. I just can't maneuver out there between totes, tables, and assorted random crap.

Why is it that weekends seem to just... fall apart when i plan stuff? Gah. The rigidity of the work week sucks but at least it forces me to stay on the up and up. Spent Saturday getting my hair colored, then did some pokemon go-ing with the hubby for community day. We missed going to the movies because I didn't want to sit with so many kids in the theater (Incredibles 2) so we're going on Thursday instead. Sunday I did manage to get a bunch of meal prep done, shockingly. I have four days worth of lunches prepped, a big bowl of salad to eat from during the week with dinners prepped, a bowl of green peppers/mushrooms as a last minute meal with some roast beef if plans fall through, and some cucumber/tomato salad to snack on. Dinner is set for the next three-four days, so good there too. Just.. feels like I'm not making enough progress? (That sounds weird so say, and I probably shouldn't). I have to consider an alternative to walking the dog, I think. She's getting up there in age and seemed to be struggling on the tail end of a couple of our walks. I don't wanna overexert her (she's 10, and she's a greyhound/lab mix, and their average lifespan is about 10-14 years so I know she's creeping into senior territory). I also don't know how I feel about walking in the neighborhood alone. It isn't a bad neighborhood at ALL but it does border a questionable one and the previously mentioned lack of sidewalks makes me nervy. My uncle was hit and killed walking down a street without sidewalks so that does WONDERS for my anxiety >.> I'm debating if its better to go ahead and swap the walks in the morning for morning sessions at the gym on Monday and Friday - in conjunction with the gym on Wednesday nights with the hubby* (and possibly friends)? I don't want to skip being active altogether, but I definitely don't feel comfortable walking alone. Hubby can't come with me on the walks either, because he's already at work by the time I'm getting outta bed.

^ She's absolutely right. Context is important, especially when we're in the throes of a heat wave. What good is a workout if you get dangerously overheated? Pacing is key

I have no idea about Iceland's food tbh. I honestly wanna go to Iceland for the stories I've heard of the insane hot springs/geothermal spas. Plus I worked with a girl who was stationed in Reykjavik when she was in the air force and she said it was absolutely stunning up there. My hubs wants to go to Japan too, but more for all the anime stuff - he decided if we ever go, he and the kiddo can spend a day doing that and I can have a relaxing day by myself then we'll tag out and my kiddo and I can go on a food tour and he can vegetate in the hotel with all his new toys.. LOL

How's your progress coming Jenn?

I love bucket lists ♥ I have a board on Pinterest for a few, and I've put a bunch on my epic quest. Iceland and a Japanese food tour are both on my lists too (though I haven't added Japan to my Epic Quest page yet). Come to think of it, lately a LOT of food tours are on my list.. I wanna hit the Tardis bar in New York (a Doctor Who themed bar =D), gotta get clam chowder in Boston, classic Chicago-style pizza in Chicago, go to a Hawaiian luau, etc.

So update from Monday - that bag of chocolate at my desk is still sealed. I'm kinda proud of that (seriously, dark chocolate filled with peanut butter is my literal weakness.. and I haven't touched one at all) Tonight is my normal gym night for me and hubs. I'm not feeling super still but I can power through this workout. Then it'll be time for a keto friendly-ish philly cheesesteak dinner (no bread, just sauteed mushrooms/peppers/steak with cheese). The last week's recap: 12oz soda or less per day - other than ninja soda day last weekend, This has been solid. Even the cherry coke I bought Monday to help combat my lady bit problems is still sitting in my office fridge, half finished. I just don't want/gravitate toward soda (and I'm 110% okay with that) Dog Walkies - last week was solid, but I didn't get one in yesterday. I left early that morning to deal with some bank stuff and was feeling icky last night and skipped it. But overall the routine is in place to keep it going. Meal Plan - I give me an A-. I did falter on a day, but I've managed to keep it pretty consistent overall. This week has also been okay-ish. Yesterday wound up going under, afer my hubby and I had to go pick up his car from the shop after work/etc we quickly realized that if we cooked the meal we planned on, he'd have to be in bed before we'd even get finished cooking due to how late it was. Plan has been diverted, but we're still sitting solid for the rest of the week. Updates - Mostly good here too. Not getting every day, especially over the weekends when i'm running 100 miles an hour. Still working, still plodding along.

Brief lunchtime update I got hit HARD this morning with the dreaded "first day" of shark week. I'm typically only 'bad' for about the first 24 hours (cramping, nausea, etc). So as soon as I weather through this I should be back on the boat. But today I'm letting myself do what I need to in order to get through it. I took my Midol (which makes me super drowsy due to antihistamines) and I'm supplementing it with a cherry coke to go with it to keep me awake. But I'm resolving to not finish the entire 20 ounce bottle. I also bought a bag of Dove chocolate to keep nearby but I won't eat the whole thing (I'm good with hard limits. I've got two 'accounted for' for today. That's the end of it). I also avoided grabbing a thickburger from Hardees for lunch - and kept to my initial meal plan instead (which wound up being SO FREAKING DELICIOUS - https://www.walmart.com/ip/Thai-Style-Curry-Meal-Kit-to-Pair-with-Rotisserie-Chicken-Serves-2/424773261 seriously... this is amazing). I know my body would've been happy with a burger and fries and salty fried goodness, but I made it through the temptation. I'm finishing lunch up with some pineapple ancho chile pork rinds that could do with a lil more in the pineapple department but they're definitely not terrible. They're helping keep the salty desires at bay though! Today is a conscious decision is what i'm telling myself. Tomorrow is also a conscious decision. It's chocolate coffee chia pudding for breakfast, more of this chicken curry for lunch (that one kit, btw, made me lunches for this entire week), and then blue cheese/mushroom stuffed flank steak and a salad for dinner.

Yeah, I fell asleep to some Advil and felt okay around 8:30-ish but decided to not try to wake up fully and just go back to sleep. Definitely felt 1000x better the next day. Hubby was like that for a long time too, because he wasn't gaining weight fast enough to really -worry- about it per say, plus he has a pretty physically demanding job that keeps him in the same ballpark for weight. But we've got a trip to Miami in 6 months that those shorts would come in miiiighty handy IF is definitely something I can do much easier now than I could have when I was younger. I'm in my early 30s and I don't think I could've done intermittent fasting in my 20s at ALL. Plus I spent 11 years at a job that routinely didn't let me hit up lunch until almost 1, which probably helped train my body to want food later in the day. Weekend update: Walks happened, but they were suffering through DOMs to do 'em. I also wish we had more sidewalks in my neighborhood, but we only have them on one street (the main road, none of our neighborhood streets). Soda was doing so good until today, when I didn't stop myself. I didn't order a soda, but my husband went to Taco Bell this morning and his friend from high school was the one on drive-thru, so she gave us free sodas. It didn't dawn on me until I was already almost done with it that it wasn't actually what I would have ordered to drink. But I did manage to not drink any soda at my niece's birthday party yesterday! And only had one tiny cupcake (I'm not counting the trace amounts of strawberry frosting my 10 month old niece so lovingly wanted to share with my face.. LOL) Meal plan yesterday was a bust, but not because of poor planning. I had it planned, I had all the things ready to get out/prep/cook, but I hit a hard PMS wall yesterday. The crippling urge to stay home and away from people nearly kept me from said birthday party, and blew up the meal plan as my husband tried to cover for me so I wouldn't have to do anything (my PMS comes fully equipped with cravings [RIP cheesecake], lethargy, and a firm anxiety bout that makes me feel overwhelmed by absolutely everything). It wound up being a not great day, but I made up for it today by staying on track on the meal plan, turning down the hubs' offer of Starbucks, and instead drinking my water* (*once I finished the aforementioned ninja soda). I have not taken the time (real talk; I could've but I indulged my weekend in video games) to update my mindset diary yet. I do intend to work on it a bit tonight before I read the first bit of my next book I'm wanting to finish. I've hit a weird part of the mindset diary that I (I guess appropriately?) am struggling to get into the mindset to finish.

Urgh I need to go to IKEA SO BAD ;_; I need more organization in my life, and my makeup/hair stuff is taking over my dresser. I kinda wish I were home from work today to get some housework done. I did a bunch on Sunday (and holy cow, those carpet rakes are a HELLA workout) but I always feel like I can't keep up during the week And WOOT victory! My hubby and our friends convinced me to get a slice of cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory last night (we had dinner with them about two blocks from there). I did it - but I haven't actually eaten any yet. My goal is to nibble at it over the next week or so, just a bite here and there. Gotta savor that ish!

Dehydration beast was utterly slayed yesterday. I'm proud of myself for pushing through drinking only water yesterday despite the super available Cherry Diet Dr Pepper in my work fridge. Despite that though I've kept to my 12oz or less on soda 100% so far. I don't necessarily miss it either, which is grand. I do need something here and there to cut up the monotony of water, but I have some black peach iced tea in the fridge (no sugar, I don't do sweet tea) so we'll see how that works out for me. Meal plan has stayed on point. I'm real happy with it, we've eaten out SO much less this week because of it! I didn't walk the dog this morning because I knew I planned on hitting the gym this evening with my hubby. He's actually not only agreed to going tonight, but he's agreed to keep going with me. Don't mind me in my happy dance over here (seriously, he's always complaining about "needing" to go but never does, and I think our closet purge where he didn't fit into any but one pair of his shorts might've been his wake up call) Obvs check-ins are fine I was hoping to do more work on my mindset module yesterday but work has been... interesting. Not overly busy, but frustrating to the point of wanting to pull my hair out (which I can't afford amongst my grey hairs... LOL)

Raisins... on a pizza? I don't know if thats magic or heresy. But trying to count it is probably definitely witchcraft LOL

Woot for doctors! Its important to keep up with your doc. Tonight I'm gonna whip out a plank to match your :35 (I don't know why that sounded like a totally supportive thing, but its happening)

Work felt like a monster yesterday... I had so much menial catch up work to do (filing reports, sending off forms, saving confirmations of said forms being sent, etc etc) that by the time I had lunch I was so -dead- that I did dumb things like mindlessly snack on Skittles. Nooooo bueno. It also disappoints me because I've been adhering to the meal plan I made but I didn't factor in things like - how long I go between breakfast and lunch (I eat around 7am and I don't do lunch until... 2-ish?) and the snack threat is real. I did intermittent fasting before because if I don't eat breakfast I generally don't get hungry until lunch, so I'm thinking maybe doing that again next week once I get through all my pre-prepped breakfast food. Today I'm resolving to drink water when I get the snack-y urge and allowing myself a couple with my lunch instead of just nibbling at them with zero regard. I also literally drank NO water yesterday. So when I got home and started dinner I wound up with a huge headache. I guess good news is I was definitely not playing WoW super late and I stuck to my bedtime because I was passed out on the couch by like... 8 according to my husband. After sleeping it off for a good 10 hours, I'm feeling better now and I've poured myself a container of water. I have no idea how big it is - it has no lines/markers/numbers on it. I got it from Target back in like... January when they had all their "fitness" related stuff in the $1/$3/$5 bins. I think its close to 32oz though. So I'm telling myself I have to finish one and a half of those before I allow myself to drink anything else today. Gotta rehydrate myself before I wind up miserable again.

I hope things start clearing up soon! That's an awful lot to try and process for one person ♥ I hope you keep a positive headspace. If you struggle, even if you're not in a challenge, you can still poke in here and rant/vent/whatever you need to

Oh man.. my meal prep was dangerously close to a disaster. I tried to make egg cups, which I've made literally probably 5-6 times before (plus frittatas, etc). Last time I made a veggie frittata, I tossed in a splash of heavy cream instead of milk. It gave the frittata a wonderful creamy consistency - so obviously the answer is to keep doing that, right? Wrong. My poor egg cups looked like sad souffles. The puffed up so big that I actually had 8 tins of egg when I only poured 7... and they were so full of air pockets that I pretty much have little egg biscuits leftover. Super disappointing, I think I added too much cream. But the homemade quesadillas came out okay. I had to mix up my own seasoning/marinade for the chicken because I lacked a taco/fajita seasoning packet. Cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, red pepper, and sea salt mixed with olive oil made for a pretty nice marinade Just yanno, FYI. I've gone through and updated my mindset module on a few bits - I'm going to progress further on Hacking my Sleep, Meditation in the morning post-dog walk, and work on some of the later mindset quests 15, 16 & 17. There'll be a bit of reflection coming up on that - so yeah. It's a thing? Overall this week was pretty good quest-wise. I'm definitely on a good stride. Fingers crossed adding a thing or two this week doesn't threaten to derail it.

I probably will when the kiddo comes home today. She's at grandma's after yesterday's debacle with the power. I might poke my PCP about what she thinks might be a good place to start on that. I know when I saw her last year I was convinced that my thyroid was acting wonky but when they called with my blood work her exact words were "your thyroid function is phenomenal" so... And yesterday's check-in/meal plan got thrown out the window because we lost power for over 4 hours Makes it hard to cook/go grocery shopping/etc when your fridge is slowly losing all its chill. Luckily we didn't open the fridge or freezer, and the storm that knocked out the power cooled off the air a bit, so nothing was lost overall. Just a big wrench in my plans. Today the bulk of my groceries are being delivered anyway and all my meal prep for the week was planned for today so it wasn't as catastrophic as it could've been. (Or worse, I could be a friend of mine and STILL have no power!) I might even check in with pictures of the meal plan in progress!