JessFit

Ahhhhh, I remember my parent's playing DOOM! Incredible goals.

Friday I lifted and packed for my weekend, Saturday and Sunday I was at an American Civil War Reenactment. I'm usually a Corporal in the Union Artillery, and this weekend was standard for that. I LOVE firing an 1860s cannon. We got a lot of rain, and it is much harder to push the cannon around in the mud, it does weigh about 1.5 tons... my cannon moving muscles are all really sore today. If ever you want a full body workout, let me, know, you can come push my cannon. I flirted with the generals, laughed at all the crass jokes, and jumped in puddles. It was a generally amazing weekend. Additionally, General Sherman invited me to be one of his aides in a Sherman focused national reenactment next spring! As far as life as a whole goes, this is not important, as far as reenacting goes, this is a HUGE honor. Particularly since I'm a female in uniform and we're generally less well respected. In addition to this amazing news, I totally had people come up to me this weekend and inform me that they didn't realize there was a woman on the field/in uniform until I started shouting commands to my cannon crew! As a busty and extremely feminine female, passing as a male is something that I really have to work at and I'm very excited that I once again successfully managed it. Now I just need to work on voice moderation so I sound deeper and more manly. Also I need to work on military commands, I'm not military so I tend to be bad at giving commands in a military manner. Challenge wrap up: I did ok, but not exceptional on my goals, but that is just fine. I still did more than I would have if I hadn't set goals and that is great. Life is going to get crazy so I'm going to take things a bit easier this next challenge round. Thanks for hanging out and supporting me on this challenge, it has been really appreciated! Goals: 1: Lifting sessions 11/12 2: Pull-up/Chin-up work 17/15 3: DONE Greater than 95% compliance with the Renaissance Periodization diet. 97.67%/95% Weight: 149.7/148 4: Recovery and mobility. 10/15 5: Skincare 17/20 6: Projects half done 3/5 New Challenge Time!

I am scheduled to be a home owner by the end of this challenge! Holy WOW! I still have a hard time believing this is happening. I'm focusing on growing in to a stronger person, a more consistent person, I more understanding person. Home owning is a huge deal for me because my life has not been entirely stable as an adult, so achieving this stability is a huge reflection of the work I've done and the growing I've managed. I'm still not done though. This challenge is going to be a little bit odd, I want to focus on getting as strong as possible, I need to focus on the correct steps for moving forward in my life, so I'm only setting 4 goals, and they're going to be fairly simple. Goal 1: Stay 80% compliant with my meal plan. I've got to buy a house, I don't have monies for snacks and eating out. That being said, this challenge is gonna have "I'm a new homeowner" pizza and champagne while I sit on the floor of my brand new empty condo after signing the papers. There is also Pride and friends visiting from out of town, so that will be a bit of a struggle. Currently 86.67% compliant. Goal 2: Chin-up and pull-up work 4x a week: 0/20 Goal 3: Lift 2X week. I'd prefer this to be higher, but I'll be content if I can get 2x in. 0/10 Goal 4: Cardio 1x/week: 0/5

Ugh, going to bed early can make or break my day. I feel for you.

Sounds like a lovely meal!

Wow, what an adventure with the van! Glad you made it home.

I'm just someone who wakes up and has a very minimalist morning routine. I'm not a morning person who prefers getting to work early, so it is a bit of a contradiction. I have a 20 minute morning routine, including the shower. I imagine I'd struggle to get up with enough time to do this and then I'd worry that I didn't give myself enough time and not be able to focus. YAY for 6 weeks.

It has been a hectic challenge but you've got a lot done and have a lot to look forward to!

Sounds like a good weekend! I hope you end up with the jacket coming back home!

Arya: YES! Books: I concur, I feel like they took the ending and plot points that GRRM gave them and really did not do credit to the first 5 seasons or the books. The writing and getting from point A to point B deteriorated drastically, as did the consistency of the characters. Ghost: YES YES YES! I was PISSED when the others got killed off. I cried so hard the first time I read the books and Lady died. Tyrion: For most of his life, did anyone ever credit Tyrion with the level of intelligence that he actually demonstrated? I'm unsurprised that he was the one to really respect a slightly scary and very unique creature of totally unknown ability.

I've been debating trying Madcow since you mentioned it. I'm not sure what I want to do next but adding weight that regularly is hard for most. I think you had a good run with it, but you also need to listen to your body.

What a great ending to your challenge!

I think this is relevant to a lot of people's overeating. Often I'll be like, "Why am I even eating this?" Or I'll go buy Doritos even though I know that I'm going to regret them and they won't be worth it.

I've been journaling about this for the past 6 weeks or so and I have a lot of thoughts about it all. Removing myself from the societal food merry go round has forced me to look at things very differently. For example: my cut is officially over so my coworkers want to go to a food truck for BBQ pulled pork cheese fries to celebrate my weight loss. I LOVE the sentiment, and I'm gonna have some fries, but it is hilarious that we're celebrating weight loss and cut adherence with junk food. The better part is, no one around me seems to think that this logic is flawed... I'm not judging, I realize that a few months ago I would have been in the same shoes as they are. Our society is rarely supportive of weight loss, they may be mentally supportive, but in the end that support doesn't often translate to actions.

I admire this, I know a lot, but I always second guess and doubt myself, so I'm thrilled with someone else tells me what to lift. Otherwise I get stuck in my own head and don't make progress.

I have the Artist's Way and I clearly need to just buckle down and spend time with it. I admire how dedicated you are.

Take it slow to start, and see how you feel the next day. Coming back from an injury isn't any fun.

Congrats! That is super exciting!

-yay for nerdy date guy! -I feel your moving pains, good luck -what did you put in your smoothie?

YOU'RE SO RIGHT!

I'm super heckin' thrilled that I stuck with 10 weeks of this cut. I'm also thrilled to be on to the next stages, this totally isn't the end, it is just a step in the journey. Next step: get as strong as possible. I've been slacking in other areas of the challenge, mostly because I've been packing for the move and working a lot. I'm happy with where I'm at. I get ANOTHER cannon weekend this weekend. Woohoo! I love LARPing the 1860s. Final cut progress pics (aka me in underwear) in spoilers. When I started this cut I saw people on the IG page posting about how much they had learned and I was like, "Cool, you're gonna learn a lot about macros." Well I completely underestimated what I learned, not only about macros, food sources, and timing but also about my own mental health and relationship with food. I used to be anorexic so this cut was a huge opportunity to battle some old demons, I've still got a lot of work to do with boredom eating though. I also observed a significant amount about how we as a society relate to and use food. We often equate food to love, but it has never been more obvious to me than it is now. My grandma was pissed that I didn't want to eat (store bought) cookies at her house. I went out to social events/bars/dinners with friends and didn't eat, I just hung out, and I got ridiculed for it... occasionally by my friends but extremely often from the servers. I got stressed this week and a well deserving coworker brought me gelato from the coffee shop here. Every holiday and birthday at work there are extremely not healthy treats, because we equate unhealthy foods with love and comfort. It is almost impossible to date or be social without either having to be strong enough to totally say "no" to the food and alcohol, or blow your diet. When you remove yourself from that part of society, it is odd to look at it, it drastically changes your perspective. I know this challenge isn't quite over, but I want to say thank you for all the support the past few weeks as I struggled through what has easily been the hardest part of my cut. Knowing that I had a safe and understanding place to vent as I worked toward my goals has been invaluable! Thank you! Goals: 1: Lifting sessions 9/12 2: Pull-up/Chin-up work 16/15 3: DONE Greater than 95% compliance with the Renaissance Periodization diet. 97.67%/95% Weight: 149.7/148 4: Recovery and mobility. 10/15 5: Skincare 16/20 6: Projects half done 3/5

I thought it was the simplest thing I've ever tried, due to the fact that it involves no math. I hate math. I hate trying to figure out how many grams of chicken I need to get my protein in, etc. It does all that for me and I adore it.

Casein is a more slow release protein so it is best for before bed. Thats about all I know. Mostly I enjoy whey. Casien is thicker

I'm glad that work peeps are being supportive! I'm a huge fan of the Optimum Nutrition mint chocolate protein. Not sure if it comes in whey, I have it in casein.

Do you do your own programming or follow a specific plan or have someone do programming for you?