sarakingdom

Week 3 is coming, but it seems I wrote this up on the close of the week and forgot to post it: Week 2 Wrap-Up I was sick 3 days in week 2, so my progress was slower than the previous week. Weekly Points: Workout: 1 swim, 2 hikes, 1 night out dancing (okay, phoned in, but I went to get some cardio in). 1 point each. 1/2 points for consistency. (5 points for the week, 12 total out of 48) Water: 5pm fail, 3L, 2L, 2L, 3L, 2L, 3L (4.5 total, 9 total out of 42) Sleep: On time 6 times, 8 hours 6 times. 1 bonus point for sleep quantity, 1.5 bonus points for pre-bedtime routine. (Total: 12 quantity, 14.5 schedule, both out of 42) Diet: About the same as last week. 6 points total out of 18. I've lost about a pound and a half, bringing me down to the low end of my usual range, but not a weight loss I would count as real weight loss. A handful of my measurements are down half an inch, most stayed the same. I think it was more the workouts falling off due to illness, rather than diet. Even though I still made a little progress last week, it doesn't feel like a good week of working towards the real goal, of healthier habits. Particularly since I did not one single strength training workout. (The night I was going to squeeze one in, my ankle was just too stressed to support proper form, so I went with more cardio instead.) But I think, with my strength training, I'm also just failing to hit the right balance between "simple enough that there's no mental block against doing it" and "substantial enough that doing it feels significant". Workouts: 25%25% Water: 21.4%21.4% Diet: 33%33% Sleep Quantity: 28.6%28.6% Sleep Schedule: 34.5%34.5%

I'd agree, your job doesn't sound like a sedentary job, and 1500 would be below maintenance for most people with sedentary jobs. That's worth recalculating, probably on a few sites to see if they generally agree. Starving and gorging itself is not necessarily a problem - it's the basis of intermittent fasting, which works well for some. (I've heard that the evidence for women is sort of meh, but purely as an eating pattern, rather than a body composition changer, it's doable.) It's a lot easier to function on that eating pattern when most of the eating, or at least the part during the working day, is super-low-carb. Carbs tend to drive hunger through blood sugar spikes, and most people who go low carb report that they stop feeling hunger, because your blood sugar levels stay fairly even.

I both forget to go to sleep at night - too wired, probably, in both senses, and too much in work mode mentally - and then have trouble staying asleep for a reasonable amount of time. Either one is bad, but both together are killers, because I don't function well on 4-5 hours a night. Better sleep habits should at least up the average to something more reasonable. Time travel is a wonderfully functional-fitness sport. Traditionally, half the running was done in urban environments and the rest in rock quarries, so it's very much a parkour sort of activity, and fighting with airlocks and robots and things takes some bursts of strength, and there's loads of climbing. I cannot wait.

Day 5-7 Aftermath (8/2/13-8/4/13) & Weekly Wrap-Up Day 5: Workout: 30 minutes swim. 1 point (4 total) Water: 2.5 liters. (4 total) Sleep: On time, 8 hours. 1 point each (3.5 quantity, 5 schedule) Day 6: Water: 2 liters. (4.5 total) Sleep: 8 hours, on time. 1 point each (4.5 quantity, 6 schedule) Day 7: Workout: Angry Birds. 1 point (5 total) Water: Fail! (4.5 total) Sleep: Went to bed late, woke up in the wee hours and couldn't fall back asleep. Double fail. (4.5 quantity, 6 schedule) Pushups are improving. Squats went much better this time around, no complaining joints, and I fear it's time to level up to twenty billion of them. Annoyingly, my plank times are still far worse than I'm used to. I wonder if it's because I'm doing them after pushups and those core muscles are a bit strained already. Maybe I should split plank off from the rest of the workout and do that in the morning. Rows... if I'm honest, I'm not working hard enough on those. (I think I'm coasting on some strength built up by actual rowing.) I need to find something heavier to lift. Now for the various weekly scores: Workouts: 1.5/2 points for daily consistency (I missed a planned workout this week), and 0.5/1 bonus points for extra workouts, because I walked for about an hour in there one day. 7 points for the week. Water: I just realized this is out of 7 points a week, not 8, so my previous percentages will be off, but 4.5 points for the week. Diet: Not too bad. I ended up averaging about 100 calories over my target, but still within the "at a deficit" range that was my goal to start with, so that's fine for now. About 10% of my calories were from non-Primal foods, which is well within the 80/20 split. My carbs are higher than I'd like, which is something to work on. 3 points for the week. Sleep quantity: 0.5/1 bonus points for keeping the majority of the days slightly over 8 hours, though I suspect that was mostly sleep deficit straightening itself out early on (which is why I'm not granting the full point). 5 points for the week. Sleep schedule: 1 bonus point (0.5 for two days) for putting the computer away and reading before bed. 7 points for the week. I've lost about two pounds, but my weight was at the high end of its usual range when I started, and now it's at the low/middle end, so no actual weight loss. What's better, though, is that I lost between 0.5-1" each from my waist, hips, and thighs. If this holds true next week, I won't worry about any big diet changes yet. So overall my things to work on: better planning/routines for my strength training, so it isn't quite such an afterthought; get the carbs lower; better before-bed routine so I'm not rushing to make my deadline every night. Workouts: 14.6%14.6% Water: 10.7%10.7% Diet: 17%17% Sleep Quantity: 12%12% Sleep Schedule: 16.6%16.6%

Belated congrats on your first day! I think being awesome probably ought to include the odd posh financier and generosity to an injured stranger, because these things add a certain spice to one's existence. (Ditch the crappy peanut butter, though. Life is too short.) Of course he was, the 1930s and 1940s were some of the ginniest decades ever! But, my god, why have I never heard of these? I'd drink a tall glass of Batman in a heartbeat.

When I did martial arts, the best days were the ones when I came home with bruises. One more vote for seeing your workouts! I'm going down more of a bodyweight than free-weights route, but I love seeing them for ideas.

That huge mouthful of pool water had to be good for something, and if that something is tipping me over to the right side of the midway point, well, so be it.

Man, I hope it ups the resistance! Mostly, I'm aware of the wardrobe-malfunction potential, which can't be helping my stroke any.

Day 4 Aftermath (8/1/13) Day 4: Workout: An hour of walking plus the planned strength training. 1 point (3 total) Water: Under 2, can't count this today. (3 total) Sleep: On time, 7 hours. 1 point for the schedule, 0.5 for quantity (2.5 quantity, 4 schedule) Not my best strength workout. My ankle injury occasionally interferes with my squats, strangely enough, so I finished the minimum and took the strain off my joints. And my plank performance was not as good as my usual. But it got done. Workouts: 6.25%6.25% Water: 6.25%6.25% Sleep Quantity: 5.95%5.95% Sleep Schedule: 9.5%9.5%

Day 2 & 3 Aftermath Day 2: Water: 2.75 litres. 1 point (2 total) Sleep: On time & enough. 1 point each (2 total) Day 3: Swimming: 25 minutes, four 50%/75% intervals. 1 point (2 total) Water: 2.5 litres plus a large mouthful of the pool, rounded up. 1 point (3 total) Sleep: On time, but I can't call that 7 hours. 1 point for the schedule (2 quantity, 3 schedule) Wow, I cannot wait for my new swim suit to arrive in the mail. There's nothing like distance swimming to help you figure out your suit is too big for you. Missed yesterday's planned strength training session, due to starting work again after dinner and losing track of time till 11:30. Well, I guess that shall become my rest day, and I'll juggle things around a bit. Workouts: 4.16%4.16% Water: 6.24%6.24% Sleep Quantity: 4.76%4.76% Sleep Schedule: 7.14%7.14%

I was! A little too rested, in fact.

Day 1: The aftermath So I'll be posting these the day after, due to the sleep goal. Swimming: closer to 45 minutes than the planned 30, because I got to a part of my playlist I liked. 1 point Water: 1.5 liters + 20 ounces + 16 ounces of herbal tea = rounds up to 3 liters. 1 point Sleep: in bed well before deadline, and got about 8.5 hours. 1 point each Great swim. Went significantly better than my last swim, so I think I'm recovering my swimming chops pretty quickly. I think every muscle in my upper body felt that swim. My plan for this week is nothing fancy, just whatever it takes to do the time - it's been quite a while since I've been in the pool, so it's going to take me a little time to get my lungs and muscles back up to speed before I can start messing with high-intensity drills. Workouts: 2.08%2.08% Water: 2.08%2.08% Sleep Quantity: 2.38%2.38% Sleep Schedule: 2.38%2.38%

Former rower here. I miss it. Sadly, not too much water nearby for me to do that any more, but one day. Still love erging, a heck of a lot more than running - the way the upper body actually works is the difference for me. What's your core workout like? That sounds kind of interesting.

Sweet potatoes are the one thing I did on a mandoline that took a chunk out of my knuckle. After that, I stuck to cucumbers.

To add to the original post, I've been giving some thoughts to scoring before we start. Objective #1: 1 point per workout, 2 points for doing them on six different days (to reward daily consistency). 1 bonus point for an extra workout available, but lose 1 point if I don't take my one rest day. I think that covers all the priorities. Scored out of 8 points per week, max possible score is 9. Objective #2: My main goal here is the water, rather than the diet, though I will track that and introduce scoring if there's something that pops out of tracking. 0.5 points for two litres of water, 1 point for three, 1.5 for four. No points for the day if I don't drink any water before 5pm. Scored out of 8 7 points per week, max possible score is 10.5. I recalculated my BMR for this challenge: BMR ~1600, TDEE ~1900, calorie target midway at ~1700. That's not much of a deficit, particularly since I'm planning to give myself the option of going over target by the amount I use in exercise so I don't drop below my BMR, but my initial goal is just to observe and find my problem areas - I've been doing primal and food tracking long enough that it's probably slipping in places. The purpose of this challenge for me is just making sure the habits are solid, before I tweak up the difficulty. Oh, what the heck, let's say 3 points a week for diet averaged over the week, 1 for hitting the calorie target, 1 for 80% primal/20% leeway, and one if I fail to track in a reasonable way. Objective #3: 0.5 points for 7 hours of sleep, because that's not bad, and 1 point for 8. Lose a point if I pull some stupid sleep stunt. Bonus point if the majority of days of the week have between 8 and 9 hours of sleep. Sleep quantity scored weekly out of 7, max possible 8. 1 point per day for being in bed before 11:45 (because I'm trying to break the mental association between midnight and bedtime, so no rush at 11:57), though 8 hours will clearly need an earlier bedtime. 0.5 bonus points for doing something relaxing for 15-20 minutes before bed, like reading, and keeping away from the computer. Sleep scheduling scored out of 7, max 10.5 points. Right. Enough math. Let the games begin.

To be fair, blowing all the cash on thigh-high boots for men and fascist leather uniforms (and the fact that it was the 1970s, and they were making the show on a budget of five pounds and a teabag from the BBC canteen) meant a lot of the other costumes were mind-bogglingly silly. But just on principle... just the fact that that's where they blew their entire season's costuming budget is enough.

Thanks, Squeege! People totally underestimate the sheer range of physical challenges involved in time travel, and how many things want you dead. Not as sedate as it looks. I think this one will be fun! Which is part of the point. The habits will stick better if it's fun getting there.

Thank you, kindling! I think this set of goals will be fun and doable, and set me up pretty well for the next challenge. Good luck on your challenge!

Thanks! It's really all about just making sure all the habits are solid before I step things up next challenge, and these are the big wins.

I will be watching your kettlebell workouts with interest. I'm trying to master bodyweight training before I branch out, but they're on the list of stuff I want to give a try sometime.

Absolutely! I think they're totally worth loving, and they're coming up on my movie queue. It's just the name. Personally, I'd prefer keeping in touch on the challenge threads, so there's just the one site to keep track of. I left Facebook and Twitter a while back because they were overly tempting timesucks, and would find it easier to focus here.

Handstands are so on my list for a future challenge, and I think I'm going to stalk your playground workouts for ideas down the road. I really want to see your workout logs.

Man, I hear you on consistency, and on that water thing. Your calories look a little on the low side for someone with your target weight range. For someone whose healthy weight is in the 135-150 range, lean mass is typically about 110-120 pounds, with a BMR between 1400-1550ish (if I've done my math correctly). It might be worth double-checking your BMR and exercise needs, and making sure that's the number you want. (It might be totally right for you as is, but I think sometimes women get bad information about how low to drop their calories, and it could be a bad match for your exercise plan.)

When it comes to paleo recipes, some of the best I've seen are on Health-Bent (which is primal rather than paleo, they allow dairy) and Nom Nom Paleo. Nom Nom Paleo might be great for you - it's mostly simpler everyday food, written by and for really busy working parents, so there's a lot in there on quick things and packed meals for work and what you do after a stupidly long shift at the hospital and prepping for schedules to get crazy. For a while, I had problems eating paleo during 16-hour work days when I needed to have most of my meals away from home, and it became a lot easier when I looked at some of the paleo bento box lunches she was making for her kids. (It turned out it was mostly a transport problem, because paleo food is messier and harder to keep separate than throwing a sandwich and an apple into a bag.) For meals at home, I've got a whole lot of "throw everything into the oven in five minutes, crank the heat to 350, do something else for 30 minutes while waiting for delicious food to come out" meals. It depends a little on how many people you're cooking for and how many people are going to gobble up everything edible in your fridge while you're away, but there are some ways to save a lot of time cooking purely paleo, and get meal prep times down fifteen minutes, or at the very worst thirty.

That's incredibly awesome. And I think that the value and quality of regional arts groups are severely underrated by the "bigger is better" mentality. I could also use a more restful pre-sleep routine, like a bit of reading. I pay attention to how tired I am when I'm reading, and I don't when I'm on the computer, probably because I'm still in work mode, even if I'm not working.