AderynSparverius

Howdy y'all! I have a small win to share. Today, I was pretty hungry. Went to grab something from the fridge, nothing impressed me, and then I remembered I had some instant ramen in the pantry. Two steps towards the pantry, I stopped myself. I may have told myself, "wtf, idjit. Do you want this or not?" I had a good point. So, I turned back to the fridge, and like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, I found the apricot pork chops and scalloped potatoes (made with arrowroot starch and almond milk) from a few nights prior. It was delicious. And I felt good about my decision. I'm working on not being my worst enemy, and being tougher on myself. One decision, one meal at a time. Tonight's eats -- chicken thighs and broccoli slaw. Noms.

1. Part of my goals is to work out at least twice a week (3 times is better). I usually get home and go "Uh. I'm so busy. There's so many dishes. I just don't have time to work out." 2. I couldn't find a specific, single post, but the titles of this one stood out: [WonderNatarella] "If you don't like it, change it" This is pretty much my motto in most things in my life. 3. I've decided I have to adapt this motto for my workouts, too. I usually look at working out as this giant, monumental obstacle. I've decided not to look at it like that anymore. It's not a 3 hour process, if I don't want it to be. I can do a 10 minute SparkFitness workout, or some yoga, or a Zombie run, without having to commit to a whole workout session. A short run is better than no run. A short strength work out is better than no strength work out. There is no perfect time to work out, there is just now. Take the opportunity when I actually have it; not when I feel I'll have it. Same with other obligations; I don't have to clean up the whole kitchen, just do a little every day. Budget out my time, take bite size pieces, and not stress out so much about it. This week has already improved. I went for a run on Sunday, did some yoga before bed a couple nights, and a run again yesterday. Baby steps!

Navigating food people have made for you is tough. Eating isn't about being perfect, or when you're not perfect, "cheating." It's about making choices to eat what's good for you and gives you health. A pita every now and again isn't going to destroy you. But reminding yourself that you are eating something for the pleasure of it, not for what it provides to you in terms of nutrients, may help your willpower to put it down and choose something else. "Is this the best choice for my goals? What can I do to compromise and make this a better choice?" Maybe that'll help you make better choices; so instead of the indulgent, un-healthy fix, you find something that is also delicious, but makes a positive impact instead. But remember that the decisions you have made don't affect the ones you will make. Don't let a decision in the past affect your future, what's done is done. You get to decide again at every opportunity if you want something that nourishes your body and helps you attain your goals, or something that will be a short term indulgence. One choice, one day at a time! And don't let those 28 y/o crossfitters get to you. They started somewhere too!!

Hi! Thanks for asking. This week, I fought some perils. Met up with a few old friends. First evening out I had one glass of wine. Last night, with different friends, I drank a whole damn bottle. Also...my paleo journey isn't going so well; we've recently re-discovered how delicious and easy instant ramen is. I also decided to try oatmeal again this week, and see if I can add it back in to my diet (it'd be a great post-workout, breakfast-at-work solution, if I went to the gym in the mornings...) I had a bowl earlier this week, but it was only about an hour and a half before lunch anyway. Then I ate another bowl this morning, and had terrible hunger pangs about 3 hours later, which I'm attributing to the sugar spike. So, no more oatmeal for me. BUT! I did make four make-ahead paleo meals earlier this week, so I have some things to pull out of the fridge -- which should help with the "going to the gym" goal. After getting lost in the Forest of Tempting Things this week, I heroically slayed the wine dragons this afternoon (I decided instead of looking at it as ruining a good two week streak, I'm looking at it as "hey, I went two weeks without drinking! Hell yea!" and I'm going to go for 3 weeks w/o alcohol now... which is like slaying dragons, right?), I've recovered the trail and even made some fitness progress today: I made it to the gym. I dropped off clothes and shoes so I have no excuses to not go in the middle of the day (or the end, or the beginning) should I so choose, and then, I got in a 40 minute Zombie run (2.9 miles, 14m/mi pace. No zombies.) My journey today was strenuous, however, and instead of pushing myself too far (more than I already had already), I skipped my strength work out so I could go home and recover with a protein shake (instead of going too far and spending the rest of the evening in a ball on the couch trying not to throw up). This week's journey also met with some good fortune, I acquired some weapons -- a FitBit (I have a Gear Fit, but it needed fixed so it's been out of commission for a week and a half), and some new work out clothes. Overall (this is the TL;DR part), my quest... while I feel like I'm making some progress on developing good habits, I have seen no results on the scale/body measurements. Tonight's dinner: Pork chops with sautéed veggies. Nom. Tomorrow's plans: Make meatballs for the week. I'll also be going over to another friend's house tomorrow, but they are allies on the paleo quest, so that will be easy to eat well. Inspirations for the week: Trying on clothes, and thinking about traveling for a friend's wedding in a month and a week. I want to look good!!

Sunday night update! Last week was... okay. I think it went better than the first week, since I didn't end up nearly passing out at all last week (... yay.) Goals: Working out: 1.5/3 -- I made it to my martial arts class. I did yoga before bed one day. I did not get to the gym otherwise. Okay, I sort of did? I went one day to enjoy the relaxation room massage chairs... but they closed at 5. I'm going to try to make it to the gym both to work out and hit the massage chairs; stress does me no good and anything I can do to chill out is helpful. Eating my veggies: Um, B-? I did manage to cram in veggies along the way, but I could've done better. Went out to eat for a few meals, had a few servings of potatoes more than I desired; but I only had one serving of fries, otherwise I had mashed potatoes (no junk in it), and some baked whole baby potatoes... and well, potatoes are still a veggie, and the extra carbohydrates help keep my energy up. Keeping up the beat of the "eat more veggies" drum this week. Drinking (or not drinking, rather?): What idjit schedules a distillery tour during a booze-fast?? Okay, I had some samples at the distillery, but it wasn't even a whole shot worth. Instead of coming home and saying "screw it, today's blown anyway!" and diving in to a particularly delicious vodka I have on hand, I continued on my path and shunned the devil's drink! Even this morning, when the delicious cup of coffee was begging for some Bailey's, I kept onward. Five points to Gryffindor! Pitfalls: It's not part of my goals per se to be avoiding dairy and sugar... but I feel like it's understand that it's part of the quest. I didn't do so great on that front. Yesterday (while avoiding booze...) there was a pitfall containing Papa Johns, and today, a Dairy Queen Blizzard (... large size. One sitting, didn't even make it home to save some for later.) Overall score: B--. I made gains in working out by improving my approach - if I didn't make it to the gym, at least I can do 10 minutes of fitness. Better than nothing. I did decently on my veggies goals. I definitely earned points for keeping my booze-fast going. Maybe not far progress this week, but progress none the less. Huzzah!

Oi, it's hard enough to get the husband out of bed on time in the morning, let alone early! We have two parking passes for the next week though (old one expires but we have the new one already) -- which means next week I can come in early, stay late, whatever! I'll give it a shot and see how it goes.

I so want to do a zombie run! The next one here is the morning of a large concert festival I'm going to; 2 days up until 1 - 2 in the morning and then a 5K at 8 a.m. (or whenever it is) just isn't very fun to my. Although I think Midknyt pointed out - the zombies won't care if you've been up late! Ha

Dinners are almost always on-the-fly. I'll try to make a menu for the week, get to the store and decide half the things I wanted are more than I want to pay for them, and have to play it by ear from there. I love new veggies, but I think I'm running out of ones to try! And I LOVE kale. It's all about the preparation. Kale chips are the best, but I really can't recommend it enough to add Apple Cider Vinegar (1 part ACV to 2 parts olive oil!) to the recipe. It takes out a lot of the gross kale-yness. I think I need to start working out before work too, not after. I'm just done for the day. My gym is actually near where I work, but not near my home; so I'm drained at the end of the day, but when I do have some energy to put in to working out later at night, I really don't want to drive the same commute to work twice in one day. But before work might be do-able, if I stop carpooling with my husband and just go by myself... sigh. I have to start chopping down those excuses with my Ax of No Bullshit!!

Sounds like a strong start in the right direction! I like your idea about the spreadsheet; sometimes seeing the data up front and present is eye opening. Your Week 2 plan sounds delicious! As far as mexican restaurants, I love getting Carne Asana and saying no tortillas; then it's just the table chips & salsa I have to fight against. Hmmmm... sounds good right now Good for you for starting your day with a run! I find that helps so much!

Hi Jules! Week one went pretty well. Not perfect, but hey, if I started out perfect what would I work towards to? My diet changes with goal #3 -- eating more veggies, and different varieties. Most of my meals are accompanied by potatoes of some sort, if anything at all (I will often just eat a bowl full of ground beef with some variation of tomato sauce.) I'm trying to make sure I get a good mix of all types of veggies, and eating 2 - 3 servings with each meals. Also (read on) just eating enough volume wise. Week 1 Recap Last Thursday and Friday were pretty tough. I had a doctor's appointment, which the appointment itself only took five minutes; but waiting to get in to see the doctor took an hour. That put me off my lunch break as well as somewhat emotionally drained. I didn't want to head to fast food and get a burger (even with just a lettuce wrap) and fries like I normally would... so I ended up just getting a Starbucks tea and a brownie. Somehow I thought that'd be healthier? Okay, no, I didn't at all; but it was what my stressed-out mind wanted I guess. So. Not the healthiest choice. Thursday night concluded with a delicious zucchini, pepper, onion, marinara, and italian sausage "spaghetti" dish. Yum. But I probably could have eaten twice what I did. Friday day time went fine; but Friday night was incredibly stressful for a number of reasons, so I barely ate anything. I had two bites of my husband's grilled cheese sandwich. The end result of those two days were me not really eating anything of much nutritional value. Saturday morning martial arts practice comes about. I knew I hadn't eaten much; so I thought a piece of artisan-made bread and a big glass of orange juice would help keep my blood sugar up through practice. Oh boy. That was a mistake. Instead of giving me energy, the acid just sat on my stomach. It also did not remedy two days of under eating and an evening of crying. And it was super hot and humid in the dojo. I was ready to puke by the end of warmups. I ended up narrowly avoiding throwing up on the dojo floor or passing out by ducking in to the bathroom and catching my breath. I had to change and go home barely 10 minutes in to practice. This is not the first time this has happened, although it's been a few months since the last (and last time I at least made it an hour or so in before getting too tapped to go on). So... week 1 successes I didn't drink! Not a bit. Which, considering the week I had, would normally not have been the case. But I knew I had a quest I was dedicated to, so I stayed the course, figuring at least I could achieve this one. I also did a lot better eating a bounty of different vegetables with my meals, although not enough. Week 1 Room for Growth/Focus For Week 2: I really, really need to make sure I'm eating enough, so I'm going to try to double my meals. Eating a paleo diet, it's hard to get enough calories; even doubling what I eat for 2 meals a day will still probably put me in at about 1600 calories, which I'm not sure is even enough. Plan of attack: PREP AHEAD, STUPID. Yesterday I cooked 2 packs of bacon, some sausage, and cubed sweet potatoes to help make breakfast quicker; I also dehydrated spinach for spinach "chips" -- tasty, and easy to put in my face after work. I have a big thing of kale I'm going to make into salad also (YUM). I'll see what else I can get going to have at the ready for nibbling throughout the day. I did not hit my fitness goals for week 1 - I didn't work out one bit, and didn't even get in my martial arts practice because I felt so drained. I'm going to work hard to get to the gym this week and do a good run. I don't want to push myself super hard, because I know I need to eat well for a few more days to be back on track nutritionally, but I do want to accomplish something this week. I try to keep things in perspective; I want to do more good than harm, so if that means skipping a work out so I can prepare meals for the week, I don't want to feel guilty about that. So that was my week! Not great by any means; but I didn't immediately go back to old habits, so I'll consider it progress on my quest. And yes, I'd be happy to be buds, Jules!!

You're doing a great job!!! Every step in the right direction helps. When you're starting out and having challenges already, just remember that everything you *do* get done is a step in the right direction. Missing a mark, as long as you are trying otherwise, isn't failure. Giving up is the only time we really fail! And I love your plan of attack! "Failure to plan is planning to fail." When I went Paleo, half of my diet consisted of rice, pasta, and pizza. You can try the paleo-fied versions of things, but as the Whole9 people call it, it feels like "sex with your pants on." The "paleo pizza crusts" are never quite like the real thing (okay, I've found *ONE* recipe that is pretty decent!), rice pasta just isn't the same, so on. Even it is was, just thinking about it as empty calories might help. Instead, try zucchini noodles - I love my spiral slicer thing I got on Amazon (if you keep an eye on it, the price does go down, I got mine for $22 or so) for zoodles - I love how much more quickly they cook up, no waiting for water to boil, and I think they add quite a bit of flavor! I also like roasted cauliflower (and I used to *hate* cauliflower) or cauliflower "rice" instead of grain-rice, and so on... point being: you can still use your fall-back recipes, just be a little creative with substituting whole foods for things on the no-fly list.

Saw this post after looking for "iaido" in the search. If you don't want to try cutting with your katana, a bokken with a sheet of newspaper is a pretty cheap set up! If your cutting technique isn't good, you'll just crush the paper. If it is, it goes through like you'd expect a shinken would. I tried pool noodles with my iaito before, they didn't really work for me.

Day 1: 2/3 Goals Attained. Yesterday went pretty well. I got in my quota of veggies, even trying a new, roasted broccoli recipe. My DH tasted a tiny piece and went "that's not awful because it doesn't taste like anything." but then proceeded to avoid any other pieces because they weren't roasted to blackness. Oh well, I'm working on my quest, not his. Didn't make it to the gym last night. Then again, I didn't drink last night either, and last night I watched this week's True Blood episode, which is like, "me" time, and watching TB is pretty much the only thing I get to do anymore that isn't for someone else. I'm giving myself an extra gold star for cleaning up the kitchen before and after dinner. I didn't post it in my goals, but I've been trying to make sure not to leave any dishes in the sink, I find it's *really* helpful to be motivated to cook when you don't have to clean every dish first. Also, the whole "clean as you go" thing, taking the down time between stirring pots or whatever to rinse or clean dishes helps make it seem less of a separate chore and gets things done faster. Since I eat Paleo and do a lot of cooking, one missed meal means not having leftovers for breakfast/lunch the next day, and I get on a going-out-to-eat cycle that is hard to stop. Keeping up on dishes definitely helps prevent all that. Day 2 so far: After reading up on some posts in the forums today (and that brownie), I have every intent on going to the gym tonight. Even if I just show up and do a half-assed zombie run, it's better than a no-ass zombie run. It's been (another) stressful day at work; a run will do me some good. I just wish it was through the Appalachian forests than on an indoor running track, but I guess that's what my imagination is for.

I'm going to have to get one of those shirts too! When I earn it, of course And then we should do a hike in them or something to show off. One of my favorite quotes is: Even a slow run (or walk!) is faster than sitting on the couch. Sometimes you go and don't work out as hard as you like, sometimes you show up and go full bore. You won't have either types of days if you don't even show up! So good for you. Also, I just know I'm the world's slowest runner. Even when I feel like I'm running like crazy (typically from imaginary zombies) people pass by me. I figure I'll work on endurance first, and then speed.