Grandkai_NL

Update cause DAMN im WAY behind.
Update for the current week and my plans for the upcoming week

Ok, explanation why not update this past week. Bit of background story first: At my work i am the replacement team leader in case my team leader has a day off or is sick. 2 Weeks ago my teamleader had to take rest because he broke his back so i had to "take over" his job.
Last week i had a morning shift and those are always most hectic; Meetings i have to attend, everything that went wrong the shifts we'd have to fix, people constantly calling me asking this and that. A real stress increaser.
The first 2 days of the week i felt ok BUT THEN..... all the stress started adding up. Did my best to not take it home with me but it just happened. So naturally every day when i got home im exhausted & just tired of the work day.

Something COOL AF tho... i ordered a standing desk and Saturday i put that together with a new 32' monitor. AND ITS SO COOL!!! (im actually standing right now at my desk typing this )

So yeah a bunch of stress from the last week.
 

This week, the stress/problems from last week continued. Machine's not working correctly, us thinking we got it fixed but then later it wasnt fixed (and its a problem where we tried EVERYTHING to fix and remove the problem but nothing helped). So stress levels this week were still semi-high and thus i was very tired to do anything.

HAPPILY!!.....the last 2 days werent as bad but i also have 3 weeks of vacation right now and DAMN have i been needing this vacation (im not going anywhere but the rest is just nice).

So yeah, the last 2 weeks were ROUGH and im ready for some rest and less stress.

SO!! Plans for the last challenge week, i want to finish the challenge semi-decently. So i want to:
- Workout atleast 3 times;
- Eat fruit 3 days of the week;

- Read 3 mornings and evenings

Im gonna do my best to rest up this weekend and finish the challenge somewhat decently

Thank you guys for checking up with me, i really appreciate that ❤️

Update!! 22nd till 25th of June.
Ok, i gotta think back first xD the last few days went by fast.

ON thursday i had a decent-ish day. Felt pretty lazy after the night i had (crappy day at work and a beer once i got home), did a tiny bit of everything. Had my coffee and read maybe 10 pages or so in my book. Did maybe 2 or 3 rounds of pomodoro. Thursdays are my lazy days during the work week. Had a decent night at work tho, went by fast and with not too many issue's so it was a good feeling ending the work week with a slight W.
Worked out after the night shift, got home, read a tiny bit and then took a shower and napped.

Friday the 23th & Satruday the 24th;  i wanted to get up early-ish and get the apartment clean but switching from Nightshift sleep time to normal again is tough. Woke up around 1pm, bought some groceries and relaxed a bit cause around 5pm i was grabbing drinks and a dinner with my parents who are going on vacation the next day for a couple of weeks. After the dinner and drinks i got home and played a bit of Tears of the Kingdom, finished up the Lightning temple which infuriated me at first because of the boss (but i am to blame because i had low armor)

Saturday i got a good amount of stuff done. Put on new sheets on my bed and on my bodypillow, cleaned the bathroom, got a washing load done, played some games, read a bit.
And on saturday evening i like to do a bath to relax, but this time i went with a colder bath (not super cold but like medium/cold temperature) to test it out. It was different but kinda nice since with the heat and last time i was sweating while in the bath.

After that i watched the final episode of Demon Slayer Swordsmith Village arc and DAMN IT WAS GOOD!!!

Today's Sunday, gotta get some groceries and relax the day with Tears of the Kingdom or FF14 while doing the Pomodoro for the day.

23 hours ago, TheGreyJedi-Ranger said:

Do you have a favorite series?

If we're talking only Maas.... its the Throne of Glass series.
If we're talking general series.... thats tough.. So far the Maas series, duh xD , Shadow & Bone, Six of Crows are also favorites.

I was thinking of ordering the Mistborn books. Im out of morning books

 

On 6/23/2023 at 12:10 AM, shaar said:

A FELLOW HONKAI FAN

 

AND ALSO MAAS

 

I just started ACOWAR and I am HOOKED!!! ❤️ 

 

I also played FFXIV for a long time - I had had an active sub since Heavensward but finally cancelled it a few months ago because I needed a big break... what server on you on, and what class do you play?? I mained BRD and DRK!

YESSSS!!! More honkai, not played a lot now cause of the wait for new DLC... but its such a pretty game

Update!! 21st of June

Woke up nice on time and read a bit of Spice & Wolf. After that it was relaxing with some breakfast and gaming. Again during Final Fantasy 14 i did my pomodoro. For the long clean i cleaned the glass shower window and the bath-tub.
Also did a load of laundry and got the washing machine running. It was a very chill day, totally not compared to work which was chaos.
At the end of the shift i was physically but more mentally exhausted of it all.

Did plan to workout after work but i went straight home and grabbed a beer and played a tiny bit of Tears of the Kingdom. This was a EXHAUSTING work shift.

Keeping my hopes up tonight (the final shift of the week) is going to be better.

17 hours ago, TheGreyJedi-Ranger said:

A FELLOW MAAS FAN ❤️ HELLO ❤️ God that book killed me 

HELL YEAH BUDDY!!!
Now we'll have to suffer with anticipation for the next book

On 6/20/2023 at 8:56 AM, Kadriel said:

i love your goals! Does pomodoro cleaning actually work??? i should try it

Pomodoro cleaning works for me ofcourse its different for everyone. I enjoy it more than taking a long time cleaning.
I've got it set up i do 15 minutes of gaming and then 5 minutes of cleaning. After about 3-4 of those 5 minutes timers i set it to 30 minutes and clean something big, like the bathroom or the oven.

Update 19/20th of June
 

On the 19th when i made the post i didnt have any fruit in my apartment xD So on the 20th i quickly bought some bananas & apples.
The rest of the 19th not much happened.
 

20th of June.

Woke up nice on time and did some quick stretching, some band shoulder rotations and general lower body stretching and then coffee and i  read Spice & Wolf novel 21. This is usually my before book, but on Sunday i finished reading Sarah J. Maas's Crescend City "House of Sky and Breath". AND DAAAAMN was it a good book and the ending was even more intense.

The rest of the day was spent a bit with gaming. Did my dailies in Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail and NIKKE and then onwards to Final Fantasy 14. Starting getting back into the game after a long hiatus from Post-ARR quests and enjoying it all quite a lot.

During the gaming i used the Pomodoro timer to clean. I bought a cube with the different times a while back so its very easy and handy to use. Didnt do everything on the plan with the cleaning but i put a good step forward.

Had a banana during my snack and a apple with dinner. And then it was off to work (night shift). Sheesh it was warm there. Its about 28 degrees Celcius here and for my country thats warm & in a factory its even warmer.

But i got through work and afterwards i did a very short workout, i've been going to the gym every time after work but with night shifts i would go after i woke up. Wanted to see if i had energy for a quick workout AND yes i do. I will have to schedule the workouts after night shift more single goal orientated then going through the whole workout.

Didnt read once i got home, didnt want to stay up too "late"  so i could get proper sleep before the warmth. Slept most of the way through which was good, even now while typing this i dont feel tired or anything.

So overall a good day, now to keep it up!

Hey Jedi, so sorry to hear things are so hard for you.
Here to support you with your goals and through this rough time ❤️

You have a really cool way of tracking everything! Totally dig it!!

This might feel like a "week zero" but like Disney's Hercules.... From Zero to HERO!!! You're gonna kick ass next week!!

Grandkaj is Returning to STAY!!

Hey everyone!
Returning Rebel for the... who knows how many times its been. I tried to return a few challenges back but i dont remember the reason i didnt keep up with it...
So for this challenges im keeping it SIMPLE so its easy to do and stay with these challenges.

Goal 1 [Nutrition]:

- Eat 1-2 pieces of fruit every day; Its not a lot but i went from 2-3 pieces of fruit every day to 0 which i kept being stuck on. I can have fruit in every meal i want but especially after my workout.

Goal 2 [Level Up My Life]

- Stretch atleast 4 days a week;

- Read when waking up, read before heading to bed atleast 4 days a week;

For both stretching and reading i've lost the touch for it in the last year and a half. Everything is going pretty good now and i want to get properly back into those cause they help me stay flexible but also (regarding the reading) help me prepare for the day/relax for the night.

- Pomodoro Clean my apartment; I'm oke-ish at keeping my apartment clean, but i HATE doing it for a long time. So this challenge im going to start with Pomodoro Cleaning again. I got this handy dandy little cube with timers that i will use to signal when to clean and when to relax.
 

I can think of WAYYYYY more stuff i want to do, but then it will be too much and burn me out. All of these are doable and will give me a good start again.

Hellooooooo,

The GOALS!!
- Workout the PHAT program!! 
Last challenge i did 5x5 to get my strength back and during that challenge i hit my plateau for the time. So its time for a new program and i always wanted to first get some base strength back, then do some bodybuilding and strength training and then go back to purely strength based. I hit that base strength part and now im going to do Layne Norton PHAT program for both strength and size.Its 5 days a week (mon, tue, thu, fri, sat)

- Drink more water!!
Especially in the last 2 weeks i noticed i've been getting a lot of cans of either Coca Cola Zero or Monster Energy and besides not being great for you its also expensive AF. So i want to NOT drink those drinks again while at home and instead drink more water again and a Sneak Energy shake here and there.

- Mobility/stretching in the morning!!
I've lost quite a bit of mobility and i want to get those back. So im going to do some 5 Minute Flow in the morning with some banded stretches.

-Cleaning the apartment!!

I got this nice new apartment since half november and so far i havent done any actual DAILY cleaning. I just let stuff pile up a tiny bit and then clean stuff. So i want to get back to daily cleaning (have the kitchen clean, pillows and such at their spot, vacuuming etc). I got a Roomba so im gonna have that do a few runs through the apartment during the week but i would still need to do some vacuuming myself on spots it cant reach.


So those are the goals, lets GET IT!!

Final week & challenge review:

So sadly the final week didnt go so well as the first few weeks. The change from my normal shift to a day shift really messed up my "system".

I did eat a apple every day at work but the morning and evening routine didnt go as good as i wanted. Neither the working out with the final 2 weeks. When i was done with work i was just exhausted and didnt want to do anything except sit at home and play

final fantasy 14 (which i started playing the last few weeks).

Review:
First challenge back.... despite not everything going exactly like i wanted i did get some stuff going.
- Apple a day went great, i didnt eat a apple during the weekends but the 5 times a week at work is already a great start.

- Working out 3-4 times a week went great until the final 2 weeks. But with going back to my normal shifts upcoming week i just KNOW im going to get back on it again.
- Morning/evening routine didnt go so well but i've laid some foundation for it. Woke up and got out of bed & in to bed at the times i wanted. Now i just need to slowly get it back to what i had before.

Can't wait for the next challenge and focus on some new goals!!

Damn im late posting something... AGAIN

Week 3 & 4.
Week 3 went pretty well, i hit a weight that i felt like i could do 4 reps and not 5. So its over with the constant increasing weight and thus time for slow weight increases. Week 4 i didnt workout at all cause of my shift.
Apple each day went REALLY well the last week. Took a apple with me to work and it was great having it again during my lunch break.
Morning/evening routine was tough, i did wake up somewhat early some days but didnt do my reading.

On 1/2/2023 at 1:09 PM, Chesire said:

That gym sounds amazing!  Following

On 1/2/2023 at 1:57 PM, TrashcanCarla said:

Yeah! Your gym sounds great 😃 I am glad you are excited about working out. That's simply awesome.

It truly is awesome! Definitely great for my mental state, cause i always dreaded going to the gym worried the equipment i needed was going to be constantly filled. Now every workout is excitement level to the MAX!!

 

On 1/2/2023 at 3:13 PM, KB Girl said:

That gym does sound great! is it that new 'private gym' aan de smedenstraat? 

Yes!.... wait you're also from Deventer?

Woops, forgot to update here *bonks own head*

Lets see..... this is week 2 now i believe.

The last 2 weeks so far have been quite busy and tiring because of work. Lots of meetings, long days but was still able to HIT THE GYM EVERY OTHER DAY. And seeing the progress with that has been amazing.

I've been writing every workout in a diary and "trying" to write down regularly my weight & bf% to see if something happens.
 

But alas not a whole lot of changes there, working out is easy but getting the nutrition good is the hard part. In the last 2 weeks i've only had a apple once or twice I'm having some difficulties to get back to proper nutrition after the last couple of months to a year of not having a "diet" to go back to one.  So i know this week is going to be a bust regarding the apple but next week i'm going to have a good work shift again where i bring sandwhiches with me and i can add the apple in the sandwhich container so i have to eat my apple then!

The morning/evening routine.... oh boi thats also a special one. I aimed for 3 times a week, this week i've done a morning routine once but havent done a evening routine at all... YET. I'm blaming it on my Philips Hue lights but its actually myself, i havent made a light routine for it that the lights in a few rooms turn off to indicate its that time, i havent gotten up to start it even tho i see the time while at my pc but instead of doing it i just scrolls without purpose through twitter/youtube.
I just made the schedule on the Philips Hue lights so there's a trigger now.
Besides that i need to get a few new books, what i always enjoyed in the morning/evening was reading a book but i havent gotten any new ones to read, so tomorrow im gonna head to a local book store and look for one or two books for the morning. Dont know exactly what but who knows maybe i'll find something good. (Maybe i'll get one of those book challenges again).

So overall.... its not going the greatest, but starting back over is always tough.

The working out goal is pretty much in the bag, the apple and routine ones.... if i can somewhat get that goal by the end of the challenge i'd still call it a win.

2 weeks to go, lets finish it up nicely!

On 12/28/2022 at 2:45 PM, KB Girl said:

Welcome back

Having a morning/evening routine sounds so lovely! 

Thank uuuuuuuu
THe morning/evening routine helped me so much with getting stuff done to just improve my health. Mobility in the morning helped a TON! And the evening routine helped SO MUCH to get to sleep (lights and stuff off an hour before bed and reading in bed for 20 minutes or so before sleeping)

 

On 12/31/2022 at 1:44 AM, TrashcanCarla said:

Totally reasonable and solid goals. Following!

Poggies! Thank uuuuuuu
Gotta keep it reasonable when starting again

Aight, day... 1? 2?
Screw it xD

Update 2-1-23.
Its around noon today and the last few days before this challenge i signed up to a new gym in my city. Instead of the big gym's with a lot of equipment this is one with 7 little islands with a squat rack, weights, dumbells, kettlebells and some bands and such... AND I AM LOVING IT!! I have my own little island where i can go, workout and leave. No more waiting on equipment to be available.
So far i've done 3 workouts there and its great & i forgot what muscle soreness felt like xD xD

Today i did the first of my morning routines (stretching & reading with coffee) and in a bit im going to do groceries to make meals (been a long time since i've done that) and probably going back to semi diet i used to do: chicken, veggies, sammiches with peanut butter, nuts. Kind of a mix between paleo and typical bodybuilder i suppose? idk

Excited for what the rest of the week and the challenge is going to do for me.

Hey everyone!
Returning "player" here, it has been quite a few years since i did a Challenge. Last year i noticed i often during work would over stretch or feel slight pain during work and i made the goal with myself to get back into fitness AFTER i moved to a new apartment. Currently im living in my new apartment for a month and so its time to get back into fitness.

Going to keep it simple to get back into the groove of things:

-> Workout 3-4 times a week:  I'm going to keep it to the basics of the Rippetoe 5x5. Squats, Bench Press, Overhead Presses, Deadlifts and Chin-ups. (Eventually i want to "evolve" my program to Wendler with BW and such but thats for WAYYY later).
 

-> Eat a piece of fruit every day: I'm low on my veggie & fruit levels, so first up a piece of fruit every day. Apple or Banana (i like both)

-> Start my day/night routine atleast 3 times a week: I had a whole morning/evening routine which involved stretching, reading, some coffee or tea and i've lost that routine. I want to get back into that aswell.

Nothing too crazy and lets just see how it goes

Heyo!
Returning rebel here! Its been a LOOOOOOOONG time since i've done a challenge.

Bit of a background story: Couple of years back i did a lot of challenges here on the forums and they helped me IMMENSELY with getting into fitness, hobbies & nutrition.  And at some i stopped doing the challenges cause they

kept being the same and for me i was disciplined enough to keep track of them.
Then COVID happened and like for everyone else i fell off everything.

BUT!! its (for the most part) under control now and thus a good time for me to get back in the game!


Goals!
1) Read when i wake up & read before i head to sleep (atleast 4x a week)
I used to read every morning when i woke up with a cup of coffee and read in bed before i would sleep (i have those fancy philips hue lights so i would read until they dimmed and then sleep).
I want to read more again, i want to read atleast 4x a week. Doesnt matter how long, it can be 5 minutes, 5 pages doesnt matter. Its all about getting back in the rhythm.


2) Exercise in some form every day aka Move My Body
I used to exercise a fair amount back in the day. Bodyweight stuff 3 times a week, running 3 times a week and mobility work every day. Now that all is gone, so to get back on track im gonna exercise every day.
BUT very open. So it can be a bit of mobility, it can be one set of push-ups, it can be a couple of squats, it can even be getting a sweat with a VR game.
So "move my body every day", whether its one stretch movement, one set of exercise or move with a vr game. Its all about getting back in daily movement.

Thats all the goals for now! I have a semi-grip on my nutrition currently. Next challenge i plan to upgrade that.

Really late update...
How long has it been since i updated? 2 weeks? Woah thats quite a long time. Time to explain what happened.
There's no deep explanation, no extreme situation that has happened. I just got sucked into Destiny 2 PVP, trying to get better because a new content drop coming tomorrow with a big emphasis on PVP events. And that has taken a lot of my time, focused a lot on that when i was home. WOOPS!

So what did go well the last 2 weeks? Getting my workouts in & tracking my food intake with MFP. So.......only 2 out of 6 YIKES!
However i got that itch scratched pretty good right now and even tho the next content comes tomorrow i feel much better pushing it to the side and focus on other stuff. 
 

Workouts have been going great, getting stronger every week. The food tracking is also going well, have been eating a bit higher calories last week and when i stood on the scale a hour ago i lost a tiny bit of weight (0,2kg & 0,1% bf). So i have to be close to what MFP says to lose weight. (i ate about 2200-2700 and according to MFP i need to eat about 2000 to lose weight consistently) 

The plan for the last 2 weeks, changing the goals up a bit cause i said in the title "Gets back to basics 2.0" but its too much basics:
- Workout 3 times a week STAYS
- Run 1x a week  im removing this one cause the weather isnt looking to get any better for the next 2 weeks. So i'm gonna shift that to next challenge where the weather will be better, hopefully

- No ordering food STAYS
- Up my protein with a shake STAYS, trying to hit 200g of protein on workout days and somewhat near 130-150g on non-workout days
- Everyday Blender with cleaning CHANGES I need to focus on Blender instead of doing it with cleaning, dont know yet how many times a week i'm going to do it but i will do it on days i dont workout (more time)
- Stretch/Handstand CHANGES: dropping the handstand practice but keeping the stretches, right now i feel overwhelmed with everything so only keeping the most important one. 

On 2/24/2020 at 3:05 PM, Manarelle said:

Mmmmm, sprinkles. That looks really good, with no obvious repeat patterns and the shading is amazing. Nifty how you can rotate it, too. Boo to crappy weather, here's hoping this week improves. 

well as you probably read...it didnt  Near the end of march the weather seems to really change to spring (which is my favorite season)
 

On 2/24/2020 at 8:42 PM, Akura said:

 

👀 My 750g container last like forever...

I take about 4 scoops a day (the max they recommend  ) to get to my 200g protein. I did some math and if i do that every day that container can last about 2 weeks  so...probably good to get more prtein from other sources aswell

On 3/1/2020 at 6:17 AM, juliebarkley said:

Where are you with your handstands right now?

 

Your tutorial donut is also super cool, btw. How long did it take you to get there?

I'm not really far right now, the furthest i have come with handstands were free HEADstands and maybe 5 second crow poses. 
I think it took me, if i only take the time i followed the tutorial on the dot, a couple of hours. But i took a lot of days between episodes to continue. I have been working on it now for a couple of weeks. Following the tutorial is easy, but i know that when i start with my project and have to do it on my own the progress will be really slow

Week 1, Day 4 till 7
Rest of the week went oke, didn't have a chance to go for a run outside (the weather was shitty as f**k, a lot of rain and strong winds). But i did stretch a bit everyday and notice my wrist and body have gotten a bit stiff so its nice to get it all loose again. I made some great progress with Blender, its been a bit since i worked with it so i had to re-learn shortcuts but when i got that dialed in i was able to follow the tutorial pretty good. Last challenge i shared this picture of my tutorial donut:

Which is already pretty cool and tasty looking. But during the weekend i was able to add something to it to create this:

ITS HAS SPRINKLES!!!!! 
So its looking better and better. I'm still a long way off from starting with my project but seeing this stuff is just amazing and really motivating.

Progress:
Goal 1A: X X X / - - - / - - - / - - - / - - -

Goal 1B: - / - / - / - / - 

------------

Goal 2A: X X X X X X - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / 

Goal 2B: - - X - X - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / 

------------

Goal 3A: X - X - - X X / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / 

Goal 3B: X X X X X- - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / 

On 2/20/2020 at 9:40 PM, Akura said:

 

For me it took a lot of testing to find a brand and flavour that is okay.

Luckily i have a 1000g container, so i can finish it somewhat fast and try a different taste.

On 2/21/2020 at 12:36 AM, Defining said:

If you can find it, I've found that the unflavoured/unsweetened whey & casein tend to be the easiest to use.

I'll have to try unflavored after this Strawberry one

Week 1, Day 1 till 3

A decent first few days. Ordered my protein powder and got delivered yesterday, which was perfect cause it was a workout day. I forgot that protein shakes don't have the most amazing taste  I have to tiny bit of trouble to change up my routine with the stretching again in the morning and changing my Pomodoro stuff with Blender. But i'm sure after week 1 i will have gotten used to it. Not much more to report as of now...

Progress:
Goal 1A: X X - / - - - / - - - / - - - / - - -

Goal 1B: - X X - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / 

------------

Goal 2A: X X X - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / 

Goal 2B: - - X - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / 

------------

Goal 3A: X - X - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / 

Goal 3B: X X X - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / - - - - - - - / 

10 minutes ago, Akura said:

I'm confused what "Pomodoro cleaning" means in the context of learning Blender... I know the Pomodoro technique for working, but I can't  parse the word "cleaning".

I'm doing 10 minutes of Blender work and then 5 minutes of cleaning. Then Blender again for 10 minutes, clean 5 minutes, blender 10 minutes, clean 15 minutes. 
I know it easier to clean up immediately after i used something but, for me atleast, this is a great way to clean up and clean the big stuff every day (like the bathroom & the toilet)

Next challenge is up