shutsumon

Yesterday was good - except I couldn't update as my internet was being slow. Today is another good day for exercise. I did my normal 10 minutes first thing plus a 30 minute walk before work and a five minute walk at lunchtime (maybe not worth much exercise wise but it seemed to help fend off the afternoon slump). Food too is going okay though I think I may need to up my calories a touch. When you go to ask your manager for more work and ask for more food instead there's a problem. Finances: Tomorrow is payday. I ended up using £40 of overdraft this week. Next week I should use none. The week after that the bill heavy part of the month starts. If I can get through that couple of weeks without slipping into overdraft I'll be able to start building some reserves (seperate from the emergency savings pot) so I'm not living week to week any more. I've still managed to avoid using the credit cards at all - that's one and a half weeks now.:-) According to my Calculations the emergency pot stands at £23.88 this evening.

Once again not a bad day. On the downside I slept badly last night and then got attacked by the world's worst afternoon slump. It's really hard to work when your brain is fighting you. And of course the caffeine and sugar monsters came sniffing around sensing vulnerability but I fought them off. I dread to think at what cost to my willpower. I really need to sleep tonight, On the upside I still did my ten minute workout before breakfast and then went for a 25 minute walk before work. I also stuck to my eating plan again. :-) Financially there isn't much to report. Some more loose change has gone in the pot.and I now I have £10.08 in there.

The day isn't quite over yet but it's already another good day. :-) Mealwise I've kept to my healthy eating plan. I still have to cook dinner but it's all planned and there's really nothing untoward to eat in the house. I'd have to go out in the wet and dark to fall off the wagon tonight. (Yeah, not happening even if I wanted to. (I don't want to)). Well I say that but I did once comfort eat a kilo of raw carrots because it was available when I needed something so maybe I could manage it. Exercise: 10 minutes kickboxing dvd and a 20 minutes walk before work. Bus gets me to work so early that I figure I might as well make use of the time. Finances: Still no credit card use. I am slightly in overdraft as predicted but unless my calculations are out it should be the last week. Well the last week for as long as this job lasts. (Please let this job last). Part of the reason I want to build up a small buffer fund is t give me beathing space if the job vanishes. I've done a quick count of my small change and £2 collection and so far there's £17.53 in it. None of the coins are in bankable numbers yet but it's growing slowly.

I hope people don't mind that I'm using this battle blog to talk finances as well as health. The two are entwined for me. When I get fat I feel lousy. Everything aches, my sleep gets shot, I have no energy and I generally get down. All in all it's a vicious cycle I need to break. I've been back on the wagon for a week and in that week I've lost 8lbs. Now I just need to stick with it for more than 3 months. I'm eating healthy and exercising. I just need to stop this thing where as soon as I'm jobless I fall into a blind panic and gain weight. I'm a temp and every time my current job goes away I fall off the wagon. To do this there is only one thing to do. I have to deal with the finances. I'm carrying over £5000 of card debt. It's stressful. Someone pointed me to Dave Ramsey's stuff and it looks helpful. Now I'm a Brit, have no children and live in a rented flat so some of the baby steps don't apply (no need for worrying about college fees for kids and no mortgage to clear) while (once I reach it) the retirement one will take a different form so I'm adapting them. Step 1: I'm currently trying to build up a small emergency surplus but it's going to be a couple more weeks before I'm even permanently out of the overdraft. Towards this all small change and £2 coins are being put in a jar at the end of each day. (I'm also avoiding all use on the credit card). Ramsey suggests $1000 and Google says that's about £771 but that, of course, is after Sterling went off a cliff post-ref, before that it would have been more like £625. So I'm splitting the difference and aiming for £700. That's going to be a slog even if this job stays around so I have an initial target of £250 (about $324 presently). Yes I'm baby stepping the baby steps X-D. Healthwise - 10 minutes of kickboxing DVD and lots of walking plus taking my own lunch to work and not getting takeaways is really helping. I already have much more energy and if I don't feel well I d feel much less ill. (And lets be honest this also helps my finances). I just need to remember how bad I feel when I don't eat right. Anyway this is my first battle log. I hope to update it daily.

It's been about a year since I last posted, and it's been a very rough year financially in which all my willpower points have been invested in keeping my head above water, which unfortunately means I have had no willpower to spend elsewhere. Things are finally looking up so I am attempting to climb back on the wagon. Slowly, carefully because my anxiety is pointing out that I am still financially insecure - new job pays well but is temporary so I have to consider it could disappear at any time. All the same I'm taking advantage of this island of stability to try and relaunch my quest. Though my relaunched quest does have a large "towards financial stability" component. I've created my character and you can see her here https://www.nerdfitness.com/character/127951 Becka

Still on track with exercise and the writing and housework. sleep - last night I got under 5 hours :-( I was in bed in time but just couldn't sleep. I think I got about 4.75 in the end so not too large a disaster.

Yep, did 15 mins housework and wrote well over 300 words.

First thing first today was weighing day and I've lost another 2.5lbs :-) Sleepwise I got about 7 hours last night but that's because it's the weekend. Still haven't gone under 5. For the 20 mins exercise it depends on the day but it's a mix of body weight exercises (mon/wed/fri) and brisk walking (other days) mostly. Did writing and housework (it is seriously startling how much difference 5 minutes a day makes) yesterday. Need to do them again today.

Over the past 2 days I have done my 20 mins exercise and my writing and housework goals. Slaying the sleep beast is still proving troublesome but so far I haven't gone under five hours which is progress.

That's a good idea about the going to bed thing rather than focusing on actual sleep. I'll have to consider it. Thanks. Todays report. Was in bed at a time that should have allowed 6 hours sleep butt got about 5.5hrs. Exercise achieved. Writing and housework achieved.

Challenge 2, day one report: As I feared the sleep beast will be the hardest to slay. I considered last night to be a dry run as I was going to bed on Sunday and the challenge didn't start until Monday but all the same I was in bed in time that I should have been asleep in time to get 6 hours sleep. Instead I got about 5. Hopefully I'll do better tonight. 20 minutes of exercise was achieved with very little trouble. Long may it continue. wrote 300 words. Did 5 minutes housework.

Hi! With regards to sleep my main plan is to be in bed by 11pm in the forlorn hope I'll be asleep by 11.30pm, so I'm going to set an alarm on my phone for 10.45pm. I'll also avoid caffeine after 4pm (I've been doing the no evening caffeine for a couple of months but it doesn't help as much as I'd hoped). The main reason I didn't set my target as regards bedtime is the time I turn out the light and lie down is no guarantee as to sleeping. My biggest problem is I'm an Owl on a Lark schedule. I struggle to sleep before midnight no matter how tired I am. Thanks for the support :-) Becky

Okay, so I successfully got through my first 6 week challenge and now it's time for the next step. You can see my start of challenge photo (warning underwear shot) here. Main quest: 1. The healing power of sleep. This one is going to be tough. Eating healthy is just a matter of not being lazy for me and exercise is okay but sleep I struggle with. Eventually I'd like to sleep 7-9 hours a day like all the experts says you should but I know how far away that is for me. I really don't sleep enough and that's not good for my body. At the moment I regularly get less than 5 hours sleep and often (about once a week) get less than 4 so my initial target here is to start building up my sleep amounts. So target: Get at least 6 hours sleep a night. A. At least six hours sleep every night. B. At least 5 Hours sleep a night C.get at least 5 hours sleep 85% of the time and not go under 4 hours. 2. The continuing quest for a healthy weight At this point I've already lost 30.75lbs so I'm down from 259lbs to 228.25lbs. Obviously I'm stilll a ong way from what would be considered ideal so my target for this 6 weeks is: Lose 12lbs. This is a reach as I go on holiday from the 26th Sept to 4th Oct and I have no intention of calorie counting while I'm away but I have 5 more weeks to hit targets, A: Weigh 216.25lbs or less at the end of the 6 weeks. B: weigh between 222.25lbs and 216.26lbs at the end of the 6 weeks (6lb+ loss) C. weigh less than 228.25lbs at the end of the 6 weeks. 3. Fitness quest I made it through my first six week challenge somehow but nearly burned out towards the end. I don't want that to happen again, but I still want to improve my performance. So: Do at least 20 minutes exercise a day including time spent on my modified version of the BBWW on M/W/F (except during my holiday when I will do 20 mins a day but likely won't be able to do the MBBWW). A: 20 mins exercise a day (inc MBBWW 3 times a week on none holiday weeks) B: 15 mins exercise a day (inc MBBWW 3 times a week on none holiday weeks) C: 10 mins exercise a day (inc MBBWW 3 times a week on none holiday weeks). 4. Life Quest Continue with writing 300 words a day (including whiile on holiday) and also do at least 5 minutes housework a day (except while on holiday). I'm phrasing it this way to ensur I don't drop my writing progress while working on my messy home. A: 300 words everyday and 5 mins housework/day outside holiday B: either 300 words/day or 5 mins/housework C: as B but fail at writing on travel days (26th Sept and 4th Oct). So there we are. Wish me luck. Becky

September photo - A little late but here it is.

Woo! I made it, barely. The last few days were the hardest ones. Unfortunately first day out of the challenge (It's already monday here) I only managed one circuit of the MBBWW, before I nearly fell over. I suspect that's my body's way of telling me something. I think I need to set some sort of sleep related target in the next challenge.