CoderGatherer

Week 3, Day 2: Meal prep kinda happened but didn't. This week is weird with the holidays and work fires. (Work fires are fires that I have to put out at work, not layoffs (thank goodness!)). I cooked up some ground beef and onions for hot plates. For lunch I had a hot plate of ground beef, onions, broccolli, peas, carrots, soy sauce, and sriracha. ratio was about 2:1 veggies to meat. Liquid calories got a little out of hand in week 2 so I decided to stick to 3 liquid calories this week instead of going down to 2. Slow, gradual changes are way easier than extreme changes that I may or may not be able to achieve. No lifting yet this week. I know I don't have any real excuses not to do this, it's just more difficult to plan right now. Must. finish. Christmas. knitting. So the deadline is fast approaching and I still have several projects on the needles. I did find the perfect socks to make for my dad though. He's a huge Bears fan, now I just need my KnitPicks yarn shipment to come in so I can start them. Why does my list keep growing?

Week 2 Summary: Noms - Prep - 4/7 Liquid calories - 4/7 Lifting - 2/3 Christmas - knitting list has increased a little bit. My dad has requested some socks. Yay last minute knitting!

Week 2, Day 1: Snowed in so I got to work from home. Woot! Got to watch Harry Potter and Christmas movies while working. I may have also overindulged in some sweetened tea and ginger beer. 4 sweet drinks My workout today involved shoveling snow and pushing the snow blower around.

Whoops! Got a little behind on my posting. Week 1, Day 7: Went out for brunch with the hubs. I had the most amazing omelet (meat lovers) and french toast. The meal was so huge I didn't need to eat until way past my normal dinner time. When I did it was only a small turkey sandwich. Had 4 sugary drinks yesterday, mostly to keep me warm while running errands in the blizzard. Why was I running errands during a blizzard? Because I'm crazy and also b/c its the only day both my husband and I have off together. So away we went to grocery stores, farm supply stores (for snow supplies), and specialty food stores. Rest days are the best days! They are even better when you get to knit. Made some good progress on my husband's hat. I'll have to post pics soon Week 1 Summary: Noms - Prep - 6/7 Liquid calories - 7/7 Lifting - 3/3 Christmas - knitting list has decreased significantly. I went from 18 items to 11 items. Current list now consists of 2 hats, 1 pair of socks, and 8 dishcloths.

Interesting! Cool, good to know it's not just me Why only once a year? Do you prefer the barbell or kettlebells more? LOL well done you. I was waiting for someone to make that joke

Week 1, Day 6: Lifting day! I upped my weights!!!! My squat and deadlift are now up to 50 pounds. Workout was 3 sets of 8 squats, 3 sets of 8 deadlift, 3 sets of 8 benchpress at 30 pounds, 10 minutes cycling for warm up. Does anyone else find benching dumbbells harder than barbells? I had to go down on my weights to make sure I was doing the lift with proper form. Crazy stabilization difficulty. 4 sweet drinks today. One was a protein shake, which was so not worth the calories. I'm going to stick with real food from now on. I decided to buy my mother in law a present instead of knitting her some fingerless mitts. I really wanted to make her something but I would prefer to buy her something that I know she will like as opposed to spending hours on something that she might hate. Not to mention, buying is so much easier than making (also cheaper).

Week 1, Day 5: Hackathon ended. I was able to write code! While 2 of the 3 meals I ate were provided at work, I had a home cooked meal for dinner. Wrapped up the day by seeing one of my friends perform in a symphony concert. Still going strong on drinks, only 4 today. Almost drank another one but stopped myself. Unexpected rest day. I knew that if I tried to lift I'd end up with bad form and probably end up hurting myself (not that I've done that before or anything). I finished my first Christmas sock! I also made some good progress on my husband's hat.

Week 1, Day 4: Was up working til 1 am the night before. Yay for regular paychecks, boo for lack of sleep. 24 hour hackathon at work started after lunch. I ate my prepared breakfast & lunch (yay), then proceeded to snack and drink beer and eat pizza to stay awake. I called it quits around 7:30, drove home, and lumped on the couch while watching Captain America. Stayed on track with drinks. Had a coffee with creamer, two hard ciders, and half a cherry coke (20 oz). Rest day. Good thing, because I was a zombie.

Week 1, Day 3: Another good day of noms. Ate all homemade food today. Even when I had a migraine and felt like crap, I forced myself to cook dinner instead of getting take out. (Dinner is currently the only meal that I'm not prepping at the beginning of the week.) Liquid calories. While I stayed on track with 3 sugary drinks, I'm pretty sure the Mountain Dew I drank today gave me a massive migraine. Why must something that causes so much pain be so tasty? Workout....I tried to push through with the migraine but ended up only getting through one round. 8 front squats at 40 lb. 8 overhead barbell press at 40 lb. 8 bent-over barbell pulls at 40 lb. I also set up a lamp in my garage so that I can see what I'm doing when I work out......now I just need to buy lightbulbs. Christmas is coming along. I made awesome progress on my Christmas socks. They are currently my travel knitting, so I work on them whenever I have a spare moment. I also finished a couple more dishcloths and made some good progress on my husband's hat. Things are coming together.

Thanks for the follow! Following you back now to cheer you on

Following you back! You go girl!

Thanks for the follow!

Week 1, Day 2: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....but for realsies.......we finally got snow that stuck Small win today food-wise. I was invited out to lunch with a coworker, but stayed strong and ate my packed lunch. Meal prep FTW! I had 4 sugary drinks today. Coffee with creamer, chai tea with sugar, Starbucks latte (small), and a ginger beer. Today was a rest day. Just focused on stretching. Christmas presents are going. I got frustrated with the fingerless mitts I'm making for my MIL, so I decided to try a different pattern. I'm thinking about trying out this pattern: What do you guys think? These look super cozy and feminine. I'm thinking about knitting them in a purple (her fave color) yarn.

Thanks @RedStone! I'll totes post craft pics. Thanks for the follow! Following you back orly? I'll have to take a look at that

Awesome goals! How are you learning German? Are you using an app? Following to cheer you on!

Nice goals! Following to cheer you on

Thanks @RedStone! I'll totes post craft pics. Thanks for the follow! Following you back

Week 1 Day 1: Meal prep is a go! Did half yesterday and finished up the rest today. Only had 3 sugary drinks today.....one coffee with creamer and one latte. Lifted lighter today. lunges: 4 reps @ 20 pounds, had to drop the weights since my legs were giving out. Lesson learned, need to work on muscle stability on lunges. Finished off 3 sets of 8 reps bodyweigt lunges. bent-over barbell rows: 3 sets of 8 @ 40 pounds core work: haaaaaa confession time....i totes haven't cleaned out the garage yet so I was scared to get on the floor (read construction remnants). So instead I did a set of kickboxing kicks. 3 sets of 8 Making Christmas: Finished one dishcloth Overall, I'm glad that I worked out but a little disappointed in my tiny workout. It's hard starting back at square one

After a long(er than I anticipated) hiatus, I'm getting back in to the swing of things. This challenge I'm focusing on lifting heavy things, eating real food, and getting ready for Christmas. Noms: Meal Prep Every Week I figure it will be easier to eat real food if I cook real food and don't give myself any excuses not to eat said food. It's become a bit of habit for me to go out for my lunches and I want to break that cycle before it gets any more engrained. Meal prep will be on Sunday (or Monday if weekends are cray cray!) I won't worry about making anything fancy, just the basics.....vegetables, protein, maybe rice.....most importantly, the food must be easily freezable and re-heatable. Cut back to one sugary drink a day Those liquid calories are adding up fast, I think I'm at 5 sugary drinks right now (@_@). For this challenge I'm defining a sugary drink as any drink with added sugar....such as coffee w/ creamer, Biggby latte, soda, sweetened tea, etc. The first week I'm only going to allow a maximum of 4 sugary drinks a day. Each consecutive week I'll remove one sugary drink I'm allowed each day. Lift Heavy Things: [insert pic of Jack raising Oogie above his head] Lift 3 times a week. Ideally my schedule will be Monday, Wednesday, Friday....but this may change depending on how hectic the week or how sore my muscles are. I'm currently following the Beautiful Badass Mini-Course (basically compound barbell exercises mixed with some bodyweight). As a side goal, I'd really love to double my weights. Currently lifting at 40 pounds on each, would like to get up to 80 on squats and dead lift. Adulting: I have a big family and accordingly have to make/buy a lot of Christmas presents. I'm a knitter so I'll be knitting the majority of my presents this year. This year's knitting list includes 4 hats, 1 pair fingerless mitts, 1 pair of socks, and 12 dishcloths. This may increase depending on how many Christmas gatherings we end up going to this year. I've already knit 1 hat, 1 pair of socks, & 3 dishcloths. Update frequency: daily

Hi! I'm back! And I started lifting again! Hurray! I have completed 4 workouts of the Rebel Fitness Rookie routine. So sore, but so happy. 2 sets of 15 deadlifts with 10 lb dumbbells 2 sets of 15 overhead press with 10 lb dumbbells 2 sets of 10 lunges 2 sets of one arm dumbbell row with one 10 lb dumbbell 2 sets of 8 birddogs Skipped the 10 minute cardio session and instead lifted without rest Hope everyone has a great holiday!

Looks like I forgot to post workout 18. Whoops! I'll have to get better about that Workout 19 complete! Level 1: 84 marches 84 high marches (instead of lunge step ups) 84 incline climbers 84 incline plank leg raises

3.6 mile bike ride Workout 17 complete: I'll be honest, I really hate all the exercises in today's workout. I also felt like crap the whole day because I think I might be fighting a cold. So I only did a third of the workout. It sucks and I'm awful but I did. 30 cross step jacks 30 side jacks 30 reverse lunge step ups

9/30: 3.8 mile bike ride 10/1: 3.8 mile bike ride Today: Sixteenth workout complete! First level workout: 60 calf raises 60 side leg raises 60 chest extensions 60 arm rotations\ Also went on a 3 mile walk with the family

Fifteenth workout complete! Level one: 48 half squats 48 lunges 48 arm raises 48 raised arm circles 3 30 second arm hold

Fourteenth workout complete! Level one: 90 jab + jab + crosses 90 overhead punches 90 low front snap kicks 90 low turning kicks 90 knee strikes Rode my bike for 4.48 miles today