stealthstitcher

You guys are the best!

I feel kind of bad for not being very present on here lately and checking in with others, but it's all just crazy times in my world. I just finished creating striped fabric by sewing satin ribbon onto stretch velvet ... just buy striped fabric, crazy ballet people.

As regards challenge - well, I'm eating reasonably healthfully most days, I did walk four times, and that's pretty much it. My end date before I get a break moved to next Tuesday ... I feel like somebody trying to get out of the criminal underworld who keeps taking "one last job". Except less crime and more sewing.

2 hours ago, MichiruSedai said:

 I hate that our culture celebrates working when you feel like garbage.  

Yeeeeeeees!!! People always act like they get bonus life points for coming to work to spread germs and sit around feeling horrible, unable to get any work done. Don't let anyone deceive you, you do NOT get bonus life points for this. 

On 5/1/2017 at 0:32 PM, Bouncer the Resilient said:

 

if you have a cool tomato, please share I will count them in for how much I get done). 

I have a feeling this is not what you mean and I'm in ignorance of some slang the cool kids use ... but here's this anyway because why not:

Aw, thanks guys! 

Yesterday was a rough one. The weather was lousy, I overslept, and my schedule was tighter than anticipated. I ended up not packing meals because I woke up too late, which is not the end of the world - there are reasonable options not too far away. I opted for less reasonable options, though - let the hungry and cranky get to me. No walk happened, except for to and from the car in parking lots. 

Today I'm more on track, but not any less cranky. I'm not quite the point where I was last summer, where I was seriously considering faking my own death to get out of responsibilities (apparently it's illegal; go figure) but I'm really burnt out and still have two weeks to go. I'm so stiff and sore from all the sitting and sewing, my last job assures me the check is in the mail but it's been several days and I haven't seen it, and I just want to sleep, or cry, or sleep cry ... 

Anyway, I'll live but I've got a lot of hours yet to work between here and rest.  

As you may have guessed, I once again underestimated how crazy a 90 hour work week is. So, nothing happened last week in terms of goals. I know I shouldn't complain about having so many job opportunities, but I am really tired of working. 

Anyway, it's a new week - it'll still probably be a 70-80 hour week but I'll try again. My goals for this week were to keep calories under 1600 (I can do it, I just have to not give up and eat out.), walk for 30 minutes a day, and do one strength training workout. I feel like I should be able to do that much. I really do need to get up and move around after all the sewing. 

Not gonna lie, I'm not feeling it this morning. Any of it. When my alarm went off I literally said, "No!" and rolled over. Then I rolled back over and got up cause I had a meeting ... 

Anyway, another challenge starting off with a week of madness. It seems to be a theme. Last challenge I had The Big Musical - this time it's The Goth Punk Surfer Opera (just the way Mozart imagined it, I'm sure). 

Week 1: The focus will be on healthful eating under my calorie goal of 1600 a day, and tracking it. I got lazy on the tracking at the end of the last challenge. Exercise is going to have to go by the wayside, although I will be walking to and from a super far away parking lot and also lots of up and down stairs while working the opera. I will, however, do my mobility/flexibility routine five times this week. 

Week 2: Will still be mildly crazy, as I switch to the ballet. However, I should have a smidge more time so I'm going to add half hour walks back in. And one, count 'em, one strength training workout. Just one. 

Week 3: The ballet continues. This week I will aim for two strength training workouts in addition to other things.

Week 4: I will be off work. I WILL BE OFF WORK!!! Is this even possible? Do such things happen? Fitness goals this week - add a third strength training session, and also go walk some trails in the woods! 

On 4/20/2017 at 9:38 AM, Flemming Underhill said:

 

I feel like I have pressed the reboot button so many times that there should be a dent in the button.

Or, maybe you're just stuck in a time loop. There may be an ancient alien artifact somewhere that you need to destroy to escape.

Looks like good, practical goals!

16 minutes ago, Bouncer the Resilient said:

And oh crud with your parent's situation, may the peace be with yah on being a situation mixed up.

Ha, yeah - I think it's mostly that he had weight to lose whereas mom was already at a healthy weight and just wants to lose the "last five pounds" to get to her ideal goal weight. Plus, men vs. women ... I'm sure there are guys who lose weight slowly but the guys in my family seem to lose five pounds by thinking about going on a diet. 

Went over on calories yesterday - about 1800. But I also walked for an hour instead of half an hour, and I also did my mobility workout. 

The going over on calories tends to be because I want an afternoon snack, especially when I have to go straight from one job to another and don't get supper until after 8 pm. Not quite sure what to do about that ... I guess just deal with feeling hungry? I usually have an apple and peanut butter. My lunch usually contains some element of mayonnaise or olive oil, so I could cut that out? (But then things are dry and tasteless, I whine). However, I'm usually only about 60 - 80 calories over - yesterday was because I had chocolate. 

So my parents started carb counting to help manage my dad's diabetes. In six weeks, Dad has lost all the weight he needed to lose (about 25 pounds) and now wears the same size jeans as my teenage brother. Mom is following the exact same diet and has lost a pound. She is ... not pleased. 

Looks good! I'm working on walking and stretching, too.

By all means, tell about your class! Your course of study is actually really interesting and unusual. What's a writing intensive? I would assume intensive writing? Whatever that is - but it sounds intense, it's even in the name!

I think I'll just carry this challenge on into the next one.

Last week was definitely rough on the eating stuff front - I was at my parents' house for Easter weekend and the Easter candy was abundant and incessant. As were the waffles for breakfast, the grilled cheeses for lunch, and of course Easter dinner to which a vast number of relatives showed up without warning. And yet somehow despite 11 extra people showing up, there was still far more than enough food.

And yet, somehow, when I weighed in this morning I had not gained any weight. Hadn't lost any, but hadn't gained any. I'd call that a win, coming from a house where there was a literal tower of cupcakes. 

I got in 5 walks, and only 3 days of mobility work.

And of course, I am once again going into madness. I have two weeks of crazy times, with once again two full time jobs. Then two weeks where I'll have two full time jobs, but one of them I can do at home in the evening in my pajamas. 

And then ... and then ... I have FOUR WEEKS OFF.

I haven't taken any time off, for just me, in two years. I am guarding this time off like a dragon guards treasure. No matter what, I will NOT take any jobs during these four weeks. That may be the most important challenge goal of all.

I'm going for another maintain what I'm already doing/trying to do week. So the goal this week will be eat under 1600 calories a day, take a 30 minute walk every day, and do my hip/leg/ankle/wrist flexibility/mobility routine every day. If I get a solid 6/7 on all goals, I'll consider adding/removing/modifying a thing for next week and the new challenge.

9 hours ago, Bouncer the Resilient said:

Glad to hear that the job thing was nothing, I personally can't stand when they wait to hold information that may get to you the wrong way...

Ugh, yes! Just tell me already! 

It's been a pretty rough week on all fronts. I just realized it's only Wednesday morning ... so a rough two days? All the upheaval at work has made everyone angry and upset and nervous, which is not surprising, but it makes for a very emotionally charged workplace. 

I think it's probably related that I'm 0/2 on all my goals. That and the extra things scheduled in the evening. I could totally have done a walk and mobility work this morning - I woke up in time - but I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling for 40 minutes because I just didn't want to get up.

I feel like it's been a very bad week, but let me actually put it in perspective for myself:

Walking - 1/2

Mobility - 0/2

Calories - 0/2

So I have only missed two days on mobility and eating under calories, and only one day of walking. Missing one or two days is not that big a deal. 

That sounds like some good chicken.

The Big Thing at work turned out not to be a big thing - at least for me - just something I needed to know about that isn't public knowledge yet. My job is safe! For now ... 

So I'm going to complain here for a bit, because going on a murderous rampage is illegal.

I took off work at my regular job to work Riverdance, which involved standing on a cement floor for literally and truthfully 16 hours the first day. (Other things, too, but all of it while standing on cement ... feet so sore). Finished with that show, attended a student directed show at my regular workplace on Saturday to find out that during the three days I was gone, 12 jobs had been eliminated, including one in my department (not mine, but still) AND my supervisor told me there was "One more thing, but I can't talk about it here. I'll tell you on Monday." And he hasn't been in yet so I still don't know what it is. I feel like if it was that my job was also eliminated, he would have just said so, or asked me if I had time to talk after the show, or at least hinted at it. But still, the suspense ... 

This morning I had a meeting for an opera I'm co-designing, at 8:30. I show up, I walk a million miles from the parking lot to the building (1.25 miles, to be exact) to find that no one is there. I wait until after nine, figuring they probably changed the meeting time or something. No emails, no information, no anything but they're notoriously disorganized. Nobody was there by 9:05 so I gave up and headed back to my car. Halfway there, there was a cloudburst followed by a hailstorm. In a matter of seconds I'm soaked to the skin, and being pelted by hail (small hail; it was like being hit by frozen peas). 

I decided to go home, change clothes, and go into work at my regular job late. And on the way in, I got myself a donut. Maybe one shouldn't use food for comfort but sometimes, gosh darn it, you need a donut! Or something! 

So now I'm on Monday 2.0, and still waiting to hear what the "one more thing" that happened while I was gone, that couldn't be discussed in public, is.

On the plus side, I've already walked 2.5 miles today.

Goals were not good last week, so I'm keeping them the same for this week. Kind of looks like the theme for this week is going to be "get up, try again, try not to have hysterics while doing so".

For this week, I'm maintaining the half hour walk, hip/leg mobility/flexibility routine, and eating under 1600 calories a day.

And I'm adding wrist and ankle mobility: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/how-to-improve-wrist-and-ankle-mobility/

Honestly, my wrists and ankles have such poor mobility that some of these exercises are beyond me, so I'm starting with the ones I can do and hopefully will be able to add the others eventually. Also, I have a foam roller on my shopping list for next payday. The tennis balls work, but they're a little difficult to use - they like to roll away if they can escape - and they don't cover much ground so it takes quite a while. Anybody with foam roller advice, please feel free to advise on the best one, or a better idea if you've got one.

In other excitements, the opera is on hold while they work out casting issues ... but I got a last minute call to work a dance show so my evenings are still booked. Never a dull moment, I'm telling you! Sweaty, sweaty dancer tights!  

Ugh, okay, do you ever do a thing and think, "Why did I do the thing?"

Had a work call this morning at 9 and didn't get off until 5:30, with no breaks and no food. I'd had breakfast, so I was okay but nonetheless pretty darn hungry by the time I got off. I had a coupon for a free pizza so I thought, this is the perfect time for free pizza. And of course by this point I was hungry enough to just shove food in fast to make the hungry feeling stop. So many calories ... so little protein. Now my head and my gut feel like sacks of wet concrete and I've had a day and a half worth of calories. I mean, it's far from the worst meal I've ever eaten, but I just feel so bloated and lethargic. If I'd known I was going to be at work that late, I'd have brought an emergency granola bar to tide me over, but I didn't. 

However, I am 6/6 on walking and 4/6 on mobility exercises, so doing okay there. Definitely need tomorrow to be a meat and veggies day, though. And some painkillers for the overcarbed headache and ALL THE WATER. I haven't eaten anything like this in two weeks, so my body is going "What did you do to me?!?" Sorry, body. 

Not my strongest week so far. I think it's because I had a show on the weekend and also a friend crashing on my couch, so I didn't do any prep or planning for this week. I hate the way that knocks me out so that I can't seem to get back on my feet till the next week. I also had to work some evenings, which doesn't help with the staggering downhill trying not to fall feeling.

Walking a half hour, 5/5. Amusingly, the princess puppy is not pleased. She likes her walk, yes, but she wants a sedate jaunt around the block. She is not excited for a longer walk. She's not limping or panting or worn out or anything. She just doesn't like it. Maybe it's the fact that we're not doing our usual route and she's a creature of habit.

 Mobility exercises, 3/5. Not great but not terrible.

Under calories, 1/5 (but it will be 2/5 if I do well today). I'm going over 1600 but still staying under 1700. So it's not like I'm doing terribly, just not hitting my goal. Part of that this week is that since I didn't prep or plan, I've been eating lunches out. It's fairly difficult to find a quick, low calorie lunch that isn't going to leave you starving  by mid-afternoon. The only things close to work are fast food. 

The moral of the story is, I absolutely must plan and prep meals and plan when I'm going to do workouts on busy days ahead of time. It just doesn't work for me to try to figure things out during the week. 

I'd lean towards doing a couple of quick, easy areas. That way you can say "Yeah, I got stuff done! Stupid internet problem didn't hold me back!" without spending a long time on something tedious that might make you feel like you're not getting anywhere even though you are. Or maybe set a timer? Tell yourself "I'll do stuff for 20 minutes, and then if I want to stop, I'll stop." And if there's any way to make productivity more fun (music, game-ify it, cover everything in glitter ...), do that!

On the other hand, if you feel like there are things you need to do to take care of yourself that are more important, you'd be the best judge of that.

Any rocks climbed yet?

How go all the things?

On 3/27/2017 at 10:20 AM, AprilMay said:

Unfortunately, I'm out of fiction.

Sounds like it's time to buy books! 

13 hours ago, MichiruSedai said:

Off topic of my obsessing on calories... Yesterday was my 17th anniversary of being cancer free.  Yay for being alive and such!

That is the best of things! 

I've put together my own routine from bits and pieces of others. I wanted to find some kind of "exactly perfect mobility routine that is just right in every way and already assembled by someone else" but I'm not finding that. Every routine seems to have either an exercise I absolutely can't do at this point, or is redundant, or requires equipment I don't have. I wanted a short, simple routine for hips, ankles, calves, and hamstrings so I'm doing standing calf stretches (two kinds, these also work ankle mobility a bit), butterfly stretch, spiderman stretch, staff pose, and then just a squat sit. I feel like I'm missing something ... maybe something more ankle specific? And I'm doing some foam rolling type things with a tennis ball because I don't have a foam roller. 

All goals met yesterday - today is still in progress.