miss america

This last week clearly kinda dragged for me too But whoo hoo, another challenge down!

Awesome work on the 10k!!! 

I also was just about to say—wait, someone on my Tumblr was at Denver Comic-Con too! And she went with HER fiancee! I wonder if you saw them! They were dressed as... oh, right. Hahaha. Well you both looked great!

Oops oops oops! Ok, what were those last days...

MISSION REPORT - 5/22 (Day 40)

Challenge 1: Tracked food, stayed within goals

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: Didn't update

MISSION REPORT - 5/23 (Day 41)

Challenge 1: Didn't track

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: Didn't update

MISSION REPORT - 5/24 (Day 42)

Challenge 1: Didn't track

Challenge 2: Bollywood dance!

Challenge 3: Updating very late

Oof, a week?!?! Really?!?!?! Jeez. Ok. I picked up a side hustle in the past week, and my normal work schedule has been a little off-kilter as well—but more on that later!!

MISSION REPORT - 5/15 (Day 33)

Challenge 1: Tracked food

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: OBVIOUSLY NOT

MISSION REPORT - 5/16 (Day 34)

Challenge 1: Tracked food

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: clearly no

MISSION REPORT - 5/17 (Day 35)

Challenge 1: Tracked food

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: nope

MISSION REPORT - 5/18 (Day 36)

Challenge 1: No tracking

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: nope

MISSION REPORT - 5/19 (Day 37)

Challenge 1: Tracked food and stayed within goals

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: nope

MISSION REPORT - 5/20 (Day 38)

Challenge 1: Tracked food, stayed within goals

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: nope

MISSION REPORT - 5/21 (Day 39)

Challenge 1: No tracking

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: This one's on time at least

- The last day of the Buzzfeed Clean Eating challenge was on Sunday! I mostly enjoyed it, but it was a little too hard to adapt to my needs—at least to get the benefit of not having to make my own grocery list. I think the combination of being more expensive AND taking more time was a little hard for me... I'd rather spend eat my dinner leftovers for lunch the next day than get 10 extra ingredients to "transform" it into something new. But I definitely did like some of the recipes, so I'm going to keep those in my arsenal!

- As I said, I picked up a side job last week, which will be good for $$ but not so great for doing my activity and posts! I'm trying to at least focus on keeping my food within bounds.

In a different color, that would made an awesome female Assassins Creed type cosplay (you know, since ubisoft thought it was too hard to do a female Assassin character model...or whatever bullshit they stated ).  

These heroic girls' cosplay response to that statement always makes me laugh...

That is the best!! I totally have the skirt for a Hawkeye in that vein...I'm just sayin'.

 

Also, while stalking through 8tracks today, I found this Miss America mix for you: right here.

Yessss perfect mix!!! Also the worst part of my Konmari adventures a few challenges ago was the hit it took on my ability to closet cosplay... Maybe a Miss RenFairerica for next year!

Those Ren Faire dresses are awesome and it makes me think of perhaps a suitable Iron Man style one!  Of course armor is kinda mandatory but it could be similar in styling of Saber from Fate/Stay night.

 

 

Or if anyone is really, really crafty, just full on armor.

 

Ohh so many ideas

Ooh that would be gorgeous! I think the lady who crafted one of the above dresses did an Iron Man, but without the armor, just using the colors for fabric. I do love the mix of armor with the petticoats on Saber, lovely hard/soft vibe going on! Good thing I have a whole year to prepare now, hehe...

MISSION REPORT 5/14 (Day 32)

Challenge 1: Tracked food

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: Caught up on a few threads, and posting here early-ish again!

Whenever I start thinking a paleo meal is gonna be a challenge or a sacrifice, I remember that bacon exists Mmmm bacon...

Cleaning the house seems like a good off-day activity for sure—as it can be pretty active itself, as long as you're not doing it like:

A quick one!

MISSION REPORT 5/12 (Day 30)

Challenge 1: Tracked food, stayed within goals

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: Updating for this day under the wire, but need to get back on my commenting!!

MISSION REPORT 5/13 (Day 31)

Challenge 1: Tracked food

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: Updating this one early with the hopes I'll get my comments in!!

Here's some ideas for next year

Wow, nice work on the macros!! Hope you had a nice Mother's Day—eating out can always be a challenge, but you rocked it!

HA Cool American Flavor! That's amazing! Gorgeous photos—looks like you're having a wonderful time!

Eek how did I get so many behind?!?!?!

MISSION REPORT 5/9 (Day 27)

Challenge 1: Did not track

Challenge 2: Surpassed step goal + BWW

Challenge 3: Missed this one!

MISSION REPORT 5/10 (Day 28)

Challenge 1: Tracked food, stayed within goals

Challenge 2: Daily Burn "Cardio Sports Drills"

Challenge 3: A late one now...

MISSION REPORT 5/11 (Day 29)

Challenge 1: Tracked food, stayed within goals

Challenge 2: Daily Burn "Lean Abs"

Challenge 3: And getting this one in early!

- Ren Faire was really fun, if initially overwhelming!! I've been to so many comic-type conventions, but this was on another level. I loved that it felt like about 90% of the crowd was dressed up, in character, and involved! I had a beer, a sausage, and got a flower crown, and my knight won his joust! There was also lots of walking and walking, so I'll call it a good day!

Hmm chia seeds....I don't think I ever had them before but this recipe sounds absolutely amazing!

 

Awesome to see you still going strong and yup!  seeing more updates!  Excellent!

Ok now THAT looks good!

Yeah, I know that feeling. I run into the exact same thing a lot of the time with other recipes. Hard to figure out if the stuff on paper actually works.

Yep! Especially following along with their recipes, which are all new to me—I don't mind trying new stuff, but it's a lot all at once!

MISSION REPORT 5/7 (Day 25)

Challenge 1: Only tracked half the day, may go back and finish (the other problem of the recipes is a) they tend to have a lot of measured ingredients so I get lazier on the tracking and I'm not eating the same thing for breakfast/lunch, so I can't just copy the previous day's meal in my tracker. I've done MOST of the days so far, but that's just an extra part of the challenge

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: A little late in catching up!

MISSION REPORT 5/8 (Day 26)

Challenge 1: Tracked!

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: Catching up early for the day

- I am going to a RENNAISANCE FAIR tomorrow, and I am excited! I have never been to one. Already scoping out the food options, but at least there'll be lots of walking!

...One thing that is annoying me this week is that I'm looking at the scale, and I shouldn't cause it's a bastard and I'm seeing my weight go up more than the previous week.  Could be I'm bloating, could be many billion stupid reasons.  I don't see a difference in how I'm looking, and my workouts are great but I am gonna be a little more vigilant on my food cause if there is a bit of a slippage, it was in my diet.

Ugh, that IS always annoying! It always seems very inconsistent for me—I always feel like the one day I don't really watch what I'm doing is the day it goes down, and the day I push myself really hard it goes up. I actually like measuring myself every day so that I can see that there is at least a general downward trajectory, even if some days don't follow the pattern! (At least until all the fat's gone and I'm just a hunk of muscle bulking back up ). 

That drawing is so cool, btw! I really like it even in its current WIP state!

MISSION REPORT 5/6 (Day 24)

Challenge 1: Tracked and stayed within goals

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: Updated!

- Gave chia pudding one last try—this time the consistency was better, but the flavor was way off. The recipe had me add vanilla extract but with no sweeteners in it, so it literally tasted like my pudding was spiked! I remember thinking, "Huh, I wouldn't think mushed-up blackberries were sweet enough to offset the vanilla!" Well THEY WEREN'T. Next week has some yogurt-based chia recipes, which I'm hoping will be better. I will say the seeds are very filling, at least! I am trying very hard not to take it out on the seeds.

- Still doing Two Grand and enjoying it—I've found that the extra step of taking the picture makes me a little more mindful about eating, and a little more likely to switch up my meals with a pineapple or strawberry or radish as a side rather than eating the same thing everyday, as I am prone to do.

Interesting, re: the chia seeds. Chris McDougal in his book Born to Run talks them up as this perfect super food. Guess they don't work so good all the time... hm...

Oh, they're probably very good if you don't mess up the recipe in whatever terrible way I did! I think I will try it again using their yogurt recipe rather than the instead of milk/"pudding" one again—I'm not opposed to the seeds themselves, and that seems less likely to go wrong...

Ooh, London! Do what you gotta do... we'll be here when you get back Also please eat this grilled cheese sandwich when you are there! (I mean, if you want. But it looks so good!)

MISSION REPORT 5/4 (Day 22)

Challenge 1: Tracked food, stayed within goals

Challenge 2: Daily Burn "Cardio Sports Drills"

Challenge 3: Sneaking in now, but need to catch up on my replies

MISSION REPORT 5/5 (Day 23)

Challenge 1: Tracked food

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: Getting this in early!

Batch cooking's going all right, though I'm kind of shifting stuff around and doing it in tighter cycles than they have planned for me. I'm also supposed to have chia pudding again on Thursday but I REFUSE so I'll have to come up with something different for that

Are you going to try the whole two weeks?

I'm doing a modified version of the first week at least! So far I think they're pretty good about using what you actually get, though I did modify it a fair amount so my grocery bill wasn't insane. I'm fine eating the same breakfast or lunch two days in a row if it means not getting five extra ingredients, but I feel like posting a well-advertised meal plan they feel pressure to switch things up Anyway I put my first day's thoughts here so as not to completely hijack Solstice's thread

MISSION REPORT 5/2 (Day 20)

Challenge 1: Tracked food

Challenge 2: No activity

Challenge 3: Was sort of lurking around here, but didn't post!

MISSION REPORT 5/3 (Day 21)

Challenge 1: Tracked food and stayed within calorie goals

Challenge 2: another kickboxing interval!

Challenge 3: Posting and replying!

1) In continued adventures of changing targeted Facebook ads, I got one yesterday for a clothing company that specifically makes jeans for people with "athletic"-sized leg muscles. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Facebook, but I'm not quite that swole yet! Someday.

2) I bought my groceries this week sort of in keeping with the "Buzzfeed Clean Eating Challenge," because my dream life is someone handing me a grocery list and telling me what to make for dinner. My thoughts so far:

-- I already had to modify it a bit to make things a little more cost-effective—this article says it would cost about $200 to buy everything on the list, but luckily I had most of the pantry items and decided to combine some of the meats/veggie sides/snacks/etc. My grocery run only ended up being about $50 (though I'm normally more like $30-40 weekly), but I was also lucky in that I could get to the Sprouts in my area, where the produce tends to be much, much less expensive than the normal grocery store. So YMMV.

-- There's a LOT of prep work involved. Yesterday I was supposed to: make a smoothie for breakfast, broil a grapefruit for a snack, roast veggies for lunch + leftovers, make hard boiled eggs, make slow cooker chicken, prep and cook cauliflower rice, steam green beans, prepare next day's breakfast, and prepare popsicles for rest of week's desserts. I actually felt like I was cooking all day, but looking at the list I think I did less than half of it! I'm guessing the rest of the week won't be as intense, but it was still a lot.

-- There's always some degree of trial-and-error in recipes, so trying out however many new recipes in two weeks, there's bound to be some that don't work out! I did something terrible to my "chia pudding" this morning and it was pretty gross. (The chia seeds all clumped together, so it was just like chia mounds floating in almond milk. Blech.) The slow cooker chicken was good, but then again that recipe was just "put chicken and salsa in your slow cooker and walk away." Anyway I will continue reporting on how it goes!

3) I now have moles sending me inspirational Kishi quotes from other threads... mwahahahhaa!

Awesome! Sounds like you gave yourself the right amount of time to recover—and back to kicking butt in no time

Yay! So glad you're okay and that you got it taken care of! And I sincerely hope your boys are treating you like a queen, like you deserve  

Ooh, I just found this two-week "Clean Eating" meal plan from Buzzfeed that I'm totally stealing (I'm a sucker for anything that makes a grocery list for me) but it seemed mostly Paleo-ish so I thought you might enjoy!! http://www.buzzfeed.com/christinebyrne/clean-eating-2015#.yxVnNE6jx

Oh wow—that's a lot going on in just one week! But I see so much good in there (congrats on the JOBS!!) that—just based on the rest of the rollercoaster—I know that you and wifeDee totally deserve them! Maybe you could drop an ice cream cone on the ground or intentionally stub your toe if you start feeling like you need to balance the universe out?

How did it go?

 

Love the burpees at work! I've tried to do burpees at work in the past and decided it wasn't worth developing an odd reputation. Not sure what your goal is, but if I want a bit of exercise during the day I like to bust out some pushups at my desk (more inconspicuous than burpees) or run up and down the stairs a few times. 

Heh, I normally try to do something more discreet (or just save it for home), but I was trying to be a good Monk and get my 100 in for the mini-challenge this week! I did get them to turn the AC on though

Also yes how did that activity go?

I did a boxing workout on Daily Burn—best of both worlds!

MISSION REPORT - Day 4/30 (Day 18)

Challenge 1: Tracked food, stayed within calorie goals

Challenge 2: Daily Burn boxing workout

Challenge 3: Updating!

MISSION REPORT - Day 5/1 (Day 19)

Challenge 1: Tracked food

Challenge 2: No countable activity

Challenge 3: Updating now, have tomorrow to get more follows and make more inspirational Kishi graphics

Oh no! I just caught up to this today—hope all went well with the surgery and you're recovering somewhere warm and cozy. 

Sending so many hugs to you!

Using my slow cooker is always so exciting, because I'm surprised EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. that there is like... a meal in there?!?! Ready to eat?!?! For me?!!??! Or maybe it's just my short attention span