Tombo of Endor

I just got back from vacation and while I kept myself happily active (even took a 26# KB with me), nevertheless, the "fork discipline" was definitely relaxed. Now it's back to managing the IM/eating window and lack of time to eat quiet and unhurried. Yesterday at work we ran ourselves right into a bonk ... We were just gi-normously starved after having "any time" meal flexibility on vacation. Oops! And trying to keep healthy eating materials at work is impossible: not enough refrigerator space, no prep area. Balancing the whole smash is a Dark Art.

When I'd retreat to my room as a teen, my dad would accuse me of being a "hermit" and sitting around "ruminating." Actually I was doing art, writing, etc. I'm a "bold-introvert" (rather than a "shy-introvert" like my housemate). A lot of "in my face" social exposure runs me completely down. I've been "on staycation" last Thursday & Friday ... came in to the library today and it was LOUD with other staff chit-chat! In a LIBRARY! Not used to it ...

Last day of this first 6.W.C.! HOW'D I do? >>Main Quest: Reduce BMI to “normal.†At 5’ 6â€, that’s 148-150 lbs. AND maintain it. (Measured: loss of 3-5# adipose tissue and potentially, waist size. Some lean mass may be lost but can be minimized through resistance training.)<< Weigh in this morning 7/19 was 143.0 pounds. WOW. >>Strategy 1: Conform to “eating window†or IF regimen plus carb-reduced intake. Measure: daily periodicity and total sugars/gr of carbohydrates<< I'd give myself 95% on this, with one notable "carbo-blast." This worked. >>Strategy 2: Perform HIT (resistance) twice a week, 20 min/session. Measure: weekly “workout day.†Bonus: early morning fasted cardio gets + mod (on something)<< Here I wasn't nearly as successfully -- mostly it was life intervening. Even "just" 18-25 minutes to fully concentrate on a workout proved to be difficult to schedule. Lesson learned. Grade: C+/B-. >>Strategy 3: No more than 2 servings of ethanol, no more than twice a week. Measure: track day/amount Bonus: “dry week†gets + mod (on something)<< 95%. There were two "periodocity" violations and two "serving size" violations. All in all, compliance was pretty good. (And I'll carry this into the future.) >>Ancillary support strategy #1: Meditate min. 20 minutes a day every day<< 90%. Sometimes on Sat/Sun I don't get time, not even in the evening. >>Ancillary support strategy #2: Read four “rolemodel†books (nonfiction) in six weeks.<< BWAAAAHAHAH! Not even close. Time for life, workout, etc., but none for reading. >>REWARD: Earn (self-selected) Guild membership as “Warrior†for Challenge #2.<< Nope. Tombo picks up the bags and bedding and waves The Forge goodbye. Not that it was a bad idea ... just that she's motvated by other considerations. Thank you all, Six Week Challenge Commentators! I have ONE more workout to conduct! Weight at the beginning: 149.5 Weight at [almost] end: 143.0 Apparent loss over six weekes: 6.5 lbs.

Last day of the six week challenge! Heeeyyyy! This has been a LOT of fun! Thank you all for the various encouragements you've left on my Challenge thread and in my B.L.!!!!

Week Six Day Three: Meditation: M, T, W. Check. Workout: last afternoon. Check. "Eating Window": looking good! Plus 12 hour fast Monday for a.m. blood draw. (Lipid panel "just because.") Ethanol: "Bingo" since Sunday. Four days and counting. So far, I think I did mostly 80-90% for a First Challenge!

Well ... alas ... not so much. Over in NF-A (the Academy) my "Fitness Path" is Ranger ... but "Assassin" would work too. (Alas, I'm not much of a fan of Harry Potter either. I know, I know. HERESY. I'm more into John D. McDonald's Travis McGee stuff.) Thank you for the suggestion!

Whyyyy ... I wasn't, but I very much appreciate your invitation! I must say: the Assassins have been "ambassadors" on this thread pretty regularly! Maybe I should try something with you folks!

Ahhhh yes. Well, if it's any comfort ... I've lost about 15 pounds and have gone down a size in the last three months and absolutely NO ONE in my workplace has said one word to me. Not one. We are a huge force of about 28 people who've worked together for 15+ years, most of us, and for that most of us, as we've gotten older the weight has gone the other way. Talk about non-supportive workplaces. "NAH NAH NAH WE CAN'T SEE YOU." And yet we are constantly bombarded with health & fitness "propaganda" from our various campus campaigns to enable us to help ourselves to better health. Oh noes! But ... we can't "Atta boy!" each other!!!

Week Six Day One. Hey! TIME FLIES! Six weeks ago I came out of "lurk mode" and decided I would play along with a six-week challenge. I made up a "persona" (as we call them in the Society for Creative Anachronism) and went off to prepare myself to join the Warriors at The Forge! WELL. "Life is what happens," eh? Wise words from someone else -- Wyrmmaster I believe he's called -- pretty much talked me out of wanting to "specialize," even though I REALLY wanted to be a Warrior. Advice taken. I'm not gonna be a Warrior. And I'm OK with that. I was reflecting on this Saturday when, in complete defiance of my "ethanol" goals, I observed a third moment of indulgence on the anniversary of my dad's death. (I'd oddly forgotten that it was coming up ... maybe this means the grief is abating). My dad's nearly-last words to me were, "Have a beer and relax." I got a cheap can of PBR -- my dad's "favorite" beer (if he had one: he almost never drank) ... and had a taste of it at the end of a long day of driving into Detroit and dressing like an Anglo-Saxon lady of some means. I had some beer ... and I relaxed. And I thought about the Academy's "Big Why" assignment. Big Why: Because I love my dad and I miss him every damn day. If he could have done the work I'm doing, he'd be taking care of my mom right now and telling me how to fix my car. God I miss him. Beginning of the end, Six Week Challenge! Strong to the Finish! I am engineering my next evil metabolic torture and experiment! BWAAAAHahahaha! Today's weight: 145.

"Terrified" is OK. I am fond of saying (when people aren't throwing bricks at me for being a weisenheimer): "Getting out of the boat invariably rocks it." Do you have a "go-to" Vet? It sounds like you do. So you're already known to them as a dependable pet-friendly person. That's great networking.

Hey me too! Well that is, came home from work amped to do a workout, that started in my backyard and then really got serious in my basement. Gym Day rocks!

It's my "getting in the mood to go hit a truck tire with a sledgehammer"* music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7d04hBaCg4&list=RDf7d04hBaCg4 Man With No Name: "Serotonin Sunrise" from "Earth Moving the Sun." "Paying the price for last night's experiments ..." HAH! Typical of my workouts.

What ho Scumspawn!!!! HI to your kittehs ... I have a "shrewmaster" of my own -- no tiny worm-eating rodent in my backyard is safe from him, alas. So he sits and paces while I go work in the garden. I have a RADICAL consideration for you: are you working out *too much*? There's literature around the Internet that TOO MUCH working out can slow or even prevent weight loss (and I mean, fat loss). Just a thought. Sometimes it takes a long time for metabolic momentum to build ... and as Eskcanta said above: the body loses it where it wants to. Time is your greatest ally. Hang in there!!!! --Tombo

But that's a lot!

Week Five, Day Two. Keeping up with eating window and meditation. Last week I: met my HIT workout goals; met my "eating window" goals; met my ethanol-intake goals mostly (I think Wednesday I may have had 4ozs too much red wine for my 2 x). Meditation: 5/7 Reading: failing "miserably." Well, that is, at reading the books I want to read ... but succeeding happily in siphoning every pixel from our institution-authenticated access to American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (otherwise about $750/year to subscribe).