Marauder

We're twins! Day 20 update: activity ring filled veggies eaten for the day workout, rest dayLooking forward to seeing The Martian this afternoon. Must. Avoid. Popcorn. It's one of those foods I can't stop if I start.

You use Runkeeper to keep track of your walks? I've thought about using this but hadn't tried it yet. I live right by a big park and tend to walk the same thing every day (there's a big walking track around it). Nice work on the walking this week!

Day 19 update: Activity ring filled Veggies being eaten as I type Workout done. I'm strangely feeling very exhausted after my workout this morning. Most days I've had more energy after, but I'm dragging tail today. Maybe it's the weather.

haha! Those mountains are a blessing and a curse... They are such a great opportunity for recreating of all kinds and so beautiful to look at, but they trap the pollution in the valley in the winter when snow is on the ground and it is just really bad. This year I'm going to purchase a mask to wear outside. I've been talking about it for years, but hadn't yet. We get out of the valley as often as we can in the winter. Do you have that problem in Vancouver?

Yeah, in hindsight, if I had read more and spent a little more time reading the blog before I started the challenge, I don't think that weight goal would be there. In reality, what I really want is "look leaner and stronger". I'm wiser now and know it's not about the number on the scale. The weight will come off if it was meant to eventually. I really need to make steps to eat healthier, even if it's just a little healthier, and to get this workout habit established. I spent some time yesterday on Nia Shanks website and she has some really great articles about body image, etc. It made me feel a little better about relaxing the whole weight/food tracking thing.

Sorry it's a struggle today. Sounds like you need to rest the remainder of the day. Hope you're feeling back up and motoring tomorrow!

This is why I decided not to mess with tracking my food for now. I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed and that's when I tend to fail out of things. I decided it was more important to establish just a good veggie habit for now and build a workout habit. Small sustainable steps. That's my new mantra.

What kind of man breaks up with a girl by text on her birthday?!?! OMG! I'm so mad for her. On the up-side, I suppose he was no big catch after all, eh? I'm a little jealous of y'all with your gyms. No chance of me doing barbells at this point. I haven't started the Academy workouts yet since I was already doing the BBWW. I will start them after the challenge is over. I watched the warmup videos and will probably try Staci's version today before I workout. I still haven't watched the cool down videos, but maybe I'll just pick a random one to do after the workout today. I decided yesterday to quit tracking my macros, stop focusing on my weight, and just let my focus be establishing and progressing my BBWW every day a little bit for now. I'm pretty much at Level 4 on the nutrition stuff and progressing involves eliminating some things I'm not emotionally ready to yet. haha. I will work on reduction for a while. I really don't eat that much pasta, etc., but I get tense thinking about entirely giving it up. I'm a little nervous to stop tracking my food... it's a double edged sword, I hate tracking, but it works and it does keep me conscious of what I'm putting in my mouth. I just get so weary of it after a couple of weeks. I will keep up on my veggies.

I'm in Salt Lake, but Vancouver would be lovely!!

Good luck and bountiful strength! I need to up my game on push-ups. You've inspired me.

HA! Thats awesome! I actually have that same jar (not for salads... goodness that would be big!) that I keep my bar mop towels in to wipe down the kitchen. Might have to convert it to an Endorarium though.

Day 18: activity ring filled veggies check for yesterday and today. Workout, rest day.It was an easy day. I like the easy days. I'm honestly not loving the jar salads. I think I'm a bit of a salad hater unless I can have creamy dressing. On the bright side, the husband has been taking them all week and loves it. haha! Of course, my jars just arrived, so... sigh... Maybe I'll try a different combo another week. I think I will give green smoothies a shot next week. Protein powder arrives tomorrow (finally found one that I don't mind the taste). Yesterday was really hard psychologically for me. That early and aggressive walk lead to me being much more hungry and there was a lot of "I deserve a... (insert junky foot here)" going on. I managed to talk myself down and didn't blow the food plan, but it was a bit of a challenge. I've never identified as a justifier, but it was definitely a potential problem yesterday. I need to watch for that behavior when I'm less "enthusiastic" about my food plan.

Dandelion, Basically it just a way to layer dressing, veggies, and greens in a Mason jar for quick and easy pack-ahead salads. Check it out HERE. There are literally hundreds of pages on the internet about recipes and stuff... easily overwhelming.

I keep a cleaning schedule (mostly). Just the basics that have to get done. Monday is dusting, Tuesday is bathrooms, Wed is Downstairs floors, Thur is upstairs floors, and the Friday I try to do something more quarterly or random (like washing down the kitchen cabinets or washing curtains). It's a pain and I don't get everything done every week, but it helps things from getting way out of control. I have to do a load of laundry a day to keep up with the husband and kids. It's like they wear 3 outfits per day! Those cravings... ugh. I'm no help there. I suffer and reason with myself, but I still want that stuff sometimes. The grass mowing sounds like a continuum... maybe you need more goats?

LuckyStar, Do you have any way to count steps? A smartphone or a pedometer? I think that would be a great way to keep track of all of those intermittent walking activities. I found having a step goal was really helpful. If you don't have one, I know Fitbit makes a fairly inexpensive one called the Zip. Now that I'm saying this I am thinking you said that was a perk of this job? that you can earn one? I can't remember exactly, but I'll go back and look after I post. If not, I've found them to be VERY worth the effort. I am very motivated by concrete goals like 8,000 steps or whatever. The strength workouts are tough. I've been able to stick to my 3 a week, but I work at home and can do them whenever. I'm not sure I'd be getting them done if I had to get up early and do them or try to do them after a day of work. I'm not good at either of those things. Since it's just 2 a week, surely one could be on the weekend which is easier.

Nice work today Gun Nerd!

In all seriousness, survival if your wilderness hike goes wrong... step one. Do not go alone! If there is no choice, wear a beacon and/or let someone know when you'll be back and when you will check in with them and when to get help. I live in a mountainous and heavily populated area and we've had multiple deaths this summer where simple caution was not exercised. People tend to be cautious when risky behavior is anticipated (climbing, etc.), but a cavalier attitude toward a hike is probably just as dangerous. Many senseless deaths in the news here this year. So sad! For general survival, I have established: a strong rapport with the LDS neighbors who by religious practice/pressure have a full year (looks more like 5 years) food supply storage. Relationship bolstered by my providing copious to overwhelming amounts of homegrown heirloom cherry and sandwich tomatoes all summer long. Yeah, I could probably do better, but...artesian well located 2 blocks away as well as the 10 gallons of artesian well water my husband regularly stores/refills in our laundry room for emergency home-brew sessions (or water outage/contamination) Mostly I live in a city where chaos will likely reign supreme in a crisis situation and I live in a house built in 1908 that will likely crumble to pieces when our "overdue" earthquake arrives. Living every day like it's my last!

Here's a good resource for getting a better look at what's out there. Most include descriptions with product name. I personally like the Bento jars, but not everyone does. Zojirushi makes a wonderful one, but it is expensive. https://www.flickr.com/groups/bentogear/pool/ Some of it can get juvenile, but lots of good ideas to be had. I particularly like using silicone muffin cups to separate out some items that might get soggy otherwise. Zojirushi Mr. Bento

Day 17 update: Activity ring, whoa! It's 9:42 am as I write this and I have 86 minutes of exercise logged. haha... More below... Veggies accomplished yesterday Workout completed this morning, modified to exclude second set of squats and lunges given my hike already this morning. Muscle failure is real. haha.The husband invited me to join him in his weekly walk to work (he usually bikes) and it is UPHILL the entire way. Per my iPhone, it was 4.96 miles of walking (I took the train part of the way home...downhill of course) and 800 foot elevation change. It sure felt like more!

I went through the Mindset module yesterday and started reading the Nutrition module as well. I may try and hit the fitness module today and read up about warm-ups and cool-downs (which I definitely need to add to my routine). So far, I've just been walking my 30 mins beforehand to warm up and doing a lame sort of assortment of stretches afterward. The nutrition is going to be a bit of a challenge for me. Argh, the pasta... Just for giggles I went and looked at the highest level of the Bodyweight workout and decided that there are certainly years worth of workouts before I get to that level (if ever!). Haha! A fine investment! Go forth and defeat week 3!

I laughed out loud at you LuckyStar813. I think sausages are lovely! It sounds like things are going very well overall. How wonderful that your work provides healthy snacks. I love when companies are forward thinking. It's so much smarter than saddling your employees with sugary crap. I wonder if meditation might be helpful with all of your new stressors and obstacles... I don't meditate regularly, but I do find it helpful in times where I'm feeling more stress.

Ditto this.

Well, sort of. I ended up making half of the jar salad (the bottom without the actual salad) in some rectangular tall glass storage containers and then just putting it over lettuce at lunch time. I went all over town hunting down quart jars with wide mouth lids and NONE. Seriously! Ace Hardware ordered them for me, so I'll have them next week. haha. The husband is taking salads too and he's making his in a Nalgene bottle. It works great for him since he bikes to work and its quite a bit lighter. Yeah, I'd give anything for a work gym to use, haha. It is a real blessing to work at home for almost everything, but there's always a downside! I'm pretty close to on track for making my Titanium goal for the PvP challenge. I just need to boost my miles by walking more places during the day (like those quick trips to the grocery store). I'm walking to work with my husband this morning and then to my allergy shot and taking the train home, so that should add in a few bonus miles this week. Have a great day everyone!! Many thanks for checking in on me. It makes such a difference!

Thanks Gun Nerd, I am lucky to work from home so I am really the only person I can hold accountable for my sloth. It was so much easier when I was on my feet during the day to get in plenty of activity. I do live near a park so I'm taking advantage of my situation and taking good long walks daily. It will get harder when the weather gets bad. We get a decent amount of snow here and bad air quality when it gets colder. That's when I REALLY struggle. That will be a feature in my next challenge I'm sure! Luckily the weather has been wonderful so far this challenge.

Welcome... What books are you trying to finish? I love some of your life quests, especially the early retirement (we are on that plan as well, but it'll be more like 55 for us). I grew up just off the Appalachian Trail near Maryland. That is a great goal to work towards, and I'm sure your wife is pretty happy about those vacations! Good luck with those carbs... that's a tough one to kick. I'll try to check back and cheer you on!