knifeboots

Not as good as I would like. I'm having real issues getting through my day without taking naps, which is...not good. I think I need to look at a medication adjustment or something. So far I've managed to keep up with my walking routine, but I'm not really tracking my food. I've done some studying for my AWS exams, but not enough to go take the test. I haven't set up a stretching routine or gone back to the rink. Mostly I'm struggling with getting through every day at this point, just trying to do what I NEED to do every day (like work, take care of my kids, etc). I may need to take a hiatus and get my health back on track, see what can be done about my constant fatigue and lack of concentration, and then come back here and work on my challenges. Right now I'm just very low on spoons.

I'm late planning this out, so I'm going to do the best I can this go-round. I've reviewed my epic quest list and picked out a few quests to do for my challenge this month. 1) Take and pass my AWS SA Pro recertification exam. I took the recertification exam in the spring and narrowly missed passing, and then proceeded to blow it off all summer. I need this exam for work, though, so I need to study and pass it as soon as possible. I'll go ahead and schedule it, which will force me to study for it. 2) Create warmup and cooldown plans for exercising. I've been putting off doing this because it's been built up in my head as this Big Thing OMG, but I need to do it. By the end of the challenge I should have a warmup plan and a cooldown plan in place, and should have practiced them a minimum of 3 times. 3) Get back on the ice. I need to gauge where I am in terms of pain while skating, which means I need to get back on the ice. By the end of this challenge, I should have gone to the rink and skated for a minimum of 20 minutes, taking as many breaks as I need, and journal my experience. 4) Maintain good habits. I need to keep up my walking routine (at least 5 days a week), going to bed on time (~10PM), and tracking my food to the best of my ability. I can't slack on these just because my focus is on other, more specific things.

I finished Little Fires Everywhere, which was so, so good. I then went and read Everything I Never Told You, which was also good but heartbreaking. Like, don't read that book the night before you send your kid off to his first day of high school, because it'll make you question every parenting decision you've ever made. I also read A Verse From Babylon by Jeannelle Ferreira , which is a book about the Holocaust, so it's not light reading, but it's so good and painful and just AAAUGH I love it. Currently I am reading a study guide for the AWS Networking Specialty exam, so not exactly leisure reading, but something I need to finish before the end of the year.

End of challenge review: - Get on a damn schedule: I finally did accomplish this, pretty much at the end of the challenge. I get up, help older son get out the door, then I take a short walk around the neighborhood (~1.3 miles), come home, bathe, get younger son ready for school, eat breakfast, start work. I also found an app for my phone, called Offtime, which allows me to selectively block apps based on a schedule and profiles. I have two profiles set up: Work, which allows me to get to email and work related apps, and Sleep, which blocks almost everything. The app also blocks notifications. So now I can actually concentrate on work when I'm working, and go to bed at a reasonable hour instead of staying up on my phone. I feel like it's also helping my low-level anxiety, too. (I guess this counts toward my level up my life goals, in the sense that I'm putting impediments in the way of bad habits.) - Track my food: Yeah, pretty much failed to do this. I need to keep working on this. I've been trying to just eat healthy, eat only when I'm hungry, and make better food choices as a rule. I've had issues in the past with hyperfocusing on food - how much I can have, when I can have it, obsessing over calorie counts - and it's generally not a great way to live. Maybe for my next challenge I should just check myself periodically to make sure I'm on track, but not to the point where I obsess about it. - Exercise at least 5 days a week: I wasn't great about this either, and the week that school started I hardly exercised at all, but since I've reconfigured my walk in the morning to be shorter, I can fit it in while it's still dark, so I'm not walking in oppressive heat.

Whoo, the challenge ends this Sunday. My how time flies... Today I made myself take a short walk just before sunrise. It was still miserable but at least the sun wasn't up yet to make it MORE miserable. I walked a little over a mile. I'm hoping I can stick with that trend. I'm also hoping this oppressive heat and humidity go away soon. The schedule thing is getting a little better. Still not doing great tracking food, and I'm fighting a lot of fatigue lately. This weather has really sapped my reserves.

It's taken me most of this week to find a routine that works AND gets me to my desk to work at the appropriate time. The last few days I've been so tired after I put my youngest on the bus that I've crawled back into bed for a couple more hours of sleep. Not good. And then I'm not taking my shower until late morning or early afternoon. Really not good. Part of this was going to bed late, but another part was that I was taking my antidepressant too late in the evening for its soporific effects to wear off by morning. So starting last night, I took my antidepressant at 9 (8 would be better, though, as I was still groggy when I got up), and went to bed around 10. This morning, I made sure to bathe in the time between sending my oldest to school and getting my youngest up for school. And now I'm at my desk before 8:30, which is a marked improvement. The weather this week has been miserable, so I haven't been walking. I may try to take a walk this evening if the heat and humidity let up a bit. I also need to sit down and review the beginner bodyweight workout and see if I can do that in the mornings before my shower.

Heh...heh heh heh yeah it didn't go so well from a schedule or tracking perspective. I exercised pretty much every other day, even went for a bike ride on Saturday! but tracking food seems to fall by the wayside after lunch, and actually eating properly has not been a thing that's happened much this week. But as of today, the kids are back in school, I'm in between projects at work (so I'm working on some training stuff), and I'm getting back on the wagon. One thing I know I'm going to have to adjust, until it gets much cooler outside, is when I exercise. Morning walks are no longer a really viable thing, and by 8am (the point at which both kids have left for school) it is positively gross around here (and probably will continue to be until around October). So I'm going to postpone my daily walks to the evening, between 7-8pm, and focus on starting my work day as soon as my youngest gets on the bus. Once it gets cooler in the mornings (like, 50s-60s F), I can do my daily walks in the morning again, or even at lunch once it gets very cold. But starting my day with borderline heat exhaustion and dripping with sweat is just not pleasant at all. So today, I'm refocusing on my eating, trying to stay on task re: my work, and making sure that I end my workday no later than 6pm. Oh! I did sign up for the gym membership at the new gym this weekend. It's not scheduled to open until late November, though, so until then I'll be doing the walking/bodyweight thing.

Kinda fell off the wagon this weekend. I missed my walk on Saturday and Sunday and I didn't track food all weekend. Starting fresh today. I got up before 6AM and was out the door at 6 for my walk and home before 7am, so that's an improvement. Need to log my food. Still trying to figure out the best way to tackle the exercise thing once school starts. Walking in the dark isn't really my thing, but neither is walking at lunchtime when it's still hot and humid in this part of the world. I could walk in the evenings, maybe, but I like getting my exercise out of the way first thing in the morning. And the new gym isn't open until later this fall. The way the school schedule works, I need to be home between 5:45am and 7:45am to make sure both of my kids get out the door on time. I can walk after 7:45 but that pushes the start of my work day back; I'd like to start work at 8am so that I'm done earlier in the day. Maybe I just need to plan to take my walk after I finish my work day and before we have supper. Ugh, why does scheduling need to be so hard... I still need to see about that gym membership, but once the gym opens I can go over there before I start getting the kids ready for school. Years ago, I used to get up extremely early to go to the gym, and it was very peaceful. There was something relaxing about starting my day so early. Idk, have to give it some more thought.

Slightly better success today. I set my alarm for 5:30 and got up at 6:10, and out the door at 6:30 for my walk. Got home around 7:30, showered, and now I'm working on breakfast. Woohoo! Food tracking is still not great. I need to put in my food for last night. But I'm working on it, as always.

Getting up on time is HARD, y'all. I've never been particularly good at it unless there was somewhere I HAD to be at a certain time or I'd miss it (like, say, catching the commuter train downtown). But working from home, with two kids who are still on summer break, man - it's way too easy to hit snooze. Need to think of a better strategy. That being said, I did accomplish my walk this morning, albeit an hour later than I planned. And I did go to bed last night at 10, but didn't actually go to sleep until closer to 11. Gotta work on that.

I did my walk! 1.8 miles this evening. Hatched a few Poké eggs, earned a candy for my buddy Eevee, and burned 339 calories according to my Garmin. Now I need to log my food, clean up the kitchen, and go to bed.

Your goals about clutter and half-read books really resonate with me. I'm still working on creating a good, comfortable reading space in my living room, but the clutter I have to get out of there first weighs on me. Looking forward to seeing your progress!

I feel you on the sleep schedule. Mine's been so haywire this summer, and with my oldest starting high school in a couple of weeks (with a stupid o'clock start time), I really need to get on track. *solidarity fistbump*

Admittedly I am not off to the BEST start for this challenge. Sunday night I went to bed late and thus slept in Monday morning, then most of Monday was spent working and running various errands. I didn't get my walk in at all. I did eat...ok? but forgot to track (will go back and put my food in MFP for completeness). Then LAST night I stupidly stayed up to watch the Nats lose on a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th after battling back to tie the game, and overslept AGAIN today, but because I had to come to the office today I also did not get my walk in! UGH. Will walk this evening, that's a PROMISE. So without further ado, here are my challenge goals: - Track food daily, no excuses - Exercise at least 5 days a week - Go to bed by 10pm and get up by 6am on weekdays; in bed by 12am on Friday/Saturday and up by 8am Saturday/Sunday. Let's see if I can improve on my bad start! There is a new Lifetime gym opening near my house. Like, less than a mile away and completely walkable/bikeable. I am seriously considering getting a membership. There will come a time very soon when it will be too cold/dark outside to walk in the early mornings OR in the evenings (even though that seems REALLY FAR AWAY right now with the constant heat and humidity), and I also want to be able to switch up my exercise now and then. I even ordered an ACTUAL one-piece athletic swimsuit recently (it was on SALE). So even though the monthly dues are pricey, maybe that's what I need to hold me accountable, since I loathe wasting money. And, it'll give me the opportunity to get up early to exercise, or go to the gym late, because the hours will be 4am-midnight daily. No excuses!