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!

I did not end up walking on Wednesday. It was kind of a crappy day and I spent most of the afternoon trying to sleep off a horrendous headache. On Thursday I walked 2.23 miles but went over my calorie allotment for the day (including exercise calories). Today I walked 1.89 miles (and I got up earlier, hooray!), but once again I was laid low this afternoon with headaches and fatigue. Not sure what's going on. I need to schedule a follow-up appointment with my GP to check my blood pressure, TSH, and other stuff. Might need to push bedtime earlier, to 10pm. Definitely need to cut my screen time earlier in the evening as well. I'm working on setting up a good space for reading/crocheting in my living room (where there is no TV) so that perhaps I can unwind better in the evenings.

I haven't walked yet today. Older son was out with his friends last night and didn't get home until 12:30am, which meant I didn't get to bed until almost 1am, and sleep was a priority this morning. I also woke up a couple times last night so it wasn't a restful sleep. Still ate more than I should have yesterday; I'm having a hard time cutting out dessert after supper. Goals for today are to go walking at some point, providing it's not storming outside, try to cut out dessert after dinner, and get to bed no later than 11pm.

Eyyy, I'm checking in again Today I walked 2.23 miles, and I managed to roll out of bed a little earlier to do it, but it was still oppressively muggy out - 92% humidity at 6:45AM. Ugh. I tracked all my food yesterday but I still ate too much. I need to get better about that. I started reading the Nutrition quests in NF Academy, which I think will help me focus on healthier food choices. I've been eating my exercise calories lately and I'm thinking I shouldn't do that unless I'm really hungry, because I don't know how accurate that "calories burned" number is. Plus my exercise calories are only an extra 300 or so a day, which in the grand scheme isn't a lot. Since last challenge was more focused on being active again, this challenge will probably have more of a nutrition focus, in addition to staying on a damn schedule. The schedule thing HAS to happen this challenge because school starts for my kids in less than 3 weeks, and if I don't get MY schedule sorted, trying to get THEM up on time is gonna suck.

I did my first challenge in the newbie forum since I'd been gone so long. After much thought about what I'm trying to accomplish physically and mentally, I decided to join the Rangers. I've been working through the NF Academy mindset quests, and my big why (at the age of 42, when "look good naked" is nice but not necessary) is that I want to play hockey again. I got a taste of a sport I really enjoy, that didn't feel like exercise even though I was dripping with sweat afterward, and I want more. At this point, though, my body is not in a place where that's a good idea - I'm carrying too much weight, it's hard to find gear that fits me properly, and my feet hurt when I skate. So now it's time to work on getting a body that can play rec league hockey without being in pain or being winded after a 1-2 minute shift. My goals last challenge were designed to ease myself back into accountability. I succeeded at walking 50 miles over the course of the challenge, and I also packed up a bag of clothes to donate (3 bags, one of which went to my neighbor for her son), but the "make better food choices" kind of fell by the wayside after the second week. I want to focus more on that this time around. I'm still working on my final list of goals for my challenge, but so far what I have is: - Track food daily, no excuses - Exercise at least 5 days a week I got my bike fixed a couple weeks ago, yaay! I'm looking forward to working some biking into my exercise plans. I still plan to walk a few days a week, but I really do want to get back on my bike, which is my favorite form of outdoor exercise. Waaay back before my youngest was born, I would do a 10 mile round trip ride every morning before work and it was wonderful. School starts in a few weeks, hence the title of my challenge. Both my kids are moving up to new schools (middle school and high school) and in our school district, that means school starts about an hour earlier for both of them - which also means I need to get up earlier. I've been sleeping in a bit this summer, and I need to get back to a point where I'm getting up early, both to help them get out the door in the morning, and to get myself to work earlier. Which also means going to bed earlier. So the LUYL goal this challenge is definitely going to be schedule related, i.e. go to bed earlier/get up earlier type thing. When I figure out how to phrase it, I'll post it here.

A cup of your strongest Yorkshire Gold tea, black without, please. *finds a dimly lit corner with a squishy sofa and curls up*

I haven't been very good about posting lately. Mainly because I have been trying to keep personal browsing to a minimum on my work computer, and after I finish work for the day, I'm not necessarily inclined to sit down in front of my personal computer and check in. This past week I didn't walk every day, but there were only 2 days where I didn't do any fitness activity, and they weren't both in a row. I didn't walk on Thursday because I had to get up early to drive to my client's office, and I didn't walk yesterday (Sunday) because I slept in and it was too hot to walk when I did get up. Also on Saturday we spent several hours moving some stuff from a smaller storage unit to a larger one, and that also involved assembling large shelf units, lifting boxes and storage tubs full of stuff, and weeding stuff out - all in a non-air-conditioned space in the middle of the day. It was a bit on the backbreaking side of things. I did go to the pool yesterday and did lazy laps, but nothing that warranted tracking the activity. I mostly did well on my challenge. I never did that hike I wanted to do, but part of that was due to scheduling and weather. I'm going to hold off on that until the weather gets cooler. I'm thinking about what I want to set as my goals for my next challenge, and I think this time I will do it in the Ranger guild. I joined the NF academy last month and I have been working my way through the to-do list. I'm kinda stuck on the "customize your batcave" task (aka Unf**k Your Habitat) because there are just SO MANY THINGS I need to do to make that happen, and not all of them are under my control at the moment. I may have to do that task in bits and pieces. Anyway, time to take younger kid to their piano lesson.

Wow I haven't posted in a while... I walked on Wednesday (1.88 miles), but eating wasn't great. (Eating hasn't been wonderful for several days, to be fair, but I'm working on making better choices.) I skipped Thursday because I had to be at a workshop downtown early, which meant that I had to catch the commuter train REALLY early, and I'm not a fan of walking in the dark. To be fair, I probably logged a mile round trip walking from the train station to the workshop site and back. On Friday I walked 1.84 miles. Saturday I consciously skipped because I was planning to do yard work (which I did, and logged as cardio, nearly 2 hours of pulling weeds and spreading mulch. After we got cleaned up from that, the kids and I went swimming. I actually did swim a lap (slowly and badly). On Sunday I walked 3.37 miles (!), which I promptly wiped out with beer and fried food that afternoon but back in the saddle today! I walked 2.09 miles today. This challenge for me has been about reintroducing activity, daily if possible, back into my schedule. As it is also 4 weeks from the start of the school year, I am also working with my kids to get all 3 of us on a good morning schedule so that the first day of school isn't misery. (Husband goes to work earlier, so I handle the morning routine.) To that end, I'm trying to get up earlier to see both kids off to school, so that I can then take my morning walk and start my work day.

I stayed under my calorie goal on Tuesday. (Not eating until lunchtime helped.) Today I walked 1.88 miles. Tomorrow I have to go into the city early for a workshop so I won't be able to walk in the morning, but weather permitting I will walk in the evening.

Wow, I haven't logged for a few days. Oops. Thursday - Walked 2.39 miles. Exceeded my calorie goal for the day. Friday - Walked 1.88 miles. Left for vacation that afternoon. Saturday (on vacation) - Walked 1.41 miles in the rain (do not recommend). Went past my calorie goal (mmm, beer). Sunday (on vacation) - Walked about 1/2 mile round trip to/from the beach. Not *really* exercise per se, though walking through sand is a bit of a workout. Had a lovely steak dinner with mashed potatoes and green beans, and a tomato mozzarella caprese. Monday - did not walk. Long drive home. Over on calories (didn't even bother to count) BUT I did have a nice salad for lunch. Today - Did my walk (in the rain, ugh). 1.97 miles. Cut it short because of the rain. Haven't eaten yet today (dentist appt shortly). But I will be back to logging my food today. Overall I had a good weekend. I knew my eating wasn't going to be stellar, but as much as I'm trying to eat healthier and get in shape, I am also working on my relationship with food. I did work on making good choices when they were available, but I also enjoyed myself. I stuck to my walking plan (never miss two in a row) and I will track my food today to get back on track.

Today was pretty good. I went over my calorie goal, but I also walked 3 miles today, so I'm calling that a win.