ixaera

Update here - this challenge is cancelled for me because my mom passed away on Saturday night. I plan to start a new one with the next cycle, but I need some time.

Having a bit of a bad brain day today, but here's a check in -

my workout stuff is in the garage, and it was SUPER cold (for here) on Thursday so I noped out of using a cold barbell. Probably shoulda just done it, it wasn't that big of a workout I had planned for the day. Anyway - so far I'm mostly on track, the food's not any better this week. The alcohol is still not being drank, and I'm barely getting all the workouts in.

But it beats doing super poorly, in any case.

Bad brain day meaning I super don't cope well when I've put stuff off and I have Too Much Going On as a result. It ends up with me cancelling stuff I should be doing for The Greater Good and mental health (like volunteering with the kitties and picking up my plates) so I can stop sitting in a pile of my own anxiety instead of doing things.

I'm experienced enough with this state of being now that my trick is to focus on my priorities (in this case, my NF challenge defines them), then filter down to stuff like dishes and laundry, break the tasks down into bite sized bits, then make sure there's HOURS for decomp.

Anyway the workout program I'm on is in a decomp week too, so at least that's not much of a stressor (when I finally do it).

Honestly I just checked my lose it app and this week was actually a good bit better on keeping under maintenance, so I guess I was underestimating my progress.

Monday was meh, but at least I was out of cake? lol I also popped into a fitness store and ordered plates, giving up on fb marketplace having any nearby. (I'm very meh on meeting IRL people in contexts like that anyway)

Tuesday I did a squat day and my food was on point, except a lil too much granola. 

Food is the hardest thing you guys. 

16 hours ago, Emissary2Ornj said:

Royalty! Way to go with these goals. Not easy ones, either. Simple does not always equal easy.

 

It's cool how you're able to check yourself - like turning down that pub invite Friday.

 

I reread your challenge goals and saw the "eat bread while sad" line again. Mac & cheese  from a box (most of my life), $1 noodle kits (more recently), and just about any salty/carby snack (chips, especially) are my self-soothing foods. I'm waffling between abstaining completely and eating them once in a while. Mentally waffling, that is; I haven't actually eaten them since hubby and I did our nutrition reset a couple months ago. I do keep tortilla chips on hand, but no potato chips so far.

I'll reach for any bread and then go "well now I'm MORE sad dangit"
It sounds like you're doing great in your accidental no chips campaign! Congrats! I have to keep them out of my pantry or they disappear EMBARRASSINGLY quickly. Family size bag? I'm family!

Quick Sunday check in: 
Did an OHP-based workout, found that 3 reps with the empty bar is where I'm at now. I'll need to supplement with dumbbells I guess to get back to where I was. Pre-covid I was reliably getting 8-10 reps with the empty bar, so we've got work to do!

Diet was very meh. I had a big piece of leftover cake for lunch. (Everything else was fine.)

With 4 weeks to go, this is too early to think about but here we are anyway -- I think my next Goal 3 will be housework-oriented.

How I'm feeling about my goals about now:
 

Week 1 Summary! 

Goal 1 - 2x str 1x cardio workouts - ⭐

Strength Sunday & Tuesday

Light Cardio on Wednesday

Goal 2 - Did okay a lot of the time, not as good as I wanted to be. Saturday was a friend's birthday party and I definitely overdid it on the food. Overall like a B- which doesn't get a gold star but isn't a fail.

Goal 3 - ⭐

Saturday was the first time this was hard. Everyone else was enjoying frozen margs and I wanted to join in so bad! Definitely a social pull. I held my ground with myself here though, and stuck to water and coke zero.

Friday I also turned down an invite to a pub because I'd had such a frustrating work day that I wasn't sure I could only order the pretzel.

4 weeks to go

I'm actually really proud of myself on this one.

Week 2 has begun and is already shaping up well.

Haha, I'm all y'alls tea opposites. Earl Grey is my least favorite black tea, and roobios I have tried to love, only to fail. XD I definitely lean toward vanilla and caramel flavors overall, and a smooth black tea unflavored is rare but LOVELY. There exist vanilla chamomile teas that I'll happily night-time sip on! I don't have one at the moment, but I should pick one up when my tea goblin gets low.

Yesterday I did some light cardio and my junk food was a single 230 calorie lindor truffle chocolate bar. Not the worst!

So that's 2 workouts down. Might get a bonus one in tonight if I don't have to clean before game night.

13 hours ago, Emissary2Ornj said:

Parkour kitty!

I like how real-world you are about this stuff. Instead of justifying your decisions, you're acknowledging them, like "Here's what I did. 95% of it was beneficial. Win!" 👏 Also I think connecting our food choices to personalized, non-scale results (like alcohol for unwinding impedes workouts for your) is a game-changer for flipping switches on how we traditionally are taught by society/culture/whatever to think about food. Taking away the guilt/shame or just the bad/good labels (or even healthy/unhealthy labels), specifically.

I had a beer the other night, and it didn't make me feel horrible, but it wasn't great, either. I haven't had one in a looong time, so I was kind of looking forward to it. It ended up being anticlimactic. Turns out I'd rather have chamomile tea.

XD I'm actually very into the flavor of certain beers. I love a good tripel (La Fin Du Monde is my favorite, but other tripels are great too), and heavier stuff like winter ales and yummy lagers. I ALSO like wine. I'm boned, really. That said, so far this challenge of not having any isn't hard, though of COURSE the second day I bumped into a delicious looking temptress stout of the peanut butter persuasion. I resolved to buy some after this is done lol

I am also a tea drinker, though! Chamomile is often not my jam (I wish it were, a nice sleepy tea is hard for me to find), but right now I've been enjoying cycling through these: hi caf salted caramel black tea, downtown afternoon black tea (by Driftwood Tea Co), and a gold thread reserve oolong. My favorite is probably the salted caramel for straight flavor. I don't do a lot of nighttime tea, but right now my evening tea if I do it is Tea Goblin's Enchanted Forest (just don't steep that too long, gets very over sweet).

ANYWAY

Today was good. No exercise cuz no time. I didn't sleep well, so I slept as long as I could justify, then work was crazy pants. Had an appointment after, then my guild was doing stuff. But at least food was solid - not a thing that counts in the "junk" category and I got myself a decent deficit

On 2/14/2022 at 12:21 PM, Scaly Freak said:

Following purely for the new squat rack.  

You're making valid life choices. As a reward, here's my cat trying to climb it:

Two more days to talk about, eh?

Monday was like so - No exercise, didn't get up early enough. Good at food - nothing that counts as junk. Stayed under maintenance, a feat MADE POSSIBLE by my alcohol hiatus, because I totally would have had half a bottle of wine with my valentine yesterday if I hadn't been abstaining, so I remained (barely) under maintenance.
Today was like yo - Strength training (just finished) which included a 20 rep set of barbell squats and a solid 20 min walk with a neighbor. DID eat junk today, because I was strapped for time and work stressing, a bad combo. 600 cals of golden double stuffed oreos. That was lunch. Anyway, everything else was NOT junk, and I had a solid deficit today.

Proving to myself the last two days that stressy days don't REQUIRE a beer to unwind from. In fact, I'm seeing benefits: sometimes when I have a drink with dinner I'm just too relaxed/buzzed/whatever to work out so I don't. Since I'm not, this is not getting in the way  And it's nice to fill that 200-ish calorie gap with filling foods instead.

I'm so BUSY this week *flails*

Plates are still on the to-do list. I need to go to the gym store place but it closes at 7 and life is hard you guys.

First day check in!

No exercise today, but I did a LOT yesterday, so it's fine to start on a low note there. I used my new squat rack Saturday with the empty barbell, and I didn't find any second hand plates so I'm gonna give in and buy a 160lb set from Rogue.

Stayed barely under maintenance, and did eat frozen pizza. Obvs had no alcohol.

Tomorrow I am hoping to get up early or take a lunch break to get some movement in, since I won't be able to after work, and should be a good-food-filled kinda day~

Yesssssss

The squat rack is here! It's in 7 boxes! Well, like 5, the other two are spotter arms and a bench. I guess I have plenty to do tonight~

~ I don't have a theme! ~

Get Fit (again)
Used to be fit! Am not now fit!

Week 1 - 3 workouts, 2 strength 1 cardio

Week 2 - 4 workouts 2 strength 2 cardio

Week 3 - 5 workouts 3 strength 2 cardio

Weeks 4 & 5 - keep doing  5 workouts!

Bonus points for more

End goal is a 5:2 pattern on workouts, nothing fancy. I've never been much for cardio so my version of it is basically like a brisk walk for 20-30 min. Strength workouts tho are my jam. I've BEEN doing bodyweight at home stuff since COVID began and I cancelled the membership I had to an indoor gym that hosted medium sized indoor boxing classes for safety and health reasons. As the 2 years have gone on though, I've been less and less diligent and now I could use the movement again. Good news! I moved in October and I have a small garage, big enough to host a squat rack and barbell,  so I'm working on finishing out that setup now. I have the barbell, the squat rack is due tomorrowish. For plates and such I'm planning to visit a second hand gym store if I can find one. HOPING that this is in place for this challenge, but I will just be doing my bodyweight/home stuff until it's there.

Don't Eat Your Feelings

I like bread when I'm sad hbu

Goal - stay under maintenance, stick to better-for-you foods overall

I'd like to lose about 20 lbs. I gained it eating bread and stuff. That said, I don't really want to focus on a specific deficit this challenge, so I'm keeping this one simple. Stay under maintenance by any amount, keep junk to a minimum.

5 weeks no alcohol

Bit of a social drinker here, which isn't super conducive to fat loss. Gonna kick this one in the shins for a minute and give more room to nutritious foods.

So there you go. My super simple reboot challenge

2/5 - Ready for that new challenge c'mon let's gooooo

Yesterday I did OKAY except for polishing off the last of the wine b/c I wasn't sure when the challenge began and didn't want delicious red wine to go to waste. 

Ate brunch at 11 - toasted bagel with guac spread and smoked salmon like a sandwich

A kind bar somewhere around 2

Pork tacos for dinner at 5 b/c I was sooooo hunnnnngryyyyy

A beer

the rest of the red wine

I was very productive but did not work out. Kinda been a lump lately. 

But today I pressed the button on that Rogue SML-2!!!!!!!! I'm Excruciatingly Excited!!

2/4 - Kinda went to bed early without updating, just had a productive but quiet night and wanted to hit the hay. I didn't end up having another snack (the munchies passed).

The not starting my eating til 11 thing has been working well these last few days so just gonna keep doing that for now.

Had a kahlua pork taco of unusual size for lunch (mmmmm red onions). Might qualify as a burrito. Anyway. Snack of bagel and butter again, yes fam i have a favorite. Dinner was the last of the veggie gnocchi leftovers. Somewhere in the morning I had a nitro cold brew thing with vanilla sweet cream in it.

Got on that stepper thing and watched an ep of Ted Lasso, cried like a baby. I love that show.

Today's off to a good start. Woke up at a decent hour (shockingly late really considering when I passed out). Cleaned some. About to head up to the pet smart in a couple hours.

Anyone else with cats ever feel like your entire life is just sweeping up litter?

7 hours ago, Emissary2Ornj said:

Oh, yum, your food sounds good! Lunch, especially. Full agree, on the wagon ride, ha. Exciting you have a barbell!!!

 

Currently drooling over this thing:
https://www.roguefitness.com/sml-2-rogue-90-monster-lite-squat-stand

oh man, here it is 2/4 I forgot a day again

OKAY well 

2/3 I did not exercise, delayed first meal again, had the same food, only some red wine at the end of the night b/c I was gaming with guildies

Not ready to put in 2/4 because I'm about to hop on my stepper thingo and that's exercise. And I might have a snack later.

The last WHILE has been hectic, and I didn't post. Nor did I eat super well or stay on top of exercise. But I DID sign up to start volunteering and I saw some friends, so yay that. I have a BARBELL NOW

no rack yet, but the barbell exists. It's still in the awkward cylindrical wrapper, and it's cold in my garage, so we'll see when that starts getting incorporated into my workouts.

On the look out for a small rack in the meantime, too.

Today tho
2/2 - Delayed first meal (this has worked for me in the past so giving it another go), Lunch was smoked salmon with a veggie salad on a crispy flatbread with some sesame ginger sauce. Midday snack of a bagel sauteed in butter (it's a thing I like to do with bagels). Dinner was veggie gnocchi in pesto. VERY yum and I was so full until right now lol. And a beer while gaming.

Strength training happened, did some band/dumbbell stuff

Come on wagon lemme stay on you for more than a couple days at a time~

Sometimes the wagon is more like a bucking bronco, eh

I am not doing so hot at updating here 🙃

On 1/26/2022 at 12:54 PM, Emissary2Ornj said:

I like the self-awareness you have. Hooray for upward creepage! And that you're still moving. And eating quality stuff. Win.

 

The perks of being 40 XD Spend this long with myself, I'm bound to know the ins and outs! Sorta. Sometimes.

lol

1/27 - Not bad. Croissant sausage sammy for bfast, leftover steak for lunch, mushroom soup for dinner, some olives in there some where for snacking. Did a strength workout with dumbbells and bands. wooooo

1/25 - Did alright. Quality of food was a big win today, and I got some light cardio in (elliptical while watching youtube...). I went a little over maintenance, nbd. Kinda felt meh all day. I let myself get too deep in the red zone over the weekend with social activity and being productive, and didn't recharge appropriately (this usually leads to eating and drinking crap, feeling icky, sleeping a lot, and generally not being ready for the world for days, so a bad time for all around me). Gotta watch that meter, y'all. Anyway, it's creeping back up from yellow today \o/

Today was good - took a couple of walks outside since the weather was nice. Had a frozen omelet, a coffee thing with oat milk, lunch was a paleo bowl from freebirds (easy way to grab a lot of meat and veg), dinner was a frozen veggie bag with cauli rice, beans, peppers, and I put a couple of eggs in there and some salsa. Yums. And one beer (drank while talking to a friend on a walk). I don't like going QUITE that low carb but my fridge is anemic til tomorrow.

On 1/20/2022 at 10:05 AM, Emissary2Ornj said:

Welcome back 👋 You have an impressive history here, wow! I really like your challenge plan. Near future workout loot sounds exciting! Toys, yay.

 

At first glance, and depending on how different your nutrition is now from how you want it (in goal No. 2),  maaaaybe there's a lot to change at once? But you know what you're already doing and what methods work for you.

At second look, it might not involve as much as it sounds- like, figuring out a reasonable maintenance calorie level (I LOVE that you wouldn't emphasize a big deficit) would only happen once, then it would just be meal planning and tracking for the challenge, right?

Also, fellow kinda short person here - 5'2".  I don't really dig into body comp much, but it's really interesting how things are changing (shape-wise) and numbers are trending lower w/the nutrition changes and regular activity.

 

It's neat that you want to build your challenge progressively - like, increasing toward goals. That sounds really smart. It helps to be in this for the long haul, doesn't it? looking at things we can work with for the next 5, 10, 20 years.

Usually when I'm good nutritionally, I'm really good. It's pretty normal for me to eat well, so I'm okay with that one. The toughest part is gonna be the no alcohol for absolute certain. I basically use it as a social anxiety medication

Thanks for the input! I'm feeling pretty good about it. Kinda failed to log here for a couple of days, but didn't miss on the LoseIt! app at least. I ate way too much attempting to see if I could finally order a small pizza and spread it out over 2-3 meals. (nope) Plus some social eating, and here we are. It is what it is.

1/19 - An oatmeal with cinnamon and almond slices for breakfast day, frozen buddha bowl for lunch, rotisserie chicken leg and roasted sweet potatoes for dinner, carrots and hummus for snack. Between today and yesterday I had 12 oz of a can of house wine rose (I forgot to put it on yesterday's). Light cardio 30 min

Work's been busy and productive so I haven't really given myself time to re-measure, look at the price again, and psych up, but the rack is a near future deal. NEAR FUTURE.

Been noodling on challenge goals in Feb and I think a basic challenge is ideal for now, so 3 simple goals and maybe an extra credit?

Here's what I'm considering

1 - Progressive workout schedule. Start at 2 strength days and a cardio day and add a day each week until I'm at 4 strength workouts and 4 cardio workouts a week. (My cardio is basically no heavier than a brisk walk, so this isn't like, going from couch to 5k or anything. Just getting back what I used to do)

2 - Good foods, work on diet quality. Stay under maintenance calories with no particular stress on a sizable deficit, fill menu with lean proteins, veggies, and fats from stuff like olive oil and avocados. Occasional treats okay.

3 - Productivity time. I WFH and have ADHD. The combo is... something. The hours between 7 and 5 on work days must be productive. If I need a brain break, laundry, dishes, etc. If I'm out of things to work on, training. (Actual eating and other legit breaks are okay, just to be clear.)

And bonus - no alcohol for 5 weeks. Not one drop.

Too much?

1/18 -I haven't ordered the garage gym stuff (my biggest anxiety are money related) but I'm still psyching up for it!! I can do this!

Bfast was a 2 egg scramble with salsa, lunch was the rest of the tofu stuff, dinner was canned vegan chili. Accidentally a full vegetarian day

I did a strength workout with bands & dumbbells while daydreaming about my future power rack.

The lever in my toilet tank broke, and my "urgent" maintenance request isn't so urgent I guess so if they don't come by tomorrow, I will I guess be fixing it myself. It's a 9 dollar part 

uh oops I forgot to click submit on this XD