Chelsea0270516

Once upon a time I had this stuff under control. As of late I catch myself thinking if only...I had stuck to it...made the healthy choices...had better will power...worked out more. I am going to step away from that line of thinking. Weight gain is just your body giving you feed back. Not personal failure. Dreaming about what once was instead of taking steps to get where you want to be just leads to frustration & self loathing not growth. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone - Quote by Albus Dumbledore Step 1: Board the Hogwarts Express. You sort of start thinking anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Quote by Ginny Weasley Step 2: Do some things! Practice my magic (so to speak), make some friends, and make a stride each day to get me closer to the place I want to call home. I am a little late with this but I am jumping in on the Current challenge & posting what I hope to do. Last week I went on an amazing adventure as a chaperon for my youth group. We went up north & tackled some intense emotional/mental concepts along with some intense physical ones. We ended up climbing through a high ropes course and I was selected to do the "pamper pole" basically it is a telephone pole that you climb up, stand on top of & jump off of to a trapeze bar. I never would have chosen to do this challenge - I always thought it would be hard physically. I never guessed that the difficulty would be purely in my head. After quickly scaling the pole (in my winter gear) I reached the top. The next step would require me to trust the three people holding the belay rope, put my foot on top of the pole & stand up 50 feet above the ground. I couldn't do it. I clung to the pole thinking about the high probability that they would let go & I would fall screaming to my death. I have never had this level of fear before while climbing. I didn't trust the people below. It took me nearly 20 minutes to get over it & stand up. I was only able to do it because one of the crew from the course went over to the belay & "held" on. (I am pretty sure he didn't actually hold it, but just humored me) I don't think I used to have this trust issue. At least I wasn't aware of it before. Which brings me to my first goal: Goal 1: Put more trust in other people. This is vital to my mental health. I need to come up with some very specific things to do, but I am not sure what those are yet. I am open to suggestions Goal 2: Be active 4x per week in a way that makes me sweat. Goal 3: Walk Luna 2-3x per week. Goal 4: Focus on making dinner healthier. 1/2 my meal (or more) must be veggies/fruits. 1/4 lean protein, & 1/4 other stuff like whole grains or starches. (I know not paleo, but I can't imagine giving up my grains yet) Goal 5: Pick one habit each week that I want to have & focus on it for 5 minutes when I come home from work. ie get started. Here is what I think I want to start with. Week 1: Tracking food intake, Week 2: Cleaning as I go, Week 3: Meal Prep, Week 4: Being more social. Rewards: TBD!

My Mission: Treat my body & mind with the respect they deserve so I can become a druid or assassin. Goal 1: Track all food & fluids I eat each day before bed. Tracking makes me more aware & is one of the reasons I was successful in losing 40 pounds to begin with. I need to be consistent with it. A: Every day before bed B: Every day (maybe forgetting until the next day to record something) C: 6/7 days recorded each week D: 5/7 days recorded each week F 4/7 or less recorded each week. (All on avg) STATS: WIS +2 CON +2 A, B, B, D, F, D - On average a C! Which is better than my previous track record. Goal 2: Be active 5/7 days a week for at least 30 minutes per day. I already walk during my break at work - this will just push me to be more consistent with it. A: 5/7 days a week be active 30 minutes B: 4/7 days a week be active 30 minutes, C: 3/7 days a week be active 30 minutes D: 2/7 F 1/7 or less? (all on avg) STATS: STR +1 DEX +1 STA +2 A++, A++, A, A, B, A - on average A! Reward: New Armor! Coming soon! I have to wait until after Christmas because I think I might be getting a pair from my hubby. Side Quest: Spend time practicing my religion outside of services. *5/7 days per week. Reward: Mental rejuvenation! STATS: WIS + 1 CON + 1 A, A, A, A, A, A - This was vague enough that I did manage to make it happen! Side Quest: Find local rock climbing wall. Reward: Get to go rock climbing! A++ I found a "local" climbing gym (about an hour and a half away) and a local climbing club that meets in the summer - I am pumped to go climbing with them. I haven't made a trip to the gym I found yet, but I plan on doing so sometime after the holidays. I am going to go rock climbing around new years at a youth retreat I am chaperoning so that will be fun! I feel like I have learned a lot & gotten into some significantly better habits during this challenge. For the next challenge I am definitely going to get a little more specific and give my self more goals to work on. That way if I can switch focuses each week & keep my self mentally engaged. I want to increase the difficulty of what my physical activity goals are so I have a definite reason to go to the gym or walking or whatever.

"Morning me" is starting to loose power. I don't know that I will exercise early in the morning, but I have been getting up earlier & packing better lunches! Some fun transitions are happening - I am eating more "whole" foods. 2 meals a day & all my snacks fall under the little to no processing category. I cut out sweet n low (which had been a daily use item for me in my coffee). I like this. We are also making sure that there is "some green stuff" (aka veggies &/or fruit) on our dinner plates most of the time. That's not to say we don't forget or miss occasionally, but our meals look so much healthier. I have been pretty good about tracking my food during the week & I haven't felt stressed about it. I need to remember to do it on the weekend, but the way I am choosing my food I am not too worried because even if I am eating a bunch it is stuff like grape tomatoes, a handful of nuts, an apple, etc. My side quests are coming along well - daily devotionals have been happening most of the time. I found a local group who does rock climbing in my town. (One of my family friends built a 3 story rock climbing wall on their farm & they have a group who climbs when the weather permits-I joined their FB group & can't wait till the first climb!) I have been playing the games at Youth group which gets me into the sweaty activity range for at least 30 minutes every Sunday. I just need to get a few more days in with this. Anyone else loose motivation for physical activity in the winter?

If you haven't already - you should look in the resources section of the website. There is a TON of helpful stuff there to get you started. I always start with walking - sounds lame, but walking is easy to convince myself to do. Plus you can listen to books & podcasts while you walk. I am partial to the Demonic robot - that sounds great! Did you make the tables or find them? I'd be interested to see them.

Kat! I found you! Eating the right serving size is hard the first few weeks - once your belly & brain recognize the size it does get easier though! I am pumped to see you Wednesday!

I did get up to go on the walk, but it was super cold & dark so the walking didn't happen. I am still counting it a success because I made it out of bed! Tracking is going better! I am writing everything down in a little book I carry with me. Its simple & I like that. I am not recording qty very strictly, but I'm trying to stick to serving sizes. That and whole food. I like the idea of paleo-ish eating. I am shooting for my breakfast & lunch to fall into this category. I've started trying to use almonds/real food in place of 100 calorie snacks/processed food & so far so good. I have also cut out soda & sweeteners. (I may have an occasional soda but it is no longer an every day drink for me). Physically I feel a little different (in a good way). My crashes & cravings aren't as big or bad. I am not as bloated as I had been. I feel like I am in control of what I am eating rather than my food is in control of me. I haven't gotten on the scale since Friday but I like to give myself a week for any fluctuations to work their way out.

So that tracking thing................... I am going to own this. It hasn't been happening. I need to get back on it - I know I can do it. I know that when I do it I have the ability to see what I am eating in a broad sense so I can say no (and yes) to treats and higher calorie foods knowing that the answer I pick will keep me on the right path. I commit before the Internets to keep hustling at my quests. To keep my outlook positive - even if I am having failures. I commit to not letting one mistake throw my whole week off balance. I commit to only counting activity that makes me sweat. I commit to love my body - regardless of how my pants feel. Step 1: step on the scale tonight after work. (I have been chicken to do so after the last jump in weight) Step 2: Step on the scale again just in case it was wrong the first time. Step 3 Celebrate that I stepped on the scale! (No mourning over the number, but definitely celebrating through interpretative dance with my cat. Cat doesn't care what I weigh as long as I feed him!) Step 4: Take the dog outside & run her for 30 minutes (Running with her so I get the sweaty thing. Plus side if we are in my backyard there is a light so I can do that at night) Step 5: Make a dinner that has more veggies than anything else. Grilled asparagus, sliced oranges, lean meat - not sure what yet. Step 6: Eat meal at table with no distractions. Step 7: Reward good behavior with playing Fallout 4!! BUT set alarm to remind myself to stop playing or I will stay up too late and fail at step 8. Step 8: Start Friday off on a good foot: Get up at 6am & walk the dog. I MAY DIE FROM BEING AWAKE SO EARLY. So I told my hubby to bug me if I don't get up - I hope morning me isn't mad at over zealous me for volunteering myself for this torture. (I may be a little dramatic, but you haven't met morning me. She doesn't speak our language or understand that normal me wants to be up earlier to make mornings easier. All she understands is that the blankets are fluffy, the pillows are comfy, and if you are trying to talk her out of bed she will fight you until the exact last minute that she can remain in bed & still make it out the door on time.)

Did you come up with this method or is it based on something? It looks really easy to follow. (much easier than physically writing out all the minute details which is what I have been doing (or at least trying to do).

Just writing down what you eat? I am thinking of switching to that instead of what I currently do.

Do you guys track what you eat?

Ditto!!!!! The first three gyno's I went to (all female) were fairly rude & didn't seem interested in helping me with the issues I had. I finally ended up going to my general practitioner & asking him for help. He at least wanted to answer my questions.

I am sorry about your Mom! That is hard. My grandma went through it... If you ever want to talk I have an affinity for listening. It is crazy awesome that you had such a great Thanksgiving though! I had 2 dinners to go to and both had a variety of delicious things that I had to try Congrats on the dead lift! I say good call on not pushing it too far. I tend to do the over doing thing too and then hurt myself & can't workout for a while...

That stinks!!!! I had a bunch of unhelpful lady doctors - I totally feel for you! Having bad information/lack of appropriate help is super annoying. I've tried the whole BC thing and it makes my life infinity worse. To the point that by the time I am done with trying it takes a few years before I think it can't have been as bad as I thought it was. Last time I took BC I lost it at work over something that shouldn't have been an issue, sobbed uncontrollably for over an hour (I was a secretary at my job & greeted people and of course this happened during the busiest time of the day :/ ), and had more ferocious anger than I have ever had in my life. I am a little loath to go down that path again - especially since I am in a situation now where getting pregnant wouldn't be a world ender, it would just speed up the already existing plan. Previous versions just made my emotions a little more unstable & led to a bit of depression/weight gain. Once the holidays are over & life slows down I think I may talk to my doctor & see if there is anything happening that can be helped. Have you talked to your doc?

Take all the time you need!!!

You were right. It dropped down 2 pounds over night which was kind of funny since that happened before Thanksgiving. I'm still looking at the whole making a more definitive plan for what food I am willing to put in my body. I keep thinking about the post Steve did that basically said - you already know what is healthy. Stop eating the stuff that isn't.