NeuroPunkNonsense

Squats are love. 😜 So is consistency.

Sad but true. I'm only 31 and I already have a cholesterol problem. Given that my maternal grandmother had a heart attack a few years back and that my paternal grandfather died of one this year I'm taking it seriously. My doctor told me there were two main things I could do to lower it naturally: 1) eat fewer animal fats, and 2) walk everyday. I've come back for the accountability as well as the camaraderie. My life has changed pretty massively over the past couple years but especially in the previous six months. I finally succumbed to a burnout that I spent five years working though. Now I haven't worked since the end of April and I was only just approved for disability income. It's a whole thing that I'll probably get into at some point but I already feel like I'm rambling so I'm going to stop. I have two goals for this challenge. Goal 1 - Eat Well: I will eat at least two plant-based dinners per week. Additionally, for my animal-based meals I will cut back on animal fats by trimming the meat or buying leaner options. I will also attempt to increase my fiber intake by tracking some of my daily sources of dietary fiber. Goal 2 - Walk Tall: I will walk for 30 minutes daily. If I don't go for a walk I am allowed to sub in an alternate 30 minutes of something else that counts as exercise (ie. when I muck out the horses for my landlords that's 30 minutes of labour - as it combines strength and cardio it counts). That's it. Hopefully I can stick to it and when I have my next blood test in a little less than a year my levels will have gone down and I won't have to worry so much about the family history of heart attacks.

So...some mental health stuff in the spoiler.

I have brought lunch to work every day this week so that's 3 points total in the nutrition category. Hammered out a squat progression. Wasn't sure where I was at so I started with deep squats and achieved the 3 sets of 8 benchmark to move on so next it'll be Bulgarian split squats. 1 point for my workout goal.

So yesterday I packed up 3 large garbage bags and took them all to the dump. Gunna give myself 4 points for that. I also tackled my mountain of dishes. Didn't get them all done but did a good chunk. I'll allocate 2 points for that. I also showered this morning so 1 point for that. Adding on yesterday's positive that brings my mindset goal up to 8. I'm bringing a lunch with me to work today so that's 1 point in the nutrition column. Workout goal to follow. I have plans to work on my squat progressions after work.

Today's positive is getting back on track.

Why Do The Things? Workout Be strong easier to do physical things (ie. less trips when bringing groceries in) help friends and family (ie. moving furniture, opening jars, etc.) Slim down less trouble breathing feel better about my body Feel better better sleep improved mental health Nutrition Slim down less trouble breathing feel better about my body Develop a healthy relationship with food no binging or bored/sad/lonely eating eat things that make me feel good (ie. freggies) Know what I'm putting in my body increase homemade meals decrease fast and junk food Mindset Feel better better sleep improved mental health Reclaim hobbies reading fibre arts cooking

Woof. Rough start this challenge. Not much has happened in the past two weeks aside from work stress. In an attempt to take better care of myself I have given my two weeks notice at my cooking job. Been having nothing but problems at it and decided the my mental health is worth more than $15/hour. Now. Challenge stuff. I realized I haven't been invested because I've been viewing my goals as chores. Things I have to do but have no real motivation to complete. So I'm going to rewind a little and write down a list of reasons why each of them matter to me. Hopefully that'll give me the boost I need to tackle them for the last half of the challenge.

It and week two didn't. More to follow.

Haven't been keeping track as well as I could. As of today my points are probably as follow. Workout Goal: 2 points Nutrition Goal: 3 points Mindset Goal: 6 points

The issue is I like a clean space. When I'm in a state of good mental health it's easy to maintain. However, it's been more than a year since I'd categorize myself as in 'good mental health' and as a result a lot of trash and dirt etc. has built up. Which worsens my mental health. It's a cycle with no winners.

Big Mood.

Wonderful!

Managed to do some reading last night and some cleaning up today (bag of garbage, bag of food waste, and 3 trips to the recycling bin).

Hello! Good to see you both.

Very true. Thank you for this reminder. Saw it here on the forums ages ago and it always struck a chord.

Thank you. Options are nice especially because perfectionism lends itself so well to procrastination. Also more options means, hopefully, fewer excuses.

I was intrigued by the title - rightfully so. Love this challenge.

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Following for more Alanna awesomeness.

Same honestly. Here to cheer you on!

New challenge here:

Last challenge taught me that I need to be more flexible with my goals and with myself. Between two jobs, with changing hours and responsibilities, and the mental illness double whammy of depression and anxiety it’s not always possible for me to stick to a rigid challenge structure. However, I think it’s very important to keep striving for small improvements especially when the large ones seem out of reach. After all - anything worth doing well is worth doing poorly. As such I’ve changed up this week's challenge. For each of my three goals (workout, nutrition, mindset) I have to earn a set amount of points. These points can be earned a number of ways with no cap on how many I can earn a day. This means I could spread them out across the week (optimal) or jam them all into one or two days (suboptimal but allowable). This way I (theoretically) won’t be beating myself up for not strictly adhering to my challenge schedule. The number of points I need for each goal, and the ways to earn the points, are listed below. All activities are worth 1 point unless otherwise specified. Workout Goal - 7pts/week Go for a walk (can be to end of driveway) Do a dynamic warm up Work on squat progressions Spend an hour at the gym (2pts) Nutrition Goal - 7pts/week No snacking after 7 pm Bring lunch to work Cook dinner (rather than getting takeout) Successful use of Distraction Tea Mindset Goal - 14pts/week Daily positive Hygiene (ie. brushing/flossing, shower, wash face and moisturize, at-home pedicure) 15+ minute meditation Domestic Rangering (ie. take out trash/recycling/compost, clean up cans/bottles, sweep, gardening, dishes, cleaning litter box, doing/folding/putting away laundry, cleaning bathroom/kitchen/living area/sleeping area/entrance way, organizing bookshelf) Reading I will score myself weekly as follows: <50% - Poor 50% - Okay 51-75% - Good 76-100% - Great >100% - Fantastic

Yeah, I plan on trying to keep up with the daily positives. It's something I can struggle with so its probably worth doing lol What I get from the forums is support and accountability. I'll probably switch to posting two to three times a week next challenge but we'll see. Haven't quite decided how I'm going to track my progress but I'm leaning towards a paper method. Maybe I'll stick it to the fridge so I have to see it everyday.

Overall I did well with my mindset goal. Both my nutrition and workout goals need improvement. This challenge taught me that I need to keep things a little more flexible to account for unexpected work changes. Also I need to figure out a better way to report my progress because logging in to post everyday was a bit of a hassle.

Week 5 Day 7 WG (0/5): No walk. NG (5/7): No food after 7:30. MG (7/7): Managed to work past my anxiety (which was acting up today) and got through the day in fairly good spirits.