Ravis

Lift and a decent hike with the pup in the books today! Numbers today include today's. Workouts: 6/18 workouts to hit goal. Week #1 goal: complete Lifestyle: Having clear work hours - because of the conference this week, my hours will be extended, but still will be making a point to not work after I close up shop for the day. 5/20 days Week #1 goal: complete Hard stop at 10pm from video games if I have to work the next day. 5/11 Week #1 goal: complete Meal Plan: Stay within macros 90% of the time. This'll be harder to track, so any ideas are welcome! to date: ~95% compliance (had some great indian food with a friend today, but the plate/meal was small, so I made up for estimated macros elsewhere. Worth it though, SO good and I got some quality time with a friend. Week #1 goal: complete

Workouts: 4/18 workouts to hit goal Lifestyle: Having clear work hours - because of the conference this week, my hours will be extended, but still will be making a point to not work after I close up shop for the day. 3/20 days Hard stop at 10pm from video games if I have to work the next day. 4/11 Meal Plan: Stay within macros 90% of the time. This'll be harder to track, so any ideas are welcome! to date: 100% compliance Almost done with this conference and I am wiped. BUT, I got the electrical planning on the house I'm building done yesterday and I have my design group appointment on Monday (and I'm off work on Monday)! So excited!

This has been my project since I was able to add a garage to my lease in July! The full rack came in last week, so I'll be selling the pullup/dip station but it's served me well. Also featuring my pupper, Brax (named after my main D&D character)

As of the end of day 3 and I can already say I've gotten 2 workouts in because of the challenge that I'd have rationalized my way out of, hah. The balancing the conference and my regular job is a bit difficult, but only a few more days. Goals: Workouts: 3/18 workouts to hit goal, will be hitting a cycle class today. Lifestyle: Having clear work hours - because of the conference this week, my hours will be extended, but still will be making a point to not work after I close up shop for the day. 2/20 days Hard stop at 10pm from video games if I have to work the next day. 3/11 Meal Plan: Stay within macros 90% of the time. This'll be harder to track, so any ideas are welcome! to date: 100% compliance. Felt the want to just eat yesterday (cold outside + boredom + available food in my fridge is a terrible combination), but stayed within my programmed macros. Looking forward to DMing tonight. It'll be a shorter session than normal (2 hours as opposed to 3), but I've found if we cancel/postpone, the motivation to prep immediately goes out the window. Also am seeing two friends who are in my bubble on Friday and am very excited - it's been like three weeks since I've been any kind of social. Also also have some meetings about the house I'm building coming up and designing is going to be so much fun! Just can't go overboard with all the fun options because $$$, haha.

Got my cycle class in solely because of this challenge! Was wiped after my conference and work, but got it in! Also, I love pretty data. 45 minute tabata class!

He's passssed out. Which is good he's resting because he was up all night. Also means that I was up all night and am screaming internally while I just want to nap and am on this conference all day.

The "downside" of tracking for the better part of 15 years, I always have a habit of keeping mental track of where my macros are, haha.

Was able break away and get a lift in yesterday! With the way my week is lined up with a conference (virtual) for work, I knew getting that time away was going to be important to succeeding with my goals this week. Goals: Workouts: 1/18 workouts to hit goal, will be hitting a cycle class today. Lifestyle: Having clear work hours - because of the conference this week, my hours will be extended, but still will be making a point to not work after I close up shop for the day. 1/20 days Hard stop at 10pm from video games if I have to work the next day. 1/11 Meal Plan: Stay within macros 90% of the time, but eat intuitively. This'll be harder to track, so any ideas are welcome! to date: 100% compliance Tracking seems a bit....clunky. Any suggestions on how to clean it up a little?

Here for rogue-thicc!

Okay! Official Day 1! Let's do this! I haven't been in the habit of weighing myself the last few months, just been basing a lot off of how I look and feel. While scale weight isn't a useful metric for me this year, it's always interesting to see just what the body does. I don't remember the last time I was sub 195, maybe like a year ago when I was hyper focused on my meal plan and workouts. While I appreciated the way my body performed and looked, that focus came at the expense of any kind of social life - like less than what I have now during a pandemic, and that says a lot. The graph below is from January til now. I was on a bulk plan Oct-Feb, then things slowed down for COVID, but no real gym access from March - late July. Just happy that I am in a place (physically and financially) where I can build out a well-equipped garage gym. I'm still debating today's movement/workout. I am dealing with a sick pup and I really don't want to leave him alone for an hour while I go lift, so I'm leaning towards doing a Peloton class (via the app and my exercise bike, which was a WAY cheaper option, lol). If it warms up, maybe I'll take him out to the garage (detached from my apartment) so he can be outside some. Regardless, going to get that workout in :). Already planned my meals for the day and am looking forward to some chickpea pasta or spaghetti squash depending on if I lift or bike and some stir fry tonight. I did have an email come in last night for work and it's taken all my willpower to not open it this morning and respond (it's non-critical). The weekends are my time. The weekends are my time. The weekends are my time. If I repeat that, I'll believe it, right? lol.

Hey y'all! It's been....a while! Moved to Austin about a year and a half ago and got nice and settled (with a pup!) right before COVID hit. I appreciate the fact that I have more space here than in DC in order for me to be safe. Built out a garage gym that I'm feeling good about, so I'm able to get some good lift sessions and whatnot in there. The last couple months though, I think quarantine/isolation fatigue settled in hard and I've really struggled to find the motivation to walk the three minutes to my garage and stay on track with my meal plan. Thanks to some encouragement from @spezzy, I'm back and happy to refocus and work with everyone to kick some collective ass <3. Goals: Physical: Work out in some form 6 days a week, with minimum 3 days being weight/resistance training. With this, I'd love to lean into my newfound love of cycling and do rides 1-2 times a week. The 6th workout will be in the form of either a lift, ride, or something new (yoga/mobility, a virtual "boot camp", etc.) x/18 workouts to hit goal Lifestyle: Try to put myself back in the habit of having clear/set work hours. I've been 100% remote since mid march and it's been way too easy to be like "Oh, I can respond to this email really quick" no matter what time it comes in. With the holidays coming up, I think this'll be a bit easier, but good practice for however long this full-time WFH thing lasts. x/11 work days in the challenge Hard stop at 10pm from video games if I have to work the next day. This has become more and more of a thing I've done the longer I stay at home and it's creeping into me sleeping later/getting a later start for work/my ability to do a cycle class before work. x/11 work days in the challenge Meal Plan: Stay within macros 90% of the time, but eat intuitively. This'll be harder to track, so any ideas are welcome! DMing: I started DMing a group of 5 players in D&D (5e) back in April. One of the hardest things for me to do is sit down and prep. While we'll only have a couple of sessions during this time frame, I want to outline the general plot and milestones of this campaign. I have an idea, but really have just left it to see where the players go and what they do. I know I can't plan for everything (learned that lesson already) I can at least plot out certain things I want to take them to and what McGuffin's they need to find. I have a lot of ideas and the purpose of this one is to finally get pen to paper. Now if I accomplish all of these goals, I think my loot will be a punching bag for my gym. I grew up doing martial arts and I've missed just having something to wail on for a bit! Last but not least, it's just good to be back! NF was a big part of my life in 2015-2016 and I've made some amazing friendships from it. Looking forward to reengaging with the community ❤️ Now let's get to work!

End of Day 22: I told y'all my count would get screwed up over vacation, hahahahahah. Eating to plan: 39 / 44 / 52 - (current / current available / goal by end of challenge) Lifts: 15 / 16 - apparently, I've REALLY been enjoying having the ability to lift again, hahahaha Cardio: 10 / 12 Physical Therapy: 4 / 4 - AND I've booked it out for the rest of the month! Rehab: 20 / 22 / 28 Personal Training: 3 / 4 - while this has been great and I have my final session today, it's just not a financially viable option for me to continue, BUT I will keep utilizing what I've learned!

End of Day 19: Eating to plan: 33/38 Lifts: 14/ 16 Cardio: 10 / 12 Physical Therapy: 3 / 4 Rehab: 17 / 19 Personal Training: 3 / 4 Austin was absolutely amazing, lots of time with friends and family, but gave myself some recharge/recovery solo time, too. Got some great lifts in Thurs - Sat, a long, gorgeous hike on friday. Fell in love with the area and had such a fantastic time. Yes, I strayed from my eating to plan goal, but honestly, for the experiences I had, it was totally worth it (not something former Ryan would ever say). Now that I'm back from my trip, I'm taking the rest of the day to set the last week up for success. Laundry, meal prep, lots of doing things in my free time today to minimize my chance of falling off plan this week. With a fairly quiet social schedule for the first time since May (excluding the couple of weeks for surgery/initial recovery), I can really put the nose to the grindstone and continue to make progress.

Going to be sparse the next few days, but wanted to get some pre-Austin trip numbers logged [emoji4] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

End of Day 13: Eating to plan: 23/26 - hooooboy, my weekend down in Richmond for my birthday was a lot of fun. Not on track at all, but definitely a blast. This basically means I'll need to go the last weekend of the challenge 100% to plan (which actually won't be hard, but it's just making sure I have a plan in place and I execute it. Lifts: 10 / 16 - I'm seriously loving being back in the gym. It's once again become my sanctuary. I know when I go, I'll always feel better than when I went in. DAT ENDORPHIN RUSH DOE! Cardio: 7 / 12 - Before, I'd think 3 cardio sessions in a week was a lot, but I think I just like having the time to throw something on netflix on my iPad and just go on auto pilot. Pretty much sticking to the elliptical because it's easier to mute out a lot of movement to my shoulder if I just use my legs. Physical Therapy: 2 / 4 Rehab: 12 / 13 - I took yesterday off. My shoulder/bicep was SORE yesterday from the homework my PT told me to do. Did some ROM stuff, but I wanted to listen to my body and let it rest. Personal Training: 2 / 4