evolution

Much better yesterday! Hit all my nutritional goals and had a good strength workout. This weekend I'll have a lot of good family time. Keep moving forward!

Arrgghhh - yesterday sucked and I rationalized eating some garbage I shouldn't have so I'm frusturated with myself but will focus on letting go of that and focusing on doing it right today. Big 'ol 0% for me yesterday.

Good day overall yesterday - I stuck to my nutrition plan well by stopping non fruit/veg carbs after 6pm and by not eating after 8:30. I wasn't able to get a workout in or get any 1:1 time because both of my kids had open houses for the new school year so we were busy with that. Today I'll stay the course with my nutrition and try to make some progress on my other two goals.

I've been having trouble with my goal of stopping all carbs at 6pm and I think I need to tweak that goal going forward. I've really been cleaning up my food a lot overall, but I have been having a portion of fruit after dinner but before my cutoff time of 8:30. Ideally, I wouldn't be having any carbs at all during that time period, including fruit, but I also realize that grapes or an apple aren't the issue and if I replace candy and crackers and chips with fruit that is a good first step and big improvement. That being the case, from this point forward my goal is going to be no white sugar, grains, flour, starch, potatoes, or corn after 6pm, but fruit will be ok and of course veggies are too. If I get myself off the more damaging carbs during the course of this challenge, maybe during the next one I can drop fruit too if I need to, but I don't want to set myself up to fail by attempting do change it all at once. With that in mind, yesterday was a good day - I cut out the non fruit and veg carbs after 6pm and stopped eating at 8:30. Today I have a super busy day but I want to squeeze in a workout if at all possible, but if I can't then I'll just make sure to adhere to my nutritional goals which are much more important to support the changes I want to make in my life. I'll spend some 1:1 screenless time with my kids too.

Yesterday I had an amazingly hard workout mountain biking because I went with a group who are all way above my skill level. I liked the first half of the ride, hated the second half, and love that I accomplished it and pushed my limits far past where I thought they were. I also spent some good screenless 1:1 time with my family in the afternoon, but my nutrition absolutely fell apart because my body was so beat up from the workout I was starving all day, craving carbs and sugar, and what seemed like a good excuse. I know better and will do better today in that regard.

I think that's a great way to look at it - when it comes down to it, parenting is really about providing structure, boundaries, and advice to help kids become better versions of themselves and that's exactly what I'm trying to do here too.

I had a great run yesterday and today am going mountain biking with a group of friends, so it's a nice active weekend. I had a lot of good family time yesterday too and will make it a point to have some this afternoon when I get back from biking. On the bad side, I did horrible with both food goals and need to pull myself back on track today and knock off the excuses.

My wife eats super clean and limits sugars and carbs all the time so it's easy in that regard, but my kids are on the thin side so they eat carbs and such. That does make it a bit harder because the house will still have the stuff around and I'll need to just be disciplined to avoid it rather than simply not having it around. My wife and I have always cooked foods for the week on Sunday that are pretty clean, my problem is what I eat around and/or in addition to those meals. For example, today we'll make veggie soup, 3 roasted chickens, a whole bunch of steamed broccoli, wash a half dozen apples, and portion out almonds into little baggies. Then we both eat that every day for the week and next week we can change some things up. We don't expect the kids be that repetitive so they get fruit, veggie, and a protein and carb for dinner that varies every night (fruit and veg are the same all week for them too though). They have typical snacks and treats around though, ice cream, crackers, etc. So I'm not solo but the whole family isn't as strict as I am wanting to be either, in between.

I did good yesterday not eating after 8:30, and I had a great strength workout. I didn't stop carbs at 6 as I planned on though, so I need to tighten that up.

Yesterday went pretty well, had some great time with the family, stopped any starches at 6, and stopped eating at 8:30. Strength workout coming up today!

Yesterday I did a good job of not eating carbs after 6 and not eating after 8:30. Today I'm getting some family time and tomorrow I'll do a strength workout. So far so good!

This is my second challenge, my first just wrapped up and I'm glad I did it and moderately pleased with the results. During my last challenge, I did great on one of my goals, fair on another, and lousy on a third and fourth. This time I'll update some as needed and keep moving forward! Here are my goals for the next 4 weeks: Diet No sugar, grains, or fruit after 6PM No eating after 8:30PM Fitness Do ten strength workouts over the course of the next challenge Life Spend one screenless hour 1:1 with each of my kids each week, outside of our normal activities

Day 36 - good morning with no time wasters, I stopped eating at 8:30, but I had some carbs I shouldn't have after 7 and postponed my workout to today. Today I'll get the workout in come hell or high water!

Day 35 - mornings are going great, I had a good workout, stopped carbs at 7 and stopped eating at 8:30 - good day!

Day 34 - still doing great in the mornings, and I stopped eating at 8:30 like I should, although I didn't stop carbs at 7 like I should. I had a great workout though!

Day 33 - I had to postpone my planned workout but it was a legit reason and not an excuse so that stuff happens I guess. I didn't eat after 8:30 but I'm still having a hard time with stopping carbs after 7. Not wasting time in the AM is going great!

Day 32 - better yesterday, had a focused morning with no distractions and stopped eating at 8:30. I still need to get a lot better at cutting my carbs at 7 like I'm supposed to. My next workout is today and it's going to be great!

Day 31 - good morning with no distractions and in the afternoon I got my workout in that wanted to. The evening wasn't so good because I ate carbs and later than I should have - on the plus side after some reflecting it seems that if I have even a little bit of sugar it kicks off this cycle of craving more and I find it REALLY hard to stop. I'm much better off with a zero tolerance in that regard since it doesn't seem I'm effectively able to moderate that.

Day 30 - better yesterday, today I need to keep up with my nutritional commitments and get a good workout in.

Day 29 - I really sucked yesterday and am disappointed in myself, I only achieved my morning goal and completely fell apart on all the others. I'm going to try and figure out what triggered the self-implosion and make today different so I don't feel shitty like this tomorrow. Aaarrgghh!!

Day 28 - I avoided the morning time wasters and didn't eat after 8:30, but had carbs after 7. I did have a great workout though so I think it was a pretty good albeit imperfect day. Certainly a lot better than the at the start of the challenge, so I'm happy about that.

Day 27 - once again I avoided the time wasters, but I didn't do so hot with the rest, having had some junk in the evening so today I grind on and do better.

Good advice Bookish, thanks! Day 26 was better - I avoided my time wasters (this is getting easy), I had a good cardio workout, and I stopped eating at 8:30 like I'm supposed to. However, I didn't stop carbs at 7pm like my goal says, I ended up having some fresh cherries so it wasn't the best move but could have been a lot worse. I feel a lot more on track today and stepped on the scale this morning to happily see that I haven't gained any weight from where I was prior to my vacation so I was happy and surprised to see that. Onward and upward the grind continues!

Day 25 - I brought good foods to eat in the park yesterday for lunch but we ended up staying there hours longer than I planned on and I ended up doing pretty shitty from that point forward. Ugghh. Frustrated with myself for continually repeating the same behaviors that keep me stuck and miserable.

Day 24 - I avoided my morning time wasters but blew the rest of my goals again. Today I'm taking my daughter and her friend to an amusement park a couple hours away and we'll be there all day so I'm going to do my best and I'm even attempting to sneak in some healthy outside food they don't allow. The hard part will be sitting with them while they're eating what will likely be pizza and fries and whatnot and not having any - I'll view it as my challenge for the day, my chance to prove myself, be victorious, and grow stronger with every good decision. Time to prepare for the battle!