OwlBean

Still struggling with sleep, but work has calmed down so the battle has cooled a bit. On track with meal planning and execution. Need to catch up on box jumps 4rEaL. C25K isn't going to happen, but I'm still on pace to be ready for the Rebellion 5K in September. Bright sides all around!

75 more points to The Alliance! I wonder if Jaina Proudmoore will be impressed... <3

TL;DR - I'm starting to suspect that my inability to sleep for more than 3 hours per night is directly related to my food intake, particularly by caloric deficit. Anyone have any experience with this? Backstory: Ok, so I've been an on and off vegan/vegetarian for years. Recently I graduated from grad school, got a solid job, and moved to a solid residence, so I decided to fully commit to veganism once and for all. I have a multitude of reasons, and don't intend to ever go back to meat or dairy or processed food (or leather or animal-tested or...). That being said, over the last several weeks I've noticed a disturbing trend: I cannot sleep more than 3-4 hours at a time. It doesn't matter what time I go to bed. It doesn't matter what I do before bed (I've been shunning all screens at least 45 minutes before, deep breathing, reading the most boring stuff I can find, etc). It doesn't matter if I use a sleep mask and earplugs, or if I don't touch caffeine all day or after 6 hours before bed. Now, I have NO trouble falling asleep. Takes about 30 minutes. HOWEVER... I cannot stay asleep for longer than a MAX of four hours. If I go to bed at 2, I wake up at 6 (latest). If I go to bed at 11:45, it's a miracle if I'm not awake by 4am. Last night I went to bed at 4am (I work nights and have been pulling a lot of overtime), and woke up at 6am. I've talked to my doctor about it; she has given me different sleep aids (two pharma, one natural) to try. None worked. Again, I have no issues falling asleep. Just staying asleep. And it's MADDENING. So I was running out of options, and decided to look into insomnia and veganism -- even though I've never had any issues with a plant-based diet before. Turns out it's not the plant-based diet, but the caloric deficit that comes with it that affects a lot of people's sleep! PRAISE THE UNIVERSE, A POSSIBLE ANSWER. I just discovered this this morning, and have been trying to up my calories today. I'm going to try eating some healthy fats or protein before bed, and bump my caloric intake up about 400-500 cal -- then gradually drop down from there. I'm hoping that if I can start sleeping regularly again, I'll be able to up my workouts a bit too, so I'm not too worried about weight gain; I'll probably gain at first but even out pretty quickly if I do it right. My question is, has anyone out there experienced this before? And what would be the best foods to eat closer to the end of the day to bump up calories without feeling like a giant rock is in my belly? Another problem is I don't have effective hunger signals, not until I get lightheaded and my blood sugar is severely tumbling. I rarely feel HuNgRy MuNgRy. So I'm trying to figure out a way to remember to eat more throughout the day, without resorting to the stupid vending machines that haunt me at work. TIA all! Obligatory creepy insomnia graphic:

Luckily, I really like my job! Because I likely would've told them where to shove it otherwise.

Well, hello there. Sorry I've been absent but I'll go ahead and add 70 pushups for 105 pts to ye olde Alliance. Spread out over three days, of course -- otherwise I'd be a quivering puddle on my bed.

It was great! Week 2 was a nightmare. I've been working 14+ hour days and getting negligible amounts of sleep. Hoping this week will calm down somewhat. I'm still meal planning/prepping, but I don't even know how to go to bed ten minutes earlier when I'm at work until sunrise And yeah those boxjumps took a bit of a backseat. This week looks to be marginally better work-wise, so I intend to take back my life.

Everything is still on track! When I made 10 containers of various salads for the week, I didn't think I would actually eat them all. But the fridge is dwindling and I'm right on target for sticking to the plan! Planning on adding more box jumps tonight during a break at work. Sleep is all screwed up because of work, but I am going to bed 15+ minutes earlier relative to when I get home, so I'm good with that. Once the schedule stabilizes it'll be easier to get a routine going. Haven't done C25K in a few days -- the lack of sleep was making it impossible for me to get a run completed AND complete bodyweight workouts. I finally got some good solid rest last night, so taking advantage of that tonight.

Excellent. I think my form was tip top so maybe he'll be like "Dang, girl"

Awwww thank you so much! I figure if The Raggedy Doctor showed up and told me to run...

Teach me your Wolf Lunge ways! Gratzzz I got in another 50 -- finished work 5 minutes early and lunged away until punchout time. Wonder if the security guard saw me on the cameras....

Oops, I AM doing lunges -- didn't realize the Horde had different moves

First 50 down (come on guys I'm a dwarf hunter, I got short legs and am built for drinking not mountain climbing -- at least that's my excuse) -- gonna try to knock out another 50 after my workout tonight!

So far the run through the forest has been crisp and refreshing! The Doctor's puns are getting a little overbearing, but he seems nice enough. • Logged 10 box jumps so far. I do them at work because there's lots of landscaping curbs and ledges I can use, so just started today. Could be tough with the Ranger mini-challenge, which is lunges this week, but so far so good! • I meal planned and prepped all of my lunches and dinners for the week -- not intentional, my recipes just made way more food than I expected! I just kicked back to a completely plant-based lifestyle, so this was a huge win as far as removing some of the stress from trying to remember what I can and can't eat. Now, I still have to stick to the plan to get the grades, but how hard can it be to grab a container from the fridge in the morning? • I am on Week 2 Day 1 of C25K (I started during zero week to give my self a bit of a cushion in case work gets nutty). It's going well, though I got a crap time last run because my C25K shut off a few times and when I stopped to fix that, Runkeeper was completely unforgiving. I'm getting pretty close to a 14 min mile though, which is awesome considering I'm running an interval program. • Still struggling with sleep, but have hit my earlier-to-bed targets every night, even went to bed 30 mins earlier last night. I just need to figure out how to STAY ASLEEP. The week isn't over yet, but I feel good about the start! ONWARD