Emerald Eagle

16 hours ago, TheGreyJedi-Ranger said:

Here to cheer you on!!

Welcome! 

Week 1 - Wednesday

Today was taken up with an huge burst of motivation to get my life in order and that started with the house. I think my 8 month old Bub thought I'd gone mad with the vacuuming, mopping, dishes, 3 loads of washing and piles of filing. It felt really good to have a semi-clean and organised space (in our tiny house bursting at the seams with stuff there is only so much organisation it can handle). After Bub was in bed I tried to tackle my life admin online and felt like I hit roadblocks at every turn. I'm now waiting for a copy of some government documents (damn name changes!) before I can progress much else. 

Water was on point, food was fine, no workout as I focused on life things - will definitely get one in tomorrow! All in all a pretty good day.

Hi Friends! Back again with another challenge attempt. I am notoriously (at least to myself) bad at FINISHING challenges, so by hell or high water I will finish this challenge. My life is in a bit of transition, I only have 12 weeks left of maternity leave before I'm due back at work (eep!) and I really need to use that time to get my house in order (figuratively and literally) so that I can juggle working, parenting, being a wife, maintaining some semblance of social connections, and not falling into a face full of chocolate. 

So, healthy habits it is! I know it is slightly counter intuitive but for me it all starts with movement. If I workout or at least move in some meaningful way, then all the other healthy habits (eating, sleeping, stretching etc) just happen so much easier. My brain thinks "you worked out today, so you should fuel yourself with healthy things and get to bed on time" (why it doesn't think you fuelled yourself with healthy things so now you should go and work out" I don't know! Psychology, you are not my forte).

GOALS -

1. MOVE - 6 days a week, do some intentional movement. Ideally at least 4 of these are Crossfit workouts but for now not specifically tracking that.

2. WATER - breastfeeding Mummas need to drink all the water! Min 2L per day. 

3. MEAT and VEGGIES - every meal needs to include this, it's not that hard! 

4. LIFE - random list of life things I need to achieve, this goal will I've adapted each week depending on the focus of the week. Examples include applying for child care places for Bub, meeting with my employer as part of get back to work planning, (re) setup the home office that was packed down to create the nursery etc.

Let's do this!

On 2/4/2021 at 1:44 PM, Elastigirl said:

Bad Chrome.😝Did you get the deck done? How's the last week of the challenge going?

The deck is amazing! A few finishing projects to get done but it's functioning and solid. We've already had multiple family dinners out on it in the cool summer evenings, divine! 

Another challenge, another drop off in the last week 

The last week went well...I think. I definitely got the things done I needed for my other challenge (yes, I was doing 2 challenges concurrently because free loot was offered in the other one OK!). Going to try again in this month's challenge. Here goes nothing! 

I just typed out an update and then Chrome ate it  Heading to bed and I'll try and retype it in the morning.

On 1/25/2021 at 11:01 AM, Elastigirl said:

I would melt in that heat! Are you getting a new deck? A new deck is such a great addition to the house

On 1/26/2021 at 1:44 AM, Fonzico said:

Ooof, I couldn't take 40° heat! We might get a day or two around 35 degrees here in the summer, and it kills me! Like if I could have mid teens to twenties all the time, I'd be happy. 

 

 

Glad to hear the deck project is going well! Poor bub though...

You get used to the heat, you just have to be smart about it. I couldn't handle snow and negative degree temperatures because I've never had to! My two European holidays in the winter were an experience!

The deck project went really well. We were replacing an old deck off the back of house (same exact layout so that we don't have to get new permits, it's technically "repairing" by replacing every single piece of wood it's made of ). By the end of the long weekend thy had managed to lay about 2/3 of the new decking boards. Hubby is working on laying the rest when he gets home from work in the evenings. By the end of this weekend we should have a fully functional space again! Unfortunately Bub continued to not enjoy the construction noises and was very clingy the whole time.

Week 4 - Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday

Nutrition: 
Grocery Shop and Meal Prep: □ 

Protein & Veggies/Fruit x 3: ☑□☑□□□□

2L Water: ☑□☑□□□□

Movement:

Rehab: ☑□□□

Crossfit: ☑□□□

Community:

Thread Update: ☑□□□□

Comment: □□□

So on top of my crazy deck building weekend my period started on Monday  This is only the second one I've had since Bub was born and far out I forgot how crappy it is! I've just felt bleurgh for days and subsequently been stuffing junk food in my mouth and not working out. Monday and Tuesday I justified a lot because we were way off routine and I was just coping with feeding the troops and managing an unhappy Bub, but I still didn't make good choices when I could have. I've been reflecting that this is often what knocks me off course and it I let it could be a serious stumbling block; instead I've made a really conscious effort today to do better. I got a workout in, have eaten much more normal (for me) meals and currently have a roast pork in the oven that will make delicious dinner and give me some protein leftovers for lunches in the next few days.

Water and rehab are an ongoing problem - I'm just not getting them done! I don't have any good ideas for how to get better at drinking water (feel free to give me yours!) but for the rehab I think I'm going to start doing it every day immediately after Bub's bath and bed routine. While Hubby is upstairs putting her to bed the first thing I'll do is my rehab. Hopefully having it locked into a place in the day will make it harder to have excuses and easier to get done. 

But hey, on the plus side I've made it to Week 4 of a challenge - that definitely hadn't happen the last couple of times I tried to get back on the wagon. Yay for the small wins!

On 1/24/2021 at 4:35 AM, Fonzico said:

Juggling act indeed! New deck is exciting though!

 

What are your food plans for the weekend? It's freaking cold here, so we're all casseroles and soup haha but I could stand some summer dreaming!

It is exciting! It was a project we wanted to get done before Bub arrived but here we are. So far the rebuild is going really well. They're well on track with 2 days to go. So far we've had hotdogs one day and burgers the other. Today I'm doing steak and veggie kebabs with some salads. We've also been eating a lot of summer fruit, cherries, watermelon, grapes, and mangoes! And a few icy poles  but it's been 37+ (98 in American) and today is meant to be 40+ (104 in American)! 

Week 3 - Friday, Saturday & Sunday

Nutrition: 
Grocery Shop and Meal Prep: ☑ 

Protein & Veggies/Fruit x 3: ☑☑☑☑☑☑□

2L Water: □☑☑☑☑□☑

Movement:

Rehab: ☑☑□□

Crossfit: ☑☑☑☑

Community:

Thread Update: ☑☑☑☑□

Comment: ☑☑☑

This shows me why I need to update my challenge thread regularly as I'm struggling to remember what happened only a couple of days ago! I know on Friday I got a dumbbell workout done and Bub and I went grocery shopping to stock up for this weekend's deck building project. Saturday was a big day, they demolished the whole old deck and dug all the new stump holes ready for reconstruction. Poor Bub did not enjoy the bashing and crashing or the endless sounds of power tools. By the end of the day I was wrecked but I knew I needed to get one more workout in for my challenge so while dinner was in the oven I dragged myself outside and did a workout in the cool summer evening. Sunday was more of the same but I was running out of energy thanks to the heat and caring for a Bub who was also struggling with the weather. By Sunday night I had run out of puff so we ordered pizza for dinner.  

I hope your meetings went OK! We have a long weekend here too. What are your plans?

Happy Belated Level Up! I am jealous of your ribs for dinner. Yum! Seems like you have some nice momentum going on your challenge  

On 1/20/2021 at 10:52 PM, Rhovaniel said:

Oh, that's awful about the phone lines and such. But your talk of BBQs and summer weather has me just a little green!

It was pretty frustrating, and also made me realised how privileged I am to have access to the technology every day and how much I take it for granted!

The weather has been amazing recently (not trying to rub it in, I swear!), trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

The internet is back!!!

Time to catch up with everything I've missed, on the forums and everywhere else.

Week 3 - Wednesday & Thursday

Nutrition: 
Grocery Shop and Meal Prep: ☑ 

Protein & Veggies/Fruit x 3: ☑☑☑☑□□□

2L Water: □☑☑☑□□□

Movement:

Rehab: ☑□□□

Crossfit: ☑☑□□

Community:

Thread Update: ☑☑☑□□

Comment: ☑□□

OK, so a few things have dropped off a bit, partially because of the lack of connectivity and maybe slightly because I've been using that as an excuse to slack off (oops!). Even though I've been doing this rehab for weeks I couldn't possibly do it without the video to follow 🙄 No more excuses, it gets done today! Other stuff has legitimately not happened, such as commenting on other people's challenges - hoping to catch up on what's been happening while Bub is asleep this afternoon.

Food has been fairly good, I been snacking a bit but the core meals have been meeting my goal. I got the horrendous burpee workout done and it was just as bad as I thought it would be.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKQzlExgtRj/

Everything else has been about prepping for this weekend. It's a controversial public holiday (founding of white Australia that completely ignores the fact we have 40,000 years of Indigenous history before white settlers arrived) that as a family we don't celebrate but Hubby does have the day off so we are planning to tackle rebuilding the back deck over 4 days. My primary roles are to keep Hubby on track without stepping on toes and keeping everybody fed and watered (it's meant to get HOT this weekend). Plus not eat like an a**hole, try and get at least one more workout done and care for Bub. I'll let you know how the juggling act goes!

On 1/20/2021 at 8:31 PM, Endor said:

Phone line down and burpees in the same day, gee you must have stepped in something!

Haha it sometimes feels like that!

On 1/18/2021 at 10:26 PM, Endor said:

Men are hopeless, me included! I'm trying to improve on this sort of stuff,  it is hard to accept criticism sometimes but he does need to be told.  You might get a ffs just give me one weekend off or he might take it on the chin and pull his socks up. Either way i expect you'll feel better talking it over rather than holding resentment.  Well done on the nutrition and exercise,  seems like you're building some momentum,  keep at it! 

Thank you for this! We had a quick conversation and it went fairly well. I got a thank you for what I did and that made feel a lot better. Makes me feel like I should keep communicating!

Week 3 - Tuesday

Nutrition: 
Grocery Shop and Meal Prep: ☑ 

Protein & Veggies/Fruit x 3: ☑☑□□□□□

2L Water: □☑□□□□□

Movement:

Rehab: □□□□

Crossfit: ☑□□□

Community:

Thread Update: ☑☑□□□

Comment: ☑□□

Yesterday started with a bang (literally). Our garbage truck hit the phone line that runs from our power pole to our house, ripping it down and leaving us without a home phone line and therefore no home internet either. Unfortunately we have patchy phone reception at our property because of it's location in a valley. I'm currently typing this update sitting in the car park of our local supermarket while tethered to my phone. OK, good points from yesterday - absolutely smashed my water goal, got my grocery shopping done, at well. Updates may be spotty until the technician comes out to reconnect us to the network on Friday. Until then I'm hoping to use this disconnected time to really enjoy the time with Bub, get out in the beautiful summer weather, and do my workouts. I'm meant to be doing a burpee workout today that I'm slightly terrified of, but I have to get it done. I'll let you know how I go!

Your camper makes me feel very nostalgic, it's very similar to my family's from when I was a kid! I hope you can make lots of happy memories in it. How old are your kids? Are they going to be OK sharing one of the beds? My sister and I were OK initially but as we got older one of us (normally me) ended up on a blow up mattress on the floor.

Yes! A fridge full of good food and some accessible on-plan snacks sounds like a great plan. 

That sounds like an amazing weekend! I do love being the chipper one around a bunch of hungover friends who are feeling sorry for themselves. Avoiding sugar and alcohol would be too much for me to handle, I'd need a soft drink to be in that kind of social situation.

40 minutes ago, Yasha92 said:

Monday: I’m just over here kicking butts.

Love this intro and loving everything about this update! Great work. Keep smashing it!

Also, I've been loving the laundry drying weather - and also that my tiny house is not covered in clothes horses! 

2 hours ago, Rhovaniel said:

I can't and won't give up now. Maybe I just pushed a little too hard. I have been getting a few PBs lately. Who PBs on an 'easy run'? 

 

I really like this attitude! Rest, continue to stretch and take care of your body, and give it another go. You can do it!

Week 3 - Monday

Nutrition: 
Grocery Shop and Meal Prep: ☑ 

Protein & Veggies/Fruit x 3: ☑□□□□□□

2L Water: □□□□□□□

Movement:

Rehab: □□□□

Crossfit: ☑□□□

Community:

Thread Update: ☑□□□□

Comment: □□□

Biggest focus of today was getting the grocery shopping done - the cupboard was getting very bare yesterday but now that I'm on mat leave I loathe going to the shops on the weekend, particularly with the plague going around and people's general lack of adherence to both the face covering and personal space guidelines. I love how bubbly and friendly Bub is, though it means everyone we walk past at the shops stops to talk to her (and some of them pull their mask down to smile at her *sigh*). The cupboards are now full again, and dinner as well as some protein options are in the oven as we speak. 

Hubby is off at training with his volunteer firefighting brigade so with Bub in bed and food in the oven I was bored and endlessly scrolling the internet and decided, "Stuff It, I'm going to work out!" One ascending ladder of dumbbell movements later my body was tired and my spirit was high. It felt really good to move and not just sit on my butt.

Now to eat dinner, do some rehab and stretching, and head to bed at a reasonable hour!

Week 2 Summary

Nutrition: 
Grocery Shop and Meal Prep: ☑ 

Protein & Veggies x 2: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑

Movement:

Rehab: ☑☑☑☑

Crossfit: ☑☑☑/☑

Community:

Thread Update: ☑☑☑☑☑/☑

Comment: ☑☑☑/☑

Another week where I ticked all the boxes, but it felt a lot harder than it should have some days (maybe I'm tainted by this weekend? It's felt hard). Still happy to have so many ticked boxes and I continue to appreciate having the accountability of tracking things here. 

Goal Adjustments

For Week 3-5 of this challenge I'm going to modify my goals slightly to align with another challenge that I'm doing with others in the online program I'm following. 

• Adjusting nutrition goal to be 3 meals with protein, at least 2 with veggies, at least 1 with fruit
• Adding a goal of 2L of water per day
• Upping workouts from 3 per week to 4 per week

New tracking template looks like this:

TEMPLATE

Nutrition: 
Grocery Shop and Meal Prep: □ 

Protein & Veggies/Fruit x 3: □□□□□□□

2L Water: □□□□□□□

Movement:

Rehab: □□□□

Crossfit: □□□□

Community:

Thread Update: □□□□□

Comment: □□□

Week 2 - Sunday

Nutrition: 
Grocery Shop and Meal Prep: ☑ 

Protein & Veggies x 2: ☑☑☑☑☑☑☑

Movement:

Rehab: ☑☑☑☑

Crossfit: ☑☑☑/☑

Community:

Thread Update: ☑☑☑☑☑/☑

Comment: ☑☑☑/☑

Today went OK, I got the things done that I needed to but it felt a lot harder than it needed to be. Hubby wanted a sleep in this morning (that's what happens when you get home drunk at 1.30am 🙄) so I was on parent duty again. Managed to get some laundry done (mainly Hubby's work clothes so that he has something clean to wear to work tomorrow, because I knew if I didn't do it, it wouldn't get done) and some stretching while entertaining the 7 month old. I ate a very weird but technically 'balanced' breakfast of deli meat, some veggie sticks and fruit. I then did some meal prep and cleaned up the kitchen before a visit from my Mother in Law. There's a lot to unpack here, I'll just say she is very passive aggressive about a number of topics including our level of house-keeping, the snacks we (read I) eat, the developmental stages Bub is at v where she "should be". I felt on edge the whole time and finally sent her and Hubby to take Bub and the pup for a walk while I finished off my meal prep and honestly just had a break. After she left Hubby took Bub upstairs for an afternoon nap and I finally got a workout in. After bath time I put Bub to bed while Hubby (reluctantly) cooks spag bol for dinner. 

I'm feeling pretty under-appreciated and taken advantage of at the moment, like it's just expected that I'll parent all the time while Hubby gets to do basically whatever he wants. I need to find a way to talk to him about it, but I know if I go in emotional like I'm currently feeling he'll feel attacked and shut down. *sigh* Hopefully a better nights rest will help things tomorrow.

On 1/16/2021 at 4:47 PM, Yasha92 said:

It’s a relatively new (or I guess revived) skill I’ve been working on. I took an introductory class last year (wait, no, 2019), which unearthed a bunch of memories from when I took an introductory class when I was about 7. Rona foiled my attempts to take intro2 (zoom is just not the same and not the way I learn this very physical language), but I am hopeful maybe to do an official course this year. I ‘spoke’ with one of the teachers last night and he thinks I know enough to jump right in to cert3.

 

Are you a Sydneysider? You should join the practice group!

Alas, I am in Melbourne. I agree, Auslan over video is 👎

Sounds like you had a nice productive weekend! 

6 hours ago, Fonzico said:

Haha books are bed-time kryptonite! Easy trap to fall into. 

 

Great job sticking to water at the BBQ! No liquid calories makes a huge difference. 

 

Hopefully you'll be able to get a workout in today? Sometimes the universe (and Bubs) just conspire against one.

Thanks Fonz! I have never understood how anyone things "reading for 10 minutes before bed" is a good way to wind down. Only read for 10 minutes?! Put a good book down once you're sucked in?! Makes no sense to me! 

Week 2 - Saturday

Nutrition: 
Grocery Shop and Meal Prep: ☑ 

Protein & Veggies x 2: ☑☑☑☑☑☑□

Movement:

Rehab: ☑☑☑□

Crossfit: ☑☑☑

Community:

Thread Update: ☑☑☑☑☑/☑

Comment: ☑☑☑/☑

Yesterday was really hard and I'm very proud of how on track I was able to stay. Hubby was out at a Bucks Party basically all day so I had a full day and night of solo parenting. I made myself bacon, mushrooms and onion over toast for breakfast - so delicious! Ate it with a side of cherry tomatoes to increase the veggie content. During Bub's morning nap I finally got yesterday's workout done - it was a 20 minute EMOM and it felt so good to just move. After lunch for me and Bub we headed over to my parent's place as they had offered to feed me dinner and help with Bub's bath time. That all went really well but once we got home Bub would not settle. I was up with her every hour from 9pm to 1am. Hubby finally got home at 1.30am when I was feeding her for the 4th time that night, having had too many beers to be any help co-parenting. Bub woke again at 4am and finally slept through after that. Safe to say Sunday morning I am not feeling well rested and dealing with a hungover Hubby. Hoping to get some time to do some stretching and rehab today but otherwise keeping expectations low and gearing up to do it all again next week.

I didn't realise you signed! I've been studying because we have a Deaf team member at work, I'm so rusty since I went on mat leave though. Would love to get back into it so I'm not too lost when I go back this year.

On 1/15/2021 at 7:37 AM, Fonzico said:

I'm glad today was better! Good job shifting your momentum. 

 

Mmm lamb! It's so expensive here, mostly seems to be imported from New Zealand, so it's a rare treat in my house. 

Thank you, momentum seems to be pendulum-ing at the moment but I'm trying to ride it out as best I can.

Lamb is definitely not the cheapest meat option in the supermarket but buying it now when it's in season isn't too bad. It is definitely delicious! 

Week 2 - Friday

Nutrition: 
Grocery Shop and Meal Prep: ☑ 

Protein & Veggies x 2: ☑☑☑☑☑□□

Movement:

Rehab: ☑☑□□

Crossfit: ☑☑□

Community:

Thread Update: ☑☑☑☑☑

Comment: ☑☑☑

I really really wanted to get a workout done yesterday but alas it did not happen. Twice I got myself all geared up and ready and then Bub was very unhappy and needed a nap; once she had woken up it was lunch time and then by the time I'd sorted that and cleaned up our kitchen she was cranky again. Food was on point, I finished off the last of the ham for breakfast (so now I'm going to have to find a source of easy protein for breakfast) and had some leftover dinner for lunch. We went to a friends house for dinner (our COVID rules currently allow small group gatherings in houses with social distancing because the case numbers are so low) and had a BBQ. This was the first time that they met Bub which is always fun; she was the star of the show as usual. I had a small bowl of homemade ice-cream for dessert but stuck to water as I didn't feel like the extra calories from soft drink or alcohol. I haven't been making amazing choices about bed time recently, several nights I got sucked into my book and stayed up way to late reading, so I made an effort to go to bed and Bub was asleep and not pick up my book.

Hope you're doing OK Rho! Thinking of you in lockdown. 

I have always found walking the line between giving myself grace and not letting myself get away with self-sabotage so I definitely know where you are right now. Well done on eating your prepped lunch! I hope you get the rest this weekend to recharge and achieve the things you want.