AriatikStarr

I’m a week late because I just got back from vacation yesterday, but I’m going to give this ONE more try... things should be calmer for a few months, no traveling and probably less busy with work. 1. Drink a gallon + of water per day. 2. Lift 3x per week. 3. Ride, run, or do some kind of non-work cardio 2x per week. 4. Research things needed to make this small business legitimate & make a checklist. Stretch goals: 1. Do mobility work before bed each night. 2. Finish the book I started on vacation. 3. Edit photos & update blog.

It’s alteady Wednesday. The most I’ve really done is meal prepped AND I took half of it to my boyfriend’s so that I’d have good there. Still hasn’t completely curbed gas station eats, though. Haven’t made lunch foods... I may need to buy a gallon jug of water to keep in the car and try to finish it off during the work day. Otherwise I tend to buy red bull or I just go all day without drinking anything. this week & next week involve longer workdays and I’m struggling to sleep. Haven’t been to the gym. Also realizing I have a little over two weeks to plan out each stop on my road trip. Basically, I’ve copped out of all if my actual goals so far.

Week 1 was an overall loss. bike-commute was only one day... then I got a rental car. The next few weeks are VERY busy and have groups every day, so I’ll need to park my car in that neighborhood if I’m going to bike. Can’t put my bike in the rental, so somewhat dependent on getting my car back. only drank enough water once. Only went to the gym once. Didn’t meal prep. i DID go on two fun rides this week. However, the first one was terrible because SURPRISE... when you’re underfed & dehydrated, you don’t perform well. Second ride wasn’t great, but essentially we decided to slowly poke around and have fun so that I would last. Today’s plan is to probably ride again & go grocery shopping.

Yesterday I did none of the things. I think I had 6 glasses of water, which is more than I was doing before. I drove a rental car everywhere though, ate from a gas station, and didn’t go to the gym.

1. Check. 2. Done, but because someone hit my car while parked and it was towed away. 3. I think I got a little over half, day sort of derailed once I started getting calls from insurance companies. Tomorrow may be rough because I need to schedule a consultation with a lawyer. All the things. 4. I took protein snacks for lunch. I did not eat them.

1. No gym 2. Fail, but I worked from 5-8ish this morning and decided to do laundry in between a few dogs. Not giving myself a pass, but in the name of productivity... (I also fully intend to drive to my next stop) 3. Didn’t cook lunches and my bananas are going bad. Prime bread making time. But I crammed a bunch of productivity in before 10am and then spent an hour cleaning my roommate’s bedroom in the afternoon. 4. Done. ...I basically ate pizza, and went from drinking coffee to drinking beer all day today while binging Netflix and cleaning.

I needed to exit this forum for a while, but I think I’m going to give it a whirl again. The entire structure of my life has changed. I moved into a new apartment with possibly one of the shittiest landlords around. I’m now working full-time (plus) as a self-employed dog walker. I own a car. I’m dating someone who is into bikes. How this changes my routine: - Previously, I was biking to all of my dogs. I now physically can’t do that every day because I’m dabbling in group walks to increase earning potential. - I’m struggling to get to the gym. By the end of the day, I’m too tired & evenings are set aside for social time anyway. In the mornings, I have a strong tendency to need at least an hour to eat and sip on coffee. - I eat like shit. I have been drinking copious amounts of Red Bull, then skipping lunch and ordering a lot of takeout. I’ve still lost ~20 pounds doing this, so it’s not a quantity issue but rather a quality issue. - I haven’t found time to read, study Spanish, or process new photos in a while. - I am riding more for fun, and socially. This has been lacking for a few years now, so I’d consider it to be a positive change. 1. Make it to the gym 4x per week. I started going back this week (well one day so far). The goal is to get there around 7am on weekdays, and if I don’t manage to get 4 days in, to go on weekends. 2. Ride-commute any days I don’t have a group walk. This seems self-explanatory. My next step here will be to drop my car off in the neighborhood with the group walk. I have done that once. The only negative is that i have to leave 20-30 minutes early. 3. Drink 80+ ounces of water per day, not including hydration during exercise. I’ve found that if I do this, I drink less coffee / Red Bull / beer. 4. Prep portable lunches each week. This one is going to be hard, but I need this as a first step in reducing my gas station eating & take-out. It can be fruit & nuts, but needs to be calorie dense and thought out (not just throwing a bunch of food in my bag). Bonus no-pressure goals: - finish the book I started months ago. - edit photos from a trip I took in July - study Spanish for one hour per week - do 2 “fun rides” per week, in the woods whenever possible

Monday: 0/1: didn’t meditate. Was pretty much running around until I went to bed because of a later meeting. 0/1: didn’t get enough protein. I’m considerinh using a supplement because it seems like if I don’t chow down solely on chicken breast & eggs, I don’t come close to enough.

Sunday: 1/1 Successfully meditated & stretched. 0/1 Didn’t get enough protein. Since I’ve been pretty scatterbrained I may try to do small daily updates on these.

It’s zero week! My last challenge was focused on not falling apart, but I made so many goals that my head was spinning the entire time. I’m going to take a different approach and chill out with the 30,000 goals. Lifting: I’ve started a program. Finished up the first cycle last week. Technically this week is my de-load, which means I’ll start my challenge with a new cycle. My actual goals for this challenge: - make it to the gym 4x per week. - don’t be so rigid about what those days are. I have historically tried to get all of my stuff in during the weekdays, but now I think I need to be open to weekend workouts. - push myself in the plus sets Meditating: Every challenge I make a stretching goal. I think instead I need to call it meditating. Every day I need to find time to just focus on how my body feels and not whatever is going on in my brain. If this means stretching, great. If it means just sitting on a yoga mat, fine. Spanish: I was a bit overzealous on this one during the last challenge. This time, I want 2 hours of Duolingo per week. As a stretch goal, I’d like to find conversational practice. Eating: I’m changing this one up, too. Every challenge I focus on not ordering takeout or eating out. I’m getting better at that, but only out of necessity (still not gainfully employed). For this challenge, I want to focus a little more on macros... specifically protein. I set a protein goal in myfitnesspal and I want to hit that goal. Additionally, I want to get back into regularly drinking tons of water (at least 8-10 glasses while not exercising).

To be fair to myself, I was out mountain biking from like 8-11:30 or 12 or something. A “slow and clumsy” ride after which I discovered that neither wheel was spinning freely (first time ever I’ve been the fastest in a group AND at a severe disadvantage) thats slightly productive

Week 4 & Recap: updating this now because I don’t see myself doing anything productive today, unless eating a ton of peanut butter and watching Netflix is productive. Schedule: this week I did a more proper wind-down twice. Once resulted in better sleep, then the Airbnb upstairs put the kibosh on my sleep the next night. i did write down future appointments & did a weekly google keep schedule every Sunday, so this part was done. $$$ didn’t list things for sale. ate takeout Sunday, chipotle yesterday. i think I lost momentum on selling stuff because I was either getting no responses, or garbage responses. learning & practicing: I did no Duolingo, no photos, and no baking this week. Id like to move forward with Duolingo & baking. Maybe a little less overzealous on my time goals, though. I’m not forcing myself to carry a camera on my dog walks anymore. The dogs didn’t love it. Hobby stuff: gym 2x and mtb ride (!) I think my biggest thing will be getting into a proper schedule that utilizes my morning hours better, since I’m awake at 5:30 anyway. If I can study for half an hour in the mornings & go to the gym, then start my day, I should be good.

The only real negative is that nobody in the planet (or in my house) is like this - at least nobody in my life - so I’m usually battling noise, messages, or invites to be social *sigh*

Sleeeeeeeeep update: i finally got over 8 hours of sleep last night according to Garmin and I mostly trust it. I will say that Fitbit was better at figuring out when I wake up in the middle of the night. Important points: - didn’t drink water for hours before bed. Really wanted to, but didn’t. - started my winding down at 6:30. That’s right everyone, this grown ass adult called it quits for the day when everyone else was having dinner. - stretched thoroughly. My body has been feeling pretty beat up and I haven’t even been lifting weights. Felt so much better afterwards. - read a chapter in a book I think I finally went to bed around 8, and Garmin has me sleeping just before 9. First alarm was set for 4:45 but I reset it and stayed in bed for another half hour. Now lets see how squatting feels when all you’ve done for two weeks has been excessive cardio.