JediJem

And here I am again for my 6-monthly check-in!

 

For those who don't know me I am a Monk always in spirit, and sometimes even in practice. Did TKD for years and years, although in recent years it's been mostly kickboxing. I am currently trying to make my way to training with a local club, but haven't made it there yet (partly because of injury, partly because of exercise exhaustion; see below).

For those who do know me - Hi!

 

This challenge is going to be different to previous ones in that I'm NOT coming here because I really need to get my a** in gear and Do The Fitness Thing - I am actually already doing it (minus the MA training). I've been going to the gym regularly for the last 6 weeks or so, eating better than in years, and I've lost 6-7 kgs (depending on the mood of my scales) since beginning of the year (4-5 of those in last couple of months). But there are still things to achieve!

 

1. Sleep. This is a biggie. At the moment, after two days of workouts I am exhausted to the point of struggling to walk up stairs (and we're not talking olympic athlete workouts here), and I think sleep is at least one of the issues. For some reason my body has decided that 5:15 is a good time to wake up and will do so regardless what time I go to sleep. This is early but my alarm is usually set for 5:45 anyway (I go to gym before work), so it is the other end that needs tweaking. Goal: In bed by 22:30 (preferably earlier) every school night, with no phone/ laptop use after 21:30. In fact, I will set my phone on flight mode every evening at 21:30 at the latest.

 

2. Food. My diet overall is good, but when I slip on something it is always protein. I'm not a big meat-eater, and looking back over my food logs I regularly don't get enough protein. Goal: Hit my protein target every day (even if I have to overdose on Skyr to do so).

 

3. Injury recovery. I've struggled with sore achilles tendon all through the spring, which means that I'm currently off running, although I'm planning to try some short gentle jogs (probably on the treadmill) over the next week. Goal: achilles strengthening exercises, stretching and icing every day.

 

4. Life goal: Find a new job. I am bored and unfulfilled where I am and actually need a career overhaul, which is daunting. I'm not aiming to hand in my notice during this challenge, but I need to take steps to work out what I can and want to do. Not sure how to measure this one yet; will get back on that.

 

 

That's it! Simple, no?

 

For office/ desk induced neck and back pain, my PT told me to do self-massage with a tennis ball - position tennis ball where there's pain/ tension and hold it in place by leaning against a wall. Move around to 'massage' the area. It has worked wonders for me! But yeah, do check with a qualified professional if the pain persists.

Roundup of week two:

 

1. Eat like a jedi: doing ok, not amazing but ok, on the fruit and vegetable side of things, and still quite terrible on the calorie side of things. Weighed myself this morning and am heavier than I've been in well over 10 years. But, there are 4 more weeks of this challenge so let's just take a deep breath and move on!

 

2. Escape the empire: Only very slightly behind on this; should have been on 50k walked/ run since start of the challenge and I am on 47k. Happy with this.

 

3. Use the force: I've been meditating every 3-4 days or so which isn't really good enough. I've been getting up when I should most days, but I've been staying up (and using phone/ computer) past my 'curfew' far more often than is good for me.

 

 

Going bravely into week 3.

I will bake my own cakes, she said. I will eat less that way, she said. Hmmm... Well, at least I *do* know what goes into the stuff I eat!!

 

I've not been doing brilliantly so far this challenge, but I had a real wake-up call today regarding how not drinking enough water affects me, so I'm going to try really hard to get better on this point at least. And I've got a veggie soup simmering away on the stove, so I will get my greens today.

 

Also contacted the kickboxing studio I was interested in and it is probably more expensive than I can afford right now (damn London prices) but I am going to try it out week after next nonetheless. May be that I just go to one class/ week to start with.

Great first challenge week! And way to go on the weight loss!!

Regarding lifting and swimming; perhaps as you adjust more and more to the BJJ and feel less tired from that you'll have more energy for other things. But, all over, it's looking good.

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How are you getting on with the food logging - helpful?

The baking continues... This weekend it's blondies. Now, I *am* trying to reduce my sugar intake, but actually baking has helped me with this before. Many years ago when I also needed to lose some weight, I set up a plan where I could eat as much cake as I wanted, as long as I'd baked it myself. Any store bought products were out of bounds, as were any other types of comfort/ junk food like sweets, crisps etc. I like this approach because (a) I know exactly what goes into the stuff I eat; no weird additives, and ( I tend to eat less, and without binging. I'm going to go with this for a while and see how I get on.

Super cool! Glad you found a gym that worked for you.

 

Going lower than 1400 calories a day is hard. You're barely above the 'starvation' line at that point. Beyond fruits and veggies, how satisfying is the food you eat? Like, does it help you fill up?

 

 

IMO, feeling satisfied is a poor measure of whether you're eating enough.  The body shuts down hunger pretty fast if the calories dip below the BMR for too long.  1400 does sound very low for an active adult.

 

The 1400 is net calories, so on days that I'm active, I eat more. For example yesterday, my total intake was close to 1900 but because of going for a run my net total landed around 1200 - I would have eaten more if I hadn't fallen asleep really early and slept through until this morning! On days that I overeat (and I don't mean by a couple of hundred calories, I don't worry about those - this is more like 1000+ calories over goal), it is never down to hunger and always down to stress/ emotional eating. That is the habit I am trying to break.

Also; found a kickboxing gym that I really want to try out, and they do free taster sessions. BF is away at the moment but when he comes back next week I'm going to suggest that we go and check out a class. Cannot express in words how excited I am at the thought of starting training again!

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You're right...thanks! I have a tendency to be quite hard on myself, and then I get discouraged. Patience!

Just been for a 6.5k run; it was quite slow but felt good. Aiming for gym in the morning!

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Three days into the challenge and I'm already slipping... Doing well on getting my fruit and veg, less well (though not disasterously) on drinking enough water, pretty bad on staying under 1400 cals/ day, and *very* poorly on escaping the empire. Going for a run tonight should help with two of those.

 

I have however been getting up by 7am (entirely thanks to the challenge - yay!), including this morning despite staying up binge watching the last few episodes of Sense8 until past midninght last night. I'm using the Calm app for meditating and quite like it. Gently steering back on course.

The solution is simple. We kill the bat— I mean, you go back to iPhone. I iMessage Ken all the time and since then he's been less grumpy. =D

I've taken a sacred vow to never go back to iPhone but feel free to whatsapp me whenever you like. Less grumpy sounds like a nice change of pace.

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Sometimes, for some of us, our brains and bodies just aren't on our side. It's a tough thing having to fight to stay on top of that, but your goals look solid and you can come here for support with follow through. Although not an official goal here I've made a conscious effort to minimize my alcohol intake since I've realised that it makes my depression ten times worse. This may not be the case for you, but it could turn out to be a bonus side effect of cutting down!

You've got this!

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Ah, the perils of 'research'... I know them well. I've also used that technique before but I never manage to keep it up in the long run. Will be watching to see how it works for you!

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Meditation was good, although I haven't found an app (yes, I admit, I have an app addiction problem) that I like as much as the meditation timer I had on my iPhone. At the end of the day I only need something that will make a noise after the time is up (and they all do that) but I like things that look pretty too!

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That is without doubt the cutest hell beast I've ever seen.

Yeah! Let's go!!

(See - snow is awesome! Don't you just want to go and hide away and train in a little cottage like that? Sweden in winter, my friend)

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Oh, and before Shogun start throwing hell beasts that may or may not be squirrels at me - I was up by 7am!

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So what did I do the first day of the challenge?

- I ate my greens

- I drank my water

- I stayed under 1400 calories

- I made a 2.5k progress on escaping the empire

I have not yet meditated but will do so right before bedtime. So far so good.

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Update: Here is the data for the test week.

Was working on a renovation project with my flat mates during the weekend. This is the reason for the break in the chain. But it was test week anyway.

i passed the certification test on friday, i was studying for. So yeah me! ;-) On monday evening my roughly of two weeks traveling start. Really looking forward to it.

Oh, another app to add to my arsenal...

Good goals, and kudos for working to maintain habits while travelling!

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Hello!

 

I have both the fruit/ veg goal and the water drinking goal in my challenge, so I will check in with you from time to time for comparison if that's ok.

Today I made chocolate peanut butter cookies to my stepmum's recipe. I just worked out the nutritional content...let's just say I won't be having too many of those once the challenge start. O.o

Well, having Sweden as your virtual destination seems a lot less random now, haha. It's always a place I've really wanted to go...although maybe not in the dead of winter. I bet the spring is nice there, right? Of maybe the fall? I will have to think of a virtual destination as well. I've always wanted to see New Zealand as well. But that may take awhile. 

 

Good luck with getting back into the swing of things with martial arts! You two are a couple I would not want to mess with...

 

If you don't like dark and cold, no, don't go in winter! I love it, but I'm a little strange (and I grew up with it). Otherwise I think summer would be the best time; we often get good summers (not usually sweltering, but much warmer than most people imagine) and if you go end of June/ early July it doesn't get dark at all!

Prepare for this in case of snooze! 

 

 

Suddenly mornings seem downright terrifying... :-O 

 

No snooze, I promise!!

I'm reading Short Walks from Bogota by Tom Feiling right now - only just started it, but it seems pretty good. Check it out!

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