Perdi

Gained weight this week, but only 0.4 lbs, so it could just be water weight. I won't worry about it. I've done great! I've had no normal sodas at all for the past three weeks, and I've had three very short walks three times a week. Today, I start the next challenge I've set for myself. Keep the walks and the no-soda thing going, and add 5 minutes of meditation 4-5 days a week.

I've been so busy at work, I forgot to update last Wednesday or Thursday. My weight was unchanged as of last Thursday, and I am still doing well walking 10-15 minutes 3 times a week and drinking no normal soda. Today was really difficult, with free soda in the office for a party, but I drank sparkling water instead. Wednesday is the end of this particular challenge. Keeping the "no soda" and "walk three times" going, I'll add in a 5 minute meditation challenge. 5 minutes 4-5 times a week for three weeks. Adding one healthy habit or subtracting one unhealthy habit at a time!

Week 2 is almost half over for me, and I'm still doing well with the soda and the walking. I've decided what I want to add for January. The soda substitution has been an easy thing to maintain. Keep a house full of fizzy water and I don't drink regular sodas. I didn't so much "quit soda" as change brands. I'm not a Coke person anymore; I'm a Mendota Springs person. Or San Pellegrino or Perrier. So, I'll concentrate on walking 3 times a week for at least 10 minutes (which has been the more difficult thing to do this challenge period so far), and I'll add in 5 minutes (or more) of meditation 4-5 times a week. Controlling stress might help with the binge eating. And while 4-5 times a week seems like a lot, I really like how I feel right after a 5-10 minute meditation. My brain feels all fresh and happy. With an instant reward like that, I think I can manage 4-5 times a week pretty easily. I can even make a schedule on my phone calendar. So, by the end of the third week of January, I should be meditating regularly, still walking regularly, and still not drinking soda. Since I started a week into December, I'm thinking of doing these habit building challenges in three week intervals, rather than monthly challenges. If I feel three weeks hasn't really caused a new habit to "stick", I'll do the next three-week period with the same challenge. Edit: Looking back, I only started a couple days into december. My third week will end on Christmas Eve. So, the meditation challenge will begin Christmas day.

A little over a week ago, I re-spawned. I've tried many times and failed many times to lose weight and get in shape. A couple of weeks ago, I saw 251 on my scale. I'm 5 feet 4.75 inches tall, and that's the most I've ever weighed. Something had to change. My plan upon popping back into the game as a level zero was simple: 1) For the rest of December, no soda other than Perrier, San Pellegrino and the like, which have no sugars and no artificial sweetener, and the occasional Zevia, which is sweetened with stevia, monk fruit and erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol. I bought new CO2 canisters for my Sodastream, and a pack of "my water" flavorings. Those have no sugar or artificial sweeteners. They're just flavor, and you add 1/2 tsp to a liter. 2) A 10-15 minute walk three times a week until the end of December. Report for the end of the first week: 1) I've had no soda other than fizzy waters and Zevia. So far, I've only been tempted by real soda twice, and I reached for them out of habit instead of a real craving for them. When I realized I was reaching for soda, I thought "what are you doing? you have a liter of fizzy water at home!" and both times I had no problem resisting the soda. I think I'm doing particularly well on this so far because I'm focusing on keeping stocked up on "soda" instead of focusing on quitting soda. I tried quitting soda before. It did not work. I'm not quitting this time; I'm substituting. 2) Three walks were taken last week. Two were just ten minutes and the third was 20, because I didn't feel ready to go back to the office yet. The first of this week's walks will be tomorrow. I re-spawned on a Wednesday, so my weeks are Wednesday to Wednesday for the purposes of this little self-challenge. End result this week? 1.8 lbs lost. Small walks. No soda. 1.8 lbs gone. I'll report again at the end of week 2. At the end of December, I'll decide what small behavior to modify or add next. If I can keep these behaviors going and add other healthy behaviors one by one, eventually, I'll be in shape again. Slow and steady wins the race. New habits will get made, one at a time. I've also made a realization this week. I'm a binge eater. Really bad. I binge all the time. I will talk to my therapist about it when I see her next. I ordered a book on breaking free from binge eating after I realized that's what I do. It should be delivered in the next week.

So far so good. I went to the store and exchanged my CO2 canisters for my soda maker and got the seltzer water flavors. They have no sugar and no artificial sweeteners. They're probably chock full of artificial flavor, but that's not my current concern. So, when I'm having soda cravings, I can make a liter of lemon-lime seltzer water at any time! This is my second whole day without a "real" soda, and I've had no cravings because I'm drinking seltzer water and plenty of coffee with a touch of stevia and unsweetened soy milk in it. I took a walk today, and will take another tomorrow. The weather has not been cooperating. It's been raining for two days, so tonight I went out shopping to walk around a lot in some stores, making sure I got at least a couple of miles in for the day using my pedometer.

I lost another battle, and in fact, I'm heavier and unhealthier than ever. But luckily the cleric usually has a rez tucked away in his bag of tricks, so I'm back and ready to fight again! I'm back at level zero with no cool gear, just hanging out and killing rats again for XP. But that's ok. This time, I'll move slower. Kill rats a while longer, take my time before I move forward again. That's my problem. I want the gold and glory right now, but I can't kill any bosses yet. I don't even have the points to spend to be able to wear armor yet, or wield a sword! I've got pants, a shirt, a pocket knife and these rats, and I'm trying to go out and fight battles I'm not ready for. So, one step at a time this time around. My modest plan, as befits a level zero character: 1) Replace soda with Mendota Springs water or Perrier, so I can get the fizzy taste with no sugar or artificial sweeteners. Optional Zevia naturally sweetened soda allowed, but not as often. 2) A 10-15 minute walk 3 times a week. That's all. It's WAY more than the zero minutes I'm walking, it doesn't seem too long, and it will start a habit. From there, I can make the walks longer and more frequent, but for now, I just need them to happen. I will do these two things till December 31. That should get me most of the way to level 1. Maybe I'll find some cool treasure along the way.

This is exactly how I do it. I tell myself, you only have to walk 10 minutes. 5 out and 5 back. Or, you only have to do 5 squats and 5 pushups and 15 jumping jacks and you can call it good and then you've done SOMETHING instead of nothing. Then you can quit or go back inside and read or play video games or hide from the world or whatnot. But after 5 minutes or the 15 jumping jacks or whatnot, I'm usually feeling pretty good and keep going. Because the exercise does help the depression, and I just need to trick myself into getting started. Once I'm doing it, I feel better quickly. On the rare days I DO quit after 10 minutes whatnot, I tell myself there's no shame in that and I've done something. The important part is that I've done something.

You CAN do it! It's totally achievable! Just keep at it!

So, I disappeared from NF in August...which is when my semester started. I couldn't keep a 40 hour job, 9 hours of classes and a social life without some things falling by the wayside...that which fell by the wayside was my internet time and World of Warcraft, which I plan to pick up again once I can afford Mists of Pandaria But I did it. I graduated! I've had a lot of trouble getting through college and have been trying, then failing, then trying again since 1994. It's not that I'm not smart enough for the classes. It's that my psychological problems were worse than I realized. Since I have been on Wellbutrin, I've been able to do so many things so much easier. And, although this semester wasn't easy, I manged to actually get good grades in all 3 classes and get my bachelor's degree. I'm actually a college graduate! I'm still in a bit of shock over that! And I didn't completely fall off the diet and fitness wagon either. I'm at 218 (up from 214 mainly due to the holidays), and am starting to count calories and exercise again with renewed vigor. My weight in August at the beginning of the challenge I abandoned when I got caught up in school again, was 226. In November 2011, I was unmedicated and depressed, and I bought a corset (I'm a goth girl...corsets are actually a normal part of my wardrobe). My waist then was 43". I was 240 lbs. Today, at 218, I have a 38" waist, and, of course, had to buy a new corset recently. I'm ready for 2013! I'm going to end this year stronger than ever, and my first goal of the year is to be under 200 lbs for my birthday in 16 weeks! I can do this!

I moved the filing cabinet from HQ and got it into the truck to move to the new location. (I went on a closet cleaning spree and realized I didn't need the tall four-drawer metal filing cabinet anymore. I found a neighbor who runs a non-profit that helps stray cats and she wanted the cabinet. I live on the third floor of an old Victorian. I lugged the cabinet and then the drawers, in stages, down into the yard, and then helped load it up to be taken away. It took me forever to drag that thing out of the closet and all the way down into the yard. I had to put the stupid thing down every four or five steps. I did it yesterday, so my arms are still a teeny bit stiff and achy...but not too bad)

Although I hadn't read about this challenge until now, I accidentally completed it this week. On Thursday, I walked the streets of the bustling Capital City for a half hour at midday. There were plenty of people bustling about, but nothing out of the ordinary, though the trees which had been looking very sad during this summer's drought were starting to look a little bit perkier and greener after some recent rains. (Translation: Did a half hour walk over lunch hour at work - I work in the County seat of St. Louis County) On Friday, I walked many places. I tried the Capital again...I walked for 20 minutes and watched the citizens closely. I walked the markets and listened in on people who spoke of strange happenings in further parts of the realm. (Translation: 20 min lunchtime walk with a 10 min walk down S. Grand, which is all shopping and restaurants) On Saturday, I traveled out to the parts of the realm where the "strange happenings" had been reported. I walked the forests to search for clues. The deer were out and a few lizards scuttled off rocks in the late afternoon sun, but there was no sign of anything odd. Then, at night, I sat in a clearing. I heard a bard owl calling. I saw bats overhead. And then I saw them. Bright and streaking across the sky. A sign! The next morning, after being woken by a Peregrine falcon screeching, I set out to return to town, so that I could report the strange lights in the sky to the Guild. (Translation: Camping Saturday. Setting up camp, hiking through the woods, then settling in for the Perseid meteor showers! The first meteorite I saw was HUGE! It left a trail all the way across the sky and burned so brightly!)

So, the DOMS from the 230 stairs were pretty amazingly rough. Haven't had them like that since the first day I started exercising after years of being relatively sedentary (which was only a few months back, really). So, most of the week's exercise sessions were gentle walking and hula hooping with the new hoop. And this weekend, I was camping so there was setting up and taking down camp along with nice walks in the woods. Since the goal is 30 minutes a day, and not a particular kind of exercise, it counts, but it just feels like I'm not doing quite enough. 30 minutes of just walking seems too light. But, the DOMS are long gone. Tomorrow I go to work with all those lovely stairs. Maybe 180 tomorrow. 20 more than the 160 I know I can do without regretting it the next day. Do 180 a couple times this week. Then 190 next week.

Tonight was supposed to be a night of rest, because of the DOMS from the 200+ stair climb. But I got a new LED hula hoop and it arrived in the mail! I had to try it out. So, unplanned exercise happened.

I have had Symbicort in the past, but I don't usually use my emergency inhaler more than once or twice every other month, so my doc and I agreed I don't need to have it at this time. My asthma is mild. I just figured I'd be proactive with the stairs since I know stairs get me out of breath and I like to be cautious. If I pace myself like I did on the last climb, I won't need the inhaler at all.

Awesome!

woot!

So, I thought, what if I try to really pace myself? Go slow. Try to keep my breathing steady. Take short breaks every few landings rather than long breaks when I can no longer breathe easily (note: I have asthma, so I prep for the stairs with two puffs of albuterol). How many stairs can I climb up if I’m limited by my legs and not my lungs? Answer: 230. Then back down again. By the end of it, I was clinging onto the rail and inching my way down very carefully, because the shaking in my legs was not helpful. My legs were still a bit shaky and weak an hour later. I had some almonds when I got back to my desk, for protein, and I had a lot of water. Even going slower than yesterday, my heart rate was still up and my breathing was heavy as I climbed. Still, I got up a lot more stairs than I thought I could. I kept telling myself, "Just one more set of ten". If 230 is my absolute max, I can maybe start shooting for 200 or 210 a day until I can do that reasonably comfortably, with less "oh-god-i'm-gonna-die" feeling at the end of the climb. Any further working out today will involve only my arms. I think my legs can have a break tonight.

Monday's update. 160 stairs. Pounding heart. Heavy breathing. Trying again today during afternoon break from work. Training! Sent from my LG-LS670 using Tapatalk 2

Woo HOO! Congrats!!!!

16 miles is amazing! You can do it!

There are only 7 of these standpipe towers left in the US. Chicago is famous for having one of them. Pfft. We have 3 of them! Take that, Chicago!

I bow to your awesomeness, Evil Overlord!

I'll go ahead and post my Fitocracy link. I'll post my myfitnesspal profile too, but I'm not making my food diary public yet. I am a bit embarrassed about all the junk I still eat. But it's baby steps. I started exercising first. Then I started counting calories. My food quality (fewer sweets, more veggies, etc) will change eventually. Currently, though, I'm seeing results just by counting the calories. But the food itself will have to change eventually. My goal isn't just skinny, it's healthy. I need to start eating food with vitamins in it. LOL! Moving will help that. I'll have a kitchen of my own again. I share a kitchen here, and I hate cooking in it (which is sad because I love cooking), so I don't cook anymore. Going to try to be in a new place on October 1 or November 1. I'll go and figure out getting my Fitocracy and Myfitnesspal links in my signature. Until then, I'll post them here: Fitocracy Myfitnesspal

Awesome goals! Good luck and have fun!

Happy belated Birthday! Your avatar made me squee Good luck reaching your goals!