shy

Never got that sleep but the bathroom scale says I'm now 220. 

All the w00ts.

My back was really killing me yesterday after all those air bikes and inverse crunches but I'm glad to say I got those bad boys done! I'll be waking up to a clean kitchen! Yay! I know it sounds lame and I swear our apartment isn't a wreck, I promise, but at the end of the day I'm always so wiped. Age is probably a factor here as well as stress. I'm an obese 43 year old who's never exercised consistently, ever. My calories are always on the low side by the way, I think that's just my overall diet. The hubs kept Twyla occupied while I tidied up after dinner. I very rarely ask him to help with cooking or housework during the week being he works very hard all day and I'm home. If our roles were reversed I know he'd pick up the slack at home.

I know our next challenge hasn't officially started but slacking the week before for no good reason didn't appeal to me. I just hope my body will cooperate tomorrow and let me hop back on the treadmill. I'm a bit limpy and wimpy with aching toes and my bionic ankle is giving me a hard time.  I might just start on the treadmill slowly and see how long I can walk. I'd really like to get my 2+ miles in today. 

Positive things for this week this far...

• My family is proud of me and even my little girl wants to go with me to the gym all the time now. (She loves the treadmill for some reason, when she's not reading.) 
• We're having a game night this weekend and we might get in a game of CAH or start a DnD game! WooHoo!
• I finally started a project I was putting off.
• A friend is letting me borrow his George Foreman grill to make grilled tofu tomorrowwww! Yasss!! 
• Annddddd.... I've managed to write down every morsel I've eaten without fail.  Go me!

I swear the only reason I haven't eaten any of my daughter's Valentine chocolate is because

then I'd have to write that son of a bitch down on my cronometer.

A little tip to all those of you who may one day but haven't yet had children. The very moment you have that baby they are the center of your world but don't do what I did. I focused entirely on her, which is good, but I neglected to take care of myself. I put on a lot of weight and this weight does NOT like to come off easily. Here I am 7 years after and I'm still carrying this 'baby weight." You'll need to take care of yourself to be there for your children in the future. She's going to need you so please don't fall victim to laziness and procrastination like I have.

Sorry, Moms can't help but give unsolicited advice! Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!!!   

I'm going to try very hard to sleep once again.. for today is a school day... *cringe*

2 hours ago, Wobbegong said:

Hey Shy, welcome to Rebel! You've got some great goals listed, and I'm especially glad to see you looking ahead and planning a challenge load that is in-line with your actual bandwidth. I don't like to see people biting off too much at once and getting burnt out, so good on you for planning to be stressed!  

 

1. You totally can! Get it, Shy! 

2. With calories that low you should see some obvious progress pretty quick. If you plateau, add some calories back in for a week or two and then lower them again. Hazard, the guild leader from the Level 1 guild, is super good at figuring this stuff out and is a great resource for you if you have any questions. 

3. Is there anything you can do to give yourself a little more energy to get to this in the evenings? Maybe just having it as a challenge goal is enough (that's often the case for me) but if you're too exhausted to move you might need another push of some sort. Any ideas? Or do you think you'll be ok as-is? 

 

Best of luck on your challenge! 

Thank you SO much for the vote of confidence!!

I have no idea how to stop from crashing at the end of the day but I've found I have pretty decent willpower when I set my mind to it. It doesn't help that my day starts at 5 in the morning.

I might have to have my husband chip in around dinner and make sure he'll keep our little one occupied, that might help. -fingers crossed- Wish me luck!!

I won't be walking today, for the first time in a while. My left toe is giving me trouble, weirdly, and Frankenankle isn't being a whiny s.o.b. Holpefully tomorrow my body will cooperate. I opted instead for squats (gr!), incline pushups, etc., etc. 

Hope ya'll are having a WONDERFUL Tuesday!!! <3 <3 <3 

32 minutes ago, Reinfire said:

Good to see your new challenge! You've got this!  

Thanks so much!! I'm really excited to see how this next four weeks goes. Hopefully I can lose another few pounds, we'll see.  

I feel I'm too new to join in at the moment & my plate is a bit full but I'm definitely going to follow and see what happens! Maybe next time this comes up I'll be able to join in! Good luck!!  

I can't believe I'm still here!! Wow! I didn't give up, I completed my first challenge, and I'm actually proud of myself!

So.. hey! I'm Dawn aka Shy.. I'm super shy.

My first challenge goals were...

Exercise every single day. (Week two of January and I've managed this since the 3rd. W00t.)

Drink more water. 

Eliminate Caffeine. 

Work up the courage to go for a walk or go to the apartment gym. (Super scary for cowardly me!)

Here are my Feb-Mar goals....

Main Goal

I should say "lose all this excess weight" but I'm going to say TRY to lose 15lbs by the end of April for a start. 

Here's what I'm thinking for the Feb-Mar challenge...

Smart Goals

1. Exercise every single day (Again?! Yesss... because I can.) 
2. Keep track of my calories (Aiming for around 1550 or so. Might adjust later.)
3. Stop going to bed with dishes in the sink (I HATE that I keep doing this!)
4. Try to get any amount of dishes done before bed! (No joke, this has been my most difficult challenge.)

I might add another goal later but, if I'm honest, I've got some stress on me at the moment and I think that's enough for right now. I've already started counting my calories on Cronometer. Believe it or not my most difficult goal might be number 3. I'm SO tired every single day I usually fall asleep holding my daughter on the sofa after dinner. (I'm not proud of this.) I need to make the next day less stressful for myself and do future me a favor and get the kitchen clean. (I feel more stressed when things are messy, which they usually are.) As much as I'd like to add "get under 220" or "do x number of crunches", etc. I think this is a reasonable goal set for me.

Good luck on YOUR challenges!!! I can't wait to see all of you meet your goals!!  

21 minutes ago, Hazard said:

 

 

Yes.  In whichever guild makes the most sense for your goals in the next Challenge period.  Please review the "Guild System" section in the first post of the NF Beginner Guidebook.

 

 

Thanks Hazard!!  

Stupid Question Alert!

Do I need to make a new thread for the upcoming challenge (in the rebel section)??? 

50 minutes ago, Reinfire said:

Ugh, MyFitnessPal does the same thing - I end up doing a dance where I don't sync my FitBit until after I've entered all my food for the day and made sure I was within my goal (occasionally I forget and sync after a morning workout, but thankfully it shows you pretty clearly how many calories you earned back for exercise). On top of your frustration that it has you eat back your exercise calories, all of the calorie tracking apps are notoriously bad for overestimating what you burn for exercise, so eating those calories back might actually result in weight gain/slowing weight loss. It's like come on, you have one job - to accurately count calories!

I"m no longer going to enter my calories burned into cronometer. I just want to know how many calories I'm taking in. I can do the rest of the math on my own if I really want to.  

Apparently, cronometer will increase the number of calories your allotted daily depending on the amount of exercise. That's fine if you're not trying to lose weight but I'm not working out so I can eat MORE, I'm working out to burn calories to help me lose weight. Is my logic off here? It seems like it would be better NOT to put down the amount of exercise I've been doing to get a clearer picture of what calories I'm taking in. Why has sh*t got to be so damn complicated? I just want to slowly make my exit from the fat girls club... 

Damn you weight loss! Why must you vex me so?!

4 hours ago, Reinfire said:

Woohooo! You did GREAT with this challenge! We're within 10 lbs of each other and we can BOTH get out of the obese range!

 

Oh and btw, if you like crunching the numbers, losertown has been a huge kick in the butt for me when I'm like "okay but what's just an extra 200 cal ice cream cone?" and see how much longer it'll take me to get to my goals if I did that every day.

Thanks so much!!!

I'll check out losertown, I hadn't heard of it til now.  

On 1/10/2018 at 12:45 PM, shy said:

Main Goal

I should say "lose all this excess weight" but I'm going to say TRY to lose 15lbs by the end of April for a start. 

 

Smart Goals

Exercise every single day. (Week two of January and I've managed this since the 3rd. W00t.)

Drink more water. 

Eliminate Caffeine. 

Work up the courage to go for a walk or go to the apartment gym. (Super scary for cowardly me!)

It's the 4th!!

So I'm super proud of myself!! Though I'm not sure if I'll be able to hit my main goal or not by April, I've exercised every single day, I make a point of drink my water before I eat, I switched to decaf, and I've been making use of the gym as well as taking long walks on the trail. (happy dance)  

I've learned I can exercise everyday if I just make it part of my routine and don't press too hard when my body says no. I've come to prefer the gym since I get a more consistent workout, I don't have to worry about getting mugged, I don't have to worry about getting hurt far from home, I don't have to worry about making it back to the bathroom, I don't have to contend with cars and other traffic, and I don't have to freeze half to death. I've lost a few pounds, not much. I started at 226.5 and I'm now 221.

For my next challenge I want to continue to exercise on a daily basis and I want to address my diet. I've  already started on my diet, I didn't want to wait. I'm eating around 1500 or so calories daily and it's going alright. Cronometer seems happy with my diet but apparently I need more potassium?? 

I don't want to get ahead of myself but if my progress is miraculously consistent over the next several months I may be able to work my way out of the obese range. 

Thank you SO much to everyone who's offering support!! You are awesome and honestly have helped more than you know!

1 hour ago, KayLou said:

So, all in all, I am battered but not beaten! Thanks for the support everyone!

So sorry about the migraine! I know, personally, how awful those can be. Ugh!

Congrats on your challenges and looking forward to your new challenge!!

Sounds like you're doing really well! Kudos!!  

I wish I could have kept going until 3 miles but I'm afraid my ankle was starting to give out. I'll try and get another workout later today if I can but at 62 minutes in one go that's pretty good for me!

So, yesterday,  I walked 4 miles*, I consumed about 1791 calories and it says I expended about 2478 calories. I think thatssss.. good? So hopefully if I'm mindful of my calorie intake I'll be able to lose some weight. I probably overdid it on the peanut butter and I also think I don't really NEED two scoops of protein powder, one should be enough for me.

TOTALLY unrelated news....  *deep breath* My husband MAYYYYY be able to get a job down in San Antonio that would really help us so much. I hope, with all my heart, this works out. We really really struggle on what he makes now where we live, the rent is ridiculous. Send good vibes or pray or slay a goat or whatever magic ya'll got! This is a life changer!!

Also it's Friday bitches!! Yaaahhhhhhh!  

* OMG! Yayyyy meee!! It's a record!!

So I'm thinking about my challenge for the next 4 weeks. I'm not losing much weight at all despite exercising everyday. (I get that heart rate up and I do break a sweat.) So,I really dread this, I'm thinking of counting my calories. Dun-dun-dunnnnnnnn! (cringe) Ugh! I hate the thought and it might be a struggle for me. I'm thinking about using Cronometer to keep track, though I've failed in the past to keep accurate entries consistently. (I don't lie, I honestly forget and then give up.) I might only use it Monday through Friday, not sure.

I got myself some vegan protein powder bananas, and soy milk. I'm tinkering with the idea of, not a meal plan, so much as breaking up my lunch into smaller lunches, So something like this maybe...

6:00am 

coffee with soy milk or green tea

plain oatmeal with chia or toast with peanut butter

11:00am

vegan protein powder smoothie with soy milk and banana

1:00pm

snack of nuts or carrots or seeds or a spoonful of peanut butter, maybe a hd egg

3:00pm

snack once more with my daughter after school

6:00pm

glass of water then vegan chili and cornbread or tofu with rice and veggies, etc., the usual dinner fare

I'm NOT a dieter so this isn't something I'm used to doing. Advice is always welcome. I'm a little confused with calories though. My cronometer says I need to eat 1420 more calories today to lose -.05 pound a week but that seems like alot. I don't think I normally eat that much, except on the weekend if I make a "naughty" meal (ie: french toast, biscuits, etc.) I'm not sure how many calories I should be taking in.

54 minutes ago, TGP said:

we ARE converting you into something different shy

 

soon, you will have to give up your name.  instead of "SHY"

its will be "I GOT THIS!"

I'm no bad ass but.. thanks for the boost of confidence! 

Two quick things...

Today I actually felt good after my workout! I decided on the recumbent bike because there was a cute guy on the treadmill and I was embarrassed and I'm a massive dork and.. ANYWAY, aside from my usual super wobbly legs, I felt good after!  

Second thing, I entered what I typical eat in cronometer and I barely broke 1000 calories and yet I am fairly rotund. OBVIOUSLY... I'm genetically superior in my ability to make use of every single calorie to its fullest extent.  Behold! I am a miracle of science!! 

SCIENCE!

But seriously.. wtf?

On 1/23/2018 at 2:55 PM, ~Ayla~ said:

Hi, bit late to the party but I want to recommend a book 'vegan bbq' by nadine horn and jorg mayer. The whole book is worth the price just for the vegan spare ribs! 

 

For the seitan:

200g wheat gluten

2 tbsp noosh

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground fennel

175ml pineapple juice

1/2 apple, grated

1/2 red onion, grated

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

 

For the marinade:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp mustard

 

Ok so preheat oven to 180. Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately, then mix together until a dough. Spread over 30x30cm baking tray lined with baking paper and press firmly down. Cut vertically down the middle and then make 6 cuts across it so you have 14 peices. Mix oil and mustard together and then bush over the top of the seitan and bake for 35 minutes. 

Leave to cool.

Then brush it all over again, but this time with barbeque sauce., then sear the marinaded side for 4 minutes over a grill, and then the other side with lid down for 10 mins.

 

Eat and rejoice in its awesomeness! Trust me, it is worth it. So so worth it. I had carnivores begging for seconds!

 

Best barbeque sauce ever:

1 onion

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

2 cloves garlic

450ml passata

120ml cider vinegar

2 tbsp worcester sauce

2 tbsp syrup (agave, sugar beet, whatever)

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika, smoked is best

1 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground star anise

 

Chop onion and sweat with oil for 5 mins (don't brown). Crush garlic, add to onion, cook another 2 mins. Add everything else, bring to boild and then gently reduce uncovered for 40mins on a low heat, stirring occasionally.

 

Omg you are in for SUCH a treat!

 

 

 

Dang! How did I miss your post? I'm sorry.. geez. This sounds awesome! Thanks so much!!  

Just now, Barbs said:

Oh I drive myself nuts with that!  Even if I'm in the store, I will double back through aisles just to be sure I haven't forgotten anything...usually it's just something I had on my previous list, and I end up doubling up if I 'remember' to buy it

I wish I could do without the candy, it's an expensive temptation. Twyla REALLY wants to make sure everyone gets a card and candy this year. Damn you chocolate! Why must I love you so!?

1 minute ago, Barbs said:

 

Ooh, I saw mention of your complex gym earlier (sorry, I read the first few posts properly and then kinda skimmed )  Have you ventured into it yet, or will this trip be the first?

I've been to the apartment gym, not a real gym ya know but it'll do with it's shoddy equipment, BUT (bonus!) no one else uses it so I have the place to myself. Yay! I might be late today I'm doing my online grocery shopping.

I keep checking my list but I feel like I'm missing something. I have stuff to make chili, cornbread, spaghetti and "meat"balls, tofu and rice/ramen with veggies, lunch things for Twyla... bathroom stuff... vegan protein powder....   Valentine's cards and candy... feels like I'm forgetting something. Hm.

22 minutes ago, Barbs said:

I know we don't really know each other, but can I just say I'm super proud of you for exercising every day? That's so super awesome ...

Aww... pff.. thanks! lol I'm trying to exercise everyday for 100 days but I don't have a set exercise plan. Right now I just walk when the weather is good and my body is up to is. If my ankle is bothering me I'll do something else. I'm thinking about trying the elliptical today at the gym.