CakeBanisher

Ending up in speech path is kind of a long story, tbh. My undergrad was initially just violin performance - but I have too many injuries, and didn't like the whole negative job security of a musician thing. So then I was pre-physical therapy, but again, realized I had too many injuries. But at that point I had tons of extra classes, so ended up with music and psychology degrees, minors in human bio and math, and no idea what I actually wanted to do, lol. People kept suggesting speech path, so I talked to some and liked what they said. It's this really cool intersection of science and language and teaching and therapy. And the music actually helps, because I have a really good ear for subtle differences in sound at this point I applied to a local program, because the deadline was coming up and I knew I had to stay local for a few years because of my grandmother. It was one of those things where everything just sorta fell into place On a food-related note, environment is sooooooo important! I live at home, and my brother and parents (and boyfriend) eat very differently than I prefer to... Having something around that I can grab and eat in 30 seconds is critical, especially when I'm rushed/tired/starving/etc. because of school. Preparation is essential Also once I go about 3 days of eating healthy, if I suddenly eat junk (even just a few bites) goodness does it make me sick. So, there's also that added motivation to avoid junk, lol. ___ Anyway! Had a day of not tracking yesterday (and didn't do great on Halloween...although I did at least try). My baking is my weakness, lol. So, I have consumed cookies...too many cookies...and yes, yes they did make me very sick. I did it anyway, because occasionally I apparently have no self control. But I'm back to tracking now We'll see how school today goes, I brought food but didn't realize one of the things apparently went bad and none of us noticed...sooo...yeah. Oh well. I'm also still running. Have one planned for today. I'm going to redo my last interval set, because it was a significant jump in effort for me last time, and I think I should do it again. In other, unrelated news, I'm doing NaNoWriMo again. Maybe I'll "win" this year. Maybe I won't. Who knows!? I'm MusicNerd over at nanowrimo.org if anyone wants to join me

Update! Running is going well Even in a week, I can feel a difference, so that's pretty sweet I'm a little concerned about my right Achilles tendon...I suspect my shoe rubs, and it's been hurting a little - although honestly I've mostly been attributing any and all pain to the fact that I just haven't run in forever. This weekend was a splendid example of well-laid plans being thwarted by life. My parents have been out of town, but both got back on Friday, and decided not only were we celebrating my one grandma's birthday, but also two other family birthdays. And doing family pictures. All on less than two days notice. And my mom tends to worry about the house, so this led to a frantic period of cleaning wherein nothing else got accomplished. But the house looks great Anyway. Point is, I just let it happen instead of fighting to adapt. This led to two things. I didn't get any observation work done...so that'll have to happen more this week. And I ate junk. I tracked it on Saturday, but yesterday just sorta gave up. I'm the family baker (have been for years - my grandma taught me to bake the holiday pies before I could see the top of the counter, lol). So, all of Saturday was spent baking. And if cake is a weakness for me, cookie dough is even more so. I managed to track and sort of manage my food on Saturday. Sunday...not so much, lol. But man, can I feel it today...I do not feel good! Let that be a lesson, kiddos - don't eat stuff if you know it'll make you sick! But today I'm back! Back to tracking, I've got a run scheduled for after work/errands/class, and there will be no school food consumed!

Challenge is going well! I was finally able to "run" again last night, so that was pretty fantastic. It's funny, I actually really look forward to these runs, this one was almost like a reward for getting through this week of exams. The hardest part is convincing myself to actually get started and go, especially with the weather turning bad (and me having no idea how to dress for different conditions). But after I start, it's great Also, still tracking everything, and still no school (or work) food. I'm planning to spend some time this weekend doing research for my observations.

Ooh, linguistics is cool! I wish I'd taken more of it... My undergrads are in unrelated fields, so I'm doing the deficiency courses this semester, and just one grad course. There's still time for speech path if you so choose My phonetics professor right now is Canadian, and doesn't believe the way we pronounce certain things, lol. I honestly don't know why these phone calls are so hard...maybe it is because they're personal? It's a good thought Also, "long time ago" for me is just anything that took place before my most recent exam - so, right now, anything before Monday, lol. It is a most excellent idea! I may use it next challenge... --- Today! Tracked everything, and brought food to school. Didn't run, but was planning on that because of my schedule on Tuesdays and the massive grad exam I have tomorrow. I'm not certain if I'll be able to run tomorrow, either - I have another huge exam Thursday morning, so may just prioritize studying tomorrow. If I have time, I'll run tomorrow after classes. If not, I'll run Thursday, then again Saturday. This should be the last really bad week for school for a little while, but even so I should still be able to do my three runs

@Leejus I feel that picture on a spiritual level... I'm usually fine when I'm shopping with others. The problem is when I shop by myself, lol. I drive past a drugstore on my way home from work that is a perfect place to buy cookies...it's less than ideal, lol. I did that a while back, and was surprised how well it worked I'm using my phone timer right now, but just got a fitbit that has an interval workout function, so am about to start using that as well. I also find that the breathing makes it a lot easier to not focus on unpleasant things while running (or walking, lol). It's very zen ___ Day 2 successful! Tracked all my food, and no school food. I made up a nice lunch to take to school...and then forgot it in the fridge...so I was quite hungry by the time I got home, and also ended up with an even lower calorie count. Whoops. I might go have a snack before bed, but I'm really not hungry...so we'll see. For running, it was a rest day - I walked around on campus, and had a good yoga session though Nothing done for observations. I have a couple huge exams this week, I won't be doing anything on this goal until probably Friday...

You have a very similar meal planning approach to me. I just sort of get food for a week or so, and am like "well, I'll eat this in some order over the week" and go with it I also tend to eat exactly the same thing for breakfast every single day, lol. So sorry about your water! That's gotta be super annoying And I'm sooo sorry about your class! I have a grad class right now that's somewhat similar, although it isn't discussion board based. We have our first big exam on Wednesday, and the people who've taken it before are literally just saying "sucks to be you, his tests are totally irrelevant to what you do in class so good luck." He's also one of the most disorganized professors I've ever had. Anyway. Can you ask the TA for additional clarification? Do they maybe have specific comments, or can tell you which points they're claiming you didn't address? Or, you know...anything even remotely helpful? If you have the full syllabus, maybe just read a week in advance to try and mitigate your teachers failures? A slow start does not the challenge decide - you have excellent goals, you will totally succeed despite your water and your professor!

Thanks guys! I tend to be way too ambitious with my goals and fall apart after a couple weeks, so tried to do something more realistic this time around. Thanks for the encouragement, it helps! I don't know what it is about this sort of phone call that I hate so much, honestly. I have to cold-call lots of customers/companies for work (I do inventory/ordering), and I have zero problem with that. But the last call I had to make for speech path I literally started dialing, then had to stop and get through a panic attack - when I finally made the call, it was a super fantastic experience, they were super happy to talk to me and it was overall just lovely. So why are they so difficult?!? GAHH. *ahem* okay, I'm done whining... Update! Tracked all my food. Just what I ate, and the calories. All reasonably healthy food, totaled around 1200 calories. I know, I know...that's too low. Honestly, when I'm eating healthier, there are days where I literally struggle to even hit 1000 - I've gotten to where I almost always hit 1200, but it's taken some work. I average 1200-1400. Also the no school food goal was irrelevant today, because no school. I didn't order food/eat the free candy they give us at work though, so there's that Didn't do anything for observations today... My plan to "run" this morning was rudely foiled by my grandmother's alarm going off as I was heading out the door...and then not shutting off no matter what I did. I had to make one of the dreaded phone calls (grandma can't talk on the phone anymore) to try and sort that out, the alarm company woman was not happy with me, lol. Anyway. Had to change my plans, so ran this evening instead. Total walked about 30 minutes, and did 5 cycles of run 30 sec/walk 60 sec after a 5 minute warm-up walk, which actually felt pretty fantastic I didn't push too hard - I could've done a couple more cycles, but not at a "conversational" level of breathing, which is apparently a thing runners should pay attention to. Plus I'm really trying to ease in and not go too fast this time. So, yeah. Anyway. I have a plan that involves increasing times gradually over a couple weeks before I start doing more C25K-type intervals As a note - I'm calling them "runs" even if I do very little actual running, lol. And when I "ran" tonight, the time was almost the same as when I just do a brisk walk. Even if I'm just going for a walk, I treat it like a run - I feel like it helps it feel more "real" if that makes sense? More formal, or something. Like it's a part of my day, not just an "eh, I guess I'll go for a walk."

That's a smart way to do it. Short, sweet, and effective. Thanks!

I love your "One & Done" list! And the way you set up your goals with the point breakdowns is really fantastic - it makes it so simple to see exactly what to do

Are you, by chance, a fellow knitter? I love how straightforward your goals are! Actually I just love your goals in general, tbh. They're all goals I may steal in future...

That's some A+ Spongebob use if I've ever seen it! You've certainly thought this through! How do you do your sheet for tracking challenge commitments, if I may ask? I've been trying to develop a method of tracking goals, and have so far not managed one that I'm really happy with. Also I love your Materia goal - I may steal that one for future challenges... Best of luck!

Hi! Long time no challenge. My bad. I've recently started graduate school, so am still figuring that whole thing out. So far I'm enjoying it, despite all the stress More to the point, I'm suuuuuuper overweight. I'm a 5'2 female, and currently weigh somewhere just under 210 lbs. I've got lots of injuries from my music undergrad, so I have really bad chronic pain - the whole overweight thing is definitely not helping on that front. Not to mention there's no way this weight is healthy in any way. It's high time I got that sorted. Plus I actually really enjoy working out, if I can convince myself to, you know, actually work out. My highest weight was 215, so I've lost a bit since starting. I do a pretty good amount of yoga, and am getting back into running. Seems like a good time to join a challenge, to keep me on track Goal 1 - track everything! In my experience, if I have to write it down, I make better choices. I track food, calories, and workouts. I'm still fine-tuning my system, currently use a mix of myfitnesspal, mapmyrun, and a handy-dandy spreadsheet that seems to be working pretty well. Doesn't matter if it's healthy, or if it's an entire packages of chips ahoy (...listen...I have no excuse...) IT GETS WRITTEN DOWN. Tracking macros and whatnot won't happen just yet, it's too involved for me at this point. I'm planning to just track the name of the thing, and the calorie content. Goal 2 - no school food! Pretty self-explanatory. My school doesn't have great food options (and everything is expensive). I'm going to prep my food for while I'm at school ahead of time, and not get any school food. Goal 3 - run 3x a week Okay, maybe not run per say...I'm too out of shape for that. But I'm doing walking/running intervals (a la C25K). I'm actually not doing C25K, I'm doing shorter/gentler intervals to avoid wrecking my back again (and also because my cardiovascular fitness is basically nonexistent). This is the goal that I know will be hardest for me to keep up with. It's also the one that I think will make the biggest overall difference for my mental state. I just gotta get out the door and start, after that I'm golden Life Goal - set up observations Part of my program (speech-language pathology) involves getting 25 clinical observation hours in various settings before I start my own clinicals next year. The first half I'll research places, the second half I'll work on setting them up. I have really bad anxiety about phone calls like this, so the first half is as much about working up my courage as it is the actual research...I WILL set up observations for at least two locations/demographics during this challenge. I will also do something each week.

Welp. Challenge over. It had its ups and downs. Some things I'm really happy about, some a bit less so. Yoga has been good. I've been doing more practice on my own, and it's been really good. It helps a lot. Planning was okay. Not great, not terrible. Same with paleo. It could've been better, also could have been worse. I think overall that progress was made, if not as much as I'd have liked. But yeat, progress was made, at least I just...didn't write much at all. Whoops. I've been doing other things, but not my fiction writing persay. My bad. One thing that has started happening though, that I'm still sorta getting used to, is that I've started falling back on yoga/exercise instead of stress eating. I've always been a stress eater, and I've been dealing with a ton of it recently. When I had bad days historically, I'd bake (and eat) a batch of cookies. I did fall back on baking once, but I've been using more and more yoga instead, which is starting to be really helpful. So, yay that Now to evaluate and plan for the next challenge...

Man, I continue to not be very active on here... I'll have a "final overview" post at the actual end of the challenge, but I figured I'd check in briefly now anyway I'm applying for Speech-Language Pathology. Not sure quite what I want to do yet though...at this point, I'm mostly applying because I'm getting fee waivers and I may as well keep the option open in case I want it in the future @demosthenes131, thanks for the encouraging words! I agree, the meal planning is critical. I'm getting better, but I'm not quite there yet...but hey, I'll take better as an intermediate stage And yeah, adjusting is key, I think. The problem I always have is walking the balance between keeping something long enough to really build a habit or really see if it's working or not, and holding on to it for too long because "maybe I just don't get it yet." I'm still working on that... I was doing really well for a couple weeks, and I felt pretty great Then this last week...wasn't great. My birthday was last week, and I went into it planning to enjoy and not stress about eating a piece (or two...) of cake, because hey, we have cake like three times a year and I love me some cake, lol. Then we had a big music party over the weekend, and mom got cheesecake...and if there's something I love more than cake, it's cheesecake. So my planned cake day turned more into a cake week...cheat days do not work very well for me, I have learned. Good to know. On the other hand, I'm still good on the yoga front. I'm not doing the videos every day, but I am doing yoga just about every day. It's fun being able to free style my practice - I've started learning what moves will help specific pains or tensions, and oddly enough which ones tend to help on an emotional level. I've also started building in about half an hour for it right before I go to bed (in addition to my earlier practice during the day), and it's seriously helping me with my anxiety. Not to mention helping with my chronic pain. Yoga, FTW! Also, my heels have started touching the ground in down dog - my left more than my right, and not fully solid contact, but still. It's a cool feeling

Hey @demosthenes131, thanks for checking in! I haven't been very present here...whoops. The short update is: yoga is great, planning is decent, paleo is meh, writing isn't great. I've been doing a lot of yoga. I've had a super emotional couple weeks, and I've been using yoga as a coping mechanism. I'm actually kind of proud of myself, because historically when I have times like this, I end up having panic attacks, then crying uncontrollably for a few hours, and then eating approximately five brownies. Then repeat. Not fun. But I've been doing yoga instead (at odd hours, I'll get up in the middle of the night and do it sometimes), and it's really helping. Not a single brownie has been consumed, my anxiety is way lower, and that's a big accomplishment for me My meal planning has been going okay. I'm still getting in to the habit, there are days when I just forget all about any plans I'd had and don't make more plans, which trips me up a little. But I'm getting better. I've been to the store a couple times, and have been planning ahead to figure out what I'll want, what I'll take for lunch, etc. And it's helping, because the days I slip up with planning, I also don't do so great on the paleo front. My bad. So, these two go hand in hand, and the planning is the one I really have to finish building the habit on. I'm starting to sort of enjoy it - I went to bed last night excited about cooking up food for today and tomorrow, and scheming about what exactly I was going to do. So I'm making progress I haven't done any writing. I just...haven't been thinking of it at times when I can actually write (i.e. while not driving, at work, teaching, etc.). In my defense though, I have been doing grad school applications. Which in hindsight really is the life goal I should have had this challenge - and they involve a decent amount of writing, too But yeah, I'll hopefully do more with my writing the next part of the challenge...