chibi-nerd

From my experience working in a male dominated industry I've come to the conclusion that this is a female way of thinking...which is not a bad thing!! I could go on and on about this but I'll be (rightly) accused of being sexist. (why for instance did men, who had just read the manual on a certain platform claim to be "expert" while I, who had months of experience with it claimed "moderate knowledge"? ) Do you know Jodie Foster worries constantly that The Academy will realise she doesn't deserve her oscar and come and take it back? That's called imposter syndrome and it's much more common among women. I guess what I'm saying is it is natural to feel inadequate, simply because that's how women think, but you're not! That's why you've been chosen for the role.

Thanks! And the best workout is the one that you do, right? If I injure myself, there will be no more workouts. And if I drop the weights dramatically they will go through the floorboards Yesterday was a rest day, but it looks like today will be one too Not planned. So tomorrow I will have to play catchup. I will have to be well organised tomorrow morning!

I really only have one goal: do my weights workouts 4 days a week...without injuring myself So I have to listen really carefully to my tendons and joints...which makes "going to failure" hard. Oh well. That's just how it is. And I'm going to try and go keto. I had a look at what I used to eat when I was successful in losing weight and in theory, that was keto. Less than 25g of net carbs, at any rate. So, I'm going to measure this time! Because I'm a qualitative sort of girl.

I was talking about the current Australian Geographic Nature Photography exhibition at the SA Museum with my Japanese teacher and sent her this photo. She said "Did you know wombat poo is square?" And I said I did, but how did she know? "Oh another student from Australia told me." And then we went off on theories about how they make square poo. She thought maybe they play with it to make it square. "Ummm....no, I don't think so!":

My goal for next ch My goal for the next challenge will just be to do my workouts (and not injure myself) and hopefully the pushups and strength will follow!

My "stolen" weights Fine. I use the 10kg plates for deadlifts and the curl bar for, well, curls! I have lost so much strength! I can't even do 12 push ups anymore. Sigh! Silly me, letting myself get into this state! I think sharing would be a bit tough in our little "gym"...study actually....it would be very crowded in there!

Does that mean you won't be posting here anymore? And what are you hoping to get from it? $10/month does seem very reasonable.

Hi, I need to buy presents for a male race walker. He has a super snazzy garmin watch that measures cadence HR strike time etc. so he's right for all the techno gizmos. I'll get him a silly tee shirt with race walkers in it. Any other ideas? Books? Massage doo-hickey? I dunnow!!

Take up fencing...that's what my daughter did. OK ....not helpful....or maybe it is. Fencing is very competitive but you face your opponent while jabbing at them, as opposed to running side by side, which bizarrely, seems to make fencing more sociable. Fencing happens in small bouts and is done inside (less pollen and mold). Fencing is also very nerdy. Running was miserable for my daughter but she's loving fencing...except for the bruises.

OK... I said I wouldn't post my weight but here is something odd.... Every two weeks my weight drops. It climbs steadily for two weeks and then resets! What on earth can that be due to? If I'm right, my weight should drop again in 2 days time that would be so weird.

No, not overstepping, especially when you are so sweet about it. You may be right. I was going to say that if I don't watch my weight daily it gets out of control, but then I looked at my weightgrapher records and in the three months I've been tracking my weight daily it has gone up twice as fast as the previous 6 months when I wasn't! Doh! But I am doing something right. The constant, aggravating hunger has gone and I am no longer binge eating...well not so much. I can even resist ice cream when the troops are eating it and I've got a fat bomb. That, presumably is all due to the insulin lowering effect of intermittent fasting. I'm finding it much easier to go between meals too, if I have something entertaining to do. And today I did my second leg workout. It was supposed to be yesterday but I told myself the DOMS was too severe. That wasn't true and instead I lolled about reading "The Pandemic Century". Very interesting. I've just finished Zika. What ever happened to poor old Zika...its still out there! I won't post my weight, because it makes @Chesire nervous It went up. a bit over the weekend, but that's OK. Considering I am probably holding water from the weights workout and I took a melatonin last night (which puts me in such a deep sleep I don't get up to go to the toilet and hence weigh more in the morning) that is OK. And I have 2 10kg plates and curl bar to add to the gym this week. They're really for my muscly teenage daughter, but I can still make use of them.

I got a handy book from the library call "strength training anatomy" by Frederic Delavier. It shows all the muscles and which exercise works which muscles. For gluteus medius he say Abductions, cable, standing machine, lying, or seated machine. YOu could do the lying ones with a band if you don't have access to machines. The book also says you get a different effect if you raise you leg behind, in front or straight up. I seem to recall aerobics instructors getting the class to touch front, middle and back when doing thses. Here's a video on how to do it with an extended range for greater effect....https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19546637/side-lying-hip-abduction-exercise/ I think I should add these to my workout! The stabilise knees!

Arms today. Feeling good.

The "gym" isn't as tidy as this now. Weights all over the place.

Thanks. The exercises I've just done (yay! I did my workout) aren't new....just the pain. So I designed my workout, which took an hour with warmup and stretches, with *lots* of warmup sets. I only did 3 sets of each exerise. The book recommends 5, with 60sec rests. Seriously, where do people get the time for 2 hour workouts?? I sometimes wonder if fitness gurus aren't very good at maths. When my daughter was running the coach would say "Do this exercise 10x for 30seconds each, and this one and this one. That's a just a few minutes a day. Do that twice a day." Ok...well that's actually 30mins a day on top of the actual training. Then the physio would do the same and before we knew it she had an hour of extra exercises on top of long training sessions and then they'd want to know why she (12 years old) hadn't done all that. Anyway....I wonder about the maths abilities of the authors of this book.

Yesterday, after doing so well, my willpower crumbled. Which wouldn't have bee so bad, a bit of cheese here, a jelly bean there, but then I burnt dinner and so rushed out and bought pretty disgusting sushi from the supermarket and now my weight is back where it was 8 days ago. I suppose I should be pleased it's not more So today I look horrible and feel horrible from all the salt. I knew my willpower would only last 3 days, that's why I scheduled an extra 500g for yesterday, but because I hadn't lost as much as I wanted I ignored my plan and boom! So now I know, whatever happens, cycle calories on Wednesdays. And I'm not drinking enough. Must drink a big glass of water at every meal! Drinking a heap today will help get the water weight off from the salt too. And I look in the mirror and the isometrics are not making muscle. They might be gentle on my joints and hamstrings, but that's it! So I've sat down with "Train like a body builder" and "Strength Training Anatomy" and figured out some workouts. I'm wondering if I should start them right now or wait for the end of the challenge 🤨 I think I'll start now and iron out all the bugs before I start the next challenge. If I get my skates on I can get a workout done before breakfast!

Yeah. Lost 200g yesterday. We shall see. Its all a bit of an experiment at this stage.

That's interesting. Only available in the US. I hope it doesn't come to Australia. But seriously....that would be good for all the Kindle owners who haven't figured out how to get the books semi-legally yet. If I had to buy another e-reader, I think I would get a Kobo. The latest Kobos interface directly with Overdrive, but as my Kindle shows no sign of dying (when do they ever?) I guess I'll stick to my grey-borrowing.

Gained 500g over the weekend, which was more than I'd hoped for.

Yeah...it's a bit of a grey area ... or rather, morally justified but not exactly legal? In my mind, the author gets the lending rights just the same so it's a victimless crime. And I'm Australian.

Just been listening to "The Science Show" while doing my naff isometrics. I'm feeling so much more confident about my joints and tendons I'm thinking of trying weights again next challenge, but stay away from anything plyometric. Anyhoo...that's not what I logged in to say! Back to "The Science Show". Robyn Williams was talking to the authors of "Eat like the Animals" written by two professors from Uni of Sydney. Sounded very interesting so I put a hold on it on overdrive. (Overdrive + kindle = reading bliss) The podast is here ... https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/ Links to Apple/Google/ etc podcasts is on the bottom left of the page.

Cheese factory....

BTW - if you're wondering what I mean by chicory...not the leafy vegetables, the roasted root!

Oh yeah. Making the food look bigger is important. I find lots of little things, some clear soup, yoghurt, a bit of meat and salad etc. all on separate little plates makes it look a like a feast. But! Here is my weight this morning! I suppose losing 900g in 5 days is "too much" but "pfft!" I say. Anyway, today is Saturday so I will "refeed" (aka put some back on but if we call it "refeed" it sounds like its planned and sensible) today. But first I have to wait til 10am. Looks like my daughter has something yummy in the oven! Yayyy! In the meantime...chicory...which apparently has 0.9g of fibre per serve.

HOw short am I? I am immensely tall and of statuesque proportions! Actually I'm 160cm. The increase in my weight is from more than just exercising. In my experience, lifting weights makes me put on weight, but I have gained 4kg in 2 years! That has to stop! I am actually fat. Fatter than I used to be. My waist is disappearing and my legs are podgy. You can imagine what an extra 4kg looks like on a 160cm tall frame. On non-walking days I am doing isometrics....wall squats, planks and other less well known exercises. It sounds naff but HR does increase and it is the only resistance workout I can do now without getting joint and tendon pain. Not only does it not cause pain, it does seem to reduce the pain, especially if I roll and stretch as well. But! I have returned to what I know works and it is working. The trick will now be to stick to it. I'm thinking tomorrow I will eat whatever I like but stick to the 3 meals in 10 hours timing and then I might have a day in the middle of the week where I eat an extra 500Cals so that I don't go more than three days being hungry. Some people might call that calorie cycling...it sounds much more sensible if you give it a groovy name. And here is my progress over the last three days....