Little_Fox42

Despite waking up at 4:30 with a migraine, today wasn't a bad day. Might have found a migraine treatment that works. My doctor had recommended trying aspirin, benadryl, and 8oz of coke last time I saw her. Coke at 4:30 was out of the question and my migraine prescription was downstairs. So I grabbed a benadryl from the hall closet and an ibuprofen since I couldn't find aspirin. Woke up a few hours later and the migraine wasn't gone, but it was like a shadow of a migraine. It's still there now, but still a shadow and I can work through it. I made a note of the combo and I'll try it again next time I get a migraine. *fingers crossed* This morning it was still bad enough I didn't go to my physical therapy appointment, but I did feel up to doing my running intervals this evening. Successfully got through the 20 second running interval with no trouble and currently no heel pain or stiffness. Actually ran a few seconds past the timer a couple times. Depending on how I feel I might bump it all the way up to 30 seconds on Monday.

Finished my post workout stretching at 5:07 yesterday. Would have made my tentative 5pm deadline, but my boyfriend came home in the middle of it and we talked for a few minutes. Went ahead up to 50 lbs, might go ahead and take the squats to 55 next workout. Not sure if I'm gonna be up to walking today because of feeling icky. I woke up this morning with a stomach ache, went back to sleep, woke up 2 hours later with a sore throat and an earache. Chicken noodle soup and saltines kind of day. Although it is a really nice day out. And sunshine is supposed to boost your immune system. Idunno. I'll see if I have the energy in a bit. For now I'm just gonna relax and focus on feeling better.

Did my running intervals yesterday. Felt good, not too much heel pain afterwards, just a little stiffness. A little tender this morning, but no more than usual. Maybe even a little less than usual. Gonna try changing the interval ratio by 5 seconds each time until I hit a point that feels like a bit more of a challenge. Hopefully going slow like that I'll be able to get to a minute of non-stop running in no time. 15 seconds didn't leave me winded and 5:45 was a bit more recovery time than I needed, even as out of shape as I am. I have a physical therapy appointment this morning, so I'll do my strength training this afternoon after my heel has had some time to rest. Might go ahead up to 50 lbs on everything today; gonna depend on how I feel after physical therapy. Haven't really set myself any timed goals yet. (Other than getting the kitchen cleaned up before my boyfriend got home so he could cook. Started on that 30 minutes before he got home, so I'm not counting it due to procrastination and rushing.) I'm gonna get to my appointment 10 minutes early this morning. Actually leaving right after posting this. I'm half tempted to give myself a deadline of 5pm for the strength training, but I'm hesitant to do so with the heel pain restrictions. Gotta find that balance between pushing myself and setting myself up for failure. I'm off to a good start! Although technically the challenge doesn't start for another few days so this is the practice lap, lol.

Hello! I've been doing a little soul searching (i.e. I can't make up my mind) and decided that, for now, adventurer isn't the class for me. I'm focused a little more on strength and not really going out and hiking/trail running/adventuring as much as I someday will. I also have a thing for picking the ranger/archer class in video games. Soooooo... here I am! 😁 This challenge is gonna be focused partly on time management. Starting out by posting on time instead of waiting until a week after the challenge has started. Yay! Go me! I did the thing! The other focus is gonna be strength and running. I'm mostly recovered from Achilles tendonitis and just got cleared to run a couple of weeks ago. I've been slacking and haven't started yet, but I'm gonna. I also have a new job starting (hopefully) soon. Just waiting on some paperwork to go through and then I start training. I'd like to be a little bit stronger by the time I start the training as this will be a fairly physically demanding job. I'm the kind of person who, no matter what I do, always shows up 5 minutes late. Leave the house an hour before I have to be at work? Oh, I've got enough time to swing through the drive through and get a snack. Person in front of me orders enough food to feed an army and bam! I'm late. Most of the time it is my fault, though. So I'm gonna work on that this challenge. Problem is I have almost nothing going on while I'm not working. The plan is every night I'm gonna make myself a schedule of chores to do throughout the day and deadlines to have certain things finished. To help keep me accountable I'm enlisting the help of my boyfriend, who will have a list of what I'm supposed to have done when and I'll be checking in with him. (This includes making my "schedule" for the next day.) I'm gonna leave it up to him to decide if something legitimately kept me from meeting my goal or if I just didn't make it that time. Strength I've been working on, but slacked a lot the last couple of weeks. Rewrote my workout plan to include the running and I'll be getting back into the swing of things tomorrow. Mondays and Thursdays I'll be running. Starting with 5:45 walking/0:15 running five times for a total of 30 minutes. My goal is to work my way up to being able to run for a whole minute without stopping. Tuesdays and Fridays will be strength training using a modified Stronglifts 5x5 plan. I'm currently at 45 lbs for everything. Aiming for being able to do 5 reps of 55-60 lbs by the end of the challenge. With the exception of overhead press and deadlifts; one rep of each at that weight is okay with me. Wednesdays and Saturdays are gonna be my "rest days." Weather permitting I'll walk to the park (play some Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and PokemonGo) and back. Sundays will be long walk days, hopefully with my boyfriend and, if my heel can handle it, our three dogs. I'm not including the walking "rest days" in this challenge, they're just extra so I'm doing something to keep me in the right frame of mind for getting in shape. To sum everything up, my goals are: Do all tasks on time and meet all deadlines Running intervals Mondays and Thursdays (weather and Achilles tendon permitting) Strength training Tuesdays and Fridays (Achilles tendon permitting)

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I'm very bad at posting. I've also been pretty bad at staying on track the last couple of weeks. I did get my bullet journal all printed out and I've been using it pretty much daily; forgot to record a meal here and there. Got to use the migraine tracker I made and it works pretty well. The one migraine I've recorded fit in with my barometric-pressure-trigger-hypothesis. Unfortunately the prescription meds didn't make a difference. Not giving up on them just yet; but I'm gonna continue doing research and trying different things. Hopefully I'll eventually find something that will straight up prevent them from happening. Or at least lessen the frequency, duration, and intensity. I haven't worked out in a week and a half and haven't gone for a run yet. Giving myself a stern look for that. I've been chomping at the bit to run again and after getting told I could, I'm procrastinating. I think having the bullet journal page for tracking how often/ far I run is going to help. I would be embarrassed to show someone my journal right now because of the lack of doing things. (Except for the Duolingo lesson tracking page I made. I've been knocking out levels on that like nobody's business! 😁) I've been slacking with hydration and eating well. Multiple days I've just recorded "too much food," or "too much bad food." Not enough fruits and veggies, eating too much bad stuff, not moving enough... I wouldn't be surprised if I gained some of the weight back. The battery is dead in my scale and it's being stubborn and won't come out. I'll get around to fixing it eventually. It's honestly not anywhere near the top of my list at the moment. I know I didn't hit my weight goal for the challenge, but that's okay. The weight will come off, I just need to keep at it. I know the habits I need to change and the areas I need to improve. I also know change doesn't happen overnight and progress is more like the bunny hop than a straight line. One step back, two steps forward. I re-wrote my workout schedule based on my therapist's recommendation that I not do anything else on running days for now. I cut the strength workouts down to twice a week and have two days of running. Three days are "rest days" on which I plan to do 30 minutes of walking or biking in addition to my physical therapy. I also have been doing some research and came up with some longer term goals to work towards as far as how much weight I can lift. I had been donating blood plasma twice a week before the hypothyrodism diagnosis. I let them know that I started a new medication and they deferred me for 6 weeks until my body got used to the new meds. Planning on starting that up again today as long as they clear me. It'll make it easier (and unavoidable) to track my weight as they weigh you every time you donate. And in other news the hiring process for my new job is... well... it's moving. Slowly, but moving. The company doing the background check finally fixed their technical difficulties and verified my work history and the person who did the physical for the new hire processing told me I had to obtain and provide all the medical records for a motor vehicle accident I had two years ago. Records that I didn't keep because I didn't think I needed them. Had to do research and find out where I got treated (which was in another state). Finally got a copy of the records today after a week and a half of trying so hopefully I'll hear back that I'm good to go soon. If not I have to make more phone calls... yay... 🙁 With any luck I'll begin training the beginning/middle of next month. The muscles were extremely tight. The whole calf, on both sides, was pretty much solid and very tender all over when he did the deep tissue massage. I've improved a lot in the last couple of months. I still have a couple areas that are tight and tender, but for the most part the deep tissue massage has become more relaxing and less me jumping off the table every 5 seconds. They've had me working on strength and balancing exercises with a good amount of stretching mixed in. It should. I'm hoping it's gonna help with a lot of things I've had going on from having hypothyroidism. Fatigue levels, cold tolerance, depression, metabolism issues... I've noticed I already have a bit more energy than before, at least on the days I don't have a migraine. Not sure how much of that is the meds and how much is the fact that, for the most part, I've been more active. I lost weight pretty rapidly the first two weeks of taking the meds. Fingers crossed it'll lower the difficulty level of weight loss a bit. I did remember to record my progress with strength and flexibility on the 2nd. Just... didn't get around to posting until now. Flexibility as of 10/2 V Sit & Reach: 6" Went backwards on this one by 3" Toe Touch: 12" Went backwards by 2.5" Forward Split (left): 52" *realized I measure wrong last month, it should have been 30" Made a whopping 22" of progress on this one! Forward Split (right): 48" *same thing, should have been 34" 14" of progress here! Woohoo! Center Split: 58" Backwards here by 7" Trunk Rotation (left): 10" Backwards by 2" Trunk Rotation (right): 4" No change Trunk Extension: 12" Up 4.5" Back Scratch (left): -1" No change Back Scratch (right): 1" 1" progress Shoulder Rotation: 34" Up 3" Straight Leg Raise (left): 34" Gained 1" Straight Leg Raise (right): 33" 1" of progress Butterfly Stretch: 5" 1" here as well Overall not too bad. Could have done better and I will next time. I have a page in my bullet journal to track my progress on this each month. Strength as of 10/2 Plank: toes and elbows/25 seconds Increased 15 seconds Pushups: elevated (weight bench)/15 Increased difficulty from wall pushups Pullups: inverted bodyweight rows (I used the weight rack with the bar set 25" from the floor. I also had my knees bent so my feet were flat on the floor.)/ 5 reps Increased difficulty Squats: 45lbs/10 reps Increased weight Bench Press: 45 lbs/10 reps Increased weight Barbell Row: 45 lbs/15 reps Increased weight Overhead Press: 45 lbs/5 reps Increased weight Deadlift: 45 lbs/10 reps Increased weight I knew I would make progress on this one; it's kind of hard not to when you start at zero. I'm going to continue tracking this one monthly in my journal as well. Overall I think I did okay on this challenge. I'll be tracking challenges in my journal so that I don't have to worry as much about sitting down at the computer to post and getting distracted by video games and not tracking progress (or lack thereof). Might add in a reward next challenge. Something along the lines of if I reach 85% of my goals I can buy a funny t-shirt I've been eyeing. 100% and I get to buy two. Or I can spend $5 real life currency in a mobile game to give myself a little boost. Definitely gonna step up my game, though.

Took it easy over the weekend. Back on track today, though. Had an endocrinology appointment this morning and confirmed that I do, in fact, have an auto-immune disorder called Hashimoto's. Thankfully it's not as scary as it sounds; just gotta take a pill every morning to keep my thyroid levels normalized. Could be worse. Thankfully it's not the kind of auto-immune disorder that causes immunodeficiency. Lost another couple of pounds! 😁 Down to 180! Still got a ways to go, but I'm one step closer to my goal. I don't think I'm gonna make my 172 goal for this challenge, but I'm still gonna get as close as I can. Did not hydrate as much as I should have over the weekend, nor did I eat enough fruits and veggies. I didn't write in my BuJo either. I did, however, design the new BuJo layouts for my weeklies, dailies, migraine tracker, mileage tracker for running, savings tracker, and flexibility tracker. My new journal should be delivered in a few hours, so I'll print everything off and start using the new one today. Gonna put the decorative finishing touches on the pages while I sit here and snack on some yummy watermelon and strawberries. Got a few other pages I'm gonna draw up real quick as well. Other than that, a quick workout followed by a nap, some laundry, and some file organization and I call the day a huge success.

I'd rather do them than planks or burpees, but yeah, they suck. I decided to start running about 4 or 5 months ago after never having run in my life. Did some research before starting and one of the things I read was that the important thing was to just get out there and start running. So I went and started running. Unfortunately I had cheap shoes and weak ankles from being a habitual toe-walker (for years I've had a habit of walking around the house barefoot on the balls of my feet, heels not touching the floor). Started getting pain in my left heel during and after running. Did more research, got good shoes, kept trying, kept hurting. Finally got insurance and went to the doctor and got a referral to a physical therapist. He said my calves were in the top 3 of the worst calves he's ever felt. But I've been working hard and made a lot of progress in the last couple months. When I started going to him I couldn't get my foot past a neutral 90 degree angle, even with him putting pressure against the bottom of my foot. Now I can go past neutral without having to have pressure applied. Yay! My ankle still gets sore after a workout, but it doesn't last the way it did before physical therapy. Last couple days have been a mess. Got a migraine Tuesday night right before bed and it lasted until early Thursday morning. Now it's faded to a tension headache that I can't seem to shake. Actually called the doctor's office to let them know I wasn't going to make my nutritionist appointment this morning. Haven't really been able to focus on any of the things on my list since Tuesday. Probably won't until tomorrow or later today if I feel better. For now, I'm gonna move around and stretch as much as my body will let me, take a hot shower, and try to convince my boyfriend to give me a shoulder rub when he gets home from work. Might try to eat something a little more solid than chicken broth and crackers. Hurray migraine nausea.

40 oz. water: ✖️ not yet, but I'm working on it. I have a timer set to go off every 30 minutes reminding me to drink. 3 cups to go. 4 hours 'til bedtime. I got this. 5 servings fruits and veggies: ✖️ I haven't had any yet. 😩 Gonna go cut some up once I post this. Strength training: rest day Stretching: ✔️ Did a little at physical therapy; gonna do a little extra stretching before bed. Write in BuJo: ✔️ not proud of what I wrote in it for today, but I wrote in it nonetheless. Work on new BuJo: ✖️ I know I said I was gonna do that after my physical therapy appointment, but video games happened. 😅 Gonna work on it while I snack on my fruits and veggies. Edit: Met my goals before bedtime! I got cleared to run! My therapist said I could start today, but my heel is still a little sore from therapy, so I'll wait until tomorrow. He said as soon as I can walk for 30 minutes without issues I can start adding in small intervals. I have to run on a flat surface, so it's just the neighborhood right now, but soon it will be nature trails. I was also advised to wait two days between runs. Short term plan is a 30 minute walk tomorrow and tentatively Saturday I do my first round of intervals. Gotta write out a plan and make sure it fits in with my strength training. A 30 minute (mostly walking) run should be okay on the same day as strength training, right? As long as I listen to my body and don't overdo it.

40 oz. water: ✔️ Technically I haven't had the last cup yet, but I just filled it up and I'm working on it, so it counts. 5 servings fruits and veggies: ✔️ Just finished my "dessert" of strawberries and grapes. Strength training: ✔️Went up to 45 lbs. on everything but the overhead lifts. Tried one extra of them with the 45 lbs. and I can just barely do one. I'll keep it at 35 lbs. for the next week and push myself to do 45 lbs. starting next week, even if I can't do the full 5x5 set. Stretching: ✔️ I probably could have done more, but I was tired and hungry. Bonus: ✔️ Rode my bike through the park today. Nothing strenuous, just a leisurely paced ride. Write in BuJo: ✔️ Work on new BuJo: ✖️ Going to start on this tomorrow after my physical therapy appointment. Overall a really good day despite the fact that I slept in until noon... I gotta work on that... next challenge 😄

Review of the last week (after which I'll attempt to post daily/every other day): 40 oz. water per day: mostly decent, only hit the full 40 oz. once, had a few days I didn't drink any water at all, though 😞 5 servings fruits and vegetables: meh, halfway decent. Getting better at doing the prepping stuff, so that's a plus. Strength training 3x a week: I've done great on this one! I actually find myself looking forward to it. 😄 Stretching everyday: I haven't done quite as well on this. I've been doing it after the strength training, but I've been slacking a bit on the physical therapy on non strength training days. Write in BuJo everyday: Umm... I kinda left it in my car for 4 days... soooooo... haven't done well at all with this one... oops... Work on designing the new and improved BuJo: yeah, not so much yet. I'm reeeeeeaally bad about procrastinating. (Or really good AT it, depending on your perspective.)

Hello fellow adventurers! As always, I'm running a little late. (I blame the game Satisfactory on Steam this time, lol.) I had my goals all planned out a week before the last challenge ended, just haven't gotten around to posting. Diet Goals: MAIN GOAL - lose (at least) 10 lbs. My last check in with my nutritionist had me at 182, so anything under 172 is the goal. To attain this I will: Drink at least 40 oz. of water per day. I'm gonna aim for more and raise the amount in later challenges, but for now, 40 oz. isn't completely overwhelming. I have a sippy cup (don't judge me, lol, it makes drinking more fun) and it only holds 8 oz. This simultaneously makes each cup less daunting and means I have to get up and move around more often to refill it. Eat at least 5 servings of fruit and vegetables everyday. I'm gonna aim for closer to 8 or 9, but again, 5 seems less daunting at this point. Thankfully this one shouldn't be too difficult; I love fruit and there are a few vegetables that I enjoy as well. I just have to not be lazy when it comes to prepping. Fitness goals: MAIN GOAL - show improvement on flexibility and strength. I filled out the flexibility tracker provided on Nerd Fitness and made up my own strength tracker. Since my strength measurements were done as base measurements with no weight, improvement won't be hard to do. I mainly just want to try to get in a habit of working out. Also, I'm tracking my progress at the beginning of each month, so the progress will be based on the measurements I took at the beginning of September and the ones I'll be taking at the beginning of October. To make progress I will do: Strength training 3x per week. I'm really enjoying this so far. I'm doing https://stronglifts.com/5x5/ Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. So far I'm up to 35 lbs. plus the bar, which the one we have at home weighs next to nothing. Reading over the page again I realized I've been doing things wrong, though. I've been sorta lazy and kept the weight the same for all the workouts. With everything except the overhead lifts, 35 lbs. is easy. Starting tomorrow I'm gonna try the next weight up for everything except those. It'll mean more fiddling around with stuff, but you know what? It'll be an excuse to move around more and add a little to my workout. Stretching everyday. I'm doing physical therapy for Achilles tendonitis everyday. I've incorporated a full body stretching routine into the physical therapy as well as combining the physical therapy and strength training with the stretching at the end. Bonus Goal - It sounds like I could be cleared to run again soon, under the supervision of my physical therapist. (Since I injured myself when I started running a few months ago, he wants to make sure that I'm running properly and I'm not going to re-injure myself.) I've already been cleared to ride my bike and walk for short distances, so I'm gonna start going to the park that's a mile from where I live. As an added bonus there's an absolute nest of Harry Potter: Wizard's Unite and PokemonGo stuff there. Weather permitting, and as long as my body says it's okay, I plan to go there a few times a week. I'll set a more concrete goal once I get the go ahead. Lifestyle goals: MAIN GOAL - be more organized. I recently jumped on the bullet journal wagon. Still trying to get it up and running. It's usable at this point, but there are a lot of things that need a little tweaking. I'm using the one I've got for now while I work on another one. In the mean time I will: Write in my BuJo everyday, focusing on tracking sleep, food and water intake, and doctor and physical therapy appointments. Work on designing the new and improved BuJo. I'll set myself small deadlines of when certain parts need to be done. (Of course then I'll procrastinate and end up doing it right before my self set deadline, but that's an issue for another challenge, lol.) Flexibility as of 9/1 V Sit & Reach: 9" Toe Touch: 14.5" Forward Split (left): 38" Forward Split (right): 42" Center Split: 65" Trunk Rotation (left): 12" Trunk Rotation (right): 4" Trunk Extension: 7.5" Back Scratch (left): -1" Back Scratch (right): 0" Shoulder Rotation: 37" Straight Leg Raise (left): 33" Straight Leg Raise (right): 32" Butterfly Stretch: 6" Strength as of 9/1 Plank: toes and elbows/10 seconds Pushups: wall/25 Pullups: bent over dumbell row w/water jug/ 25 reps Squats: bodyweight/10 reps Bench Press: bar only/25 reps Barbell Row: bar only/25 reps Overhead Press: bar only/25 reps Deadlift: bar only/25 reps *I stopped at 25 reps as it seemed silly to keep going beyond that point.

Had a soda on Wednesday along with fast food. In my defense it was a grab and go moment. My boyfriend came home from work and we were about to go out to dinner when work called with an emergency generator that needed to be filled. So I tagged along and we were gonna stop and get food on the way home. Buuuuuut things don't always go as planned and we ended up having to sit and wait for 2 hours while they delivered another generator because the first one wasn't working. And then we had to wait for another hour while they ran the second one through the start up procedure to make sure it was working before he pumped a crap ton of fuel into it. Not knowing at the beginning how long we would be waiting and knowing that we were both already hungry, we just went down to the McDonald's on the corner and grabbed a quick bite. Then we got milkshakes on the way home because it was 10pm at that point and we were both cranky and deserved it for putting up with so much stupidity. Haven't had coffee all week, but I also haven't had energy drinks with the exception of Sunday. We had to leave the house earlier than we intended to run some errands and just grabbed breakfast-y fast food on the way. We ordered coffee, but it ended up tasting so bad we couldn't drink it. So we grabbed energy drinks at the checkout at the first stop. I have had small amounts of caffeine in the form of Mio in my water in the mornings. Overslept yesterday, woke up 2 hours after my physical therapy appointment. Slept through an alarm, 3 text messages, and 2 phone calls. Blah...😖 I found a little zapping alarm thing that I bought years ago and thought I had lost for good. I might have to charge it up and see if it will work. Been slacking on the dishes. If you want to lose all desire to be productive, lose all track of time, and forget to go to bed on time because you have to finish just "one more thing," I highly recommend the game Satisfactory on Steam. My boyfriend and I are both having to set alarms/reminders so that we take breaks from it. The BuJo is printed out and functional, but there are some things about it that I don't like. It's not quite as user friendly as I wanted it to be. I already mentioned that I'm gonna tweak a few of the pages, but I might end up giving the whole thing a make-over. I'll keep using it for now, though. I did get a call back about the job. I had to fix one thing in my application and then she said she would call me back with a job offer. I probably won't hear anything until Tuesday, but it sounds extremely promising. 🤞

Great appointment with my nutritionist today. I surprised myself and the nutritionist by losing 7 pounds! I honestly was concerned I had gained weight. Left me feeling super pumped and ready for anything. Gonna tweak a couple pages in my BuJo and reprint them next week. I doubt I'll have time over the weekend. Gonna start writing down the goals I want to put on my next challenge soon, too. ✔️No soda today ✔️No energy drink (I didn't have time to make coffee, but I had water with some Mio with caffeine.) ✔️Physical therapy exercises done twice already. ✔️Sink is clean ✔️BuJo is printed and operational (minus tweaking needed)

I lost 7 pounds! 😁 I had my two week follow up appointment with my nutritionist today. I was worried it was gonna go badly. As in, I was certain I had gained weight kind of going badly. He and I were both surprised when it was that much lower. Now let's see what I can do with some real effort behind it, lol. Physical therapy is still going well; still doing the stretches 2-3 times a day. My foam balancing mat thingy finally came in the mail so I can do the balance exercises at home now, too. I got my bullet journal all printed out and started using it this week. Gonna tweak a few pages, minor design flaws that make it a little awkward to write in some places. I probably won't have that done until after the weekend. I might need to set aside a time to make sure I've written in it each day so I don't forget. Maybe I'll include that in my next challenge. Had a job interview yesterday that went well. Trying not to get my hopes up too high too fast, but a friend of mine who works for the company says that if I got to the point I did, I've got the job. *Fingers crossed* I'll be riding my bike to work everyday pretty soon. Planning ahead and packing a lunch will help with eating better, too. Sitting at home there are too many options and temptations. My body is adjusting to the medication and I have an appointment with an endocrinologist at the end of September. Getting my thyroid levels normalized is gonna help with the weight loss as well.

Glad your foot is feeling better. I hear you on the shedding. I have 3 dogs, 2 of which are huskies. One day after vacuuming it doesn't look like you've vacuumed in a week. 😄

Not gonna count my chickens before they hatch, but the interview went really well. The recruiter said that she is going to recommend me to the person in charge of hiring for the department I applied to. She also said that if that person doesn't want me for whatever reason, she wants me for her department. I'll find out within the next couple of weeks. Physical therapy went well, I've made a lot of progress. I'll be going twice a week still for the next 2 weeks and then he thinks I'll be okay to switch to once a week. Had coffee this morning (couldn't have gotten through the interview process without it, lol), finally started writing in the BuJo, sink is clean, and I'll do my physical therapy exercises at least one more time today. My foam balance mat thingy finally came in the mail so I can do the balancing exercises as well as the stretching. I need to start doing some strength training soon. Once my boyfriend comes home I might bug him to help me get the weight bench a little more accessible. Definitely gonna have strength and yoga workouts on my next challenge. All in all not a bad day. Feels good to be back on track.

I'm still here. Fell off the wagon big time over the weekend. A rough Friday, a D&D night Saturday with sodas and alcohol, a lazy Sunday, I don't know what happened to Monday, and migraine Tuesday. Sink was full all weekend and had an energy drink yesterday and today. For some reason energy drinks don't mess with my stomach, but coffee sometimes does. And migraines always make my stomach finicky. The sink is clean now, I got the BuJo printed out on Friday (just haven't started using it yet), physical therapy is going well, and the soda I'm drinking right now is the one I'm counting as my 1 for the week. I also have an job interview tomorrow! 😁 Yay! Hoping I get it for multiple reasons, one of which is it's close enough I could ride my bike to work.

❌Had 2 sodas (and fast food) ❌Had an energy drink (followed immediately by a nap, strangely enough) ✔️Physical therapy went great! ❌Did not clean sink... at all... ✖️Didn't work on the BuJo at all yesterday I wish I could say I had an excuse for falling off the wagon yesterday, but it really just comes down to poor planning and oversleeping. My boyfriend tried to let me use the excuse of my body adjusting to new meds, lol. Doing better today. Coffee in hand, about to stretch, knock out the dishes, and finish the BuJo.

I fell off the wagon big time yesterday. I tried so hard to get back on it, but the wagon was too damaged. Broken axle, missing wheel, floorboards rotted... Woke up 10 minutes before I was supposed to be at physical therapy. I have to take the new meds first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and then can't eat for 30 minutes, so I couldn't even grab a quick snack as I ran out the door. Physical therapy went great! Impressed my therapist with the major amount of progress that I've made in a short time. He's concerned my progress is gonna plateau at some point in the near future, but I'm gonna do what I can to keep making progress and not get discouraged if the progress stops happening as fast. Was starving by the time I got done and had another appointment 30 minutes later, 10 minutes away, so I caved and got fast food with a soda. By the time I got done with that appointment and got home I was exhausted and caved and had an energy drink. Then promptly fell asleep. I don't even know how long I napped. Dinner was mac and cheese and chocolate milk. I did add veggies to the mac and cheese, so it wasn't completely bad. Still bad, though. So was the second soda. But today is a new day, I have a brand new wagon, and I'm back on track. I do have to start the food diary over and fill in the days I lost thanks to my dog thinking yet another notepad was a chew toy. This one being the one I had been using as a food diary until I finish my BuJo set up. At least the other two he's torn up this week weren't being used.

So there are apparently more of these already, I just hadn't found them yet. Or at least similar things. Still only one player, and a set story to follow. https://darebee.com/programs/zero-hero.html https://darebee.com/programs/age-of-pandora.html https://darebee.com/programs/hero-journey.html They aren't quite as D&D style as Spellbound, but they still look fun.

✔️No soda (Insanely strong craving for a root beer float right now. Using my procrastination tendencies to my advantage on that one.) ✔️Coffee instead of energy drink (Only used a teaspoon each of honey and creamer.) ✔️Physical therapy stretches (Twice so far with intention to do one more.) ❌Clean sink (last night) (Went to bed early, exhausted. Cleaned the sink first thing when I got up. Well, second thing. First thing was cleaning up the notepad one of my dogs decided was a chew toy. 😠) ✖️Bullet Journal (Printed out the main pages, about to punch holes in them and put them in order. I did decide to laminate the ones that I'm using to track sleep, water intake, etc. That way I don't have to print a new one every month. Decided to use regular printer paper for the food diary part, so I'm cutting those to size and I should have them printed by the end of the day.) Finally got the prescription filled yesterday and took the first dose this morning. I have a follow up appointment in 6 weeks to see if it's the right dosage. Still waiting to hear from the endocrinologist.

Went grocery shopping yesterday. I usually let my boyfriend handle it, but I had a few things I wanted to pick out for myself (and I feel guilty if I give him a list of 50 things when I'm perfectly capable of getting them myself.) My heel was hurting pretty bad by the time we got home. Put some ice on it and ended up going to bed early from lack of energy. I don't like that the simple act of walking around the grocery store was enough to drain me. On the bright side it's reinforcing my resolve to get in shape. My heel feels better today; about to do my second set of stretches for the day. Finally got my prescription for my thyroid filled yesterday. Still need to go to the endocrinologist, but at least now I can start addressing one of the problems.

Reading about the procrastination monkey was like one hugemongous "oh my gosh that's totally me" moment. I might have to steal use the Monkey Tamers United thing for myself. I don't think I'll be very good at keeping up with something like that online, but it would be easy enough to put something like that in my Bullet Journal. I absolutely LOVE the Productivity Games idea. Might see if I can get my boyfriend interested in playing that with me. Have you heard of Zombies,Run? It's an app that you use with headphones while running/walking. Every once in a while zombies start chasing you and you have to pick up your pace to keep them from taking your supplies. There's also a little township that you can build and upgrade, but I haven't messed with that so much, not my thing. It's got a story line you can follow, too, although you have to pay for that. I tried a sister app called ZR5K which is a couch to 5k program. Only got through the first week before I hurt my ankle, but it was a lot of fun and goes along with the Zombies,Run story line. Can't wait to get back to getting chased by zombies.

Welcome to NF! I feel your pain. I'm no expert, far from it, but I think you have to find a way to "give yourself permission" to take baby steps. There's absolutely no shame in it. I started running about a month and a half ago and hurt my ankle. I'm chomping at the bit to run again, and I want to lose weight, be more fit/flexible/blah blah blah, but I know doing it too fast is gonna hurt me and it'll be even longer before I can run. It's the same with anything. If you try to make too many changes at once, it's gonna backfire. Maybe find a way to do small things that won't affect your ankle? Upper body workouts, cardio that can be done while seated, aqua-aerobics if you have access to a pool... And start slow with the walking. Walk around your house for a few minutes, then upgrade to a 5 minute walk in your neighborhood; just increase it a little at a time and listen to your body. Again, not an expert, but even moving slowly you'll be doing laps around anyone who's sitting on the couch. I read a study about why there are mirrors in gyms and how it affects performance. I wonder if you worked out in front of a mirror and pretended that the person in the mirror is someone you're helping/teaching if that would help with your mindset. (I don't know what you teach or even if that would be applicable, but it might be worth a try.) Tell the person in the mirror not to overdo it, encourage him like you would a student, and things like that. I dunno, just a random thought. I'm sorry he said something so rude. People can be cruel sometimes, kids and adults. Heck, we can be cruel to ourselves. I don't have anyone in my life telling me that I can't do the things on my fitness bucket list, but there's a voice in my head that says I'll never get there, I have too far to go, I'll just give up like I always do, etc. I started treating that voice like the annoying kid on an online game voice chat and responding with things like, "Isn't it past your bedtime?" or "Oh yeah? Watch me!" (Doesn't mean the voice doesn't get to me, I just chose to make it sound annoying rather than convincing.) I'm not gonna get into a political discussion, but I read about someone else who does something similar except with a politician's voice. Anyway, you'll find lots of support here on NF. Hope some of my ramblings help you.