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I took a break last cycle because I was struggling a lot with trying to find a job. Luckily I think I finally found one! I start the week of the 18th most likely so I’ll be keeping my challenge pretty simple so I don’t over tax myself while trying to learn the ropes of a new job. I have some Zero Week stuff I want/need to get done as well. Most of it for my job, some of it for my challenge. I’m really happy to be back. I loved watching everyone’s challenges but I felt bad about not participating. Zero Week Tasks I’ve already set appointments for most of the below tasks and I just have to follow through with them but I want to have the satisfaction of crossing everything off the list as I complete it. Pre-Job Tasks: Get Inoculation history from the PHU Get Doctors note Get TB Skin Test (Part 1 and 2) Fill out both tax forms Fill out Direct Deposit form Get money for Criminal Record Check Go over Fire Plan and other forms at least once more Bonus: Read up on Dementia Challenge Tasks: Call martial arts gym and inquire about prices and lesson times Call local gym and inquire about membership fees Begin monitoring bread-related intake (baked goods, pastas, and grains included) Other: Go to bank to learn about RRSPs Do laundry Fitness Goal One: Strength After I’ve figured out the respective costs of the local gym and the martial arts gym I need to choose one to attend. As I want to save up money it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to afford both. I’ll weigh my options carefully but I must admit that I seriously miss kickboxing. So the martial arts gym already has a point in its favor. Either way I want to start working out 2-3 times a week again. Go to gym 2-3 times/week Phenomenal – 13+ gym visits total Great – 9-12 gym visits total Good – 8 gym visits total Mediocre – 5-7 gym visits total Poor – 2-4 gym visits total Abysmal – <2 gym visits total Goal Two: Stamina During my break last cycle, I went out for drinks with friends. The city we were in has notoriously shitty busing and since I was drinking driving was definitely out. According to Google it was only about 42 minutes to walk so I decided to save myself the cab fair (one way) and walk to the pub. I learned two things during my deep introspective bout of self-discovery. One, Google was wrong. It only took me 30-35 minutes to get there. Two, I don’t like walking just for the sake of walking. I like walking with a destination in mind or as an outing with friends. Wandering with no goal just doesn’t appeal to me in the long run. So I’m going to try to incorporate the two things that make me enjoy walking in this challenge. A while ago I tried hiking short trails and I loved it. I want to do two things for this challenge. I want to do an easy day hike with my friends and I want to do a moderately difficult hike on my own. There are a couple trails I already have in mind that take between 1-2 hours each. Since it’s technically only two hikes (and thus slightly resistant to my usual grading scale) I’ll mark each as a pass or a fail. Bonus points if I do more than two hikes. Diet Goal Three: The Breadening This is a two-part goal. The first two weeks I’ll be recording my bread-related intake (baked goods, pastas, and grains included). Just recording. I want to figure out my baseline. I’m pretty sure this will have an effect on my overall intake but that can’t be helped. For the second two weeks I want to begin a gradual reduction. The first week I want to reduce my total bread-related intake by seven items. I figure that one item/day is a reasonable goal (however I am open to reassessment after the recording period). The same goes for the second week only I would like to reduce my bread-related intake by an additional seven items. Again, I’m not sure yet if this will be feasible but I intend to give it a go. If everything goes according to plan, I’ll have reduced a number of unnecessary grains from my diet. Reduce bread-related intake by 7 items/week Phenomenal – Reduced bread-related intake by 19+ items total Great – Reduced bread-related intake by 15-18 items total Good – Reduced bread-related intake by 14 items total Mediocre – Reduced bread-related intake by 10-13 items total Poor – Reduced bread-related intake by 6-9 items total Abysmal – Reduced bread-related intake by <6 items total Lifestyle Goal Four: Work Journal My job involves working with a vulnerable population and as such I’ll be part of a confidentiality agreement regarding the residents. However, I see no reason I can’t write about my work itself. I’ll just leave out any mention of the residents. I always struggle a bit with confidence at a new job, especially one unfamiliar to me. Hopefully by recording my experiences and attempting to focus on the positives I’ll approach my work (and confidence issues) differently. Write a work journal after each shift Phenomenal – Included something positive and a plan to fix the negatives in each journal Great – Included something positive in each journal Good – Wrote after each shift Mediocre – Wrote only occasionally or briefly with no attention to detail Poor – Wrote once or twice Abysmal – Didn’t write anything