NightWatcher13 brushes off the dust - post zompocolypse

[NightWatcher13]

Poked my head in at the respawn point a bit over a week ago, and have started tracking again pre-challenge, but the past few months have been... less than glorious. I've lost all of the progress I had made, and now need to reclaim those levels. So now that I've rather fallen off a cliff and faceplanted, I'm trying to stand back up, brush off the dust, and start climbing back up again. Before the mindless hoard catches me on the ground 

 

 

Main Quest : reclaiming the health bar (again) : losing 80lbs to get back to a healthy weight - I'm currently 5'5, and 220 lbs; getting my mental health back under control between ADHD, anxiety and general stress; and trying to get my strength and flexibility back so my body doesn't constantly feel like it's falling apart.

 

Sidequest 1 : Running from the Zoms - Running 3 days/ week, with the help of Zombies, Run! I can't currently sustain a full half-hour run, but I'm running more of it than I was 3 weeks ago, so yay that's a start.

Sidequest 2 : Tracking down food - Working on making sure I track my food most days of the week (sundays are slightly tricky on this, but I've gotten this started back up the last few weeks and it's becoming more reliable... slowly), and getting more food planned ahead so I'm not constantly running out to McD's or Taco Bell 'cause I don't have anything ready to eat available. 

Sidequest 3 : Mobilization - a LOT of my flexibility is gone, and my joints are really starting to hate me. Sitting on the floor hurts, and finding a comfortable position in any chair is getting harder. Part of that may just be that I'm getting old (I'm 28), but I'm pretty sure that poor muscle and joint care are part of it too - so stretches recommended by my chiropractor and shoulder band exercises are going into my "daily" column - this is the aspect I've been having the hardest time implementing on a daily basis.

Lifequest : Organi... Orgami... being able to find stuff. 'Cause ADD and organization are the best frenemies of all time, I've always had a difficult maintaining a level of organization - which sadly, I need to some degree, or I can't keep my own thoughts in order, let alone get anything done. Right now I started using a bullet journal to try to get everything schedule- and note-wise somewhere that I can find them, and have been slowly wrestling with the hoard known as "my bedroom" and getting it sorted (I may have chucked several bags of useless or old crap last week) but it's still and upward battle against entropy in both cases. So having my room cleaned will be something I'm working on a lot on weekends and some nights after work, and continue using the BuJo steadily and keeping track of my tasks and notes are going to be pretty big things I'll be trying to do daily.

 

I'll try to keep up on here at least 2-3x/week to give myself some external accountability, since it's nearly impossible to keep up with my IRL accountability buddy due to different schedules, and her also struggling to get her to do list done

[Wobbegong]

Hey NightWatcher, welcome to Rebel and welcome back to NF! Looks like a good set of quests set up. My only recommendation is, if you don't already have such a thing, make a really visible tracking sheet and give yourself credit for getting your quests dealt with every time. That might not be a thing with your ADHD, but if you can find a nice big piece of graph paper to tack to your bedroom door and pick up some stickers at the dollar store, the constant visual reminder might help. Just an idea. 

 

Let me know if there's anything I can do to help support you! I'm always around if you need a cheerleader  

[NightWatcher13]

15 hours ago, Wobbegong said:

Hey NightWatcher, welcome to Rebel and welcome back to NF! Looks like a good set of quests set up. My only recommendation is, if you don't already have such a thing, make a really visible tracking sheet and give yourself credit for getting your quests dealt with every time. That might not be a thing with your ADHD, but if you can find a nice big piece of graph paper to tack to your bedroom door and pick up some stickers at the dollar store, the constant visual reminder might help. Just an idea. 

 

Let me know if there's anything I can do to help support you! I'm always around if you need a cheerleader [emoji6] 

*waves* Hi [emoji4]  I'm definitely adding some visual tracking, I was super tempted to get teacher-type stickers (and I still might...) but I've been starting tracking a lot of these in my journal, on a marked page so I make sure to look at it daily. I've been using it for a bit over a week, it seems to be working well but we'll see how it holds up over time

 

And cheerleaders are always super helpful 

 

 

[NightWatcher13]

Tracking for yesterday (Monday, 10/23)
Zombies, run! For yesterday : (I'm probably going to have to edit this, cause Tapatalk won't let me put the pics where I want them)

Food tracking : wound up a little short on calories, but not too horrid

Mobilization : ow. When did stretches start hurting? Did not get my shoulder exercises in, but got the stretches in, which made my muscles grumble - but no residual ouch, so nothing got damaged, they're just not as used to being made to move as they used to be.

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[WolfDreamer]

On 10/23/2017 at 1:10 AM, NightWatcher13 said:

ADHD, anxiety and general stress

 

You are not alone in this struggle, trust me. 

 

On 10/23/2017 at 1:10 AM, NightWatcher13 said:

'Cause ADD and organization are the best frenemies of all time

 

This made me LOL/cry because it's true. I'm glad you're back at it, though. Let me know if I can help in any way.

[NightWatcher13]

7 minutes ago, Wolfen said:

 

You are not alone in this struggle, trust me. 

 

 

This made me LOL/cry because it's true. I'm glad you're back at it, though. Let me know if I can help in any way.

WOLFEN! *glomps* hiyas  yea, that was part of why I decided I needed to come back to NF ASAP, was 'cause I know other people have issues like this and have XP/suggestions. And right? I love how the girl from "How To ADHD" put it - "To stay organized and on task we need structure, because that's not how our brains naturally work - but then we reject that structure because THAT'S NOT HOW OUR BRAINS NATURALLY WOOOORK!!" 

I think mostly right now, I need some accountability for keeping myself on track 

[WolfDreamer]

1 minute ago, NightWatcher13 said:

I need some accountability for keeping myself on track

 

I'll be checking back with you regularly, then. 

[karinajean]

hey and welcome back! um, if you want another reason to have to check in here, maybe you would like the bullet journal accountability group? because your habit tracker is ON POINT.

 

 

[NightWatcher13]

15 hours ago, karinajean said:

hey and welcome back! um, if you want another reason to have to check in here, maybe you would like the bullet journal accountability group? because your habit tracker is ON POINT.

 

 

Oooooh, that looks super helpful  Thanks

 

[NightWatcher13]

Tracking for yesterday :
No run yesterday (break day, only aiming for every other)

Food says it was slightly under - that being said, I'm not positive that I have the right calories for those brownies I made... I have the curse of being a wonderful cook so food's probably pretty darn close



Mobilization - did do light stretches, not quite as much as Monday due to not having a workout first to warm up the muscles. Forgot the shoulder exercises... Which hey, I just got back from today's run and I'm still home, so I'm gonna do that now before I forget. Doesn't fix yesterday, but I can mark it today

Organization - didn't get everything I wanted done yesterday, moving it forward in the Bujo but hey, today's food is set and I at least have the list of to-do somewhere I can find it for once.



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[NightWatcher13]

Tracking for yesterday (Wednesday, 10/25)
Running : got to go outside and run before work, which was a nice change from running in circles around the gym at work


Food: pretty close; I was actually under by a bit and decided to spoil myself with some wine and a steak - complete with Merlot reduction and mushrooms. 100% worth it


Mobility - as mentioned above, got the shoulder exercises in after my run, and got stretches in then too. Not quite as stiff as earlier this week, still stiff though.

Organization - there were a couple of things on my to-do list that got postponed for some Dark Souls, but I got most of what I wanted done done



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[NightWatcher13]

Tracking for last Thursday through Sunday:
Thursday -

Mobilization - got stretches and shoulder exercises done before work
Organization - got most of my to-do done, the rest got migrated due to work being rather ridiculous Thursday.

Friday -
No run - I was still exhausted from work Thursday :/

Mobilization - nope
Organization - that bullet journal is the only reason I got anything done - unfortunately, I didn't have any energy after work to do anything.

Saturday -
Did not manage to track anything, barely looked at my Bujo, didn't get to rectify my missed run from Friday. I slept late due to exhaustion from the previous days at work, and once I was up I had a few things I had to get done before getting set up for D&D.

Sunday -

Mobilization - no
Organization - took my Bujo to a barbershop concert that I was going to with some friends, and got to get it updated before the concert and start planning out this current week. Unfortunately, I didn't have time or energy this past weekend to get ANYTHING done in my room apart from doing laundry last night


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[NightWatcher13]

TL/DR : my workplace fails at planning ahead and it sucks. That's all this particular post is, so feel free to skip it cause it's mostly me venting.

 

So, about Thursday and why it wiped me out so bad - we had one custodian move areas, and instead of hiring another one in for his old area our areas all got bigger. That's been since the beginning of the school year. Problem is, my area got expanded in the area that I can't get to until 10pm because people are in there doing things. We work 3:30-midnight, so that's not a whole lot of time.

 

So, on Thursday we had one person off (she had requested it off, this was vacation not sick leave) but the higher ups couldn't get a sub in for her. On top of that, we had a volleyball tournament going on that HAD NOT been put on our schedules beforehand, and that also ran until after 10, requiring all of us to be there working on cleaning up afterwards. So I had to run around like mad, trying to help clean up after the game AND doing all that I could in the area I already can't do before 10. After mopping down the entire area I can get to earlier in the night, because someone had spilled drink in drops down the ENTIRE. FRIGGING. HALLWAY. Needless to say, after that I was pretty done, and was super sore all day Friday because of it - not that I'm ever particularly happy with a lot of aspects of my work, but right now I'm particularly livid about it

 

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[NightWatcher13]

Tracking for yesterday (Mon, 10/30)

Running - check, but it took a while for my legs to get the memo. They were STIIIIIIFF. I'm not sure if that was from stress or just from missing last Friday.

Tracking -  check

Mobility - got stretches, not shoulder exercises

Organization - got some prep work for today and the rest of the week done that I had scheduled

 

Today (Tue, 10/31)

Tracking - check, but went well over on cals today

Mobility - check

Organization - actually got everything on today's list done! Woot!

 

Btw happy Halloween all

[NightWatcher13]

Will log for the last couple of days either after I get home from work (short answer is stuff's still fairly on track there) but my weight is frustrating me right now and I'm a giant squid of anger! I've been making sure (with only a couple of days that either went over or had no tracking) to keep my calories pretty decent, I've been running... And I've gained 10 flipping pounds!!! What the crap body! It's not even like it should be able to say "I've put on a lot of muscle" because I haven't been doing any real strength work for the last couple of months, only stability exercises I'm my left shoulder! *Grumbles* bodies are annoying


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[Wobbegong]

That's a super obnoxious fluctuation. At first when I read the tl;dr I was getting all geared up to reassure you about weight, but no. You did everything right and you don't deserve that stress. Stupid body nonsense D: 

 

I hope your body gets the memo and drops the weight properly soon! In the mean time, don't lose heart. If, at your next check in, you've gained weight again, maybe consider reviewing what you've been doing, but otherwise try not to worry too much about it. Remember, we look at body change in terms of months and years, not days and weeks. 

 

But seriously wow that is so obnoxious I'm really sorry

[NightWatcher13]

On 11/10/2017 at 6:16 PM, Wobbegong said:

That's a super obnoxious fluctuation. At first when I read the tl;dr I was getting all geared up to reassure you about weight, but no. You did everything right and you don't deserve that stress. Stupid body nonsense D: 

 

I hope your body gets the memo and drops the weight properly soon! In the mean time, don't lose heart. If, at your next check in, you've gained weight again, maybe consider reviewing what you've been doing, but otherwise try not to worry too much about it. Remember, we look at body change in terms of months and years, not days and weeks. 

 

But seriously wow that is so obnoxious I'm really sorry

It definitely made me pretty grumpy, when I measured last week it had gone down a couple of pounds but I was prettty miffed.

 

Sorry about the delay, last week was a little crazy - we had a not-quite-a-tornado 2 sundays ago that caused some damage to the school I work at (lifted up the roof of the aux gym, which is where I normally run - especially when it's cold and rainy out, cause the main gym is always busy) and I had a little bit of craziness in my personal life with getting my now-ex roommate to move out on schedule, then cleaning/reorganizing after he got everything out of my spare room.

 

So to make a long update short:

 

Running - I haven't gotten any runs in since the storm, 'cause I need to get some actual cold weather running pants or wait until they fix the auxiliary gym (or get a membership to a local gym, but I can't stand treadmills) so I guess that means I need to head to WalMart for clothes :/ 

 

Tracking - doing comparatively well, out of the last 2 weeks I've missed 3 days total, and had 2 days that went over on calories. Not too terrible  

 

Stretches - probably about 50/50 with this one, I don't have something on my phone or in my bullet journal I can look at for this though so I don't have hard data. I do, however, have more stretches that my chiropractor added to the list 'cause my shoulders suck. I've also pulled out my foamroller that I'm still trying to learn how to use... mostly it just feels like trying to roll over rocks, but I'm going to try to start using that regularly as well. *sigh* next challenge may see me pull my Pilates out again too... *grumble* not my favorite exercise, but I can do it inside, have no excuse besides "cause I don't wanna" and is good for my currently super weak core muscles.

 

Organization - WHERE HAS THIS BUJO THING BEEN MY ENTIRE FRIGGIN LIFE!!!!! Seriously, this thing's like a second head, I just keep toting it everywhere and it's been super helpful, in ways my smart phone (as much as I love it) just isn't for organization. As for the room, it still has a ways to go, but I made a LOT of headway last weekend. 

 

So, onward to the final week! How did the time hop that far ahead? Sadly no run tonight, 'cause it's cold and wet outside, and too basketbally inside

 

[Wobbegong]

2 minutes ago, NightWatcher13 said:

I've also pulled out my foamroller that I'm still trying to learn how to use... mostly it just feels like trying to roll over rocks, but I'm going to try to start using that regularly as well. *sigh*

RE: foam rollers, if it's too painful to roll at first, you can always start out just lying on it. Do your best to relax and let it dig in, and then move it just a bit when you're ready and start over, or start gently moving back and forth from the starting point and gradually work up to rolling out a longer area. 

[NightWatcher13]

RE: foam rollers, if it's too painful to roll at first, you can always start out just lying on it. Do your best to relax and let it dig in, and then move it just a bit when you're ready and start over, or start gently moving back and forth from the starting point and gradually work up to rolling out a longer area. 

That sounds like a good idea, especially since the one I got has... Knobs? Ridges? On it that dig in pretty hard

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[NightWatcher13]

I've used the foam roller a couple more times, the suggestion was super helpful it still definitely hurts a bit, bit doesn't feel like I'm being punched as much as it feels like someone massaging out a knot. Which I'm guessing is mostly because I'm out of shape (so not as much muscle tone) and stressed.

Check in -
Running - *scuffs ground* nooooo... I still need to get running stuff for the cold. Watch, soon as I do the gym will be available again.
Tracking - no to the last couple of days; I wound up staying home sick so I basically just hid on my couch and did nothing useful which sucks, cause I wish I'd been able to use the time to work on organization in my apartment. I hate being sick. Back at work today, but still tired and kinda bleh.
Stretches - last two days no, today yes
Organization - not much since the last post, I didn't have much brain power or energy the past couple of days.

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[Wobbegong]

Yay! I'm glad to hear foam rolling is working a little better for you. For me, the less I've been stretching recently, the more foam rolling hurts. But I do generally think of it more as a massage than a fitness tool (I know some people use foam rollers to warm up or something but... that seems risky to me, idk). 

 

As far as your other goals, I think you can cut yourself a little slack for being sick! It's understandable that you might be out of commission for a few days. The longer you wait on the running gear, the more likely it is you won't have much time to use it before your gym reopens. So to get the most bang for you buck, get on top of it!  

[NightWatcher13]

On 11/17/2017 at 12:58 PM, Wobbegong said:

Yay! I'm glad to hear foam rolling is working a little better for you. For me, the less I've been stretching recently, the more foam rolling hurts. But I do generally think of it more as a massage than a fitness tool (I know some people use foam rollers to warm up or something but... that seems risky to me, idk). 

 

As far as your other goals, I think you can cut yourself a little slack for being sick! It's understandable that you might be out of commission for a few days. The longer you wait on the running gear, the more likely it is you won't have much time to use it before your gym reopens. So to get the most bang for you buck, get on top of it!  

Me too - it's slowly hurting less, I've been using it every 2 - 3 days and may include that as part of next challenge. I don't see it as something to use for warm-ups so much as after a cool-down, I don't see myself using it before a workout. It seems more like a massage than a stretch routine

 

...you probably have a point. I got a "run" in today at work (i.e. walking briskly in small circles in my area and getting caught by the zoms 'cause I couldn't get up enough speed to escape in the little area) but at least it was something, I need to bite the financial bullet and grab cold-weather pants for running so I can go outside.

[NightWatcher13]

Oh crap, how did the challenge go so friggin fast? Guess I'd better update/

Challenge Final Update:

 

SQ1 - Running -  Weeks 1 and 2 were pretty great, but no runs at all for weeks 3 or 4  So a bit under 50% there (I missed one for week 1 as well) so there's a lot of room for improvement. I'll be keeping this one for next challenge in almost the same format, I want to add in an aspect of focusing on improving my endurance through next challenge as well so I have some real measurable improvement as well as being able to say "I did my runs for the week"

 

SQ2 - Food - I'm happy with the food tracking: the only days I missed were several weekend days and while I was ill. As for food prep, it's going a lot better - I've had something available to stick in the microwave for breakfast and something I can throw into the bag for lunch available. It's not perfect, I've been using Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches as a crutch for quick food, but it's better on my body and my wallet than going to a fast food place for food all the time. I'll be keeping something similar to this next challenge, but leveled up since there was a lot of improvement here.

 

SQ3 - Stretches - I wasn't quite as good with this one, but got an average of about 3-4 days out of the week it looks like (I missed a few days of tracking here) and had a few more tacked on by my chiropractor because my body apparently hates my joints. I also added some foam-rolling in towards the end of the challenge that seems to be helping at least a bit. So this one needs some work, but I also need to figure out how I'm going to adjust this one for next challenge to figure out how I'm going to track it better and what I'm changing in the challenge itself.

 

LQ -  Organization - I didn't get as much as I wanted done in my room, but it looks 10x better than it did last month. There's actually a floor, and lots of random boxes etc have gotten the permanent boot. 

The bullet journal on the other hand - I'm not perfect yet at keeping up with it daily, but it's been really useful as a planner and tracker so far. It's definitely been helping me get my to-do list done, and has been helpful in tracking things like doing my stretches, or taking my eye meds, and I like having the paper instead of my phone for it. 

 

So overall - this challenge did not go perfectly, but overall I think it went fairly well for try one at getting back into things and dragging myself upright again. I may have missed a bunch of runs, but that's going straight to next challenge.  

[Wobbegong]

15 hours ago, NightWatcher13 said:

So overall - this challenge did not go perfectly, but overall I think it went fairly well for try one at getting back into things and dragging myself upright again. I may have missed a bunch of runs, but that's going straight to next challenge.  

Way to go NightWatcher! Sounds like you had a pretty successful challenge. It's great to see you looking forward to making up those runs next time! Get it! 

 

A lot of us this time had challenges that didn't go exactly as planned but we still made really good progress, and it's wonderful to recognize that and congratulate yourself for it. Plus, the progress you made this time gives you a good jumping off point for the future: if you stretch 3-4 times a week now, challenge yourself to do 4-5 times a week next challenge, etc. OR, challenge yourself to stick with it and make it such an ingrained habit you don't even have to think about it. 

 

Keep it up!!  

[NightWatcher13]

New challenge is up! Thanks for the support. This one is leveled up a bit compared to the last one