Vibrant(ella) Wonderland!

[Vibrantella]

This has been a magnificently rich, golden autumn, the trees are not bare yet, and the sun is still shining.  The days are getting shorter, though, and winter is on its way, but at the end of the challenge the Sun will return and the Wheel of Life will make another turn.  Let's make this last challenge of 2017 a good one!

 

My goals for this challenge are to keep on keeping on:

 

1.  Food

Ketogenic diet with regular intermittent fasting.  This is to keep the T2D under tight control and to improve general health after breast cancer.  No snacks, no dairy either - until we go to France for Christmas (and cheese!  )

 

2.  Fitness

Lifting in the gym (and sauna!) at least 2 x week, preferably 3

Walking to the Shire from Mordor

Stretching (daily) and foam rolling (weekly)

 

3.  Mind

Read and prepare well for the next MA paper (due January) - no extensions allowed any more!

Do the year recap/next year plan

 

4.  Soul

Reiki meditation/healing daily

Eden energy minute daily

Keep calm and carry on through radiotherapy (if not postponed again; it wouldn't be a problem, as it is preventative in nature - I have no more disease in my body)

Enjoy time with friends and family <3 

 

 

...walking in the winter wonderland....

 

 

[Dagger]

Here to support as always!

[Bookish Badger]

Following!

[JessOfAllTrades]

Following!

[FatboySuave]

I've been MIA for a bit, but I'm back and following!

[Vibrantella]

8 hours ago, Dagger said:

Here to support as always!

 

7 hours ago, Bookish Badger said:

Following!

 

5 hours ago, JessOfAllTrades said:

Following!

 

3 hours ago, Rey of Light said:

I've been MIA for a bit, but I'm back and following!

 

Thank you, friends!     We can do this!  

[Vibrantella]

Week Zero recap:

 

1.  Food - 100%

Smashed it!  Excellent keto macros, plenty of colourful veg, and perfect fasting!

 

2.  Fitness - 100%

Two gym (+ sauna) sessions; their showers are problematic again, though, and I've started thinking about cancelling my (rather extortionate) subscription.  The problem is, no other gym in the area has a sauna...  Maybe I can convince Mr V. to build a sauna out on our (tiny) deck  

Daily stretching happened, and one gym session included foam rolling.

Walking was better than in the recent weeks - I'm definitely feeling more energetic, not sure if it's from general health improvement, better/cleaner diet, or the reduction in heavy gym sessions.

 

3.  Mind - 100% for the effort

Working on the new topic, which is Birth & Death in Ancient Greece & Rome

Got a new planner for 2018

 

4.  Soul - 100% effort

Reiki meditation/healing daily - yes

Eden energy minute daily - yes

Hosp appt next week to find out about further treatment

Enjoy time with friends and family - we went to 2 massive dinner parties in one week, and I managed to keep strictly ketogenic  

 

This was an amazing week, with friends and sunshine and finding huge, fragrant pine cones in the park...  Let's hope the positive energy continues!  The official Week 1 is coming - we got this!!! 

[Dagger]

7 hours ago, Vibrantella said:

his was an amazing week, with friends and sunshine and finding huge, fragrant pine cones in the park...  Let's hope the positive energy continues!  The official Week 1 is coming - we got this!!! 

Your week sounds amazing, like you said!

[FatboySuave]

Awesome job! Keep it up!

[Wolfy]

Woot! Love your goals! Sending more positivity your way to keep the momentum going!

[J3NN]

On 11/25/2017 at 11:47 AM, Vibrantella said:

This was an amazing week, with friends and sunshine and finding huge, fragrant pine cones in the park...  Let's hope the positive energy continues!  The official Week 1 is coming - we got this!!! 

Seeing this reminds me there is hope and we can have a good challenge, and even if mine is off to a rocky start I can be inspired by your good energy and borrow a little for me! Here's to an even better Week 1!

[JessOfAllTrades]

Love the positivity! Way to go so far!

[Mrs.Nomar]

On 11/21/2017 at 9:06 AM, Vibrantella said:

 

My goals for this challenge are to keep on keeping on:

 

1.  Food

Ketogenic diet with regular intermittent fasting.  This is to keep the T2D under tight control and to improve general health after breast cancer.  No snacks, no dairy either - until we go to France for Christmas (and cheese!  )

The internet says that lactose will deteriorate as cheese ages, so the older the cheese, the less lactose there is left

Also, 

On 11/21/2017 at 9:06 AM, Vibrantella said:

4.  Soul

Reiki meditation/healing daily

Do you have a link or resource for this? I had a reiki massage once, and I'm still not positive what was happening because the masseuse barely touched me, but I walked out feeling, really, indescribably amazing.  If there's a mediation I can do that has similar effects, I could probably get addicted to it.

Best of luck on your goals! 

[Twilight]

Hiya! I hope your week 1 is going well.  

[Vibrantella]

On 11/27/2017 at 4:54 PM, Rey of Light said:

Awesome job! Keep it up!

Thanks!

On 11/28/2017 at 4:48 AM, CraftyHeathen said:

Woot! Love your goals! Sending more positivity your way to keep the momentum going!

Thanks, sending it right back, let's keep the positivity rolling! 

On 11/29/2017 at 4:08 AM, J3NN said:

Seeing this reminds me there is hope and we can have a good challenge, and even if mine is off to a rocky start I can be inspired by your good energy and borrow a little for me! Here's to an even better Week 1!

Energy grows when it's shared, please grab as much as you need!

On 11/29/2017 at 2:22 PM, JessOfAllTrades said:

Love the positivity! Way to go so far!

Thanks!

20 hours ago, Alis in Abernathy said:

The internet says that lactose will deteriorate as cheese ages, so the older the cheese, the less lactose there is left

Sadly, it's not lactose that is problematic for me (well, it is, as a sugar, and I'm avoiding all forms of it), but caseine - I find this protein quite addictive and craving-inducing.  Since I dropped dairy a few weeks ago, I have again started shedding fat.  Also, I am wary of hormones in dairy, even organic (as the purpose of milk is to turn a little calf into a massive cow), especially as my cancer was hormone-positive.

20 hours ago, Alis in Abernathy said:

Do you have a link or resource for this? I had a reiki massage once, and I'm still not positive what was happening because the masseuse barely touched me, but I walked out feeling, really, indescribably amazing.  If there's a mediation I can do that has similar effects, I could probably get addicted to it.

I got my meditations from my teachers - I spent some years studying reiki and am a qualified Master/Teacher, but I don't practice professionally at the moment.  I'm not aware of any free resources, but that's because I haven't been looking.  My recommendation is to find someone locally who can train you to Level 1 - that is already great for self-treatments.

4 hours ago, Twilight said:

Hiya! I hope your week 1 is going well.  

Thanks, it is!

 

I have already completed my 2 gym sessions (both including foam rolling!  The roller in the gym is softer than the one I have at home!), although today's one was less heavy lifting than I normally do.  I felt really weak!  It's probably from the infection - had a hospital appointment the other day to arrange radiotherapy (likely to start in the New year now), and the Dr found that some pink skin close to the scar is a minor infection and gave me a week of strong antibiotics.  I thought it was just part of the normal healing process, together with the lumps and bumps under the skin.

 

The antibiotics have not half made me ravenous - I read that, in addition to destroying your gut flora, they also stimulate ghrelin, the hunger hormone, to 6 times normal levels!  Shocking!  Yet, I managed to resist snacking and even complete my fasting for the week   

 

I have also been reading a lot about death, specifically in the antiquity, but also in general.  Dead bodies, funerary rituals, mourning and symbolism.  Very interesting and eye-opening, and just macabre enough for me  

 

Oh, and with walking back to the Shire, I have just passed 3000 km since I started recording my walking (to Mordor and back again).  Including 140.96 km in November.  December, here we come!  Woo-hoo! 

[Jakkals]

Antibiotics do strange things to my weight. Fortunately it is temporary.

 

There is an interesting Youtube channel called Ask a Mortician.  I do not recommend googling The Body Farm.

[Redbeard the Viking]

This has been a magnificently rich, golden autumn, the trees are not bare yet, and the sun is still shining.  The days are getting shorter, though, and winter is on its way, but at the end of the challenge the Sun will return and the Wheel of Life will make another turn.  Let's make this last challenge of 2017 a good one! [emoji3]
 
My goals for this challenge are to keep on keeping on:
 
1.  Food
Ketogenic diet with regular intermittent fasting.  This is to keep the T2D under tight control and to improve general health after breast cancer.  No snacks, no dairy either - until we go to France for Christmas (and cheese! [emoji6] )
 
2.  Fitness
Lifting in the gym (and sauna!) at least 2 x week, preferably 3
Walking to the Shire from Mordor
Stretching (daily) and foam rolling (weekly)
 
3.  Mind
Read and prepare well for the next MA paper (due January) - no extensions allowed any more!
Do the year recap/next year plan
 
4.  Soul
Reiki meditation/healing daily
Eden energy minute daily
Keep calm and carry on through radiotherapy (if not postponed again; it wouldn't be a problem, as it is preventative in nature - I have no more disease in my body)
Enjoy time with friends and family  
 
...walking in the winter wonderland....
 
 

Pagan? I've been trying to include reiki into my meditation practices here lately as but I've been slacking in my meditation...

[Twilight]

18 hours ago, Jakkals said:

There is an interesting Youtube channel called Ask a Mortician.

 

I follow her twitter. She's great!

[Vibrantella]

On 11/30/2017 at 8:22 PM, Jakkals said:

There is an interesting Youtube channel called Ask a Mortician.

 

20 hours ago, Twilight said:

I follow her twitter. She's great!

 

Yes, thanks for this - I just checked out some of her videos, seems fun!  

 

On 12/1/2017 at 3:22 AM, Redbeard the Viking said:

Pagan?

You should have seen me in Glastonbury, veritable kid in a sweetshop!  I am Goddess-oriented but spiritually eclectic, though;  I still occasionally sing in an Orthodox Christian church choir, but have mostly panentheistic leanings, with underlying atheism.   And it's fun!  

[Vibrantella]

Week 1 Recap

 

1.  Food - 95%

Managed my IF and ketogenic eating despite the antibiotics.   BTW, when Googling the pills I learned that this specific combo of 2 antibiotics is commonly used in intensive swine farming - made me feel special   (and happy that we buy organic, free range meat).  Reached another record low of 82.4 kgs (BMI of 26.6).  Deducted 5% for eating a lot of nuts on Sunday.

 

2.  Fitness - 95%

Two gym sessions, lots of walking, but no stretching on Sunday 

 

3.  Mind

Good work on the MA reading

Did some 10 year planning

 

4.  Soul

Reiki, EEM, health meditations - yes.  

 

It feels wrong to try and score the Mind and Soul efforts, I'll just try and keep it up.  On the whole, a good week!  

 

Good start of Week 2, and I have 2 hospital appts tomorrow - before and after work, in 2 different hospitals.  Life is fun! 

[Dagger]

5 hours ago, Vibrantella said:

It feels wrong to try and score the Mind and Soul efforts, I'll just try and keep it up.  On the whole, a good week!  

I know how you feel. Sometimes it just doesn't feel right to rank certain things, and sometimes tracking it is the only way to get anything done. Why can't it always work the same all the time?

 

Also, good week there and I hope all your appts go well!

[J3NN]

On 12/2/2017 at 2:51 AM, Vibrantella said:

spiritually eclectic

I love this and think we should all be this!

 

One goal I'm considering for next year is to learn more rituals... I feel like that's something missing in my life. So I have been pondering creating a LUYL goal about that and specifically looking for some Wiccan, Native American and Eastern rituals to learn more about.  I haven't quite figured out how to do this, but I've been thinking about it since before I bought my Rituals for Transformation workbook (going on three months now) so I think it's something I need to really seriously consider.

[alannamoonlight]

Wow, the ketogenic diet sounds intense! I hope it's going well for you!

[Vibrantella]

On 12/8/2017 at 10:18 PM, alannamoonlight said:

Wow, the ketogenic diet sounds intense! I hope it's going well for you!

Thanks!  Yes, it is intense - because it's not just a diet.  It is my medicine, keeping me from having to take 10 pills per day (as my older, diabetic sister has to; several purely for T2D, then for cholesterol, blood pressure and kidney function; then some nasal drops to deal with side-effects of certain meds.  She "can't" eat in a ketogenic way.)  I also remember my mother, who died of diabetes complications at the age of 68.

 

Otherwise, my week 2 was not great, due to minor but annoying health problems including a migraine.  In short, the ratings were:

 

1.  Food - 100%

2.  Fitness - 65% (not enough gym and stretching)

3.  Mind - completely dropped the ball with the classics reading in the second half of the week; still not back on the horse, sadly; done some 2017 review

4.  Soul - Omitted a few sessions when feeling the worst, but sleep was probably as valuable at the time

 

This week hasn't started great as I'm still quite weak and haven't been to the gym yet.  Prevaricating about keeping the gym membership anyway, but have realised it's the chimp talking.  I am the one that does the gym!   I suppose having a full calendar month's notice period is useful for me too, not just for their profits!

 

 

[Redbeard the Viking]

You should have seen me in Glastonbury, veritable kid in a sweetshop!  [emoji6] I am Goddess-oriented but spiritually eclectic, though;  I still occasionally sing in an Orthodox Christian church choir, but have mostly panentheistic leanings, with underlying atheism.   And it's fun! [emoji3] 

So essentially like my fiancee and me, just a little bit of this and that, haha. It's always fun to find other spiritual folks for me.