cycling Siferiax - ready for endurance

[Siferiax]

Hello Scouts!

I thought I give this guild a try

 

My name is Siferiax, or Sif, or Siffy, or... be creative!

I'm a female and 30 years old. I have a boyfriend and two cats.

I'm working within the limitations of autism & hypermobility (the moment flexibility SUCKS)

 

I love road cycling and spinning. I also love walking.

I unfortunately have quite a road cycling trauma I have to get over at the start of every season.

 

I made a false start with a walking goal last year. The idea was to walk every single weekend for the entire year.

Hypermobility basically ruined it and it ended up with me unable to walk for more than 30 min.

I got shoe soles and special physical therapy and I'm happy to be able to say I CAN walk again.

SO this year I'm again going for that goal!

 

Unfortunately my problems with cycling haven't been resolved yet. I have been to the hospital and hopefully soon I'll get a special adjustment in my cycling shoe. Right now I do spinning for at least 20 minutes. Sometimes it goes well and I go for longer and sometimes it doesn't.

I have been doing more spinning though. Right now I'm trying for Tuesday and Thursday.

 

As for diet I'm currently focusing on Intermittent Fasting (IF) and no snacking (see below). I'm otherwise eating whatever I want.

This has to do with my mental health in part and my sanity as another part. I'm a very picky eater and I dislike a lot of common foods. And ESPECIALLY I can't take anything spicy/hot/sharp/whatever you wanna call it. And with anything I mean not even in the slightest. Which is a challenge all it's own.

 

And that's basically my background in regards to my health.

ONTO THE FUTURE!

 

I focus on habits instead of goals, but I have decided on some passing grades. So here goes.

 

#1: No snacking (+WIS)

• Limited to weekdays only. On weekends I can snack, though it shouldn't be a snack feast either.
• A snack is defined as follows: anything not part of a meal (max 3 meals a day) and not a fruit or nut. Snacks as part of a meal are not tolerated when they fall into the category of deep fried cafeteria snack. (I seem to gain a bad habit there)
• Passing grade: 50%

#2: Intermittent fasting (+STA)

• I fast at minimum 14 hours every day.
• I don't hold strictly at times, though usually I don't eat between 19:00 and 9:00.
• Passing grade: 100%

#3: Drink 2 bottles of water (+CON)

• Every weekday I drink 2 bottles of water (I have 2 bottles with me to work)
• On the weekend I don't use my bottles, but should be mindful to drink enough
• Passing grade: 100%

 

#4: Physical Therapy (+STR)

• As part of my recovery from downright evil hip problems I had physical therapy.
• I should still be doing this every day. They are mostly core strength exercises.
• Passing grade: 25%

#5: Walking (+STA)

• I love walking and I want to do more of it! I want to not be limited by my endurance or muscles.
• I walk at least once a week. At least 5km.
• My end goal would be to have enough endurance for a vacation to New Zealand (goal and reward wrapped up into one )
• Passing grade: 100%

#6: Cycling / Spinning (+DEX)

• More spinning more better! And road cycling when weather allows. They are my absolute joys!
• I cycle (outside or inside) at least once a week for at least 20 minutes.
• Passing grade: 50%

 

#7: Take medication (+CON)

• So on top of all the limitations I have... I have some more
• I have laxatives as a "real" medication. I also have supplements for my period.
• I should be taking my laxatives every day. Period supplements are more... flexible?!
• Passing grade: 25%

#8: Creativity (+CHA)

• I want to be more creative. Writing, drawing, designing, coloring, you name it.
• I want to do a creative activity at least once a week. D&D Prep and D&D sessions count toward this.
• Passing grade: 0%

 

As you can see my passing grades are all over the place.

They indicate my focus and most important habits. For example IF is one of my main focus, while creativity is more of a nice to have.

These grades and exact habits are probably going to change every challenge I don't change goals, I change focus and details.

 

I use a nifty Google spreadsheet to track all these things. Including my current streak.

Link is in my signature

 

EDIT: I forgot I was gonna do stats again

Here's the challenge start stats as I promised myself last challenge:

STR: 2 | DEX: 2 | STA: 3 | CON: 1 | WIS: 1 | CHA: 1
 

What's what?

Spoiler

Strength (STR) - physical strength
Dexterity (DEX) - agility and speed
Stamina (STA) - Endurance and Energy
Constitution (CON) - ability to resist damage and disease
Wisdom (WIS) - intuition and sense of things around himself
Charisma (CHA) - force of personality and physical attractiveness

 

I've added to my goals what they can earn me!

I always felt the stats go up too quickly. So I earn 1 point for getting at least a passing grade.

 

I'm not gonna bother with levels, so I'm leaving those out.

[Wobbegong]

Found you and following! It's exciting to see Rebels branching out into new guilds  

 

Your goals look really good. I especially like the definition of what qualifies as a snack, that seems really helpful. Best of luck, Sif! 

[Siferiax]

Found you and following! It's exciting to see Rebels branching out into new guilds [emoji6] 
 
Your goals look really good. I especially like the definition of what qualifies as a snack, that seems really helpful. Best of luck, Sif! 

Thank you!!

Yes I always find myself cheating on the "snack" definition. So I made it better and wrote it down

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[Siferiax]

 

Nailed it!

Could not start this challenge failing goals already

 

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[Siferiax]

I had chocolate easter eggs  they were there, and tempting and I forgot I had this no snacking objective...

8 of them disappeared into my tummy...

 

So I'm here to strengthen my resolve on the no snacking front!!

 

I've also been fiddling around with my spreadsheet lol. I'm never satisfied with how things work XD

[Wobbegong]

1 hour ago, Siferiax said:

I forgot I had this no snacking objective...

This is a huge problem for me every time I undertake a "don't eat" objective. I tried to go vegetarian like four times and every time gave up because I would just think, "ah yes, chicken sounds great, by all means." 

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to remember stuff like this? Tagging a random assortment of people in the hopes of success @Jlailin @scalyfreak @Hypotheticalfox @J3NN @CJ the (soon-to-be) Mighty @Tateman

 

[Scaly Freak]

1 hour ago, Wobbegong said:

This is a huge problem for me every time I undertake a "don't eat" objective. I tried to go vegetarian like four times and every time gave up because I would just think, "ah yes, chicken sounds great, by all means." 

 

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to remember stuff like this?

 

Not really, but that's because I don't have that problem.

 

Even with the liquid calorie one, where I failed to completely cut out liquid calories in the form of coffee drinks and wine, and fruit juices, I didn't forget. I remembered perfectly well that i had set a goal of not having coffee drinks during this challenge. I decided to have them anyway. (Considerably fewer than I would have had if I had not set this goal, so it still worked.)

 

If I may ask... why did you decide to go vegetarian? If you forgot your decision when faced with chicken nuggets (or alfredo, or whatever), perhaps the reasoning behind the decision needs to be stronger?

[Wobbegong]

10 minutes ago, scalyfreak said:

If I may ask... why did you decide to go vegetarian? If you forgot your decision when faced with chicken nuggets (or alfredo, or whatever), perhaps the reasoning behind the decision needs to be stronger?

It was seriously just a passing fancy. I had no moral motive, I just thought it might help me lose weight. But all of the times I tried it were in college, aka the land of bounty, so I would just go order my regular meals at the cafeteria and then sit down and remember too late I had been "supposed" to avoid meat. At this point I have no interest in vegetarianism (for myself! other people should do what they want), but I still have trouble with other diet changes I make.

 

Generally speaking, when I'm serving myself I remember, but when I'm shopping I don't. That's my real problem. 

[Siferiax]

This is a huge problem for me every time I undertake a "don't eat" objective. I tried to go vegetarian like four times and every time gave up because I would just think, "ah yes, chicken sounds great, by all means." 
 
Does anyone have any suggestions for how to remember stuff like this?
 

Hmmm it's not a huge problem for me normally. It's more the chocolate was shoved into my face like "want this?"
It's sabotaging me, as I don't get to use my overly slow brain and I just skip to yum chocolate.
If it's just in front of me and I have all the time to consider, I'd remember.

 
Not really, but that's because I don't have that problem. [emoji14]
 
Even with the liquid calorie one, where I failed to completely cut out liquid calories in the form of coffee drinks and wine, and fruit juices, I didn't forget. I remembered perfectly well that i had set a goal of not having coffee drinks during this challenge. I decided to have them anyway. (Considerably fewer than I would have had if I had not set this goal, so it still worked.)
 
If I may ask... why did you decide to go vegetarian? If you forgot your decision when faced with chicken nuggets (or alfredo, or whatever), perhaps the reasoning behind the decision needs to be stronger?

Thank you for chiming in

But wine though
How the even do you cut out something delicious like that?!
(I actually drink it like less than once a week lol so maybe I don't have a huge problem with it [emoji14] )

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[Siferiax]

Generally speaking, when I'm serving myself I remember, but when I'm shopping I don't. That's my real problem. 

That is interesting. Seems like you have a different process for these two things so that your habit only gets added to one of them?
Maybe a two step goal?
First doing it when serving and if that goes well, move on to shopping?

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[Scaly Freak]

7 minutes ago, Siferiax said:

But wine though

How the even do you cut out something delicious like that?!

 

 

 

Evidently you don't.

 

My take-away from that part of the January challenge was that I should not set unrealistic goals. I will never set myself a goal to entirely stop snacking, candy, cookies, or cake, because that would mean no more chocolate ever. And that is not only unrealistic, it's more than a little crazy, and also kind of cruel. Instead, I work on portion control and frequency. I don't actually have to eat a massive chocolate brownie every afternoon. I can have pieces of unsweetened dark chocolate a couple of times per week instead. I'm thinking I need to apply that philosophy to coffee drinks and wine as well.

[Siferiax]

 

Evidently you don't. [emoji14]

 

My take-away from that part of the January challenge was that I should not set unrealistic goals. I will never set myself a goal to entirely stop snacking, candy, cookies, or cake, because that would mean no more chocolate ever. And that is not only unrealistic, it's more than a little crazy, and also kind of cruel. Instead, I work on portion control and frequency. I don't actually have to eat a massive chocolate brownie every afternoon. I can have pieces of unsweetened dark chocolate a couple of times per week instead. I'm thinking I need to apply that philosophy to coffee drinks and wine as well.

I like that thought [emoji4]

And I agree. Though I don't like dark chocolate at all, I instead would aim to only eat high quality chocolate on a weekend. Because it should be a real treat instead of something I snark down thanks to addiction.

Moderation seems to help me keep cravings under control anyway!

 

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[Hypotheticalfox]

This is a huge problem for me every time I undertake a "don't eat" objective. I tried to go vegetarian like four times and every time gave up because I would just think, "ah yes, chicken sounds great, by all means." 
 
Does anyone have any suggestions for how to remember stuff like this? Tagging a random assortment of people in the hopes of success [mention=66737]Jlailin[/mention] [mention=70806]scalyfreak[/mention] [mention=30698]Hypotheticalfox[/mention] [mention=58842]J3NN[/mention] [mention=47668]CJ the (soon-to-be) Mighty[/mention] [mention=15631]Tateman[/mention]
 

Remembering no snacking or just in general trying to break a habit? I’ve done both with varying degrees of success.

To give up snacking (which I only stuck to temporarily), I made sure to increase my portion size and make sure I was getting enough fats and such at each meal to keep myself full. I then knew that any snacking I did was purely mental (like stress or boredom snacking), not that I was actually hungry. I also replaced my snacking with drinking tea or water, and that worked on a day to day basis, especially at work where if I didn’t bring snacks, I didn’t have them. I stopped avoiding snacking but have mostly tried to stick to healthy snacks.

The only habit I really worked to break was biting my nails, which I have successfully not done for going on four years. After I got laid off at work, I decided to interview and apply for jobs way outside my comfort zone just because I was upset and wanted to prove that I was good enough. Most of my work clothes were standard middle school teacher clothes, so not business-y, so when I somewhat-surprisingly actually got interviews, I went and bought a new suit, and decided for some reason that having nails that weren’t bitten down would make me look more professional and hire-able. I kept a nail file in my purse and whenever I’d want to bite my nails, I would file them, and eventually I liked the way they looked grown out and no longer missed the sensation of biting them. Essentially, I had a strong enough motivation (even if it was kind of stupid) and replaced a bad habit with a different more acceptable habit, then eventually no habit.


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[zeroh13]

Hi!!! Great start!!! (And following!)

 

ETA: My weakness is pastries. I have yet to find a way to consistently turn them down. When I make a goal to cut down on them it'll work great at first, but it inevitably only lasts a couple weeks. >_<

 

[Syren]

Herro!

 

Glad to have you scouting for this challenge 

[Tateman]

When I want to control snacking, I set myself basic guidelines. Or give my self a certain list of only allowed snacks. I also started to drink more water when I felt a craving vs actually hunger.

[Siferiax]

Remembering no snacking or just in general trying to break a habit? I’ve done both with varying degrees of success.

To give up snacking (which I only stuck to temporarily), I made sure to increase my portion size and make sure I was getting enough fats and such at each meal to keep myself full. I then knew that any snacking I did was purely mental (like stress or boredom snacking), not that I was actually hungry. I also replaced my snacking with drinking tea or water, and that worked on a day to day basis, especially at work where if I didn’t bring snacks, I didn’t have them. I stopped avoiding snacking but have mostly tried to stick to healthy snacks.

The only habit I really worked to break was biting my nails, which I have successfully not done for going on four years. After I got laid off at work, I decided to interview and apply for jobs way outside my comfort zone just because I was upset and wanted to prove that I was good enough. Most of my work clothes were standard middle school teacher clothes, so not business-y, so when I somewhat-surprisingly actually got interviews, I went and bought a new suit, and decided for some reason that having nails that weren’t bitten down would make me look more professional and hire-able. I kept a nail file in my purse and whenever I’d want to bite my nails, I would file them, and eventually I liked the way they looked grown out and no longer missed the sensation of biting them. Essentially, I had a strong enough motivation (even if it was kind of stupid) and replaced a bad habit with a different more acceptable habit, then eventually no habit.


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I like what you did for nail biting
Might be a good idea for my snacking as well. Either replacing it with drinking or ok snacks (fruit/nuts).
I mostly don't snack because I'm hungry, so there's that advantage maybe? I snack because I'm addicted to eating lol. Nom food!

Hi!!! Great start!!! (And following!)
 
ETA: My weakness is pastries. I have yet to find a way to consistently turn them down. When I make a goal to cut down on them it'll work great at first, but it inevitably only lasts a couple weeks. >_  

Thank you!!
They are my weakness too. Actually all dough products are lol. Even more so than chocolate.
I definitely need bread in my life else I'll give in to donuts and the like.

Herro!
 
Glad to have you scouting for this challenge 

Thank you!

When I want to control snacking, I set myself basic guidelines. Or give my self a certain list of only allowed snacks. I also started to drink more water when I felt a craving vs actually hunger.

Yeah I think it helps that I put down a definition for what a snack is and isn't.
I should totally drink more water, it really helps!

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[Siferiax]

 

I took my meds right before bed. Thanks to this challenge I did take them, else I would have skipped them.

PT didn't really work out lol, no way I was doing that right before bed.

 

In nerdy news, did anyone watch the Falcon Heavy launch?! How cool was that?!

(I only watched it because my BF was going to watch it, but oh well.)

 

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[Mike_d85]

On 2/6/2018 at 9:29 AM, Siferiax said:

I had chocolate easter eggs

 

*looks at calendar* I would be suspicious of the Easter goodies.

[Siferiax]

 
*looks at calendar* I would be suspicious of the Easter goodies.

Nope, the shops already stocked them last month ^^;

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[Wobbegong]

39 minutes ago, Siferiax said:

Nope, the shops already stocked them last month ^^;

I'm always super amused when stores get into Easter candy early because like... Lent...? But I guess by the point that Easter is just for eggs and chocolate most people have set Lent aside. 

[Siferiax]

I'm always super amused when stores get into Easter candy early because like... Lent...? But I guess by the point that Easter is just for eggs and chocolate most people have set Lent aside. 

Lent is not something that is generally observed in my country... Soooo....

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[Siferiax]

Did not eat an Easter bunny for dinner I swear...
I also totally avoided the candy...

-sigh- snacking is harder to kick than it seems...
IF is going good though... So there's that?!
16 hours today

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[Plazmotic]

Following for your epic amount of goals!

[Siferiax]

Following for your epic amount of goals!

Haha thank you!
I never thought it was an epic amount. But I guess there's a lot of thing I wish to do ^^

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