Lateral Planet: Catching Fire

[Lateral Planet]

Hi folks, I've got two successful challenges under my belt, let's try for a hat-trick! The first was on mindset, the second one on nutrition... I bet you can guess what I'm about this month: fitness!

 

Challenge Goals

Stay below 80kg. Now that I'm there, I intend to stay!

Do a proper pushup. Totally forgot about this goal last time, let's try again!

Get ready to set a new personal best at the Zombies, Run! virtual race at the end of this challenge

 

Challenge Quests

1) Portion control

2) Chocolate only after dinner

3) Exercise every day; choose one of the following:

• Zombies Run mission (with chases)
• NF Academy workout
• Freestyle pushups, planks, squats, and/or lunges

4) Complete a NF Academy quest every week

 

So this is quite a simplified challenge, really. The chocolate rule is a good one I've done for the last two challenges with a lot of success. Something I learned by logging food in the last challenge is that I'm rather prone to overeating. Like the quality of food is generally pretty good, but there's just too much of it. So the aim here is to avoid that gross, overfull feeling.

 

As for the exercises, that side of things really lapsed last time, so I'm trying an intensive regime to really get back into the swing of things. By giving myself specific options I'll be more inclined to actually do it (last time I think I set the bar too low and it was easy to just... not exercise). I know aiming for every day is a bit full on, but with the variety of options I should be able to get it done. Like if I'm too knackered from a zombie mission the previous day I can just do some pushups and planks to rest my thighs. And I know I won't always have time for 5K practice, but surely I can find 20 min for a workout at home, right? I guess we'll find out!

 

Best of luck, everyone!!

[Lateral Planet]

It's Friday, and I'm taking a day off work. In the last week of the last challenge I came down with a cold (which kind of derailed things) and I took off a couple of days then, but I haven't really improved much since, so I thought an extra day on the couch would help. Took the time to go over some NF Academy quests and pick out a few to aim for:

 

One-and-done quests:

Do a wardrobe cull

Order veggies instead of chips

Do a workout outdoors

Try jump rope

Walk during lunch at work 

Take body measurements on 1 April

Warm up and cool down units

Plan meals and shop for the week

 

Prolonged quests:

Keep a training log and share it

Work up to full pushups

Complete one month of workouts

 

So I've got plenty of options for things I could achieve during this challenge! The idea is to keep myself engaged with the NF Academy. I've been trying to work through the units kind of methodically but I didn't log on much in the last few weeks, so it's time to get back in the groove.

[elinox]

If you can get out to walk or exercise at work, it helps. Because then 1. you're not likely to be bugged while you're on your lunch break and 2. the exercise is already done when you get home for the day. Plus, with spring coming, it might be nice to get some fresh air.  

 

Good luck!

[Lateral Planet]

7 hours ago, elinox said:

If you can get out to walk or exercise at work, it helps. Because then 1. you're not likely to be bugged while you're on your lunch break and 2. the exercise is already done when you get home for the day. Plus, with spring coming, it might be nice to get some fresh air.  

 

Good luck!

My thoughts exactly! I'm actually in Australia so it's becoming autumn here, which is lovely, except my work building is mostly surrounded by deciduous eucalypts so you can't really tell  

 

The struggle is that I only get a half-hour break, so I'll probably do some extra exercises as well. My usual routine for a run is: 10 min to get me and the dog ready, 50 min for about 5K, 10 min for a shower, and then 20 min comatose on the bed cooling down. It's a nice way to spend an evening but not very time-efficient  

[Lateral Planet]

I'm already winning on the portion control side of things for next week! Made a batch of yummy pesto pasta for my lunches, but with all the extra veggies I stuck in it was a bigger batch than usual. But instead of having give huge portions I just split it into six normal ones... and I guess Saturday lunch is covered too!

[Lateral Planet]

My Monday weigh-in showed I crept back over 80kg last week, but only by a tiny bit so it's no big deal. And honestly I'm not all that surprised, since I haven't exactly been saintly. I've been taking it easy to try to finally get over this cold I've had (fair enough) but I've also been eating terribly. Basically, the challenges are good for me, but I kind of relax too much in between challenges, so this time I'm calling it a five-week challenge in an effort to trick myself into behaving better!

[Lateral Planet]

Day 1 has been a success! I snuck in a cheeky workout while I was cooking dinner; I don't know why I don't do that all the time! It was a pretty light one, though, since I'm still trying to shake this cough:

10 pushups against the kitchen counter

20 lunges

10 squats

So I didn't exactly break a sweat but it's already mor exercise than I did all last week

 

Portion control was a win, too. Dinner was probably 25 per cent meat and 75 per cent veggies, and not too huge. But then again, it was my turn to cook; Fiancé is notorious for huge servings so we'll see how we go when it's his turn tomorrow!

[shy]

Just dropping in to say HI and cheer you on! Good job sneaking in a quick workout! I've been sick as a dog but I'm planning to get back to my microwave time counter pushups. lol Take care of yourself! Hope that cough lets up!

 

[Lateral Planet]

9 hours ago, shy said:

Just dropping in to say HI and cheer you on! Good job sneaking in a quick workout! I've been sick as a dog but I'm planning to get back to my microwave time counter pushups. lol Take care of yourself! Hope that cough lets up!

Thanks heaps! It seems a lot of us Rebels have been struck down with illness lately. Look after yourself and feel better soon! Are you doing a challenge or just taking it easy for now? Either way, feel free to lurk

 

It pays to be sneaky with workouts. I know I'll be finishing work quite late in the evening and I won't be in the mood later, so I made myself skip the sleep-in and do this instead:

3x10 squats

2x10 kitchen counter pushups

10 knee pushups (it wasn't easy, so super proud of myself!)

3x10 dumbbell rows each side

3 dumbbell walks

 

Overall a much better effort than yesterday!

[Lateral Planet]

Exercise today was a Zombies Run mission, managed to escape every time I was chased, but I didn't do a lot of extra running. It's been a while and it was quite cold and smoky this arvo so my lungs weren't really cooperating. Still, glad I did any running at all!

 

Portion control is a struggle when it's Fiancé's turn to cook, but I've taken to just leaving some stuff on my plate for him to finish for me rather than automatically trying to eat it all myself. Honestly the dude's a bottomless pit, he's never full! Hoping he'll eventually get the message to just give me less to start with

[Reinfire]

3 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

Exercise today was a Zombies Run mission, managed to escape every time I was chased, but I didn't do a lot of extra running. It's been a while and it was quite cold and smoky this arvo so my lungs weren't really cooperating. Still, glad I did any running at all!

 

That's awesome you've been finding ways to get in exercise even when not feeling great (I'm in a similar boat!)

 

3 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

Portion control is a struggle when it's Fiancé's turn to cook, but I've taken to just leaving some stuff on my plate for him to finish for me rather than automatically trying to eat it all myself. Honestly the dude's a bottomless pit, he's never full! Hoping he'll eventually get the message to just give me less to start with

Ugh my husband is the same way - eats a ton and doesn't really recognize that I can't keep up. Until....he decided he wanted to start calorie counting and he realized how low my number was compared to his  The calorie counting hasn't stuck for him, but at least now he catches himself and will ask if I have calories left for the day instead of if I want more food  

[Lateral Planet]

7 hours ago, Reinfire said:

That's awesome you've been finding ways to get in exercise even when not feeling great (I'm in a similar boat!)

 

Ugh my husband is the same way - eats a ton and doesn't really recognize that I can't keep up. Until....he decided he wanted to start calorie counting and he realized how low my number was compared to his  The calorie counting hasn't stuck for him, but at least now he catches himself and will ask if I have calories left for the day instead of if I want more food  

If there's one thing I know about exercise it's that I've got to seize the opportunity before illness/business/laziness strikes! My asthma always plays up a bit in winter due to cold air and neighbours using their fireplaces, but I didn't expect it to be as cold as it was yesterday. But I don't like gyms or treadmills so I've got to just suck it up.

 

Good on your husband! Mine's not quite at that level, but I really do need to emphasise to him just how much is a reasonable serving. Otherwise, if I'm just passing food to him all the time, I'm sort of trading my health for his, y'know? That wouldn't be very good for either of us. Oh well, it's my turn to do dinner tonight so at least I'll have more control of the situation then!

[RevQu]

Getting up and doing any kind of exercise when you're feeling crappy is a near-heroic feat in my opinion!  Keep on rocking it!!

[Lateral Planet]

18 hours ago, RevQu said:

Getting up and doing any kind of exercise when you're feeling crappy is a near-heroic feat in my opinion!  Keep on rocking it!!

Absolutely, thanks! I nearly succumbed last night; I could feel myself falling asleep on the couch watching TV, at which point I'm totally done for the day. But I managed to escape and made myself do some quick exercises whilst getting ready for bed:

10 squats (whilst brushing teeth, multitasking FTW)

5 knee pushups 

20 lunges

45 sec plank

 

Today I managed to find energy for a Zombies Run mission and escaped zombies three times. But I'm starting to think I should maybe switch off the chases. Like it feels like I'm running a lot less during a mission, just so I can save my energy when the beeper starts and I can avoid getting eaten (I know, I take video games too seriously). Anyway, I'll keep going as normal for another week or so to get back up to speed (ha ha), but then I might rewrite the "Zombies mission with chases" goal to be "Zombies mission with a reasonable number of bursts of speed".

[Lateral Planet]

I fell victim to the couch last night, was just too comfy to do any exercises. Although we did go for a nice long walk yesterday I didn't do any running since we went to shops and back and I wasn't really keen to try running uphill whilst laden with groceries. Still, that's half a mark, I guess.

 

Got up early this morning to make a batch of curry for lunches this week, and I squeezed in a NF Academy workout between bouts of pot stirring:

3x10 lunges

3x5 inch worms

3x10 wall slides

20 - 15 - 10 sec side planks (these really killed me, my stamina deteriorated each time!)

 

Next week is going to be really killer. I'm probably not finishing work til about 9pm most days, but hopefully I can find some early morning energy for workouts before I start work. At least it's a short week, hooray for Easter long weekend!

[Lateral Planet]

OK I'm ready to call Monday a wipeout on the exercise front. I was going to do a bit of overtime, but then a bunch of people were home sick so now I'm doing a lot of overtime, and probably won't get home til midnight. Maybe once everyone else in my room goes home I might be able to do some cheeky lunges across the office

[Reinfire]

On 3/26/2018 at 2:35 AM, Lateral Planet said:

 Maybe once everyone else in my room goes home I might be able to do some cheeky lunges across the office

Welp now this is all I can picture

 

"No I'm fine, just sitting in my chair, nothing to see here..."

[Lateral Planet]

Phew, OK it's been a bit of a crazy week since I last checked in, and unfortunately I haven't been all that engaged with the challenge for most of those days. But now I'm fresh off the long weekend and ready to get it together again!

 

I still haven't discovered the key to sustaining motivation during those busy work weeks. That's a shame, but fortunately the next month or so will be a nice, reliable 9 to 5 roster so I won't have that excuse for slackness for a while

[Lateral Planet]

Alright, guys, here's the situation: I haven't been too slack lately as far as my actual challenges go, but I have been VERY slack about recording results and checking in here. So it hasn't been too bad, but it could've been a lot better. I'll do a full wrap-up of the challenge on the weekend, but I just wanted to get these thoughts published before I forgot them:

 

I really tripped in the second week, when I was just far too busy to make time for exercise. Still working on that. Then came Easter, and I failed to resist the allure of the huge pile of chocolate we suddenly had. Then was Fiancé's birthday and the delicious cake I made him. All of that interspersed with days of just not being bothered has left me with a pretty poor result.

 

BUT I have totally owned the portion control issue lately. I think I finally have gotten through to Fiancé how much dinner is enough amd how much is WAY too much. I haven't been very rigorous about the quality of food lately, but at least the quantity has been appropriate.

 

And I've been doing a lot of zombie runs in the last two weeks, gearing up for the virtual race next week in which I hope to set a new record. My last 5K run was just a couple of minutes over my current personal best; surely I can shave off just two minutes!

 

I'm also currently formulating a plan about how best to tackle the next challenge. I stumbled a fair bit during this one but I know why that was (a mix of poor planning and plain laziness); now to prevent it happening again next time!!

[Lateral Planet]

Suffered from an unusual amount of clumsiness yesterday! I brought to work a delicious salad I'd made, but as soon as I sat down to lunch the butterfingers kicked in and suddenly it was all over the floor And there weren't any good healthy options at the staff cafe so it was hot chips for lunch in the end.

 

To make up for an unhealthy lunch I made sure to go for a good long walk in the arvo. But one of the risks of running with an exceedingly cute puppy is that everyone wants to stop for a chat, and I forgot to pause my mission while we spent about 10 minutes indulging a couple of five-year-olds. It was super cute, but I ended up with a really disappointing time for the 5K. Must be more vigilant about that for the virtual race next week!

[Lateral Planet]

Today was chock full of motivators:

1) Just as I was considering sleeping in, got an email saying the next part of the Zombies Run race was up 

2) Failed lunch and got chips for the third time this week, so exercise was definitely needed to compensate

3) Getting up early meant I got home early, with plenty of daylight to spare for a good long run

4) Got home to find the shirt I ordered with the race had also finally arrived (I am easily bribed by material goods)

5) With one kilometre left to go the rain started, making sure we rushed home

 

Sometimes you've gotta see the signs and seize the opportunity!

[Lateral Planet]

OK I'm gonna wrap up this challenge and declare it mostly a failure with specks of greatness. A lot went wrong here but I already have a plan in place to help me perform well in the next challenge.

 

Challenge Goals

Stay below 80kg = nope.

Do a pushup = nope.

Prepare for 5K race = yes! One run I did last week was only 40 sec over my personal best, I'm so close!

 

Challenge Quests

1) Portion control = OK, but the quality of food wasn't great. Especially last week, not a lot of healthy decisions were made. But at least I didn't end up feeling bloated and gross.

2) Chocolate control = started well and failed in the last two weeks. I was a bit cheeky around Easter and then I made an amazing chocolate cake for Fiancé's birthday.

3) Exercise every day = minor fail. I've been doing Zombies Run missions fairly regularly in the last two weeks, and week one was OK, but otherwise I've been very sedentary.

4) Academy quests = major fail. I mean I've probably done a few, but not as an active decision, so I don't know if I count that as a win. Like I didn't weigh myself for a month, and that's a quest, but it was more due to forgetfulness than actually working towards a goal.

[Lateral Planet]

Psst... new challenge: