Vibrantella Springs Into Action

[Vibrantella]

After a time of healing, I'm back with a new challenge.  It's fairly basic, but I'm quite proud that I managed some successes already: a return to regular meditation (33 day streak on Insight Timer), low carb eating and intermittent fasting.  I'm also back to walking, as at my lowest I did not leave the house for a couple of weekends, and used public transport otherwise.  The one thing I still haven't gone back to is the gym - and I'm both excited and afraid to do so.  I'm also thinking about getting another Personal Trainer for a couple of months (my old one has left the country).  Finally, I'm working hard towards my MA in Classical Studies.

 

Without further ado, here are my goals for this challenge:

 

1.  Food - ketogenic (record on Fitday and/or Cronometer) and regular IF

2.  Fitness - record walking (from Mordor) and go to the gym at least once a week

3.  Keep the meditation (and Reiki DH) streak 

4.  Research and write

 

Good luck everyone, and let's DO it!

[Plazmotic]

Good to see you here! I don’t have a challenge this month but I’ll be following along.

[campbellmc22]

@Vibrantella: You got this! You are a strong warrior princess druid. I love that you are working toward an MA in classical studies. We should become friends. :-)

 

I'm cheering for you. Keep posting!

[MaD MaLKaV]

Looks like reasonable goals. 

 

How's the ketogenic diet treating you in general?  I tried it at one point, and I find I feel a little sharper when I'm running on ketones.  I just miss pasta too much to keep it up.  I eat mostly vegetarian too, which limits my choices a lot. 

 

Today I'm at a 30 day streak on insight timer, which ties for my longest streak ever, but I'll never catch up with you if you keep adding to yours from 33.

[Snarkyfishguts]

You got this! I like be the peaceful recovery process, it’s very inspiring. I’m gonna look up that app you mentioned, sounds cool!

[Bookish Badger]

Following along.

[campbellmc22]

Insight Timer for the win. I used to really focus on streaks and maintaining counters, but I realized it was adding to my anxiety to "be perfect" at Insight Timer. Thus defeating the purpose. I'm the kind of druid who needs to focus on "moderation in all things" as my mantra.

How's it been going since Monday?

[Vibrantella]

Thanks for your support, @Plazmotic, @campbellmc22, @Snarkyfishguts, @Bookish Badger and @MaD MaLKaV.

 

The first week went well.  My visit to the gym, not that much!  I have lost a lot of my strength, and my left knee was giving me trouble with even the empty barbell squat.  I will have to find other ways of training my legs (leg press, for example) and also improve my joint mobility.  The really disappointing thing, though, was that the water was turned almost completely off - the gym is in a big shopping mall, and they were waiting for the maintenance team, so it was not their fault really - but it's still not nice to be without a water fountain and trying to shower in a trickle.  Especially as it's not the first time it happened!

 

I also broke the Insight Timer streak, on the day which was so full that I only managed to switch it on at a minute after midnight.  I was a bit deflated at first, but now I don't care - it's about my meditating, not about the software!

 

On 3/21/2018 at 5:54 PM, MaD MaLKaV said:

How's the ketogenic diet treating you in general?  I tried it at one point, and I find I feel a little sharper when I'm running on ketones.  I just miss pasta too much to keep it up.  I eat mostly vegetarian too, which limits my choices a lot. 

 

I love keto!  I use it to control my T2 diabetes without drugs, and it helped me reduce my BMI from 40 (morbidly obese) to 27 (just overweight).  I abandoned it for a while during the winter of doom, and put back on 10 kg in 2.5 months of comfort eating. I'm hoping that I'll get back to where I was, and further down, if I keep to keto and IF seriously.  It helps that I love the taste of fatty meat   Since being on the LC / keto, I developed an appetite for fresh veg too, which I didn't use to like when I was eating huge quantities of pasta.

 

Week 1 Recap:

 

1.  Food - keto and IF - 90% (we were invited to a friends' house for dinner, and I could not completely avoid some higher carb foods)

 

2.  Fitness - record walking & go to gym - 100% 

 

3.  Meditation - 100% (even though nominally I broke the streak, I actually meditated before going to bed)

 

4.  Research for the MA - is happening, difficult to score except as a binary yes/no, so YES

 

Week 2, here we come!  

[campbellmc22]

On 3/25/2018 at 2:20 PM, Vibrantella said:

I also broke the Insight Timer streak, on the day which was so full that I only managed to switch it on at a minute after midnight.  I was a bit deflated at first, but now I don't care - it's about my meditating, not about the software!

 

I am so proud of you for thinking this way. There's a way to turn those stats off in the settings because I think deep down we all know that meditating is not a competition - with ourselves or otherwise. Gamification is everywhere, and it's a really great motivating tool, but meditation is so much more. You are a rock star for pushing through! Have a great week!

[Vibrantella]

Uh-oh, I'm still here!  Sorry for being AWOL, but that's mostly due to doing lots of work for my course.  The weather here in London has been mostly terrible, which does not help with being energetic!  Today, however, there is sunshine - spring may actually be here, hooray!

 

My second challenge week went like this:

 

1.  Food - 60% (I had a serious chocolate mini-eggs accident (!) - I don't remember the last time I was even attracted to sickly sweet milk chocolate, but I suppose once the sugar was in my veins, I couldn't stop even though I wasn't really enjoying it.  Luckily, I didn't eat all of them, and the rest were taken away by Mr V. to his work.)

2.  Fitness - 100% (I walked and I gymmed  )

3.  Meditation (and Reiki DH)  - 100%

4.  Research and write - a lot!  I got a cute little chromebook to carry around cafes and libraries - my laptop is too heavy to be really portable, especially when carrying books and/or gym kit.   I've finally admitted to myself and Mr V. that it's much easier to study outside the house - at home, distractions are inevitable and numerous!

 

This week I have a lot of family and community obligations, but I already went to the gym once, which is nominally enough.  Food, though, might be a bit more difficult to manage, what with catering for other people and traditional (non-keto) specialities.   Eh, I would like to drop the extra winter weight, but at the moment that is not a priority.  Balance is, and that includes being relaxed with family and friends.

 

 

[Snarkyfishguts]

Oooh your chrome book sounds really cool! 

 

I feel the same about chocolate. Especially those mini-eggs. I stop enjoying them about 5 eggs in, but it ignites the Sugarsugarsugarsugar brain and I eat them until someone takes them away or I'm sick.

 

Death by mini-eggs.

 

It sounds like you're doing pretty good!

[campbellmc22]

Oh Snarky and Vibrantella,

31 minutes ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

Death by mini-eggs.

 

Yes, yes, yes! All the yes. And this feeling makes me even more annoyed because it means my brain is weak compared to my sugar addiction. What do you think, would increasing our mindfulness help us in moments like that? **NOT ADVICE*** Sincere question... Because so many Druid-Masters tell me that if I were just more mindful in the moment, I could overpower that monkey-mind that just thinks "sugarsugarsugar"... 

 

1 hour ago, Vibrantella said:

Balance is, and that includes being relaxed with family and friends.

 

Balance! That's the druid way! By cultivating balance, we can focus our energy where we want to, whenever we want to. That includes losing the extra pounds that naturally creep up on us when we aren't being diligent. Instead of trying so hard to be perfect, and better and better, I want to follow your example and cultivate balance instead. The rest will follow in its own good time.

 

[Vibrantella]

3 hours ago, campbellmc22 said:

What do you think, would increasing our mindfulness help us in moments like that?

Honestly?  No, it wouldn't help me.  For some (many?) people, sugar addiction is real - and it's not just the dopamine hit in the brain, but the complex hormonal cascade of insulin, leptin and ghrelin (and other hormones and enzymes).  For me, it's better not to touch it at all.  I cannot mindfully eat high-carb foods.  There are some people, though, who can - Mr V. has a sweet tooth which he can satisfy with 2 squares of chocolate or a single biscuit/cookie after a meal.  He's never had a weight problem, and his blood sugar and lipids have always been fine (unlike me on all 3 counts).  Ultimately, I think that mindfulness cannot fight biology - except for mindfully avoiding things that are detrimental!

[Snarkyfishguts]

1 hour ago, Vibrantella said:

Honestly?  No, it wouldn't help me.  For some (many?) people, sugar addiction is real - and it's not just the dopamine hit in the brain, but the complex hormonal cascade of insulin, leptin and ghrelin (and other hormones and enzymes).  For me, it's better not to touch it at all.  I cannot mindfully eat high-carb foods.  There are some people, though, who can - Mr V. has a sweet tooth which he can satisfy with 2 squares of chocolate or a single biscuit/cookie after a meal.  He's never had a weight problem, and his blood sugar and lipids have always been fine (unlike me on all 3 counts).  Ultimately, I think that mindfulness cannot fight biology - except for mindfully avoiding things that are detrimental!

I agree with Vibrantella and science   Especially mindful avoidance!

[Vibrantella]

This challenge ended with some success:  I went to the gym as many times as I planned (plus one extra, which I had to abandon shortly after warm-up due to a hypoglycemic episode); I studied and meditated; but I also ate too, too much, and enough wrong things ("treats") to achieve a fully ketotic state.  Ah well, 75% altogether!  Onwards and upwards!

 

(I just wish I can recover my motivation...)