... "Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'"

[Jean]

Thanks again for the support, guys and gals, it's very much appreciated.

 

I walked like a boss, today!

 

I've dropped trying to send my mind anywhere and just let it flow and didn't think too much about my moves, today. They felt more natural (but may have been anything from worse to much better) so I don't really know what to think about that.

 

Also, the form we're studying makes perfect sense: these are all fighting moves. I'm eager to master it, now, which should help me to train a bit more at home.

 

There will be no tai chi next Tuesday but I'll get an opportunity to try some tai-jitsu with another master (who happens to be a student in the tai chi course so, another example that you never stop learning). I guess I'll take it.

 

Though now, I have to find a way to ensure I'll be doing my 3A workout tomorrow. Here's the thing about it :

• 4 sets of 5 step-ups -> no problem.
• 4 sets of 5 bodyweight push-ups -> not a problem either.
• 4 sets of 8 reps of band pull apart -> I don't have a resistance band and don't plan on getting one. 2A had grocery bag rows, 4A will have ring rows. There are rings on my training ground so I'm going for those.
• 2 sets of 40+ seconds of side planks (per side) -> those scare the death out of me. I'm cutting it down to 2 sets of 20+ seconds of side planks (per side) and 2 sets of 30+ seconds of front plank.

The problem will be getting me to actually go to my training ground, so I'll have to work on my Identity and realise I can't be a ranger without putting nature into my life. That or I'll just do squats and push-ups at home, one or the other.

 

Food log

2 black coffees (1x morning, 1x afternoon)

pre-cooked pasta with tomato sauce (noon and evening)

250g of bred with butter and honey (evening)

1.5l of water

 

Other things

Exercise: 5' walk, tai chi.

Cooking: tomato sauce.

 

On a side note: I need to up the level of priority of my Belt of Preparedness. I'll have to figure out how to do it this week (Saturday seems like a good day to browse the do-it-yourself shops which I love to do).

 

 

[Tobbe]

9 minutes ago, Jean said:

4 sets of 8 reps of band pull apart -> I don't have a resistance band and don't plan on getting one. 2A had grocery bag rows, 4A will have ring rows. There are rings on my training ground so I'm going for those.

 

Do you have dumbbells or kettlebells? Could do rows with those if you do

 

10 minutes ago, Jean said:

The problem will be getting me to actually go to my training ground, so I'll have to work on my Identity and realise I can't be a ranger without putting nature into my life. That or I'll just do squats and push-ups at home, one or the other.

 

As long as you do something!

 

10 minutes ago, Jean said:

250g of bred with butter and honey (evening)

 

I love bread (especially toasted, or freshly baked) with honey!

[Jean]

28 minutes ago, Tobbe said:

Do you have dumbbells or kettlebells? Could do rows with those if you do

 

I could find a way to get some makeshift dumbbells but I'm a firm believer in bodyweight workouts, using my body for weight instead of other tools (yes, I know, I've already given in to grocery bags, I'm still figuring my workouts out). My staples will probably be squats, push-ups, handstands and pull-ups with varrying degrees of difficulty to make them more effective as I become more able to do them (as in: I'll need to ease them quite a bit right now because I'm just as strong as a cricket).

 

I'm still going to use rings and pull-up bars just because of fun (weeeee!).

 

28 minutes ago, Tobbe said:

I love bread (especially toasted, or freshly baked) with honey! 

Yay for honey lovers! I had actually forgotten that I had a jar of it (I've got a friend who's got bees up in the mountain, where flowers are the main source of ingredient for them).

 

I also have a very riped banana. I'm not sure I can convince myself that today is the day where I'm trying again overnight oats but who knows ? Maybe I can.

[Tobbe]

10 hours ago, Jean said:

I also have a very riped banana. I'm not sure I can convince myself that today is the day where I'm trying again overnight oats but who knows ? Maybe I can.

 

You totally should! Go for it  (Guess I should do that as well!  Been too long, and I have a tweaked recipe idea  in my head I want to try. Let's see who gets to it first!  

[Jean]

On 10/24/2018 at 9:51 AM, Tobbe said:

 

You totally should! Go for it  (Guess I should do that as well!  Been too long, and I have a tweaked recipe idea  in my head I want to try. Let's see who gets to it first!  

 

You're still on! I'll wait 'till the week-end myself, so don't hurry too much.

 

Yesterday's food logging is quite easy to do since I didn't eat at noon (got caught up in work and every shop and quick way to get food was closed 'till 2 pm).

I went out for a workout but did no warm-up, nor cool-down. Also, the rings I intended to use for my rows are way too high so I went for inclined push-ups instead. Also also, side planks are killing me and I did only half planks (from the knees on): 2x 30 sec on each side (no front plank).

 

25.10.2018

3x black coffee (1x morning, 2x afternoon)

Pork stew (evening)

1.5l of water

 

Exercise : 5' walk, tweaked 3A.

 

26.10.2018

Food log

2x black coffee (1x morning, 1x afternoon)

Pork stew (noon and evening)

~0.7l of water (drank very few)

 

Exercise : 5' walk, did a bit of tai chi at home.

 

EDIT:

 

Also, I need to prepare for a 3B workout tomorrow.

 

• One leg romanian deadlifts (I'll give it a try, wish me resilience)
• Inch worms (shouldn't be a problem, although I'm bad at these)
• Assisted chin ups (should be workable)
• One arm farmers walks (no problem)

 

I'll skip the warm-up but have to put extra care into the cool-down (because it's my weak point and I don't like having one of those).

[Tobbe]

13 hours ago, Jean said:

You're still on! I'll wait 'till the week-end myself, so don't hurry too much.

 

Great! Still haven't gotten around to it myself either. Did buy some banana though, that I might, or might not use for it  

 

13 hours ago, Jean said:

Pork stew (evening)

 

That's the only thing you ate all day? Dude...

 

13 hours ago, Jean said:

did a bit of tai chi at home.

 

 

 

13 hours ago, Jean said:

Inch worms (shouldn't be a problem, although I'm bad at these)

 

"Shouldn't be a problem"!? You've got a strong core! I find these very tough!

[Jean]

4 hours ago, Tobbe said:

That's the only thing you ate all day? Dude...

 

Some of my days are like that. Someone called me a little bit before noon and we were at it until 12:45 at what point the shops were closed, cooking would have taken too much time and going alone in a restaurant would have felt sad so I've tanked through it, finished my day early and started cooking as soon as I got home.

 

In my defense, it was an awesome stew! I used a whole bottle of wine for it (which is exceptional for me, I usually cook it with broth since I'd not know what to do with the rest of the bottle if I opened one for cooking) and it cooked slowly for something like 2 hours. I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

4 hours ago, Tobbe said:

"Shouldn't be a problem"!? You've got a strong core! I find these very tough!

 

Yeah, I probably put it wrong: They are kinda hellish to do properly and I definitely can't do them adequately as of now but there's no psychological barrier preventing me of trying and I can work my way from making only some inches to doing the whole thing. What I meant is that this is not what would prevent me of even attempting the workout. We'll see if I can actually stick to it later this evening. For now, it's time for some sausage cooking.

[Tobbe]

3 hours ago, Jean said:

cooking would have taken too much time

 

With practice you'll be able to have something on the table faster that it takes to get to a fast-food place, place an order, and wait for it to arrive!  

 

3 hours ago, Jean said:

and going alone in a restaurant would have felt sad

 

Agreed! That's something I have trouble with as well  Some people love it, but I much prefer to share my restaurant experiences with someone!

 

3 hours ago, Jean said:

In my defense, it was an awesome stew! I used a whole bottle of wine for it (which is exceptional for me, I usually cook it with broth since I'd not know what to do with the rest of the bottle if I opened one for cooking) and it cooked slowly for something like 2 hours. I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Sounds great!  I'm the same way with the wine. Never open a bottle for cooking, just because I don't want to have an open bottle that I feel that I "have" to drink. Don't get me wrong, I love wine. But I don't want to be drinking it in the middle of the week. (We have a very different wine culture here compared to more southern European countries )

 

3 hours ago, Jean said:

Yeah, I probably put it wrong: They are kinda hellish to do properly and I definitely can't do them adequately as of now but there's no psychological barrier preventing me of trying and I can work my way from making only some inches to doing the whole thing.

 

That's the great thing about inch worms - you can start off pretty easy. And then aim to progress one inch further each time you try them!

 

3 hours ago, Jean said:

For now, it's time for some sausage cooking.

 

"Sausage cooking" as in actually making sausages from scratch, or just frying some sausages up in a pan? I've always wanted to try to make my own sausages, but never gotten around to it!

[Jean]

Well, that 3B was as half-assed as I've ever seen one but at least, the cool-down has been performed pretty well and I feel like that's what I needed the most (my muscles were kinda sore all over my body).

 

1 hour ago, Tobbe said:

With practice you'll be able to have something on the table faster that it takes to get to a fast-food place, place an order, and wait for it to arrive!  

 

Going home was the longer part. That plus I didn't even have much to cook there so, I wasn't all that motivated to begin with. Thanks for the insight, though. I'm still considering cooking as some kind of ritual where I take the time for it and everything cooks slowly, which I have a hard time doing in my new home because the hotplates are so very hot, even on the lowest setting, that I have to use a pot and actually turn the plate off whenever I want something to cook normally.

 

Tell me if I'm wrong but I feel like you're often cooking things that you don't actually have to warm, like rolls, or can do quickly, like eggs. What process do you go through when you choose what you want to eat on a given day ?

 

 

1 hour ago, Tobbe said:

(We have a very different wine culture here compared to more southern European countries )

 

Yeah, some of us can have breakfast with a glass of red wine around here (my grandfather did but it tends to be frowned upon nowadays). I can have a glass of wine during the week without trouble but it becomes sour if the bottle stays open more than a day (I don't have thoses fancy corks made to keep it fresh) and I don't want to throw the wine away after using one glass for cooking and drinking just another one (I could buy smaller bottles but that's not on my budget for right now).

 

1 hour ago, Tobbe said:

"Sausage cooking" as in actually making sausages from scratch, or just frying some sausages up in a pan? I've always wanted to try to make my own sausages, but never gotten around to it!

 

Yeah, let's not get crazy here: pan fried premade pork sausage with gravy, rice and pan fried veggies. I admire your enthusiasm and will to try and discover everything but I don't think I'm ever going to do my own meat unless I start hunting and want to give it my all (I have so many priorities before that that I don't see that happening anytime soon, if ever).

 

 

Food log

3 black coffees (1x morning, 2x afternoon)

Premade pizza (Prosciutto with added onions - noon)

ham sandwich (early evening)

Pork sausage, gravy, rice and veggies (evening)

1.5l of water

 

I haven't got any veggies left and I hate those I can find in my town. I'll have to search for some fresher ones tomorrow, while brosing for ingredients for my belt.

 

Exercise : 5' walk, half-assed 3B, cool-down.

Cooking : tomato sauce, pork stew, pork sausage.

[Tobbe]

6 minutes ago, Jean said:

Going home was the longer part. That plus I didn't even have much to cook there so, I wasn't all that motivated to begin with.

 

Sure, if you had to go home, cook (and then go back?) I can totally see it taking too long!

 

7 minutes ago, Jean said:

I'm still considering cooking as some kind of ritual

 

And it should be! Some times! But it doesn't have to always be that. Sure, putting time, effort and love in to a meal is a very rewarding process that I love, and the end result is always much better than if you rush something. However, sometimes it has to be all about getting some sustenance.

 

10 minutes ago, Jean said:

Tell me if I'm wrong but I feel like you're often cooking things that you don't actually have to warm, like rolls, or can do quickly, like eggs. What process do you go through when you choose what you want to eat on a given day ?

 

Well, a few things guide my choices. For lunch it has to be something quick as I actually have to work as well  Not just cook  And I was given a meal plan from someone who I talked to to try to help me with my health, and that meal plan had "Three eggs and 150 g of vegetables" listed as lunch. I've now relaxed that a lot, and eat other things, and other quantities as well, but "Three eggs and veggies" is always a safe fallback for me. Something that will not trigger any bad thoughts. Plus it's super easy to throw together a salad with some eggs  Another major factor is "what do we have in the fridge that has to be eaten now or it'll go bad  So whatever has been sitting there for too long I'll try to incorporate in my meal.

 

For dinner I like to try new recipes, and this is obviously something that is going to take longer to prepare and cook. But it's also a much more enjoyable process  Not really sure how I pick what to cook/eat here. Whatever I fancy when making my meal plan for the next few days  I try to always have a few days - up to a week - at least loosely planned out when it comes to lunch and dinner.

 

19 minutes ago, Jean said:

Yeah, let's not get crazy here: pan fried premade pork sausage with gravy, rice and pan fried veggies.

 

Sounds great! Where are the photos?

 

20 minutes ago, Jean said:

I have so many priorities before that that I don't see that happening anytime soon, if ever

 

Yeah, hunting is something I've also thought about, and get asked about from time to time, but nah, not going to happen.

[Jean]

5 minutes ago, Tobbe said:

Sounds great! Where are the photos?

 

I'll have made some overnight oats before I'll become a photos-person. I'd much rather take pictures of my training ground, or go on hikes and share that but... nah, can't be bothered to stop admiring the view to take a picture of it.

 

[Tobbe]

24 minutes ago, Jean said:

I'll have made some overnight oats

 

Thanks for reminding me! Not about the overnight oats, but about having to give my chia pudding a final stir that I'm having for breakfast tomorrow!

 

EDIT: Done  

[Jean]

This week-end has been kinda strange, I'm putting it here before I forget (and doing standard logging later).

 

Saturday

The Belt of Preparedness isn't happening. Couldn't find any decent pocket I could carry all day (even for the smartphone, I mean, you'd think this would be something they'd sell. We had plenty of those for flip phones back in the days). I'll have to fall back on an older project with much more crafting involved, meaning it will have to wait for some holidays.

 

Also, I'll have to remember the golden rule for the next times: never go shopping on a Saturday. Even finding a pair of jeans was a challenge. I mean, jeans should be easy to find but they had no more stock and people were cluttering the access making it hard to choose. Also, clothes shopping would be so much easier if everybody shared my delicate and finely tuned tastes. ^^

 

Saturday night was very strange, I didn't sleep much but could feel my muscles asking for rest so I spent my time in bed, enjoying the moment. I think this is one of the very few times when I have genuinely rested and slept afterward (I'm usually too tense for it to really be regenerative). One of the upsides of being physically active and one I'll have to remember next time I think about skipping a workout. Since I couldn't sleep, I made some overnight oats too. I'm going to try them this morning.

 

Sunday

Woke up with an aching head and it followed me all day. I didn't even do my 5' walk and just tried to sleep it over but it didn't work.

 

I woke up very early today (1:30 am). Trying to make something out of it and not get overwhelmed already by the week to come. Which will be a short one since we're not working on Thursday and Friday so, something to look forward and plan toward making the most of it, I guess.

[Tobbe]

5 hours ago, Jean said:

Since I couldn't sleep, I made some overnight oats too. I'm going to try them this morning.

 

You win 

 

Congratulations!  

[Tobbe]

5 hours ago, Jean said:

never go shopping on a Saturday. Even finding a pair of jeans was a challenge. I mean, jeans should be easy to find but they had no more stock and people were cluttering the access making it hard to choose.

 

Dude! Shop online! Much larger selection, no annoying people pushing you around, cheaper... All around much better!  

[Jean]

Officially calling this weekend "Respawn Point" (we're on holliday today and tomorrow).

Officially calling today "Resting Day" so, no logging 'till tomorrow.

 

 

On 10/29/2018 at 8:31 AM, Tobbe said:

Dude! Shop online! Much larger selection, no annoying people pushing you around, cheaper... All around much better!  

 

Online shops usually don't pay taxes where I live and don't employ people of my neighborhood. ^^

That and when it comes to clothes, I really like to try what I buy before buying it (yes, I know, I could send it back if I don't like it but it's still easier to take home just the one pair that fits me and not the twenty others I'd have to try to be sure xD ).

 

Thanks for following and being there (this goes for all of you, of course). Keep on being amazing and enjoy the day.

[Arkania]

Hey, just wanted to leave some motivation here: You're gonna make it!

But: Watch your stress level because it affects so much

[Tobbe]

11 hours ago, Jean said:

Online shops usually don't pay taxes where I live and don't employ people of my neighborhood.

 

True that

 

We don't have the strong history or present culture of shopping in specialty stores as they (you?) do in other countries. I guess that makes it easier/comes more naturally for me to just shop everything online. Even groceries, including meat, cheese etc is pretty common to shop online in Sweden

[Jean]

I can only talk for myself but I feel like shops have a strong history here, even though more and more people prefer online shopping nowadays. We're mainly fond of supermarkets with two main grocery stores (Migros and Coop), some higher grade brands (Manor), a few clothes brands (C&A, Voëgle, Metro, ...), shoes brands (Dosenbach, Voëgle, ...), sports brands (Ochsner, Sportxx, ...), do-it-yourselfs (Jumbo, Hornbach, ...), you get the picture. Butcher's shops and creameries are mainly small businesses varying from town to town.

 

Online clothes and shoes shopping has become pretty common nowadays and online grocery shopping starts to grow. Some local farmers try to sell their products that way with vegetable and/or fruit baskets that they deliver at home or at the office. I've decided to try one of them to get decent vegetables (which aren't available in my town, people grow cows around here and there's not a carrot in sight even though the village is called "Champéry, "Champ" meaning "Field"). I'll keep you posted on that with a photo, for once.

 

Anyway:

 

I've allowed myself some rest these past few days and it was good.

 

Today, I'm allowing myself to get back on track, so I did some logging and a workout:

 

Food log

Some curry chicken leftovers (morning)

Pizza with a big glass of water and lemon syrup (5dl - noon) + black coffee

1 full bar of hazelnuts chocolate (afternoon)

1 full bar of chocolate without hazelnuts (afternoon)

New and improved chicken curry (evening)

2 mugs of black tea (evening)

 ~7 dl of water (throughout the day)

 

Exercise

5' walk

3C, cooldown

 

Others

Taken care of the papers littering the house (everything is in its proper binder now, the bills are paid, I know where I'm navigating. Wohooo!).

Got a better grasp of my budget (next year will be difficult since I'm paying less taxes than I should this year in order to max out my 401K equivalent).

I have actually vented the whole house for more than 5' (15', actually), which is a huge win since cold temperatures are back around here.

 

Targets for the next week:

• Not dropping the workouts (Monday, Wednesday, Friday);
• Going to tai chi on Tuesday, practicing some on Thursday;
• Being current enough in my work that I can leave the office early and not think about it in the evening (this is going to be the hardest one: I still have a few deadlines to meet).

[Jean]

18 hours ago, Jean said:

Being current enough in my work that I can leave the office early and not think about it in the evening (this is going to be the hardest one: I still have a few deadlines to meet).

 

Ok, that's a miss: I've skipped lunch to hold a deadline and now, I don't even know what to do with my time since I'm tired, stressed out and on caffeine...

 

Going for a walk and see if things get clearer.

 

[Tobbe]

19 hours ago, Jean said:

I'll keep you posted on that with a photo, for once.

 

Yay  

 

19 hours ago, Jean said:

New and improved chicken curry (evening)

 

Cooking, and tweaking to improve! I'm liking the progress here 

 

19 hours ago, Jean said:

next year will be difficult since I'm paying less taxes than I should this year in order to max out my 401K equivalent

 

Can you start saving a little already now, to have next year if things get tough?

[Jean]

Walking didn't do the trick but taking a big very warm bath did. :)

 

1 hour ago, Tobbe said:

Cooking, and tweaking to improve! I'm liking the progress here 

Yay! Thanks for the motivation on that front, your pics really do raise my appetite. :)

 

1 hour ago, Tobbe said:

Can you start saving a little already now, to have next year if things get tough?

 

Well, sure, but that's not the strategy I'm rolling with. I can raise money pretty quickly if I make it a priority, meaning I'd have to delay some big expenses that I'll still have to pay for within the year (mainly taxes and debt). So, I'm basically sacrificing the first few months of 2019 in order to fuel my retirement savings (which I intend to use on a house), which are both tax deductible and capped (so, what I don't put in this year, I won't be able to put in the next one). My security mainly comes from insurances so, even if I don't really have cash at hand, there aren't really that many situations where I'd have my back against a wall and not be able to work out of it (that, plus fighting uphill battles makes for interesting stories). I definitely know, and have experienced, that not having an emergency fund carries big consequences and is a huge liability on my economic freedom but that's on the menu for 2020. As of now, I've lived enough years without it that I feel I can endure through one more.

 

Food log

4 black coffees (2x morning, 1x noon, 1x afternoon)

1 croissant (morning)

 - (noon)

chicken curry (early evening)

1 can of corn with oil and vinegar (evening)

1 pork chop with vegetables and potatoes (evening)

1 beer (25 cl, evening)

half a bar of chocolate (evening)

0.7l of water (throughout the day)

 

Exercise

5' of walking

- Missed my workout.

 

 

 

 

[Jean]

I've got my veggies! (Pics coming when I'll have  had that damn USB cable to work, or my laptop's bluetooth.)

I was too tired for real cooking tonight but I'm planning some killer stew for tomorrow. That's supposed to last a week (for a couple, I guess) but they also have half quantities and fruits. I'm liking the concept because it's an opportunity to have it delivered at home rather than at work and having to adjust my schedule to it in order to be at home when it comes (meaning I'd put a priority on my personal life - for veggies! - rather than on my work life). I'm pondering what quantities I should order and if I want a whole lot of fruits with that (meaning I'd have to start making pies and marmalades, I guess?)

 

Quote

Well, sure, but that's not the strategy I'm rolling with.

[Regarding putting some money towards an emergency fund rather than putting it all in retirement funds.]

I'm taking it back: I've found a bank with interesting rates that may make some early agressive savings worth it on the long run to get me started on the investment track. That being said, it is still falling short of the returns I'd have by maxing out my retirements savings so I'm not likely to start of with it right now but if I could find it in that short a time, who knows what other options are lurking around?

 

Anyway, back to logging:

06.11.2018

Food log

6x Black coffees (too many, 3x morning, 1x noon, 2x afternoon)

 - (noon)

Big mac, medium french fries, medium Coke (5dl), 9 Chicken mcNuggets, Sweetsour sauce (evening)

1l of water (throughout the day)

Exercise

5' walk

tai chi

07.11.2018

2x black tea (morning)

4x black coffee (1x morning, 1x noon, 2x afternoon)

 - (noon)

Some nuts and chocolate (early evening)

Cassoulet (evening)

0.7l of water (throughout the day)

Exercise

5' walk

Begginer's workout, 1 set: I wanted to try circuit training with this one but was already down after just the 20 squats. I still managed to do 1 set of each and I'm calling it 5' of circuit training. I'll try to push it to 10' of circuit training on Friday.

 

 

[Tobbe]

13 hours ago, Jean said:

Begginer's workout, 1 set: I wanted to try circuit training with this one but was already down after just the 20 squats. I still managed to do 1 set of each and I'm calling it 5' of circuit training. I'll try to push it to 10' of circuit training on Friday.

 

For a warm-up it's pretty tough, isn't it? 

[Jean]

Warm-ups are the death of me. Also cool-downs. And I used to think that squats didn't bring squat to a workout...

 

Also, pic!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Seems about right for a one week ration.

 

Logging after eating and some tai chi. Love you guys (n' gals).