Maigs: Hmm...This Looks Familiar

[Maigs]

Guess what I did today

[Cheetah]

3 hours ago, Maigahane said:

what

 

Sensory deprivation tank?

[Xena]

did you like it?

[Maigs]

14 hours ago, Cheetah said:

Sensory deprivation tank?

Yuppers Known at this place as "floating"

 

11 hours ago, Xena said:

did you like it?

It was okay. I'm not even a little bit claustrophobic and don't feel the need for constant entertainment (if I can get past the "must do all the things" part of my brain I can turn it off pretty well) so it wasn't a struggle for me. There were some odd sensations. Heck, just floating there was and odd feeling. But most of the time I felt like I was floating down a lazy river, I was sure I was moving in the tank and was going to hit my head but never did. And it took my brain a while to accept total darkness so I was seeing swirling stars at first (so my "lazy river" became floating through space). It was not unpleasant but not a life changing experience either.

I have two more sessions to use in the next 60 days. I was planning on doing them all before starting the new job, but I might do the second right before I start and leave the 3rd for sometime in November.

[Maigs]

Tuesday

 

First day of unemployment by myself. I scheduled my float for around lunch which maybe wasn't the smartest thing since it put a hard block in the middle of my day and kept me from wanting to do much before. MFP finally let me reset my password and get back in so I'm back to logging. Did my run in the morning then took Floof out for a walk so I had 7500 steps in before 9am. Thanks to playing more VR I ended up with 20k "steps" total for the day. I feel bad counting those steps but it's certainly a cardio workout and I work up quite a sweat.

 

Eat like a reasonable human being

Had my normal breakfast. For lunch I made another sandwich like Monday's. After the float I stopped by Target to get something for Hubs and found some new flavors of a frozen burrito brand I enjoy (Sweet Earth). So of course I ate one when I got home even though I'd already had lunch. I also ate 4 cookies through the day. Dinner was one of my recipes with no good name and I only ate one bowl even though it's delicious and we occasionally eat the entire thing

Calories: 2200

Grade: C+

 

Stretch Daily

Yuppers. I didn't do more foam rolling though. I know I should but it just sucks

 

Quit being over-caffeinated

Stuck to one caffeine for the day. Barely. Habits are hard to break, especially when dealing with addictive substances. Makes me extra glad I never really got into anything more than caffeine

 

Running/BBWW

Intervals. I did three rounds of 2 minutes running between 9:30-10:00 minute/mile paces and walking 3 minutes. My first two intervals were 9:30 but the third one I was getting tired and running uphill (it was a puny hill since I'm in an incredibly flat area, but still, a hill). Overall felt pretty good though I definitely couldn't keep up that pace for much more than 2 minutes at a time

[Cheetah]

37 minutes ago, Maigahane said:

"floating"

 

That sounds really nice!  I'll have to look around and see if there's a place hereabouts.

 

24 minutes ago, Maigahane said:

counting those steps but it's certainly a cardio workout and I work up quite a sweat.

 

Sounds legit to me.

 

Happy Wednesday!  Enjoy your funemployment!

[Xena]

29 minutes ago, Maigahane said:

Overall felt pretty good though I definitely couldn't keep up that pace for much more than 2 minutes at a time

 

That's ok. You don't have to! (seriously the only enjoyable thing about interval training in my opinion)

[Maigs]

4 hours ago, Cheetah said:

That sounds really nice!  I'll have to look around and see if there's a place hereabouts.

Google tells me there's 3 in your city including one nearish your instructoring school and one downtown

 

4 hours ago, Xena said:

 

That's ok. You don't have to! (seriously the only enjoyable thing about interval training in my opinion)

Yeah. I didn't write it well, but I'm pretty happy with my pace because I can finish the workout but not with much gas left in the tank. Obviously I'd like to be faster, but with where I'm at now I've found good speeds for the different length runs

[Cheetah]

7 hours ago, Maigahane said:

3 in your city including one nearish your instructoring school

 

ooOOooh.... you know where I work.  #stalkermuch

 

 

 

j/k.  It's not a secret.  I'll look into the floating places.  :-)

[Xena]

10 hours ago, Maigahane said:

I didn't write it well,

nah, you wrote plenty well. I was trying to be vaguely clever :-)

[Maigs]

8 hours ago, Xena said:

nah, you wrote plenty well. I was trying to be vaguely clever :-)

Damn internet and its inability to accurately relay meaning

[Maigs]

Wednesday

 

I started out very productive. And I guess I finished that way but I'm feeling like I'm not getting nearly enough done. I did BBWW, took Floof for a walk, went plogging, and had 13k steps in by noon. I did vacuum and clean the bathroom and generally picked up the house in the afternoon but that's all normal routine stuff I should be doing and I feel like I need to get bigger stuff done. I had to remind myself this morning I've only had 2 days off by myself so far and have 10 more to go before I start my new job. Lots of time to get shit done while still getting in time to relax because I was getting anxious about how I've done nothing on my non-routine to-do list besides Float. Oh, and on that note I took a nap in my hammock yesterday because it was beautiful and today the high is 55F

 

Eat like a reasonable human being

Had my normal breakfast. Lunch was leftover corn chowder. Dinner was leftovers from Monday night. It would have been great if I'd stopped there but then it was game night and the friends brought mini cupcakes (I ate two) and chocolates (I ate too many, didn't count). Then I was still munchie so I had some pretzels. I think I avoided the cookies in the freezer at least.

Calories: ???

Grade: C

 

Stretch Daily

Done. Including some foam rolling

 

Quit being over-caffeinated

Stuck to one caffeine for the day

 

Running/BBWW

I did BBWW but cut most exercises in half (except the plank that I extended to 25 seconds each) and added 5 RDLs to each set. I'm thinking about trading out the jumping jacks for (a much smaller number of) burpees

[Evicious]

I almost rolled back over after my alarm went off this morning, and then I thought of you. So instead, I got up: put on my running clothes; got a cup of coffee; took 30 minutes to get both eyes all the way open, and went for a run.

 

You got me up and doing what I needed to do today. For that, I thank you.  

[Maigs]

I almost rolled back over after my alarm went off this morning, and then I thought of you. So instead, I got up: put on my running clothes; got a cup of coffee; took 30 minutes to get both eyes all the way open, and went for a run.
 
You got me up and doing what I needed to do today. For that, I thank you. [emoji5] 

Good job! And you shamed me into getting out for my run this afternoon


So one bad thing about being home all day is it seems to confuse this fuzzy asshole and he start screaming at me after 2pm

[Xena]

The way you describe yourself ("hippy", bike commuter, etc), plogging sounds like a seriously perfect activity.

[Maigs]

8 minutes ago, Xena said:

The way you describe yourself ("hippy", bike commuter, etc), plogging sounds like a seriously perfect activity.

Lol. I'm just kinda embarrassed it took me so long to actually do it. I never remembered to grab a bag before heading out but yesterday I noticed a ton of trash while walking Floof so after dropping him off I finally got one.

[Maigs]

Thursday

 

Thursday's goal was to get crap out of my house. So I ran around the city taking stuff to their appropriate disposal place, decided some things were not good enough to donate and tossed them, and got a few things listed for sale on Craigslist. While I was running around Hubs asked if I wanted to meet him for lunch so I did and got a veggie burrito. It was actually pretty good and a reasonable amount of food. But my next stop was as the grocery store (for soft plastic recycling and a clothing donation box in their parking lot) and I ended up buying trail mix and a pint of cookie dough ice cream. I immediately split the trail mix into three jelly sized mason jars (12oz I think) when I got home and ate one, but the ice cream ended being finished off in two sittings in the afternoon. The first was a reward for actually getting stuff listed in Craigslist (I hate selling stuff) and the second was from minor frustration when Hubs wasn't home until very late (poor guy turned in a 12 hour day)

 

On the personal finance forums I'm on I commented the other day that in terms of money and housework I've got things on "easy mode". It's taken quite a bit of work to get there, but after years of paying off debts, lowering expenses, downsizing, and decluttering (and, let's be fair, a healthy dose of privilege) our expenses are a relatively small percentage of our income and our small house is very easy to keep clean because it's small but not crammed full of stuff.

How the hell do I put health and fitness on easy mode?! I've been working on that for years too and while I've made progress it still takes effort every day to not undo and lose that progress. How to I get hacks and cheats and routines set up for health/fitness to coast along with slow but accelerating progress like I did with finance and housework? Hell, slow but steady would be great at this point compared to my 18 month stall

 

Eat like a reasonable human being

Had my normal breakfast. I thawed out two more of the cookies to eat as I was driving around. Lunch was a veggie burrito. I had one mason jar of trail mix and then 1/4 pint of ice cream as a snack. Dinner was Red Lentil stew (one bowl), but then I finished off the pint of ice cream. Leaving out the ice cream it would have been a reasonable day but that was 720 completely unnecessary calories

Calories: ???

Grade: C

 

Stretch Daily

Done. My glutes are definitely sore from Wednesday's BBWW

 

Quit being over-caffeinated

Stuck to one caffeine for the day. I don't know if it's the cut in caffeine, the change in routine, or the change in weather but I've had a headache every day this week. Either way I hope it stops soon because it's getting old fast

 

Running/BBWW

Got my temp run in. Two 5 minute runs at 12:00 pace with a 5 minute walk in between (plus 5 minutes of walking before and 10ish minutes walking after. Felt decent though I thought I was hanging closer to 11:30 minute pace but my TomTom watch says otherwise. I was having a harder time than normal holding a steady pace, possibly because of the sore glutes

[Maigs]

Friday

 

Kind of a boring day. I had a dentist appointment (all good!), did some work on organizing the office closet and got BBWW in. Hubs asked me to meet him for lunch again so we went and got Chinese. It was rainy and blah all day so I didn't get in any walks.

 

I've been trying to think about how to put health and fitness on "easy mode" and I still don't have the answer but for food I'm going to plan out what I eat each day and aim for 2k calories a day. That is right at maintenance level for me if I were "lightly active". I'm slightly more than lightly active so hopefully that will be a small deficit. I've really just been winging it with food lately and that's not working so I'm taking the baby steps approach with it

 

Eat like a reasonable human being

Had my normal breakfast. Lunch was tofu with veggies and fried rice and two crab ragoons. I had some of the trail mix I bought the day before in the afternoon. I wasn't hungry at dinner so I didn't eat any but I did thaw out the last two baked cookies and eat those

Calories: 2500

Grade: B-

 

Stretch Daily 

Done.

 

Quit being over-caffeinated

Stuck to one caffeine for the day

 

Running/BBWW

Did BBWW. I subbed out the jumping jacks for 5 burpees and kept the RDL's I added last time. Burpees suck btw. I got in two rounds before Hubs called me about lunch and finished the third round after

[Maigs]

Saturday

 

Went for a run in the morning and then took Floof for a walk. Decided to join in on a one-off campaign with Hub's Saturday Pathfinder group so I didn't have a lot of time for much else. I thought I was going to regret joining when I saw the character I was given to play (holy hell it was complicated) but it ended up being a lot of fun and I got to save the day.

 

I planned out my food in advance, hopefully overestimating dinner since the restaurant doesn't post calories. I had enough room for a small snack so I ate it with no guilt. I need to go grocery shopping today and hopefully have a plan for food for the upcoming week

 

Eat like a reasonable human being (2000cals)

Had my normal breakfast. Lunch was leftover Red Lentil Stew. Dinner was a veggie burrito and two of the tater tot thingies Hubs got (I think they were literally tater tots with taco seasoning). For a snack I had two peanut butter cups

Calories: 1900

Grade: A

 

Stretch Daily 

Nope. Completely forgot

 

Quit being over-caffeinated

For the first time since I started cutting I did not stick to my goal, I had a second one in the afternoon. I don't regret it though, I needed an extra boost to stay up later for the game

 

Running/BBWW

Went for my long run. Averaged 12:25 mile pace over 10 minutes. I was shocked when I saw that. I actually sped up for the second half of it

[Salinger]

Hey! Sorry ive not popped in ... you are doing great and the 'floating' thing is intriguing!!!! Love the Simpsons image  xx

[Maigs]

15 minutes ago, Salinger said:

Hey! Sorry ive not popped in ... you are doing great and the 'floating' thing is intriguing!!!! Love the Simpsons image  xx

Thanks!

 

I forgot to tell about the conversation I had with the guy working at the float place

 

Him: How did you hear about us?
Me: I think I just googled it

Him: Cool. How did you first hear about floating then

Me: ....Simpsons

Him: Ha! That's the first time I've heard that!

[Salinger]

AMAZING!!!!! hahah i love that episode x

[Kestrel Grey]

On 10/5/2018 at 8:20 AM, Maigahane said:

 

On the personal finance forums I'm on I commented the other day that in terms of money and housework I've got things on "easy mode". It's taken quite a bit of work to get there, but after years of paying off debts, lowering expenses, downsizing, and decluttering (and, let's be fair, a healthy dose of privilege) our expenses are a relatively small percentage of our income and our small house is very easy to keep clean because it's small but not crammed full of stuff.

How the hell do I put health and fitness on easy mode?! I've been working on that for years too and while I've made progress it still takes effort every day to not undo and lose that progress. How to I get hacks and cheats and routines set up for health/fitness to coast along with slow but accelerating progress like I did with finance and housework? Hell, slow but steady would be great at this point compared to my 18 month stall

 

This made me think because I am pretty much in the same boat financially.  Finances are easy once you are in the black, because you can automate so much of it, then it is simply about letting your system alone to do it's thing.  Fitness you have to constantly work at. A couple things that came to mind:

 

1. Redefining normal - if it is normal to eat out every day, and deprivation to make your own food, then you are going to struggle to eat in.  If it is normal to bike to work and ridiculously extravagant to drive, then you will find it easy to bike.  What is the surest way to redefine normal?

 

2. Taking away choices - saving is easy when it is subtracted from your income before you ever get it, so you never have to choose to save or spend.  If you don't own a large house, you can't think about buying more furniture.  So how to prevent inactivity or overeating from being options in the first place?

 

Just thinking out loud and hoping you share if you find answers!

[Maigs]

5 hours ago, Kestrel Grey said:

 

This made me think because I am pretty much in the same boat financially.  Finances are easy once you are in the black, because you can automate so much of it, then it is simply about letting your system alone to do it's thing.  Fitness you have to constantly work at. A couple things that came to mind:

 

1. Redefining normal - if it is normal to eat out every day, and deprivation to make your own food, then you are going to struggle to eat in.  If it is normal to bike to work and ridiculously extravagant to drive, then you will find it easy to bike.  What is the surest way to redefine normal?

 

2. Taking away choices - saving is easy when it is subtracted from your income before you ever get it, so you never have to choose to save or spend.  If you don't own a large house, you can't think about buying more furniture.  So how to prevent inactivity or overeating from being options in the first place?

 

Just thinking out loud and hoping you share if you find answers!

Good points. I'll have to think on these further

 

I do think I'm starting to work on both with my baby steps. Like with the caffeine, my new normal is slightly less caffeine than it used to be and I have a hard limit so no choices (ignoring yesterday ).

 

So with exercise my new normal is doing something every day and I'm taking away the "choices" (in this case aka avoiding analysis paralysis) by keeping it simple with BBWW three times a week and running three times a week. No push to improve yet, just building my new normal of actually doing it. Unfortunately biking to work is probably not an option with the new job. It's 10 miles away without a good bike route and I will be doing at least some traveling to other towns.

 

Food I struggle with because I'm not sure I have a normal at all and for some reason my brain rebels against setting rules for food. I struggle making a plan for food for the week before going shopping because "Life gets in the way and what if that doesn't work? What if we end up with too many leftovers that need used up? What if I don't feel like cooking one evening? What if Hubs suggests going out for dinner? What if I eat too much for lunch and aren't hungry for dinner?". I've tried taking the thinking out of it by creating a 2-3 week meal plan with some flexibility in it but I still get anxiety trying to make the damn list each week. I forced myself today to just do it and got food to last until at least Thursday. But why should that be so hard? I'm a serious Type A planner but just not when it comes to food.

In general I don't keep junk food in the house (and try to buy stuff for Hubs that I don't like) but I'll impulsively buy stuff sometimes (like the ice cream the other day) without even a hint of rational thought trying to talk me out of it.

[Maigs]

Sunday

 

Did BBWW first(ish) thing in the morning. Forced myself to plan food for the day and make a meal plan for most of the week so I could go grocery shopping. Still raining so no walks. Took an afternoon nap on the couch then made dinner even though Hubs was eating something else and sticking a frozen pizza in the toaster oven sounded much better. Appreciated it after the fact like I knew I would because real food trumps frozen crap every time.

 

I've been pondering on why I have such a hard time making a plan or "rules" for food. I think some of it is because I hate when my plans get messed up and it's so freaking easy to get thrown off a food plan. I think I need to do better about saying no to going out (we don't usually do it much, last week was weird with me being home all day), making a plan for days I know will throw me off (like leaving extra calories for snacks on game and movie nights) and leaving a little more wiggle room in the plan for things like unknown quantity of leftovers (the last two weeks I've made a meal plan through Wednesday so I can go shopping Thursday if I need more food to get through the week)

 

Eat like a reasonable human being (2000cals)

Had my normal breakfast. Lunch was leftover Red Lentil Stew. Dinner was Sweet Potato Curry. I had a small amount of trail mix (maybe a tablespoon of the nuts/raisins and two peanut M&Ms) before bed. Considered a fudgcicle in the evening (only 80cals so would have been fine) but I knew it was more about being grouchy than actually wanting one so I passed.

Calories: 1550

Grade: A

 

Stretch Daily 

Done

 

Quit being over-caffeinated

Stuck to one for the day

 

Running/BBWW

Did BBWW. I've been playing around with burpee variations that are challenging but not too much. I think I've decided that for now I'll do them without the pushup since I'm already doing pushups and I was really losing my form on them. So I think I've found a good level of BBWW that is a workout, but hopefully something I can sustain even when back at work. Like my running, I'm not focusing on adding reps or difficulty, I'm just focusing on doing it

Spoiler

My "getting in the habit of moving" version of BBWW is three rounds of:
10 ATG squats

5 knee pushups (will move to negatives at some point)

5 lunges each leg

5 DB rows each arm (10lbs for now)

20-30 second plank

5 RDLs (2x15lbs DB's)

5 burpees without pushups