TimovieMan's Daily Struggles on the Road

[TimovieMan]

Hey guys,

 

I'd introduce myself, but I kinda did that already in my Level 1 / First Time Challenge thread (which had a suspiciously similar title to this log), and I'd hate to copy-paste my own words, so I'll just direct you there instead.

 

I signed up here a few days ago and have been getting (and reading) the daily mails. The mail today included a rather hefty discount on the Nerd Fitness Academy, so instead of putting it off for a little while, I jumped at the occasion. While I was at it, I signed up for the Nerd Fitness Yoga as well. My initial thought was that that could be something to fill my "off" days with.  Or enhance the "on" days. I'll see how it works out, I'm open-minded.

 

Since I don't have a Facebook account (and I don't intend on getting one), I might not get the most out of the Academy, since I'll be lacking the private Facebook group community support. But I've always been a fan of forums, so why not post here instead?

 

 

What's going to be in this battle log?

 

Frankly, I don't know yet. Random ramblings?

Commenting on my progress through the Academy is going to be a good starting point, no?

 

 

 

So, besides just wanting to get fitter and healthier, what do I truly want to achieve?

I want to lose over 35 kgs (that's about 80 pounds), and I want to be able to do 100 consecutive burpees.

That's the main thing.

 

 

The Big Why?

 

I mentioned in my introduction (no, not in this thread) that I want to do this to be a proper role model for my kids, and to keep up with them, so I can truly become an AwesomeDad™.

 

That's only part of the reason. Sure, I want to embed a healthy and fit lifestyle in my children, and that's easier to do if you are healthy and fit yourself (and don't look like a major hypocrite), and I really do want to keep up with them for many years to come.

But...

I'm also sick of seeing this massive belly and these man-boobs in the mirror. I don't dislike myself, but I do dislike what I look like under my XXL shirt. I want to be able to look into a mirror and be proud of what I see.

 

Heck, ideally I want to look in the mirror and like what I see so much that I'd practically want to hump myself.

And with any luck, the missus would then feel the same way and give me a few additional workouts on top of my current schedule...

 

I kid, but I really am doing this for myself first (I want to be the best version of me I can be), but I'm also doing this for my kids, hoping that it'll make them look up to me, or at least think that I'm an AwesomeDad™.

 

 

 

Having said that, I'll end with the following:

 

[Jean]

Congrats and welcome !

 

I can see a lot of myself in your approach so, I'm sure you've got it in yourself to reach your goals. Go for it, you awesome you ! :-)

 

 

[TimovieMan]

Thanks, Jean!

 

Love the Maxim 70 quote in your signature, btw.

[TimovieMan]

Alright, so I'm making some changes in the house (aka "tweaking the Batcave") to make my newly acquired good habits easier to do, and to make the bad habits I want to get rid of harder to do.

 

Doing my workouts:

- My jump rope is now lying on the kitchen counter and staying there. I can grab it at any time, and it's always visible when at home.

- My dumbbells are lying out in the open in the veranda. Not the middle of the house (the missus would go insane if I did that), but I see them about a dozen times each day.

- I set a daily reminder in my phone to do my workout. There's an alarm that goes with it.

 

Improving my sleep:

- I started using the SleepCycle alarm clock to wake up gently in the morning.

- I installed f.lux on my laptop and the similar Twilight on my phone. Let's get rid of those blue light waves after sundown, so I can get to the good parts of my sleep faster.

 

Limiting unhealthy food:

- The potato chips in the house are gone. Eliminate the temptation, and you won't have to resist it.

- The cans of Ice Tea are no longer refrigerated. We still have them (a lot of our friends drink them too), and I can still get ice cubes for them, but our freezer is in the garage and I have to go outside for that - something I'd do for guests but not for myself - and I won't be grabbing a lukewarm can when alone.

- I've rearranged part of the fridge and some of the cupboards so the unhealthy stuff (snacks mostly) is in the back and harder to get to, and the healthy stuff (fruit) is in front of it. I'm less tempted if I don't see it.

 

And I'll instruct anyone at work who brings treats for the colleagues to stop putting them on my desk (which is smack in the middle of a 40-man team), but rather put them on the newly-vacant desk in front of me. I won't be snacking as much if I have to get up for it instead of just having to extend an arm.

The fruit basket we get each week can stay on my desk.

[TimovieMan]

I've been doing some of the Mindset and Nutrition quests (I'm closing in on Level 3 on the Nerd Fitness Diet), and that resulted in this:

 

 

 

 

And I've done the calibration/benchmark test for the Nerd Fitness Workouts.

 

Lower body:

15 assisted squats: yes

10 unassisted lunges per leg: yes

5 assisted one-legged squats per leg: no (never did this before, *maybe* I can do it, but I definitely need some form practice)

 

Upper body pushing:

30 second front plank: yes

5 knee push-ups: yes

30 second side planks: yes

12 knee push-ups: yes

3 regular push-ups: yes

 

Advanced upper body pulling:

chin-up: no (although I really don't know since I don't have a pull-up bar at home, I doubt I could do it though)

 

Experience with weights:

dumbbell use: yes

barbell use: no

 

Verdict: Level 3

 

 

But I'm a completionist gamer, so I'll start from Level 1. Can't skip bosses.

 

 

 

And in other news: I failed my first week of my first challenge, but it was reasonably close. Call it a 'D'. I not only think I can do better these next few weeks, I *will* do better.

[TimovieMan]

I took some "Before" pictures of myself this weekend. I wonder why I didn't do this a month ago, when I was still at 112 kg. The difference isn't going to be substantial, though.

And I'm not sharing them publicly until I hit both my main goals, so I have proper "After" pictures to go with them.

 

I *am* sharing my weight and measurements, though:

 

Weight: 107.8 kg
Body fat: 31.5%
Visceral fat: 15%

(Measured by a scale, so unreliable)

Measurements:

Neck: 44 cm
Chest: 110 cm
Left biceps: 34 cm
Right biceps: 36 cm
Waist: 116 cm
Hips: 114 cm
Left thigh: 59 cm
Right thigh: 60 cm
Left calf: 40 cm
Right calf: 40 cm

[TimovieMan]

Every time I start something, I tend to start "gung ho". I wanted to start slow this time, only a few changes at a time. I did that for a couple of weeks, until I started seeing results and joined here.

Now I'm doing all kinds of new things at once, seeing new opportunities to do additional stuff and committing to them right out the gate.

 

So I can't really blame the missus when she says "how long are you going to keep it up this time?". I've started "gung ho" plenty of times in the past, only to burn out after a few weeks and quit. I don't want this to happen now. Especially since I feel like I'm on a roll.

The thing is, I want to continue with all this stuff, *permanently*. And even though most of what I'm doing is very minor stuff, once you see everything combined? It's a lot.

Hence the fear that I'll be burning through my own willpower at too fast a rate. Just because I don't have any issues now, doesn't mean I won't have any a few weeks down the road...

 

Besides the workouts, and the equipment (dumbbell and jump rope) lying around, I've cut back my soda consumption considerably, I've practically stopped snacking completely, I'm lowering my caffeine intake, I'm eating healthier (or trying to at least), have apps that limit the blue light emission from my laptop and my smartphone, I try to get to bed sooner, etc.

Now I've also started tracking my sleeping habits and everything I eat, and I'm already thinking of adding a couple of other things (that I first thought of as "good ideas for the next challenge"), but adding them *now*.

 

So, my question is, should I be pacing myself and keeping those extra ideas for later? Or just do what I can and see where it leads?

 

 

Edit: wow, I just wanted to post that I've started tracking my eating and sleeping habits, and suddenly this massive "fear of falling back into old habits" kicks in. Maybe I should hit the sack a bit sooner this evening, so I can start tomorrow with new energy.

[Sloth the Enduring]

I don’t know what works best for you. For me a habit snowball works better - one small habit at a time.


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[Jean]

Same as Sloth here.  Restraining on some habits and keeping them for later helps me in two ways: it helps me not to feel overwhelmed (I still feel it sometimes) and, more importantly, it gives me something to look forward to, so keeps me interested on the long run (because you're here for the long run ;-) ).

 

I'm usually a fast burner too (start high, end soon), so I'm trying to keep in mind that imperfectly doing things trumps not doing them by miles so, thanks for the reminder in my thread and keep at it yourself too. :--)

[TimovieMan]

"Pacing myself" it is. Can't go spoiling my next challenge already by doing too many things now. It'll drain me and I'd run out of ideas for future challenges too quickly.

 

Sleeping on it certainly helped. I got this.

 

Also, this helped:

 

A funny thing happened on the way to work this morning.
As I was coming up the ramp of the highway, I had a truck in the lane just next to me who was still going faster than I was. Since my car isn't all that quick at accelerating, I wasn't going to make it in time to get ahead of him.
Fortunately the truck driver had spotted me, and switched to the second lane so I could drive up the first. As I gained speed and passed him (and he switched back to the first lane), I blinked all four of my indicators - the in-car equivalent of saying "thanks!". He flashed his headlights, the equivalent of "you're welcome!".
Something as simple as that totally made me happy.

 

And then 10CC's "Wall Street Shuffle" started playing in my car, and I spent the rest of the drive to work singing behind the wheel like an idiot...

 

This is going to be a good day!

 

[TimovieMan]

Workout went well this evening. I did Bodyweight Workout 1B.

I initially scoffed at the apparent ease of the exercises in that workout, and while there is no challenge whatsoever in standing wall walks and one leg balances, I have to admit that wall slides are hard. Doing the yoga exercises on "off" days is going to be beneficial, imo.

 

But overall, the 1B workout is lighter than the 1A workout, and the 1A was easy enough for me to add some dumbbell exercises, so tonight I went ahead and took a shot at General DOMS while I was at it...

 

 

Bring on Level 2!

 

Also, I'm going to need to memorize both the warm ups and cool downs. It's no fun having to do them while constantly checking my screen to see what's next...

[Elastigirl]

Love your motivation for getting in shape. Not to sure about the big goal though. Who in there right mind wants to do 100 burpees?

[TimovieMan]

We all need a little bit of crazy from time to time???

 

 

Anyway, day started off good. I went to work by bike. It's a little more than 11 km (7 miles), and I had an off-site meeting all-day which I also went to by bike. So that's 28 km total for the day  (17 miles).

 

And then I get home and it turns out that my wife's bike got stolen last night. It was in front of the house, right under our bedroom window, locked double. Apparently, several bikes got stolen in the area.

Normally that wouldn't upset me that much, since she's got two bikes that are practically worthless, but it was her expensive, 1000€ bike.

The sad part is that she needs that bike to get to the train station comfortably on a work day, and we can't afford a new one at the moment...

 

Needless to say, archery practice was crap tonight. I stopped after 45 arrows as my mind wasn't in it. And my planned yoga session gets scrapped too.

I'll do that tomorrow.

 

At least I got *some* exercise today. Not something I'd consider an actual workout, but any movement is better than no movement...

[Sloth the Enduring]

Bike thieves are the worst scum.


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[TimovieMan]

14 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

Bike thieves are the worst scum.

 

Thieves in general, imo. Get a friggin' job! Or at least steal something from people who are rich.

[TimovieMan]

So, I went to work by bike again. And I had another off-site meeting for which I grabbed the bike as well, so that's 26 km for the day (16 miles). And I did the Water Series A yoga workout, followed by a burpee AMRAP to see how much I could do. Stranded at 15, which is a new record for consecutives, but I had to use a lot of willpower to continue past 8 or 9. Actually, reps 10-13 were easier than reps 8 and 9. No idea why.

 

And then I sat down and looked at the quests I had completed (and which ones I'd already completed but hadn't marked yet). Leveling up again!

 

 

 

And now it's off to bed. I seem to be tired sooner. That normal?

It is making me pass my "average of 15 minutes of sleep per day more" challenge with flying colours, though...

[TimovieMan]

Saturday morning is my weekly weigh-in moment. Nearly flubbed it this morning because I had to get up for the kids. I had breakfast prepared and everything. Fortunately it hit me before I started eating.

The weigh-in is every Saturday, right after waking, and the only thing I do before it is going to the bathroom. Consistency is key!

 

Anyway, the scale said:

 

Weight: 105.6 kg

Body fat: 31.9%

Visceral fat: 14%

(measured by a scale, so unreliable)

 

So the body fat is up a little and the visceral fat is down a little, but those are not reliable info.

The weight is down another 2 kg which is actually a lot faster than I intended. At this rate I'll have my wedding weight again next week! By any means, this is the lowest weight I've had in a little over three years (and even then it was after surgery).

 

[Jean]

10 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

I seem to be tired sooner. That normal?

100% normal.

 

And congrats!

[Sloth the Enduring]

Nice job dropping the weight.

If you’re worried about reliability, with dudes, body fat correlates so strongly with belly circumference that for most people it’s all you need to track.


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[TimovieMan]

1 hour ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

Nice job dropping the weight.

Thanks!

 

1 hour ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

If you’re worried about reliability, with dudes, body fat correlates so strongly with belly circumference that for most people it’s all you need to track.

I don't care about the reliability. I know that scales (even ones with a handle AND plates at the feet) can't determine the fat % without an error margin of 5+%.

I'm just tracking it because I can, because the scale measures it. All I care about is that the long-term trend goes down on that stat. The actual belly circumference doesn't get tracked weekly, so I'll have more scale stats anyway.

[TimovieMan]

Yesterday we held a birthday party for my daughter. She turns 5 on Thursday, and we have a party at home for the family next Saturday, but we had a party for her friends yesterday. It was at an indoor playground, and the kids were treated at french fries and a meatball. Of course, the kids already had an ice cream an hour and a half earlier, so there was plenty left over for the present adults.

This means I had my first small pack of fries in a couple of weeks, and a meatball. This was at 5pm, so very early for dinner, but I fully intended to have it count as dinner.

Unfortunately, when looking at the football highlights last evening, I had a severe case of the munchies and had my first snack binge since I started working out in August. A handful of Nic-Nac cookies, a handful of candies, and even a pack of Jaffa cakes. And worst of all: I skipped a planned workout.

 

Today, on the other hand, was a good day. No excesses and an extended workout this evening.

 

I did the Bodyweight Workout 2A and since that includes one arm grocery bag rows (which are in my dumbbell routine), I broke out the 10 kg dumbbells and added my full routine to the workout sets.

So on top of the 2A workout, I also did 3x10 hammer curls (each side), 3x10 side raises (each side) (*), 3x10 floor presses and 3x10 wrist curls (each side).

I *tried* to add 3x10 biceps curls (each side) as well, but after the first set of 10, I knew this wasn't going to work, so I skipped them in the second set. I tried again in the third set, but only managed 5 reps. But the biceps curls aren't in my regular routine so meh.

 

 

(*) We have a third dumbbell in the house, which I loaded up with 6 kg (instead of the 10 kg that are on the other two). I used that for the side raises, since I can only fully raise the 10 kg ones twice in a row with good form. I managed the full 10 with the 6 kg dumbbell, but boy, it was hard. The other dumbbell exercises (apart from biceps curls) aren't nearly this hard with 10 kgs.

 

 

 

 

Despite the slip-up yesterday, I still managed to complete all aspects of my current challenge this week. So no harm done, and back to business from now on.

[TimovieMan]

Sleep hasn't started well this week.
My son keeps crawling in between me and the missus in the middle of the night, and that tends to make the remainder of the night pretty restless.
And then I had to get up half an hour earlier than usual to drive the missus to the train station (on account of her bike being stolen).

Will need to step this up a little the coming days. Although tiredness could take care of that problem for me.

I meant to do a yoga session last night but DOMS started kicking in spectacularly, so I decided to take an extra day off.

Now I'm still contemplating on whether to do a yoga session tonight, or to do the 2B workout. I'll see how my arms feel this evening, and then decide.
 
 
 
In other news: I successfully convinced the colleagues to stop putting treats on my desk, but to use the empty desk in front of me. That means that I have to get up to grab some, instead of just having to extend an arm. That makes resisting easier.
The downside is that my colleagues took it a step further, and the weekly fruit basket we get has now ALSO been moved to that desk.

[TimovieMan]

On 10/2/2018 at 12:25 PM, TimovieMan said:

Now I'm still contemplating on whether to do a yoga session tonight, or to do the 2B workout. I'll see how my arms feel this evening, and then decide.

I ended up doing neither, but going to bed about two hours sooner than usual instead.

 

I had two consecutive nights with little sleep, so getting that back on track was more important than a light workout.

 

That and the fact that it still feels weird for me to start a yoga session while the missus is present.

We've been together for over 13 years, been living together for 8 years, married for over 6 years, and we have a 5-year-old and a 3-and-a-half-year-old. And yet for some reason I can't muster up the courage to do a yoga session in front of her...

 

[TimovieMan]

I missed two in a row again.

I need to restart this week. Starting today.
 
 
 
Again no workout yesterday. Monday wasn't an issue, I did a reasonably long workout on Sunday, so a rest day is ok. Tuesday should have been yoga, but I skipped it for a longer night's rest.
There was no excuse for not doing anything yesterday.

 

So, workouts this week: 0.
I can still make my challenge for this week, but that means no evenings without a workout.
Tonight will be Bodyweight Workout 2B PLUS my regular dumbbell routine. 
Tomorrow yoga (Water Series and my weekly burpee AMRAP, Saturday light cardio (rope skipping probably - I'd) and Sunday the Level 2 Boss Battle PLUS the dumbbell routine.
No excuses, just do it.
 
 
 
I've also been snacking a bit more this week. That ends as well. No more snacking until the weekend - at which point it will be *very* hard not to with my daughter's birthday party on Saturday (cake!) and with going over to friends for lunch (or rather: an entire afternoon of feasting) on Sunday.
 
 
 
Good thing my weekly weigh-in is on Saturday morning.

 

[TimovieMan]

So today I biked to work (that's 23 km total), did the 2B workout, added my dumbbell routine, and had a good eating day. No snacking whatsoever. A really good day.

 

Way to restart the week!