LVC Respawn Challenge Take Two

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

I fell off during my final thesis. Somehow I got really stressed out. Forgot to eat, forgot to sleep, forgot to socialize.... dealt with anxiety and depression. Urgh... I could have handled that better. My long therm goal would be to figure out what I can do, when I'm getting stressed by work and other problems.

 

1) Get back to eating healthy and mindful

 

I lost 20 pounds in half a year and don't want to gain it all back. So now I have to be mindful about what I'm eating. Recently I made a bad habit. I've been eating in front of the laptop and i often grabbed anything fast. I'm not sure how to make this one SMART. Maybe I'll just write down, what I'm eating.

 

2. Get back into exercise

- 10.000 steps a day tracking with fitbit

- visit Aikido class every week

 

3. Sleeping (fitbit)

 

I need to get back to at least seven hours and I would like to reduce my caffeine intake.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Day 1: (I'm starting today)

 

1) Eating

- some yoghurt with muesli

- two cups of black tea with some milk

- three slices of brown bread with cheese

- raw vegetables: cucumber and carrot

- M one small avocado

- M an Italian salad with ham and egg

- M chicken soup

- 2 Kiwi

- 2l selfmade cucumber water

 

2) Exercise

- steps: 10.381

no Tai Chi I got home early to get some rest. I felt really tired in the afternoon. Had to get up early today.

 

3) Sleep

I was totally drained from handing in my paper, so it was easy to get to bed early and get eight hours of sleep. =)

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Day 2:

 

1) Eating

- some yoghurt with muesli

- two cups of black tea with some milk

- three slices of brown bread with cheese

- raw vegetables: cucumber and carrot

- green salad topped with 5 chicken nuggets

- M 2l selfmade cucumber water

- M Pak Choi with tomato sauce and a hand full of rice

- M 100ml Pina Colada

MFP: 1500kcal

 

2) Exercise

 - steps: 12.679

 

3) Sleep

It was hard to go to bed in time yesterday. I managed to say goodbye to my gaming partners and got 7:55h of sleep.

 

 

I'm still really tired after about eight hours of sleep. That's more then I had for a long time. Does my body try to make up for all the insomnia? Is it because I'm drinkin less caffeine? Or am I still not eating enough? I started estimating my calories with MFP yesterday. I'm not going to use a scale. It just drives me crazy. So before dinner I only had 1000 kcal and I wasn't even hungry in the evening. So I only warmed up some soup for dinner. It's weird. I've been a big eater for a long time and now I'm happy with salad, because I don't like to feel bloated, when I'm studying. At least my choices seem to be good these days. I even remembered to prepare my lunchbox in advance.

 

Mindful eating is still a problem. I'm marking success with a M. When I'm studying and feel like eating something, I forget to put my papers aside to take a proper break. I only ate the salad at the cafeteria because of me forgetting my fork at home. 

[Jigme]

I’ve learned that if I have an 8-hour sleep window, I’ll toss and turn for at least an hour out of that through the night. Maybe your 8 hours didn’t quite add up to 8? Plus, quitting coffee is a real drag, I feel ya.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Day 3:

 

1) Eating

- M Bread with sausage salad

- M two cups of black tea with some milk

- three slices of brown bread with cheese

- raw cucumber and an apple

- M green salad topped with mozarella and fried mushrooms

- M 2l selfmade cucumber water

-fried rice with vegetable

- mango

 

 

2) Exercise

- steps: 21,267

- class: no Yoga

 

3) Sleep

Only 7:02 hours of sleep this time. I tried out AC: Odysee in the evening and lost track of time. Woops.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

20 hours ago, Jigme said:

I’ve learned that if I have an 8-hour sleep window, I’ll toss and turn for at least an hour out of that through the night. Maybe your 8 hours didn’t quite add up to 8? Plus, quitting coffee is a real drag, I feel ya.

That's true. But fitbit usually substracts that time. I'm not sure. Maybe it's really the caffeine. That's why I'm not going cold turkey this time. But I want to go from two cup of black tea to one cup in the morning next week. Let's see how that goes. I don't want to banish caffeine. I like the taste of some of these drinks a lot. But I want to consume it more reasonable and I think I'm sleeping better, when I drink less.

[RedStone]

Hi!! Congrats on handing in your paper! And I'm sorry to hear about the parallel struggles. I also get bouts of bad insomnia, and if I'm honest, it usually takes me a few good nights of sleep to feel rested after a bout of bad nights. Good luck!

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Day 4:

 

1) Eating

- M two slices of bread with egg and bacon

- M one cup of green tea

- red beet soup

- 80g avocado

- M 2l selfmade cucumber water

 

  

2) Exercise

- steps:

- class: Aikido

 

3) Sleep

 Only 6:57

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Week one summary

 

1. Eating

I ate a little more mindful. Tried to cook more often, prepared lunch boxes and didn't always eat in front of a computer or tv. But it still could improve. I've been snacking while gaming and sometimes ate lunch during study time. In the next challenge I definitely have to reduce sugar. Caffeine didn't go well, too.

 

2. Exercise

I went to Aikido with my Bf. He liked most of it but couldn't get partner exercises. He says it's really different from German longsword training.

 

I didn't go to Tai Chi or Yoga and I'm not doing my Tibetans or sun salutations in the morning. I only got some walks in.

 

steps:

Mon: 18k

Tue: 10k

Wed: 13k

Thu: 21k

Fri: 14k

Sat: 10k

Sun: 10k

 

3. Sleep

 

Mon: 2.54h

Tue: 8.05h

Wed: 7.53h

Thu: 7.02h

Fri: 6.52h

Sat: 5.51h

Sun: 4.53h +2.25h

~6.34

 

Not so good. I wanted to get an estimate of seven hours. I have to get to bed earlier.

[Kishi]

I feel you on trying to get to bed earlier. I'm working on a novel and trying to have a life at the same time. Gotta say, my sense of timing is awful.

 

But not yours, though! Best of luck with all of this! And also,

 

On ‎10‎/‎23‎/‎2018 at 1:53 AM, Luciana Valerosa Culming said:

I lost 20 pounds in half a year and don't want to gain it all back.

 

Holy crap that's awesome! I had no idea you'd succeeded so well, congratulations! Yeah, you'll definitely want to keep that up.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Week two summary

 

Eating

not so well. I also consumed caffeine again.

 

Exercise

~7571 a day  One day was >21k so the rest was really not so good

Didn't go to Aikido.

 

Sleep

~5h 3min

That's just not enough

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Week three summary

Eating

At the beginning of the week, I was told Caffeine isn't good, when you're dealing with anxietys. So I quit it cold turkey this time and didn't drink any the whole week. Didn't focus much on my eating habits and gained a bit back.

 

Exercise

Skipped Aikido again

~ 9988 steps a day

 

Sleep

~7h 30min

Didn't track well this week. I often took off my fitbit before sleep and had to write it down the next morning.

[Kishi]

Yeah, caffeine and anxiety really don't mix. Going off that stuff is a really good idea, and you should stay off of it. Try to focus on getting more sleep (which it looks like you did this past week, good!) and give yourself some room to plan for things.

 

Otherwise, breathe deep. You're going to be okay. Just keep plugging away at this one day at a time.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

I'm already searching for decaf options. Somehow I miss the taste of black tea. At least you can make a decent Chai Latte with Roibosh tea. So at the moment I'm avoiding coffee, black tea, green tea and black chocolate. Next challenge I would like to reduce my sugar intake. It's hard to not eat too much of this stuff, when christmas is approaching. I'm glad I found a tea calender with fruity teas.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Week 4 summary

 

Eating

Only one coffee on Sunday. I went to the cinema and was really tired and grumpy. So I had a latte macchiato with cinamon to cheer me up.

 

exercise

~ 8695 steps a day

I'm getting there. Not as good as last week. And I missed Aikido again. Somehow it has been real stressful to find a new place to live and I just couldn't fit everything in.

 

Sleep

~7:24 hours a day.

Less caffeine seems to help. But I'm still rtired. So maybe I need more.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

This challenge I focused on my caffeine intake. Mindful eating wasn't a primary goal. So I stopped tracking that, when things got a bit hairy.

 

I didn't manage to go to Aikido. I was busy and I'm just not motivated to go in the evening. Somehow I have less energy in winter. I should try getting back to a morning routine.

 

Sleep went well. But I still need to be more consistend and maybe I should aim for 8h 30 min.

 

Emotions:

I'm not sure what to take from this challenge. No caffeine seems to be good for my sleeping habits, but often I feel drained. It's hard to stay strong all the time. For the first time my Bf has been really down for a lobnger period. He doesn't handle us leaving his families house well. We've been living their alone for five years and he stayed their for a long time longer than me. So I understand it's hard to say goodbye. I tried my best to find a nice flat for us. Sometimes he is grateful. Sometimes he accuses me of taking this lightly. As if I wouldn't miss this place. I'm just trying to look on the bright side.

 

And things haven't.been going well. He spents more and more time with his female best friend. Somehow I really don't like her, so I'm not there, when they meet up. But recently I'm getting really anxious and jealous, so I don't know what to do. He stays over night most of their dates. I know there is nothing going on, but somehow it's upsetting we're argueing so much and he seems to be happy spending time with his friends. I'm confused about my own feelings.

[Kishi]

13 hours ago, Luciana Valerosa Culming said:

This challenge I focused on my caffeine intake. Mindful eating wasn't a primary goal. So I stopped tracking that, when things got a bit hairy.

 

Eh. One thing at a time, no? Caffeine's one of those things that takes a lot of willpower to transition off of, at first, and it's understandable that the food would go weird to compensate. No biggie. There'll be time for getting that right later.

 

13 hours ago, Luciana Valerosa Culming said:

I didn't manage to go to Aikido. I was busy and I'm just not motivated to go in the evening. Somehow I have less energy in winter. I should try getting back to a morning routine.

 

Nah. That's normal for this time of year. Life has rhythms, and seasons affect those rhythms. Since motivation doesn't work, you need to find a way to cultivate a disciplined habit of going - hard at first without motivation, but easier with repetition. If a morning routine would help with that, then it's the right call to make.

 

13 hours ago, Luciana Valerosa Culming said:

Sleep went well. But I still need to be more consistend and maybe I should aim for 8h 30 min.

 

Maybe. If you're aiming for 8 right now and getting 7h 30 min, then that's probably the right thing to do. Small adjustments are the best adjustments.

 

13 hours ago, Luciana Valerosa Culming said:

Emotions:

I'm not sure what to take from this challenge. No caffeine seems to be good for my sleeping habits, but often I feel drained. It's hard to stay strong all the time. For the first time my Bf has been really down for a lobnger period. He doesn't handle us leaving his families house well. We've been living their alone for five years and he stayed their for a long time longer than me. So I understand it's hard to say goodbye. I tried my best to find a nice flat for us. Sometimes he is grateful. Sometimes he accuses me of taking this lightly. As if I wouldn't miss this place. I'm just trying to look on the bright side.

 

And things haven't.been going well. He spents more and more time with his female best friend. Somehow I really don't like her, so I'm not there, when they meet up. But recently I'm getting really anxious and jealous, so I don't know what to do. He stays over night most of their dates. I know there is nothing going on, but somehow it's upsetting we're argueing so much and he seems to be happy spending time with his friends. I'm confused about my own feelings.

 

 

That all sounds incredibly frustrating. It sounds like you've been carrying a lot for a while, between the caffeine withdrawal and trying to find a new place to stay. And I'm sure it's hurtful that he's being less than supportive right now.

 

Your feelings are valid and heard. If we can do anything to help, let us know.