Darkfoxx 58: Brick By Brick

[darkfoxx]

Let’s continue this house-building analogy a bit longer, shall we?

 

Last cycle was spent building upon the nutritional, physical and mental foundations I had built up (and shoring the ones with creaky bits) during Summers’ ramp-up; this cycle, I’ll be adding foundational bits in spots and a second or third layer onto the patches ready to hold some weight.

 

Make sense? No? Reaching too far to keep the analogy?

 

Ok, then. On to it.

 

A little caveat here: Week 1 will be spent on vacation in Germany. I’ll do what I can here, macros and belly-wise, but yolo.

 

Nutrition

 

1. Last cycle I mostly reigned in the over-eating. This cycle I’ll continue tracking in MFP with an eye toward hitting my non-Paleo macros.

 

2. Last cycle I met with a third digestion doc, and started the process of elimination diets and testing to try and get a handle on my GI issues. This cycle, I’ll continue on with the FODMAP diet (unless he switches it again), and add in at least one round of the vitamin regimen he prescribed (if the damn things ever arrive, that is).

 

3. Continue tracking symptoms and poo in Cara. Been doing this with great success since January, and it’s helping me not kid myself into thinking my intestines are really fine.

 

4. Continue posting what I eat in a day collages. Also check: liking doing this; will try and keep it up for 365.

 

5. Build some exciting meal plans. Also check; that went somewhat well last cycle.

 

 

Physical Fitness

 

Last cycle, I decided to stick where I was at physically and continue working on my asthma drama, while attending 2 yoga classes per week. That went swimmingly until Summer hours hit and the studio schedule went to poo. I’d like to add in something additional that’s more strenuous than sitting in the couch, too - just not sure what’s the best tack to take.

 

1. Attend 2 yoga classes per week.

 

2. Add in treadmill walks or rowing for the length of a :30-:45 min podcast on days I’m not leaving the house.

 

3. Check out at least 1 other class in-person and research more than that.

 

4. Continue taking my inhaler and nasal spray, though I don’t think this needs to be a reported-upon goal atm.

 

 

Moar Fulfillment

 

I was more successful here than in previous cycles. I started reading financial articles, DH and I came up with a loose plan, I signed up for Skillshare, and joined a few remote-work job boards.

 

1. Continue financial research.

 

2. Continue to bid on or apply for at least 1 job a week.

 

3. Start some sort of class on Skillshare.

 

4. Plug things into my spreadsheet and pick a budgeting app.

 

5. Work on dog training.

 

Also continue keeping an eye open for expanding my social network - the first friend out of one of my groups is leaving, and it’s got the rest of us remembering that this is the bane of expat life.

 

 

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[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following.

[darkfoxx]

Tuesday

Nutrition

- Daily: Hit my macros:
[ 1208] - of 1200 Calories
[55 ] - of 91g Protein
[ 107] - of 119g Carbs
[ 52] - of 40g Fat
- [ ] Daily: Take vitamins/probiotic
- [ x] Daily: Track symptoms on Cara
- [ x] Daily: Food collage
- [ ] Weekly: Next week’s meal plan

Breakfast: Overnight oats with strawberries, peanut butter & pumpkin seeds

Snack: Planned my life poorly so all I had on hand was leftover smashed potatoes drizzled with Kewpie mayonnaise

Dinner: Japanese-style poached chicken & zoodles

Snack: Frozen pineapple & coconut milk



Physical Fitness

- [ x] Weekly: Attend 2 yoga sessions
- [ ] Weekly: Walk or row if I’m home all day
- [ ] Weekly: Research exercise classes
- [ ] Challenge: Attend 1 non-yoga class

Did nothing here - was oddly sore from Monday’s class; had my coffee Group in the morning.

Moar Fulfillment

- [ x] Daily: Read finance article
- [ x] Daily: Dog training
- [ ] Weekly: Apply for or bid on 1 job
- [ ] Challenge: Start a class on Skillshare
- [ ] Challenge: Pick budgeting app; fill in that and spreadsheet

Worked on walking with the no-pull collar, this time using it as a choke collar/harness setup. This worked, but the collar part was way too tight, and was not pleasant to get off of the little man. Luckily he didn’t really notice mommy was choking his ass to get him out of the getup. He was still excited about life.

Won’t be doing that again.

They are also assholes and started their shenanigans at 2:30 this morning (Wednesday). 2:30, Odin got up to pee - dogs needed to party. I put up with it for awhile, then banished them to the living room for half an hour or so until the whining started ramping up to barking.

Let them back in, forced snuggles, we all fell asleep until 3:30 when a goddamn cricket in the living room started up.

Dogs went nuts, didn’t murder the cricket, and were in full party mode.

Odin ended up kicking me in the windpipe twice - and got body slammed down on the bed for his troubles. And rage screamed at, which was super not my finest moment, but he got the point and was much more chill and snuggly after that. He’s not often seen that much anger - and when he has, it’s because he’s kicked me in the windpipe while jumping on me because he and Freya are running rampant around the room and onto the bed play(?) fighting.

Freya, on the other hand and unbeknownst to me until much later - took the opportunity to pee in the bed sometime most likely between then and a bit later when I threw them out of the room and slammed the door because she wouldn’t calm down and I discovered the pee.

She knew she’d gone over the line, Odin was still in ‘holy shit we are going to die young’ mode, and everyone was mostly quiet until I opened the door at 6 to feed them.

I remember being at about this point of frustration when Freya was a puppy - but damn, I liked it better when she was sleeping through the night. I think Odin would, too, if it weren’t for her.

Jerkface dogs.



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[Fonzico]

Baby things are only cute so you won't murder them, I'm pretty sure.

I remember having some pretty deep regrets for a while with our last kitten! He's still an idiot, but at least our feet aren't in constant threat of shredding.

Anyways, following along for House of DarkFoxx building! We're here to raise the barn with you

[Terra]

What @Fonzico said^^^

[darkfoxx]

23 minutes ago, Fonzico said:

Baby things are only cute so you won't murder them, I'm pretty sure.

I remember having some pretty deep regrets for a while with our last kitten! He's still an idiot, but at least our feet aren't in constant threat of shredding.

Anyways, following along for House of DarkFoxx building! We're here to raise the barn with you

DH is right there - partially because he's a sucker for a little girl, and partially because Odin is 1.5kg bigger than Freya and we wanted them to be the same exact size.

 

He's only a 6kg bruiser, but she's a bird-boned 4.5, so .... 

 

it's a good thing we aren't having human children - he's not great at hiding his bias. 

[darkfoxx]

Wednesday

Nutrition

- Daily: Hit my macros:
[ 1329] - of 1200 Calories
[ 86] - of 91g Protein
[ 103] - of 119g Carbs
[ 60] - of 40g Fat
- [ ] Daily: Take vitamins/probiotic
- [ x] Daily: Track symptoms on Cara
- [ x] Daily: Food collage
- [ ] Weekly: Next week’s meal plan

Pre-Breakfast: 3 strawberries since I’d been up forever and was literally about to starve to death

Breakfast: Steak & eggs with a side of fruit when my Wednesday Group finally convened at 9

Lunch: Skipped because I was out being an actual successful human at finding sandals

Dinner: The last of the potatoes I made Monday with more Kewpie, a poached chicken breast, and a little soy sauce

Snack: Was still starving from the whole :45 I made myself sit in hunger before eating an early(ish) dinner, so I consciously opted for quantity and had the last bag of my hippie popcorn with almost a Tablespoon of butter & nutritional yeast

tbh, I was tired of the noise of the popcorn and the pruniness of my fingers to get any nutritional yeast about halfway through the bowl, but there was no freakin way I was going to waste any of my usual happy place food.



Physical Fitness

- [ x] Weekly: Attend 2 yoga sessions
- [ ] Weekly: Walk or row if I’m home all day
- [ ] Weekly: Research exercise classes
- [ ] Challenge: Attend 1 non-yoga class

No work here, except I think I hit my step count.

Moar Fulfillment

- [ x] Daily: Read finance article
- [x ] Daily: Dog training
- [ ] Weekly: Apply for or bid on 1 job
- [ ] Challenge: Start a class on Skillshare
- [ ] Challenge: Pick budgeting app; fill in that and spreadsheet

Only worked on waiting for food - did not go on a walk today. Probably should have.


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[Fonzico]

We had to work on the food thing with Annie pretty hard... It's still a struggle for her, but she's learning! So worth it though. 

 

[Cheetah]

Great job so far!  Keep up the good work!

[darkfoxx]

Thursday

Nutrition

- Daily: Hit my macros:
[1161 ] - of 1200 Calories
[115 ] - of 91g Protein
[93 ] - of 119g Carbs
[33 ] - of 40g Fat
- [ ] Daily: Take vitamins/probiotic
- [ x] Daily: Track symptoms on Cara
- [ x] Daily: Food collage
- [ ] Weekly: Next week’s meal plan

Breakfast: Overnight oats, berries, pumpkin seeds

Lunch: Out with girlfriends putting in an order for a bracelet to be made for a friend who is leaving the country.

Went out to celebrate our purchase and got ‘weird shit’, aka: sides. Grilled chicken breast, confit potatoes & turkey ham

Dinner: Out again and got plain chicken & a side of rice at the wings place



Also finally got my probiotic in after going to retrieve it at the post office because they never called or tried to deliver it. To be fair, it’s not like we have actual postal service that works in this country. We have one - and it kiiiiiinda works - for a fee, and when it wants to.

Physical Fitness

- [ x] Weekly: Attend 2 yoga sessions
- [ ] Weekly: Walk or row if I’m home all day
- [ ] Weekly: Research exercise classes
- [ ] Challenge: Attend 1 non-yoga class

No work here

Moar Fulfillment

- [ x] Daily: Read finance article
- [x ] Daily: Dog training
- [ ] Weekly: Apply for or bid on 1 job
- [ ] Challenge: Start a class on Skillshare
- [ ] Challenge: Pick budgeting app; fill in that and spreadsheet

Odin was mostly poo on our walk with DH. Got him another new no-pull harness - this one the correct size to be used as a choker, but he isn’t particularly bothered that sled dogging leads to difficulties breathing. Ass. We will look for another around-the-snout option - but one that can be fit in a way that he can’t escape if we don’t jury-rig it. Super not into a second pup pulling a runner because of an ill-fitting harness.

Especially not since someone I know here had her dog snatched because he escaped while being walked at the vets - he’s even microchipped - and was only found because the snatcher had him up for sale on an app for 3500QR (roughly $800).




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[Fonzico]

Dog snatchers have a special place in hell :/
There's a notorious mother/daughter pair around here, who keep getting arrested, but still just keep doing it! It's insane, and someone's eventually going to go all vigilante on them and it's not going to be good.

Food looks good! Do you feel like you're making any headway with the gut issues?

[EricMN]

I will trade you our cats for your dogs, even-up, and I will pay for shipping both ways. BTW, after two years of living together, they have now decided that they can't stand each other and cannot be in the same room anymore. I hope that's not a deal-breaker.

[Wild Wolf]

Food pics are beautiful, Foxxy . I'm sorry about the diabolical doggy day...I woulda been frustrated as hell, too. Keep up the good work, though! Following!

 

 

Wolf

[darkfoxx]

Dog snatchers have a special place in hell :/
There's a notorious mother/daughter pair around here, who keep getting arrested, but still just keep doing it! It's insane, and someone's eventually going to go all vigilante on them and it's not going to be good.

Food looks good! Do you feel like you're making any headway with the gut issues?

Maybe a little? Felt like poo the first week, now my stomach doesn’t hurt *every* day, at least.

Also finally got my vitamins in on Friday, so yay.

And ugh: the dog drama just gets worse.

Apparently, there was a dog (one of those big shaggy German Shepherds) in my building that was trapped on the balcony for 3 days and was barking incessantly - remember: it’s 115F almost daily where I live and sunny. It hit 51C today.

Security was alerted, they said they’d check into it and handle the situation.

Fast forward to yesterday, and said dog yelps and is then found on ground level, having either launched itself over the balcony or having been helped.

Neighborhood security has been alerted to the breach in community standards (the noise + throwing something over your balcony).

Thus far, nothing has been done really except filing a police report - and now the witnesses aren’t talking either.

People are fucking terrible and that bit of news did not help make our annoying af travel day any better.

More on that soon - debating on whether to grab a nap before updating for Fri & Sat



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[darkfoxx]

I will trade you our cats for your dogs, even-up, and I will pay for shipping both ways. BTW, after two years of living together, they have now decided that they can't stand each other and cannot be in the same room anymore. I hope that's not a deal-breaker.

Oh how nice of them - jerks.

Mine just try to eat each other while on my person [emoji38]


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[darkfoxx]

Nope, nap later.

Friday & Saturday

Nutrition

- Daily: Hit my macros:
[ ] - of 1200 Calories
[ ] - of 91g Protein
[ ] - of 119g Carbs
[ ] - of 40g Fat
- [ x] Daily: Take vitamins/probiotic
- [xx ] Daily: Track symptoms on Cara
- [ xx] Daily: Food collage
- [ ] Weekly: Next week’s meal plan

Didn’t properly track either day.

Friday

Breakfast: Overnight oats, blueberries, strawberries, pepitas, cinnamon

Lunch: The second half of my Japanese zoodles

Dinner: Out with friends to a Brazilian steakhouse - allthemeats + 2 vodka sodas. Quit eating before it was painful but after my dress got tight.



Saturday

Travel day.

Breakfast: The parts of the plane meal I could eat - eggs, potatoes, chicken sausage, whiskey & Diet Coke

Didn’t have time before that because check-in could only be done at the counter and took over an hour (the airport was a zoo - families leaving for the summer time)

Lunch: Some sort of sausage & paprika chips grabbed at the grocery in the airport while we waited 2 hours to get our SIM cards & rental car. Was not impressed with the German efficiency.

Dinner: Biergarten for local sausages & kraut, pretzel, potato dumplings & a vodka soda


Physical Fitness

- [ x] Weekly: Attend 2 yoga sessions
- [ ] Weekly: Walk or row if I’m home all day
- [ ] Weekly: Research exercise classes
- [ ] Challenge: Attend 1 non-yoga class

Nothing done here either day. Did get 1 session in this week.

Moar Fulfillment

- [ xx] Daily: Read finance article
- [x ] Daily: Dog training
- [ ] Weekly: Apply for or bid on 1 job
- [ ] Challenge: Start a class on Skillshare
- [ ] Challenge: Pick budgeting app; fill in that and spreadsheet

Got a noise complaint on our dogs Friday so had to come home early from dinner with friends - assholes - bought shock/vibration collars for the pups because we have zero option but to not get kicked out of our apartment and the language in the pet rules insinuates that we will with much more of these complaints. Not our favorite solution, but hopefully it’ll take 1 baby vibration to get them to get the point.

Dropped the dogs off at the dog sitter place after getting home, so at least the clock resets on our noise complaint (we have 10 days to rectify the situation - I’m hoping, probably foolishly, that that means if our next violation is in 15 days that it’ll be long enough time between complaints so we don’t get dinged.


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[Tanktimus the Encourager]

6 hours ago, darkfoxx said:

Got a noise complaint on our dogs Friday so had to come home early from dinner with friends - assholes - bought shock/vibration collars for the pups because we have zero option but to not get kicked out of our apartment and the language in the pet rules insinuates that we will with much more of these complaints. Not our favorite solution, but hopefully it’ll take 1 baby vibration to get them to get the point.

If nothing happened when someone threw a German Shepherd over the balcony how the hell can they threaten to throw you out?

[darkfoxx]

If nothing happened when someone threw a German Shepherd over the balcony how the hell can they threaten to throw you out?

Hoping that’s not something that could happen, but I have a feeling the rules surrounding dogs are about to get a lot stricter in my building. Hoping they don’t also enforce having to use the service elevator - my Princess and the Pea self wretched last time we used it because it smelled like paint & BO.

Super not fun - also, you’re not supposed to spit in public. [emoji38]




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[darkfoxx]

Sunday

Had no idea Germany closed down on Sundays. Made the best of it anyways, and visited an amazeballs science & technology museum: the Deutsches Museum. We spent a few (boiling hot - there’s no A/C and it was 95) hours there, and barely scratched the surface.

Nutrition

- Daily: Hit my macros:
[ ] - of 1200 Calories
[ ] - of 91g Protein
[ ] - of 119g Carbs
[ ] - of 40g Fat
- [ x] Daily: Take vitamins/probiotic
- [ x] Daily: Track symptoms on Cara
- [x ] Daily: Food collage
- [ ] Weekly: Next week’s meal plan

Decided not to track while on vacation.

Breakfast: Buffet - bacon, salami, cured ham, turkey, chicken, local sausages, fruit

Lunch: Currywurst and about a third of my fries

Afternoon vodka soda

Dinner: Had 1 of the pulled pork sliders and half the sweet potato fries - split with DH. Also a tangerine cocktail.

Snack: Another slice prosciutto


Physical Fitness

- [ ] Weekly: Attend 2 yoga sessions
- [ ] Weekly: Walk or row if I’m home all day
- [ ] Weekly: Research exercise classes
- [ ] Challenge: Attend 1 non-yoga class

Walked 15,000 steps

Moar Fulfillment

- [ x] Daily: Read finance article
- [ ] Daily: Dog training
- [ ] Weekly: Apply for or bid on 1 job
- [ ] Challenge: Start a class on Skillshare
- [ ] Challenge: Pick budgeting app; fill in that and spreadsheet

Today was hot and I was worried about getting burnt, but it was fulfilling. That Museum was awesome, and Munich is beautiful.


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[Terra]

Enjoy your vacation!!!  

 

[darkfoxx]

Enjoy your vacation!!!  
 

[emoji38][emoji38][emoji38] Thanks!


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[NicTheRugger]

Following along for great goals and drool-worthy food photos! Have fun in Germany!

[NeverThatBored]

Following! 

[Sunmage]

Hey there

 

So how do you like Germany? 
Our bevarian friends are special

There is Apple cider in cans called "Bemble with care" in big supermarkets and some stores. Its not beer, but tasty and gluten free. My troubled gut likes it.

try adding a third to a half water or ice.

 

Enjoy your stay here

And get out of the town to eat a "Haxen"

[Raxie]

Wow I am so sorry about the dog in your building - I'd be totally freaked out I hope they can somehow track whatever happened down and maybe hold someone responsible for at least something?! I also hope this doesn't end up negatively affecting you guys in terms of how you are allowed to keep and travel around with your pups.

 

It sounds like you really needed this vacation - it's looking like you're having an amazing time! Love the food collages!