Novaurora Will Not Bow Down to her Vices

[Rhovaniel]

Amazing news on the therapy and the asking for help! Heck yes that's some massive winning right there  

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I'm very glad to hear about therapy. I'm also very proud of you for asking for help. That's awesome!

[Salinger]

LOvely news Nova  x

[shaar]

This is such a great update!!!!! <3 <3 <3 I'm so glad your weekend was wonderful, you so deserve it and you're gonna have a great week, I can just FEEL it!!

[Novaurora]

On 11/3/2019 at 8:23 PM, The Most Loathed said:

That is awesome! There will be ups and downs but, man, those ups are so good. FWIW, this was a huge thing for us as well, being able to express ourselves. Keep doing the work, you'll each be better for the time investment. 

This is really what it comes down to for both of us...the investment.  And we both have hurdles (him: depression and his ever present higher than life standards for himself and (sometimes) others...me: Anxiety, ADHD, and a job that is basically a lifestyle) and so prioritizing and communication have not always been easy for us.  We started off well this weekend, so I hope it keeps going!

 

On 11/4/2019 at 1:44 AM, Rhovaniel said:

Amazing news on the therapy and the asking for help! Heck yes that's some massive winning right there  

 

20 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I'm very glad to hear about therapy. I'm also very proud of you for asking for help. That's awesome!

 

Thanks!!  It feels good to make progress and not feel like everything is on my shoulders for once.

 

17 hours ago, shaar said:

This is such a great update!!!!! <3 <3 <3 I'm so glad your weekend was wonderful, you so deserve it and you're gonna have a great week, I can just FEEL it!!

So far, so good  Thanks for the positive vibes!!

 

So, yesterday was pretty good.  Pretty straight-forward day in terms of the kids.  They were working on projects and behaving decently.  Had a kid really try to butt heads with me, and funny enough, I heard another kid lean over and attempt to whisper, "she's actually really nice if you just follow her dumb rules" (aka, sit in the seat I assign you).  Surprisingly, the kid listened, and he and I were able to have a rather productive day.  Win.

 

So, I got home, and hubs' truck was parked at the house.  We talked for a bit last night and it looks like he's planning to move back in  .  His original living arrangement fell through, and the guy he is living with currently is a former roommate, but he is a bit of a toxic person, and the whole point of hubs' moving out was to avoid a toxic living environment to get better from his depression.  We are both worried that it might be a bit premature, but the last few days have been great, so we are hoping we can keep up the energy.  Thankfully, we both have busy social lives (him: DnD and game night...me: music bingo and random chick things) so we will get the space we both desire and have our own stuff going on while still being able to build on the relationship.

 

I did a bit of writing last night: the prompt was "murder on a train" so I wrote a short story about a girl who has a friendly relationship with a busker at a train station.  And he gets murdered (not by her).  I only had 500 words, and it sounds a lot better written than it does in summary...I promise.

 

Today's prompt is to write a story based around the 4 seasons...using 100 words for each season...and they all have to tie together.  Interesting.  I might start sharing drafts on here to encourage me to reach my goals of actually doing it every day.

 

No drinks so far this week, no unnecessary spending (I did have to buy a few books, but only to complete a class set that I desperately want to teach...so I'm not counting that since my kids are reading them...not me).  I haven't worked out, but I still have plenty of time to fir 3 in this week.  Food was bad yesterday.  Too many snacks, but lunches have been great.  Very healthy.  I just need to not eat between lunch and dinner because that's where my struggle is.

 

Overall, yesterday was good    

[Salinger]

Glad things are going well Nova <3 

 

you are doing so good xx

[deftona]

Ahhh a lot of your last update made me happy  

[Aquarii]

Hey Nova, how are you doing?

[Salinger]

Hope you are ok xx

[Novaurora]

On 11/5/2019 at 11:18 AM, Salinger said:

Glad things are going well Nova <3 

 

you are doing so good xx

Honestly, in terms of focus on my challenge, I'm not really doing so great, but there is always time to turn that around.  Here's to making that happen this week!

 

On 11/5/2019 at 4:40 PM, deftona said:

Ahhh a lot of your last update made me happy  

Me too!  We are still making it work this week.  Nothing too major to report.

 

7 hours ago, Aquarii said:

Hey Nova, how are you doing?

It's up and down...but not nearly in the way it was two weeks ago.  Things have leveled out again finally, I think, so now I can focus back on my goals.

 

Okay, you know your challenge is struggling when you don't remember what your goals are....and while, yes, I have been floundering at food and working out, and all the minute details of my challenge, I have been able to maintain communication with my husband, who is still living at home, and work on my writing, so there's that.  Hubs and I drew up a budget on Sunday, because we want to be able to purchase a travel trailer by the end of the year to go adventuring with.  This will for sure help with the eating out because now we have a goal.  Workouts are all mind over matter.  I have been struggling to get up as early as I need to, and not revisiting missed workouts in the evening.  I need to settle back into a schedule and stop binge watching The West Wing.  Tonight we have therapy and then hubs has DnD, so I'll probably go home and catch up on some grading.  I have leftovers for dinner, but I will probably cook something too, just so we have food for the rest of the week.  I have lunches made up, so that's good.  That's the one place I haven't failed with food.  Really, I just need to stop snacking.

 

That's really all I've got going for me right now.  Happy Tuesday!

[GoodDoug]

Sounds like you are doing really well! So happy for you.

[TGP]

On 11/12/2019 at 7:03 AM, Novaurora said:

 Really, I just need to stop snacking.

 

 

Thats SO true.  Snacking is like kryptonite to me.

 

after a few bites all moderation is lost.  since it doesn't fall into the 3 meals a day structure- it also doesn't lend itself well to careful planning.

https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/ok-eat-kryptonite-food/

 

I don't really even focus too much on my diet but I know a bad destructive habit when I see it. and I guess mfp says...

 

Just "eat" a little.

 

ok. tuff stuff tho

[Salinger]

Hope all is good Nova xx

[Novaurora]

On 11/13/2019 at 1:05 PM, GoodDoug said:

Sounds like you are doing really well! So happy for you.

Yup.  Stuff is going all right.  I'm pretty stoked.

 

  

On 11/14/2019 at 10:53 AM, Salinger said:

Hope all is good Nova xx

Well, I managed to get sick....so that was a struggle all week.

 

Hey guys,

 

So, I spent most of the week being sick, which was miserable because I basically lost my voice and was super tired ALL WEEK.  I haven't worked out in ages and while food was okay, it wasn't great.  As usual, lunches were fine because they were pre-prepped, and honestly, even dinners were okay because I refused to leave the house and hubs was great and cooked for me, but there were still too many snacks.  effing snacks, gosh darnit.

 

I realized today, that if I lose a pound a week from now until the end of the school year, I will reach my goal weight.  Hubs is on board to help (he also wants to lose some weight) and since both of us are in a better head space we aren't relying so much on eating out.  I even kind of have a plan this week.  I am going back to intermittent fasting as well.  I have pretty much abandoned my challenge, but I feel like I have been doing a good job communicating with my husband, staying sane despite being sick, and not drinking.  I need to write more and eat right, if I can do those things, we might be in business.  I need to line up these last two weeks of this challenge and salvage it from a scattered mess of crazy.  

 

Let's recap:

Week 0-1: My husband leaves (indefinitely) and I have no idea what's going on, I am pitching between WTF and freedom and sadness

Week 2: My husband comes back, we have a great week

Week 3: I catch the plague

Week 4-5: STRUCTURE, BACK TO GOOD HABITS, PREPARE TO NOT EAT ALL THE THINGS

 

With things going so well, Hubs and I have decided that we are having a stay-at-home Thanksgiving.  And because we live at the beach, we are going to do a seafood twist on Thanksgiving.  The menu is going to include:   Lobster, stuffed oysters, au gratin potatoes with cheese crab, shrimp and corn casserole, and a seasonal fresh fish with a brown sugar glaze and sweet potatoes.  There will of course be salad, green beans, etc, but it will be a Thanksgiving to remember!

 

Because I have more vacation time during winter break, Christmas is going to be a trip.  We are currently thinking New Orleans or Nashville.

 

Anyhoo, back to this week.

 

Meal Plan:

Bento lunch (the key to this is I don't have to heat it)

• Protein/Dairy: buffalo chicken and garlic swiss roll ups OR chicken in a pouch and a cheese stick
• Fruits: grapes or a banana
• Veggies: carrots and guac
• Grains: goldfish or belvita crisps

Dinners: 

• M: Steak, Mashed potato, green beans
• T: Leftover ravioli and sausage
• W: Out at Trivia, but I'll probably order a grilled cheese and soup
• Th: Chicken and vegetable stew
• F: Pulled Pork sandwiches and slaw
• S: Leftovers or slack freezer food (pizza rolls or sliders)
• Sun: Leftovers or slack freezer food (pizza rolls or sliders)

Well, that's the plan.  Here it goes

[Novaurora]

Okie dokie: today is off to a good start.  I don't feel like a dead person, I got up at a reasonable time, AND I worked out.  I am using a program called freeletics along with my lifting (because I never seem to lose weight lifting) and today's workout was a 20 minute ass kicking

 

There was a short warm up followed by 3 sets of 

• x5 plank switches
• x10 burpees (not gonna lie, definitely slowed these way down...I am still apprehensive about these since my injury 2 summers ago)
• x20 lunges
• x30 mountain climbers

Then there was a 4 minute stretching cool down.  All together, it took me 22 minutes, and I was sweating like CRAZY.  Those are the workouts I miss.  Between that, lifting, and healthy eating, I hope to keep up with my 1 pound per week goal.  I want to do measurements monthly as well, just so I can see other changes as well.  And I can't decide if I want to weigh myself daily as well.  I'm back up to 177, which is a bit soul crushing, BUT we have been here before, we have lost the weight in a healthy manner, and we will do it again.  The biggest difference in this time and last time is I KNOW I CAN DO IT.  Sure, its frustrating to have to do it AGAIN, but that's life and mental health and everything else.

 

Summer is in 30 weeks.  Let's do work!!  

[Aquarii]

30 minutes ago, Novaurora said:

I am using a program called freeletics along with my lifting (because I never seem to lose weight lifting) and today's workout was a 20 minute ass kicking

 

Oooh, I don't see people talk about freeletics very often. I tried it once and really enjoyed it. It helped me to push myself like never before. My one word of advice is: make sure you form is absolutely solid. I got about seven weeks into the program, and something was off with either my squat or lunge form (or both), and I ended up hurting my knee (it swelled to twice its size). 

 

33 minutes ago, Novaurora said:

Between that, lifting, and healthy eating, I hope to keep up with my 1 pound per week goal.  I want to do measurements monthly as well, just so I can see other changes as well.  And I can't decide if I want to weigh myself daily as well. 

 

You totally got this. Also, I highly recommend doing measurements. I remember at one point only losing a couple pounds but losing inches all over the place because I was building muscle, losing fat, and some fat was migrating to more desirable areas. It can help to be really encouraging, especially if you are training a lot, which tends to slow scale weight loss because you are losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time.

 

35 minutes ago, Novaurora said:

Summer is in 30 weeks.  Let's do work!!  

 

I was just thinking this last night. I was like, if I get my butt into gear now, I can be in a pretty awesome place with my fitness and physique goals by summer. Let's do this thing!

[GoodDoug]

5 hours ago, Novaurora said:

The biggest difference in this time and last time is I KNOW I CAN DO IT.  Sure, its frustrating to have to do it AGAIN, but that's life and mental health and everything else.

I feel this very keenly myself. It helped me this time to realize that this has happened before and it will happen again. Whether it is injury, another bout of depression, or I just get lazy, I will need to start all over again. I need to be okay with it and enjoy the journey. I am enjoying it now, and being realistic, and it has been great.

 

Given how crazy this challenge has been, be sure to look for easy wins and find ways to enjoy the challenge where you can.

[Novaurora]

22 hours ago, Aquarii said:

My one word of advice is: make sure you form is absolutely solid. I got about seven weeks into the program, and something was off with either my squat or lunge form (or both), and I ended up hurting my knee (it swelled to twice its size). 

I am super careful with form because I had a burpee incident 2 summers ago that knocked my hip out of alignment (too many too fast, got sloppy).  Freeletics does put stress on time, but I'm not in a rush.

 

22 hours ago, Aquarii said:

I was just thinking this last night. I was like, if I get my butt into gear now, I can be in a pretty awesome place with my fitness and physique goals by summer. Let's do this thing!

Good luck to both of us!!!

 

16 hours ago, GoodDoug said:

Given how crazy this challenge has been, be sure to look for easy wins and find ways to enjoy the challenge where you can.

This is true, but I think sometimes I rely too much on "easy wins" and that's where my struggle is sticking to a long term task.

 

Yesterday was a success!!

 

After my workout, I fasted through lunch (minus coffee, which I know isn't supposed to have creamer (90 cals), but YOLO), drinking plenty of water, then ate my packed lunch (451 cals), had a decent day at school, raided the candy bowl...oops (465), BUT thank goodness, dinner was planned and healthy (702), so my calories still came in at 1702, right where I want them. 

 

Today, the goal is to skip the candy bowl, and swap it out for a snack of banana and peanut butter plus a yogurt before my therapy appt.  If I eat right, I should come in right at 1700 again, which is perfect.  I really need to keep my snacks planned, so there is no room for error.  I got lucky yesterday that my meals were reasonable and my "because it was there" snack didn't wreck my day.

 

No workout today, but we will be back at it tomorrow.  Tonight I have therapy and I really REALLY need to catch up on my grading.  After being sick all last week I am VERY behind.  Luckily, hubs had DnD, so I can grade to my heart's content (yay...). Anyhoo, nothing much to report here, just making it work, you know, as we do.

[GoodDoug]

6 hours ago, Novaurora said:

This is true, but I think sometimes I rely too much on "easy wins" and that's where my struggle is sticking to a long term task.

I completely get that... but will reiterate that given how stressful this challenge has been, make sure to be kind to yourself!

[foxinthenorth]

I haven’t been commenting much but I’ve been reading all your updates and I’m so very happy that things are getting better, you and your hubs are putting in the work to improve your relationship, and you’re refreshing your fitness/food goals in the midst of it! Way to go. You’re tackling problems head on and I’m cheering you on! Your pound a week plan sounds great. You’ve got this! 

[Aquarii]

Nova, how are you? I hope things are still going well.

[Salinger]

Thinking of you - heard about the trailer xx

[TGP]

Happy Thanksgiving Nova!