Theophilus Stays in Motion

[theophilus]

Finals are right around the corner, then it's off to warmer climes for the holidays. Stress and vacation are not the prime ingredients to fitness. Fortunately, I've built some good habits recently that I can carry with me. Just gotta keep them up to round out the year.

 

Running: Regroup and pick up my 3x3 plan from last challenge. 3 miles, 3 times a week. 

 

Eating: After a particularly difficult conversation with a loved one about how stress affects the way I eat (hint: it's not good), and my current weight (hint: highest it's ever been), I resolved recently to finally take food seriously. I've set a daily calorie goal and started tracking my calories religiously, and I'm already feeling better and seeing signs of progress. I will continue to track calories throughout this challenge. I have a long-term goal to lose ~20 lbs, but I'm not going to make a challenge specific goal yet because I don't yet have a handle on what to expect from meeting my calorie goal, and I want to give myself a little grace for days I don't hit it around the holidays. 

 

Time Management: No social media. Sounds extreme, but I uninstalled all the suspect apps from my phone about a week ago and I'm loving it. I'll keep myself social media free for the rest of 2019. 

[Harriet]

21 minutes ago, theophilus said:

I have a long-term goal to lose ~20 lbs, but I'm not going to make a challenge specific goal yet because I don't yet have a handle on what to expect from meeting my calorie goal, and I want to give myself a little grace for days I don't hit it around the holidays. 

 

Sounds most prudent. 

...NF isn't social media, right?

[Xena]

29 minutes ago, Harriet said:

..NF isn't social media, right?

 

I wasn't going to ask...

[Aquarii]

1 hour ago, theophilus said:

Time Management: No social media. Sounds extreme, but I uninstalled all the suspect apps from my phone about a week ago and I'm loving it. I'll keep myself social media free for the rest of 2019. 

 

I did the same thing a few days ago! I deleted my social media apps from my phone and plan to stay off of them for December. The only exceptions are the NF forums and YouTube, though I am also trying to significantly limit my YouTube watching as well.

[theophilus]

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

...NF isn't social media, right?

Not at all! The thing that makes “traditional” social media a trap for me is that it’s mindless (rather than intentional) and consumption-focused (rather than focused on building something). At least it is the way I do it. That led me to wasting hours each day anxiously scrolling and refreshing, etc. NF is the exact opposite for me: full of intention and creation. Plus lots of good people!

 

30 minutes ago, Aquarii said:

 

I did the same thing a few days ago! I deleted my social media apps from my phone and plan to stay off of them for December. The only exceptions are the NF forums and YouTube, though I am also trying to significantly limit my YouTube watching as well.

 

Good for you! It’s so freeing, right?!?! 

[Aquarii]

7 hours ago, theophilus said:

Good for you! It’s so freeing, right?!?! 

 

I don't know if I would call it freeing, as I don't really feel trapped and controlled by social media, but I do find myself with wayyyyy more time on my hands and a better ability to focus. I often take social media breaks a few times a year, so I did at least know what to expect. I have never tried doing it over the holidays though, so that part is new.

[theophilus]

7 minutes ago, Aquarii said:

 

I don't know if I would call it freeing, as I don't really feel trapped and controlled by social media, but I do find myself with wayyyyy more time on my hands and a better ability to focus. I often take social media breaks a few times a year, so I did at least know what to expect. I have never tried doing it over the holidays though, so that part is new.

I think regular breaks sound like a great habit to get into. I’m hopeful that after my “detox” I’ll have a better relationship with social media and can take a more measured approach like that. 

[Aquarii]

11 minutes ago, theophilus said:

I think regular breaks sound like a great habit to get into. I’m hopeful that after my “detox” I’ll have a better relationship with social media and can take a more measured approach like that. 

 

Haha, I can't say that my breaks always improves my social media habits. It does seem to help in the beginning, because I get out of the habit of scrolling and constantly checking. And it does help in awareness, so I am better at recognizing when I should step back and take another break. But I need to create a more intentional plan for my relationship with social media, because I do tend to slip back into old patterns pretty quickly.

 

But yeah, I definitely recommend taking regular breaks. Especially if you have a big project or goals that require a lot of focus. 

[fitnessgurl]

15 hours ago, theophilus said:

Time Management: No social media. Sounds extreme, but I uninstalled all the suspect apps from my phone about a week ago and I'm loving it. I'll keep myself social media free for the rest of 2019. 

Totally impressed with this because it's really hard to do when all your friends are all on, all the time. 

The only sort-of social media I'm on is this forum & I'm keeping it that way until I start blogging.

[Harriet]

17 hours ago, theophilus said:

Not at all! The thing that makes “traditional” social media a trap for me is that it’s mindless (rather than intentional) and consumption-focused (rather than focused on building something). At least it is the way I do it. That led me to wasting hours each day anxiously scrolling and refreshing, etc. NF is the exact opposite for me: full of intention and creation. Plus lots of good people!

A most persuasive take. However, I now believe that NF should be considered social media, and other social media must be renamed unsocial media.

[theophilus]

2 hours ago, Harriet said:

A most persuasive take. However, I now believe that NF should be considered social media, and other social media must be renamed unsocial media.

Hear, hear!!

[theophilus]

Modest successes in the face of near failure today. 
 

First, we in the upper right hand corner of the US are buried under snow right now, so no running today. Ok, we’re not so much buried (~6 in), but it’s been one of those thirty-six hour, lots of wind, unrelenting kind of storms. But! Clear tomorrow, so I’ll get a run in then. Stany tuned for videos of me falling on the ice. 
 

I had a coffee meeting this morning and got a pastry to accompany. Add a calorie bomb lunch to that, and I was almost up against my daily number before 1 PM. But I cut back on snacking this afternoon and ate a light dinner to end up pretty close to where I want to be. 
 

Still off the social media sauce, though I didn’t get as much studying done for exams as I’d hoped. 

[Aquarii]

6 minutes ago, theophilus said:

I had a coffee meeting this morning and got a pastry to accompany. Add a calorie bomb lunch to that, and I was almost up against my daily number before 1 PM. But I cut back on snacking this afternoon and ate a light dinner to end up pretty close to where I want to be. 

 

That is great! I know it can be tempting (at least for me) to just throw away the day when the first half doesn't go as plan. So good on you for buckling down and balancing out the back half to stick to your goals

[fitnessgurl]

Yay for modest success!

[TGP]

11 hours ago, theophilus said:

Modest successes in the face of near failure today. 
 

First, we in the upper right hand corner of the US are buried under snow right now, so no running today. Ok, we’re not so much buried (~6 in), but it’s been one of those thirty-six hour, lots of wind, unrelenting kind of storms. But! Clear tomorrow, so I’ll get a run in then. Stany tuned for videos of me falling on the ice. 

 

yeah, winter weather chased me indoors a few weeks ago and I've rebuilt my running program for an indoor track.

 

but I actually started running a couple years back in the winter of 2017.  I had some experience trying to run on ice and crunchy snow.

 

when unshoveled sidewalks become crunchy; it is seems very Athletic to run on it.

a whole body experience.

 

so as long as you don't fall.... 

[Waanie]

Nice challenge!

On 12/3/2019 at 5:58 AM, theophilus said:

The thing that makes “traditional” social media a trap for me is that it’s mindless (rather than intentional) and consumption-focused (rather than focused on building something). At least it is the way I do it. That led me to wasting hours each day anxiously scrolling and refreshing, etc.

This is actually how I use NF as well... Sure, there are a few people I try to always follow, but there's periods where I just aimlessly open people's threads and try to be encouraging 😎. There are days when I'm stuck on NF for a few hours as procrastination . It is very motivating though that everyone is working on becoming a better version of themselves, so in that sense it's more useful for me than something like Facebook or Reddit.

[theophilus]

This weekend was exhausting. I’m studying for exams. Mrs. Theophilus has interviews and auditions. Littles Theophilus has birthday parties. Was spotty logging food, didn’t run, and got sucked into a Twitter impeachment vortex (American politics are wild right now, y’all).

 

Anyway, today was better. Got in a run after dropping off the Littles at school, logged my food all day, and stayed focus on exams rather than social media. One exam down, four to go!

[fitnessgurl]

16 minutes ago, theophilus said:

Anyway, today was better. Got in a run after dropping off the Littles at school, logged my food all day, and stayed focus on exams rather than social media. One exam down, four to go!

Yay!!!

[Waanie]

Good luck with your remaining exams!

What degree are you in, if you don't mind me asking?

 

Good job on a good start of the week .

[theophilus]

On 12/10/2019 at 6:54 AM, Waanie said:

Good luck with your remaining exams!

What degree are you in, if you don't mind me asking?

 

Good job on a good start of the week .

Thanks! I’m currently in law school getting a JD. This semester marks the halfway point, so it’ll feel extraordinary when I get through these exams. I saw you recently finished your PhD; many congrats to you!

[Waanie]

6 hours ago, theophilus said:

Thanks! I’m currently in law school getting a JD. This semester marks the halfway point, so it’ll feel extraordinary when I get through these exams. I saw you recently finished your PhD; many congrats to you!

Thanks . From an engineers point of view, law school is very impressive since you have to memorise so many things .

[theophilus]

5 hours ago, Waanie said:

Thanks . From an engineers point of view, law school is very impressive since you have to memorise so many things .

Hahah! Well, from a future lawyer’s point of view, engineering is very impressive because you all need to be able to actually do real things in the real world. Oh, and math!

[Xena]

Good job getting through the exams!

[Maggie-Miau]

Heyoo, Theophilus! It looks like you've been doing great so far! How are things lately? Sending you all the good vibes and congratulations on your exams! So exciting