Sif: let's smash another year

[Siferiax]

Let's go back to January 2019.

I weight 94.6 kilo and getting heavier.

So it was time for a change.

I ate less, mostly cutting out snacks and lost weight. 1st of July I weight 92.1 kilo. I had been lower, but the last two months was gaining again. Also I wasn't really happy with the progress anyway.

I attempted IIFYM and pledge to do that for July. However as I had to eat more, I got more and more hungry. (How's that for a twist, eating more made me more hungry and miserable).

Come August my BF and I did a lot of research and were ready to take on the next challenge.

My weight was now 91.4 kilo.

We decided to go low-carb. At first aiming for no more than 100 grams of carbs. Half way through August we easily could stay below 50 grams. We learned a lot. Managed a lot. And we're going strong to this day.

I'm currently weighing 83 kilo give or take. At the start of December I was 85.1 kilo. Even the holiday season can't ruin my progress anymore.

I feel the best I've felt in a long time.

 

So in 2020 I'm going to continue and smash more goals! I want to lose another 10 kilo, but that's no longer really the focus. That'll happen on its own. Also the centimetres are more important to me now anyway. I'm losing those too!

 

So for 2020 these will be my goals!

 

Health

1. Cycle 100 km

2. Do 10 real push-ups

 

Relationship

1. Spend more meaningful time with BF

2. Give my attention to BF every day

 

Discipline

1. Disconnect from technology every day

2. Meditate every day

 

Career / Education

1. Learn how to manage my time

2. Learn how to create better photos

 

For January these are the habits I'll be working on.

1. Meditate every day

2. Do 1 push-up (any progression) every day

3. Be in bed by 10 pm before every work day

4. Fast till 12:30 pm every work day

5. Read every day

6. Take my medication every day

 

Let's go

[Siferiax]

Some things to note.

- I really dislike strength training, but it's something that proves necessary over and over again. So I want to learn to love it. Hence doing 1 push-up a day. I want to start at the lowest interval possible, because I want it to stick this time

- I still have physical therapy for my knee, which involves squats, lunges and balancing. (for those who know my background, yes this is the next item on the list to give out and have me go to physical therapy. Hooray for hypermobility!)

- With Christmas I got Ring Fit Adventure for the Switch and it's freaking awesome! I love it! I love working out with it and it makes me work out pretty intensely even on the "moderate" level.

- Otherwise my exercise consists of cycling. I do road cycling in the summer months (whenever it is dry and not too cold) and spinning in the winter months (when it isn't dry or it's too cold). I love both, though they both train me in different ways.

- My training days are Monday (spinning @ gym or road cycling outside), Wednesday (at parents, so spinning or walking) and Friday or the weekend (whichever exercise I choose, these days Ring Fit Adventure XD)

- I say I eat low-carb, but I'm not actively tracking it. I know it's low-carb, because I get sick from carbs (literally). For August we tracked/measured/counted everything, but it's exhausting and it gave us enough insight to move on from it.

[Siferiax]

Drinking waaayyyyy too many cappucino's today (had 3... so I'm probably exaggerating). Also eating in general is going a bit up and down, so my body is all over the place anyway.

Christmas = carbs were had = sickness was had = now I'm adjusted for carbs again = not eating carbs is awful again = time for some better days again.

Friday and Saturday were good days again, but then Sunday we went eating out with friends for Christmas. This was at a Ramen restaurant. I think I didn't eat 3/4 of the bowl (nom chicken with sugar sauce though), but I did eat all the ice cream  

So come yesterday, eating low-carb again and on the train home I was feeling super sluggish. Which brings me to all the cappucino's of today. Still feeling those effects XD

Tonight I will have 1 "oliebol" (42 grams of carbs per 100 grams) as well, so hooray more carbs. Afterward though, it's back to the low-carb regime we are doing. (and despite all this are doing to the best of our ability anyway, read: minimizing the carbs and not overeating them)

 

I'm just very appreciative toward the people around us ^^ my parents and my BF's parents and brother's family all keep us in mind. So we got all the dried sausages and brie cheese instead of chocolates and cookies  

Also Christmas breakfast at my parents had all the low-carb food and we didn't even need the eggs and whatever else was in reserve XD

Therefore our Christmas was very succesfull  Though still made some conscience carb choices, it was Christmas after all  

[Siferiax]

\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/

After a lazy start of the day we headed to my parents in the afternoon.

While my mom & BF went for a run, I went upstairs for my usual spinning lesson. (We have a subscription on actual lessons)

Since today was a day of work we went earlier than usual and thus had more time.

So I decided to be crazy and start a 90 minute lesson instead of the usual 45 minutes. How hard can that be?! XD

...

...

Pretty hard, but also pretty awesome!!

It was very tough, but I managed to hang in there for all 90 minutes!

Only the last exercise: standing for another 6 and a half minutes after already standing for 9 minutes was a bit much. So I did that one sitting down ^^

 

It was a good day!

[Mrs Van]

On 12/31/2019 at 9:42 AM, Siferiax said:

I'm currently weighing 83 kilo give or take. At the start of December I was 85.1 kilo. Even the holiday season can't ruin my progress anymore.

I feel the best I've felt in a long time.

Wow that is amazing! That is approximately what I'm aiming for again. A couple years ago I lost more than 10kg and kept it stable at about 85kg for about two years. Enter a serious amount of stress the last three years, and I steadily picked up all I lost. Now I'm going again. We can do it.

On 12/31/2019 at 11:07 AM, Siferiax said:

- I really dislike strength training, but it's something that proves necessary over and over again.

Something which might help you to like strength training a bit more, especially leg training and I think core, is that it cuts down on injuries for cycling, and improves cycling as well.

 

All the best for this challenge.

[Siferiax]

40 minutes ago, ElizeElvinFoxRyder said:

Wow that is amazing! That is approximately what I'm aiming for again. A couple years ago I lost more than 10kg and kept it stable at about 85kg for about two years. Enter a serious amount of stress the last three years, and I steadily picked up all I lost. Now I'm going again. We can do it.

👊 I do have to correct myself a bit though lol. My official Jan 1 weigh in was 85.2 kg. I also use a new scale which makes my weight about 800 grams more than on the old one.

I know what caused all this, so I know it's not a big deal

So let's get going this new year and make solid improvements! I want to lose another 10kg. (that's what I more or less lost last year) 

 

40 minutes ago, ElizeElvinFoxRyder said:

Something which might help you to like strength training a bit more, especially leg training and I think core, is that it cuts down on injuries for cycling, and improves cycling as well.

Yeah that never helped lol. But it is definitely true  I just subconsciously have the thought that just cycling should be enough for that  

 

40 minutes ago, ElizeElvinFoxRyder said:

All the best for this challenge.

Thank you!

[Siferiax]

Yesterday's habits:

❌ 1. Meditate

✔️ 2. Do 1 push-up (any progression)

✔️ 3. Be in bed by 10 pm

4. Fast till 12:30 pm not a work day. Had morning cappucino (home made / fresh) with warm milk. Nom!

❌ 5. Read

✔️ 6. Take my medication

 

This morning was a cappucino morning 😧 oops. (not the home made / fresh kind, the coffee machine at work kind)

I wanted to stop this year, but I guess I didn't. I'm tired, this morning was hard, so I was getting tea and ended up with also a cappucino...

My muscles are fine though. They feel tired, but don't really hurt.

Hopefully soon I'm back to a regular sleep routine. Though knowing myself, I'll be tired anyway.

 

Talking about sleep, I should find out how much I need 😕

I'm also very bad at falling asleep and I have regular nightmares which don't help.

I often also wake up too early and feel super groggy and tired.

 

I'm also SUPER SLOW, so the alarm goes at 6:30 am and I need to leave the house at 7:30 am.

I need to: do a push up, get dressed, take medication, prep food (half of which my BF does), download some videos to watch and.... get going...

The food prep is putting vitamin pills in our pill containers and putting a handful of cashews in our nut containers. I also fill a water bottle for myself. My BF does the cheese and meat cutting and putting those in containers.

 

All in all, I could sleep in more, which I tried, but a) it didn't make me less tired and b) it did make me more stressed.

[Siferiax]

Jan 2 Habits

❌ 1. Meditate

✔️ 2. Do 1 push-up (any progression)

✔️ 3. Be in bed by 10 pm

❌ 4. Fast till 12:30 pm

❌ 5. Read

✔️ 6. Take my medication

 

Yesterday was a weird day... in the afternoon a train derailed on my route and thus I had to find an alternative route home.

Which isn't exactly a problem, done it a lot and there are many options. I went with the option of going to my BF's work and catching a ride with him.

Except I forgot something on the train, I did get back on the train to fetch it, but the train left the station 😅

Soooo... the route didn't go as planned, but I got home anyway

 

Then I got super hyped, because I found out I could watch His Dark Materials, which I didn't know 😮 so obviously I wanted to watch an episode of that.

Therefore I promptly forgot about the laundry, and other tasks I had/wanted to do. So come bedtime I felt disappointed in myself for forgetting all my good intentions.

 

Also I can't for the life of me remember to make time for meditation and reading. Meditation has been on the list for months and reading comes and goes. 

I am pleased that push-ups have been super easy to complete. I made the right call to ask for just 1. (I'm at wall push-ups btw)

Moving my meds to morning instead of evening also helps. I need to order new ones soon though.

 

I'm also realizing that keeping up with everyone's threads is not a realistic thing to want. I just don't have that kind of mental energy 😰😭

[Mrs Van]

2 hours ago, Siferiax said:

Therefore I promptly forgot about the laundry, and other tasks I had/wanted to do. So come bedtime I felt disappointed in myself for forgetting all my good intentions.

Still happens to me often. I become so engrossed with whatever I'm doing that I forget I've got washing going. Leads to later nights, or having to finish laundry the next day.

2 hours ago, Siferiax said:

I'm also realizing that keeping up with everyone's threads is not a realistic thing to want. I just don't have that kind of mental energy 😰😭

What some people do is to say they'll check in on certain threads on certain days, and only do it once a week. I have a couple of old friends whom I always check in on, and then two or three new people that I check in on once or twice a week. You don't have to check in on everyone everyday, that really becomes too much at times. Maybe say you'll do it one specific days, for a set amount of time, and then see what you can fit in when. Don't put yourself under stress about it, just do what you can.

 

I'm glad you got home safe and got what you forgot on the train.

[Siferiax]

1 hour ago, ElizeElvinFoxRyder said:

Still happens to me often. I become so engrossed with whatever I'm doing that I forget I've got washing going. Leads to later nights, or having to finish laundry the next day.

What some people do is to say they'll check in on certain threads on certain days, and only do it once a week. I have a couple of old friends whom I always check in on, and then two or three new people that I check in on once or twice a week. You don't have to check in on everyone everyday, that really becomes too much at times. Maybe say you'll do it one specific days, for a set amount of time, and then see what you can fit in when. Don't put yourself under stress about it, just do what you can.

 

I'm glad you got home safe and got what you forgot on the train.

I'm just gonna give you a hug, cause you're awesome! Thanks!

[Defining]

15 hours ago, Siferiax said:

I'm also realizing that keeping up with everyone's threads is not a realistic thing to want. I just don't have that kind of mental energy 😰😭

Do it if/when you can, don't worry about it otherwise! There are loads of us on here, you need to focus on YOUR goals, and then only help others' tracking when you have the brain space for it. And that's ok!

[Elastigirl]

I love how you've divided your goals for the year. Nice start to the challenge

[Siferiax]

On 1/3/2020 at 5:51 PM, Defining said:

Do it if/when you can, don't worry about it otherwise! There are loads of us on here, you need to focus on YOUR goals, and then only help others' tracking when you have the brain space for it. And that's ok!

Thank you  

 

On 1/4/2020 at 2:28 AM, Elastigirl said:

I love how you've divided your goals for the year. Nice start to the challenge

Thank you! I'm trying to be more focused this year. I have a ton more goals, but those are for after these ones  

 

Jan 3 Habits

❌ 1. Meditate

✔️ 2. Do 1 push-up (any progression)

3. Be in bed by 10 pm January 4th is a Saturday  

❌ 4. Fast till 12:30 pm

❌ 5. Read

✔️ 6. Take my medication

 

Managed to catch up on some tasks yesterday, but also not do the new task I wanted lol.

I've been meaning to buy new house socks for awhile now. There's a hole in my current ones. I just have to remember to go to the store after work and I keep forgetting

 

I didn't do Ring Fit Adventure yesterday, I was quite exhausted. I also didn't do so today. I feel like I'm slacking, but I'm not actually, because I do my push-up!

Often I have this feeling of just not wanting to exercise. Usually that goes away when I actually do exercise. It's just a lot of resistance to overcome on my own.

On Monday and Wednesday my BF generally drags me through it. Friday is a new day though, not yet in the regular schedule. So I try not to be too harsh, it'll come!

 

Today was free rune removal day in Summoner's War (mobile game, one day a month you can rebuild your units for free basically), so that was were most of my time went lol.

We did take old clothes and boxes / paper away to the dump. It had been piling in the basement for months now.

BF has been busy with his air ventilation system, so part of the lowered kitchen ceiling has been opened for that. I don't understand much of it and just trust him to do whatever is needed.

Last, but not least I got all planned laundry done today  

 

Gonna update my Bullet Journal and see what else to fill my evening with. Maybe get a snack... I ate wayyyyy too little. Though I did drink a lot of milk XD it would spoil otherwise.

We've been trying to work through Christmas leftovers before they spoil  unfortunately the last sausage we had was spicy so I couldn't have any  I got another type sausage we still had in storage though   but that was basically my only food aside from a little bit of leftover nuts.

 

Jan 4 Habits

✖️ 1. Meditate

✔️ 2. Do 1 push-up (any progression)

3. Be in bed by 10 pm weekend!

4. Fast till 12:30 pm weekend!

✖️ 5. Read

✔️ 6. Take my medication

[Siferiax]

Jan 5 Habits

✖️ 1. Meditate

✔️ 2. Do 1 push-up (any progression)

✔️ 3. Be in bed by 10 pm

4. Fast till 12:30 pm weekend!

✖️ 5. Read

✔️ 6. Take my medication

 

Had birthday of my nephew. I paid for that later in the evening. I had a piece of birthday cake. As well as a piece of bread with lunch. Ugh. In retrospect 2 things. 1. The cake is a lie, it doesn't taste as good as I wish it did. 2. Just because everyone is eating and just because all the non-carb food is spicy, doesn't mean I should eat the carb food. (I wasn't all that hungry, so much for listening to my body)

 

So just before bed I felt sick, including a massive headache I took a painkiller for. My BF and I are still puzzled why I get it this bad (he had the same without problems) and also what the cause is, due to the huge delay (about 10 hours) between consumption and sickness. We are 100% sure it is the carbs though. 

 

I did get all laundry folded yesterday too! Hooray!

 

In the evening I played Horizon Zero Dawn. Still on the fence about the game, I'm currently playing the DLC, already finished the main quest. I like the game, but I'm also very much done with it's nonsense. So I have done only a portion of content. I want to finish the DLC quests and be done with it.

 

Games that are waiting for me:

- Hollow Knight (it's awesome and frustrating and I suck at platforming lol)

- Yoshi's crafted world (Christmas present, it's adorable and fun!)

- Unravel TWO (it was super on sale in the Nintendo shop and I loved the first game)

- Divinity Original Sin 2 (I play this with BF and we recently picked it up again. We should finish this before we get the board game I guess lol)

- The Witcher 3 (again! But now on Death March from the start and trying to do everything)

 

But first... Another workweek. With a couple of late nights too. Because today I have a work meeting and tomorrow physical therapy.

[Wild Wolf]

On 12/31/2019 at 1:42 AM, Siferiax said:

We learned a lot. Managed a lot. And we're going strong to this day.

 

This is SUPER encouraging! Way to go

 

On 12/31/2019 at 1:42 AM, Siferiax said:

I feel the best I've felt in a long time.

 

Hellz yeah! I'm very proud of you, Sif!

 

On 12/31/2019 at 1:42 AM, Siferiax said:

Fast till 12:30 pm every work day

 

I want to be better at this on my non-training days. Maybe even ON my training days because the whole "eat/drink protein after a workout no less than one hour after" is kind of a myth. There's a lot of guys (and gals) who train hard and intermittent fast every day and still look fantastic.

 

Keep up the solid work. You're goals look not only awesome, but achievable as well. I truly believe you'll smash all of them and make 2020 one of your best years yet!

 

 

Wolf

[Siferiax]

Thanks Wolfie! Today I actually managed my fast. I've been having some tough times with it, but I powered through aversety today 💪🏼

 

[Siferiax]

Jan 6 Habits

✖️ 1. Meditate

✔️ 2. Do 1 push-up (any progression)

✖️ 3. Be in bed by 10 pm

✔️ 4. Fast till 12:30 pm

✖️ 5. Read

✔️ 6. Take my medication

 

I'm so miserable right now. I'm simple too tired to even talk about it right now. It also goes into TMI territory. 

 

[Siferiax]

Doing slightly better. Still not in the mood to type.

 

So... for those wondering how to put a train back on the track...

RE:

On 1/3/2020 at 10:33 AM, Siferiax said:

in the afternoon a train derailed on my route

 

(video doesn't have any text or dialog, so knowledge of Dutch is not required )

 

 

 

[Wild Wolf]

20 hours ago, Siferiax said:

Thanks Wolfie! Today I actually managed my fast. I've been having some tough times with it, but I powered through aversety today 💪🏼

 

 

I'm happy to hear you powered through adversity and was able to hit your fasting goal  

 

I'm sorry to hear that you've had a bit of a derailing though. It's unfortunate that not every day will be a successful day and that speed bumps and obstacles are going to constantly be there to throw us off our routine. Keep your chin up and I KNOW you'll come out the victor  

 

Wolf

[Rookie]

Hopefully you feel even better tomorrow. I am sorry you are feeling miserable

[Siferiax]

3 hours ago, Wild Wolf said:

I'm sorry to hear that you've had a bit of a derailing though.

Thank you! Not so much a derailing as I'm just not feeling well. 

 

2 hours ago, Rookie said:

Hopefully you feel even better tomorrow. I am sorry you are feeling miserable

Thanks!! I hope it passes soon.

 

Physical therapy went good today. I got my new soles! And it was the last session too

 

I was reading the NF pull-up guide. I'm thinking of what to do. I want to get to push-ups and pull-ups this year. For now I'm doing 1 wall push-up every day. Which is just the right amount to build a habit / momentum. So I feel maybe next month I could add a pull-up progression of 1 to that

 

My internal distress has lessened, even though my belly is still not comfortable. Almost home though, gonna relax a bit tonight I think. Exercise has already been done.

[Siferiax]

Jan 7 Habits

✖️ 1. Meditate

✔️ 2. Do 1 push-up (any progression)

✔️ 3. Be in bed by 10 pm

✔️ 4. Fast till 12:30 pm

✖️ 5. Read

✔️ 6. Take my medication

 

Habits are very consistent in the not meditating and not reading department 😂

Otherwise I feel I got this!

 

So last night was a terrible night and now I'm late for work because I definitely did not manage to get out of bed at 6:30. At 7:12 I was sorta ready to get up.

I had to run out of bed several times during the night. It kept being false alarm though -sigh-.

It's ok. I can be in later at work, our work times are not fixed. 

[Mrs Van]

9 hours ago, Siferiax said:

Habits are very consistent in the not meditating and not reading department 😂

Otherwise I feel I got this!

 

So last night was a terrible night and now I'm late for work because I definitely did not manage to get out of bed at 6:30. At 7:12 I was sorta ready to get up.

I had to run out of bed several times during the night. It kept being false alarm though -sigh-.

It's ok. I can be in later at work, our work times are not fixed. 

Sometimes we have to concentrate only on one or two habits at a time. You are rather consistent on three already, which is great!

 

I hope you feel better soon.

 

When I have something with gluten for the first time after I haven't had gluten for... two or three weeks, I have terrible tummy cramps. My youngest son gets a rash on his arms or legs a couple hours later. Neither the doctor or homeopath can tell us why, and we're not allergic. We just now know this is how it is, so we try to deal with it accordingly.

Hang in there, you are doing great.

[Rookie]

10 hours ago, Siferiax said:

It's ok. I can be in later at work, our work times are not fixed. 

It still makes for a bad start to the day because then you need to stay a bit later and you are already more tired than usual. You have my sympathies. It is never easy when our bodies are not 100% on our side. 

 

Do you currently have a book picked out?

[Siferiax]

1 hour ago, ElizeElvinFoxRyder said:

Sometimes we have to concentrate only on one or two habits at a time. You are rather consistent on three already, which is great!

 

I hope you feel better soon.

 

When I have something with gluten for the first time after I haven't had gluten for... two or three weeks, I have terrible tummy cramps. My youngest son gets a rash on his arms or legs a couple hours later. Neither the doctor or homeopath can tell us why, and we're not allergic. We just now know this is how it is, so we try to deal with it accordingly.

Hang in there, you are doing great.

The push-up and medication I try to do first thing in the morning, so that helps. I also update my BuJo with habits in the morning and if I hadn't remembered, my BuJo reminds me and I do them instantly. The other habits are less easy. The bedtime works because I go to bed together with my BF and we remind each other.

 

Oh that's too bad. I can fortunately eat whatever I want, safe for some negative side effects that are temporary. 

My problems are most likely caused by my strict adherence to taking my medication 😅

So yeah I feel better now.

 

29 minutes ago, Rookie said:

It still makes for a bad start to the day because then you need to stay a bit later and you are already more tired than usual. You have my sympathies. It is never easy when our bodies are not 100% on our side. 

 

Do you currently have a book picked out?

True, though I was ultimately only 15 minutes later at work. Which surprised me. I ended up staying nearly an hour later than normal though. 

 

I have several books I'm reading

- Stillness is the key, but to be honest I'm totally put off by this book. It gets praised everywhere, but it's really a disappointment to me.

- A song of ice and fire: A dance of dragons. I really should continue with it.

- The Supernaturalist (I don't know if that's actually the English title, I have this book in Dutch while I mostly read English these days)

 

I also want to reread the bullet journal method. I got the physical copy for Christmas ♥️ I really want to physically be able to note things down in it.

And tomorrow the first 2 books of the Witcher will arrive (at my parents), so stoked to start reading those!