Lateral Planet: Out of the Fire, into the Frying Pan

[mitch_dee]

22 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

peanut M&Ms

My kryptonite 

22 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

too much Chinese food

There is NO such thing as too much Chinese food!!!!

Hope you enjoy the concert!!!!

[Lateral Planet]

48 minutes ago, mitch_dee said:

There is NO such thing as too much Chinese food!!!!

Hope you enjoy the concert!!!!

You're right, it was really the combination of a late lunch and an early dinner that did me in. It was so delicious though!

 

The concert was great! A little delayed due to a thunderstorm but no rock stars were electrocuted so it was a good night out 😅

[Lateral Planet]

Week Zero is over so here's a quick overview of how it's gone. Mostly I was just feeling things out, and I'm feeling positive about this challenge so far.

 

1) Intermittent fasting = 4/7

Mostly good here, I'm getting back into the groove

 

2) Track everything = 7/7

So far so good, I left the notebook at work so I haven't been colour coding over the weekend, but I've still been tracking

 

3) Exercise three times a week = Nope

I've been focused on nutrition stuff this week and haven't worried about exercise

 

4) Overcome adversity = Yep

I did have a rough week at work but I didn't overdo the chocolate to make myself feel better

[Lateral Planet]

Zero Week turned out quite well for me, I lost over a kilo! It's amazing the difference a little mindfulness makes. I think this is the first week this year where I've actually had a loss, so I bought myself a present to celebrate: a whetstone kit so I can learn to sharpen my kitchen knives properly. Then if I get good at that I'm going to get myself a really fancy knife next year to cheer myself up about turning 30 😅

 

Planning to do some exercise this week; I'm back on a regular 9 to 5 schedule so I should have some energy left over. Might take the puppy orienteering tonight as long as the weather holds out. It's been great having so much rain but it does tend to spoil any outdoorsy plans.

[Lateral Planet]

Monday was a win as far as intermittent fasting goes, although for lunch I had chips and gravy, which isn't healthy by any stretch of the imagination. Making up for it by cooking a curry for dinner, and then I'll have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. 

 

I did some exercise today! For the first time in two months, the sky was clear enough for me to go orienteering; I kept having to miss out due to the bushfire smoke. I very nearly pulled a muscle in my butt trying to run at one point, but I slowed down as soon as I felt a twinge. I expect to be a little sore tomorrow anyway.

[Tateman]

Good to hear you had some clear sky there. I know it has been really bad there. 

[mitch_dee]

10 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

although for lunch I had chips and gravy

For future avoidance just post mark them to me

 

10 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

For the first time in two months, the sky was clear enough

 

10 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

I very nearly pulled a muscle in my butt trying to run at one point

I suggest butt rubs

[Lateral Planet]

1 hour ago, Tateman said:

Good to hear you had some clear sky there. I know it has been really bad there. 

It's been lousy, but all the fires near me are finally over so I can breathe again! Now I just need to find the energy to get back into running. I fired up the Zombies Run app yesterday but apparently my GPS was a bit screwy. It said we did over 10 kilometers in an hour, when realistically we probably did four. Maybe it was trying to give me an ego boost

[Lateral Planet]

1 hour ago, mitch_dee said:

I suggest butt rubs

So far so good, I managed to get up the stairs to the office this morning without complaint (besides having to be at work at all). I'll try to make use of my sit/stand desk today so my muscles don't all seize up by the time I have to go down the stairs again. Also I dread to think where you found that gif

[Lateral Planet]

Broke my fast early today because it's Cheeseday! It's only once a month so I figured I could make an exception. Also I had an annoying day at work and allowing myself to indulge in healthy snacks like cheese and crackers prevented me going to the vending machine for a feel-good KitKat.

 

Unfortunately, lunch was not so satisfying. The curry didn't turn out the way I wanted; it was beef massaman but I've just never been able to get the really tender melt-in-your-mouth beef like you get at restaurants. And unsurprisingly tough beef doesn't microwave very well either, so it was a bit disappointing. But I persevered and did not give into the temptation to chuck it in the bin and have chips again.

 

Back to good news: I did some exercises just now. It's a gorgeous bright shiny day right now but the forecast is severe storms and hail (again!?) and I really don't want to risk being outside when/if it hits, so instead I did some planks and pushups in the living room. Still no soreness from yesterday either so things are looking up.

[Lateral Planet]

It turns out Tuesday was really good nutrition-wise. I just caught up on my food log and there was only one red item, and that was just a cup of tea. I made a real effort to resist further snacking to compensate for breaking my fast early, and it resulted in the greenest day so far!

 

I'm a bit restless today. As I was getting ready for work this morning I really noticed just how messy the house has gotten, and now I'm here doing not much of anything while there's so much to be done at home! Unfortunately, "I really need to do my laundry" is not a great reason for a day off so I'm just sitting here writing up tidying to-do lists for when I get home.

[Lateral Planet]

Thursday night heralds my first big nutritional blow-out. It's puppy's chemo day and Husband's turn to do dinner so it's Maccas. I'm lazy on the couch with a sleeping puppy in my lap and a chocolate frappe in my hand, no regrets! Back on my best behaviour tomorrow. 

[Rybach]

2 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

Thursday night heralds my first big nutritional blow-out. It's puppy's chemo day and Husband's turn to do dinner so it's Maccas. I'm lazy on the couch with a sleeping puppy in my lap and a chocolate frappe in my hand, no regrets! Back on my best behaviour tomorrow. 

I love it! The occasional blow-out should be a purposeful built-in behavior you don't regret, and a lazy evening on the couch with a puppy and chocolate sounds amazeballs...

[Tateman]

10 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

Thursday night heralds my first big nutritional blow-out. It's puppy's chemo day and Husband's turn to do dinner so it's Maccas. I'm lazy on the couch with a sleeping puppy in my lap and a chocolate frappe in my hand, no regrets! Back on my best behaviour tomorrow. 

I got a email talking about the Shamrock shake celebrating 50 years. I do enjoy me some shamrock shake, and the new oreo shamrock mcflurry looks like it would be quite excellent. It did make me question if I should get one or not. Only limited time and all   

Hopefully, the Pup is doing ok.

[Lateral Planet]

7 hours ago, Rybach said:

I love it! The occasional blow-out should be a purposeful built-in behavior you don't regret, and a lazy evening on the couch with a puppy and chocolate sounds amazeballs...

Exactly right! Usually I try to resist the allure of chicken nuggets, but this is exceptional circumstances so I refuse to let myself feel bad about it. Husband fully intended to cook last night, we had all the ingredients and everything, but at the end of a long day he just wanted drive-thru and I wasn't about to say no. And the occasional frappe isn't the end of the world

 

2 minutes ago, Tateman said:

I got a email talking about the Shamrock shake celebrating 50 years. I do enjoy me some shamrock shake, and the new oreo shamrock mcflurry looks like it would be quite excellent. It did make me question if I should get one or not. Only limited time and all   

Hopefully, the Pup is doing ok.

I've heard about those but we don't get them here so I'll have to take your word for it; that McFlurry sounds amazing! I'm still kicking myself for not trying a pumpkin spice latte when I was in America, but it was just too hot for lattes 

 

Pup is doing just fine, thanks! He just needs one night to sleep off the anaesthetic and now he's already bouncing off the walls like a crazy boy 

[mitch_dee]

hooray for happy puppers!!

[Lateral Planet]

So I kind of fell off the face of the earth the last few days, oops! I would like to think that that chocolate frappe I had on Thursday wasn't a gateway to bad behaviour, but I'll make a note to be more mindful next time I have one. I also suspect that the change in routine that comes with the weekend disrupted the good pattern I had set during the work week. Anyway, here's a quick recap of what I can recall of Week 1:

 

1) Intermittent fasting = 2/7

Two days I fasted 16 hours, four days was 15 hours, and one was 14 hours. So it's not a terrible result but not quite a 16:8 pattern

 

2) Track everything = 4/7

Failed to track Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I can remember most of what I had but there's bound to be stuff I'm forgetting 

 

3) Exercise three times a week = Yep

Two nice long walks and one batch of home exercises

 

4) Overcome adversity = Yep

I'll be honest, I did have a fair amount of junk food this week but none of it was in an attempt to cheer myself up about something; it was always a considered decision. I wanted ice cream, so I had some.

[Lateral Planet]

This week presents some unique challenges, most of which stem from my crazy work schedule of 12+ hour days. I'm getting to work a smidge early just so the commute and the parking situation are easier, and then just relaxing in a comfy chair with a book for an hour before my shift starts. This will hopefully prevent me burning out too soon.

 

I hoped I'd be able to finish work at around 8:30 most days and have dinner at home, but that didn't work out on Monday. Had to tell Husband to fend for himself and I made myself a noodle soup once I eventually got home, at which time I was simply ravenous. I was nearly tempted to grab some Maccas on the way home, but I decided if I wasn't able to stick to a fasting schedule at least I would have something slightly healthy.

 

Today I've prepared a bit better by bringing some crackers and dip to snack on at work, just in case I can't get out on time and have to have another late dinner. That should stop me getting hangry at least. Also I have some delicious homemade pumpkin, sweet potato and bacon soup for lunches. Fingers crossed I'll get out of here at a reasonable hour but I might have to formulate a dinner back-up plan.

[Lateral Planet]

This week has been a serious rollercoaster; I've basically been in survival mode for the last several days. No time or energy for exercise but my nutrition goals were going strong, apart from Wednesday, when I didn't have time for a proper lunch and had to settle for a few crackers and dip.

 

Thursday and Friday, however, my goal to not eat my feelings went totally out the window. Suddenly puppy was behaving like he was in a lot of pain, so of course we were distraught. But by the time we got him to the vet the next day to get checked out he was totally fine again! Of course we'd assumed the cancer was getting to him, but apparently he probably just had a lot of uncomfortably trapped wind or something and sorted himself out while we were at work 😅

 

There's another crazy work week coming up so this weekend I need to do a bunch more food prep, and also take a lot more sleep because after all the upheaval of last week I'm physically and emotionally exhausted down to the bone. We've got tickets to see a musical tonight so that should go a long way to perking me up again!

[Lateral Planet]

Saturday went pretty well but Sunday was lousy. I just completely failed to motivate myself and as a result the whole day was a wipeout.

 

How I spent Sunday:

Out of bed at 10am. Felt like baking a cake but didn't have the ingredients. Needed to meal prep but didn't have ingredients. Lazed about with Netflix waiting for Husband to wake up, which was well after midday. By then I've started feeling grumpy about how busy the week will be, but I haven't gotten off my butt to do something about it. Then more Netflix waiting to go grocery shopping, eventually after 3pm. By then my hunger for lunch had subsided so I just had some chips. Meal prep and wash dishes grumpily, then more couch time til dinner time, more dishes, more couch time and then sleep. Total non-starter.

 

How I should have spent Sunday:

Out of bed at 10am, refreshing wake-up shower. Go to shops, Husband can do his own darn shopping when he wakes up. Meal prep. Make cake. While that's in the oven do the dishes and maybe some laundry or tidying up or something. Maybe even have energy to take puppy for a walk. Then even if I did spend the afternoon on Netflix I wouldn't feel grumpy about it because I'd had a productive morning.

 

Basically it boils down to Husband and I being on different sleep schedules and not effectively planning around it. I just have to accept that I've become a morning person nowadays, and if I don't grab ahold of that morning energy it'll leave without me and leave me in a slump for the rest of the day.

 

Anyway the next weekend is a long weekend and I fully intend to prepare for it so I don't spoil it like I did yesterday.

[Jupiter]

3 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

Anyway the next weekend is a long weekend and I fully intend to prepare for it so I don't spoil it like I did yesterday.

 

[Rybach]

3 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

Anyway the next weekend is a long weekend and I fully intend to prepare for it so I don't spoil it like I did yesterday.

 

[Lateral Planet]

Thanks, chums! Still a long way to go til the weekend but I'm managing OK with my nutrition goals, which are really the only active goals at the moment. With these stupidly long work days I'm skipping exercise to conserve my energy to prevent an early burnout. But I've been eating pretty well, had a little chocolate here and there but only enough to motivate myself.

[NightWatcher13]

On 2/18/2020 at 1:22 AM, Lateral Planet said:

Broke my fast early today because it's Cheeseday! It's only once a month so I figured I could make an exception. Also I had an annoying day at work and allowing myself to indulge in healthy snacks like cheese and crackers prevented me going to the vending machine for a feel-good KitKat.

 

Unfortunately, lunch was not so satisfying. The curry didn't turn out the way I wanted; it was beef massaman but I've just never been able to get the really tender melt-in-your-mouth beef like you get at restaurants. And unsurprisingly tough beef doesn't microwave very well either, so it was a bit disappointing. But I persevered and did not give into the temptation to chuck it in the bin and have chips again.

So, for those fall-apart-meat dishes, long time + low heat + moisture is your BFF. Or pressure if you have a pressure cooker, which can speed things up and still do a good job. But you want to put the meat (and preferably something with some tough connective tissue, like a chuck roast) in a slow cooker or low-temp oven with some broth, water or wine, some spices and tough veggies, and forget it exists for the next several hours. Either that or until it smells up the house and you have to pull it out and devour the whole thing 'cause it smells amazing...

 

Also, cheeseday sounds like a holiday I need in my life!!!

 

On 2/24/2020 at 4:53 PM, Lateral Planet said:

This week presents some unique challenges, most of which stem from my crazy work schedule of 12+ hour days. I'm getting to work a smidge early just so the commute and the parking situation are easier, and then just relaxing in a comfy chair with a book for an hour before my shift starts. This will hopefully prevent me burning out too soon.

 

I hoped I'd be able to finish work at around 8:30 most days and have dinner at home, but that didn't work out on Monday. Had to tell Husband to fend for himself and I made myself a noodle soup once I eventually got home, at which time I was simply ravenous. I was nearly tempted to grab some Maccas on the way home, but I decided if I wasn't able to stick to a fasting schedule at least I would have something slightly healthy.

 

Today I've prepared a bit better by bringing some crackers and dip to snack on at work, just in case I can't get out on time and have to have another late dinner. That should stop me getting hangry at least. Also I have some delicious homemade pumpkin, sweet potato and bacon soup for lunches. Fingers crossed I'll get out of here at a reasonable hour but I might have to formulate a dinner back-up plan.

That sounds rough, I hear you on the crazy 12+ hour day schedule. Hopefully you're able to take some mental breaks and give yourself some space to help avoid the burnout stuff

[Lateral Planet]

Phew, I made it to the weekend! Since it's been a few days I'll just cover the highlights of the week. 

 

I managed to do two hours of overtime each day without burning out, although I was certainly feeling exhausted by Thursday and Friday. Apart from payday, what kept me motivated was the promise of a fun night out with friends on Friday as part of an annual city festival, which basically meant gorging myself on Asian street food. So worth it!

 

Taking lessons from last weekend, I have had a very productive Saturday. I got up and showered fairly early, then went to the bank to switch to my married name, filled some prescriptions and did a slightly bigger than usual (but definitely not panic-buying*) grocery shop. In the afternoon we went to see a movie, then remembered it's six months since our wedding so we stopped at a restaurant for dinner for a treat. No languishing on the couch for me today! Now I just need to replicate these results the next two days and apply some energy to tidying up the house a bit.

 

*In other news, coronavirus seems to have everyone spooked here and for some reason they're focusing on emptying the shops of toilet paper. Very awkward for those of us who just happened to be running low this week! Anyway we usually are lazy and just buy what we need for the next day or two, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a few extra things on hand. The nearest confirmed case is a three-hour drive away, so I'm not too worried, but with my asthma the flu really packs a wallop and I really don't want to deal with that if I don't have to!