[Rebel Pilot Gar] Blasting off Again!

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

RPG's Blasting off Again!

 

I mentioned last challenge that I was debating a respawn. New name and everything. Decided to keep the name, but letting the Star Wars theme rest for a little bit. Going with a Pokemon theme instead since I've lately been playing Pokemon Go and have been replaying the 3DS games lately. I will admit I spent more time playing with the sprites than brainstorming challenge goals, I guess that's what week 0 is for? 🤣

 

My workplace is not yet closed due to COVID-19 (part of the exceptions to shelter in place mandate), but my role should allow me to work remotely the majority of the time. I plan to WFH as often as possible because this is pretty frightening and the local cases continue to rise & creep closer to home. Stay safe, follow social distancing and wash your hands friends!

 

Post-Week 1 Goals ReFrame:

 

Objective: Daily update/ check-in. (+1 point daily)

 

Themes:

1) Healthy Sleep Schedule - When did I go to bed / wake up. Do I feel rested or was it difficult to get out of bed?

2) Daily Movement - Continue daily 1+ mile dog walks because those are awesome. Also post any additional movement type stuff done.

3) Alcohol - Report back how I did with the following:

• Wait until after drinking 1.5 L water (Y/N)
• Wait until after 5PM (my time... not 5 o'clock somewhere ) (Y/N)
• Did I drink 0.5 L between each alcoholic drink (Y/N)
• # Alcoholic drinks

4) Mindfulness - Mention one thing that made me happy today

 

Still the same goals, but a different / more mindful approach (I think, at least...). Less of a "If I don't follow, I will mentally beat myself up" and more of a "1% better every day" approach. 

 

Loot (25+ Points): Sloth keeps talking about kettlebells and now I kind of want one. What's a good starter weight to mix in with bodyweight training??? Was looking at these: https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-kettlebells but any other recommendations (easily available in the US) are welcome!

 

Archived Goals:

 

 

1) Bedtime & Wake-Up Schedule

 

• BEDTIME
  • Weeknights (Sunday - Thursday): In bed 10PM, Horizontal, eyes closed, devices off by 10:30PM
  • Weekend Nights (Friday & Saturday): Horizontal, eyes closed, devices off by midnight
• WAKE UP & GET OUT OF BED
  • Weekdays (Monday - Friday): Out of bed at 6:30,  or by 7AM for WFH. Schedules are important. 
  • Weekends (Saturday - Sunday): Awake by 9:00 AM
• Data Collection Device: Garmin (pasted into spreadsheet)

 

2) Daily Movement & Training

• DAILY DOG WALKS
  • Weekdays: Start by 7:30. 1+ mile on WFH days
  • Weekends: 1+ mile at some point in the day. Work up to 2 mile route. 
• DAILY MOVEMENT (STEPS) GOALS
  • Weekdays: 6,000 steps/day
  • Weekends: 7,500 steps/day
• Workout 3 days/ weekly (TBD - but prob NF Beginner Bodyweight Workout)
• Data Collection Device: Garmin (pasted into spreadsheet)

 

3) Alcohol

• RULES:
  • No Alcoholic drinks until after:
    • Drink 1.5 Liters Water
    • Time = 5PM
  • Limit: 2 servings/day (may be adjusted)
    • Must drink minimum 0.5 Liters Water between each drink.
  • Seltzer/carbonated water counts as water as long as no alcohol is added to it  
• Data Collection Device: Spreadsheet / Honest Forum Updates

 

Progress Tracking with Pokemon!

 

I want to give a shot with gamifying the goals -- by leveling Pokemon based on if I do well (or not). 

 

Was curious about in-game leveling and went down the Bulbapedia rabbit-hole reading about it.

 

So apparently different Pokemon species grow at different rates. Two of the pokemon I chose are in the "Slow" group, and one is in the "Medium Fast" group. But the leveling curve makes it quick to get to level 50 and quite a grind after that. Knowing myself, I'd lose motivation past the first 10%. Here's the % of total breakdown if anyone's curious. 
 

LEVEL	Medium Fast	Slow	% of Total
47	103,823	129,778	10.4%
59	205,379	256,723	20.5%
67	300,763	375,953	30.1%
74	405,224	506,530	40.5%
80	512,000	640,000	51.2%
85	614,125	767,656	61.4%
89	704,969	881,211	70.5%
93	804,357	1,005,446	80.4%
97	912,673	1,140,841	91.3%
100	1,000,000	1,250,000	100.0%

 

So instead of any of that, I'll just break each level into even chunks whatever total amount makes sense based on the "exp gain" of working towards each goal. Still figuring all that out, but I made pretty sprites for each of the pokemon (all dogs / dog-like). They're also a lot smaller than I thought, so I'm going to see if I can scale them up without making everything look weird/fuzzy. 

 

Bed/Wake Schedule: Leia the Houndour

• 
• Experience -- TBD

 

Daily Movement & Exercise: Luke the Poochyena

• 
• Experience -- TBD

 

Alcohol Minimization: Han the Growlithe

• 
• Experience - TBD

 

 

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

References & Stuff
 

Outdoor Adventure Tips (aka stay home and explore the neighborhood)

https://lnt.org/the-leave-no-trace-recommendations-for-getting-outside-amidst-covid-19/
 

 

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

You’re letting the Star Wars theme rest?!? I don’t even know how to process that.

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

11 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

You’re letting the Star Wars theme rest?!? I don’t even know how to process that.

You’re right... maybe I should name the Pokémon Han, Luke and Leia....

 

If it helps im wearing Star Wars T-shirts and PJs while working from home.

[Starpuck]

Nice set up girl!  Sounds awesome.

Following along for sure!

 

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

Week 0 Update: 

 

Giving my goals a “test run” because I started working from home this week. Better to start new routine immediately than go crazy and try to enforce it later. Here’s my initial thoughts from first 2 weekdays.

 

Bed/Wake Times: 

• Bedtime is fine
• Debating on pushing wake up time to 6:45 or 7:00. Realistically my goal is to kick the habit of ignoring/snoozing my alarm. So hopefully giving myself the extra 30 min of sleep (that I’d probably snooze for anyway) helps me make progress.
• Will try 7am tomorrow and see how it goes. BF will probably thank me also for lessening the snooze monster

Movement:

• Not too worried about the daily dog walk distance unless weather is bad (pouring rain/sleet). Just need to find the right route. Today was just under a mile. Yesterday was rainy/sleety and we sprinted home getting pelted by shards of ice. 
• Need to figure out how to get more steps in. If I thought I didn’t move enough at work, I can’t even use getting water as an excuse to walk because it’s 10 steps away. Maybe extra dog walk around lunch unless neighbors have the same idea.

Alcohol: 

• This one is tough.
• Water drinking is going well, even if I’m angrily drinking my water 
• Debating dropping daily drinks limit for now and just really focusing 1000% attention on these rules:

1. Nothing until after both 5PM & 1.5 liters water
2. Must consume 0.5L water between drinks

Most days I think (hope?) the extra water will discourage drink #3.

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

Yesterday was a bad alcohol day. Was having anxiety issues and short-fuse throughout the day. Then we went on a supply run which didn’t help the anxiety bit. 
 

Today will be a better day. Weather is better too so planning to go for an evening family walk since that is still allowed.

 

I also caved and after 2 weeks of telling myself I don’t need a Nintendo switch ordered one online because the Animal Crossing hype is too strong. 
 

Maybe I can call it a present to myself for new job? (Oh yeah that interview I went for a couple weeks ago, I got the job! No idea when I transition because of quarantine, but I signed papers so it’s official and everything  )

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

Also, Amazon Audible opened up some stories for free streaming. Much of the collection is geared toward tiny humans, but they have a decent selection of classics also. 
 

Call of the Wild, Les Misérables, Frankenstein, some stuff by Shakespeare, Austen, the Bronte sisters, etc

 

Not a terrible list for those mourning the lack of library access  

[Starpuck]

Grats on the job shift!  That's awesome.

I totally grok the supply run being a source of anxiety.   So go easy on yourself for any effects on the goals that translated to.

 

My nephew whom I game with has been suckered into that... I opted for splurging on the Gorilla Bow for fitness instead.   After all, I did just drop $400 on a VR headset.  I think my gaming fund is bottomed out for a while lol!

 

 

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

On 3/26/2020 at 4:30 PM, Starpuck said:

Grats on the job shift!  That's awesome.

I totally grok the supply run being a source of anxiety.   So go easy on yourself for any effects on the goals that translated to.

 

My nephew whom I game with has been suckered into that... I opted for splurging on the Gorilla Bow for fitness instead.   After all, I did just drop $400 on a VR headset.  I think my gaming fund is bottomed out for a while lol!

 

 

 

That's fair! Seems like the VR headset and new game are giving you a lot of enjoyment & a workout. Sadly not as great to curl up on the couch around the device (my excuse is it's raining really hard outside and I already ran + run/walked the dog.)

 

We're coming up to due for another supply run (never noticed how quickly fresh produce goes off when I was shopping every 2-3 days). We have plenty of oranges, carrots, onions and some frozen mixed veg options I grabbed during the last run. But it's really different thinking about meal plans than what we're used to. Trying to decide whether to brave the store again or see what other options are out there. 

 

There are a ton of cases in NJ, NY, CT area which doesn't help with the concern. But as a household of introverts we're managing pretty well the "stay at home" thing  

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

Tracking spreadsheet:

 

2020	NF Challenge 29 March - 2 May
Goals:	BEDTIME	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Grade
10:30PM Sun-Thur	Week 0	n/a	22:26	22:37	22:52	23:12	n/a	22:59	example
12AM Fri & Sat	Week 1
	Week 2
Grading:	Week 3
Pass / Fail	Week 4
	Week 5
Goals:	WAKETIME	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Grade
6:30AM Work	Week 0	n/a	n/a	7:01	7:06	7:03	7:08	n/a	example
7AM WFH	Week 1	9:33
9AM Weekend	Week 2
	Week 3
Grading:	Week 4
Pass / Fail	Week 5
Goals:	DAILY STEPS	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Grade
6K Mon-Fri	Week 0	7710	3789	6059	4776	7475	1599	1872	example
7.5K Sat & Sun	Week 1								0.0%
	Week 2								0.0%
Grading:	Week 3								0.0%
% of Goal	Week 4								0.0%
Bonus for STR workouts	Week 5								0.0%
	Day of Week Avg	7,710	3,789	6,059	4,776	7,475	1,599	1,872
Rules:	Alcohol	Sun	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Grade
Wait until 5PM	Week 0	??	Yes / 2	Yes / 2	No / 3	No / 3	No / 3	Yes / 2	example
Drink 1.5L Water First	Week 1
Drink 0.5L Water between	Week 2
Grading:	Week 3
Follow Rules = Pass/Fail	Week 4
# Drinks = Bonus <2	Week 5

[Starpuck]

Mmmm spreadsheets.  

🥰

 

Yeah, I've found I am way less picky with food right now.  Left overs 4 days in a row! Yup!  Nothing goes to waste!  Hah.

The pupper + Animal Crossing sounds pretty awesome.    My brother is apparently addicted so it was really tempting to get on a waiting list for one.  LOL

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

5 hours ago, Starpuck said:

Mmmm spreadsheets.  

🥰

 

Yeah, I've found I am way less picky with food right now.  Left overs 4 days in a row! Yup!  Nothing goes to waste!  Hah.

The pupper + Animal Crossing sounds pretty awesome.    My brother is apparently addicted so it was really tempting to get on a waiting list for one.  LOL

Im channeling all of my tracker energy into spreadsheets because I don’t have the energy to keep up with bullet journal consistently anymore 🙃

 

Honestly for me it was just a matter of time. I’ve played the games with my sibling since GameCube days. I just don’t like the push for daily check ins. That’ll start to wear on me once the hype dies down

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

Format for Quick update Copy/Pasting :

• Bed:
• Wake:
• Dog Walk >1 mile:
• Steps:
• Alcohol:

W1D1 Sunday:

• Bed: Good (Saturday night)
• Wake: Not good - got out of bed around 11am
• Dog Walk >1 mile: Really good - we went for a run
• Steps: need to check exact #s but probably good
• Alcohol: Not good - broke all the rules. 2 beers, 1 vodka soda, 1 or 2 servings scotch. Basically just mindless refilling while gaming after the run

W1D2 Monday:

• Bed: Not great (Sunday night). Went to bed late and was super wired/had trouble sleeping
• Wake: Not good - out of bed 7:30
• Dog Walk >1 mile: Good - 1.25 miles. Didn’t go out by 7:30 though.
• Steps: need to check exact #s but probably good
• Alcohol: Good. Followed the rules, had 2 beers with a water in between. Resisted the urge to grab a 3rd drink

Work anxiety was high yesterday. Had a couple panic attacks so that’s always fun. Yay end of month craziness.

[Starpuck]

Man your formatting makes me swoon so much.     So, do you do this in another program and then copy and paste the table in?    I kind of want to do a digital tracking method for this challenge, and want to keep my updates on my posts more concise.    

 

 

Just try and reset yourself each morning for a better go at the goals, eh?   Be encouraging to yourself to improve, but gentle on yourself for what's in the past.  We all need to be as kind as we can be to ourselves and others, eh?     And pupper probably loves that the goal involving him has been doing well.  Hehe.

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

45 minutes ago, Starpuck said:

Man your formatting makes me swoon so much.     So, do you do this in another program and then copy and paste the table in?    I kind of want to do a digital tracking method for this challenge, and want to keep my updates on my posts more concise.    

 

Aaah thanks 😊 

 

I use google drive spreadsheets and copy/ paste it in.
 

The spreadsheets behave better on laptop than phone/tablet so I will do the big update on weekends unless I turn the laptop on...

 

52 minutes ago, Starpuck said:

Just try and reset yourself each morning for a better go at the goals, eh?   Be encouraging to yourself to improve, but gentle on yourself for what's in the past.  We all need to be as kind as we can be to ourselves and others, eh?     And pupper probably loves that the goal involving him has been doing well.  Hehe.

Thanks. 1% better every day, yeah? Probably good advice for everyone now that normal has been tossed out the window.

 

I think the dog’s reaction half and half. He likes the extra quality outside time but we’re both really sick of our neighborhood routes lol. 
 

The other day he sat next to the car and needed to be bribed with treats to continue walking. Been about 2 weeks now since we went on a hiking adventure or to the park...

 

 

[Starpuck]

What a cute pic!! 

Google spreadsheets.  (I suck at spreadsheets.  I will poke at this!)

 

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

my phone is charging so I’ll finish update tomorrow morning, just wanted to get something logged. Updated.

 

W1D3 (Tues)

• Bed: good (22:13 Monday night)
• Wake: 7:08 am
• Dog Walk >1 mile: 1.2 miles 8:40 am
• Steps: 3426
• Alcohol: 2 beers. Followed the rules, did good things

W1D4 (Wed)

• Bed: not tracked, but probably around 23:30.
• Wake: Late. Around 7:45am. But I didn’t wear garmin to bed so not sure exact time
• Dog Walk >1 mile: Woke up super late so only a quick walk before logging into work. But we did 1.2 miles for lunch. Then after work I went for a run (1.5 miles, no dog) followed by a cool down walk (not tracked, just an easy stroll since it was nice out) 
• Steps: 8711
• Alcohol: 1 beer, 1 whisky. Followed 5pm/1.5L rule. It’s getting easier. I didn’t quite drink 0.5 liters between drinks though. 

Struggling to concentrate on work past couple days. I have a lot of stuff to do, but we’re expected to stay on top of IMs and Emails and I just personally struggle to get things done when I’m also fielding requests for updates

 

I recognize that I’m fortunate that 98% of my job can be done from home. Currently frustrated because I had one of those family phone call check ins with a relative who... is really good at pushing my buttons/ backhanded compliments. Which I should will just let go and not allow it to eat at me. Maybe I should add journaling to my goals this challenge 😂

 

Plan for tomorrow: look over past couple day’s to do lists, consolidate lingering items. Prioritize. And then hyper-focus, work down the list in order. If I’m struggling to make progress, ask for help (boss, teammates, etc). Maybe reach out to the work EAP again. 

[Starpuck]

Nice couple of days there Rebel!     I have a family member that is also not very supportive in some things.   And I live with them!   And so yeah.   Really having to work hard to push out some of the snide comments.  Ugh.     But hey, You Are Doing Great!  And You are a Wonderful Person!  (I just cast Counterspell on the Commentators that bug us, see?) 

 

Good plan for the morrow.   Which might be today... hah!  You got this.

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

I actually scrapped operation productive Thursday and took a sick day. Went for a walk, read for a while, did some cleaning and just generally relaxed. We did a “happy hour” video call with some friends and sat outside. It was nice and much needed. 
 

Just have to grind out some work today and catch up, but in a much better frame of mind today.

 

Planning to adjust the goals this weekend for the challenge. They are really good goals, but I think there’s too much going on in each individual goal. I’d like to simplify it and add some “focus on the good” bits.

 

So less of track all of the things and more of be a little bit better each day type of mindset.

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

On 3/22/2020 at 9:11 PM, Rebel Pilot Gar said:

Post-Week 1 Goals ReFrame:

 

Objective: Daily update/ check-in. (+1 point daily)

 

Themes:

1) Healthy Sleep Schedule - When did I go to bed / wake up. Do I feel rested or was it difficult to get out of bed?

2) Daily Movement - Continue daily 1+ mile dog walks because those are awesome. Also post any additional movement type stuff done.

3) Alcohol - Report back how I did with the following:

• Wait until after drinking 1.5 L water (Y/N)
• Wait until after 5PM (my time... not 5 o'clock somewhere ) (Y/N)
• Did I drink 0.5 L between each alcoholic drink (Y/N)
• # Alcoholic drinks

4) Mindfulness - Mention one thing that made me happy today

 

Still the same goals, but a different / more mindful approach (I think, at least...). Less of a "If I don't follow, I will mentally beat myself up" and more of a "1% better every day" approach. 

 

Loot (25+ Points): Sloth keeps talking about kettlebells and now I kind of want one. What's a good starter weight to mix in with bodyweight training??? Was looking at these: https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-kettlebells but any other recommendations (easily available in the US) are welcome!

 

Goals for this challenge are updated

 

 

copy/paste format:

1) Sleep

2) Move

3) Alcohol

• Wait until after drinking 1.5 L water -
• Wait until after 5PM -
• Did I drink 0.5 L between each alcoholic drink -
• # Alcoholic drinks -

4) Mindfulness

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

W1D7 (Saturday)

1) Sleep: 23:31 to 10:21 (sunday) according to the garmin. Some of that was probably sitting up playing video games in bed. 

2) Move: 6054 steps. Long dog walk and 25 min yoga session.
Not sure how much it counts towards moving but I also spent about 2 hours across the day straightening up the room I’m using as my office. Still some work to do because of my dragon-hoarding tendencies but I’m making progress.

3) Alcohol: Not great, pretty mindless

• Wait until after drinking 1.5 L water - Yes??
• Wait until after 5PM - No
• Did I drink 0.5 L between each alcoholic drink - Not every time
• # Alcoholic drinks - 3 beers? Plus Whisky.

4) Mindfulness: This face:

W2D1 (Sunday)

1) Sleep: Not great. Bed 00:03 and Wake 07:56 (Monday)

2) Move: 7538 steps. Did long dog walk (just under a mile) and also went for a 25 min walk/run.

3) Alcohol - better than Sat.

• Wait until after drinking 1.5 L water - Yes
• Wait until after 5PM - Yes
• Did I drink 0.5 L between each alcoholic drink - Yes
• # Alcoholic drinks - 2 beers + whisky

4) Mindfulness: Did laundry and its nice to have clean sheets. Also was just a generally chill day playing video games (Animal Crossing & Zelda Breath of the Wild) and breaking that up with some small cleaning bursts.

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

W1D2 (Monday)

 

1) Sleep - need to check the garmin, approx 23:00 to 07:40

2) Move - Morning dog walk about 1.2 miles. Also did sets of body weight squats (3 or 4 sets of 10 throughout day) and a break in the afternoon away from my desk to stretch and do some deep squats 

3) Alcohol - need to work on stopping at 2

• Wait until after drinking 1.5 L water - Yes
• Wait until after 5PM - Yes
• Did I drink 0.5 L between each alcoholic drink - No, not between 2nd & 3rd
• # Alcoholic drinks - 3 beers

4) Mindfulness: Was a beautiful day and we are lunch outside. Was nice to take a short break away from being tied to the computer. 

[Starpuck]

Good approach to the restructure, and your week 2 is starting off just fine.

We had unseasonably high temps today (hit 80) and so I took my laptop out and worked on the deck for an hour.   

Also SUPER high allergen levels, so I have to remind myself its pollen making me wheeze and nothing else.

 

Puppers!

 

[Red1263]

hey hey! I'm following you back to see you rock this challenge! Also I'm loving the Pokemon theme!