RhiaWolfe Gets Serious

[RhiaWolfe]

Hello fellow rebels! I hope everyone had a fun and safe Christmas (or whatever winter time holiday you might celebrate). I had a pretty good time overall. It definitely was a different Christmas since I couldn't get together with all of my family all at once. My in laws also didn't do presents this year because of Covid. We didn't want people trying to go out shopping and they don't usually shop online. However, we still had a good time and it was nice to see some of my family. 

 

 

Now, it's time to get serious. The holidays are over so there are no excuses. I feel like I haven't really put my health and fitness as a priority. I need to change that and really put in the effort. The past couple of days I've had energy and motivation. I'm going to try and ride that for as long as I can. Yesterday I managed to do laundry, clean the bathroom, go to the grocery store, meal prep breakfasts for the week, cooked dinner, and took out all the trash in the house. I also did some stretching before bed. 

 

Yesterday is not my typical day. I don't expect to do that good every day. Instead, let's look at some baseline tasks that I'll complete each day and anything above and beyond that is a bonus. 

 

Challenge Details: 

Now, I'm going to try and do more than just this for my overall health, but this is my baseline. This is the minimum of what I need to do each day. 

 

Drink at least 48 oz water each day

The last challenge I was overwhelmed by the holidays and dealing with the anniversary of my mom's passing. It was a rough time, but I pushed through it. I was working on drinking more water, and I'm going to continue that this challenge with the overall goal to stop drinking soda altogether by the end of the challenge. I have kicked soda a few times in the past. It's time to do it again and this time maintain. I know I can do it. I just need to buckle down and take this seriously. I need to make my health and fitness a priority. It has not been in the past. 

 

Take a 5 minute walk each day

One of the things that I have had trouble with lately is energy and stamina. So, in addition to my water/soda habits, I'm going to challenge myself to take a 5 minute walk every day. If I do more than 5 minutes, great! I have to have at least 5 minutes of purposeful walking though each day. I'm starting small. In future challenges I plan to up my time for walking to 10 and 15 minutes. I'm not actively exercising, but walking is a good first step. 

 

 

Let's do this. Let's make 2021 a better year! 

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Well done setting yourself up to win with your goals.

[RhiaWolfe]

2 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Well done setting yourself up to win with your goals.

 

Thank you. I'm trying really hard not to do too much at one time. It's a fault of mine. I tend to jump in head first and then get frustrated when I can't keep it up. 

[RhiaWolfe]

Week 0: 12/29/2020 Update

 

Yesterday was an awesome day! When I woke up, I only hit snooze once. I got up, got ready for work, and had three of my egg muffin cups for breakfast instead of getting McDonald's. WIN! 

 

 

I felt fairly productive while at work. I have several people still out from the holiday. All hourly employees are still on 32 hour work weeks too, so some days I only have half of my staff. I'm salary, so I work 45 hours a week. I felt productive and got quite a bit done. The day went by fairly quickly. Every once in a while I'd get up and stretch a bit. I'm trying to be more conscious of how long I am sitting during the day (it's a lot). 

 

For lunch, my stomach was kinda off, so I decided to eat light. I got a soup and salad from McAllister's Deli with an unsweet tea. It was tasty and didn't upset my stomach. I've recently been craving food that is lighter and better for me. I have almost no craving for greasy food like pizza or fried foods. I'm going to try and ride this and get into the habit of eating better foods.  I actually brought my lunch to work today. I'm going to have a ham sandwich with an orange and a small bag of chips. Not perfect, but definitely in the right direction. 

 

After work I went home and cooked a baked potato and heated up leftover chicken. My husband made a salad, so I had some of that on the side. Simple, yet tasty. 

 

After spending some time talking with my husband, I actually watched TV for a while. My friend has gotten me into the anime Attack on Titan. It's brutal, but very good. I'll probably watch more tonight. 

 

 

I didn't sleep very well last night though. This is a recurring problem I'm having. I'll go to sleep and I keep waking up over and over again to turn over and go back to sleep. I'm not sure how to fix this. I am wondering if with my additional weight my usual sleeping position is causing me problems. I may have to experiment and see if I can find a more comfortable position to sleep in. Hopefully losing weight will help with this problem too. I'm open to any suggestions anyone might have. I'm looking into doing meditation before bed as well. I'm looking for a good meditation app that I don't have to pay a subscription for. Any suggestions? 

 

 

Challenge Details 12/28/2020: 

 

Drink at least 48 oz water each day - 1/7 Success!!!

I have a 32 oz cup that I keep on my desk that I keep refilling with water. I drank one full cup and then about 3/4 or maybe even 4/5 of a second cup of water. Let's estimate the second at about 24oz. Then before bed I drank at least 8oz of water.

Total Water Consumption: 64 oz

 

Take a 5 minute walk each day - 1/7 Success!!!

On my morning 15 minute break, I took a walk. It was a little cold outside, so instead I just walked laps around the warehouse. I walked for a full 15 minutes! Afterward though, the heels of my feet hurt. I don't know if it's because of my weight or if I'm just not used to walking that much anymore. Probably a combination of both. Anyway, I'm going to try and keep this up and see if my foot pain improves. I also need some new work shoes but I don't want to go shopping right now with the Covid numbers so high. 

[WolfDreamer]

Your goals are simple and yet challenging and personal. Well done on your first success!

 

Let me know if I can help in any way. 

[Fonzico]

Yes, I love this challenge! Small wins equal major future successes! 

 

So much home cooking already, that's awesome. I love that feeling when your body is just craving vegetables and you give them to it and it's so satisfying. 

 

I felt like nightly mediation really helped with my sleep (I need to get back to it). I use the "Let's Meditate" app, which is free!

[RhiaWolfe]

2 hours ago, WolfDreamer said:

Your goals are simple and yet challenging and personal. Well done on your first success!

 

Let me know if I can help in any way. 

 

 

Thank you! I'm trying to set myself up for success rather than failure. I feel that I've put too much on myself in the past. I'm doing a major respawn after the dumpster fire that was 2020. I hope I'm finally coming out of my slump and can put health and fitness as more of a priority! 

 

22 minutes ago, Fonzico said:

Yes, I love this challenge! Small wins equal major future successes! 

 

So much home cooking already, that's awesome. I love that feeling when your body is just craving vegetables and you give them to it and it's so satisfying. 

 

I felt like nightly mediation really helped with my sleep (I need to get back to it). I use the "Let's Meditate" app, which is free!

 

Right! I remembered you talking about the meditation app in your last challenge! *goes to look it up on the google apps store* 

 

I'm actually surprised at myself for doing so good on my home cooking rather than eating out. In addition to it being healthier, it's also a lot cheaper. Starting January 1st my husband will be on my insurance, so I'll have to pay a lot more for that, so it's good that I save money right now. I'm not sure this will be habit forming and I full expect that I may go back to some previous bad habits, but I'm going to ride this wave as long as I can! 

 

[RhiaWolfe]

Week 0: 12/30/2020 Update

 

Yesterday had its ups and downs. Health wise it was a pretty good day. I ate a healthy breakfast of my egg muffin cups (eggs, bacon bits, and bell peppers), had a decent lunch (ham sandwich, tomato soup, small bag of chips), managed my 15 minute walk, and drank the water I was supposed to. Definitely smashed my goals hard core! 

 

However, yesterday afternoon I received a couple of emails at work that were cause for significant stress...

 

 

 For the year 2021 they're taking away 2 days of holiday pay for the year and reducing the amount of PTO we get. So now we only get 1/2 of a day on Good Friday instead of the full day and we only get 1/2 a day on Christmas Eve instead of being off 2 full days for the Christmas Holiday. Next year Christmas falls on a Saturday, so they're not giving us any extra days. I work in the Oil and Gas Industry in Manufacturing, so the conditions are usually harsher... but this just really sucks. It sucks that I really enjoy working here for the most part and I really like my boss. However they just keep taking things away. First our hours were reduced, then I got my hours back but on reduced pay, then they cut down on our benefits (which we have to pay more for), and now they're taking away some of our time off.  I value my time off more than I value the money I make. I'm seriously considering finding another job... but right now there's not many jobs to be had and I really don't know what I'd look for. I have a Bachelor's in Psychology and an MBA. Most of my experience is in administration and writing. I'm not sure what jobs to look for. My husband says to just send out resumes and see what sticks, but I don't even know where to begin or what to apply for. So I got really stressed about that. 

 

On the way home I got Taco Bell. Not the healthiest decision, but I wanted something different for dinner and have gone above and beyond my goals so far, so I allowed indulgence without guilt. 

 

Then I had my book club meeting (It's an online book club). It was an officer's meeting to go over everything for the next year. It lasted 2 hours and took up pretty much my whole evening. So I don't feel like I got much rest, really. We didn't even get to discuss the book of the month. 

 

 

 

Challenge Details 12/29/2020: 

 

Drink at least 48 oz water each day - 2/7 Success!!!

I drank one full 32 oz cup of water and then about 3/4 of a second cup of water, so about 24 oz. Then before bed I drank at least 8oz of water.

Total Water Consumption: 64 oz

 

I drank one 12 oz soda in the morning and one 12 oz soda at lunch. I then had a 32 oz soda with dinner because I went to Taco Bell and that's what came with the meal. 

Total Soda Consumption: 56 oz

 

Take a 5 minute walk each day - 2/7 Success!!!

On my morning 15 minute break, I took a walk around the warehouse again. So I got a 15 minute walk in. My feet weren't quite as sore as the day before. My calves and shins were a little sore though. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

That stinks they are shaving away your compensation package bit by bit. What is your current job title if I may ask? That could potentially help you find a direction in which to throw resumes.

 

[Fonzico]

I'm sorry about the job stress - I definitely know the feeling! I've been offered severance twice in the last 18 months, and sometimes I wish I'd taken it rather than soldier on and hope things work out. Where is the point at which it's too much? 

 

Job hunting can be stressful, but at least you will feel like you're doing something about it. And you don't have to take a job just because you apply for it! But be mentally prepared for a lot of being ignored and rejected. It's not personal. (So hard to remember that sometimes, but it's true). 

 

 

Great job with your goals though! Remember that keeping up with them will help you feel better while you're dealing with stress. 

I hope today is better for you! 

[RhiaWolfe]

22 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

That stinks they are shaving away your compensation package bit by bit. What is your current job title if I may ask? That could potentially help you find a direction in which to throw resumes.

 

 

My official title is "Manufacturing Administration Supervisor". I supervise the Manufacturing Administration Department. It's kind of a catch all term for a lot of things that we do. The department writes Work Instructions and Procedures on how we build our product. We handle Attendance paperwork for all Manufacturing Departments. We handle training documentation for the Work Instructions and Procedures we write. We do a lot of administrative tasks too. Recently I've obtained under my supervisory umbrella a department that handles the Tool Crib for the Manufacturing Departments and it involves working closely with Maintenance, tracking Preventive Maintenance Schedules, ordering necessary tools and equipment through our Purchasing Department. They also update and send out Work Orders and other stuff for Maintenance. All of this with the Tool Crib and whatnot is very new to me and most of the tooling and stuff I don't really understand. I'm just doing my best to learn and help answer questions. 

 

That being said, I have a Bachelor's in Psychology and a Masters in Business Administration. I have a lot of soft skills, but I feel the only really hard skills I have are writing skills. I can't be a manager of IT because I don't have an IT background. I can't be a manager of Health and Safety, because I don't have that background. I can't be a Manager of Manufacturing, because really my experience is with the paperwork, not the actual day to day Manufacturing aspect. I don't have the mechanical skills or anything really that I could put out there. I could potentially work my way up to being an HR manager, but I would have to start from the bottom by being an HR generalist because I don't have the HR background right now and I really can't take the pay cut right now with my husband being out of work. 

 

So... I'm not sure where to start or where to look. 

 

20 hours ago, Fonzico said:

I'm sorry about the job stress - I definitely know the feeling! I've been offered severance twice in the last 18 months, and sometimes I wish I'd taken it rather than soldier on and hope things work out. Where is the point at which it's too much? 

 

Job hunting can be stressful, but at least you will feel like you're doing something about it. And you don't have to take a job just because you apply for it! But be mentally prepared for a lot of being ignored and rejected. It's not personal. (So hard to remember that sometimes, but it's true). 

 

 

Great job with your goals though! Remember that keeping up with them will help you feel better while you're dealing with stress. 

I hope today is better for you! 

 

I'm ready to fill out a bunch of applications and ready for rejection. I've done that before. I just don't know what to apply for at this point. I feel like I've done all this work to try and get a better job and improve myself only to find that I've perhaps focused on the wrong things and am not as marketable as I had hoped. 

[RhiaWolfe]

Week 0: 12/31/2020 Update

 

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE! 2020 is almost behind us! Here to looking forward to 2021 being a better year! Make sure that when the clock strikes 12:00 wherever you are that you yell "Jumanji" to end the game!

 

 

Yesterday was a rough day. I forgot to take my medication in the morning, which made me feel icky and sluggish all day. I was struggle bussing it to get through the work day. It was hard. By afternoon I started feeling sleepy and could barely keep myself awake. I drank too much soda and ate too much junk food, but I still got my walk in so that was a win. I ate a healthy breakfast, but then ate out for both lunch and dinner. Not on my goals right now so I'm not sweating it too much. 

 

When I got home from work I tried to go to sleep on the couch, but couldn't manage it. Instead, I lay on the couch all evening listening to an audio book. It's the book of the month for January for my book club, and honestly, it's not my type of story. It's a regular fiction book that has a lot to do with families, parenthood, teenage drama, and that sort of thing. I don't know if it's because I'm not a parent or don't have the maternal instincts others do, but I'm not really able to connect with the characters all that well. There's a LOT of baby talk within the book. I've never been much of a maternal person. I like kids when they get old enough to run around, play, and be disciplined if they are acting out. Babies kinda freak me out. When a friend or family asks me to hold the baby, I feel weird. I really hate holding babies because I'm afraid I'm going to break them. I feel bad talking to people about this as I feel like I'm judged for it when I say it out loud, but I just really don't like babies... and the idea of going through pregnancy horrifies me. 

 

Kudos to the moms out there who get through all of that. I don't think I could ever handle that. My husband and I have pretty much decided not to have children. 

 

Anyways, that was a long tangent, sorry. 

 

Around 8:30pm or 9:00pm, I finally got up from the couch and got ready for bed. That's pretty early for me to go to bed. I did a sleep meditation from the meditation app I downloaded and I think it helped. I didn't toss and turn too much through the night. I think I'm going to keep up the nightly meditation for now. 

 

 

Challenge Details 12/30/2020: 

 

Drink at least 48 oz water each day - 2/7 Pending...

I didn't even get a full 32oz in my system. I think I maybe got 24 oz? I drank way too much soda. 

Total Water Consumption: 24 oz

 

I drank one 12 oz with breakfast, one 12 oz on break, probably a good 16 oz with lunch, and a 32oz with dinner. I may have had another during the day, but I can't remember. The day was kind of foggy. 

Total Soda Consumption: 72 oz

 

Take a 5 minute walk each day - 3/7 Success!!!

Despite being tired, I still got my walk in. I walked for a full 15 minutes on my morning break. 

[starpuck]

Here  now!  Following for all that water drinking! 

(It's so weird, I only drink water all day, except for morning coffee and afternoon matcha, and I just can't grasp not drinking water hahaha, sooo foreign to me.  But I know plenty of people who don't drink water.  It's just ... weird.)

You got this!

 

[Fonzico]

Happy New Year's!

 

I would be bored silly with that kind of book too - it's just not my thing. I need a little magic or the escape just isn't an escape! 

 

No judgement here about the kid stuff. We are intentionally childless as well. I like kids and babies just fine, but have absolutely zero desire to raise one. And the idea of pregnancy also terrifies me, so I definitely get that! 

 

Remember to take your meds today! I hope you have a lovely first day of the year. Cheers!

 

[Renate]

Looking forward to seeing you take those wins! 

 

Relatable thoughts, it is annoying to not be sure whether something is caused by extra weight or not. 

 

No worries about the tangent.

Spoiler

 

I know a good amount of people that choose not to have kids, and I really don't get what the fuss is about with people who are all surprised or judgemental etc. The only thing that worries ME is that I fear the film Idiocracy has a way too prophetic value  But I won't hold that against anyone.

 

 

 

[RhiaWolfe]

On 1/1/2021 at 12:17 PM, Starpuck said:

Here  now!  Following for all that water drinking! 

(It's so weird, I only drink water all day, except for morning coffee and afternoon matcha, and I just can't grasp not drinking water hahaha, sooo foreign to me.  But I know plenty of people who don't drink water.  It's just ... weird.)

You got this!

 

 

Yay! Master Puck has arrived! Happy to have you! 

 

I used to be that way with water when I was really getting my fitness on. Now I'm back to drinking wayyy too much soda. I'm definitely getting back on the water train. CHOO CHOO!

 

On 1/1/2021 at 1:02 PM, Fonzico said:

Happy New Year's!

 

I would be bored silly with that kind of book too - it's just not my thing. I need a little magic or the escape just isn't an escape! 

 

No judgement here about the kid stuff. We are intentionally childless as well. I like kids and babies just fine, but have absolutely zero desire to raise one. And the idea of pregnancy also terrifies me, so I definitely get that! 

 

Remember to take your meds today! I hope you have a lovely first day of the year. Cheers!

 

 

Happy New Years! 

 

It is pretty dull. I have to have some kind of excitement in my books. Magic, space battles, some sort of conspiracy to uncover, trying to track down a criminal... something. This just isn't really my thing. I'm almost done with it though. Then on to other things! I'm glad I have Little Fires Everywhere on audiobook so I can listen to it while doing something else to keep my attention. I listened to an hour of it last night while cooking dinner. 

In addition to Little Fires Everywhere, I'm also reading a book called Fallen. It's one of the crime/thriller novels in the Will Trent series by Karin Slaughter. That one is definitely keeping my attention.

 

I hope to get more reading in this year. My goal was to read 45 books through the year, but I only managed 30. This year my goal is 40 books. Let's see if I can make it! 

 

Yeah, I like playing with little kids and think they're adorable (when they're not screaming), but motherhood just isn't for me. 

 

I have taken my meds ever since that day I went without! I'm more motivated to pay attention and get all of my morning tasks done each day. 

 

 

On 1/1/2021 at 2:10 PM, Athena said:

Looking forward to seeing you take those wins! 

 

Relatable thoughts, it is annoying to not be sure whether something is caused by extra weight or not. 

 

No worries about the tangent.

  Hide contents

 

I know a good amount of people that choose not to have kids, and I really don't get what the fuss is about with people who are all surprised or judgemental etc. The only thing that worries ME is that I fear the film Idiocracy has a way too prophetic value  But I won't hold that against anyone.

 

 

 

 

I'm starting off the new year great so far! All the wins! I'll post my challenge update in a few. 

 

Oh man, I had the idea for Idiocracy a long time before the movie came out. Considering some of our leaders, I'm extremely worried about that scenario. 

 

[Sylvaa]

As a parent, I've never understood the judgement on people who choose not to have kids. Quite frankly, I'm not a baby person either (even though I've raised two and my grand-baby lives with us). I'm so happy that the grand-baby is now getting to the age where he is fun, instead of boring. 

 

After all the snacks and junk food we end up having for Christmas / New Year, my family felt the same about just wanting to eat healthier. It's a nice change going into the new year. I hope you keep up the momentum (also, never any judgement here around Taco Bell).

[RhiaWolfe]

Week 0: 1/4/2021 Update

 

Happy New Year everybody! We did it! We made it through 2020!!!! Woot!!!

 

 

On New Year's Eve I joined the Nerd Fitness Forums Discord. I'm glad I did. So far it's been great connecting to you nerds and getting that extra support when I need it! While I was on the discord I promised everyone that I wouldn't allow myself to indulge in any adult beverages for New Years Eve until I met my water intake goal. After doing that, I got busy drinking water, and I SMASHED the goal before I even left work! Woot! So on the way home I stopped and got some sweet and sour mixer along with a few snacks to celebrate with. That night I chatted with everyone on Discord and played some online games with friends into the night. I had a couple of whiskey sours, but didn't drink any more than that. I'm pretty modest with my drinking. Due to my family being predisposed to becoming alcoholics, I try to follow a few rules about drinking that end up keeping me from drinking to excess. Had a great time with my friends in ushering in the new year! 

 

 

I almost... ALMOST... forgot to say Jumanji at midnight. LOL

 

So, on Friday, New Year's Day, we got snow!!!! Like, a lot of snow! We normally don't get much snow here in Oklahoma and only expect 1-2 inches at a time, maybe a couple of times a year. We got like 5 inches of snow! It was awesome! Despite the cold, with some encouragement from those on Discord, I went out into the snow and got my daily walk in. After my walk I made me a little snow man in my front yard! It was fun. 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the weekend was really chill, but I still felt fairly productive. I sat down to play a video game at my computer, but decided to check Discord right quick. I saw someone talking about being productive and doing some domestic rangering, so I decided to take a moment and do a little bit myself. I did a little cleaning (not much, but it was something) and I felt better after having done it. I'm hoping I can continue the trend of tidying up here and there to finally get a clean house. 

 

Anyways, there was a lot of video games, reading, and watching anime. It was nice. I did quite a bit of online gaming over the weekend. I played Phasmophobia, We Need to Go Deeper, Raft, Jackbox Games, and Among Us. While playing solo, I played a lot of Hades (which is hard, but fun and addicting). 

 

Yesterday (Sunday) I went to the grocery store. When I got home, I meal prepped some egg muffin cups for breakfast for this week. In the evening, I made my favorite soup! It's a Chicken and Tortellini soup that is absolutely delicious! I'm real happy with how it turned out. It was so tasty. It's a pain in the butt to make because you have to chop up a bunch of veggies, then saute them, then add the chicken and broth and let that sit for a while, then chop up the chicken, add the tortellini, then let it set, then add the rest of the stuff. It's quite a bit of work... but I have a tasty dinner full of veggies for each night this week! 

 

 

 

Spoiler Alert, I also nailed my challenge each day! I felt so productive over the weekend and am feeling really good today. I think I'm feeling the benefits of starting to live a healthier life. I already feel better about myself even if there are no outward physical changes yet. I hope this feeling continues and I keep up the motivation. I honestly am just waiting for my motivation to wane and then get back on the struggle bus, but for now I'm just enjoying the motivation while I have it. Try to build healthy habits while I am motivated so that perhaps I won't fall back too far when things get tough. 

 

Challenge Details 12/31/2020: 

 

Drink at least 48 oz water each day - 3/7 Success!!!!

I honestly can't remember my exact numbers for my water consumption, but I know I nailed it! I got to have my alcoholic drinks after work.  

Total Water Consumption: ??? oz

 

Take a 5 minute walk each day - 4/7 Success!!!

I got in a 15 minute walk on my morning break! 

 

Challenge Details 1/1/20210: 

 

Drink at least 48 oz water each day - 4/7 Success!!!!

I honestly can't remember my exact numbers for my water consumption, but I know I nailed it! 

Total Water Consumption: ??? oz

 

Take a 5 minute walk each day - 5/7 Success!!!

I went for a walk for about 10 minutes then made a snowman! 

 

Challenge Details 1/2/2021: 

 

Drink at least 48 oz water each day - 5/7 Success!!!!

I honestly can't remember my exact numbers for my water consumption, but I know I nailed it!

Total Water Consumption: ??? oz

 

Take a 5 minute walk each day - 6/7 Success!!!

I took a walk around the block and clocked in at a 20 minute walk. 

 

Challenge Details 1/3/2021: 

 

Drink at least 48 oz water each day - 6/7 Success!!!!

I honestly can't remember my exact numbers for my water consumption, but I know I nailed it!

Total Water Consumption: ??? oz

 

Take a 5 minute walk each day - 7/7 Success!!!

I took a walk around the block and clocked in at a 20 minute walk. 

 

 

Week 0 Finals and Reflection:

 

Drink at least 48 oz water each day - 6/7

Take a 5 minute walk each day - 7/7 

 

This is seriously the best I have done on a challenge in a really long time. I'm hella proud of myself and am looking forward to continuing the challenge for Week 1! 

 

I'm having trouble remembering and keeping track of how much water I'm drinking, so I think I'm going to start tracking my water on my Fitbit app. That way I can be a little more accountable. This week is going to be awesome! 

[RhiaWolfe]

46 minutes ago, Sylvaa said:

As a parent, I've never understood the judgement on people who choose not to have kids. Quite frankly, I'm not a baby person either (even though I've raised two and my grand-baby lives with us). I'm so happy that the grand-baby is now getting to the age where he is fun, instead of boring. 

 

After all the snacks and junk food we end up having for Christmas / New Year, my family felt the same about just wanting to eat healthier. It's a nice change going into the new year. I hope you keep up the momentum (also, never any judgement here around Taco Bell).

 

Yeah, I've had people look at me like, "What? You don't want kids...? Why?" and just can't seem to understand that someone could NOT want kids. It's just not a goal of mine. 

 

Oh yeah, definitely a nice change and I'm already feeling some of the benefits of the healthier living, even though I haven't been doing much and not for long. I'm doing a lot more than what my challenge says though, but that's just because I've had the motivation and just kinda want to, you know? 

[RhiaWolfe]

Week 1: 1/5/2021 Update

 

Day 2 of Week 1 and I'm still going strong. One of the things I'm doing this challenge is tracking my successes differently. I got a couple of new calendars for Christmas. I put one of them in my computer room (where I spend a lot of my time) and every day that I meet both of my goals, I put a sticker on the day. I'm hoping to fill up the month with stickers! I'm hoping the visual reminder of how good I'm doing will help keep me motivated. Although right now the calendar looks kinda funny. It's an Alchemy Gothic calendar with dark fantasy pictures, very macabre, but the only stickers I have are these cute, bright cupcake stickers. So I'm using those. I plan on stopping by somewhere to get more stickers. Maybe something a little less bright. Although, I kinda like the contrast so maybe I'll go with it. When I go home tonight I'll try to remember to take a picture of the calendar and share it with you all. 

 

 

My husband also got me an origami desk calendar for Christmas. Every day there's new instructions on how to make an origami thing and you use the paper from the previous day to fold it. It's a lot of fun! So far in 2021 I've made a sled, a row boat, and a chicken. It's a fun thing to do first thing in the morning when I get to work. 

 

 

 

So, yesterday was a good day. I felt productive at work and got a lot taken care of. I felt really good overall. This healthy eating and drinking thing with the walks I think is showing results already! I'm loving it and hope to continue the trend. Not only do I have more energy and not feel as sluggish, but I am in a lot better mood day to day so far! It's pretty awesome. 

 

When I got home from work a friend of mine and I played a few survivor rounds of Dead By Daylight. It was fun! The first round I got hella lucky! (I'll put the story in a spoiler for those of you that know DBD and actually care about what happened). 

 

Spoiler

So, the match started out not so great. We were up against Michael Myers in the laboratory. My friend was playing Cheryl and I was playing Meg. I was on voice with my friend so I heard what happened on her end. She made a few bad mistakes. She ended up getting turned around and ran right into the killer! She was like "I am so dumb tonight..." and we laughed about it a little. Then the match continued on for a while. My friend ended up getting dead hooked early on, so it was just me and a few others. When it got down to just two people, I ended up getting hooked my the killer. Due to my perks I could see what the other person was doing. They were doing generators and it was clear they were not going to come get me off the hook. So, I decided to try and end it to let the last person get the hatch. I tried to escape the hook and on my second try I actually did it! I escaped the hook! I couldn't believe it at first and I hesitated, then used sprint burst to get away! I managed to lose the killer and started looking around for generators. 

 

The other person ended up getting hooked and he was dead hooked. As I turned the next corner, I found the hatch!!!! I waited until the dead hook animation finished and the hatch opened and managed to get away! 

 

I've never escaped the hook before and I think I've gotten the hatch in like one other match. It was so epic and my friend was happy for me and mad at me at the same time! A lot of it was luck, but damn if it didn't feel good! lol. 

 

The rest of the matches were a bust though. The next game we went against the Pig, and I spent most of the match trying to get the stupid traps off my head. 

 

Anyways, it was a fun night gaming with my friend. Then once I was done there I got a shower and got ready for bed. Pretty chill night. 

 

Challenge Details 1/4/2021: 

 

Drink at least 48 oz water each day - 1/7 Success!!!!

So, the tracking on Fitbit is actually pretty easy and it shows how much I drank. I'll start uploading screenshots of my Fitbit total to my challenge. I managed to drink 64 oz total! 

 

 

 

Take a 5 minute walk each day - 1/7 Success!!!

I completely missed my morning break (I forgot to turn my break alarm back on my work phone after the holiday). So I ended up taking my 15 minute walk on my afternoon break.

 

However, I've noticed that when walking laps in the warehouse at work, my shin starts to hurt pretty good. At first I thought it was just because I wasn't used to walking, but I didn't have the issue when walking around my neighborhood for 20 minutes over the weekend. I'm wondering if it may be a combination of my work shoes and the floor I'm walking on. I don't want to go into a store because of covid... but I really need new work shoes. These shoes are old and even have a hole in them. I have to wear my work shoes while out on the floor because I work in a manufacturing facility and they require steel toes on shoes. Luckily nowadays you can get steel toe tennis shoes... but still. The ones I have are just worn out. 

[starpuck]

On 1/5/2021 at 7:00 AM, RhiaWolfe said:

It's an Alchemy Gothic calendar with dark fantasy pictures, very macabre, but the only stickers I have are these cute, bright cupcake stickers.

Personally, I find this absolutely wonderful and amazing!  ^

 

NICEJOB ON THOSE GOALS SISTA!   KILLING IT!

 

[RhiaWolfe]

27 minutes ago, Starpuck said:

Personally, I find this absolutely wonderful and amazing!  ^

 

 

I actually think it has an interesting aesthetic to it. I kinda like it too. lol. 

 

28 minutes ago, Starpuck said:

 

NICEJOB ON THOSE GOALS SISTA!   KILLING IT!

 

 

Thanks! I'm rather proud of myself and how well I'm doing! 

[RhiaWolfe]

Week 1: 1/6/2021 Update

 

Man, work is so slow right now. So bored. Glad I have people to talk to on discord! lol. I've also had time to catch up on everyone's forums that I'm following.

 

Yesterday was a pretty good day overall. I didn't do much after work. I went home and watched more Attack on Titan. I'm on Season 2 now. 

 

So, I ran into a bit of a conundrum yesterday. I hope I made the right choice. So, my challenge this month is about water and walking, right? Well, I've been doing above and beyond what my challenge was and I'm very proud of that! Well, yesterday afternoon, not long before I got off work, I got a real craving for Taco Bell. I have a tasty soup at home to heat and eat, but I was kinda tired of the soup and Taco Bell just sounded so good. I had eaten fairly healthy all day and for the past couple of days. So, the question was basically do I go ahead and indulge, or do I try to push through the craving? 

 

See, I'm worried that maybe I'm doing too much too fast. I know I only have two goals on my forum, but I can tell that unconsciously (and now consciously) I have been fighting to do more than my challenge because I'm so desperate to get back to healthy living, feeling better, and losing this weight. I knew I could push through the craving, but I am worried that by doing as much as I am, if I keep this up, I'll be burning myself out. I stressed a lot about it and talked to fellow Nerds on the discord. Finally I decided to indulge. It wasn't any use stressing about it if it wasn't on my goals list. I just hope that this indulgence doesn't become a habit and doesn't make me backslide on my progress too much. I'm not good at finding balance and moderation. 

 

For anyone who is curious, today's origami of the day was a scottie dog! 

 

 

Challenge Details 1/5/2021: 

 

Drink at least 48 oz water each day - 2/7 Success!!!!

Crushed this goal with 64 oz of water! I actually think I had a little more than that, but just didn't count it. 

 

 

 

 

Take a 5 minute walk each day - 2/7 Success!!!

Got in a 15 minute walk on my morning break! 

[Fonzico]

On 1/4/2021 at 9:55 AM, RhiaWolfe said:

Spoiler Alert, I also nailed my challenge each day! I felt so productive over the weekend and am feeling really good today. I think I'm feeling the benefits of starting to live a healthier life. I already feel better about myself even if there are no outward physical changes yet. I hope this feeling continues and I keep up the motivation. I honestly am just waiting for my motivation to wane and then get back on the struggle bus, but for now I'm just enjoying the motivation while I have it. Try to build healthy habits while I am motivated so that perhaps I won't fall back too far when things get tough. 

 

THIS! Okay, so I am in the same place you are right now - feeling super motivated and wanting to so All the Healthy Things.  But I KNOW at some point I'm just not going to feel as enthusiastic about it. 

Which is exactly why we are using this time to build good habits because even once we're not longer 100% motivated, it will be easier to just keep doing what we were doing. Burn the neural paths in RIGHT NOW. And reap the rewards to come. 

 

 

8 hours ago, RhiaWolfe said:

So, I ran into a bit of a conundrum yesterday. I hope I made the right choice. So, my challenge this month is about water and walking, right? Well, I've been doing above and beyond what my challenge was and I'm very proud of that! Well, yesterday afternoon, not long before I got off work, I got a real craving for Taco Bell. I have a tasty soup at home to heat and eat, but I was kinda tired of the soup and Taco Bell just sounded so good. I had eaten fairly healthy all day and for the past couple of days. So, the question was basically do I go ahead and indulge, or do I try to push through the craving? 

 

See, I'm worried that maybe I'm doing too much too fast. I know I only have two goals on my forum, but I can tell that unconsciously (and now consciously) I have been fighting to do more than my challenge because I'm so desperate to get back to healthy living, feeling better, and losing this weight. I knew I could push through the craving, but I am worried that by doing as much as I am, if I keep this up, I'll be burning myself out. I stressed a lot about it and talked to fellow Nerds on the discord. Finally I decided to indulge. It wasn't any use stressing about it if it wasn't on my goals list. I just hope that this indulgence doesn't become a habit and doesn't make me backslide on my progress too much. I'm not good at finding balance and moderation. 

 

My two cents on this: 

In the end, it doesn't really matter which way you chose on this one decision. I understand your quandry,  truly - do you use up your willpower and resolve right now, or pace yourself for the long haul? There's pros and cons to both, so again , there really isn't a right answer. My suggestion is that whenever you DO decide to give in to the craving, try to acknowledge the decision, don't feel guilt, and then wholeheartedly PAY ATTENTION to the treat as you enjoy it. Being mindful of what you are doing helps you decide better next time if it was worth it or not. 

 

Moderation is so hard for some of us. And sometimes, it's just not going to be worth it to go off track, because we know how hard it will be to correct course after the indulgence. But we are also human beings, and we are going to enjoy the food we crave sometimes too, dammit! And that's a good thing. 

 

Anyways, I hope the Taco Bell was as good as you imagined! And also your soup sounds freaking delicious as well

 

 

[RhiaWolfe]

11 hours ago, Fonzico said:

THIS! Okay, so I am in the same place you are right now - feeling super motivated and wanting to so All the Healthy Things.  But I KNOW at some point I'm just not going to feel as enthusiastic about it. 

Which is exactly why we are using this time to build good habits because even once we're not longer 100% motivated, it will be easier to just keep doing what we were doing. Burn the neural paths in RIGHT NOW. And reap the rewards to come. 

 

 

Definitely what I've been trying to do while I've felt motivated. Trying to still establish good habits but then on my off days, what's on my challenge is the bare minimum I have to get done (if that makes sense). 

 

11 hours ago, Fonzico said:

 

My two cents on this: 

In the end, it doesn't really matter which way you chose on this one decision. I understand your quandry,  truly - do you use up your willpower and resolve right now, or pace yourself for the long haul? There's pros and cons to both, so again , there really isn't a right answer. My suggestion is that whenever you DO decide to give in to the craving, try to acknowledge the decision, don't feel guilt, and then wholeheartedly PAY ATTENTION to the treat as you enjoy it. Being mindful of what you are doing helps you decide better next time if it was worth it or not. 

 

Moderation is so hard for some of us. And sometimes, it's just not going to be worth it to go off track, because we know how hard it will be to correct course after the indulgence. But we are also human beings, and we are going to enjoy the food we crave sometimes too, dammit! And that's a good thing. 

 

Anyways, I hope the Taco Bell was as good as you imagined! And also your soup sounds freaking delicious as well

 

 

 

I did enjoy the taco bell and do not regret the decision. However, I've now reached a point where I'm less than motivated because I'm having a rough time. I'll explain when I update my challenge. 

 

Yeah, I have a tendency to fall off the wagon if I indulge in certain things just once. I tell myself it's just once... but it ends up being just this once multiple times.