[Anim07734]

 

Between wedding prep, conventions, and honeymoon, my hiatus went a little longer than I had planned.  But with a new challenging starting, it's a good time to hop back in and see if I've gotten any worse at this "healthy living" thing.

 

So after a couple months of eating whatever I wanted whenever I felt like it, I officially broke all previous records and weighed in at my heaviest ever (180lb).  After a week of being more conscious of my decisions and skipping snacks unless I was legitimately hungry, I'm down half a pound, so I don't actually need to make major changes to cut the weight.  In the spirit of Small, Sustainable Changes, my goals for this challenge are just to maintain that habit and work on finding a fun fitness activity I can do a couple times a week.  I'm currently eyeing HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts), since I just got a custom practice sword as a prop for my wedding.  I haven't had any luck finding greatsword tutorials though, and don't want to jump on a paid plan until I know it's something I'll stick with, so I may end up using the longsword from my Aragorn cosplay instead.

 

 

[juliebarkley]

Welcome back!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

That's an awesome pic, and welcome back!

[Anim07734]

Just realized I have a public link for all our wedding pictures, if anyone wants to see more of our shenanigans:

https://emeraldcoasteventservices.pixieset.com/patrickandtonya/

[Anim07734]

Weighed in this morning at 178# and 37.25" waist, which is a lot better than I was expecting.  So going to keep going with the eating habits and focus on getting some more movement built into my day.

[athousandwords]

Those wedding photos are gorgeous!! Congrats! Definitely following along for the Small, Sustainable Changes.

[Manarelle]

Welcome back! Love the photos, and glad to hear that your previous plan is still working, despite the wedding (and everything else) disruptions. How'd Halloween weekend go for you? 

[Anim07734]

Last week was unfun as poor sleep quality and insomnia slowly made me grumpier and grumpier.  I still don't know what caused it, but I finally got 2 nights of decent sleep and am starting to feel more myself.  I can't get good measurements while that exhausted, so I'll pick those up again next week.

 

We had our first craft fair in close to 6mo, since we decided to take a break to focus on wedding prep, then had all the already mentioned travelling.  As usual my pokeball terrariums were our best seller, so I need make more before our next one on the 13th.  Plus see if I can figure out anything else that will help fellow nerds with early Xmas shopping.

 

We had a low key Halloween this year due to lack of energy and ongoing world events.  It was still pretty fun until someone decided to steal the tote we were keeping the candy bags in instead of handing them out ourselves...  It wasn't a particularly expensive tote, but we only emptied it to use for the night and now don't have anywhere to put the stuff we were keeping in it.  And it's not like it actually helps anyone else without the lid.  Have I mentioned that I hate people?

[athousandwords]

3 hours ago, Anim07734 said:

As usual my pokeball terrariums were our best seller, so I need make more before our next one on the 13th.

 

Those sound awesome! I'd love to see what they look like!

 

3 hours ago, Anim07734 said:

We had a low key Halloween this year due to lack of energy and ongoing world events.  It was still pretty fun until someone decided to steal the tote we were keeping the candy bags in instead of handing them out ourselves...  It wasn't a particularly expensive tote, but we only emptied it to use for the night and now don't have anywhere to put the stuff we were keeping in it.  And it's not like it actually helps anyone else without the lid.  Have I mentioned that I hate people?

 

Wow. People suck.  

[Anim07734]

I don't have pictures of all of the pokeballs I've made, but here are a few:

And here's the FB post with close ups from this batch.  Most of that batch has sold, but I make more for each event, and can do custom orders if we have the pokemon in question.

 

I'm also working on expanding my woodcuts, but need to get my garage workshop cleaned up first.

[Manarelle]

As always, your crafts are awesome. I'm sure you don't need me to say so, but I'd imagine that the whole "shipping and supplies are wrecked right now" makes craft fairs have extra importance this holiday season.  Hope the random insomnia goes away, and you can resume healthy amounts of rest. 

[Anim07734]

Finally weighed in again: 176.5# and 37.125"  Back to trending in the right direction, but now I'm trying to get into Nightcrawler shape by February, because friends want to do X-men again...  I really need to get a workout routine down again, or at least quit putting off physical housework.

[Manarelle]

On 11/16/2021 at 8:52 AM, Anim07734 said:

Finally weighed in again: 176.5# and 37.125"  Back to trending in the right direction, but now I'm trying to get into Nightcrawler shape by February, because friends want to do X-men again...  I really need to get a workout routine down again, or at least quit putting off physical housework.

 

Hopefully having the stress of the wedding/ cons off your plate helps that, too. Are you planning on a new Nightcrawler, or rocking your existing, awesome outfit(s)? 

[Anim07734]

5 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Hopefully having the stress of the wedding/ cons off your plate helps that, too. Are you planning on a new Nightcrawler, or rocking your existing, awesome outfit(s)? 

I can't really blame stress for the weight gain; it's been adding consistently regardless of overall life.  I've pretty much accepted that all of my previous diet successes relied on the fact that I hate cooking, but also hate dealing with people.  So I just had to figure out a handful of easy, relatively healthy meals that I could eat for 3-4 days in a row and called it good.  I was too lazy to make something else when food was already there and too antisocial to go out to eat.  But now I have a beautiful wife who doesn't like leftovers (they upset her stomach more often than not) and likes cooking delicious meals.  So I end up overeating because delicious home cooking that won't get finished otherwise.  Or she doesn't feel like cooking, and I willingly go get fast food so she has something she likes.

 

We've talked about my desire to get back into shape, but it ultimately lands on me (re)building the habits and discipline required for that lifestyle.  I also have yet to start working out regularly again.  I know that's only 10-20% of the solution, but its also a current negative feedback loop where I can't do the things I used to enjoy, so I don't do anything, so I don't have the energy to deal with my eating habits, so I can't do the things I used to enjoy.  I need to get the habit going again so I can turn it into a positive feedback loop, where even if I don't feel like my workout, I do it anyway because I know I'll feel better later because I did.

 

That ended up being a longer answer than I intended, but it's a good explanation of my current situation and goals.

 

As for Nightcrawler, I've had the materials to start a new costume for a couple years now (plus the old/current one is starting to wear out), but keep getting sidetracked by other projects.  So I'm hoping to finally get the new suit made, with all of the upgrades I've been wanting, but there's still fair odds that I'll get sidetracked again and reuse the existing one.

[Manarelle]

On 11/30/2021 at 11:41 PM, Anim07734 said:

So I'm hoping to finally get the new suit made, with all of the upgrades I've been wanting, but there's still fair odds that I'll get sidetracked again and reuse the existing one.

 

Haha, yup... I hear that. But it's a good goal to make, nonetheless. 

 

Boo to the food problem, eating healthfully without eating leftovers/ food prep is tough. Tweak those recipes to smaller production!