Battle Log - 2022

[Swatches]

Alright, starting this to track my fitness goals and progress.

 

I am beginning with the small Dec 5-25, 2021 challenge, and then shall move on. By the end of the 2022 I shall be:

 

1. 42 kg or less

2. At pole level 2 or 3 (e.g. able to cleanly invert)

3. Have done at least one BJJ and MT class consistently every week (barring the occasional holiday or unforeseen incident) and skilled enough that I can start with MMA/Krav Maga

 

To achieve these goals I shall:

1. Track my calories daily with LifeSum (and stay within an acceptable range and macros)

2. Do pole class at least once a week

3. Renew my BJJ membership and go to classes (both BJJ & MT regularly). 

 

I will track my progress here once a week. 

[arcaneinvictus]

Pole and BJJ? 

 

 

That's so awesome to find someone else doing that combo! 😄 

 

A clean invert is such a good goal! You will absolutely smash it! I'm rooting for you 😊

[Swatches]

On 12/3/2021 at 12:20 AM, arcaneinvictus said:

Pole and BJJ? 

 

 

That's so awesome to find someone else doing that combo! 😄 

 

A clean invert is such a good goal! You will absolutely smash it! I'm rooting for you 😊

Ahhh, that's so cool you're doing it too! How are you finding it? I absolutely love my pole classes, but have to give myself a pep talk to drag myself to BJJ reach time ... And then once I actually get there it's great.

 

I notice you said you don't like cardio, does your BJJ not make you spar? If so, I'm hella jealous, that's the part that always has me debating if I'm actually going

[Swatches]

Alright, weekly log time.

 

Only started calculating calories on Dec 5th, and completely blew it that day because I was in Budapest and they have a dish called langos that's like pizza but even more unhealthy (tho delicious) since they deep-fry the dough and add sour cream with heaps of cheese and other toppings. That plus a chimney cake with ice cream put me almost 700 kcal over.

 

Today however, I'm right on target calorie-wise, though I really need to up my protein intake. Had a small serving of Belgian fries and a Belgian waffle (because when in Belgium...) and then a very mini chicken wrap.

 

Tomorrow I'm back home, where I have my protein powder and regular meals instead of trying out various countries' local specialities. This week I should therefore be fairly on track, it'll be the week after (when I'm in Thailand) when the temptation really starts.

 

No pole or BJJ/MT yet since I'm traveling, but I walked 21k steps yesterday and 15k today and tomorrow I'll head to my MT class and knock that off the list.

[arcaneinvictus]

On 12/6/2021 at 1:13 PM, Swatches said:

Ahhh, that's so cool you're doing it too! How are you finding it? I absolutely love my pole classes, but have to give myself a pep talk to drag myself to BJJ reach time ... And then once I actually get there it's great.

 

I notice you said you don't like cardio, does your BJJ not make you spar? If so, I'm hella jealous, that's the part that always has me debating if I'm actually going

 I have the same reaction, I was always feel a little trepidation before heading off to BJJ classes and I don't experience this before pole, but both are always fun! 

 

We do spar in our classes, but I find that sparring isn't enough to train my cardio and I could do with the extra experience of trying to control my breathing when my heart feels like it's going a million miles per hour. 

 

On 12/6/2021 at 1:26 PM, Swatches said:

Alright, weekly log time.

 

Only started calculating calories on Dec 5th, and completely blew it that day because I was in Budapest and they have a dish called langos that's like pizza but even more unhealthy (tho delicious) since they deep-fry the dough and add sour cream with heaps of cheese and other toppings. That plus a chimney cake with ice cream put me almost 700 kcal over.

 

Today however, I'm right on target calorie-wise, though I really need to up my protein intake. Had a small serving of Belgian fries and a Belgian waffle (because when in Belgium...) and then a very mini chicken wrap.

 

Tomorrow I'm back home, where I have my protein powder and regular meals instead of trying out various countries' local specialities. This week I should therefore be fairly on track, it'll be the week after (when I'm in Thailand) when the temptation really starts.

 

No pole or BJJ/MT yet since I'm traveling, but I walked 21k steps yesterday and 15k today and tomorrow I'll head to my MT class and knock that off the list.

 

That dish sounds absolutely delicious! How did you get on this week? Do you find MT a helpful addition to your BJJ? 😊 

[Swatches]

On 12/12/2021 at 9:48 AM, arcaneinvictus said:

 I have the same reaction, I was always feel a little trepidation before heading off to BJJ classes and I don't experience this before pole, but both are always fun! 

 

We do spar in our classes, but I find that sparring isn't enough to train my cardio and I could do with the extra experience of trying to control my breathing when my heart feels like it's going a million miles per hour. 

 

That dish sounds absolutely delicious! How did you get on this week? Do you find MT a helpful addition to your BJJ? 😊 

 

Ah okay, good to know it's not just me who's a little bit dreading the heading off to BJJ classes.

 

I did a lot better on the food this week, mainly because I spent one day running around trying to get everything sorted for travelling, two days pretty much flying only (so had only airplane food as an option), and then I was in quarantine for one day and so the hotel-provided food wasn't thrilling either. 

 

I actually did Muay Thai long before BJJ, which I only started relatively recently, so I personally find it a lot more fun maybe just because I'm more experienced at it, so I don't have that beginner/know-nothing feeling like with BJJ. I'm sure I'll eventually feel better about BJJ, it's just the early stages that tend to be difficult, just gotta power through it.

[Swatches]

Weekly log time once more:

1. BJJ and pole dance for this week were done, and I got an extra aerial class too, first one ever. Good fun, thought not as much as pole.

2. Food - started off strong but then started eating more towards the end of the week. Still, haven't gained significant weight at least, which is all I can hope for during this holiday season

 

To note that the BJJ class was so chill and un-demanding that I'd be ashamed to call it exercise, but that wasn't my fault, I was trying out a new class and they were focusing solely on techniques, no sparring or even mildly fast moves. 

[Swatches]

Right, been a while! Had a bit of a COVID issue, which threw off a lot of the plans. This week I'm more or less in isolation, but I have already bought myself ClassPass and sorted out the Pole Dance and MT classes that I will go to next week. The weight management is going well, partially because I have very little control over food anyway while isolating and also because the food here just isn't as heavy or large-sized as in Europe.

 

I am also excited to try fasting once I get back. I already do IF up to 32 hours sometimes, so looking to see if I can push that further to 2-3 days. However, I'm pausing on doing the Jan challenge and will start again in Feb, so waiting for that. 

 

But to note for Feb:

1. Do fasting (for 3 days ideally) and then keep up with IF and calorie tracking (moving more towards a keto-style diet too hopefully)

2. Renew BJJ membership

3. Sign up for next month of pole dancing classes

[Swatches]

Alright, Chinese/Lunar New Year, and also the start of February and the first day back in Ireland! A good time to start, so here we go:

 

So, my goals for Feb (assuming pole goes as planned):

 

1. Exercise:

- Pole Dance on Mon and Muay Thai on Tues, which is the only day they have advanced class only in BJJ.  

- Start up with BJJ, 3x a week for 3 weeks - Already contacted the gym about renewing my membership. I'll keep it light this week to deal with the jetlag and getting back into the swing of things, just go in for 1-2 classes (probably Fri and/or Sat). But then for the 3 weeks after I shall do Weds, Thurs (no Gi), and Fri (and maybe Saturday, but unlikely).  

 

That'll cover my Pole, BJJ, and MT goals for the month. I literally did MT on the day I flew out, so I'm covered for that this week already. Can't do Pole this week because the class got postponed. Once weather starts getting better and days start getting longer, I'll pick up more Pole Dance classes (or an Aerial Hoop one) to help with the Pole level goal, and so then  cut back on the BJJ. But that's still some months away, so gotta get in all the BJJ I can now. 

 

2. Food:

- Do a 3-day long fast - Going to do this on Feb 11 - Feb 13 (so last meal Thurs night and then first meal Mon breakfast), so essentially starting on a Fri and keeping it up over the weekend. Never done longer than 32 hr before, but will try and prepare myself by buying some pre-made Keto meals to lead up to and then break fast with. Plus got the homemade electrolyte stuff the internet tells me I should have. 

- Do IF 5x a week - This should not be hard, esp since if I'm exercising in the evening I'm not going to want to be eating around then anyway. So, IF by starting the morning with a protein drink (around 8-9 am), then eating a decent lunch (around 12-2 pm) and that'll give me a IF period of around 18-21 hrs. 

- Eat healthy and under 1000 kcal/day - Trying out some of those 'healthy food delivery' plans for this month, because I'm often too lazy to go shopping, never mind actually cook. So the delivery thing should handle that, in addition to the protein drink and some eggs with cheese, which I never tire of. 

 

3. Sleep:

- By midnight or 12:30 am latest - Throwing this goal in here because I really need to develop a decent sleep schedule. If I make it to bed by midnight, I can maybe do some lazy morning yoga, and if I only make 12:30 that'll at least give me enough time to get up and do some skincare or 5 min meditation or something self-care-ish before work. 

 

If I manage to establish the midnight goal, I'll eventually try my luck with sleeping earlier. I'm hoping to get it down to an 11 pm - 7 am schedule so that I can manage some exercise or stretches in the morning, but we'll see. Any earlier than 8 am mainly depends on the light; I just won't get up if it's dark outside still. 

 

[Swatches]

So, tracking for mid-month of Feb.

 

1. Exercise - first two weeks weren't so great, but I'm now booked in for my pole dance classes again (had my first one yesterday) and have a scheduled plan for the 3 BJJ days as well. The original schedule had to be changed because they changed theirs. MT probably isn't going to happen this month, just because I am actually technically not supposed to exercise/sweat for like 5 days of the week (told not to due to some skincare stuff I'm doing). I'm already pushing it doing 4 days a week.  

 

2. Food 

- 3 day fast: Complete! Technically I did really well on this, in that I did it. Unfortunately, the fast itself was awful (felt very lethargic and sick, and threw up twice) and not an experience I'll be repeating if I can help it.

- IF: Is now ongoing, and has been for the past 2 days without much issue, though if I just brush my teeth early I shouldn't have any issue (since the temptation to eat later is blocked somewhat). Not really into the protein shake, so not doing that.

- Eat healthy & under 1000kcal/day: This has also been doing fine for the past week or so, mainly because I was getting those health-meals delivered to me. I will not be doing that going forward, because frankly most of them are very blah. But I have started preparing possible meal plans to go with instead. 

 

3. Sleep - Not going as well as I'd like at all, in that I'm not sleeping before 12:30, but at least I typically am getting 8 hrs. Plan to fix this is a) get the heater set up to start early in the morning so I'm more likely to get out of bed b) start exercising in the morning so I have to get to bed at a decent time. Also, now that I've quit the reading so much, I don't have that much to do in the evenings/night anyway, so hoping it'll more naturally happen. One thing I do need to work on is keeping my phone away from me, so I don't play on it before sleeping or right when waking.