[TimovieMan]

TimovieMan becomes the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything

 

 

Right as this challenge ends (July 22nd), I'll turn 42.

The number that's also known as the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.

 

Is there anything specifically related to that in this challenge? Not really. I just wanted to use the Douglas Adams reference. 😇

 

Edit: and Tank beat me to it. I'll shorten the title and drop the "Life, the Universe, and Everything" part to avoid confusion.

 

 

Challenge

 

I found a system that works for me, and the whole idea of this challenge is to just keep doing what I've been doing.

That means that the colour-coded log will be back, and that there's going to be a lot of music in this thread.

 

Colour-coding:

- log intermittent fasting, calorie-intake, sleep curfew, sleep length, number of steps daily

- log weight, average sleep, average steps, distance walked/swam, number of workouts weekly

 

	Bad	Poor	Ok	Good	Excellent	Frequency	Notes
Intermittent fasting	< 14 hours	≥ 14 hours	≥ 16 hours	≥ 17 hours	≥ 20 hours	Daily
Calorie intake	> 4000 cal	> 3000 cal	≤ 3000 cal	≤ 2400 cal	≤ 2000 cal	Daily	Ballpark figures are good enough
Weight	up > 0.8 kg	up > 0.2 kg	up ≤ 0.2 kg	down ≥ 0.4 kg	down ≥ 0.8 kg	Weekly	Established at weekly weigh-in
Curfew	≥ 1.15 am	≥ 0.45 am	< 0.45 am	< 0.20 am	< 0.00 am	Daily	Add 2 hours before non-working days
Sleep	< 5h 30m	< 6 hours	≥ 6 hours	≥ 6h 30m	≥ 7 hours	Daily	Fitbit numbers - naps count for half
Avg. sleep	< 6 hours	≥ 6 hours	≥ 6h 15m	≥ 6h 30m	≥ 6h 45m	Weekly	Fitbit numbers - naps count for half
Steps	< 6.000	≥ 6.000	≥ 8.000	≥ 10.000	≥ 12.000	Daily	Fitbit numbers
Avg. steps	< 9.000	≥ 9.000	≥ 10.000	≥ 11.000	≥ 12.000	Weekly	Fitbit numbers
Workouts	< 2	≥ 2	≥ 3	≥ 4	≥ 5	Weekly	Mini-workouts: 1/10 per exercise
Distance	< 15 km	≥ 15 km	≥ 20 km	≥ 25 km	≥ 30 km	Weekly	Walk to Mordor distance

 

Differences with previous challenge:

- slight tweak in weight loss goals (assuming I won't be shedding weight at the current pace for long)

- tighter sleep curfew (because sleep is important and I shouldn't neglect it)

- increased sleep average (more sleep needed before getting 'okay', 'good' or 'excellent')

- workouts tweaked so I don't have to look at the number of strength workouts compared to HIIT sessions - a workout is a workout, and "mini-workouts" or "movement snacks" should count too. For instance: a 20-minute sprint/walk HIIT is one workout, a full bodyweight circuit (regardless of whether I do 1, 2 or 3 circuits in a row) is one workout, a mini-workout of 1 DailyDare exercise, 1 burpee AMRAP and 1 plank hold will count as 0.3 workouts, you get the gist.

 

 

Goal

 

I just reached my first weight milestone by dropping under 92 kg.

The goal during this challenge is to get to my second weight milestone, which is 88 kg. This is the weight I had before Covid hit, and the weight I want to get back to.

Doing "good enough" on the eating, sleeping, and movement front should get me there in 6 weeks.

 

 

[Harriet]

You and Tank both, eh? But does this mean that when one turns 43, one is no longer the answer? Anyway good job on the weight milestone and I wish you much shrubbery. I mean, greenery.

[TimovieMan]

Right, so how did the week start?

 

Well... not that great, really, but probably still "good enough".

 

Worked from home yesterday, and "only" went for a 45-minute walk during my lunch break (so my daily step count - while ok - could've been better).

The missus was working from home as well, so I didn't do a bodyweight workout. Still have issues working out in front of her (or the kids for that matter), plus they don't need to see me work up a sweat in this heat.

 

I'm falling way behind on the DailyDare exercises, should really make some progress in that field.

 

Food was mainly leftovers yesterday. A bit of leftovers from the breakfast, and a chicken salad with some leftovers from the cold pasta salad (mainly tomato, bell pepper and red onion).

There was also some smoked salmon and some mozzarella cheese that needed to be eaten, so the missus opted for that instead of chicken. This meant more chicken for me, but also more calories. Hence green instead of dark green.

 

Played a bit too much of Tennis Elbow 4 last night, so got into bed later than I'd planned. Been a couple of days in a row now.

 

Today I biked to work, went for a half-hour walk during my lunch break, and biked back home.

To celebrate the arrival of a new team leader within the department, as well as a colleague's birthday, we've gotten treated to a bunch of chocolates. I waited until 4 in the afternoon to sample some (at which time there was little left). I wanted to ensure a 20+ hour fast window...

 

Log so far:

	Week 0
Eating	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Weight
Sleep	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep
Movement	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Steps
Avg. steps
Workouts
Distance

 

 

 

And this should come with a song, so here's something Belgian.

A band that had a good first album (including one *really* good single) in 2001, only to then - under a different name - have a hit single with a ridiculous song in Dutch that was released more as a joke in 2003, only to then seemingly disappear off the face of the earth after that. Apparently they released another album in 2008 but I mainly remember radio silence.

Which is a crying shame, because the debut album "Monokid" was an album I liked a lot.

Especially the song "Day One", which is also a good song title to start a challenge with, no?

 

YUM - "Day One"

 

[Waanie]

I'm glad that last challenge worked so well for you, and I'm stoked for your next challenge!

[Snarkyfishguts]

Following for birthday madness and fun

[DarK_RaideR]

21 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

and Tank beat me to it.

A rather common ocurrence on these forums, don't sweat it

[Salinger]

Hey Timo, really great to see you ! Cool challenge, cool music, cool guy ❤️ xx

[TimovieMan]

Food:

 

I was going to stay around 2K calories on Tuesday... until I noticed an opened pack of letter-shaped biscuits. The "good ones" from LU. I ate a cup of them. Maybe 500 calories. Result: yellow day.

 

I was going to stay under 2K calories on Wednesday... until the kids wanted an ice cream in the afternoon. I couldn't prepare them one and NOT make one for me as well. Went for a blend of a 'Dame Blanche' and a 'Coupe Brésilienne': 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, Brésilienne nuts, and whipped cream. I assume the calories are in the 800 ballpark. Result: yellow day.

 

I plan on staying under 2K calories today. There are still letter-shaped biscuits. Wish me luck... 😇

 

 

 

Sleep:

 

Despite it being very warm both outside and inside the house, and it hardly cooling down at night, I'm sleeping ok. Now if I'd only stop playing Tennis Elbow 4 a tad earlier. I'm getting in bed at times that would've been a 'green' mark in the previous challenge, but are yellow now... 😅

 

The heat is getting to me. I'm retaining a LOT of water - haven't been able to take off my wedding ring all week, which should normally be easy. I'm also tired all the time. Fell asleep in the hammock in our garden yesterday evening. Slept for an hour, according to my Fitbit. It's a grave overcalculation, I feel, so I'm not counting it.

 

 

 

Movement:

 

Picking up the kids from school on Tuesday registered as a 15-minute walk. Went for an additional 25-minute walk during TimovieDaughter's piano class. No sprint/walk HIIT because of the heat.

 

Had to do some minor grocery shopping during TimovieDaughter's music class yesterday. Walked to the supermarket and back, and went for a half-hour walk during the remaining time before her class ended. Registered as a full one-hour walk.

Went swimming as well during her swim practice. It was very crowded, with a lot differences in swim speeds and with many moments of turning around mid-length to avoid others. Am completely reliant on my Fitbit for the distance. Apparently 1575 meters in 55 minutes, which is slower than usual. Let's blame it on the pool being crowded.

 

Still haven't done any workouts this week. Not even the DailyDare exercises.

Can I blame that on the heat? I'm just not up to it during the day, and can't be arsed to get up from the couch in the late evening when it starts cooling down a bit...

Or should I blame it on Tennis Elbow 4? 😇

Or even "week zero"??? 😅

 

 

 

Log so far:

	Week 0
Eating	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Weight
Sleep	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep
Movement	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Steps
Avg. steps
Workouts
Distance

 

 

 

Here's my favourite Elvis Presley song, "Hound Dog".

It was his only entry in my 2016 "top 300", but I reckon he's going to feature in my top 2000 a lot more than just once. With "Hound Dog" finishing higher than 292 this time...

Because more than 40 years after his death, he's still the King... 😎

 

Elvis Presley - "Hound Dog"

 

[Whisper]

1 hour ago, TimovieMan said:

There are still letter-shaped biscuits. Wish me luck... 😇

Damned sirens is what they are!

Good luck.

[Everstorm]

7 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

Or even "week zero"??? 😅

Totally week zero.

[Ranger Hal]

7 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

Or even "week zero"??? 😅

I'm definitely having a zero week! No after work exercise at all this week.

[Sovalis]

I thought I had followed already! But I am here now!! 

[Silmarilliane]

Followiiiiiiing

[TrashcanCarla]

Following! Love your tracking and songs!

[Harriet]

Is the heat going to improve in weeks 1-4? Or will it be just as hot? Might have to come up with a hot plan.

[TimovieMan]

On 6/18/2023 at 9:04 AM, Harriet said:

Is the heat going to improve in weeks 1-4? Or will it be just as hot? Might have to come up with a hot plan.

I don't trust the weather report for the coming hours, let alone the coming weeks, so I don't know... 🤣

We've had rain yesterday evening and night, so it's finally cooler today. Should be cooler for the entire week, with the weather improving by the weekend but remaining more acceptable temperature-wise. So hopefully less water retention and general "I don't wanna" laziness... 😅

 

 

Yikes, major backlog.

 

 

 

Thursday:

I remained under 2K calories for the day... until the call of the letter-shaped biscuits got to me.

The evil voice in my head went: "Eat them. All of them. Once they're gone, they can't tempt you any longer."

 

Sadly, the good voice in my head saw reason in the "once they're gone" argument...

 

I ate all of them... 😱

Still half a bag, so in the 1K calorie ballpark.

 

Went for a *long* walk in the evening. Had every opportunity to do a sprint/walk HIIT but didn't do it. I blame it on the amount of biscuits in my system... 😇

 

Played too much Tennis Elbow 4 when I got home. Won a very tight match to get to the final of a tournament. Played the final but got trounced, and didn't want to quit on a defeat, so started a new tournament and played another match. Result: got into bed at 1.20am and got less than 6 hours of sleep. Red incoming... 

 

 

 

Friday:

Worked from home. Went for a walk during my lunch break with every intention of turning it into a sprint/walk HIIT once I got to the sports park. It was sunny and hot, but with the park being just at the edge of a forest, I figured half the track would've been shaded. It wasn't. So I opted out. Went for an extended walk in the forest instead, but no HIIT. Would've been a lot harder to do. I'd have to run while carrying both my phone (for the interval timer) and my drinking bottle (since I didn't have any good pockets for it, and I wasn't passing a same spot again soon so couldn't put it down somewhere like I would have in the sports park).

The extended walk pushed my entire afternoon schedule further than I'd have liked, which then ruled out a strength workout since I didn't have the time for it before my parents arrived to pick up the kids from school. So no workout either.

 

To make matters worse, I had fully intended to remain under 2K calories, with dinner with the kids being a bunch of different cups of instant noodles to see if any of the flavours were any good.

They weren't. But the kids (and especially TimovieDaughter) didn't eat a lot of them, so *I* was the one that had to finish them (since the missus was out with a friend).

And then we watched a movie together and shared a bag of crisps to pound on some additional calories. And I had an Ice Tea as well because by then it was basically "fuck it".

 

 

 

Saturday:

Didn't do much besides mowing the lawn and getting rid of some stuff in our garage and taking it to the recycling center.

Brother-in-law came in the evening to watch the football. There were appetizers of course, but I managed acceptable quantities. Had me a Cuba Libre and later an Ice Tea, but did pretty well. We ordered pizza for the kids and got pita kebab for us. The place I went to meant it when I said "all the vegetables". Onion, lettuce, tomato, carrot, white cabbage, red cabbage, corn, jalapeño peppers and olives. Since I went for the spicy sauce (sambal oelek), I got five jalapeño peppers. 😁

And then I got the two that were in the missus her pita kebab because she doesn't do spicy.

And then I got both her and the brother-in-law's olives as well because they either don't like olives or don't think they fit on a pita kebab.

I had a single slice from both the kids' pizzas as well, but still got things well under 3K calories.

 

During half-time of the football, the kids wanted ice cream. The missus had me make them one... and I caved and made one for me as well...

So yeah, orange day.

 

 

 

Sunday:

The late ice cream on Saturday meant I *just* missed my 16-hour fasting window by 20 minutes. Had a modest lunch.
Met up with a friend in the afternoon where I had a couple of chocolates, but not much, to remain well under 2K calories for the day.

 

The kids had leftover pizza for dinner. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't leave me a piece, so I finished the salted peanuts that were left over from the day before.

And when the kids got to bed, I made myself a small ice cream because the box of ice cream was almost empty and I had to finish it as well as use up the rest of the whipped cream (which was also only half a portion any more). So less calories than the day before, but still enough to push this day into yellow territory again.

 

And since I got no movement in at all, I even let my average daily steps dip below 12K... 🙄

 

 

 

Let's just call this "week zero", respawn and start again?

	Week 0
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Weight	+2.2 kg
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	6h51
Steps
Avg. steps	11.9K
Workouts	0.0
Distance	37.7 km

 

 

Weekly weigh-in

 

Weight: 94.0 kg (+2.2!!!)

Body fat: 23.6% (+2.0)

 

Yikes! Let's hope that some of that is just bloat and water retention because of the heat...

 

 

Walk to Mordor

 

Distance walked/swam this week: 37.07 km (23.03 miles)

Road to Mordor: total 349.6 miles - Hobbiton to Rivendell - Day 20 (6th from Weathertop) - Continuing in a wide shallow curving valley. Land started rising and now approaching a huddle of hills.

 

 

 

 Here's Godsmack's "Awake". Hoping it'll be the wake-up call I need for the rest of the challenge... 😇 

 

Godsmack - "Awake"

 

[Grandkai_NL]

You have a really cool way of tracking everything! Totally dig it!!

This might feel like a "week zero" but like Disney's Hercules.... From Zero to HERO!!! You're gonna kick ass next week!!

[Salinger]

Here to watch you smash this week  xx

[TimovieMan]

Had some catching up to do with the DailyDare exercises.

 

Here's me turning them into one massive workout:

 

- 2x25 clamshells - 🐝

- 2 minutes shoulder taps - 🐝

- 60 seconds plank hold - 🐝

- 2x20 single leg bridges - 🐝

- 2x 1 minute tree pose hold - 🐝

- 60 seconds superman stretch hold - 🐝

- 50 high crunches - 🐝  (needed a small break halfway through)

- 5 minutes raised arms hold - 🐝   (walked around a bit while doing this - and then had to resist the urge to moan "braaaains...." 😅)

- 2 minutes side jacks - 🐝

- 50 crunch kicks - 🐝

- 50 plank arm raises - 🐝   (core again??? needed a short break after 30)

- 15 tricep extensions - 🐝   (had to do the knee variant, didn't manage a single "full" one)

- 2x 30 seconds single leg hops - 🐝

 

It may not have been my regular workout, but I'm counting it as a full workout nonetheless, since it was very core-intensive... 😇

[Salinger]

Nice one Timo, that is boss mode xx

[TimovieMan]

Worked from home yesterday. Didn't go for a walk during my lunch break (because I was more or less making sure I wouldn't miss a package that was to be delivered), but did the above mentioned DailyDare backlog workout instead.

The package arrived at 18h30. If only I'd known. 🙃

 

Went for a walk in the evening instead. We've got a domain in town that's essentially a forest surrounding a lake. It's close to the town center, and the sports park is right next to it. It's my "usual" walking spot. It's a 20-minute walk there, and a 45-minute walk to circumnavigate the lake (and then a 20-minute walk back). That's the route I did.

 

I didn't have a protein shake after those DailyDare exercises (because I don't really consider them as full of a strength workout as my regular circuit), but I did have two protein bars (mostly almonds), and I ate the rest of the pack of salted peanuts we had in the house.

The missus liked to have a small cup of peanuts to eat while watching TV but lost her appetite for them after her - unrelated - stomach flu several weeks ago. So the bag was "going to spoil" otherwise... 😇

Of course, being me, I didn't finish the bag one cup at a time but instead did so in one go. 🤦‍♂️

Hence why yesterday is still a yellow day calorie-wise, despite eating modestly (apart from the nut snacking)...

Nuts are very calorie-dense. 😁

 

Slept ok last night, and got to bed at an acceptable hour, but took a while to fall asleep. Unusual since I didn't have any coffee, but meh...

 

 

I also tweaked the lay-out of my logging a little (no more title bars for "eating", "sleep" and "movement" and thus no repetition of the weekday letters, and I added the actual info for the weekly logs in the field for easier tracking on my end).

 

	Week 1
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Weight	94.0 kg
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	6h12
Steps
Avg. steps	14.7K
Workouts	1.0
Distance	7.77

 

 

 

Can't have a challenge without Nick Cave songs.

Here's a song that was seriously considered by the missus and me to be the opening song at our wedding. We ultimately decided against it, because it's equally fitting for a funeral (and has in fact been requested by my dad to be played at his funeral should he come to pass). But regardless, this is another of Nick Cave's masterpieces, from his underrated album "The Boatman's Call".

 

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - "Into My Arms"

 

[Waanie]

That's a beautiful song, I had never really listened to the lyrics before. I understand it's more suitable for a funeral than for a wedding though.

[Salinger]

Great walking and training woooo

 

Also the Nick Cave song is beautiful. Ive actually gone off him a bit recently due to his conservative views he has been expressing xx

[Harriet]

It's a good one. I don't know his works very well, though. The only other of his songs on my list are the weeping song and red right hand. Is there anything else I should hear?

[TimovieMan]

4 hours ago, Salinger said:

Also the Nick Cave song is beautiful. Ive actually gone off him a bit recently due to his conservative views he has been expressing xx

Oh, what has he said? I wasn't aware of any controversies.

 

I'm subscribed to his "Red Hand Files", and his responses to people's questions and stories are generally very respectful and well thought-out and carefully worded...

 

 

2 hours ago, Harriet said:

It's a good one. I don't know his works very well, though. The only other of his songs on my list are the weeping song and red right hand. Is there anything else I should hear?

Wow, well, where to begin? 😅

 

My short(ish) answer as a massive fan: everything he's made since the late '80s - starting from the album Tender Prey (1988), and including side projects like Grinderman 😇

His earlier work with The Birthday Party and the first couple of Bad Seeds albums, while influential, were less accessible.

 

For an actual selection of his (other) songs that I like best personally:

Spoiler

In  alphabetical order, with starred songs being *highly* recommended by me:

 

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:
- (Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For?
- Bright Horses
- Easy Money
* Ghosteen
- Higgs Boson Blues
* Jubilee Street
* Let Love In
* O Children
- Push the Sky Away
* Stagger Lee
- Straight to You
* The Mercy Seat
* The Ship Song
* The Sorrowful Wife
- Where the Wild Roses Grow (feat. Kylie Minogue)
- Henry Lee (feat. PJ Harvey)

Grinderman:
- (I Don't Need You to) Set Me Free
- Palaces of Montezuma
* Vortex

 

These are all his songs that I have marked for inclusion in my personal top 2000 (and "Into My Arms", "Red Right Hand" and "The Weeping Song" are going to be on there as well).

But he's my favourite artist, so...

 

 

 

 

Biked to work today, half-hour walk during my lunch break, biked back home.

Very poor timing in biking back home since I biked through the very worst of the rain we had this evening. I was soaked to my underwear. I wrang out my socks like they were swim trunks.

Picking up the kids from school registered as a 15-minute walk.

A sprint/walk HIIT during my daughter's piano class was out of the question, though, because of the relentless rain. A half-hour walk was out as well. Or so I thought...

The school where she has her piano class is a regular school during the day, and it's a U-shaped building with two *very* long hallways that were open, so... why not do my walk indoors, I figured...

So I did.

I basically walked the halls for 20 minutes until the weather cleared a bit, and I then continued for 10 minutes outside.

 

 

A colleague put out some treats at work for his birthday. I broke fast after 20 hours, and then had some.

Why is it so easy for me to hold out until my fast reaches 20 hours, but does it then become impossible to hold out an hour longer and just stay away??? 😇

Dinner was chicken and a couscous-vegetable-curry mix (with a lot of broccoli, and also bell pepper and beans), so at least that was healthy...