[sterre]

I'm back after a long hiatus! Things are a lot different for me since the last time I was here (I moved countries twice, became a parent to two cats and a small human etc) and I've been getting back into fitness and a reasonable diet in a fairly consistent way for the last month and a half or so and I'd like it to stick this time. I do have an idea of a weight and size I'd like to be and all that, but this challenge isn't about that so much as it is about making my routine easier to stick to and actually sticking to it.

 

The way I've been things lately is sort of working because my partner and I are currently living with family and I'm unemployed so I'm basically responsible for child care and not much else, which means that I can cram in some good exercise during the small one's nap time. The problem with that is it means that I'm not really getting ready to leave the house until the afternoon (because who wants to shower before a workout and then again after when you can just do it once). So I'd like to move my exercise to the start of the day. This has a number of other benefits, like starting the day with a sense of accomplishment, getting the exercise portion of the day done before anything else can interfere, having the ability to move my exercise outside before it's too hot and perhaps most importantly, freeing up the tiny human's nap time to do something else.  It does have the pitfall of having to actually get up.

 

Without further ado, here are my tentative goals:

 

1. Sleep routine for the small one and me (WIS +3)

This is going to be a few sub-goals, but they're all working together.

•  Bedtime for baby: We've been a bit willy-nilly about bedtime, but the small one is 14 months old, which is a reasonable time to get into a more consistent routine. The goal will be an end to screens around the small one at 8 pm (small one doesn't get a screen, but there are screens around), then a 9 pm start to the bed time routine with a goal of a 10 pm sleeping time every night. (/7)
• Bedtime for me: In bed with the lights out by midnight. This might be more of a challenge early on because my partner has started a new job and has a weird shift pattern, but it would set me up to... (/6)
• Wake up at the crack of 8 am 7:30 am: assuming me waking up doesn't also wake up the small one, this should give me enough time to get in all my workouts. I may need to shift this a bit earlier, but I will try 8 7:30 and see how it goes. I will give myself one day of extra rest a week, so this should happen six days a week. (/6)

 

2. Daily Yoga (STR +1, DEX +2)

Or nearly-daily. I'd like to aim for six sessions a week. (/6)

 

3. Calisthenics (STR +2, STA +1)

Three sessions of body-weight workouts a week. This will usually be done following a video because otherwise I slack too much. (/3)

 

4. Aerobics (DEX +1, STA +2)

Three sessions of aerobics a week. This is always going to be done following a video to the best of my ability. (/3)

 

5. Eat my fruits and veggies (CON +3)

I'm aiming for at least 5 servings a day every day. I've been doing intermittent fasting (16:8) and have been trying to make sensible choices and it seems to be going well, so I just want to make sure I'm getting those in. (/7)

 

And I apparently forgot that way back when I was last here, I'd been assigning points for these... I will have to review a bit and update with those (and maybe adjust the formatting). I'm not sure I'll keep my old stats or if I'm just re-rolling or what. I will be trialing everything during week 0 and making adjustments if needed.

 

Edit: updated formatting and added stat assignments (missing a +1 somewhere). I'm still not sure if I'll be adding to my previous assignments or re-rolling, but I don't really have to decide that just now.

 

Edit 2: minor tweaks and scoring added.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following! I have a three and a half year old, children certainly require parents to do far more planning to get fitness in.

[sterre]

4 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Following! I have a three and a half year old, children certainly require parents to do far more planning to get fitness in.

For sure! When the small one was smaller, I tried to do some yoga with baby routines when my core recovered enough from the birth that I could do yoga again, but by then the small one was too heavy and my core was too weak so I couldn't really manage. I've seen some mentions of toddler yoga, but I'm not sure how well that would actually work when mine takes me lying on the ground as an invitation to hit me in the face. It's definitely a challenge on its own.

[sterre]

My week 0 progress:

 

1. Sleep routine for the small one and me: I did manage to get the small one to sleep through a nice bedtime routine. It only took 45 minutes, so we were done by 9:45. It's the second day in a row we've tried a more dedicated time. I did not get to bed by midnight (we were watching a movie so it was 12:30 before we turned the lights out) and I let my alarm go. I think I have to adjust the time a little earlier (aiming for 7:30) and I will set a few alarms tonight so I can't sleep through them all.

2. Daily Yoga:  I've done three sessions of yoga so far, including one today. Today's was pretty free-form since it followed a longer aerobics session.

3. Calisthenics: none today, but I did have one session yesterday so I'm at one for the week so far.

4. Aerobics: I found a new video today and it was fun. I definitely need to try it again to get the moves down because I'm not the most coordinated person, but that's two sessions for the week.

5. Eat my fruits and veggies: got them in yesterday (and the day before). So that's two days this week (with today in progress).

[Elastigirl]

A great start!

[sterre]

1. Sleep routine for the small one and me: I started the small one's bed time routine at the expected time, but due to an unexpected evening nap, it wasn't until 10:30 or so that the small one was actually asleep. I did manage to get myself to bed before midnight and got up at 7:30 this morning to get my workout and yoga done first thing.

2. Daily Yoga: I did another yoga session, making it four so far this week.

3. Calisthenics: I followed along with a Pamela Reif legs video. I tried to do a second one, but it was too hard so I stopped. That's two sessions for the week.

4. Aerobics: None today. So still two sessions for the week.

5. Eat my fruits and veggies: I ate more than five servings yesterday, so that's three days so far this week.

 

I also took advantage of the small one's extra nap to take a walk entirely by myself (gasp!). I had noticed that Google Fit has a Paced Walk function so I gave that a try. I set it for a pace of 111 steps a minute, but then apparently I actually walked an average of 118 steps a minute. Either way, it was definitely nice to spend some time out walking while not pushing a stroller.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Bonus alone time is always a gift, I'm glad you got some.

[sterre]

1. Sleep routine for the small one and me: So I got the bedtime routine done again and yesterday I managed to get up early, but today I slept in (or you know, I slept in as much as a person can with a 1 year old). I might make waking up early a 6/7 day thing since I really only have 6 days worth of exercise planned for the week. It should also be easier to get to sleep early and get up early next week since my partner will be on a similar schedule.

2. Daily Yoga: I did another yoga session yesterday, making it five for the week. I skipped today, but I might try to do a bedtime sort of routine tonight. (5/7)

3. Calisthenics: None today since I've decided it's a rest day, so that's 2/3 for the week.

4. Aerobics: Did some yesterday. So that's 3/3 for the week.

5. Eat my fruits and veggies: I ate more than five servings yesterday and the day before.

 

I will try to refine my goals a little more based on how week 0 has gone, assuming I have a few more moments tonight.

[sterre]

Week 1, Day 1!

 

1. Sleep routine for the small one and me:

• Small one bedtime: I started the routine on time and sleepytime was achieved on schedule (1/7)
• Bedtime for me: I intend on going to bed after checking in here and checking on a few of yous, but we'll see (?/6)
• Early rise: I got up at 7:30 and if not for a Pokemon quest, I would have got everything I planned to do done and maybe a shower too before the small one woke up. (1/6)

2. Daily Yoga:  I got interrupted halfway through my yoga routine today, but I made up for it by doing a bedtime yoga routine just now. So instead of just one, I'm going to call it one and a half. (1.5/6)

3. Calisthenics: I followed an abs video and a legs one. Still going to count that as one session because neither was super long. (1/3)

4. Aerobics: First session of the week planned tomorrow. (0/3)

5. Eat my fruits and veggies: Got them in today! (1/7)

 

Yeah, so I did end up sort of prioritizing a Pokemon Go collection challenge over my workout this morning, but it's got a time element (there were a set of night time and day time Pokemon to collect and the night ones are out from 2 hours after sunset until 2 hours after sunrise and there's no way I'm going out after I've put the baby to bed) and it also meant that I got a second walk in today, which is a win too. I also did get the things I planned mostly done in the morning and I was able to make up the part I missed as well, so it worked out.

[Elastigirl]

30 minutes ago, sterre said:

Yeah, so I did end up sort of prioritizing a Pokemon Go collection challenge over my workout this morning, but it's got a time element (there were a set of night time and day time Pokemon to collect and the night ones are out from 2 hours after sunset until 2 hours after sunrise and there's no way I'm going out after I've put the baby to bed) and it also meant that I got a second walk in today, which is a win too. I also did get the things I planned mostly done in the morning and I was able to make up the part I missed as well, so it worked

I count that as a win! Sometimes (often) with a little one you just have to adapt. Two walks is a big win!

[sterre]

Week 1, Day 2-6!

 

So it seems I did not account for allergies. They have been absolutely killing me this week. It's been a while since I've spent grass pollen season in a suburb with such an effective monoculture of grass so I forgot how bad it can be. The good news is that it has been helping me get to sleep earlier, but it also means that I end up wanting to sleep later, which doesn't help with the challenge. And since my original idea was to update after the baby is asleep, if I'm just passing out after getting the small one asleep then obviously updates are tricky. So I'm updating partway through the day now (hence all the +? where I don't know if I'll do something today).

 

1. Sleep routine for the small one and me:

• Small one bedtime:  Bed time routine has been initiated on time every day so far. The small one doesn't always go to sleep by 10 pm, but that's not something I can control and I'm only measuring the part that I can control on this. (5+?/7)
• Bedtime for me: Other than the first night when I decided to do "just a bit of gaming" with my partner which turned into his character dying and a lot of faffing about getting him resurrected and all, I've been in bed by midnight. (4+?/6)
• Early rise: There were two days that I slept through my alarm and two where the small one woke up at 7:30 too so I couldn't do anything other than baby stuff...  (3/6)

2. Daily Yoga:  I didn't end up doing my routine yesterday and haven't done today's yet. (4.5+?/6)

3. Calisthenics: I'm one session behind at the moment, but I haven't done my exercise today. (2+?/3)

4. Aerobics: Also one session behind here, but again I haven't done today's exercise yet. (2+?/3)

5. Eat my fruits and veggies: I've been doing very well at this at least.  (5+?/7)

[Elastigirl]

Ugh,I hate allergies.Hope yours  go away soon.

[sarakingdom]

How are things going this week? (Amnesties, goal changes, and writing off entire weeks encouraged, if it gets you back on track! Sometimes it's just about rolling with things and finding the way forward.)

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I hope your challenge has been going well, and even if it hasn't, know we are in your corner, have your back, and other metaphors for support.

[sterre]

On 7/2/2023 at 12:50 PM, sarakingdom said:

How are things going this week? (Amnesties, goal changes, and writing off entire weeks encouraged, if it gets you back on track! Sometimes it's just about rolling with things and finding the way forward.)

 

On 7/9/2023 at 12:47 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I hope your challenge has been going well, and even if it hasn't, know we are in your corner, have your back, and other metaphors for support.

 

Ah! Thanks for checking in and sorry I totally bailed on posting. First I was having issues with finding the right time to post and then there was so much to catch up on so it became daunting and then I was feeling tired a lot and crappy with allergies and apparently a previously unknown anemia so I kinda fell off everything. 😔

 

I think it's worthwhile to look at what didn't work to figure things out:

1. I wasn't feeling great. And I thought it was just allergies getting to me, but I was also tired and sleeping poorly etc and it turns out that I'm a touch iron deficient so that goes a long way to explain a lot of that.

2. I think I tried to take on too much at once. I was attempting to go from doing yoga most days and maybe 2-3 bodyweight exercises a week to 3 bodyweight exercises plus 3 aerobics routines plus yoga plus revamping a sleep schedule for me and a toddler... it was maybe too much.

3. It was also never clear to me when the best time to update was. I ever posted in the morning after my workouts, but then I hadn't even started eating for the day and I obviously hadn't done the bedtime routines so about half my goals would be left for the next day. I also ever posted between the bedtimes, but a lot of the time I was feeling tired and just went to bed right after getting the small one to sleep.

 

Things that did work though:

1. I got the small one into a reasonable bedtime routine. It's not perfect, but we're definitely much better about it now.

2. I got myself into bed at a better time more regularly. I would wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to get back to sleep for a bit, but I was at least getting into bed at a reasonable hour a lot more.

3. I remembered my plan to eat more fruits and veggies so I crammed those into my meals and snacks, which is always a good choice.

 

I think I'll start up a new battle log and try to do a bit more thought and work to get back into things again. And hopefully I'll get up to a normal amount of energy in the coming weeks too.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Too much too soon is one of the classic blunders, right up there with getting involved in a Land War in Asia™

 

I've done it more than once.