[Silmarilliane]

Hi folks, hope everyone's been keeping well. I've had a week off challenging for the big 4-0 which I'm glad has finally come and gone! Surprisingly I weighed in this morning and haven't put too much on, though I have also started this challenge very hungover after birthday celebrations, and I have to do a night shift tonight  at least the hangover meant I had a day nap so think I'll be able to power through, and it's working from home at least.

So my last challenge went well and my general formula of walking/food/sleep seems to be working - I think I'll make a few tweaks, but largely follow the pattern. I've also been terrible at keeping up my physio this last week, so am hoping a new challenge will improve that.

I think the one main thing I need to figure out is getting a sleep pattern that is more consistent, rather than just aiming for being in bed 8.5hrs before my alarm. I generally get up ~7am when I'm in the office, ~8am wfh and then whenever I wake up at the weekend if I don't have anything on. I also have a tendency to stay up late because I'm a night owl and am usually just more awake the later it gets. I want to see if I can more consistently get up ~7am through the week and do something meaningful before work on the wfh days so it doesn't feel like wasted time. Mondays I'll do the weights that I usually do after work, and maybe the other days I can do a fitness video or cycle. Or might start doing the weights twice a week. Will see how it goes, but I think it'll be measured by being in bed by 10:30pm, and light off by 11pm to allow for some reading.

 

So the challenge (I think I was still doing calculations for total points based on 6 week challenges instead of 5, so have probably been underselling myself for quite a while!):

 

 

FOOD

• Under 1600 calories for the day = 10pts
• Overeating one meal = 0pts
• Overeaty nonsense = -10pts

Maximum = 350pts

 

SLEEP

• In bed by 10:30pm/lights off at 11pm = 5pts
• Getting up at 7am = 5pts

This was far too confusing so changing it to:

• In bed by 10:30 with lights off at 11pm = 10pts

Maximum = 350pts but much more likely about half of this

 

EXERCISE

• Walking 45mins per day, minimum 20min continuous = 10pts
• Walking 30mins per day, minimum 10min continuous = 5pts
• Home weights/youtube workout/cycling = 5pts
• Missing physio 3x per week = -10pts

Maximum = technically infinite if I just do a ton of exercise, but assuming 3 per week on top of the walking = 425pts

 

Total maximum = 1135pts, with pass rate of 750pts (giving myself hopeful leeway for the sleep trial to be a failure!)

[Silmarilliane]

Now the listing out upcoming things...

 

30/07/2023: overnight shift - I'm counting calories right now but def think I'll need coffee and food to get through this. I might just average out 30/31st

02/08/2023: meeting some friends for dinner/drinks

05/08/2023: friend's birthday night out

12/08/2023: friend's birthday night out

13/08/2023: surprise birthday day out for me, which I suspect might include a roast dinner...

18/08/2023: going to Portugal that evening (hopefully just evening overeating though)

19 - 21/08/2023: Portugal holiday so likely much overeating

22/08/2023: home in the morning so can maybe stay in calories

25 - 27/08/2023: away at a singing weekend, which is 'all inclusive' so will likely be much overeating

01 - 02/08/2023: away for my aunt & uncle's anniversary, probably overeaty/drinky

 

Ooft, that's a lot of weekends away. I'm glad I'm doing the challenge though as it'll keep me on track all the days in between, which is the main reason for me doing these. Wish me luck!

[Silmarilliane]

Day one summary - started VERY hungover... and I'm currently working a 2am-10am nightshift. Can't believe I've only done 3.5hrs of it so far, feels like ages. I did go for a walk once I felt more human in the late afternoon. I counted calories and put one of my nightshift coffees to yesterday and one towards today, and have just had crumpets which I'm counting as 'today'  it's all very weird, but essentially am going to make sure the two days are under 3200cals. Obviously wasn't able to be in bed by 10:30 as I'm powering through - I did lie down for an hour at midnight listening to an audiobook, but no sleeps.

 

Yesterday: 🚶‍♀️ 10pts 🥗 10pts 💡 0pts

Total: 20pts

[Sovalis]

Happy Belated Birthday, Silmarilliane!!! 🥳 I hope you had a great time and that your hangover isn’t lingering nastily for too long. 

 

Here to cheer!

[Silmarilliane]

8 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Happy Belated Birthday, Silmarilliane!!! 🥳 I hope you had a great time and that your hangover isn’t lingering nastily for too long. 

 

Here to cheer!

 

Thaaaanks - fortunately the hangover only lasted until the afternoon so I was able to get a rainy walk in before the night shift. Have to say the lack of sleep on that started to feel like a hangover too, but that thankfully seems to have passed!

[Silmarilliane]

Dammit, just realised the original post had an inconsistency for the sleep section so edited it, and then lost all the stuff I'd written here 😐 I wouldn't mind, but sometimes I go to add a post and it's got some saved draft text from days ago, like make up your mind!

The inconsistency was the timings of bed/sleep so I've simplified it into bed at 10:30 OR lights off at 11 which gives me some grace on the days I get home late - obv 10:30 is better as I get to read beforehand, but I can't be bothered to work out some complicated way to determine points...! Umm, what did I say before. I got into bed before 10:30pm and lights off at 11pm, and also the calorie counting over two days went well. I got about two hours sleep from 10am after the night shift and didn't do much but potter around and watch TV. I did get a walk, weights and physio in later on though.

 

Yesterday: 🚶‍♀️ 10pts 🥗 10pts 🛏️ 10pts 🏋️‍♀️ 5pts

Total: 55pts

 

6th Aug: edited to update sleep scoring change

[MaeradCase]

11 hours ago, Silmarilliane said:

Dammit, just realised the original post had an inconsistency for the sleep section so edited it, and then lost all the stuff I'd written here 😐 I wouldn't mind, but sometimes I go to add a post and it's got some saved draft text from days ago, like make up your mind!

I know the frustrations you speak of. 😢

[MaeradCase]

On 7/30/2023 at 12:54 PM, Silmarilliane said:

Hi folks, hope everyone's been keeping well. I've had a week off challenging for the big 4-0 which I'm glad has finally come and gone!

Happy belated birthday, by the way! Sounds like you have a lot of birthday events coming up! FWIW, I think it's neat to be friends with the equivalent of big sisters. 😉

[Silmarilliane]

13 hours ago, MaeradCase said:

Happy belated birthday, by the way! Sounds like you have a lot of birthday events coming up! FWIW, I think it's neat to be friends with the equivalent of big sisters. 😉

 

Thank you! Yes, managed to drag out the birthday things nicely, and tonight am meeting some friends for a combined birthday meal so it continues!

[Silmarilliane]

Sleep still seems to be a bit disrupted, but that might be the cat having disagreements outside as well as the heavy rain that woke me too. I've been listening to 'the sleepy bookshelf' Journey to the Centre of the Earth, which I've not read before. Helpfully the start of each episode summarises the last chapter  and seeing as I can't remember where it got to each time, I can only assume it's helping me fall asleep.

I was up at 7am yester and into the office. I somewhat stupidly forgot to add the Horlicks I'd already made for chorus into my calories and then had a handful of almonds so was maybe 50cals over. I'm allowing that though as I could have thrown away the horlicks, but that would have been wasteful. On site so lots of walking, but no extra exercise or physio. I've come on site today too as I'm meeting the friends later.

 

 

Yesterday: 🚶‍♀️ 10pts 🥗 10pts 🛏️ 10pts 

Total: 85pts

 

6th Aug: edited to update sleep scoring change

[Sovalis]

Horlicks is a fun word, what is it, please?

[Harriet]

Happy belated birthday! 

How do you manage 1600 calories? I am insane after three weeks of it and have just eaten 2900 and could easily put away some more. 

 

Anyway, happy movementing to you!

[Silmarilliane]

19 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Horlicks is a fun word, what is it, please?

 

Haha, ikr - especially as it's literally pronounced wh0re-licks... it's a malted milk drink that is a powder you can add to hot milk or hot water. It's quite handy to have in the office for me to take along to singing! 

 

19 hours ago, Harriet said:

Happy belated birthday! 

How do you manage 1600 calories? I am insane after three weeks of it and have just eaten 2900 and could easily put away some more. 

 

Anyway, happy movementing to you!

 

Thank you and thank you!

Well, I worked out at some point that to maintain my weight is only about 1800 calories... I'm also never really hungry, I just eat a lot of food if unchecked because it tastes delicious, so I have to track on my counting days to balance out overeating on 'off' days.

I pretty much eat the same thing every day but basically only have two 'meals', one at midday and one around 6pm - I have coffee in the morning and tea between the meals, but after dinner I'm rarely hungry though sometimes will have some sort of pudding if I have calories left.

[Silmarilliane]

Went into the office yesterday as well, and although I had some snacks, I didn't go bonkers. I had some streetfoody stuff for dinner and some beers so that was definitely overeaty. Was up at 7am though, and got lots of walking, especially as I think the bus that gets me home is on diversion so I speedwalked to the next stop but saw one approaching, pelted to catch up and did not so had to walk the rest of the way home feeling grumpy...! I got home after 11pm so not able to do my bedtiming, and chose to have an extra half hour asleep this morning which I'm fine with. I'm still feeling tired. I'm sad that I haven't had chance to go for a cycle for ages now - I'm wfh today but had to call a friend about some property law queries I have (man I feel stupid when talking to solicitors and the like, and feel totally like I've been taken for a ride so that's not helping my mood at the moment). At least I managed to get my physio done in a listening-only-meeting.

 

Yesterday: 🚶‍♀️ 10pts 🍻 0pts 💡 0pts

Total: 95pts

 

I'm moving the alarm clock emoji to the beginning as it represents the morning not the end of the day and I'm definitely going to get confused about that!

 

6th Aug: edited to update sleep scoring change

[MaeradCase]

3 hours ago, Silmarilliane said:

Was up at 7am though, and got lots of walking, especially as I think the bus that gets me home is on diversion so I speedwalked to the next stop but saw one approaching, pelted to catch up and did not so had to walk the rest of the way home feeling grumpy.

I can picture this scene vividly. 😅 Glad you caught the bus! 😃

[Silmarilliane]

On 8/3/2023 at 7:29 PM, MaeradCase said:

I can picture this scene vividly. 😅 Glad you caught the bus! 😃

 

Oh I missed it 😅 however I did see it stopped at the bottom of the hill with the driver checking the lights so it wouldn't have got me home anyway!

[Silmarilliane]

Today was a weird one. I think this whole week has been weird, firstly bcuz night shift and secondly bcuz I actually need to do all the things I've been putting off until after the birthday! Mainly just figuring future life plans, nothing major 😉

The alarm went off at 7am but I hadn't really planned what I was going to do before work, so I gave Rivia some attention, went for my run, went for a cycle and then there was still a bunch of time before work 🤷‍♀️ I need to plan before this happens again, as I ended up scrolling insta for a bit, and this is not good use of a morning.

As for yesterday, I had a later alarm because home late, still ate in calories just about. No time in the day to cycle or other exercise and had to go for a walk when I got home from my sister's - it was her nan-in-law's funeral though I wasn't able to get time off for it so went along after to see them. Though as I was there at the end I ended up bringing home a load of leftover buffet food, including cake, which I avoided eating all of by putting it in the freezer. You never know when you fancy a slice of Swiss roll!

 

Yesterday: 🚶‍♀️10pts 🥗 10pts 🛏️ 10pts

Total: 115pts

 

I may need to think of a better emoji system...

 

6th Aug: edited to update sleep scoring change

[Silmarilliane]

Already summarised yesterday and I went to go to bed at 10pm but remembered I needed to clear under the stairs for boiler replacement so it was just before 10:30pm, and lights off at 11pm. Funnily I woke up at 7am this morning with no alarm, though stayed in bed until 7:45 (boiler replacing at 8am). This does mean that I haven't had a shower yet, so haven't gone out, and it's 3pm! An excuse to play TotK all morning? OK 

 

Yesterday: 🚶‍♀️10pts 🥗 10pts 🛏️ 10pts 🚲 5pts

Total: 150pts

 

6th Aug: edited to update sleep scoring change

[Silmarilliane]

I was supposed to go Out Out yesterday but with the day at home and feeling a little ill, I met my friend for a local drink instead - it was his 40th and he'd been drinking since the arvo, so although he offered to 'wingman' for me, I thought I'd let him have a more chill one! I finally got my shower at 4pm, and had a shop-walk, which I topped up with to and from pub-walk. Also managed to do the physio which I'm glad I did, as I think I only managed twice in the week. I've got an appt next week with the GP physio to see if I can get a scan to see why it's not improving (though at least it's not getting worse)

This whole having to remember if I got up at 7am is already annoying haha - I don't know if I count yesterday as I technically woke at 7am, but then dozed until 7:45. Maybe I'll switch it to just be whether I go to bed at 10:30 with lights off at 11pm for 10pts rather than splitting it. Scrolling back up I seem to have already messed points because I'm generally confused by it... I shall just go back and edit after I've posted this and re-tot up my points! I ate relatively sensibly in the day, and because I was going for some drinks I had some leftover bits from the freezer which I think is equivalent to getting food out somewhere, so will mark that as a one meal over.

 

Yesterday: 🚶‍♀️10pts 🍻 0pts 💡 0pts

Total: 160

 

OK, after editing them all, my scoring was all over the shop and additions kinda wrong, so I'm glad I changed/corrected it all!

[Silmarilliane]

I need to do a week plan I think so my early mornings when I'm wfh don't feel like massive wastes of life... This week I'm working from home Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, though Thursday I'm doing an 8am start to cover the physio appt at lunch.

Monday I'll do the weight routine I would usually do after work. What to do Wednesday morning though? I've found I don't like doing a cycle at that time. I guess I could do a walk, but feel that's a similar thing I should do to break up my working day.

Oo, I know, I'm going to do my duolingo and read my book, but in the lounge or outside if it's nice, so it's not bed or work environment. I'll also see if I can remember to do duolingo tomorrow after weights as I'm sure I'll have time. I'll likely have time on Thursday too.

[Silmarilliane]

Getting up early is boring  I did my normal run/pilates and then my weights so I put the TV on (I never do that before work usually) so just felt a bit like I was moping around. I definitely could have done duolingo this morning but didn't... Yesterday I cut the grass and did a bit of gardening until the green bin was full - still loads of thistles and tall grass to pull out. Played some TotK and went for a walk, did some life admin and TV. Felt a bit of a meh day really.

 

 

Yesterday: 🚶‍♀️10pts 🥗 10pts 🛏️10pts

Total: 190

[Sovalis]

I sometimes struggle with my mornings taking too long, too. It's weird and annoying. 

[Harriet]

20 hours ago, Silmarilliane said:

I need to do a week plan I think so my early mornings when I'm wfh don't feel like massive wastes of life...

Do you mean, like, the time before work when you would usually be getting ready and commuting? Maybe journalling, or meditation, or braiding your hair into an amish bun? Or stretching, or reading a novel? No, reading a novel is probably the wrong feeling for before work. 

[Silmarilliane]

22 hours ago, Sovalis said:

I sometimes struggle with my mornings taking too long, too. It's weird and annoying. 

 

OK, I'm glad it's not just me!

 

22 hours ago, Harriet said:

Do you mean, like, the time before work when you would usually be getting ready and commuting? Maybe journalling, or meditation, or braiding your hair into an amish bun? Or stretching, or reading a novel? No, reading a novel is probably the wrong feeling for before work. 

 

Yes sort of - I got into a pretty bad habit with wfh of getting up later and later, and part of trying to get more consistent sleep is getting up at 7am when I'm wfh (as I do when I'm going into the office). I like the idea of something fun like hair braiding! Also meditation would probably be useful, or the yoga routine I used to do during lockdown, thanks!

I am actually quite good at reading for small amounts of time, depending on the book I'm reading - I'm currently reading the subtle art of not giving a f*ck so think I could get a few chapters of that in.

[Silmarilliane]

I did the weights and got a cycle in, and then did my evening house-tidy up before pilates so when I got back from that I had a little time for TotK! Was quite nice actually   Calories under, walking done and in bed in plenty of time - I even turned the light off early as I was getting up a little earlier today.

 

 

Yesterday: 🚶‍♀️10pts 🥗 10pts 🛏️10pts 🚲 5pts 🏋️‍♀️ 5pts

Total: 230pts

 

I have some days to add to the overeating coming up though - this Friday I've got after work drinks, Saturday I'm going to a bbq in the day and then birthday drinks, so might be an all-day overeaty. Next week I've got my nephew's birthday meal too which will be evening overeaty. Ah well, such is life!