[TimovieMan]

Spring has arrived, so it's time to shake off the winter blues and get back in shape for the summer.

 

After two half-hearted and failed attempts at a respawn this year, I'm ready to give it another go. With the start of spring, I'm hoping the weather will improve significantly. The previous six months have seen a LOT of near-constant rainfall here, so I'm more than ready for clearer weather, which I hope will help to get me out of this rut I'm in. I've been calling it the "winter blues", and I'm pretty sure the weather is - at least partly - to blame.

 

And with spring being here, and the goal of getting back in shape (i.e. getting my "summer bod"), the theme for this challenge was clear:

 

TimovieMan's Spring Respawn: From Winter Blues to Summer Bod

 

 

I'm dusting off my logging system, and getting it back into action again.

No massive pressure to do too much, the challenge is just to start logging again. If done properly, and knowing myself, the rest will follow...

 

	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
Calories spent	< 2750 cal	≥ 2750 cal	≥ 3000 cal	≥ 3500 cal	≥ 4000 cal	Daily	Fitbit numbers
Calories in/out deficit	< 500 cal	< 0 cal	≥ 0 cal	≥ 500 cal	≥ 1000 cal	Daily
Curfew	≥ 1.30 am	≥ 1.00 am	< 1.00 am	< 0.30 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
Distance	< 15 km	≥ 15 km	≥ 20 km	≥ 25 km	≥ 30 km	Weekly	Walk to Mordor distance
Workouts	≤ 1	> 1	> 2	> 3	> 4	Weekly	Mini-workouts: 1/10 per exercise
Days with (mini)-workouts	≤ 3	4	5	6	7	Weekly

 

That should get me started in this challenge.

 

There's another walking challenge that's starting at work in a couple of weeks. Basically, the idea is to collectively accumulate 150.000 km in four weeks, and if we succeed, the company will plant 75.000 trees in the Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel in Africa. I've participated in this the previous two years, so doing so again will just be extra incentive to go for regular walks.

 

And it won't hurt on the Road to Mordor either... 😅

 

 

 

As usual, posts in my thread often are accompagnied by music.

Here's the compelling Cranberries song "Ode to My Family". Because a song about a yearning to return to the simple life as a child kinda hits home when I notice that it's been over SIX years already that singer Dolores O'Riordan passed away. Suddenly I felt like I was getting old. Despite still feeling 24 in my head. So I reinforce the "I'm still young" feeling by singing "do do do do"... 😇

 

The Cranberries - Ode to My Family

 

[TimovieMan]

In completely random news: today is World Down Syndrome Day.

TimovieDaughter remembered this morning, and put on mismatched socks in solidarity. So I did the same.

I'm wearing one grey sock and one black sock with white stripes.

 

And the odd thing is: I have another such mismatched pair in my sock drawer... 😅

 

[Sovalis]

Here to follow, Timo. I can’t imagine that much rain. We get snow here for months and months, but there are more days with sun than overcast  even while the ground is covered. I don’t think I could deal with that much greyness. 

 

Looking forward to more music!

[TimovieMan]

1 minute ago, Sovalis said:

Here to follow, Timo. I can’t imagine that much rain. We get snow here for months and months, but there are more days with sun than overcast  even while the ground is covered. I don’t think I could deal with that much greyness. 

 

Looking forward to more music!

The amount of rain has really been exceptional. I can't remember a winter this wet before.
I read somewhere that, since October, we've only had 18 days without rainfall. While rainfall on over half of all days is pretty standard here in Belgium, having rainfall on 90% of all days is just... depressing.

And I fear that we'll be looking at months of drought next.

 

Yay, global warming!

 

[Darciana]

I'd gladly take some of your rain - we had surprise rain here last night into this morning but I fear it's still not enough to offset the drought conditions in summer here.

 

I'm here to support you and cheer you on!

[Scaly Freak]

On 3/21/2024 at 9:36 AM, TimovieMan said:

I read somewhere that, since October, we've only had 18 days without rainfall. While rainfall on over half of all days is pretty standard here in Belgium, having rainfall on 90% of all days is just... depressing.

 

Fingers crossed the water doesn't get stuck somewhere and cause flooding.

[TimovieMan]

Alright, weekend recap.

 

First things first from Friday:

 

Weekly weigh-in

 

Weight: 94.15 kg (-0.5)

Body fat: 21.9 % (-0.6)

 

 

Despite not really doing anything special in zero week, I'm down half a kilo (over 1 pound). The weekend saw a pretty high calorie intake (despite the quantities being reasonable), so I'm not sure how this will look next Friday.

 

Friday was the day of the E3 Saxo Classic cycling race here in Harelbeke. That meant that the kids had a day off (because the entire city is pretty much locked down for the race in the afternoon). So the Mrs. Movieman and me also took the day off. The kids wanted to be at the team presentation and the start of the race in the morning, so we went on foot. It was very crowded and we had to relocate a couple of times to find spots where the kids actually saw anything of the stage.

 

After the start of the race, we went for fries - hence the high calorie intake - and then spent the afternoon watching the race on TV.

At about 12 km from the finish, TimovieSon and me left to go watch the race live. There's a street corner at about 400 meters from our house where we can see the cyclist coming from hundreds of meters away, and they have to take a left turn right in front of us, so they have to slow down. It's a good spot for watching the race.

It's also at less than 2 km from the finish, so I had to stream on my phone to know who actually won.

 

We watched a movie in the evening - Christopher Robin (2018). Mrs. Movieman hadn't seen it yet, but the kids and me had. I'm a bit puzzled as to why the kids wanted to see it again because they only thought it was mediocre when they first saw it - and that was actually better than my view on it. I think it's a needlessly bleak and dreary film that's plain boring, takes forever to go anywhere, and I'm constantly taken out of it by the atrocious look of the animals who look nothing like their cartoon / book counterparts.

 

I do like this Ewan McGregor Star Wars mash-up, though:

 

 

 

Saturday morning had football matches for TimovieSon and TimovieDaughter. TimovieSon's team won a close match (5-3) and TimovieDaughter's team drew 7-7 which felt like a correct result given the match. We went shopping immediately afterwards, to get it out of the way and to be able to enjoy a quiet afternoon.

TimovieSon and me watched the international friendly Ireland - Belgium, which was a 90-minute borefest, and we watched the final episode of a local TV programme that the kids enjoy. With crisps.

 

Sunday we all got to sleep in a little, and in the afternoon watched the Ghent-Wevelgem cycling race. The general lack of activity this weekend meant that the kids were rather bratty in the afternoon. But they recovered in time for the first episode of "The Mole" which is a yearly TV programme here. Crisps were involved again.

 

 

So today is the start of the spring respawn.

And also the day that I'm *finally* going to see Dune Part II at the cinema. This evening, together with my dad.

TimovieSon doesn't have any football practice this evening so this worked out best...

 

 

 

Here's one of the contenders for "highest new entry" on my Top list (together with Lord of the Lost's Loreley, Michael Kiwanuka's Cold Little Heart and Audioslave's Be Yourself).
I *think* I got to know them through sheer luck of the YouTube algorithm. But I immediately recognized this as a fantastic song, and the video is brilliant as well. It's the Finnish group "Poets of the Fall" with "Carnival of Rust".

 

Poets of the Fall - Carnival of Rust

 

[WhiteGhost]

On 3/21/2024 at 9:21 PM, TimovieMan said:

I'm more than ready for clearer weather, which I hope will help to get me out of this rut I'm in.

I am with you on this one.  The weather here is getting better and I really hope it helps me get out and move more

 

On 3/21/2024 at 11:36 PM, TimovieMan said:

rainfall on 90% of all days

I don't think I could handle that

[Darciana]

Happy Respawn!

 

I'm looking forward to seeing Dune II though I'll have to wait until it is streaming - the local theater shut down and I don't prefer a theater experience enough to drive an hour to go to one. Please let us know how you liked it (hold spoilers, please!)

[Sovalis]

Carnival of Rust is such a great song. I haven’t thought about it in a long time, thank you for bringing it up! 

[Shello]

 

I thought you could use a rainbow.  Following!

[Heidi]

On 3/21/2024 at 9:21 AM, TimovieMan said:

I'm dusting off my logging system, and getting it back into action again.

Dangitol! And here I was finally fewer than a hundred miles behind you on the way to Mordor!

 

But ooooooers. . . spreadsheets and trackers and colors!  

I need to ask about your rating system for calories please. Are you hoping for 1000 calorie deficit every day? Because 7000 calorie deficit every week seems like a lot, but maybe it works for you. I would pass out.  

On 3/21/2024 at 9:21 AM, TimovieMan said:

the idea is to collectively accumulate 150.000 km in four weeks, and if we succeed, the company will plant 75.000 trees in the Great Green Wall of the Sahara and the Sahel in Africa.

Oh, this makes my little Druid heart happy.  How many co-workers are participating?

May yo have fair skies, Friend.

❤️ 

[TimovieMan]

12 hours ago, Darciana said:

I'm looking forward to seeing Dune II though I'll have to wait until it is streaming - the local theater shut down and I don't prefer a theater experience enough to drive an hour to go to one. Please let us know how you liked it (hold spoilers, please!)

It's worth the theater experience. There are some exquisite shots in it.

It's a good continuation of the first part that both finishes the first book but also sets up a third movie.

I liked it a lot, but I have to say that my brother-in-law was not as impressed when he saw it a few weeks ago (he felt they stopped mid-story again).

And frankly, neither was my dad this evening, who thinks there were a few pace-killing moments. But he's not a fan of the religious "mumbo-jumbo" as he calls it, despite saying that it must be experienced on a big screen. Basically he prefers a war between House Atreides and House Harkonnen, and not as much Muad'Dib / Lisan-al-Gaib / Kwisatz Haderach. 😇

 

 

8 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Carnival of Rust is such a great song. I haven’t thought about it in a long time, thank you for bringing it up! 

6 hours ago, Shello said:

 

I thought you could use a rainbow.  Following!

Is this particular rainbow because Poet of the Fall's Marko looks like Benedict Cumberbatch in his fortune-telling robot make-up in the "Carnival of Rust" video??? 😅

 

 

3 hours ago, Heidi said:

Dangitol! And here I was finally fewer than a hundred miles behind you on the way to Mordor!

My pace might pick up in the coming weeks...

 

3 hours ago, Heidi said:

But ooooooers. . . spreadsheets and trackers and colors!  

I need to ask about your rating system for calories please. Are you hoping for 1000 calorie deficit every day? Because 7000 calorie deficit every week seems like a lot, but maybe it works for you. I would pass out.  

The aim is for yellow or better every day. Not green, not dark green, although the more green the better, of course. So the base aim is simply for deficit every day.

1000 calorie deficit is probably only happening once or twice per week - and that will be mainly on days with long walks and thus high calorie expenditure, not because of low intake.

Plus my intake is ballpark, and the expenditure is a Fitbit number. Both will probably be inaccurate, so I need some margin of error... 😁

 

3 hours ago, Heidi said:

Oh, this makes my little Druid heart happy.  How many co-workers are participating?

May yo have fair skies, Friend.

❤️

So far 364 colleagues are going to participate. It only starts on the 15th of April, though, and last year we had 745 participants, so the number of participants will likely double in the coming weeks.

We just missed the mark last year (145.000 km), but the company went ahead with the trees anyway. Two years ago - our first edition - the goal was at 75.000 km for 75.000 trees, but we overshot that with a total of 125.000 km, hence why they doubled the requirement last year. We were close, so they're hoping we actually make the 150K this year.

And the trees will probably get planted anyway again... 😇

 

 

 

And in other news:

 

I did the DailyDare exercise this evening! And burpees! And a plank! And I'd like to make this a daily ritual from now on...

 

- 60 seconds pacer steps (DailyDare)

- 10 burpees

- 60 seconds elbow plank

 

🤘

[TimovieMan]

Whoops, failed to mention my progress on the road to Mordor for week zero:

 

 

Walk to Mordor

 

Distance walked this week: 20.24 km (12.58 miles)
Road to Mordor: total 915.2 miles - Rivendell to Lothlórien - Jan. 17 - Day 26 since Rivendell - Met an elf-company. Blindfolds were removed. Climbed to the top of the hill of Cerin Amroth. Elves lighted lanterns. Reaching the north side of Caras Galadan.

 

 

 

My sleep's been good this past weekend and on Sunday night. Got into bed at a really good time on Sunday even. Unfortunately, with going to the cinema yesterday - for a film that lasted close to 3 hours - I fumbled my curfew and thus also this night's sleep.

Doing well on other aspects, but the difficulty this week has just been increased to "very hard". We've gotten our Easter chocolate at work today. And a colleague treated us to even more chocolate for her birthday. And I had ordered a packet of chocolate from another colleague, and that got delivered today as well. And we already have a cupboard full of chocolate at home. And we're going to my parents' this weekend, which will result in yet another truckload of chocolate...

 

I will have to resist the chocolate as much as possible...

 

 

Here are the logs so far:

	Week 1
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Calories spent
Calories in/out deficit
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	5h50
Steps
Avg. steps	9.5K
Distance
Workouts	0.3
Days with (mini-)workouts	1

 

I've already coloured the intermittent fasting for today. I just have to refrain from eating until after 2 pm. With a lot of chocolate on my desk. 😅

I had a can of Ice Tea at the cinema yesterday, which pushed my calorie intake over 2400, but more importantly: it shifted back the start of my fast with 2.5 hours.

 

 

 

Going over my "Top" list, I just realized I've never posted a song by The Who before. 😱

That borders on blasphemy in my book, so here's one of my favourite songs of theirs, from the "Who's Next" album, which is easily one of the greatest albums of all time.

 

The Who - Behind Blue Eyes

 

Also, whoever dares to mention the horrible cover by that Nu-metal band "Flaccid Cookie" (or whatever they're called) will be thrown into the fires of Mount Doom to rid us of such heresy. 😝

[Darciana]

13 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

So far 364 colleagues are going to participate. It only starts on the 15th of April, though, and last year we had 745 participants, so the number of participants will likely double in the coming weeks.

We just missed the mark last year (145.000 km), but the company went ahead with the trees anyway. Two years ago - our first edition - the goal was at 75.000 km for 75.000 trees, but we overshot that with a total of 125.000 km, hence why they doubled the requirement last year. We were close, so they're hoping we actually make the 150K this year.

And the trees will probably get planted anyway again... 😇

 

My heart is happy that they planted the trees anyway because....well, trees! I'd love to participate in something like this. Maybe there's a community event I can find. You've inspired me.

[TimovieMan]

I caved today. Not completely, since I managed to hold out until 2 pm to secure a 16-hour fast, but I caved.

 

I ate the chocolate Easter bunny I got from work. The entire thing. And I indulged in the treats.

 

Well, I say Easter bunny, but really, it was an Easter hare. It had long ears, and was gone *very* fast... 😅

 

[Darciana]

At least you managed 16 hours! It's the little things

[TimovieMan]

13 minutes ago, Darciana said:

At least you managed 16 hours! It's the little things

[TimovieMan]

I did the DailyDare last night (20x upward/downward dog) but kept it at that. It's the most extreme version of a mini-workout, since it's just the one exercise, but meh, I'm counting it. It's the little things. 😅

 

Despite the chocolate, I kept my caloric intake under 3K, and my watch says my expenditure was 3.3K so I'll take that as a deficit day.

I got into bed too late, and even the amount slept is red (although I was off by just one minute), so it was a mediocre day, but it wasn't a total loss, and I'll take it.

 

Intermittent fasting isn't going to reach 16 hours today (15+ though). Dinner was a tad late last night (because TimovieDaughter had swimming practice and I didn't want Mrs. Movieman to have to eat a cold or reheated meal if I could help it). TimovieDaughter has a school footbal tournament this afternoon that starts pretty early, so lunch will have to be on the early side today, hence the failure to reach 16 hours.

But this is probably the first Wednesday in a long while where I'm getting to close to 16 hours of intermittent fasting, so I'll take it as well.

 

For a week 1 respawn, while it's not going perfect, I'll still count this as "good enough". No pressure.

 

	Week 1
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Calories spent
Calories in/out deficit
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	5h43
Steps
Avg. steps	10.2K
Distance	7.21 km
Workouts	0.4
Days with (mini-)workouts	2

 

 

 

I was convinced I had posted "A Forest" by The Cure before, but apparently, I hadn't. That gets fixed immediately.

This is the full version (including the one-minute build-up that always gets dropped on the radio), because it's the best single version. That first minute is essential, imo.

My favourite song by an excellent band.

 

The Cure - A Forest

 

 

And I'd also want to link to this amazing live version they performed at Rock Werchter in 1981. The festival was running a bit late, and the organisors wanted The Cure to cut their set a bit short so the next artist (Robert Palmer) wouldn't have to start late. The Cure were ordered to perform just one more song.

They complied, but with a middle finger. They played just the one song, but it was an absolutely EPIC extra long nine-minute version of "A Forest" - and they ended with a "Fuck Robert Palmer!" statement.

This was just before I was born, but this performance was so memorable it has become the stuff of legend here in Belgium and especially at the Werchter festival... 😁

[sarakingdom]

On 3/26/2024 at 7:12 AM, TimovieMan said:

I just realized I've never posted a song by The Who before. 😱

That borders on blasphemy in my book, so here's one of my favourite songs of theirs, from the "Who's Next" album, which is easily one of the greatest albums of all time.

 

That particular album is a religious experience at the proper volume, it's true.

 

[TimovieMan]

@Heidi noticed before I even realized it: I have reached a milestone on the road to Mordor!

 

I have reached Lothlórien and met with Celeborn and Galadriel.

 

 

 

The road to Mordor for me now ventures forth from Lothlórien, to Rauros.

 

Also, now I've been given lembas bread!!!

 

[TimovieMan]

TimovieDaughter had a school football tournament yesterday afternoon. In simple terms: a team of her classmates had to compete against teams of same-year classes of all the other schools in the city. Her team won the competition! Although I have to say that TimovieDaughter's contribution on the pitch was minimal compared to some of her classmates who've been playing football for years now.

 

She was supposed to have football practice in the evening as well, but we had to skip that. And consequently skip my planned walk during it. Otherwise my step count for the day would've been a lot higher.

 

TimovieSon was riding his bike in the neighbourhood, together with one of the neighbour's kids. When our back neighbour got home from work, however, TimovieSon hit his car with his bike. Nothing bad, the car was about to take a left turn so was pretty much stationary, and TimovieSon was taking a right turn so wasn't biking fast either and he managed to brake enough for it to be a very minor collision and fall. He's got a minor bruise on his arm but he's fine, if a little startled by the ordeal. No damage on his bike either.

Our neighbour's car has a small dent and a few scratches in its door, though, so I had to spend some time filling out a collision report form and talking to my insurance agent. Just an administrative hassle. But we were still sorting things out when TimovieDaughter was supposed to leave for her football practice, so she had to skip it. Unforeseen circumstances.

 

 

Lunch was pretty hefty yesterday, and I had some chocolate, so my ballpark figures (which are *very* broad guesstimates) will have probably exceeded 3K calories. Expenditure according to my Fitbit was 3.2K. When in doubt, err on the side of caution, so I'm marking it as a day without caloric deficit.

I also only did the one DailyDare exercise yesterday. No burpees, no planking. But the DailyDare was a 60 second wall sit, and those are hard.

 

 

My week so far:

	Week 1
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S
Intermittent fasting
Calorie intake
Calories spent
Calories in/out deficit
Curfew
Sleep
Avg. sleep	5h48
Steps
Avg. steps	10.4K
Distance	10.88 km
Workouts	0.5
Days with (mini-)workouts	3

 

 

 

No treats at the office today, so my fasting window will be around 24 hours! Yay!

 

 

 

I don't often post rap music - it's generally less up my alley - but here's one today.

Personal opinion on Kanye West aside, the beat on this track is lit. Easily the best thing both Kanye West and Jay-Z have done in my opinion. But I'm not a fan, so YMMV.

But here, I could listen to that beat and groove all day. It would make for a very tense day, though...

Excellent video, too.

 

Jay-Z & Kanye West feat. Frank Ocean - No Church in the Wild

 

[Heidi]

Glad TimovieSon and everyone else are okay-enough. 

Sending good vibes for the next leg of your journey!

You're inspiring me to step up the steps, even though I have 100 miles to get to Rauros.

 

Looking forward to lembas bread!

❤️ 

[Mad Hatter]

Here for excellent tunes! And support. 

 

21 hours ago, TimovieMan said:

Personal opinion on Kanye West aside, the beat on this track is lit. Easily the best thing both Kanye West and Jay-Z have done in my opinion. But I'm not a fan, so YMMV.

To some people the art == the artist and it's a big no no. I'm much fuzzier on the subject. But man does it suck when you find things out about certain artists... 

[Sepherina]

A little late to the party but here!  Following!