[Shello]

Welcome to my challenge.   As always, I've set up a Roadmap for what I want to accomplish in 2024.  Mine is posted here in my battle log.  Every challenge is aimed at accomplishing some part of the roadmap or furthering my adventure towards this year's goals. 

 

The next five weeks are going to be crazy busy.  Peach decided to switch to an online degree program and move home (Yay!) but this weekend is an unexpected trip up north to help her bring her stuff back.  DDG's youngest graduates college the weekend after (with 2 ceremonies for 2 degrees, an award ceremony, and a dinner), and Qbert comes home that weekend.  Then a little over a week after that the kids and I are headed to Hawaii for our annual vacation.   All the while, DDG and I are getting the house ready to be listed on the market.  It will go live the very week I get back from Hawaii so that means the entire task list we have left basically needs to be done before I leave for my trip.   

 

I lost 8 pounds last challenge, 12 so far this year, and many non scale victories tracked in my battle log.  I have zero interest in losing any ground.  Since this challenge is so busy and stressful I know how easy it is to let these habits fall to the wayside.  This challenge is all about the solid foundation to keep my head above water through all the crazy waves!  

 

 

These are my non-negotiables for success:

The Daily 5 - stick to the 5 daily goals from my roadmap.  These are my foundation for success

• Start the day with Water
• Fast 15 hours (may be negotiable on vacation) 
• Eat at least 1 freggy
• Eat at a deficit (I likely won't log on vacation but should stay reasonable)
• Move daily (This is usually the hardest but should be the easiest with all the work to do.  Even vacation should be easy since we are about a mile from the beach and won't have a car)

 

Meal Planning

This is a foundational habit that is now a no-brainer.  Paired with batch cooking I can avoid the last minute meals or fast food that are counter productive.  I will likely have less time for batch cooking over the next several weeks so without a plan we would just eat pizza every single day.  I must come up with a plan for each week.  Find easy batch cooked meals, use a crock pot, use up the food in the freezer.  Even if there is no batch cooking I at least need a plan for easy meals, even if it's just sandwiches.  

 

Rest!

An overworked and stressed Shello gets migraines.  We don't have time for that.  So much less work gets done then.  Avoid getting overworked and stressed.  Some things are going to have to slide in order to get everything done that we need to get done.  That probably includes fitness.  There are no fitness goals this challenge.  If we can get a walk in, that would be lovely, and help with stress, but it is not a goal.   Hopefully I'll get to the gym occasionally but I'm not counting on it.    I also have to make sure and build some restful routines in. 

• Try not to tackle too big a project after work. 
• be done by dinnertime so we can relax. 
• Go to bed early.  
• Take a hot bath and relax

[Sovalis]

Following for all the adventures!

[Shello]

Day 1!

 

I was wicked tired at work.  I'm still recovering from a head cold and sleeping with cold medicine.  I was not ready to wake up and feared I might nod off for the first half of the day.  Made it through with no sweets or extra snacks.  I batch cooked some taco meat using ground beef and turkey and we just made taco salads.   We ate pretty late as the painter we had arranged for Monday didn't show up.  He was to paint the kitchen and we were hoping he would have time to paint a couple extra walls in the living room for a little extra cash.  Since he didn't show I painted those two walls while DDG got the storage unit arranged and brought the first load of boxes over.  Then he started some of the kitchen prep since now we have to paint that ourselves too.  I finished the day with 380 extra calories, almost half of which were exercise calories.  I was beat when we finished.  We watched one episode of TV and then went to bed early.   Banner first day.  

 

[Shello]

Day 2

Another solid day.  DDG tried to put his foot down and say last night should be a couch night with no chores so I could just rest.   Silly boy, there is no time for that.  So I suggested a compromise with a list of small/easy tasks.  He knows how stubborn I am so that's what we did, plus he mowed the lawn.  We had some doors with holes in them and the day before I had filled some in with expanding foam so last night I cut the foam down to the edge of the door and covered all with spackle, then cleaned up some caulk by the kitchen sink and spackled that too, then I painted all the trim in the kitchen so it would be ready for the walls to be painted.  And another trip to storage.  We didn't finish our tasks until around 8 and then had a late dinner and finished off the taco meat with taco salads that were a little on the large side just to finish it off.    We watched a little Youtube and then managed one episode of TV before bed.  We didn't make it to bed early but we did at least have some down town in the evening.  

 

Hit all daily goals, 242 calories leftover. 

[RES]

Great job on the weight loss, please take time to recover and don't overdo.

Awesome job on the projects ❤️ 

[Shello]

On 4/30/2024 at 10:04 AM, Sovalis said:

Following for all the adventures!

Welcome! 

 

13 hours ago, RES said:

Great job on the weight loss, please take time to recover and don't overdo.

Awesome job on the projects ❤️ 

Rest is really one of the hardest goals!  

[Shello]

Day 3

I was extremely groggy and had foggy brain most of the day.  It could just be from not feeling well but it feels like the cold medicine is lasting a looooonnngg time and I just can't shake it in the morning.    DDG and I had plans to meet up with his son for dinner; he's in the next town so it's about an hour drive.   I debated skipping it and staying home to sleep but decided to go.  I did try to nap on the drive there but was unsuccessful.  I did rest though.  Dinner was good and then DDG and I hit a home improvement store there to gather some supplies that we needed.  I didn't want to stop when we got home and it was late.  I attempted another nap on the way home but we were chatty and it didn't happen.  We did go straight to bed when we got home so it was a rare very early night.  I attempted half a dose of cold medicine but had to get up an hour later to get some cough drops because it was relentless and I couldn't get to sleep.  That did help though and I slept most of the night and didn't feel as groggy.  Still tired.   All goals met, including calorie burn somehow.  I had allowed for extra calories since we were eating out but I still had 350 extra although with a large margin on error.  

 

Day 4

Felt better Thursday.  I was still tired all day but there was no fogginess.  Cold medicine must be the culprit.  We planned some easy tasks for the evening to get some rest but DDG ended up chatting with some guy doing some home improvement across the street and the stranger agreed to fix our ceiling patch for us.  He already had all the supplies mixed up and ready to go for his other project and it didn't cost us much money but saved us a ton of time.  It did delay our projects we had planned so by the time we finished a couple loads to storage it was 8 and we hadn't had dinner yet.  So we called it and had dinner around 8:30.  We jut threw some frozen chicken fingers in the air fryer and then threw them in salads for an easy dinner since we had no more leftovers.  It took a little extra commitment to the goals though.  Since dinner got to be so late I started thinking about just grabbing fast food while we were out going back and forth to storage.  The salads were a better choice. 

Did not get to bed early as we watched a little too much Youtube before an episode of our show and then DDG ended up back on Youtube.  All other goals met, 482 calories left over because I was awarded some surprise workout calories.  

[RES]

On 5/3/2024 at 10:40 AM, Shello said:

Rest is really one of the hardest goals!  

[athousandwords]

Okay I've been following along for a while now so I have to ask the dumb question: what does DDG stand for?! 😭 Deputy Director General? Duck Duck Go? The Rapper I just learned of when I googled these letters?!?! Help a gal out.

 

Your challenge looks fab btw, best of luck with all your goals - I hope you can thoroughly enjoy your vacation!

[Shello]

On 5/6/2024 at 11:45 AM, athousandwords said:

Okay I've been following along for a while now so I have to ask the dumb question: what does DDG stand for?! 😭 Deputy Director General? Duck Duck Go? The Rapper I just learned of when I googled these letters?!?! Help a gal out.

 

Your challenge looks fab btw, best of luck with all your goals - I hope you can thoroughly enjoy your vacation!

He was introduced to NF as Dinner Date Guy.  As his status continued to increase, everyone was so used to calling him DDG so it just stuck.  I think we retconned it to DoodlieDudeGuy or something along those lines.  

[Shello]

What a rough weekend.  I had to drive up to pick up Peach and help move all her stuff back home.  It was unexpected in the first place because she was only going to be home for the summer so was going to leave a lot of stuff there.  The good news though is that she's decided to stay in town here and switch schools!  On my 9 hour drive up on Saturday she called and said she was sick and wasn't able to keep any food down.  She ended up being sick the entire weekend and had a miserable drive home.  She wasn't able to finish packing or load anything into the cars.  Her dorm is on the 3rd floor, no elevator so needless to say I got A LOT of steps in.  My food log app gave me 900 exercise calories!!   I didn't use any of them that day but used up most of what was allotted.  I set my calorie limit a little high for the days I was traveling and went over on the day I drove up.   Glad all that is over and my baby is back home.  

 

Overall for the week I hit most of the goals.  There are a couple of red marks that I am not worried about.  Freggies are always difficult on the road.  

 

 

[DrFeelgood]

I'll be bringing Bubbles home next weekend.  Hopefully she'll have everything packed up for us when we arrive, but it's still going to be many steps up and down to collect it all.

 

Glad Peach is home safe, hope she feels better soon.

[Shello]

22 minutes ago, DrFeelgood said:

I'll be bringing Bubbles home next weekend.  Hopefully she'll have everything packed up for us when we arrive, but it's still going to be many steps up and down to collect it all.

 

Glad Peach is home safe, hope she feels better soon.

I hope your move goes smoothly!

[Shello]

Week 1 is underway.  Meal planning is done.   I wasn't home over the weekend to do any batch cooking but with plans out tonight (concessions at a game) and graduate dinner Saturday that didn't leave many nights left.  Friday is always pizza night.  We just planned to make salads using frozen breaded chicken in the air fryer.  Had one for dinner last night and will have another Thursday night and that's the whole week.  

 

Broke my fast early today since my employer offered free breakfast today due to healthcare workers week or something.  I have to do performance evals this week and next so I planned to do one of my work from home staff's eval at breakfast.  I figure since she had to come into the office for it anyway, we might as well get free breakfast.  I just delayed lunch and skipped afternoon snacks.  And it's a high calorie budget day since we're eating at concessions.  

 

Working on the rest.  I am so stinking tired.  I just can't seem to get a good night's sleep.  I stopped sleeping with cold medicine because it made me so foggy.  I slept with gummies a couple nights over the weekend.  I managed 1 really solid night but then stayed up too late the night before our drive home, a little procrastination bedtime revenge!   I tried sleeping with no assistance Monday night and woke up with a sore throat again.  Last night slept with allergy meds and woke up not feeling rested and half asleep half the day.  I probably need a couple of really early nights.  

[athousandwords]

Oh no, did you pick up whatever Peach had? I hope you feel better soon and can get some proper rest.  🤗🍵💤

[Shello]

20 hours ago, athousandwords said:

Oh no, did you pick up whatever Peach had? I hope you feel better soon and can get some proper rest.  🤗🍵💤

Thankfully I don't think I have Peach's ailment.  Hopefully just allergies.

 

[Shello]

Wednesday

Fasting goal not met (see previous post about breakfast) and only 1 freggy.  All other goals met.  Dinner was at the soccer game.  There were the standard concessions, Godfather's Pizza (a local favorite), but also a BBQ food truck.  I had a pulled port BBQ sandwich and some fries.  Super delish.  285 calories left over although with a large margin of error and a high calorie budget.  

 

Rest improved slightly but we didn't end up getting to bed early.  The game went into extra time and it was late when we got home.  Then we did a little planning on which tasks we would tackle around the house the next day.  It was midnight by actual lights out time.  Slept slightly better but still not high quality sleep.  Avoided allergy meds and any other sleeping assists and I was less foggy today so that's an improvement.  

[Snarkyfishguts]

Oh my gosh, traveling while sick is no fun. I feel like most college students dont pack soon enough. Lol i didnt my freshman year. By senior year, I had most of my stuff home and could just drive myself and a few suitcases home lol. I’m glad Peach is going to be closer to home, 9 hours is so far. 
 

i hope the allergies clear up soon for you.