Mir's Back in the Saddle Challenge

[Morrigainz]

The last two weeks have been filled with a glorious NOTHING. No work, no school, just a bunch of sitting around and playing games, taking naps, and - okay, okay, I did do SOME cleaning.

 

However, eating right and exercise have really fallen by the wayside. That's okay. But it's time to reclaim my awesomeness! I'm afraid it's too late to get rid of my faux baby bump before my vacation (Jan 16) in Mexico, but I'll survive somehow. Also I am tired of only fitting into one pair of work pants - and that's due to fat, not due to awesome muscular thighs. You know I ran like a week ago - just 2 miles - and I was sore after? Yeesh! How the mighty have fallen.

 

Anywho....gameplan.

 

1. Find an exercise routine that works with my schedule. (+3 WIS)

Starting Monday, I'm going to be working four 10-hour days, on the same schedule as my husband. Leave the house around 6:30 am, return approximately 6 pm. By the time we get dinner made and eaten, it's usually 7. So I'm thinking either running or hitting the gym right when I get home instead, which will mean not eating dinner until 7:30 probably, especially if I have a long day at the gym. I also want to incorporate both running and strength training into my routine. I love them both equally. Any suggestions?

 

2. Eat healthier. (+2 CON)

Beer, pizza, wine, Christmas cookies...yep. I'm in bad shape. Due to laziness and social expectations, I can't go 100% paleo. But I felt a lot better when I did. So, I will try to limit grains, etc. Avoid pasta altogether. I'm not sure what to do about the beer and wine because I really do like to drink. Also I love my cheese and yogurt, so those are staying in. I also want to find some new delicious recipes. I have several paleo recipe sites bookmarked, so I'll browse through those.

 

3. Mobility. (+5 STA)

Oh mobility. Yes. Maybe some yoga?

 

4. Rediscover my husband. (+2 WIS, something something something TBD)

I've been in school since about 2 months after we started dating. And when we started dating, I had 2 jobs. So, it's time to find some things we like to do together, and try them. I'm not sure exactly how to go about this. Make a list, try something new once a week? Or is that too often if we're talking about things like dance lessons or karate classes? Must think on this. Right now, it's so easy to get stuck apart. I'll be on my computer or playing Skyrim, and he'll hole himself up in the front room - it's almost automatic for him now, because that's what he would do when I would be doing homework or studying. So, time to break the habit!

[IfItPlugsIn]

Love the "Rediscover your husband" goal!  Kids can get you stuck in that rut too, unless you make the effort.  Might have to steal this from you in the future.  Once a week is probably fair for having some kind of date night/together time.

[Caution]

Welcome back! Your work days sound like mine. I'm out the door by 6:30 am and I get home around 5:45 pm M-F. I workout as soon as I get home so usually I don't end up eating until 7:30 - 8:00.

 

My wife is going back to school for her masters in a few weeks and she always works till about 9 pm so most of the time I'm in the office playing video games and she just grabs what I made for dinner and plops down on the couch, the only time we usually see each other during the weekdays is when we are heading to bed, so I know what you mean by that. We've started doing a bunch of things on the weekends to try and make up for it and over Christmas through New Years we rented a cabin in the woods far away from anybody and just spent time hanging out. 

[nightlight]

yay. love the hubbie goal!

[katscratch]

Mir!  You GRADUATED!  WHOOP WHOOP!!!!!

 

Damn, some sexy goals there

 

I work ten hour days and it took some time to figure out how to make eating work for me--my break times are dependent on whether or not I'm scrubbed in and who is available to relieve me, so not consistent.  When I'm closer to paleo I get hangry so I have to be better about remembering to have something on hand to eat at 5pm if needed -- for me this means at least protein and fat together, so I always have a tub of cottage cheese, a tub of yogurt, and a can of tuna left at work.  If I've eaten lunch at 11am and didn't eat again by 3pm I am too hungry to hit the gym without eating but don't want to lift after gorging, so I'm not yet the best example! I've been struggling with this for a long time actually, ha, and my plan is to switch my workouts to early morning....which was also my plan about three months ago lol

 

I'm so excited to see you're done with school and have a job already!  So awesome!!

[PrincessHeather]

Yay, Mir is back and ready to recalibrate! I also like the hubby goal, and I feel your pain since me and my husband are in school, working and he has a rotating schedule so we're never on the same routine. It sucks! But we send lots of emails back and forth throughout the day, and I think that helps us stay more connected. I'm interested to see what you come up with that works for you!

[wildross]

Glad to see you back after the graduation.  Good luck with your goals.

[spezzy]

4. Rediscover my husband. (+2 WIS, something something something TBD)

I've been in school since about 2 months after we started dating. And when we started dating, I had 2 jobs. So, it's time to find some things we like to do together, and try them. I'm not sure exactly how to go about this. Make a list, try something new once a week? Or is that too often if we're talking about things like dance lessons or karate classes? Must think on this. Right now, it's so easy to get stuck apart. I'll be on my computer or playing Skyrim, and he'll hole himself up in the front room - it's almost automatic for him now, because that's what he would do when I would be doing homework or studying. So, time to break the habit!

 

What if you guys set aside one night a week that's date night - where no matter what, all the games get shut off and you guys make an effort to go out and do something together that doesn't involve any sort of electronic device.  I'm saying that because that would force you to talk and focus on eachother - Even if you go to a park and have a picnic, or play a board game.  Then during these nights you could find out something you both wanted to do together?

 

Oh, and yes to yoga

[cline]

MIR!! Cheers to good goals!!

Spousal unit and I spend after dinner time just chatting and listening to music. We've put the kibosh on tv whilst eating. It's really nice.

[bigm141414]

Re: hubby - MNST?

Welcome back Mir

[Strawberry Squatcake]

Mini challenge: post a video that starts, "Okay, nerds!"

You know, if you get time. No pressure.

Good luck!

[This is Seth]

Mini challenge: post a video that starts, "Okay, nerds!" You know, if you get time. No pressure. Good luck!

 

This. 

[Pat G]

Husbands need love too.

The old adage, way to a man's heart is through his stomach? Make date nights where you cook a feast together. 

[Fink]

I really like your goals. I hope you find a routine that works for you thats the part thats killing me. I have a feeling im gonna be adding rediscovering my wife to my next challenge to

[Morrigainz]

Thanks guys!

 

Spezzy...that's a fantastic idea. We've had little conversations here and there but nothing that we've really settled on. 

 

bigm - yes, yes, and yes!

 

I think the cooking together idea is really cool, and it will allow me to try out new (and more paleo friendly) recipes

 

Fink - you've got a LOT more going on than me! Good luck

 

Day 1

 

...was kind of a fail. It was my first day back to work after 2 weeks off, and it was filled with stress and craziness. Basically the whole day I wasn't sure if I should be at work or go home because I was supposed to give them my official transcripts before I started...but I don't get my official transcripts until sometime next month. Because I work for a giant bureaucracy, they were all "OMGZORS YOU CAN'T WORK AND WE DON'T KNOW IF WE CAN PAY YOU FOR TODAY AAAHHHH".

 

In the end, everything got sorted and was fine. But I was absolutely exhausted at the end of the day and still had to go grocery shopping. So we grabbed dinner at Wendy's and then I curled up in bed with my Nook and some wine. But, it's my first week back so I'm cutting myself a little slack here. I'm tired again today but hopefully I can at least do SOMETHING when I get home. 

 

So far, my job seems interesting, my coworkers are nice, and I understand most of what everyone says, although I didn't know what spooling was. I also learned some UNIX this morning.

[Max Power]

Ahh, sounds like a rough first day, I know what it's like to work for the massive companies, they're soul suckers when it comes to paperwork like that.  I'm glad today is going better, good luck!

[Caution]

Mostly used for printing (CUPS is used in Unix systems quite often): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spooling 

[PrincessHeather]

Getting back into the swing of things is never as easy as we'd like, so no worries!

 

"Look, if you get thrown off a horse, you have to get back up and shoot it, right?" - Quinn Moregendorffer

[Morrigainz]

Haha Heather, I like it!!

 

In this case, spooling was actually saving a file. I'm not sure what sql editor he was using, but it was awesome.

 

Day 2

 

Work and eating went better, but holy cow I am still so pooped. I took a bath last night but then I couldn't get to sleep. I just laid awake all night, or so it seemed. So I am about to go on a mission for more coffee. Needless to say, no exercise or anything last night. I'm just so freaking tired. I almost fell asleep on the drive home last night, which is bad, since I was driving. 

 

So, wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[nightlight]

aww hopefully today will be better for you.

[Morrigainz]

Finally not as tired today! Was in bed by 8:30 last night.

 

I think I want to check out the YMCA near my work...I think it's expensive, but I can at least see what the prices are like and what kind of equipment they have, etc. Especially now when it gets dark so early, it's hard to motivate myself to go when I get home. Of course this week it's been all about getting back into the swing of things.

 

Had a little (1/2 cup?) rice last night and a couple of tortillas...we had enchiladas. Other than that, yesterday was good!

 

We have plans with friends tonight but tomorrow will be my day of Doing Something!

[Strawberry Squatcake]

It seems like almost every larger business in town (and many medium sized ones) partner with the Y. If you're working for a pretty big company, you should see if they have a partnership that gives you a discount. Single memberships are less than half priced with our partnership and we're not even that big of a company (some comp the total cost, others it's like $5 a month). Of course, there are really only two gym choices in town. The other one's a lot more expensive, but the perk is there are no kids (well, I don't mean that bad, but for those who don't want the kids around, it's a big reason they pay to go there).

 

Glad you're feeling more rested. first weeks of work are always crazy. hang in there!

[Morrigainz]

Hokay. So. (Sorry it's like my favorite Internet video ever.)

 

Things are going well...still trying to find things for me and Mr. MirGSS to do together, but I'm leaning toward some sort of martial arts class. We don't have a ton of money right now (a bunch of annual bills plus due to my 2 weeks off I'm skipping a paycheck) so hopefully towards the end of Feb we will have an actual gameplan.

 

Eating is going pretty well, although I'm not going to lie - I had some Chips Ahoy last night, and some beer. No, not at the same time, though I have been known to do that.

 

FINALLY got some exercise - 30 mins on the treadmill last night. I figured I would give myself the first week off, what with the readjustment and everything. Still don't have anything in place that resembles an actual plan though. I definitely need to lose some weight - I have the dreaded belly fat. But then I also want to be strong. So. Yes.

 

Mobility - haven't really done a lot here, although I've been mashing my back with lacrosse balls so that's all good. Thinking about doing a yoga class with my sister which would be awesome.

 

Really liking the new job so far! People are nice, work is interesting...it's support but not the "help I can't turn on my computer" type of support. It involves looking at reports and SQL and figuring out what is going wrong and stuff. I like puzzles.

 

Anyway sorry I haven't been around much to comment on everyone's threads (sensing a common theme here from the last few challenges?). Things are definitely different now....but I miss my nerds! *group hug/glomp*

[Max Power]

It took me a second to figure out why you had to explain that you didn't eat cookies with beer, then I realized that not everybody would do that.  I once ate beer in my cereal, spoiler, it's not very good.  

 

Glad things are going well! And I'm really glad that you like your new job!  Hopefully things will slow down for you soon!  Keep up the good work!

[Morrigainz]

Yeah...I didn't want people to think I'm WEIRD or something  

 

So, I'm not sure what to do. I don't think I can make myself get up at like 4:30 or 5 am to exercise before work. It's hard to make myself go when I get home. If I just want to run, I can do that at home on the treadmill, or outside if it's nice. But I have no weights...and I really want to get back into lifting.

 

The YMCA here is $52 a month for one person...which I guess isn't bad. But when you consider that I paid roughly $12 a month at the gym in the middle of a cornfield, well, it makes a difference. AND I would only be able to use the Y four days a week - the days I work - because frankly it seems silly to drive 40 minutes to go to the gym to lift weights. I don't know, it just does.