Taraniztika turns over a new leaf

[Taraniztika]

Back in the days of my youth, I spent many an hour adventuring in the wild - hiking in deserts and forests, traveling for days by canoe, spending many night sleeping under the stars. I was well on my way to becoming an awesome Ranger.

Then I hit adulthood, settled down into the life of peasantry. I spent my days instructing the children of others and raising my own three wee ones. This school year, I took time off to spend with my littlest babe. I also (unintentionally) took a break from being active. At. All. I was hoping to lose the 20 pounds my children have gifted me...instead I gifted myself an additional 20.

It's my long term goal to get back to the days of old - kicking ass as a Ranger. I want to pick up trail running and adventure racing. I want to play in the mud with my toddler, and race my first grader down the beach. I want drag my tween into the woods and make her "enjoy" the fresh air. I want to go climbing with my husband. But, before I can get there, I have to get back to a fighting weight. Until my Mii stops looking so disappointed when I weight myself in Wii Fit, I'm going to be hanging with the Adventurers. I'm ready to turn a new leaf, and spark this adventure of awesome.

Taraniztika, the Peasant (starting point)

Height: 5' 10"

Weight: 192.4 lbs

Bust: 43

Waist: 39.5

Hips: 45

Arms: L 12.75 / R 13

Thighs: L 24.25 / R 24.25

Taraniztika, the Adventurer (Level 1 Goals)

1. Starting the Fire

Before I can move onto trail running, I need to be able to run farther than across the room. By the end of the challenge, my goal is to be able to run 1 mile without stopping. To accomplish this, I will workout three time per week, following the 4 weeks to 1 mile program on the Personal Running Trainer app. Each run will be followed by 10 minutes of stretching. For the last two weeks of the challenge, I will continue to run 3 times per week to improve my speed. +3 STA +1 DEX

2. Blossoming Strength

Before I can pick up rock climbing, or drag a canoe out of a river, I have to first be able to pick up my toddler without becoming fatigued. By the end of the challenge, I want to have completed 18 body weight training sessions. I'm going to use Steve's Beginner's Bodyweight Workout and focus on technique and getting through the whole thing without getting fatigued. +3 STR +1 CHA

3. Mindful Eating

Cookies and laziness (eating out like a professional food critic) have given me much...like 20 pounds of much. I think the first step toward correcting my bad habits is to become aware of them. For the next six weeks, I plan on recording everything that I eat. This is not for counting calories, but rather to become more aware of the fuel I'm putting in my body. My long term goals include moving from a vegetarian diet (which I've followed for 6 years) to a fruit and veggie heavy paleo diet and drinking at least 80 ounces of water a day. Recording my food will help me see how far I have to get there. +3 WIS

4. Mindful Living

This stay at home mom thing is kicking my ass. Ive got record high levels of anxiety of doing nothing that leads me to eat more, wchich then gives me more anxiety. It's a really negative cycle. So that I can meet my goals, I need to get my life in order. To do this I'm going to create and follow a daily routine based on the Fly Lady system. Each day I will check off the tasks completed and give myself a daily percentage score. I'll average all the dailies to grade myself at the end of the challenge. +2 WIS +2 CON

I'm going to try to log in daily to update my progress and check in with other people. I'm new to this community, but I hope y'all can give me the boost I need to keep motivated so that I can level up my life.

[JuiceeTarget]

I like your goals. We'll help you get to the Rangers! I'll be really interested to see how your running goes. I did Couch to 5K and it was really great. I'm running 5Ks at least twice a week now.

 

Best of luck

[Taraniztika]

Pre-Start Update

I'm totally stoked about tomorrow. I''ve got my routine written out and ready for Goal #4. I've even included instructions to myself to update this post every evening before I go to bed.

Tomorrow, I'm going to pick up an arm band and headphones for my iPhone to make meeting Goal #1 more convienient, and after practicing with a 10 lb. dumbbell for the Beginner Bodyweight Workout, I think I'm also going to pick up a 15 lb. weight to give myself more of a challenge.

@GoodDoug... That's awesome you were able to complete the C25k. I tried it a couple of times, but the progression the the goal (5k) was too slow for me, and I gave up. It helped me learn that I need smaller, more easily attainable goals to appease my craptastic self-esteem. Seeing all the success stories on NF is giving me a push and a glimmer of hope for what I might be able to accomplish in the future.

[Taraniztika]

Day One Update

Motto for this week: Progress Not Perfection

1. Starting the Fire

Today I completed the first workout on my PRT app for one mile. At first it seemed like it was going to be too easy, but about half way through my legs turned to lead. It's a good thing the run/walk times stay the same for all of the week one workouts. Right now I'm visualizing that phenomenon many people on here talk about: exercise feeling great (instead of like the grim reaper chasing me).

2. Blossoming Strength

Not applicable today.

3. Mindful Eating

I'm giving myself a 75% success rate for this goal today. I recorded the food I ate, but not the water. I know I didn't drink enough, but since I didn't record it, I don't know what I need to do to improve. I did manage to eat mostly paleo (pretty sure I had some non-paleo condiments), and I successfully drank only water today. I also had my very first burger on lettuce instead of a bun. Actually, it was my first meat burger in over 6 years. I thought eating so much meat after years of vegetarianism, I would feel sick or heavy, but instead I'm feeling much more full of energy and my kind seems clearer. I'm interested to see how that progresses.

4. Mindful Living

80% met today. I woke up late, and then didn't have time to finish everything I planned before I walked out the door. Last night I also went to bed late. I need to acknowledge that my body needs much more sleep than my husband's, and although it might be fun to stay up late watchin BBC's Sherlock on Netflix, it's not a good plan for my body. I will be going to bed on schedule this evening.

[Blaidd]

That's not a bad start, well done

It takes a while for the "exercise is awesome" feeling to set it. I hated gym until about 2 months ago and now I just can't get enough of it (I actually even considered going for a second time yesterday). Take each day at a time and eventually it will be easier, promise!

I need to do more of that mindful eating - i just eat my food and don't bother noticing it. If I didn't make it I wouldn't be able to tell you what it was or what it tasted like. But for me its one habit at a time at the moment and cutting things out is more important.

Sent with awesomeness from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Taraniztika]

Day Two Update

1. Starting the Fire

Not applicable today.

2. Blossoming Strength

Completed, but I whined about it. The only time I've found to exercise is after dinner, just before my kids to to bed. By that times exhausted and just want to curl up and sleep. Hopefully either the "I love this exercising thing!" kicks in soon or my husband continues to put his foot up my butt every night or else I'm going to epically fail.

3. Mindful Eating

100% Recorded my food, and as of right now, I've had 48 oz. of water. I'm going to try to pound 16 more before I go to bed.

4. Mindful Living

80% again. Mornings just aren't my thing. I did better than yesterday though. Change of plans for tonight: setting my own alarm instead of relying on my early bird husband's alarm. I find I don't hold myself accountable if I'm not directly in charge of the buzzer. Also, I'm drinking water before I go to bed, hopefully the strong need to pee will help me get out of bed quicker.

[Jeloc]

Good job so far. I like your goals and your ability to pace yourself. Go ahead and drink that water. Just remember to keep the bathroom door open so that you don't bulldoze through it in the morning.

 

I know that you want to be a Ranger and I'm here to help you get through your adventure. Look into our team's Accountability thread if you want to see or even help some of your buddies. Good Luck.

[JuiceeTarget]

Here's how my love affair with running started. A few years ago, I read about Couch to 5K and thought, "I want to be a runner." I started and stopped it a few times. This year, I'd done a weigh management class offered through work that had an exercise class component. I started getting into shape and thought again, "I really want to be a runner." 

 

It wasn't that I wanted to run, I didn't like it, but I wanted to tell people (and myself), "I'm a runner."

 

I started Couch to 5K again, but this time I focussed on how I felt after running. I always had a perma-grin for an hour or two after a run. I also kept up with accountability groups in Fitocracy and made sure everyone knew I was running. Then this funny thing happened, I began to look forward to running, I still hated the first 5 minutes, but got to enjoy parts of the run. I listened to music, then podcasts and then got Zombies, Run! Before long, though I still don't like the first minute or two of a run, I am now enjoying running. But I had to get there by enjoying the parts that I could enjoy: the feeling of accomplishment, the changes my body was making, getting extra sunshine, seeing my numbers improve... look for the parts of your fitness routine you can enjoy: you time, how you feel, being able to make progress updates on the forums here. Keep doing that and you'll find that enjoyment of the actual activity happening for you.

[Taraniztika]

Thanks for the great advice. I too want to be able to say I'm a runner, but I've never really been able to run. To me this is the gateway activity to accomplishing anything. I really need to live in the moment and recognize the positive aspects of my workout. Good goal for thr next challenge: working on my positive mind.

[Taraniztika]

Day Three Update

1. Starting the Fire

Completed, and it was easier than Monday. Yay! Bad news: I looked ahead at the upcoming workouts and kinda freaked myself out. No more of that crap. I need to live in the now, focusing my workout TODAY and trust that my body is making progress.

2. Blossoming Strength

Not applicable today.

3. Mindful Eating

Totally blew it today and didn't record anything. I also splurged on a small vanilla soy latte, something I haven't had in over a week. Actually just a few weeks ago I was drinking 1-2 medium vanilla soy lattes a day. Progress, not perfection...

4. Mindful Living

80% again, although waking up at 6:30 is getting easier everyday. Now, I just have to get my toddler on board so he'll stop waking up at 4:30 and then falling back to sleep at 6:00.

[adamallen]

It looks like you're making terrific progress!

 

I would agree with GoodDoug's running suggestions. They are all great ones. For me, listening to music made a HUGE difference in my enjoyment of running. Still, that feeling of accomplishment at the end is the best part of all. Keep up the great work!

 

Adam

[Jeloc]

For your mindful eating goal, don't think of it as a failure to have a small latte. Factor that into your diet and go harder on your next workout.

[Taraniztika]

Day Four (Quick)Update

Today my oldest and youngest two kids were off the hook. Toddlers and Tweens are draining. I managed my body weight workout. I'm feeling some progress there even though my lower back was totally shot after a day of crazy baby wrangling. Still working on dragging my tired butt out of bed in the morning, and I only recorded about half the food I ate. I'm noticing I drink less water on days that I don't record, but my eating has stayed fairly good on all days (staying about 85% paleo, basically only "cheating" with butter and soy lattes twice a week). I'm thinking of changing Goal #3 to just recording water intake. It would be easier to do on the go and more beneficial for my overall health.

Now, I'm off to bed early to see if I can get a head start on tomorrow.

[adamallen]

You're doing well so far and before you let yourself off the hook on Goal #3, I have a suggestion. Rather than trying to write down all of your food, just snap a photo of everything you eat before you start eating it. This takes two seconds with most phones these days and it works just as well. When you sit down for a meal, before you take that first bite, take a photo. If you snack, take a photo too. At the end of the week, you'll have your food record. You can then just document your water intake.

 

Give it some thought. I have friends who have done this and it's very effective but it can also be VERY eye opening.

[adamallen]

Taraniztika - What's the status??? You've gotten awfully quiet over here! Even if you've fallen short of your expectations, you can fix that by getting back at it today. Let us know what's going on!

[Jeloc]

I just want to know how you are doing. It doesn't need to be a full update. Anything would be appreciated.