Basscrack Must Count All the Things!

[basscrack]

So, I did moderately okay (read: severely average) on my first challenge, but I did finish it and I'm back at it again. Most of my success last challenge was on the exercise portion of my goals (running, really), so this time around I'm really going to focus in on changing my diet through a couple steps.

 

First: Track all the things. [+2 WIS, +2 CON]

      I will be using MFP to track calories and macronutrients to ensure I'm getting the right amount daily. Using this article, my diet goals are (roughly) as follows: Calories -  1300, Protein - 110g, Carbs - 80g, Fats - 60g.

 

Second: Control your drinking, woman! [+2 WIS, +2 CON]

      This goal is twofold. First, I will be making sure I'm drinking enough water throughout the day, with a total goal of 96 oz. a day. I think we all know the health benefits of being properly hydrated, so I won't get into that. The second part is that I will limit myself to three alcoholic beverages a night, only twice a week. This is going to be the hard one, being a waitress that works nights; drinking is part of our culture. Also, since I'm staying conscious of carbs and calorie intake, I'm going to have to be extra careful on those days. Likely I won't be drinking anything other than wine or vodka-sodas for the next six weeks.

 

Then we get into the other stuff:

Third: Exercise. Just do it <insert Nike swoosh>. [+2 STR, +2 STA]

      Pretty simple. Keep up with my workout plan. Mon - run, Tues - weights, Wed - sprints, Thurs - weights, Fri - run, Sat - bonus weights (optional). As long as I exercise five times a week, every week, I win!

 

Fourth: Clean your damn room. [+1 WIS, +1 CHA, +1 CON]

      Well, really your whole damn house. When I get really busy with work, and school, and working out, and having a life, I tend to stop cleaning. I also live with a boy, who by his nature doesn't clean. I also have a dog and two cats, who not only don't clean but also make lots of messes. Come to think of it, so does the boy. Do one significant cleaning thing a day, whether it's a load of laundry (which includes putting it away, slacker), load of dishes, picking up a room, washing the dog, etc. Doesn't have to be huge, or take long, but it has to be done. The attribute points seem a little funny, but I swear there's a reason. Wisdom seems pretty obvious, Charisma is so I can have a clean house to have guests over, and Constitution because having a cleaner house will reduce my stress which will make me more healthy, less prone to getting sick.

 

Starting Line

Measurements:

Bust: 36''

Waist: 30.5''

Hip: 41.5''

Thigh: 24''

Arm: 12''

Weight: 150 lbs.

 

 

 

Cleaning Chores (not all need to be completed by end of six weeks, but just to give me some direction):

Daily Maintenance

Dishes

Laundry

Trash

Clean litter boxes
 

Weekly Maintenance

Dust/Sweep

Clean snake tank/feed snake

Wash dog
 

Random Chores

Organize jewelry (ordered over-the-door full length mirror with jewelry armoire inside today)

Organize closet/shoes - bag unwanted stuff to donate

Buy decent dresser for bedroom

Pack up things for donation - drop off

Organize bookshelf/DVDs/games in "Baby Weird Room" (we have these two too-big-to-be-closets but too-small-to-be-rooms areas in the house: "The Weird Room" and the "Baby Weird Room" -- pretty much storage space)

Deep clean kitchen - reorganize cabinets - scrub counters - scrub floor
 

Projects

Empty file cabinet - get hanging file folders - organize important documents in files

  -- If BF keeps being funky about letting me use the file cabinet for files, go buy my own file cabinet

Build wooden cover for pool table (so cats will stop peeing on it!)

Build shelves in hall closet for toiletries/linens

Clean and prep back yard to plant herbs and veggies

 

 

And we're off!

[drsloomis]

I have a water goal, too! I just don't drink enough of it.

 

As for the cleaning goal, I'm still trying to figure out what my various and sundry animals contribute to the household.

Great goals!

[goodwince]

Vodka tonic w/ splash of lemon, is how I got pretty healthy-size wise during the summer. No beer really.. beer will do you in! I understand the culture too. I was in the restaurant world for quite a few years then lived with a good friend who worked in restaurants.. we had crazy parties. It'll be tough, but you'll get it. 

 

One thing.. I'm currently drinking almost zero. One shot after six weeks. My friends are all heavy-social drinkers. At first it was awkward; however, the teasing actually worked in my advantage because after forcing myself to say no for over six weeks they stopped asking.. and even if I wanted one they didn't think to ask me haha. Determination.. rules all. 

 

I approve of your protein goal! That'll satiate you and keep you strong. :]

[Jakob Kopfeld]

Hello basscrack

Best of luck with your challenge goals!

I feel you on the cleaning. Thankfully I only have to clean after myself, but that takes a lot of effort on it's own some days. Sitting in a clean and tidy room is so much more soothing than having a mess though. So it's definately all worth the effort!

[basscrack]

Thanks for the support guys!

 

I have a water goal, too! I just don't drink enough of it.

 

As for the cleaning goal, I'm still trying to figure out what my various and sundry animals contribute to the household.

Great goals!

 

It's about time they all pitched in a little. At least get a job. Help with rent, put food in the bowls. Yeesh. Bunch of parasites.

 

Vodka tonic w/ splash of lemon, is how I got pretty healthy-size wise during the summer. No beer really.. beer will do you in! I understand the culture too. I was in the restaurant world for quite a few years then lived with a good friend who worked in restaurants.. we had crazy parties. It'll be tough, but you'll get it. 

 

One thing.. I'm currently drinking almost zero. One shot after six weeks. My friends are all heavy-social drinkers. At first it was awkward; however, the teasing actually worked in my advantage because after forcing myself to say no for over six weeks they stopped asking.. and even if I wanted one they didn't think to ask me haha. Determination.. rules all. 

 

I approve of your protein goal! That'll satiate you and keep you strong. :]

 

I avoid the tonic, since it's full of sugar, but I do vodka soda with a lime wedge. Like 70 calories a drink, not bad at all so far as alcohol is concerned. It also happens to taste like limey water. Which can be bad because I tend to suck them down and therefore drink more of them. Not this time, though, I have to be vigilant! I'm less worried about the peer pressure as I am just the habits I have formed. I get off work and first words out of my mouth are "I want a drink." Not that I drink every night, but it always crosses my mind. It's difficult, too, with allotting myself a certain number of days a week. If I use them up early then have friends that want to go out on the weekend I'll be pretty bummed. Gotta stick to it and play smart.

 

Hello basscrack

Best of luck with your challenge goals!

I feel you on the cleaning. Thankfully I only have to clean after myself, but that takes a lot of effort on it's own some days. Sitting in a clean and tidy room is so much more soothing than having a mess though. So it's definately all worth the effort!

 

It is amazing how much CRAP can build up when you don't pay attention to being tidy. I'm super absent minded, so I agree, just cleaning up after myself can be quite the task. I finish eating and don't think to put the dishes in the sink -- let alone wash them -- or get home from work and just strip off my clothes and drop them on the floor instead of putting them in a bin. I'm hoping that one task a day will be enough to put a dent in the household chores and help me form habits of picking up after myself as I go instead of letting it all pile up. Working on the rest of the residents in my house is another story.

[sumdawgtwigg]

I'm there with ya on the limiting drinks! I really like your workout goal, just do it! Good luck, I'm pulling for you. 

[goodwince]

Ah, just do one drink and then bounce into water territory. If you're wanting to be left alone about it, you can order the water with lime too People probably won't even notice you're not drinking haha. The water you'll drink slower and it'll help to fill you up. I've been known to eat a whole head of broccoli in order to fill myself up and avoid my own will power failures. It may work for drinking too

 

Also, I'm the random guy sipping a hard liquor on ice. Nothing in it.. so I probably don't fit in the making special drinks category lol.

[Aeryn]

Nice goals! I'm with you on the cleaning goal- I've got some zones in my house I've just been ignoring as stuff piles up. Gotta get those sorted out. Looking forward to seeing how your challenge goes!

[basscrack]

Ah, just do one drink and then bounce into water territory. If you're wanting to be left alone about it, you can order the water with lime too People probably won't even notice you're not drinking haha. The water you'll drink slower and it'll help to fill you up. I've been known to eat a whole head of broccoli in order to fill myself up and avoid my own will power failures. It may work for drinking too

 

Also, I'm the random guy sipping a hard liquor on ice. Nothing in it.. so I probably don't fit in the making special drinks category lol.

 

I drink pretty much anything, from straight liquor to wine to beer to mixed drinks -- as long as they aren't too sweet.

 

Nice goals! I'm with you on the cleaning goal- I've got some zones in my house I've just been ignoring as stuff piles up. Gotta get those sorted out. Looking forward to seeing how your challenge goes!

 

Thanks! Today the boyfriend and I knocked out a huge chunk of the kitchen chores, which was horrible but good to get done.

 

Updated first post to include starting measurements.

[basscrack]

Sooo.. on review I'm worried my daily calorie intake is too low. I hit 1300 calories almost on the nose today, but when I went for a run the treadmill says I burned 477 calories (I hit it hard today!). Thoughts?

[Aeryn]

Yes, you should eat back a good amount of your burned calories, or your body's not going to have enough fuel. If 1300 is your daily goal for your cut, that's net calories - what you took in minus what you used in exercising. If you only eat 1300 and then burn 500, your net for the day is 800 - which is way low! So, yes, today's intake was too low - figure your exercise into your calorie intake.

[Jakob Kopfeld]

Apart from the murder in his eyes your (presumably?) dog looks really cute
Household chores... gotta do em, might aswell do em now, am I right? 

[basscrack]

Yes, you should eat back a good amount of your burned calories, or your body's not going to have enough fuel. If 1300 is your daily goal for your cut, that's net calories - what you took in minus what you used in exercising. If you only eat 1300 and then burn 500, your net for the day is 800 - which is way low! So, yes, today's intake was too low - figure your exercise into your calorie intake.

 

That's what I was thinking... at the end of the night. I was so full from dinner there's no way I could have eaten anything else (I didn't eat much throughout the day so I had 12 oz of pork for dinner. Holy cow... or pig). I'll refigure the numbers tonight to make sure I'm eating enough. I just didn't think about exercise when I was doing my initial calorie goal.

 

Apart from the murder in his eyes your (presumably?) dog looks really cute

Household chores... gotta do em, might aswell do em now, am I right? 

 

Not my dog, haha, just a picture I stole off dogshaming.com. Mine is cute, too though.

[tenaciousglee]

 I'll refigure the numbers tonight to make sure I'm eating enough. I just didn't think about exercise when I was doing my initial calorie goal.

 

That's one of the great things about MFP.  If you input your exercise, it will figure the calories burned and up your daily requirements for you!

[goodwince]

I think you should eat however much you feel like eating.. if you're goals are to gain weight than be sure to eat back everything +. If your goal is to lose and you're feeling healthy than maybe you're alright. Just do what you feel and tweak along the way. Your body will let you know if you aren't eating enough, you'll get tired and losing weight may become even harder. Your motivation may suck, etc. 

 

I don't eat back my calories from strength training, but my goal is to lose. I may up my calories if I'm tired earlier than usual. Keep in mind that MFP will get you there 90%, but calorie trackers are still input by humans and unless you're eating prepackaged foods with precise measurement of foods it'll be off by some number. Good or bad.. who knows? I know that if I put in the a tbone steak (12 ounces) it varies by up to 600 calories on MFP! 

 

Not to say you shouldn't track using MFP, but also pay attention to your body since MFP isn't perfect  

[basscrack]

I think you should eat however much you feel like eating.. if you're goals are to gain weight than be sure to eat back everything +. If your goal is to lose and you're feeling healthy than maybe you're alright. Just do what you feel and tweak along the way. Your body will let you know if you aren't eating enough, you'll get tired and losing weight may become even harder. Your motivation may suck, etc. 

 

I don't eat back my calories from strength training, but my goal is to lose. I may up my calories if I'm tired earlier than usual. Keep in mind that MFP will get you there 90%, but calorie trackers are still input by humans and unless you're eating prepackaged foods with precise measurement of foods it'll be off by some number. Good or bad.. who knows? I know that if I put in the a tbone steak (12 ounces) it varies by up to 600 calories on MFP! 

 

Not to say you shouldn't track using MFP, but also pay attention to your body since MFP isn't perfect

I'm always tired and unmotivated, haha. I try to make sure to find the exact brands of food that I eat. For instance, we bought nine lbs of pork from Harris Teeter and it was packaged by Smithfield, so I made sure to find the Smithfield one on MFP. It's harder for veggies, but they're usually negligible calorie wise and I mostly count them for the carbs. With MFP, if you track your exercise through it, how does that impact your macros? That's the part I need to refigure. If I'm eating more but netting the same calories due to exercise, my macros will still be higher. Gotta do the math.

 

I do still want to pay attention to my body and take cues from it, I just want to have an outside baseline as well just in case I'm reading the signs wrong. I have a pretty busy lifestyle so it's not abnormal for me to get groggy. For example, tomorrow I bike to class, have 4 classes 11-3, then usually bike home, go to the gym and workout for 45 mins or so, head home, shower, scarf down lunch, and go to work (waiting tables, which is physically demanding -- even on slow nights I'm still on my feet the whole time) 5:30-10:30. After I get off work, I have dinner and take some time to watch tv/unwind before I can actually get to sleep, and I get to bed between 1-3am. Same deal on Fridays. The rest of my days are busy, too, just not AS nonstop.

[goodwince]

Lol.. I was in that schedule for a long time, but you actually take the time exercise. I just took more time to work LOL. Exact foods do help with MFP, but each cut of meat is still special. I know it's probably close within 95% though. I'm not saying to freak out, but stay calm about it.. however, with your physical demands it sounds like you need more food anyways lmao. 

 

 

On MFP it calcs by percentages (least mine does), if you burn 500 it'll add whatever percentages for macros to increase.

[basscrack]

Lol.. I was in that schedule for a long time, but you actually take the time exercise. I just took more time to work LOL. Exact foods do help with MFP, but each cut of meat is still special. I know it's probably close within 95% though. I'm not saying to freak out, but stay calm about it.. however, with your physical demands it sounds like you need more food anyways lmao. 

 

 

On MFP it calcs by percentages (least mine does), if you burn 500 it'll add whatever percentages for macros to increase.

 

Need more food than 1300 calories a day if I'm working out, definitely. Not so sure I need more food than I was previously eating, though. Otherwise I might have actually seen some changes in the previous challenge. I'm hoping (and expecting) that cleaning up my eating and exercise habits will make a difference to energy levels. I am currently going more or less primal, and weighing/measuring all my food so that I can be as accurate as possible when tracking calories. Which I think is making my BF none-too-happy, since he does all the cooking and now has to do all the measuring, too.

 

That's good to know about MFP automatically fixing the percentages for you, that helps a lot.

 

DAY ONE PROGRESS

Goal 1: I tracked all the things.

B: Cottage cheese, a banana, and blueberries

L: Tilapia and asparagus with one TBSP olive oil

S: Blueberries

D: Pork loin chops with teriyaki bok choy (2 tbsp sesame oil)

Totals:  Cal 1301 | P 98 | C 63 | F 58

 

Goal 2: No alcohol and 48 oz water, gotta work on this one.

 

Goal 3: Did my run

 

Goal 4: Did ALL the dishes. Which was a lot. Like 2 hours of cleaning the kitchen

[tenaciousglee]

Yeah, the MFP percentages are something to look out for, especially if you have a set number of grams of protein you're aiming for.  You may want to make up your extra calories with carbs or fat.  You won't hit your pre-assigned totals from MFP, but that's not a big deal.  I just had to give myself that pep talk last week.

 

And if you want to track ALL the calories you're burning, check this old NF post out.

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/02/27/level-up-your-life-5-activities-that-burn-calories/

 

He links to a couple of online calculators that let you input how many minutes you spend doing different activities and how many calories you burn.  I sit at a desk all day, so I just count my workouts, but you wait tables and ride a bike, so you're burning there, too!

[basscrack]

Yeah, the MFP percentages are something to look out for, especially if you have a set number of grams of protein you're aiming for.  You may want to make up your extra calories with carbs or fat.  You won't hit your pre-assigned totals from MFP, but that's not a big deal.  I just had to give myself that pep talk last week.

 

And if you want to track ALL the calories you're burning, check this old NF post out.

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/02/27/level-up-your-life-5-activities-that-burn-calories/

 

He links to a couple of online calculators that let you input how many minutes you spend doing different activities and how many calories you burn.  I sit at a desk all day, so I just count my workouts, but you wait tables and ride a bike, so you're burning there, too!

 

Generally speaking, I was doing 1 gram of protein per pound LBM as per the primal blueprint guide I linked to earlier, being fairly active between workouts, my job, and biking to and from class on Mon, Wed, and Fri. Making up extra calories with fat would be easy, as that's the one I'm worried about going over since I get fat from the meats and we tend to cook with a lot of olive oil. My carbs tend to stay a little lower since I am now avoiding grains and pretty much all processed food, although I get a decent amount from fruit when I eat it. I guess I will stick to shooting for 110g of protein and the correct amount of calories and ignore the corrections that MFP gives me for macros.

[goodwince]

Yeah are you losing? If you're losing steadily with your non-sleep schedule. Be happy. Gotta be doing something right!

[basscrack]

Yeah are you losing? If you're losing steadily with your non-sleep schedule. Be happy. Gotta be doing something right!

Losing weight? Not really. The first time the scale has moved at all in 7+ weeks was yesterday... from 150 to 149. I've also only been doing any real dieting for going on three days now, so too soon for any progress. Only time will tell.

 

Day Two

Goal One: I tracked all the things. Calories slightly higher to consider workout (not by much, but I did weights yesterday, not cardio). Carbs a little low, going to get some fruit in day three.

B: 3 scrambled eggs with half a slice of pepperjack cheese

L: 6 oz. pork loin with asparagus, dijon mustard

S: Starbucks VIA (instant coffee) made with almond milk and agave nectar

D: Whole split chicken breast with skin, parsnips and onions in a spicy maple white wine sauce

Totals: Cal 1395 | P 127 | C 44 | F 63

 

Goal Two: No alcohol, 96 oz of water (plus whatever I drank from the fountain at the gym.. forgot my water bottle and no way to measure that)

 

Goal Three: Did weight routine at gym (dragged BF along again).

 

Goal Four: Collected all the dirty clothes from bedroom, computer room, and collected cat pee things off pool table (when we pile clean clothes up there, the cats like to pee on them. Assholes) and started a load in the wash. Also, did dishes throughout the day after each meal.

[sumdawgtwigg]

Good work on tracking everything! Cats can def be assholes, but you can't help but love em. 

[goodwince]

Ah hah.. cat peeing on the things.. that's a motivator! LOL. Yeah we'll just have to wait two weeks and then see about adjusting. There all kinds of ways to lose weight, just have to figure out what works for you. 

 

Great job on the water and dragging the boyfriend! I find that actually dragging people along is a motivator because you're a role model so you're now obligated to go. Do you and your bf do similar workouts? If he could find a gym partner with similar goals he'd be more motivated too.

[basscrack]

Ah hah.. cat peeing on the things.. that's a motivator! LOL. Yeah we'll just have to wait two weeks and then see about adjusting. There all kinds of ways to lose weight, just have to figure out what works for you. 

 

Great job on the water and dragging the boyfriend! I find that actually dragging people along is a motivator because you're a role model so you're now obligated to go. Do you and your bf do similar workouts? If he could find a gym partner with similar goals he'd be more motivated too.

He doesn't really have a concrete workout plan. He used to, and he plans to get back to it, but he doesn't work out unless I make him so he doesn't stick to it. We do a similar weight routine, although he does more of a split, but this week we are on opposite days, so he did weights Mon while I ran and I did weights Tues while he biked and rowed. Honestly I think just making him come with me to the gym is enough to make him work out on those days. Our schedules are so opposite it's rare that we can go together. I made him weigh himself at the gym yesterday, which was a rude awakening for him, so I'm hoping that will motivate him. He was shocked to find he is over 200lbs. We don't have a full length mirror in the house so I think it's easy to look down at yourself and be like "Meh.. I haven't gained THAT much weight". We shall see. Honestly, I love him and am attracted to him regardless, but I know he gets down on himself for gaining weight, and I certainly wouldn't COMPLAIN if he went back to looking how he did when we met.