faille's Comic-Con Crunch Challenge!

[faille]

There are about 6 weeks until San Diego Comic-Con, and there are 6 weeks in this challenge!  Seems like a good fit to me

 

I've been going to SDCC for the last 6 or 7 years, and every year I make a dress out of those giant bags that Warner Brothers gives out and wear it around.  I am also working on a Catwoman costume from The Dark Knight Rises, which I may or may not finish in time.

 

Since anyone in costume at a convention gets their picture taken a lot, I want to look and feel my best.  I've lost 15 pounds since the beginning of the year, so this challenge I will be focusing on keeping that momentum going and working on strength and toning.

 

Stat             3/5 - #0      4/15 - #1     6/3/ - #2          

Height           5'10"

Weight           167           163.6         162.8                   

Natural Waist    32"           31"           30.25"                  

Waist            37.5"         36"           35.75"                   

Hips             42.5"         41"           41"  

Body Fat %       ?             ?             29.3%                  

 

 

Diet - CON +3

If Knowing is Half the Battle, a clean diet is the other half.  As such, I will be eating Primal/Paleo as much as possible for the next 6 weeks.

 

• Stay Hydrated with at least 48 oz of water a day.
• Only 5 meals a week can contain a non-trivial amount of Sugar, Legumes, Grains, or Dairy.
  • A trivial amount would be sugar that sneaks into otherwise non-sugary foods, a couple sprinkles of feta cheese on a salad, etc.  I eat out for lunch for social reasons, and it's hard to control every last ingredient.  So I will use my best judgment, but not go insane trying to adhere to a Whole30 type mentality.
  • A non-trivial amount would be a glass of lemonade, a sandwich, beef broccoli with rice, etc.  With very few exceptions (um, sometimes I just Can. Not. Resist. the siren call of In-N-Out) I will do my best to limit to one "bad" food item as a part of those 5 meals.  So Lemonade with a salad.

• My one planned cheat will be my coffee mix in the morning.  It is a recipe called Gunline Coffee that I found on AllRecipes.  It is delicious, and even though it isn't exactly a health food, it is far better than my old "Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa mixed with Coffee" approach from before!

 

The point is to limit the intake of bad stuff without going all Whole30.  I get an A if I hold to my 5 meals rule and otherwise make good choices for the duration of the challenge.

 

Fitness - Cardio    STA +3, DEX +2

Should I spot [insert swoon worthy celeb here] from across the floor, our eyes locking in love at first sight, and I must sprint to him while avoiding the crowds, I will be ready.  On Saturday I did the first Zomies, Run! 5k mission and LOVED it.  So did my dogs, even though they could not hear the audio.  I will continue to work my way through the program 3 days a week.

 

Fitness - Strength  STR +2 (+1 for pushups)

With all the freebies and swag I intend on collecting this year, I will need strong arms and legs to carry it all!  So, on the days I do not do cardio, I will do some form of strength training.  I won't be required to follow any set program, but I will need to do 30 minutes of strength based exercise to get a full point for this goal.  To honor last challenge's goal, I will earn an extra point if I can do 5 full, real pushups at the end.

 

STR +1

I will also do Ab Ripper X 3 times a week, in addition to the other Strength and Cardio training.  It can be done on a Cardio or Strength (or Rest) day.

 

Grading will be based on percentage of total completion for the total number of days I am supposed to do these tasks.

 

 

Life - CHA +2

Since this challenge is Comic-Con oriented, I am going to shelf my "wake up like an ADULT" goal, and go with something superficial.  For the next six weeks, I will take care of my skin and stop biting my nails.  This is a nasty habit anyway, and can contribute to health issues because of the broken skin around my cuticles.  Catwoman would take care of her claw-er, nails, and so will I!

 

Grading will be based on whether I have presentable nails at the end of the challenge.  My cuticles must be clean, and my nails need to reach the end of my fingertips.

 

WIS+2

The WIS part of this goal will be focused on me planning and preparing effectively for SDCC.  I always procrastinate and don't start working on, well, anything, until the last minute, which results in almost no sleep for those four days.  This year, I will start organizing my design ideas, drafting patterns, and doing some mock ups BEFORE the calendar flips to July!

 

Grading should be based on how many hours I actually sleep that weekend!  Instead, by the end of Week 1, I will have a plan put together, and my grade for the rest of the weeks will be based on my execution of that plan.

[faille]

Week 1, Day 1 - 6/3/2013

 

Diet

Did pretty good today.  Breakfast was two hard boiled eggs and half a chicken apple sausage from Costco, Lunch was a greek salad with chicken, and dinner was broccoli with butter and two chicken patties (also from Costco). 

 

I know the meats are technically processed and therefore not paleo, but my problem is always making time to cook.  So I got some stuff I can literally just heat up and eat to help keep me away from burritos and burgers.

 

Fitness

Today was Week 1, Workout 1 of Zombies, Run! 5k.  I really loved the introduction mission I did on Saturday, but found today's kind of boring (she just says Walk!  Now Run!  Over and over)  I chose to do the 5k program though because I have not run since November and want to ease back into it.  This is extra important because I run in vibrams, so it takes a bit to get my legs conditioned again.

Also did Ab Ripper X when I got home

 

Life

No points today on this.  Since my thread wasn't posted yet, I actually forgot about this goal and nibbled my nails at work today.  Argh!

[faille]

Week 1, Day 2 - 6/4/2013

 

Diet

Doing good.  Had one of my "cheat meals" because a coworker brought in kajukatli from India, which is my FAVORITE.  So I had about 6 little rhombuses of that today.  BUT I turned down In-N-Out for lunch and just got a salad from Souplantation instead, so that was good!  The salad was as good as I could get for paleo.. the only mystery was the "herb chicken" but that falls within my allowed trivial unknowns rule.  Breakfast was a whole piece of chicken apple sausage and one hard boiled egg.  Look at me switching it up, lol.  Still deciding on dinner, probably some Kale Mix from Costco and some deli turkey.

 

Fitness

Today was a strength day.  I worked later than usual and I was hungry and I reallllly did not want to do it, but I did it anyway!  P90X Shoulders & Arms,  even though by the end I was really dogging it.  Resisted the urge to skip past the repeat sections and just lowered my weights/did fewer reps.

 

Life

Did good on nails today, and will be doing some planning after I post this.

 

 

As a side note, I stumbled on this link from Fitocracy today about weight loss vs body fat that really resonated with me (and finding that link was inspired by Steve's Body Fat Post).  Ever since I started gaining weight in my late 20s, I have always been kind of chasing the lower numbers on the scales again.  Now that I'm focusing on overall strength and fitness for this challenge, I am going to add a body fat calculation to my weekly stats.  I still will weigh every day.. I know for some people that causes insanity, but for me it's too easy to slip into old, bad habits if I'm not getting the negative feedback the day after I binge on an entire pizza.  I would love to do the Bod Pod or something similar to calculate accurate percentage, but for now I am going to use this calculator that is supposedly used in the Navy and takes height, weight, waist, neck, and hips (for the ladies).  It is giving me 29.3% Body Fat.  Another calculator gives 26.89 so who knows what to believe!  The measurement for the navy is much easier to do so I will stick with that one.

[faille]

Week 1, Day 3 - 6/5/2013

 

Diet

B: 2 hard boiled eggs and a banana.

L: Claim Jumper Cobb Salad with oil/vinegar on the side and no cheesy bread.  Feta was my "allowed" non-trivial item

D: Chicken and Apple Sausage with a Banana and some Dijon Mustard, and a small handful of blueberries.

Plenty of hydration today, no snacks I can remember, though I did get a Black Tea from Starbucks on a coffee run with a coworker.  No sweetener.

 

I actually think I'm not eating enough the last few days.. My activity level has increased, I'm on a medication that already lowers blood pressure (side effect), and I have been having some dizzy spells if I stand up too fast, which I haven't had in quite a while.  Problem is I'm just not that hungry when I focus on paleo/primal eating!  Time to brush up on some easy paleo snacks before I just go nuts on fruit and walnuts, since those are easy to grab but not technically the best choices.

 

Fitness

Zombies, Run! 5k  Week 1, Day 2.  I didn't get home til late again so the doggies and I went running in the dark.  Not too scary because it's just the 5k training, but Runner 4 tried to freak me out   Can't wait for "real" zombies to run away from!

 

Life

Nails have visible growth.  Planning is not going so well.. this is the third day in a row I'm sitting down for the first time at 9 or 10pm.  All my will power is going to exercise right now!  Still have until Sunday to make my plan so it is not a total bust yet

[summerose]

Hi! Way to go! I like your daily posting strategy. The "superficial" nail goal is a good one too. Compusive habits encourage shame and undermine confidence. I should know . You're inspiring me to quit compulsively twisting my hair and breaking the ends off.

[faille]

Hi! Way to go! I like your daily posting strategy. The "superficial" nail goal is a good one too. Compusive habits encourage shame and undermine confidence. I should know . You're inspiring me to quit compulsively twisting my hair and breaking the ends off.

 

I find if I don't post daily, it makes it easier for me to slide backward. 

 

You should totally go after that goal!  Is something you could do to distract yourself instead?  Not sure what type of situations you tend to do it in, but maybe you could get silly putty or something to keep your hands occupied instead of on your hair.

 

Thanks for stopping by my thread

[OmHawk]

 

There are about 6 weeks until San Diego Comic-Con, and there are 6 weeks in this challenge!  Seems like a good fit to me

 

I've been going to SDCC for the last 6 or 7 years, and every year I make a dress out of those giant bags that Warner Brothers gives out and wear it around.  I am also working on a Catwoman costume from The Dark Knight Rises, which I may or may not finish in time.

 

Since anyone in costume at a convention gets their picture taken a lot, I want to look and feel my best.  I've lost 15 pounds since the beginning of the year, so this challenge I will be focusing on keeping that momentum going and working on strength and toning.

 

Stat             3/5 - #0      4/15 - #1     6/3/ - #2          

Height           5'10"

Weight           167           163.6         162.8                   

Natural Waist    32"           31"           30.25"                  

Waist            37.5"         36"           35.75"                   

Hips             42.5"         41"           41"  

Body Fat %       ?             ?             29.3%                  

 

 

Diet - CON +3

If Knowing is Half the Battle, a clean diet is the other half.  As such, I will be eating Primal/Paleo as much as possible for the next 6 weeks.

 

• Stay Hydrated with at least 48 oz of water a day.
• Only 5 meals a week can contain a non-trivial amount of Sugar, Legumes, Grains, or Dairy.
  • A trivial amount would be sugar that sneaks into otherwise non-sugary foods, a couple sprinkles of feta cheese on a salad, etc.  I eat out for lunch for social reasons, and it's hard to control every last ingredient.  So I will use my best judgment, but not go insane trying to adhere to a Whole30 type mentality.
  • A non-trivial amount would be a glass of lemonade, a sandwich, beef broccoli with rice, etc.  With very few exceptions (um, sometimes I just Can. Not. Resist. the siren call of In-N-Out) I will do my best to limit to one "bad" food item as a part of those 5 meals.  So Lemonade with a salad.

• My one planned cheat will be my coffee mix in the morning.  It is a recipe called Gunline Coffee that I found on AllRecipes.  It is delicious, and even though it isn't exactly a health food, it is far better than my old "Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa mixed with Coffee" approach from before!

 

The point is to limit the intake of bad stuff without going all Whole30.  I get an A if I hold to my 5 meals rule and otherwise make good choices for the duration of the challenge.

 

Fitness - Cardio    STA +3, DEX +2

Should I spot [insert swoon worthy celeb here] from across the floor, our eyes locking in love at first sight, and I must sprint to him while avoiding the crowds, I will be ready.  On Saturday I did the first Zomies, Run! 5k mission and LOVED it.  So did my dogs, even though they could not hear the audio.  I will continue to work my way through the program 3 days a week.

 

Fitness - Strength  STR +2 (+1 for pushups)

With all the freebies and swag I intend on collecting this year, I will need strong arms and legs to carry it all!  So, on the days I do not do cardio, I will do some form of strength training.  I won't be required to follow any set program, but I will need to do 30 minutes of strength based exercise to get a full point for this goal.  To honor last challenge's goal, I will earn an extra point if I can do 5 full, real pushups at the end.

 

STR +1

I will also do Ab Ripper X 3 times a week, in addition to the other Strength and Cardio training.  It can be done on a Cardio or Strength (or Rest) day.

 

Grading will be based on percentage of total completion for the total number of days I am supposed to do these tasks.

 

 

Life - CHA +2

Since this challenge is Comic-Con oriented, I am going to shelf my "wake up like an ADULT" goal, and go with something superficial.  For the next six weeks, I will take care of my skin and stop biting my nails.  This is a nasty habit anyway, and can contribute to health issues because of the broken skin around my cuticles.  Catwoman would take care of her claw-er, nails, and so will I!

 

Grading will be based on whether I have presentable nails at the end of the challenge.  My cuticles must be clean, and my nails need to reach the end of my fingertips.

 

WIS+2

The WIS part of this goal will be focused on me planning and preparing effectively for SDCC.  I always procrastinate and don't start working on, well, anything, until the last minute, which results in almost no sleep for those four days.  This year, I will start organizing my design ideas, drafting patterns, and doing some mock ups BEFORE the calendar flips to July!

 

Grading should be based on how many hours I actually sleep that weekend!  Instead, by the end of Week 1, I will have a plan put together, and my grade for the rest of the weeks will be based on my execution of that plan.

 

So you're going to Con. Are you going to W00tstock, too?

[faille]

So you're going to Con. Are you going to W00tstock, too?

 

No, I've actually never heard of that before!  Or at least, I think I've heard the name, but assumed it was somehow related to woot.com      Just looked it up.. looks fun!  BF and I have seen Adam and Jamie when they came through town doing some sort of Mythbusters tour; he is fun to listen to.  Thursday is a good night too, I might look into going now.  Thanks for letting me know!

[faille]

Week 1, Day 4 - 6/6/2013

 

Diet

B: 2 hard boiled eggs and a banana.

L: "The Med Salad" with Steak from Noodles & Company.  It has some pasta in it, but nowhere near as much as a regular pasta dish, and feta.  So I'm counting this as a cheat meal.

Snack: Had a couple handfuls of walnuts during the work day.

Happy Hour: Coworker is in town, so we went to a Brewery.  Had a tiny (2 oz?) oatmeal stout sample and some pretzels (like maybe a dozen - much better than I would usually do).  Again, marking as a cheat.  But I am still 3/5 for the week so I think I will be able to come in under my goal!

D: Blueberries, two grilled chicken apple sausages, and after my workout some frozen broccoli with about 1/2 Tablespoon coconut oil. 

Hydration was good, easily 64 ounces.  Still working on getting my overall consumption up.  My body is having trouble catching up to my increased activity load with my diet.  Moar fat and veggies needed!

 

Fitness

P90X Back & Legs.  Really dogged it through this one, pausing a lot, half assing the squats..  just out of juice.  But, I did it even though I had to start at 9pm tonight and finished all the exercises even though I wanted to quit halfway through.

 

Life

Nails good, planning not.  Another night where I didn't get home until late so I didn't want to do anything after working out and posting my progress.  I'm not going out tomorrow night so I can work on my planning and crafting.  Going to try to leave work early too.

[faille]

Week 1, Day 5 - 6/7/2013

 

Diet

Did well on diet.  Not going to give the full run down anymore.  Had some gluten free pasta today that was corn/soy based, but it wasn't gluten so it's... 1/2 a cheat meal?

 

Fitness

Zombies, Run! 5k Week 1, Day 3 finished!  Looking ahead, they have me doing things like skipping and lunges, so we'll see how I feel about doing those in public!

 

Life

Nails good, a little nibbling but nothing catastrophic.  In the middle of FINALLY PLANNING for Comic Con tonight.  It was such a randomly busy week for me, didn't get home until after 8 every night, THEN had to exercise, etc etc.  Hoping next week will be more normal!

[faille]

Week 1, Day 6 - 6/8/2013

 

Diet

Went shopping with my friend for her soon-to-be one year old's birthday party today.  Split a snack bag of chocolate covered pretzels with her while we were out.  Totally worth it.  Resisted temptations otherwise.  I'm lagging behind on water, but doing much better than I usually do for a weekend day.  Filling up my 32 oz water bottle and dragging it around today really helped.

 

Fitness

Took a rest day today.  I think I was supposed to do a strength program, but I've done 30-60 minutes of cardio/strength every day since 6/1 and felt like I needed a break.  Tomorrow I'll be back to it with Zombies, Run! 5k Week 2 Day 1.

 

Life

No progress on Comic-Con stuff because of my outing with my friend.  Going to play some Defiance tonight since I haven't tried that out yet.  Since tomorrow is weigh-in and measurements day, I am going to take that opportunity to also take my measurements for my (gulp!) catsuit.  So planning for tomorrow to be a full day of crafting!  Can't believe the weekend's almost over! /cry

[faille]

Week 1, Day 7 - 6/9/2013 & Weekly Recap

 

 

Stat             3/5 - #0      4/15 - #1     6/3 - #2   6/9 - #2.1

Height           5'10"

Weight           167           163.6         162.8      158.2   

Natural Waist    32"           31"           30.25"     29.875        

Waist            37.5"         36"           35.75"     35.375              

Hips             42.5"         41"           41"        41.5

Body Fat %       ?             ?             29.3%      29.2%

 

 

Diet

Overall I did very well on my diet this week.  The only real significant "oops" was when I had In-N-Out today.  But it was WORTH IT.  Yum.  Otherwise I've done well avoiding the bad stuff.  Definitely lost all my bloat from the previous week's bad eating.  I think next week I will focus a little more on eating less processed meats.  I eat them because they are convenient, but I should be eating way less of them!

 

Fitness

Zombies, Run! 5k Week 2, Day 1.  Felt a little silly doing heel raises in the middle of the neighborhood, but I did 'em anyway.

 

Life

Took measurements so I can start making the patterns for my catsuit.  Will be drawing out the pattern this evening.  Giving myself .5 on the nails today.  Nails are still untouched, but I picked at one of my cuticles on my thumb  But!  Overall a really satisfying week

[OmHawk]

No, I've actually never heard of that before!  Or at least, I think I've heard the name, but assumed it was somehow related to woot.com      Just looked it up.. looks fun!  BF and I have seen Adam and Jamie when they came through town doing some sort of Mythbusters tour; he is fun to listen to.  Thursday is a good night too, I might look into going now.  Thanks for letting me know!

Last year, Levar Burton showed up randomly, ran out on stage, and we all sang the Reading Rainbow theme song together. It is a geek fest, pure and simple.

[faille]

Raaaaar, horrible day!  I forgot to take my anti-depressant last night, so I got to deal with cold-turkey withdrawal symptoms all day.  Then, I had to drive to our other office 80 miles away to troubleshoot issues at one of our call centers.  Then I met a friend for lunch and had a bagel sandwich (the "skinny" bagel for all the good that did).. THEN I GOT MC DONALDS ON THE WAY HOME.  Ugh.  The combo I got had TWO sandwiches?? and I ate them both??? what was I thinking!  At least I had the unsweetened tea.  Forced myself to run away from Zombies tonight even though I was still feeling like crap from earlier.  Doggies deserved it and so did my body after what I did to it today, lol.  Felt good, but I'm skipping Ab Ripper X tonight.  

 

Been doing ok otherwise this week, I actually started drafting the pattern for my catwoman suit.  Food has been within reasonable limits aside from today, and I've done all my runs but have been slacking on the strength.  It's still been a busy week and I've been feeling a little like I have no time to myself by the time I get home, and the strength workouts were the first to go.  Plus, Defiance is kinda fun and I'm wasting too much time on that.  Hopefully I'll get back on track tomorrow and finish the week out strong!

[OmHawk]

Defiance is a lot of fun. They hyped it so much at Con last year that I assumed it would suck, but I'm enjoying it.

I feel your pain on med withdrawal. It makes things weird when you forget, and then you feel weird and also guilty for forgetting. That's pretty much double-plus ungood. It's hard to make yourself do something when you feel crappy... hang in there!

[faille]

Did that thing again where I start to go off track so I stick my head in the sand and avoid my message boards  But all is not lost!   Posting now while I am motivated

 

Week 5, Day 4 - 7/4/2013 State of the Union

 

 

Stat             3/5 - #0      4/15 - #1     6/3 - #2   6/9 - #2.1  7/4 - #2.5

Height           5'10"

Weight           167           163.6         162.8      158.2       155.2

Natural Waist    32"           31"           30.25"     29.875      29 1/8

Waist            37.5"         36"           35.75"     35.375      33 3/4         

Hips             42.5"         41"           41"        41.5        40 3/4

Body Fat %       ?             ?             29.3%      29.2%       27.3%

 

 

Diet

More or less doing good with my diet.  I try to avoid gluten and sugar as much as possible, or at least limit it to one meal a day.  So while I'm not following the letter of my goal for this challenge, I am following the spirit of it and seeing results.

 

Fitness

Rocking the cardio!  Since June 1, I've complete Week 5, Day 1 of Zombies, Run! 5k.  I am running almost every other day.  With the heat wave we had the last couple weeks I have been skipping some days until it is cooler, but I think I only missed 3 days in a row once, and 2 days only a couple times.

 

Strength I completely gave up on.  This is actually really disappointing to me in hindsight.  I was just so busy and tired every day that I didn't have the energy to do the cardio AND the strength all week.  I'm slowly building some small things into my day.  If I'm heating up food I do counter pushups.. when I'm getting ready in the morning I do some random squats.. but it's nothing structured or of any useful duration.

 

Life

Crafting/planning - wow, the month flew by!  I'm going to have to scrap my Catwoman and focus only on my comic con dresses.  I've almost completed my sloper pattern that I can use for the actual dress designs, so hopefully I will be able to get some SLEEP this year and not be up until 5am before waking up at 6 to get ready and drive down to Con

 

Nails - Rocking this one! 9/10 nails are pristine.  I had to trim one back because the edge split.. and that happened more because I didn't keep a topcoat on them rather than actual biting.

 

 

Soooo overall this is turning out to be a positive 6 weeks, although I wouldn't really call it a "challenge" given my apathetic adherence to the challenge part of it.  For the next one, I may bow out of the challenge itself and just focus on a thread in the Daily Battles section of the forums.  It feels a little disingenuous to keep posting challenge threads only to crap out after a couple weeks.

 

Overall I'm really happy that I've lost 20 pounds this year, and am finding a groove with my nutrition.  My scale has not seen 155 since the early part of 2011.  When I entered my weight on SparkPeople this morning, I was happy to see that I made my goal weight on my goal day without even REALLY thinking about it!

 

 

[OmHawk]

So? How's it looking? It's Con week!