TheHalfie's Good Fight

[TheHalfie]

I was gonna wait to create this until the next challenge started, but then inkybrushes got all awesome and made one that's excellent and so worth checking out ...

 

http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/32651-inkybrushes-batrep/

 

... That I decided to give it a go too. 

 

So, here are my starting stats:

 

Age: 25

Gender: Female

Height: 5'5"

Weight: 143-148 lbs (depends on daily salt and water intake)

Race: Human

Profession: Monk 

 

I'm doing this 6 week challenge not to lose too much weight, but more to gain strength and fitness, and to help my taekwondo training. There's just something about that dojang... the meditation, the instruction, the focus... it's really, really good for me. There are a lot of things that I am good at, and want to celebrate and enhance here (I can break boards, I'm crazy flexible) and lots of things I would like to improve. I already eat pretty paleo but I do have a penchant for sugar and fried food. I feel like weight training is one area that could really use a tune up. 

 

So, where am I starting from?

 

Bust: 36"

Waist: 30"

Hips/Butt: 39.5"

 

Pushups: About 2 with excellent form (nose grazing the ground)

Chin ups: 0

Planking: 30 seconds

Deadlift: At least 115 lbs (don't wanna add more weight until my form is better... tell me if that's bull)

Benchpress: 65 lbs 

Sit ups: 30

Flexibility: excellent

Cardio endurance: fair 

 

I'll work and psych myself up for this challenge come July 29, so goals are to follow. 

Woot!

[alienjenn]

YO!!!

 

glad to see ya on the boards

[inkybrushes]

Woohoo! Kick a butt! Can't wait to follow your progress!

[TheHalfie]

So. I've taken some starter photos, and I'm nervous to post them. Why? Because I'm not big. 

 

It just goes to show, I guess, how you can be anxious regardless of whether you're overweight or underweight or normal weight. But this site is filled with so many people who have achieved so much. They've lost weight in the triple digits, they've gained crazy amounts of muscle and totally changed their lives. I'm a little bit worried I'll be laughed out of town or bore the socks off of people with my challenge.

 

unless...

*epiphany*

 

I become The New Staci.

 

And I mean that in a completely non-competitive, in-awe-of-what-she-has-accomplished sort of way. Hmmmm....

 

Any way, the pics are below, and they are of me, right now, unflexed. I'm 145 lbs and 5'5".

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

ps. the garbage bag is just for contrast. I'm not Dexter or anything.

[inkybrushes]

It takes a lot of guts to post unfit pics of yourself on a fitness forum, whether you be overweight, obese, underweight, whatever. Everyone wants to not be judged. No judgement here.

Everyone is at a different point in their lives, and everyone can benefit from getting fit, even if you're not big.

I stand by my earlier statement of kick a butt.

[alienjenn]

you are beeeeeeaaaaautiful

 

and I can't wait to see your after pics kick some donkey!!

[TheHalfie]

Check in time! 

 

I'm kind of loving the support on this site. Thanks you guys!! It makes it easy to be honest when everyone around you is cheering you on, and being honest too. 

 

Ok, so, today I was mostly a slug, and I feel fine with that. I told myself during the heat of exam time (read: 8 weeks straight of studying when I wasn't eating, sleeping, or in class. I'm not even exaggerating.) that when summer came, if I wanted to do nothing, I'd do nothing. TADA! It's summer, and I didn't get out of bed until noon. I read NF forums and articles on my iphone all morning and had the whole bed to myself until my 16 pound mammoth cat thought walking directly on my bladder would do the trick. Well played, sir. 

 

From there on the day is mostly a blur of interwebs and *almost* working out, but eating instead. Not proud of the first part, but man, the FOOD. I crushed the leftover cauliflower rice and squash. Made coffee, and experimented by putting a vanilla earl grey tea bag in with the grounds. Not bad, but next time I'll probably go with Hazelnut Creme or something like that. Mmmm.. coftea. 

 

I also made the obvious realization that, hey! When you drink some water during the day instead of pretending that coffee is the new water, you feel less like crap in general. Huh. Who would have thought? I consider myself a smart person, but some things you just have to feel to convince yourself of. 

 

Handsome came home with a headache, and I made dinner. Here's what I made:

- Porkchops with Montreal Steak Spice

- Onions and garlic sauted in coconut oil and some strawberry balsamic vinegar (SO GOOD)

- Asparagus, steamed and then finished with salt, truffle oil and blood orange olive oil.

 

(In case it isn't obvious, we just got a sample 6 pack of specialty oils and vinegars from an AMAZING little homegrown store. There's a dark chocolate balsamic that I would easily put on icecream. Banana ice cream. )

 

In other food news, I tracked down a local vendor that sells grass fed cows and lamb, and since we JUST got an apartment sized freezer (Thanks mom and dad!) we have a place to put it all. Tomorrow we're gonna check out the local farmer's market and ask them all about it. 

 

Did I work out at ALL today, you ask? Why yes. Sort of. Handsome said we should go out and play, so we walked to the local park and climbed trees. I haven't climbed a tree in years. Heights and peripheral-distorting coke bottle lenses don't help. But I had a blast, and even got a little scraped up in the process! Next time it'll be all contacts though, because climbing is easier when the branch is, in fact, where you think it is. 

 

That's it for now! Tomorrow maybe I'll ACTUALLY do a workout. We'll see. 

[alienjenn]

 

That's it for now! Tomorrow maybe I'll ACTUALLY do a workout. We'll see. 

 

 

as if climbing trees doesn't count as a workout???

[inkybrushes]

as if climbing trees doesn't count as a workout???

Seconded, it absolutely is!

[TheHalfie]

Well, I got up into the trees yep, but I wasn't like, swinging from the branches and leaping through the canopy. I was more... perched. But it's a start!

 

So I'm realizing today that the working out part of this whole upcoming challenge is gonna be the toughest part. I am LAY-ZEE. I think about working out but then I don't do it hard. I don't know what it is. It's like I can't get into it, I can't push through it on my own. I never seem to have that problem in taekwondo class, but I really need to start getting into the habit of being able to work out under my own pressure. 

 

I think it's that 9/10 times I can convince myself that I look and feel just fine. There are people bigger than me, and people smaller People stronger than me, and people weaker. Can confidence be a workout killer? I'd say feeling good about  your body is a good thing, except that when I see myself in the mirror, I know I can do better. I know I can be stronger. When I lug in groceries and it hurts, I know it doesn't have to be that way. It's just convincing myself to want that more than I want what's comfortable in the moment... any advice?

 

As for the food... man I love the food! Today's food deets:

 

Handsome and I checked out the Farmer's Market. It was awesome. We nabbed

- rainbow chard

- beets

- rainbow carrots

- a small tub of black cherries

- grass-fed beef shanks

- peaches

 

Not a bad haul for $27 bucks. He cooked tonight and braised the shanks in Guiness (not paleo but so delicious) and roasted the beets in the oven with olive oil and salt and pepper. I have to say, grassfed meat is REALLY good. IT actually has a TASTE, a flavour, and the fat was this amazing, buttery, toothsome little morsel. Honestly, I ate less meat than usual and was full a lot sooner. Placebo effect? Maybe. But a delicious one. 

 

I also sent some not-so-crisp veggies to their maker in an awesome cream of vegetable soup with carrots, beet, celery, onion, and garlic. Yum. We're gonna place an order online for a 1/4 grassfed cow to fill the new freezer with, yay!

 

Upcoming hurdles: a Very good friend of mine is getting married in a week, and she's Indian. If you've never had real Indian food prepared by real Indian home cooks, you haven't lived. It will certainly not all be paleo, so I'm gonna have to come up with some kind of game plan to not totally sabotage myself. Not to mention there'll be drinking... liquid calories are the enemy. 

 

Lastly, I did 2 sets of 6 inverted rows on handsome's gymnastic rings on the porch. I was fairly upright, and it wasn't alot, but I feel better that I did SOMETHING. Anything. I think we're gonna go for a late night walk together downtown by the lake. We're lucky to live in a town where that's a thing, so might as well take advantage! It will mean walking by the delectable artisan icecream shop that, I swear, pumps its freshly made waffle cone smell out onto the street on purpose. Trixy. However, if I leave my wallet at home, there will be no icecream to be had. Take that, commerce!

[inkybrushes]

It sounds like you had a really wonderful day! So happy to hear about your success!

[TheHalfie]

Ok, so, today a day of pros and cons. Pro: Ran today. As in went for a run. I haven't done that in years, and pretty sure the last time  I did was like a hate run over a guy, haha. Idid it to that Zombie's, Run! app, and even though I had to walk at least half of it, it was still pretty fun. 

 

I ate a huge omelette with tomatoes and rainbow chard. I had sashimi instead of sushi. And I had chocolate, but it was dark, and it was instead of ice cream, and MAN, today they were intense coca cola and ice cream cravings. 

 

So that's all the good. The bad is that after the run, something got messed up in my left hip and I don't know what. It hurts the more I walk, and I worry that it's not just muscle soreness. I'm hoping it goes away in the morning, because I surprised myself by liking the run/walk. As it stands though a 15 minute walk had me hobbling tonight. This might be a bad thing. We'll see.

[TheHalfie]

Gaaaaaaaaahhhhh. I worked in an office once, for 6 months. That was a long time ago. Until now, I had forgotten what I hated about it so much. 

It's the bullsh*t. It's the passive aggressive, politically correct pandering that drives me up the wall. And here I am, having to deal with it all over again. 

 

Time to breathe, and time to switch my attitude. I signed up for this particular job because I believe in the cause it is working for. That still stands. One way or another it's gonna be over in about 6 weeks so I might as well make the most of it. I might as well get my work done and contribute to this cause and try to make the most of this experience. I don't want to be a quitter. I gave my word that I'd stay on for this project and that's what I'm going to do. This site is about turning yourself gritty, about sinking in your teeth and not relenting. Well that's what I'm gonna do. 

[TheHalfie]

Alright so, today I got halfway up on a chin up. WOOHOO! But I wasn't from completely straight arms, there was a slight bend. Also, last night I was already in bed and I realized I hadn't tried even one push-up with good form. 

So I hauled my butt out of bed and did 1 really good one before I went to bed. Felt like a boss. 

 

In food news, however.... not so paleo. I'm home visiting my mom and being a part of my good friends large, half Indian half Western wedding. That means sweets, cakes, roti and all manner of delicious things that I will consume. Not to mention drink. I'm trying to be good and remembering it is about small wins. 1 cookie when I would have eaten two. The cobb salad instead of the burger. A little sugar in the tea instead of a lot. That sort of thing. I'll go back home to my regular diet Sunday, but lordy, it's gonna be a free for all and I'm just trying to rein in the chaos. Maybe I can dance it off? Yeesh. Any tips for surviving home cooking AND an Indian wedding?

[alienjenn]

Alright so, today I got halfway up on a chin up. WOOHOO! But I wasn't from completely straight arms, there was a slight bend. Also, last night I was already in bed and I realized I hadn't tried even one push-up with good form. 

So I hauled my butt out of bed and did 1 really good one before I went to bed. Felt like a boss. 

 

In food news, however.... not so paleo. I'm home visiting my mom and being a part of my good friends large, half Indian half Western wedding. That means sweets, cakes, roti and all manner of delicious things that I will consume. Not to mention drink. I'm trying to be good and remembering it is about small wins. 1 cookie when I would have eaten two. The cobb salad instead of the burger. A little sugar in the tea instead of a lot. That sort of thing. I'll go back home to my regular diet Sunday, but lordy, it's gonna be a free for all and I'm just trying to rein in the chaos. Maybe I can dance it off? Yeesh. Any tips for surviving home cooking AND an Indian wedding?

 

 

woot on the push up

 

eh... I switched to paleoish because of health issues... I simply say "I can't eat xyz because it causes me health problems" and most people are like "OK"

[fadagaski]

I think it's that 9/10 times I can convince myself that I look and feel just fine. There are people bigger than me, and people smaller People stronger than me, and people weaker. Can confidence be a workout killer? I'd say feeling good about  your body is a good thing, except that when I see myself in the mirror, I know I can do better. I know I can be stronger. When I lug in groceries and it hurts, I know it doesn't have to be that way. It's just convincing myself to want that more than I want what's comfortable in the moment... any advice?

 

This is me! It's hard to do all this booty-kicking, ab-nuking, fat-burning stuff when you're actually fairly content and definitely complacent. I'm so glad you wrote it; I don't feel like the only lazy person in the world.

 

~Ally~

[TheHalfie]

Back from the wedding! And there are successes to brag about in addition to admissions, haha. 

Firstly, it was not a totally carb free endeavour, that's for sure. I was at my parents place when I wasn't at the wedding, and my mom is a very good Filipino cook. That means rice. Hot, steamy, fragrant jasmine rice. The same stuff I ate 3 times a day as a child. Total comfort. But I strangely found myself without a taste for too much of it. I had a little bit with adobo (a delicious stew that is essentially the national dish) and other than that, I stayed away. I was surprised that it actually didn't take as much willpower as I thought. I simply craved the veggies more. 

 

Can't say the same for sugary drinks, but again, where I would have slurped it back to my hearts content, I had a couple small glasses over the whole trip. AND I didn't binge on the cookies she always keeps in the house, or the kettle corn. 

 

The wedding itself did involve some legumes (beans in some of the indian dishes) but I nibbled a piece of roti and found that, strangely, I didn't want to finish that either. Maybe my tastes really are changing? I had a beer at lunch but didn't even finish it. I didn't partake in the open bar at the reception aside from a 2 little plastic cups of coke, a cup of coffee, and a whole lot of water. 

 

All in all, wahoo! Pretty good on the food side. As always  the workout side could have used some work. But I have been employing a "whenever you think about it, do one push up" rule. That's been going well. I'm going back to taekwondo for the first time in weeks again tonight with Handsome, so it should be good. I'll keep you updated!

[TheHalfie]

Super fast update on today

Ate:

- 1 chicken breast, panfried in coconut oil

- 1 salad with balsamic and olive oil

- herbal tea (sugarless!) and water

- coleslaw with balsamic vinegar

- 1 low carb protein shake

Workouts:

-tkd class

- warm up, and sparring techniques. 1 hr. to exhaustion.

- attempted 4 pull ups

- 1RM bench press

[TheHalfie]

Went to tkd again yesterday. HOLY GOD AM I SORE TODAY. The DOMS are threatening to overtake me, haha. Usually, I can stand up straight and put my palms on the ground, and even bend my elbows. Today, getting my fingertips down was a struggle. I know that's really good still and I shouldn't complain, but nobody likes to see part of their progress go backward! I'll just have to work through it, because.... I have tkd again tonight. Though today's class is Skill Drills and Flexibility. So that'll be good. 

 

As for food, I ate...

Coleslaw with balsamic and olive oil

Cubed, Baken Chicken Breast w/ Lemon Pepper

1 Protein Shake

1 small scoop of chocolate fro-yo

handfull of raw almonds

handful of Trader Joe trail mix 

Homemade Beef Patty with Garlic and Mushrooms

Cup of Raw Blueberries

Handful of Cherries

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork 

more Coleslaw

3 slices of Havarti Cheese

 

yeah, I ate all the things. 

[fadagaski]

I am super jealous of your flexibility. What belt are you in TKD?

 

Yummy food sounds yummy! Almost makes me wish I ate meat ...

[TheHalfie]

I am super jealous of your flexibility. What belt are you in TKD?

 

Yummy food sounds yummy! Almost makes me wish I ate meat ...

 

*whistles* what belt am I.... 

 

Well, I did martial arts as a child for about 2 years. Then I switched to soccer when my favourite instructor moved away. Then when I aged out of soccer at about 18, 19, I got back into TKD. I got up to blue belt (about half way to black) but there was one kick I couldn't do, and I, being stubborn, didn't want to test without being able to do it. So I didn't. So on I stayed as a blue belt for about 3 years... I could have been black by then probably, haha. Then, again, my favourite instructor moved. And I moved. And school got intense as I tried to get into med. 

 

Now I'm back into it, and I'm starting from the bottom once more, because I don't want to be insulting to those who have been with this club and worked hard for their blues. I'm in between yellow and green now ("greenstripe"). For the 3rd time, haha. 

 

[For the record the belts in my club go: white, yellowstripe, yellow, greenstripe, green, bluestripe, blue, redstripe, red, blackstripe, 1st degree black]

[fadagaski]

Woah, that's a whole new definition for "It's complicated". LOL.

 

Good on you for starting from the bottom each time. You've certainly got a solid base from which to build.

[TheHalfie]

Thanks Fadagaski! Haha it's true, me and TKD have a history of "complicated" relationships, but we're really giving a go this time and hoping for the best <3

 

Skipping TKD today because I am super sore and had some kind of asthma attack the last time, so I'm giving my body a chance to heal. Big muscles are built in the kitchen, not the dojang, right? It was weird, I haven't had any signs of asthma since I was a kid, but the other day during sparring, all of a sudden, wham! It was like I was trying to breathe through thick cloth. It was a hot day as well so that might have contributed. Anyway, to make up for it I plan on going to a noon class tomorrow, or at the very least going to the warm up room in the dojang and working on my forms instead. Tonight, the man and I may try to max out bench presses. Should be fun!

 

In food news, I baked a wild Atlantic salmon fillet, and it was to die for. I love cooking without a recipe, but here's the gist:

- lay the fillet out on parchment paper on a baking tray.

- set the oven to 375 

- in a small bowl, whisk the life out of a table spoon of balsamic vinegar (I used dark chocolate stuff from a shop in town), a tbsp olive oil (again, I used blood orange from said shop... I'm starting to see where all my $ goes), 1/4 tsp of dijon mustard, 1 tsp of garlic powder. 

- Use a basting brush to coat the fish, or just pour it on and use your fingers to coat it well. 

- plunk said fish into oven. 

- give it 15-20 minutes (internal temp SHOULD be 145 but I live dangerously. I removed it at 133)

- let it cool about 5 minutes. 

- devour and realize there's nothing left for lunches cuz you ate it all. 

 

I also steamed some cabbage and seasoned it with cumin seed, lemon pepper, a teensy bit of beef boullion powder. Perfectly paleo? Nay. Pretty close? Yep, close enough for me! I'm not gonna sweat less than a 1/2 a teaspoon of seasoning in a whole dish. Ain't nobody got time for that.

[TheHalfie]

Ok, so today I tried more lifting, and I really, really enjoyed it! I didn't get back up to 65lb bench press like I had hoped, but I've also been losing a fair amount of weight, so I expected it to be lower. That and this time we did more reps of heavy-ish weights (for me, like 50 lbs) and I think that burned me out. But still! I tried it again! I feel really good about that. Bench pressing 70 lbs is my newest target. And by target, I mean Everest.

 

I also tried shoulder press for the first time, and I like it. I think it's really fun. I was able to shoulder press 48lbs twice. TWICE! 

Now I know for all you hardcore weightlifters, this seems like no big deal. That's ok. To me, it's pretty amazing

 

In addition, I worked on form for squats and found that what I thought was parallel was just-shy-of. It's amazing how just a few degrees lower can open up new worlds of hurt. Good hurt though. 

 

Oh, that and I OD'd on cherries. So much sugar. But they're so good. And in season. Nom Nom Nom. 

[wideeyed]

Yeah.  I have six weeks to get my form right for squats (sans weight) and lunges.  And it will take me the entire time to get them right unassisted.  My knees and hips HATE them.  I know it's not quad strength, because I can push some serious weight on a leg press.  But once I'm down, knees say, NOT GETTING BACK UP, thank you very much