This Battle Log belongs to xena

*eowyn* · August 29, 2013

Index

Preliminary and general information
Goals

Food logs (Junk food days aren't logged!)

week 5 (1., 2., 3., 4., 5.)

Workout logs

week 1 (1., 2., 3.)
week 2 (1., 2., 3.)
week 3 (1., 2., 3., 4.)
week 4 (1., 2., 3.)
week 5 (1., 2., 3.)
week 6 (...)
week 7 (1., 2., 3.)
...

Weekly recaps

Reward and punishment system
My motivation #1

My crisis plan

w00t?!

*eowyn* · August 29, 2013

So this is my first entry then.

I shall use it for introductory words and general information!

Preliminary

This is my battle log in which I intend to write about my fitness routine, eating habits and my progress. I also want to share my thoughts, motivation etc for my lifestyle change.

General Information

Start:

26 years old, female
123.8 kg (272.4 lbs) of weight
171cm (5'6) tall
aspiring to be a kick-ass assassin with bits of monk

Photo

(as soon as I have an after photo, because otherwise its just demotivating )

Current Goals (until 1st Challenge starting at Sept. 16th):

Include vegetables or fruits to every meal (doesn't matter how small it is! Even if its just a bite!)
Exercise 2-3 times a week, one day rest in between
Reduce junk food to three days a week

Let's see how this works!

*eowyn* · August 29, 2013

Ok, so my first exercise log!

I chose the Beginners Bodyweight Workout because ... well I like bodyweight workouts. They help me get to know my body, to work with it... and since I want to become a "kick-ass" assassin and want to do parcours (in the far faaaaar away future^^), this is the way to go.

I am planning on sticking to this workout until I can do 5 circuits easily (below 4* in last curcuit).

*My rating system:

I try to rate every exercise during each circuit according to its difficulty for me, that makes it easier for me to see progress.

The rating is like this:

1 - Okay, this is wayyyy too easy, i am actually bored ---> make exercise tougher!

2 - Smooooooth like butter ----> more circuits or reps

3 - Yeah, I can do this!

4 - Oh well, it's exercising, oh look, i am sweating o.O

5 - Wooooh, challenging me! Work, work work!

6 - Just one more, only ONE more *let it be over* ----> fewer repetitions

7 - Okay THIS is too tough (Can't do exercise) ----> other exercise, vary exercise

1. BBWW 26.8.2013

Circuits: 1

BW Squats: 20 rep. // Difficulty: 3 (already did squats and squat jumps, though only 10 reps.)
Push ups: 10 rep. // Difficulty: 6 (this was tough! barely able to do it. Knees were on the ground [is there a special term for this push ups?])
Lunges: 16 rep. // Difficulty: 7 (20 reps were planned but i had to stop, I struggled with both difficulty and technique)
Dumbbell rows: 10 rep. // Difficulty: 2 (Milk plastic thingy filled with water, 4 pints= 2,3 kg. Have to organise sand to fill, this is too easy)
Planks: 20 sec // Difficulty: 6 (I somehow got confused counting and ended up with more than 15^^ - AND I had the knees on the floor)
Jumping Jacks: 30 reps // Difficulty: 5-6

*eowyn* · August 29, 2013

2. BBWW 28.8.2013

Circuits: 2 (w00t?? Already?! - Yes^^ but I cheated accidentally... see below!)

BW squats: 20 rep. // Diff.: 2(C1);6(C2)
Push ups: 10 rep. // Diff.: 3(C1); 6(C2) [knees on the floor]
Lunges: 20 rep. // Diff.: 3(C1); 5(C2) [couldn't go all the way down with the knee during the second circuit -> knee pain prevention]
Dumbbell rows: 10 rep. // Diff.: 2(C1); 3(C2) [still no sand...]
Plank: 15 sec. // Diff.: 3(C1); 5(C2) [knees on the floor]
Jumping Jacks: 30 rep. // Diff.: ERROR(C1); 5(C2) [i simply forgot the JJ's during the first circuit...!]

Overall, i don't know if I had been able to do the 2nd circuit with 2 sets of JJ's! o.O But i am sooo pleased that the push ups and lunges were way easier in both difficulty and technique!

A question for all of you:

Would you increase the circuit as soon as I can do 2 circuits, like above, easily or would you wait until I can do push ups and planks without additional support of the knees? Not sure about that...

Have a nice day!

*eowyn* · August 30, 2013

3. BBWW 30.8.2013

Circuits: 2 [real ones^^]

BW squats: 20 rep. // Diff.: 2 (c1); 5 (c2)
Push ups: 10 rep. // Diff.: 2 (c1); 6 (c2) [knees on the floor]
Lunges: 20 rep. // Diff.: 3 (c1); 5 (c2) [not all the way down -> knee pain prevention]
Dumbbell rows: 10 rep. // Diff.: 2 (c1 & c2)
Planks: 15 sec. // Diff.: 3 (c1); 4 (c2) [knees on the floor]
Jumping Jack's: 30 rep. // Diff.: 3 (c1); 4 (c2)

Note:

rep.= repetitions; Diff.= difficulty

Rating system for the difficulty:

1 - Okay, this is wayyyy too easy, I am actually bored

2 - Smooooooth like butter

3 - Yeah, I can do this!

4 - Oh well, it's exercising, oh look, I am sweating o.O

5 - Wooooh, challenging me! Work, work work!

6 - Just one more, only ONE more *let it be over*

7 - Okay THIS is too tough (Can't do exercise)

Overall, though there isn't a lot of changes in the difficulty for me, everything was easier and smoother than the last time. It seems like my general condition improved! That explains why the JJs were much easier for me this time. I think I have to increase the repetitions for the dumbbell rows or lift heavier weights next time. I'll try to collect sand tomorrow to fill my milk container with something else than water ... and I guess I'll try one of the planks without supportive knees next time. Soooo chuffed!

Best wishes!

*eowyn* · August 31, 2013

About my reward and punishment system

I figured out, that a system that keeps me motivated and makes giving up/being lazy/not eating and exercising costly, would help me A LOT to stick to my routine, so I made up this:

Reward:

for every single week that I am living according to my new routine, my mum and dad will each put an amount between 2 and 5 GBP into a piggy bank. I can use this for fun stuff.

Punishment:

I have to put

5 GBP into my piggy bank for each "screwed up" day (up to two days)
20 GBP for 3 screwed up days within a week
30 GBP for 4 days
40 GBP for five days to whole week screwed up.

Yes, this is tough, so I am going to give myself 1 joker every 2 weeks (can be used for one day).

And besides that, I am planning on keeping my goals as easy and simple as possible, so no excuses for failing!

This tough system should help me with thinking twice whether I want to skip workout or eat those crisps. Also, it should help me with getting back on the track as soon as possible, because every additional day of laziness will be more and more expensive!

Oh yes, and the money in my piggy bank (the punishment one, it's two separate piggy banks) will be used after a year or something for tuition fees or whatever. No fun stuff! But somehow it will still do me some good, so thats fine. Just like failures in general; because they lead us indirectly into the right direction

Accountability:

Every week I'll have to call my parents and tell them about my week in order to get the treat.

Also, I have YOU, the community and my battle log. For my own sake I am going to be completely honest. in case that I have to put a punishment into the piggy bank, I have to take a pic of me doing it and post it here.

I think thats it for today,

Xena

*eowyn* · September 2, 2013

Recap week 1

Ok, lets resume how my first week went on.

In the beginning, I set up three goals/new routines:

Include vegetables or fruits to every meal (doesn't matter how small it is! Even if its just a bite!)
Exercise 2-3 times a week, one day rest in between
Reduce junk food to three days a week

Vegetables and fruits:

Check! - Every single meal, I ate at least a bite of fruits or vegetables. It went so far that I repeatetly got a pinch of remorse because I thought I had forgotten to take fruits/vegs to my meal, though I actually had! I am starting to add fruits or veg as a matter of course! Wooohooo! :triumphant:

Exercising:

Check! - Exercised on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; Improved each time!

Junk Food:

Check! - Had 4 days without junk food, wasn't hard to do

Besides this, I've been reading tons of texts, started to set up strategies and won my mum and dad for my reward and punishment system!

I've seen first successes; two shirts that were very tight (inappropriately tight!), are fitting now (though still a tiny bit tight - next week they are going to fit perfectly )!

Also, I've lost 1 pound! :victorious:

*eowyn* · September 2, 2013

4. BBWW 2.9.2013

*sigh* worst. workout. ever.

But see for yourself:

Circuits: 2

BW squats: 20 rep. // Diff.: 6 (c1); 6 (c2)
Push ups: 10 rep. // Diff.: 6 (c1); 6 (c2) [knees on the floor]
Lunges: 20 rep. // Diff.: 5 (c1); 6 (c2) [not all the way down -> knee pain prevention]
Dumbbell rows: 10 rep. // Diff.: 4 (c1 & c2)
Planks: 15 sec. // Diff.: 4 (c1); 3 (c2) [knees on the floor]
Jumping Jack's: 30 rep. // Diff.: 3 (c1); 4 (c2)

Mind that:

rep.= repetitions; Diff.= difficulty

Rating system for the difficulty:

1 - Okay, this is wayyyy too easy, I am actually bored
2 - Smooooooth like butter
3 - Yeah, I can do this!
4 - Oh well, it's exercising, oh look, I am sweating o.O
5 - Wooooh, challenging me! Work, work work!
6 - Just one more, only ONE more *let it be over*
7 - Okay THIS is too tough (Can't do exercise)

As you can see, most of the exercises were much more difficult for me to do than last time. Only the JJs and planks were alright. It was really strange! I didn't have DOMS or muscular pain or anything. I just felt so.... energyless! After the previous workouts, I always had sore muscles and could feel them when walking up and down the stairs etc. Nothing like that today, so its not like I lost muscles or worked out too much. Somehow, I was completely without energy, though I tried hard! In fact, I had to fight through the whole workout; actually, this was the first time I thought about giving up midway.

I thought about reasons why, here are my ideas:

exercised before breakfast (but I always do...)
didn't have enough protein on sunday
illness is approaching (O.o please don't!)
too many carbs on Saturday
haven't been eating enough
two days off is too much

What do you say? Can you think of other reasons?

I am going to watch this... and hope next time will be better!

*eowyn* · September 4, 2013

*sigh* still no answers from other members in my log... *sob*

Anyway, onwards to motivation!

Today, I wrote down a list of all those things that I've been thinking about when it comes to reasons for losing weight and getting healthy. I'm going to put it online to make it kind of official. Plus, I can always look them up from anywhere with internet access!

I want to

sail on a boat in stormy weather (you really need a good condition for that)
go diving!
attend a survival run
climb
be able to do a pull up!
be a traceur!
fit comfortably into seats (especially airplane seats...)
have better chances in job interviews
have my own family in the future (can't imagine doing that in this state)
be the "big" surprise at christmas (I want to shock my family in a positive way by losing weight. Since I am seeing them only twice a year, that would be like a real life before-after picture! )
have my values recognised. If I stay like this, I'll have to sell myself to a cheap prize because people have the attitude "she's fat, what is she expecting?". Sure, that a horrible attitude these people have, but I dont want to have to fight all my life.
inspire my family (weight loss and personality wise)
work as an archaeologist (Indyyyyyy!! xD Yeah, we love him). I am studying Archaeology and Environmental Studies and would love to work outside at digs all the time. But it's tough, particularly up here. It's not unusual to have to walk 5 miles to and back from the excavation. Through moorland and bogs. While carrying the equipment. And that's not the work done!
be able to get the man that I want. I want to have fair chances!!! I want to catch attention with my character and intelligence, not being noticed as the fat-but-nice girl...
well... impress a certain guy. Let's call him D. He's... amazing. An average guy; but when I looked him into the eyes for the first time, my mind went blank and I started talking nonsense to the floor... I am 26 and this is the first time this happened to me! *sigh* And it's stupid because he's living like 200 miles away and is younger at me... but to impress him, to get a smile or maybe a compliment... yeah, I want that!
be my own hero! I had a lot of positive changes during the last year and people that know me closer are impressed and happy about how I changed my life for the better. I want to continue this work and take it to the final stage! Last year shall be the beginning to an awesome and epic transformation!
be my grannies hero. My grannie is extremely important to me... She was always there; loving, believing. Always with a smile, always happy to see me. She got very sick a few months ago. She is better now but I came to realise that our time on earth is limited and I want to show her how much she encouraged me. I want that badly. I want to stand in front of her, tell her how happily I am living my life; that I love what I am doing for a living, how fit and healthy I am and maybe show her that I've got a good guy at my side. I know I can only do a limited amount of things about job and boyfriend. And thats fine, I am happy alone now, I can be happy alone in the future (though someone to love is nice!). But my weight, that is something I have full responsibility for, I can make this one a success! She would be soooo happy for me and I want to make her proud!

EDIT 13.09.2013:

have my family no longer worrying about my health!!!

Fallyn · September 4, 2013

Don't lose your motivation yet. You're off to a fantastic start and I'm sure other members of the community will jump on board soon! I know I'm here for the ride. And remember, being overweight doesn't mean you're not beautiful. I'm sure you're absolutely gorgeous, and are just working so you can get into shape. I'm sure D would be impressed to see you working so hard.

Here's to the long road ahead of us. Let it be filled with challenges that bring us to our knees, and friends to help us back up again.

Cheers,

Fallyn

*eowyn* · September 4, 2013

Thank you so much for the encouragement! Yes, I am going to keep my motivation high; I really think I can do it!

I think it'll be an interesting time

Xena

*eowyn* · September 4, 2013

5. BBWW 4.9.2013

Much better than last time!

Circuits: 2

BW squats: 20 rep. // Diff.: 3 (c1); 6 (c2)
Push ups: 10 rep. // Diff.: 3 (c1); 5 (c2) [knees on the floor]
Lunges: 20 rep. // Diff.: 4 (c1); 6 (c2) [not all the way down -> knee pain prevention]
Dumbbell rows: 10 rep. // Diff.: 2 (c1); 3 (c2)
Planks: 20 sec. // Diff.: 3 (c1); 3 (c2) [knees on the floor]
Jumping Jack's: 30 rep. // Diff.: 3 (c1); 3 (c2)

Mind that:

rep.= repetitions; Diff.= difficulty

Rating system for the difficulty:

1 - Okay, this is wayyyy too easy, I am actually bored
2 - Smooooooth like butter
3 - Yeah, I can do this!
4 - Oh well, it's exercising, oh look, I am sweating o.O
5 - Wooooh, challenging me! Work, work work!
6 - Just one more, only ONE more *let it be over*
7 - Okay THIS is too tough (Can't do exercise)

I took care of having enough sleep and I drank my usual 750 ml water before exercising (haven't done that last time!) and I am currently watching my kcalorie intake because I've got the feeling I haven't been eating enough.

Overall, this workout has a score of 44 (just adding up the numbers!). My best workout was 41, so thats not too bad!

Fallyn · September 4, 2013

Nice job! Just a side note, if you're feeling pain in your knees when doing lunges your form might be a little off. Are you watching to make sure your knee (on your forward leg) doesn't go past the toe on that same leg? That could be whats causing the pain. And don't worry about not have so many repetitions yet, I've been doing this regularly for 6 years now, and those numbers are what I can barley manage.

*eowyn* · September 4, 2013

Thanks

I was having a pain in the knee of the backwards leg when I tried to do the lunges as deep as I can get (getting down until the knee almost touched the floor); I think its just too much weight for getting that far down. I'll take a look at my forward knee position too, maybe something is wrong there Thank you for the advice!

I probably should focus on performing the exercises absolutely correct before switching to 3 circuits, think thats a good plan!

Fallyn · September 5, 2013

Yes, form is always better than numbers. Though I always hate having to wait to up my repetitions.

*eowyn* · September 6, 2013

Yeah, same here Especially the lunges seem to be technically very difficult for me, I have to inform myself a bit about that.

Btw: I did the planks today without knee support

Fallyn · September 6, 2013

Great job. Planks are hard. Yay for ab support!

*eowyn* · September 8, 2013

Okay, so here is my overdue log from friday's workout; it took a bit longer this time because i had a tiring week and I ended up being frustrated and grumpy and just couldn't be bothered.

Well, I used that feeling to set up a crisis plan that I'll post later. Btw: I caried on with my routine, despite feeling crappy (Well done, girl!)

And thanks Fallyn Yeah, I think i've got a good core strenght!

6. BBWW 6.9.2013

Circuits: 2

BW squats: 20 rep. // Diff.: 3 (c1); 6 (c2)
Push ups: 10 rep. // Diff.: 2 (c1); 6 (c2) [knees on the floor]
Lunges: 20 rep. // Diff.: 4 (c1); 5 (c2) [not all the way down -> knee pain prevention]
Dumbbell rows: 15 rep. // Diff.: 3 (c1); 3 (c2)
Planks: 15 sec. // Diff.: 3 (c1); 3 (c2)
Jumping Jack's: 30 rep. // Diff.: 3 (c1); 2 (c2)

Overall score: 43

Mind that:

rep.= repetitions; Diff.= difficulty

Rating system for the difficulty:

1 - Okay, this is wayyyy too easy, I am actually bored

2 - Smooooooth like butter

3 - Yeah, I can do this!

4 - Oh well, it's exercising, oh look, I am sweating o.O

5 - Wooooh, challenging me! Work, work work!

6 - Just one more, only ONE more *let it be over*

7 - Okay THIS is too tough (Can't do exercise)

I chanced some stuff this time:

I finally increased the reps for the dumbbell rows
I *tried* to do one of the push ups without the knee support, was only able to move an inch so I went back to knee support
Watched my lunges (technique) and discovered that I need to improve that. Somehow, doing lunges is a very unusual movement for me
Did the planks without the knees on the floor!

And the overall score improved by 1, so this is a huge success!

Besides this I had two walks in the scottish hinterlands; one on Friday (yep, I went up at 7 am to do strenght training before the walk! I cursed myself later for that), which ended up to be more rock climbing than walking, and one on Saturday, that was actually an easy one. I just had to watch to not been blown away.

I just wanted chocolate. But nooo I stayed strong!

*eowyn* · September 8, 2013

Recap week 2

My goals:

Include vegetables or fruits to every meal (doesn't matter how small it is! Even if its just a bite!)
Exercise 2-3 times a week, one day rest in between
Reduce junk food to three days a week

Vegetables and fruits:

Check! - I'll judge that as a check though I had two meals where I was in college and had something from the cafeteria to eat. I was just eating it without recognising that there were no fruits or vegs! I noticed that as soon as I got home (half an hour later) and literally ran into the kitchen and picked some melon pieces Do you agree with me that this is alright?^^ Does the fact that I ate 3 portions of salad yesterday make up for it (i just loved my salad)? My parents were fine with me eating the healthy bits delayed, I hope you are too.

Exercising:

Check! - Exercised on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, though there was the trip Friday morning. Pain in the arse! But I did it. There is no giving up.

Junk Food:

Check! - Had 4 days without junk food but it was hard on Saturday. First there was the homebaking after the second trip (though there was only one moment that I thought about eating it, easily won that.) and then there was this I'm-frustrated-need-chocolate craving. But with being confronted to share that failure online, paying penalty money and confessing it to my mum and dad (or lying to them, which I am not able to), eating chocolate was a clear no.

I know I've also lost a bit of weight, but how much, I can't tell. My scale is a bit crazy and my floor uneven! It says it's something between one pound and four pounds! O.o Well, as long as I'm losing it... but I'll start tracking my progress using measuring tape, because I am one of those persons that will get in this whole 'weighing all the time and get a nervous break down if gaining a pound'-thing. I am actually planning on banning the scale for the fist challenge! I think its a very good idea.

Overall, I thought a lot about the upcoming challenge; making plans, reading tons of infos about eating healthy, finding paleo recipes (I ordered 'Well Fed'!). I am soooo excited and nervous! What about you guys, will you join the next challenge?

Have a nice day!

*eowyn* · September 9, 2013

Ok, so today! Such a busy day!

I did:

7. BBWW 9.9.2013

Circuits: 2

BW squats: 20 rep.
Push ups: 10 rep. [3 "push ups" without knees on the floor]
Lunges: 20 rep. [not all the way down -> knee pain prevention]
Dumbbell rows: 15 rep.
Planks: 15 sec.
Jumping Jack's: 30 rep.

As you can see, I changed a bit. I skipped the difficulty rating. Though I think that's a very good system to rate your ability at an unknown workout, its lacking its use for me at the moment. I am well capable to do the two circuits, since I had 50% of my ratings with good scores, the difficulty won't be going down that much now. I decided to not increase the circuit until I am perfectly fine with the techniques. So the only thing that I can do to push me further, is to increase the speed. But since this will be varying from exercise to exercise (in order to push me to the max at every single exercise), its not really measurable, so I'll leave my rating system for a new workout or increased circuits.

So this time I took on some speed and for the first time I had a REAL workout feeling with the dumbbell rows! I slowed down a lot at the lunges and watched my technique very closely, I am improving with these but I still hate lunges. Argh! But I will master them. And in addition, I did 3 push up without knee support (well I moved only 2 inches down, but I'll get all the way down in time. I'll get there.) and my goal for next workout is 4 without knee support. Also, 15 sec of planks, even without knee support somehow is much easier than the push ups with knee support! I feel my core musclse a lot more during the push ups... and I took care that my body is straight during the planks. I'll be increasing that to 20 secs as well.

Also, what I did today was to buy a *gasp!* swimsuit! And then went swimming this evening *double gasp!*! Was pretty worn out because of the BBWW earlier today but it was nice anyway. Me and the two girls I went with will make this a weekly thing, so I'll change my BBWW days from Monday, Wednesday and Friday to Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Well that was easy adding some kind of endurance sport

Because this was such a busy day exercise wise (I also walked for two hours around town, there were a lot of things on my to do list), I took a junk food day. I prefer having my junk food days on exercise days because I'd rather burn the junk calories that day and lose only a bit than losing a lot on an exercise day and then gaining a bit because of junk food on a non training day. Too much up and down. I now, we are talking about 10 grams or something, but I like the principle.

How are you guys? Excited about the upcoming challenge? (Yes, I actually have the hope that someone will reply to all this questions eventually. Or two or three people )

Fallyn · September 10, 2013

Three whole push-ups without your knees? Thats fantastic! And such a quick progression too.

*eowyn* · September 10, 2013

Three whole push-ups without your knees? Thats fantastic! And such a quick progression too.

Nooo noooo, not whole ones. I could only get down by two inches Unfortunately, my progress is not that quick But I am pleased anyway! :star:

Fallyn · September 11, 2013

Nooo noooo, not whole ones. I could only get down by two inches Unfortunately, my progress is not that quick But I am pleased anyway!

Still counts! You weren't on your knees so its still progression!

*eowyn* · September 11, 2013

Hahaha :highly_amused: Ok, I'll admit it, it's actual progress

So concerning my workout today:

8. BBWW 11.09.2013

Circuits: 2

BW squats: 20 rep.
Push ups: 10 rep. [4 "push ups" without knees on the floor]
Lunges: 20 rep.
Dumbbell rows: 15 rep.
Planks: 20 sec.
Jumping Jack's: 30 rep.

I noticed that I improved compared to the last workout, so it was the right decision to go for speed. I pushed myself to the limit this time, luckily I had a good workout playlist :listening_headphone Especially during the push ups and lunges I noticed improvements, I came much further down during the push ups (not to mention I increased my 'unsupported' push ups to 4 ) and did them much faster. Even my arch enemy, the lunges, were much easier and faster (still monitoring my technique). Though still much slower than the other exercises. I did 20 sec of full body planks instead of 15 and it was challenging After the last set of Jumping Jacks, I was exhausted. Do you know that feeling when you've done so much, that your abs 'hurt' a bit during breathing? THAT exhausted. :bi_polo:

I hope DOMS won't strike too hard tomorrow. After my hardcore day on Monday, I had so much DOMS... :torn:

Regarding food:

Today, I did one of my junk food days, though junk food was 'only' a small pizza for lunch. But I am fine with that Have to think about how to use my junk food days next week because a friend of mine wants to do a wine and cheese dinner with me.... *drool* oooh, that will be awesome! :abnormal:

Have a nice day!

Fallyn · September 11, 2013

Your rivalry with lunges greatly amuses me. Mostly because I remember being the same, and still am to some degree

Sign In

This Battle Log belongs to xena

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Link to comment

Join the conversation

Important Information