JessFit gets smarter, better, faster, and stronger

[JessFit]

Hello my fellow rebels! Yes my title is inspired my by the song with similar lyrics. Some days that song is what gets me through a hard lift.

I started a challenge previously but due to a loss in my family I had to back out fairly early on. However this time I am sticking to it! I have been posting on the forums for a few months and have really come to love the support and energy that I see every day and so I am so excited to really start this challenge!

I have a variety of fitness goals, some of which make other goals harder (I’m simultaneously working on running and lifting) so I wasn’t sure how to approach this challenge. However with a very hectic summer behind me and some sickness, and then finally some down time I’ve gotten far too comfortable in my sweatpants on my couch. That being the case my main goal is to get back into being a scheduled person. I usually have a very well planned schedule for my life and I stick to it, but lately I haven’t been. Having some downtime has made me lazy. It is like the more time I have the less I want to do, but I function better and am happier when I have and stick to a schedule so my mini-goals follow that.

Goal 1: Lift 2x a week, with progressions, plus a bonus for a third lifting session in a week. And by bonus I mean chocolate… Up until a month ago I was going to the gym 3x a week like a good lifter ought to, then I started to slip, and got sick, and got distracted, and got lazy, and made excuses, and all these “ands†have left me frustrated. New Rule: 2x a week you do not go home without having been to the gym first!

Goal 2: I started C25K, ran my tushy off for a few weeks, and then this slump hit. Maybe I did need the time off, I was rather burned out from school, my internship, work, and really pushing lifting on top of trying to learn to run. I accept that it happens, but I’m not ok with being so sedentary. I want to run at least 2x a week as well. This gives me 3 recovery days with the lifting, plus I can again give myself bonus for additional runs. In this case my bonus is carbs, empty wonderful carbs!

Goal 3: Cooking dinner at least 2x a week for myself. I am not trying to drop weight, so this isn’t remotely for weight loss reasons. I’m the only one in my house that eats even a little bit healthy and I do really well all day until dinner, because at dinner I’m either eating with someone who considers cooking to be making frozen pizza or instant white rice and who doesn’t eat vegetables at all, or I’m eating alone and don’t want to spend the time cooking just for me so I do takeout. Financially and health wise this is dumb. A dinner of white rice and nothing else is unsatisfying and I feel the difference when I work out as opposed to when I eat well, and take out 4-7 days a week is way too expensive. Thus I want to cook at least 2 evenings a week. Small and healthy meals so I don’t have to contend with tons of leftovers that I can’t eat fast enough.

Life Goal: To not transfer any money out of my savings account. I budget monthly, I transfer the extra into savings, and then something comes up like an outing with the girls, a craving for a certain meal, or something that would be a perfect gift for someone and I transfer money out of savings for it. I’m pretty smart with my money but I want to be smarter, a lot smarter. Thus six weeks of no transfers out of savings.

I want to get back on track to living healthy, lifting heavy, and leveling up my life. That is my motivation, to live a happy, healthy, hopeful life and to do things every day that make me smarter, better, faster, and stronger
 

Progressing through lifts and doing harder and harder runs is going to take a lot out of me again, and coming home exhausted and then having to make dinner for myself on top of it is going to be a challenge, but those are the goals and I’m hoping that with the awesome support of this great community I can manage it! Thanks all!

 

Photos and measurements will come later in the week.

 

[Jittersthe.Clown]

Good luck out there.  And I want you to know that because of your thread, Daft Punk and Deadmau5 are now playing on my speakers at work.  And there's dancing...   

[JessFit]

Dancing makes everything better, way way better!

[Jittersthe.Clown]

I would agree.  HR says it's disruptive and I should contain it to my breaks.  I say HR needs to get up and dance more.  

I forgot to mention that I love your life goal.  I think next go-round I am going to have to add that.

[JessFit]

Thanks, yeah. I think that will help with my "fewer takeout meals" thing too. Saturday I was running errands to I got a salad to go for dinner. Despite that I had all the salad fixings at home. I was so sad when I realized that I had just spent $7 on something I had already spent $5 the only difference being that the $5 I have to put together myself although it gets me a lot more salad

[Jittersthe.Clown]

Thanks, yeah. I think that will help with my "fewer takeout meals" thing too. Saturday I was running errands to I got a salad to go for dinner. Despite that I had all the salad fixings at home. I was so sad when I realized that I had just spent $7 on something I had already spent $5 the only difference being that the $5 I have to put together myself although it gets me a lot more salad

And a way to personalize it.  I am never happy with the dressing options.  I mix a ranch with a western at home.  My son say's it's weird, but my daughter eats it up.  My wife is up in the air about it...  

You'll do great with this.  Kick some butt!

[quiktekk]

You got this!

[Tateman]

Good luck this challenge.  I think you have a good set of goals to get you back in that gym

[Batwoman]

Diet is tough when you surrounded by bad decisions or easy unhealthy meals. I wish you the best of luck. Just try to be Captain America. If you can show all those people around you that your healthy diet is really making you feel better and slimming you down then hopefully they will hop on board your awesome train to Fitnessville (I am aware of how lame I sound).

 

I find that using a day to cook all my food and portioning it out for dinners is what really helps me. You have a limited amount of willpower. The last thing I want to do after a long day of work then exercise is have to spend an hour cooking healthy food. So I have stuff ready to heat up in 5 mins for the week. It is fantastic.

[JessFit]

Diet is tough when you surrounded by bad decisions or easy unhealthy meals. I wish you the best of luck. Just try to be Captain America. If you can show all those people around you that your healthy diet is really making you feel better and slimming you down then hopefully they will hop on board your awesome train to Fitnessville (I am aware of how lame I sound).

 

I find that using a day to cook all my food and portioning it out for dinners is what really helps me. You have a limited amount of willpower. The last thing I want to do after a long day of work then exercise is have to spend an hour cooking healthy food. So I have stuff ready to heat up in 5 mins for the week. It is fantastic.

Hahaha batwoman, my mother has been saying "that's icky" to 90% of food out there her whole life. 50+ years later she won't even try anything new. So I don't have much hope.

 

And yes, I typically do a lot of cooking on Sunday, but like I said, I've just been all over the palce the last month and my schedule has fallen apart, and that includes my cooking so I've got to get back into it.

[JessFit]

   A few days into week one and I’m pretty OK with how the week has been going!

 

Monday I lifted, woohoo! I don’t normally lift on Monday but I’m going out of town this weekend and my schedule is a little all over the place so I did what I had to do.

Squat:

            2x5x45

            1x5x75

            1x5x105

            3x5x125

 

Bench:

            2x5x45

            1x5x50

            3x5x60

           

Deadlift:

            2x5x75

            1x5x105

            1x5x125

 

Plus I made myself dinner on Monday! A steak, yum, except I’m reading A Feast For Crows (the 4^th book in the Game of Thrones/Song of Ice and Fire Series) and I was reading and not paying attention so the steak was a little better done than I like it. I’m super excited because I managed 1 of my 2 lifting sessions and 1 of my 2 making-myself dinners in the first day!

 

Tuesday was supposed to be a running day but my grandma wanted me to go with her to Zumba. She’s in her 70s, wore spandex, and shook her tush. My grandma rocks. However this meant that I left the house at 5:45am and got home at 8:30 pm. There was not going to be a run at that point. I also wasn’t home to cook dinner so yeah. Since I will be out of town this weekend I’m not sure I’ll get both runs in, but haw can you say “no†to grandma?

 

Wednesday: Sitting at my desk with a protein shake and yogurt and I realize that I forgot to take beginning photos and measurements yesterday. Grrr! I will have to do that today. Today I also did a lot of (online) Christmas shopping and got a jump start on dinner so I feel super productive and it is only 8:30am!  Ok, by getting s jump-start on dinner I mean that I pulled a freezer-bag of sauce that I made a month or so ago out of the freezer to defrost so tonight when I get home all I have to do is make some whole-wheat pasta. The sauce already has meat in it, and since I’ll be running today I’m totally ok with a carb heavy meal. I’ve been following C25K’s interval running plan, because I’m a terrible runner, and tonight I’m stepping it up to the next level and will probably hate myself. I’m not looking forward to it but the only way to get better is to do harder stuff, right?

  

[Batwoman]

You can do it! Every day is a battle, but give it your best!

 

Your Grandma sounds outstanding. At least Zumba is still exercise, right?

[JessFit]

Thanks, I really hate running, but I really love dancing. So making the swap of a run for Zumba is something I was only too happy to do, but running is in my challenge because I need to run as part of a fitness test for a potential job and I don't want to do it! So I stuck it in there to guilt myself into it. My grandma is pretty awsome, I got super lucky, and thanks for the encouragement, it's really appreciated.

[Batwoman]

No problem:)

 

Are you going into some sort of Law Enforcement as a career? That's the only thing I can think of outside of professional athlete that would involve a cardio-test.

[JessFit]

I'm currently in law as a career and taking a police exam this winter. Not sure if I want to really go into that, but it can't hurt to take the tests. My aunt is a cop and is pushing it so I'll give it my best shot.

[Phatkid]

First Timer here too!

 

Your life goal is awesome! I wish I had the discipline to do that...Although there would have to be money left over to begin with LoL...

 

Congrats on your success so far..sounds like your starting off on the right foot...You absolutely cannot say no to a Grandma..it's written in the Grandkid handbook...true story...

 

I JUST finished A Dance with Dragons..how are you liking AFFC?

 

That that that which don't kill me...can only make me stroger...Thanks that btw...not even a fan of Kanye LOL

[JessFit]

I JUST finished A Dance with Dragons..how are you liking AFFC?

 

That that that which don't kill me...can only make me stroger...Thanks that btw...not even a fan of Kanye LOL

Here's the thing, the first book I was bored with for the first 400 pages, too much scene setting up (I have a lit degree so I really get into the nitty gritty) but then I was like, ok, I can get into this. Then Martin goes and kills people, the people I like, or does something else that has me hating his guts and the books as well and wondering why I'm even going to finish. But in a couple days I end up going back to the book and finishing it because good kids finish their books, and then I buy the next one. And I still can't decide if I hate this series because Martin is twisted and mean, or if I love this series because Martin is a creative genius. I'm not really into the whole violence and vengance and backstabbing thing most of the time but he is a good writer, and madness and genuis are two sides of the same coin, which leads me to say that I'm completly addicted to the books, but totally on the fence about if I like them or not!

 

And yeah, I'm regretting my own choice of challenge thread title, because I'm on day 3 straight of singing these songs, both Kanye and Daft Punk

[Batwoman]

I'm currently in law as a career and taking a police exam this winter. Not sure if I want to really go into that, but it can't hurt to take the tests. My aunt is a cop and is pushing it so I'll give it my best shot.

 

In Bat terms, you could be like Commissioner Gordon and that's awesome! (mustache not included)

[Phatkid]

Here's the thing, the first book I was bored with for the first 400 pages, too much scene setting up (I have a lit degree so I really get into the nitty gritty) but then I was like, ok, I can get into this. Then Martin goes and kills people, the people I like, or does something else that has me hating his guts and the books as well and wondering why I'm even going to finish. But in a couple days I end up going back to the book and finishing it because good kids finish their books, and then I buy the next one. And I still can't decide if I hate this series because Martin is twisted and mean, or if I love this series because Martin is a creative genius. I'm not really into the whole violence and vengance and backstabbing thing most of the time but he is a good writer, and madness and genuis are two sides of the same coin, which leads me to say that I'm completly addicted to the books, but totally on the fence about if I like them or not!

 

And yeah, I'm regretting my own choice of challenge thread title, because I'm on day 3 straight of singing these songs, both Kanye and Daft Punk

 

You'll have to let me know how you like ADwD....I don't want to say anything because I don't want to influence...I'm curious if people think the same as I do...I've googled my thoughts and there are quite a few who think like me...

 

Are you a Fantasy junkie? Or just picked up that series out of the blue? If so..what other series have you read?

[JessFit]

 

Are you a Fantasy junkie? Or just picked up that series out of the blue? If so..what other series have you read?

 

I picked it up because it was reccomended by awsome people! Haha I'm not a total fantasty junkie, I'm pretty well rounded in my book choices: history, fantasy, mystery, sci-fi, non fiction, literature, even the occasional romance novel. One of my favorite books for years has been Enders Game (more Sci-fi than fantasty), I've read some of his other stuff too. I Love the original 3 books of the dragonlance chronicles. I also quite enjoy Tolkien, but then who doesn't?

 

What about you?

[Jake1989]

Great goals!

 

I find that there's NO WAY i can do anything once I get home. I work long hours, and often not home until 9:00pm. I've figured out that it's easier for me to eat while I'm at work or out rather than cook when I get home... as soon as I see that couch or bed, I'm down for the count. I simply cooks loads and loads of food on Sunday that lasts me for most of the week and bring it with me throughout the day. Maybe that will work for you?

[JessFit]

Great goals!

 

I find that there's NO WAY i can do anything once I get home. I work long hours, and often not home until 9:00pm. I've figured out that it's easier for me to eat while I'm at work or out rather than cook when I get home... as soon as I see that couch or bed, I'm down for the count. I simply cooks loads and loads of food on Sunday that lasts me for most of the week and bring it with me throughout the day. Maybe that will work for you?

Thanks Jake, that is what I try to do. It hasn't been happening of late. I start work at 6-ish in the morning and when I get home at 6pm I really don't want to wait any longer for dinner. Also, I'm honestly weird about leftovers, some things I just don't want reheated (cooked veggies, brown rice, ect) so I do have to do some cooking. I'm trying to find a happy place, where the hard stuff is done in advance

[JessFit]

Wednesday:   Kind of a failure, I didn't eat the pasta I had planed, my mom wanted something else for dinner so we did cook a chicken based meal. So I give myself points for cooking, there is my 2x making dinner a week. However it was pouring and lightninging (is that a word? Anybody?) so I didn't get a run in. I'm going to get 0 runs in this weekend unless it is super clear tonight and I'm feeling up to running after I lift. I'm going to be blunt and say it isn't very likely.

 

However I made salted carmel rice krispy treats with the recipe I found on the Live Big Eat Big website last night. They're AMAZING! Not healthy, but then the theory behind Live Big Eat Big sin't your usual workout buff's theory. And Since my doctor thinks I need more body fat on me and I'm going to see her in a week I figured this can't hurt. Plus they're SUPER YUMMY!

[Jittersthe.Clown]

Keep at it, Jess.  You've got this.  The lightning would have kept me indoors too.  I just got this mornings' fog and puddles...  

If I may be so bold as to suggest waking up early and running?  It wakes me up and keeps a smile on my face when I do.  Might help.  

[JessFit]

If I may be so bold as to suggest waking up early and running?  It wakes me up and keeps a smile on my face when I do.  Might help.  

 I start work at 6am... I already get up at 4:30. I'm really not a morning person, so this is super hard for me as is. I'm not sure getting up any earlier, or running in the dark, are really options for me. Thanks though. I think once my schedule shifts a little bit and I'm only working one job again I would want to start running and lifting in the morning