Hurley's Battle log

[RedPandaOne]

Battle Log: Day 1

 

I wasn't expecting to be posting my battle log yet since I just signed up for the challenge this morning and have been at work ever since. However, my Life Quest is happening much faster than anticipated. My neighbor/realtor called me roughly an hour ago and we started talking about the types of places I was interested in buying.

 

She's got my budget for house and down payment and what I am looking for in a house/condo/townhouse. Yes, all three since I'm not entirely sure what I want. I'm looking at condo/townhouses mostly because I don't want to do yard work and shovel snow. But, to save money in the long run and not pay HOA fees I'm willing to take a look at houses and just suck it up and do yard work. If it's a cute house that I love, I'll do it.

 

So yea, moving a lot faster than I thought. I had my eye on a condo unit that is still in the pre-stages of being built so I figured I would be buying one of those in a year or so when they are done, but it sounds like even the cheap housing there may be out of my budget. I'm nervous, but excited. I can't wait to move out of my parents house, and at 27 (28 in 8 days), I think it's time.

[RedPandaOne]

April 14:

30 mintues of cardio on the elliptical

Crossramp setting = 5%

Resistance setting = 5-10% depending on where I was in the workout. I hovered around 5 mostly.

 

Tried doing the lower body portion of the BBWW but only made it through 10 squats. My legs were killing me from the elliptical and I could tell I wasn't doing the squats properly. Gave up and decided to attempt another day.

[RedPandaOne]

April 16:

30 minutes of cardio

Crossramp setting = 6%

Resistance setting = 1 - 8%. Hovered around 5.

 

My legs don't feel like jello today. I think I can start the BBWW on Saturday.

[RedPandaOne]

April 19:

30 minutes cardio on elliptical

Crossramp = 6

Resistance = 1 - 8% hovered around 6

[RedPandaOne]

April 23:

 

30 minutes on the elliptical

Crossramp set at 6% and resistance hovered around 8%

[RedPandaOne]

So, even though I posted in the respawn forum that I will be working out and tracking food in this thing, I haven't done either. It's very hard to eat and sleep (and then workout) when you've cut your gums and in pain. Late last week I put my retainers in one night and at some point it ended up cutting my lower gums on the inside. I was fine without them in, but my tooth is on the move again, and I really don't want to get a third retainer. So I've worn it. Each time I've been in more pain - when I put it in and then after I take it out. There's a small time frame during the time it's time when it doesn't hurt, but I need to wait an hour or more before that happens. Yesterday I had lunch/dinner and it started to hurt when I was eating. I thought maybe it was just the food and when I got home I did a salt water rinse. But this morning the same thing happened again. Brushed my teeth, did another rinse and then called the dentist. I have an appointment this afternoon to get it checked out. The area around the cut is white. Not sure if it's suppose to be that color. I didn't wear my retainers last night, so while I finally got some pain free sleep, I also didn't get up this morning and go to the gym.

[RedPandaOne]

I am now on pretty much soft foods until my mouth heels itself. Nothing hard and nothing flaky, pretty much nothing that can cut me again. My dentist also shaved my retainer down a little so it's no longer sitting directly on the gums (once the swelling goes down). So, yay! Now I can finally get some pain free sleep.

[RedPandaOne]

Breakfast this morning was a hard boiled egg and a lightly toasted plain english muffin with peanut butter. My lovely raisin bran is off the list until my mouth heals.

 

I packed chicken salad for lunch because I think it will be soft enough. It's just really high in calories and fat since it's store bought and not homemade. I really want a mocha coolata for lunch. But I will not.

[RedPandaOne]

No coolatta today, but a potential vendor came in with cupcakes. I had a moon pie one. And no, I don't really regret it.

[RedPandaOne]

Tried eating my raisin bran this morning and did what a co-worker suggested: just let it sit in the milk until it got soggy and soft. Still hurt to eat So, back to something else tomorrow.

 

I can tell I'm still just exhausted. Usually I shower at night because it's just easier. But I wasn't able to last night. So I set my alarm to 6 to get up a shower. Typically I wake up as soon as the alarm goes off. Not this morning. It has been going off for a full minute before I even woke up. Oops. I need to get out of the rut so I can get back to the gym!! But no energy = no gym. I will get back. I have a Hawaii vacation I need to get fit for (it's 14 months away, I can do it!)

[RedPandaOne]

Frozen waffles with some butter this morning for breakfast (toasted of course so it was no longer frozen). Lunch will be some homemade cinnamon rolls my mom is currently finishing. It's my turn to bring in Thursday breakfast for the office, and there would be a riot if I didn't bring those in. Dinner, not sure yet. Last night it was mac'n'cheese and some grapes.

 

The good news is the swelling in my mouth is going down! Yay!! Now that damn cut just needs to heal.

[RedPandaOne]

I'm bored at work and having a very hard time not walking back to the kitchen and grabbing another cinnamon roll...

[RedPandaOne]

I am too embarrassed to state what I had for dinner last night. Let's just say my entire day consisted of carbs and fat. And dinner was totally comfort food because I broke down in front of both my manager and supervisor.

 

Breakfast was raisin bran this morning, and it didn't hurt to eat it!!!!

 

Today also starts me eating only 1400 calories a day.

[Tombo of Endor]

Good morning, Hurley --  hey its Friday!  That's a WIN!  And it very much sounds like you could USE a Win, eh?  So without going all Galaxy Quest on you ("Never give up!  Never surrender!"), let me just say ... I read your posts here, and I even went and read your blog "Girl Trying to Get Healthy."  Yup (Tombo looks over her glasses at the imaginary ledger) you *definitely* need a Win.

 

Alas, I have only these words:  Where you are today is not necessarily where you will be tomorrow, or next week, or five years from now.  First intention, then small changes ... then momentum ... big changes ... etc. 

 

I weighed about 215 lbs when I was 14 ... 155 or so when I was 16 ... Then back up over 200 in my 30s until 1998 when, at 190, I decided that I'd had enough of the yo-yo.  I lost about 10 punds in a year and then NOTHING for two years, riding a stationery bike in my basement weekly if not daily.  Then suddenly, the scale started to move and it kept going down, to about 160.  BUT the *big* change in my life was not "just" weight, but all the self-education it took to understand how to change my metabolism and work "with" my age.  I'm STILL learning!

 

Your life is worth it.  YOU are worth it: a lifetime of learning what works for you.  I heard that spirit in your blog:  very self-assertively taking issues with the medical establishment.  That's battle log worthy! 

 

As Coach Marty Gallagher would say:  Wrap it in duct tape and get back out there.  (I'd wrap the hole in my jaw where two weeks ago a molar used to be with duct tape, but, I wouldn't be able to talk too well.) 

 

--Tombo (trying to make common cause, having been a girl trying toget healthy for most of her life)

[RedPandaOne]

You have no idea how much I need a WIN right now!

 

I just want to say thank you for your kind words and sharing your story. I actually read your post shortly after you posted it, but it made me cry it touched me so much, so I had to step away. Hell, I just started again just typing that. Ugh. Depression sucks (not officially diagnosed, but just started working with someone to see).

 

I also want to say thank you for reading my blog, and I'm sorry about all the typos in it! I re-read some posts and go "what the hell?" but yet, I never go back and fix them, lol.

[Tombo of Endor]

Thank YOU for replying!  Gosh -- that made my day!    You know ... I'm not a Dr but I wondered to myself as I thought about your Log post, "Hmmmm, Self, could this young lady be ... depressed?"  But see!  YOU are already on it.  The FIRST step on the road to any kind of recovery (depression, weight management, etc.) is that tipping point where you face what you perceive as "change-needful"; and ... you summon your courage and you step TOWARD that challenge.  There's a t-shirt slogan among powerlifters & c. that says, "The hardest lift is your behind off the couch."  That first step!   The barbell is a metaphor -- I do alternate arm overhead presses with a 30# dumbell: my in-breath is "Because I ..." and my out breath is "CAAAAAN!"  That's why I love free weights, kettlebells.  Every rep is that primordial contest between me and "Mean Ole Mr. Gravity."  Your life ain't gonna get lived by anybody else.    Every challenge is a rep.  Lift heavy -- die strong!  (And: a very long time from now.)

 

There's a line from Shakespeare's Henry V where Hank is addressing the English archers.  He says that they are like greyhounds straining at the gate ... they really want to get out there and do battle.  That's the vibe I'm getting from you.  Your first post here was about getting a home of your own.  You've got goals.  I have no doubt you'll achieve them!

 

Typos?  Really?  I quite honestly never saw them ... I was reading what you wrote from your heart.   

 

Have a great weekend!  --Tombo

 

PS  When I was 35 I had to move back in with my parents for about a year (divorce, relocation, job transition, etc.)  So your first post in your Battle Log here really resonated with me.  Bon courage!

[RedPandaOne]

Glad I could make your day

 

You've been really encouraging. And I do deeply appreciate that.

 

I do have goals. I put my house hunting on hold. I decided that finding a new job was more important. Now I'm just wrestling with the idea of waiting until I have a new one lined up or just give my two weeks on Monday. I need to meet with my manager and supervisor on Monday to come up with an action plan for getting myself out of my current rut at work, and all I can think of is quitting. But, right now, the only thing stopping me is health care. Since I just started with the therapist, and I have a doctors appointment set up with a brand new doctor in mid July, I'm tempted to stay through the month just to see how things go so I don't have to get new insurance and then find out that neither of these places takes what I have. Gah, decisions! Because if I quit, I'm switching companies. I don't like Tufts and want to go back to Blue Cross.

 

And I'm hoping you're having an excellent weekend as well! Today's weather was gorgeous, even though I spent it inside having a nice Caturday: morning was spent with the cat I'm currently sitting, and then the afternoon was spent with my two. Tomorrow is going to be a complete wash out. Maybe I'll hit Jurassic World again before whatever we are doing for Fathers Day.

[Tombo of Endor]

Hi Hurley!  Well ... heh ... my Challenge Week 2 was QUITE a challenge.  I would say that it was Challenge challenged.    Lots of health issues among my family ... Father's Day on the horizon, and me with no Dads left .  (Happily the neighbors to north and south are Dads so I get to wish THEM Happy Fathers Day.)

 

I have two cats too!  One I call Sensei Tora because he's usually my basement workout spotter, except when I'm swinging kettlebells.  THEN I carry him upstairs and he gets to sit in the kitchen and scratch at the door.  Otherwise he's where I don't need him to be.

 

At some point today I want to establish a Battle Log of my own, because I think that will be more beneficial than persisting with a Challenge schedule.  I'm still mulling it over.  Saturday morning I went for a walk/run (2 miles) to start conditioning my right ilio-tibial band for more running, then did a "usual" HITesque (min. rest between sets + movement-to-last rep) workout in the afternoon. 

 

Best of luck with the work situation!  We just had our annual evaluations where I work (in the library profession). 

 

PS  I'm Following your Battle Log.  Bon courage!  --Tombo

[RedPandaOne]

Yay, a follower!

 

I'm sorry Week 2 was such a challenge with the family health issues. I hope everyone is okay.

 

My cats have learned to avoid most of my home workouts. I think they got hit by the hula hoop one too many times. Though they still sit on the stairs and stare/meow at me when I'm on the treadmill. Bodyweight stuff they are usually right there trying to help. I think they are just excited I'm doing my routine at home and not at the gym. Which reminds me, I need to get to the pet store to buy some catnip or something. I tried making a ball out of a empty TP roll for their birthday yesterday. In concept it was a good idea. But as soon as the boy picked it up and batted it, the whole thing fell apart.

 

The weekend eating was, eh. At this point I can't even remember what I had. Yesterday was so so. Breakfast was raisin bran (I can finally eat it again!!!), lunch was pp&j on one slice of wheat bread, some mexican style tortilla chips (about 9 once you piece together all the small broken ones), and some water. I was going to have some International Delight Chai Tea Latte, but I had some k-cup chai tea latte at work already so I skipped it and had water instead. I need to seriously cut back on that stuff. And dinner was at a local seafood joint. Tuna salad on a hamburger roll, about half the french fries they gave me, and one of my two weekly allotted sodas.

 

I had wanted to get up this morning and hula hoop, but I made the mistake of having the soda (caffeine) at dinner last night, and then had to go sit with the cat. Between the soccer game and Doctor Who on Disney, I didn't get back home until 11pm. And then I wasn't even tired. Sleep is more important. I'm not going to get only 5 hours of sleep just so I can get up early to exercise. So, tonight I'm going to try to get back early so I can hit the gym tomorrow. I need to get back, it's been far too long.

 

Oh, and I still have a job. Didn't quit... yet. Meeting didn't go as I hoped, but wasn't absolutely horrible.

[karinajean]

hello friend!

now that I'm back from my trip I am excited to see you posty mcpostsalot over here in your battle log space.

<3<3<3

[RedPandaOne]

Hello!!!

 

Yea, decided to give this thread a little love. And apparently it also turned to the place to post when I'm bored instead of Facebook/Twitter, lol.

[RedPandaOne]

Ha! Case in point. Got a meeting maker to meet again with my manager and supervisor on July 30th. I go to comic con for three days on the 31st. And if history repeats itself, I will either leave the meeting crying or upset/angry. And if I leave crying, it takes me at least a day to get over it. And then, of course after the meeting I then have to sit down with the team and go over an coverage I may need that one day I am out. So, hopefully no crying because I don't want to show up to that meeting all blotchy faced.

 

I will not let it ruin my weekend. Hell, I'm meeting Stan Lee, Hayley Atwell, and Billie Piper. It is going to be an awesome weekend!!!

[Tombo of Endor]

Hi Hurley!  I am "on break" from working on a manuscript (I do Medieval calligraphy) and thought I'd see what's on here at NF.  And ... I have a Battle Log of my own.  But I have to get back to work now.  Btw, my sleep was interrupted at 1:15am this morning with the neighbors coming over to "party" in our basement until the Tornado Warning was lifted

[RedPandaOne]

Medieval calligraphy? You don't hear about that often. I am intrigued. What got you into that?

 

And that sucks about your sleep being interrupted. Hope no tornadoes came near you. We ended up being under a warning last night. Creepy thing. We hardly get them in the North East, so it was a little terrifying. I think not knowing where the cats were hiding scared me the most, because I am that person who will go seek them out and bring them to where we need to be.

 

Food yesterday was okay:

Raisin Bran

K-cup chai latte

Ham and cheese sandwich (2 slices of ham, 1 slice of kraft cheese, 1 slice of wheat bread)

1 small bag of peanut m&ms. (not very proud of that)

1 glass of milk

foiled stew (small hamburg patty, sweet peppers, corn, peas, carrots, onion... there may have been something else in there. My mom got crazy with the vegetables this time).

 

And guess what!?!?!?! I got to the gym this morning!!! Did about a 40 minute work out: 25 minute strength training, about 15 on the elliptical doing intervals.

 

I also almost broke down in the locker room when I ran into my trainer. She mentioned that she had noticed I hadn't been around for awhile and asked if everything was okay. I teared up and said no, but I was working on it. Told her the abbreviated story. And I remembered why I love her. She was like "it's only a job, it's not who you are. Work on what you can control. The gym is a positive place for you. And have a great day!!" I miss working out with her. Wish it wasn't so expensive. Oh well.

 

Now off to get some work done.

[Tombo of Endor]

Hi Hurley!  I just COMPLETELY erased the my reply to you.    Unfamiliar computer with unfriendly keyboard here at work.  Bottom line: CONGRATULATIONS on getting back to the gym -- I sorely miss mine (gym).  I have to com[ensate with what I have in my basement.  And!  I seean  Assassins Ambassador is "in da house." 

 

See if this resonates with you:

 

http://www.your-brain-at-work.com/files/NLJ_SCARFUS.pdf

 

When folks don't have even some control over their cirumstances, as at work ... it's hugely stressful.