cn3wton, Battle log of Ages

[cn3wton]

Welding class last night flew by. We where MIG welding. Basically you have a gun that feeds out a metal filament that uses electricty to melt itself in place and form the weld. It was pretty cool. I am picking this stuff up very quick and generally long done with most of the welds before anyone else. We started by making T's out of two plates of metal. I finished all the welds on those really quick. So I welded all my T's together into some monstrosity. Once I was done with that the instructor gave me bigger pieces of stock and told me to use the 4 to make an X and weld it together. Once that was done he showed me how to layer in the weld to fill one side of the x. I went to work and really felt like I was starting to get how it worked. Rode home and chatted with my Dad. He had an appointment near the place so my mom took me to the class to ride home with him. We usually all ride together. Its nice because after driving 3 hours I don't really want to drive 2-3 more on mondays. She ended up going to do her own thing and got home later than we did!

 

When I got home I forgot that a lot of my stuff was not in the house in preparation of the re appraisal of the house today. I was exhausted and didnt want to go into the other house to get my towels so I said I would jsut shower in the morning. Washed my face and went to bed. This was a mistake. Even though must of the fumes are sucked out with the ventilation while welding it still gets to me. The hot shower not only clears the crap off but also helps me get it out of my sinuses. I didnt even use some of the nasal spray to help I was so exhausted. So sure enough I woke up today with a stuffy nose and a headache. I went in a bit later to work because of it.

 

My parents are meeting with the Appraiser and he has promised to rush the re appraisal through. So hopefully this house sale stuff will be dealt with by the end of the week!

[RES]

On 3/16/2021 at 9:27 AM, cn3wton said:

 

Yea. My mom offerred to stop and get me some supplements today which I did not object to. I don't know if I will notice any difference but it can't hurt right?

Makes a huge difference for me! I can tell when I'm not taking mine.

[cn3wton]

My appointments with the specialists are all scheduled. I am looking at some serious medical bills. I can firmly say that this will be my last year on a high deductible plan. Its saved me some money in the past, but I am looking at forking out some serious cash for these procedures. I am certain the 1500 card that I get through work will be drained immediately. Probably from the first one. But I need to take care of myself. This is stuff I have put off for far too long. I am fortunate that I have the money to pay for it. 

 

I am looking forward to the next challenge. I haven't seen much weight loss this challenge. I havent even jumped on the scale. But this challenge was all about setting up a routine and following it. I would say I have had 75%-80% which is above what was required for the challenge and I am happy with that. The most important thing was that if I slipped a day I jumped right back into it. I structured this challenge to not only challenge me but allow me to grow in that way. I have to meet the goals I set, but nothing over until the week is done.

 

I will be working on the shop floor again today so I am sure to get a good sweat on.

[Shello]

Great news on the house progress!  Sounds like that will be completely resolved.  It seems like a pain to go without a fridge but a lot less inconvenient than going without walls!  

[cn3wton]

On 3/18/2021 at 9:56 AM, Shello said:

Great news on the house progress!  Sounds like that will be completely resolved.  It seems like a pain to go without a fridge but a lot less inconvenient than going without walls!  

Aint that the truth!

 

 

[cn3wton]

I am currently waiting on the banks underwriters for this house sale. I cannot wait to be done with that.

 

Some medical issues have been flaring up, impacting the end of this last challenge but I go into more detail about that in the challenge. I have pushed all of this stuff off for too long. I am glad I am pursuing it. I am happy to have a family that is supporting and pushing me to do it as well. And to work for a company that is understanding of the time I need to deal with it.

 

I finished my welding class and have a shiny new certificate for completing the introductory course! I truly feel like I exceled during the course and learned a ton. I am excited to do projects on my own. I proposed that my dad and I should pick a night where we get together and work on projects to keep the spirit of the classes alive. It will be nice to do it and spend time with him.

 

[TrashcanCarla]

On 3/16/2021 at 6:33 AM, cn3wton said:

Welding class last night flew by. We where MIG welding. Basically you have a gun that feeds out a metal filament that uses electricty to melt itself in place and form the weld. It was pretty cool. I am picking this stuff up very quick and generally long done with most of the welds before anyone else.end of the week!

This sounds like so much fun! Awesome that you have an affinity for welding.

[cn3wton]

Hello everyone!

 

Its been a crazy time recently but wanted to give  a general idea over here before jumping in and finalizing my challenge even though its a bit of a late start.

 

Most of my initial medical appointments are done. I went to an ENT for my dizziness/vertigo and frequent sinus issues. He believes that Allergies are indeed the likely cause. I am on a course of safer meds (things he says I can take my whole life and not experience horrible side effects from). If after 2 weeks or so things aren't getting better I will have to get a CAT scan of my sinuses. Here's hoping it doesn't come to that.

 

I had an upper endoscopy this past Monday. The procedure went well and my stomach is healthy which is great. However the bottom of my esophagus does have some inflammation. This could just be irritation from the acid reflux. Or it could be a pre cancerous condition called Barrett's. Which is not as bad as it sounds tons of people have it and live with it. It would mean new medicine and yearly endoscopies though. Here's hoping the biopsy comes back clear.

 

I have my first psych appointment on the 20th. I am looking forward to it and finding some real answers there.

 

So while the medical stuff may not necessarily have given me all concrete answers quite yet, I am relieved to be on the path to finding answers.

 

I close on my grandmothers house this Friday. Meaning that stress will be off my mind and I will officially be a homeowner!

 

I think thats it for now, off to update my challenge page and get that rolling!

[Shello]

Good news on the house!   And good progress on the medical issues.  

[DarK_RaideR]

22 hours ago, cn3wton said:

called Barrett's. Which is not as bad as it sounds

(Somehow, my mind went to FF7's Barret before wrestling's Wade Barret or the sniper rifle)

[cn3wton]

On 4/9/2021 at 8:05 AM, DarK_RaideR said:

(Somehow, my mind went to FF7's Barret before wrestling's Wade Barret or the sniper rifle)

 

haha right?

[cn3wton]

So my friend who is heavier than I am is once again attempting to lose weight. He is my business partner and I am his sons godson. 

 

This is not the first time we went down this road. But today I kind of told him that if this is going to work we need to do certain things.

 

We need to actually hold each other accountable. We need to take this seriously. We need to push eachother every damn day and stick with it. We need to realize that we are counting on each other to get this going. We have struggled to do it alone so this is the only way we are going to really get it going.

 

We start DDPY tonight. Dieting starts tomorrow. 

 

Time to get back to the old me.

[cn3wton]

Day one of the new me.

 

Last night's session of DDPYoga went great. I have subscribed to the app for years now and am happy to have someone who wants to consistently do the workouts with me. I feel great today. Well rested. Not sore but my body feels aware of the fact that I did something challenging last night. 

 

Due to my friends fitness level we are starting with the chair assisted program. Basically you don't need the chair but it is there if you need the help. Which is great! I was able to do most of the excercises unassisted but the chair was nice for lunge style posing. I do not want to hurt my bad knee out of pride and am taking it one day at a time.

 

Intermittent fasting has officially begun. Along with tracking a host of different things on the app LoseIt. My friend is incredibly driven by tech gadgets. I told him tell me what to get and what to track with and I would do it with him. So we got heart monitors to go with DDPY, a scale that syncs with lose it, enabled step tracking on our phones, and are logging our food.

 

Our main goal is to be there for eachother and to push each other. Its clear that we can't get things going alone as we have tried and failed multiple times.  This time we are focusing on the other person as much or MORE than we have ever done.

 

I am excited!

[cn3wton]

I am officially 5lbs down since starting back into what I call a full on diet. But it's really just making better choices and tracking my calories/macros with Lose It.

 

I fasted again this morning, for lunch I had a grilled buffalo chicken wrap with fresh veggies that tasted INCREDIBLE! The vegetables where so fresh and had that satisfying crunch. It all kinda came together. One of the big things my friend and I are focusing on with this new plan is to not go too far into restriction. While we aren't necessarily doing IFYM we are not completely cutting things out. Tonight I am going over to his place to workout and we decided to make dinner. We are making shrimp and scallops over whole wheat linguini with olive oil and garlic. We will be having 2 slices of "garlic bread" made with Sara Lee's brand bread. Its suppossedly healthier. All of this comes in around 1000 cals. So it is a big meal, but its well within in my calories for the day with the lunch I had. Could we go without the garlic bread? Probably? But this mimics a meal we both love.

 

This weekend I am going to be doing major work in the garage to add a set of stairs up to the attic, which up until now has only been accessible by ladder. I am excited to start this project as my dad will be helping me. And it makes the usage of the space far more viable.

[Shello]

Awesome!  Having a real like accountability partner will be great, especially someone you interact with on the regular.  I'm interested in how you find the Lose it app.  I looked it up because I'd never heard of it.  I will need something once my subscription to Noom ends and I'm tired of MFP.  

 

2 hours ago, cn3wton said:

We will be having 2 slices of "garlic bread" made with Sara Lee's brand bread. Its suppossedly healthier. All of this comes in around 1000 cals. So it is a big meal, but its well within in my calories for the day with the lunch I had. Could we go without the garlic bread? Probably? But this mimics a meal we both love.

 

Galactic Bread!!   And honestly, why would you want to go without it?

[WhiteGhost]

On 4/24/2021 at 1:12 AM, cn3wton said:

One of the big things my friend and I are focusing on with this new plan is to not go too far into restriction.

Very sensible.  I'm really glad for you that you found yourself an IRL acountabilibuddy  

[cn3wton]

On 4/23/2021 at 3:40 PM, Shello said:

Awesome!  Having a real like accountability partner will be great, especially someone you interact with on the regular.  I'm interested in how you find the Lose it app.  I looked it up because I'd never heard of it.  I will need something once my subscription to Noom ends and I'm tired of MFP.  

 

Galactic Bread!!   And honestly, why would you want to go without it?

 

I knew you would bring back Galactic Bread! What a throwback! 

 

I am enjoying Lose It, Its got its quirks. I feel like all the weight loss apps do. But all in all I am liking it more than MFP. Seems like the catalog of foods is much larger and more accurate. I did pay for premium don't know how much that changes. I'm excited to sync up my new scale that arrives today. That should automatically upload info to LoseIt. Part of me is nervous that the new scale is going to say im heavier than the other scale but I just gotta get over it.

 

On 4/25/2021 at 1:21 AM, WhiteGhost said:

Very sensible.  I'm really glad for you that you found yourself an IRL acountabilibuddy  

 

Thanks. It really has been a huge help. The forums are great and helpful in their own way. But this is a whole other level!

[cn3wton]

This weekend was a big one. Wanna give a huge overall update so strap in!

 

First off the last post was about preparing dinner Friday at my friends house. Shrimp and Scallop in a olive oil garlic sauce over whole wheat linguini with 2 slices of "healthy" garlic bread/toast. First off it was delicious. The night was a bit hectic as my friends sons birthday was the following day so he and his wife where in a cleaning frenzy. I prepared everything for cooking then let him get to work with the food. Then helped his wife clean a bit while we waited for dinner to finish up. It was absolutely delicious. His wife made the garlic bread/toast so we all contributed to the meal and we made WAY TOO MUCH. I had half of what I expected to eat and my friend couldn't even finish his plate. We think it was the whole wheat pasta that filled us up. All in all it was great. 

 

Despite a later start we stuck with DDPY and did the Stand Strong. We selected this program because my friend has never done yoga before. And to be honest even I need assistance from a chair with some moves to help protect my knees. I am still waiting on my heart monitor but his was vital. Showed how hard he was really working (on top of the sweat pouring off of him!). His wife did not join us for this workout. I don't know if she will in the future again or not.

 

To make a long story very short I rescued a dog over the weekend. I will be going today to the vet the make sure she gets the care she needs and likely sign the dog over to the rescue. I just don't think I can keep her at my home and give her the care she needs. She was chained outside all her life. And a porcupine got her in the face with a quill being in her eye. The previous owner did not take the best care of her and I'll leave it at that.

 

I did a ton of work on the house this weekend. I put a set of stairs with my father in pictured below. We had to remove the flooring above in the attic. Now this attic was only accessible by a ladder in a very small opening. I thought my grandfather had used boards to build up the floor. But no its tongue and groove hardwood flooring! So we cut the hole in the floor with my new circular saw (more on that after this). But due to the tongue and groove we couldn't really pry up the floorboards. So I had to go below and do a thruster with a sledgehammer to get them to break free (who knew that move would be useful in actual day to day!). After a ton of work and an equal amount of dust in my eyes the opening was clear. Then we measured up and cut 2x10x12's to size. routed a groove for the steps and assembled it. I had my Uncle and neighbor help my dad and I move it into place.

 

 

I am very happy to have a large set of Dewalt power tools. I have wanted them for a long time but I finally gave myself permission to buy them. The cordless circular saw was extremely helpful and it was nice to give that to myself as a reward for everything I am doing.

 

I was extremely tired Sunday after 2 days of hard work and could barely walk. But I remembered a friend that I hadn't hung out with in awhile. I texted him to see if he wanted to throw axes for a few hours. He obliged and we hung out. He has had a rough go of it lately and it was great to chat about life and everything we are dealing with. Who knew throwing axes could be so therapeutic.

 

I ended up going in and showering after a very eventful weekend and rewatched the new Mortal Kombat while my dog slept next to me on the couch. 

 

 

[Shello]

Such an eventful weekend!  Kudos for the dog rescue.  It's very sad to see dog's in those environments.    I'm glad you enjoyed the galactic bread.  

[cn3wton]

22 hours ago, Shello said:

Such an eventful weekend!  Kudos for the dog rescue.  It's very sad to see dog's in those environments.    I'm glad you enjoyed the galactic bread.  

Thanks! It was a crazy weekend. 

[cn3wton]

So last night was a bit crazy.

 

After work I went right to the vet to meet with the woman from the rescue. The dog is getting the help it needs and while I was ready and willing to foster a dog they have found the perfect home for her. 2 retired vet techs. Just what an aging dog needs for caregivers! Two people who know how to care for her and have all the time they need to devote to her! My emotions wanted me to keep the dog but rationally I know that's what is best for her.

 

After words I headed home to let my dog out and prepare for working at the business. My business partner said there was a fundraiser with food trucks in a nearby town. At first I passed it off but it was real food trucks with actual good options for food. First I wanted to get steak and greens (greens are basically spinach and other greens baked together. Its a local thing). Which would be pretty healthy and also get a chicken gryo to try. Calorie wise I could eat both things but didn't want to or feel I would need to so I would have leftovers.

 

I called my business partner and he said he was home early, so we decided that him and his wife would go and grab the food for us so we could eat at the shop and get right to work. He was getting lobster mac and cheese (it fit within his macros for the day) and mac and cheese for his wife and son, and she was getting a gyro for each of them. The plan was the same for them to eat a bit of each and save leftovers for the next day. I decided to remove the steak and greens and get buffalo mac and cheese. I found the worst buffalo mac and cheese I could find (within reason) on lose it and doubled it. That combined with the highest chicken gyro would leave me under 25 calories. I had zero intention of eating everything so I was pleased with this.

 

The place was mobbed. They split into two lines to try to cut down the wait. But sadly the gyro place ran out of EVERYTHING 3 people from my friends wife. So all we got was the mac and cheese after 2 hours of waiting. It was delicious and I ate the whole thing. But I really did not want that to be my meal and I can feel its affect on me today.

 

I am still on track today with a good stable lunch of grilled chicken in a wrap with fresh veggies. And I plan on getting a bowl from Chipolte for dinner which will fill me up. 

 

The new scale is syncing with everything but it takes time. So I still have to manual enter it in the mornings. But I've heard that if you change from WIFI connection to bluetooth it is instant so will try that. It says I am consistently 3-5 lbs heavier on the new scale than the old. But thats ok. I have still lost 12 lbs. In a week the trend line will be just fine I'm not sweating the artificial weight gain on the graph.

 

When I got to the shop to work our third business partner was there. He is in far better shape than myself or my other business partner. But has working to lose weight. I convinced him to join us for some DDPY when we got the current project wrapped up. It sadly didnt wrap up until 9:20. But we worked out anyways! I had a late night and didnt get home until 10. I am not happy about that but I am extremely proud of myself that not doing the workout was not an option.

 

Today I am feeling pretty good. The mac and cheese dinner definitely made fasting a bit harder today. I was noticeably a bit hungry earlier and my usual lunch has not filled me up for the same amount of time. But lessons relearned here.  I intend to start doing moderate workouts on my off days, and in the next few months I am going to turn 1 corner of my garage into a gym for weight training. I miss the big 3 lifts and want to get back into that.

 

Will be working tamping down the back area with the crushed stone I had put in today. But that project will finally be done!

[Shello]

I'm glad you enjoyed the food trucks!  I love food truck events but the lines can get really out of hand and take over the whole evening.  We got lucky this past weekend but probably because it was lunch and there were plenty of food trucks.  

 

Great attitude about the new scale.  A new number is always but 12 pounds lost is still 12 pounds lost!  Great job! 

[Elastigirl]

Congrats on the weight loss! That ladder looks nice, and it will make getting into the attic so much easier. I always tell my husband that when he does remodeling on the house getting himself new tools is just part of the deal!

[cn3wton]

18 hours ago, Shello said:

I'm glad you enjoyed the food trucks!  I love food truck events but the lines can get really out of hand and take over the whole evening.  We got lucky this past weekend but probably because it was lunch and there were plenty of food trucks.  

 

Great attitude about the new scale.  A new number is always but 12 pounds lost is still 12 pounds lost!  Great job! 

 

I am not used to "food trucks" being somewhat reasonable food wise. I will pay attention to more in the area. Try to get there early enough so I can get what I actually want. But I'm not beating myself up over what I ate either.

 

Thank you so much! 

 

18 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Congrats on the weight loss! That ladder looks nice, and it will make getting into the attic so much easier. I always tell my husband that when he does remodeling on the house getting himself new tools is just part of the deal!

 

I really appreciate it! And yes getting upstairs is night and day now. And getting new tools really is part of it. The job would have been far worse if I didn't have them!

[cn3wton]

Today is the first time since I started the new weight loss initiative exactly a week ago that the scale has not shown a lower number than the previous day. I want to clarify that I do daily weigh ins and understand that the number doesn't matter in general. You can step on 5 different commercial scales and have 5 different results. A weekly weigh in provides an ok barometer of progress. 

 

I use daily check ins as a tool to say that I am consciously looking at myself and taking steps to get better. I am watching my weight because I care. But the number does not need to drop every day. If it goes up that's ok too.  But once you get familiar with a scale you can start seeing overall trends but there is still so much to it. For me its much more about the intention. So when I say its been a week and this is the first time its gone up (by .3 lbs mind you) its more of an exciting statement than dissapointment. If tomorrows scale goes up more thats ok too. But if its still going up on day 3 I might start to look at what I am doing and come up with a plan. 

 

I feel like I have been doing DDPY and eating better forever. It feels easy. Its kind of crazy to say this. But it feels like the new normal. I'm not going out of my way to do anything. I am getting more energy to do work outside when I can. I am seeing a positive trend. And its only been a week?  It feels impossible.

 

Last night my dad dropped of a tamper for me to finish the back shed/overhang project with the crushed stone. We had to get something out of the truck and without thinking I just jumped right into the back of the truck. I didn't hesitate because of my weight, I didn't struggle. I just did it. My dad was shocked.

 

I have also decided to get back into strength training in the coming months. But I want to tie it to a goal. So I have decided that by my birthday (sept 20th) if I am in the 200's I will purchase myself a garage gym rack, bumper plates, and a bench. This will mean I have about 5 months to lose 50 lbs. I believe this is more than possible. And the time frame will allow me to set aside the funds to do it.

 

Today I plan on going to the local grocery stroe near my job to make up a salad for lunch. I got inspired by DDP on the go video where he made a salad with fruits in his hotel room. So I am going to mix some fresh veggies and fruits together with olive oil and lemon juice. For dinner I will have rotisserie chicken and veggies. A super super strict food day but I like mixing these in when I can.