karinajean prepares for hibernation.

[karinajean]

The last three challenges have been totally focused on my ACL tear, surgery, and recovery. Which is good, but at this point, after dealing with it for, like, 4 months, is TOTALLY FREAKING BORING. I am so bored. I'm doing all the things I'm supposed to do. I'm RIGHT ON SCHEDULE. Everyone is pleased with my progress. I AM SO BORED.

 

I'm a bored panda like whoa.

 

even my fighty cat is not so fighty.

 

Plus the seasons are changing and I feel like I missed the WHOLE SUMMER because I was so busy with physical therapy and work.

 

basically, I feel like a sad cupcake.

EVEN THOUGH I'm doing really good. My knee is awesome, I actually STILL DID get my 3rd degree black belt, and since I joined the NF women's academy in October I've lost 16 lbs. SIXTEEN POUNDS! I'm so excited about that!

 

 

 

I want to stay positive!

So this challenge I need to focus on stuff I can actually change or work on.

• I can't change my physical therapy. clearly I am going to keep doing it. I am at 3 months, I have 3 more months to go. AT LEAST.
• I can't run right now, so I'm not going to focus on any weight loss thing. Plus I hate having weight loss goals because they are so easy to miss, and that's totally freakin' demoralizing.
• I've been tracking food for a consecutive 255 days, so that's something good there that I'm not going to mess with.

 

so I am going to prepare for hibernation.

I'm going to focus on fixing some habits (BORING!) and working on my house so it's a happier bat cave to live in (BORING!).

 

Hopefully with these good habits reformed and my house a neater and more livable place I can take over the wintertime months without feeling paralyzed by mopes and feels.

 

 

 

 

SO: CHALLENGE GOALS!

 

 

 

WHOLE BODY HAPPY - Continuing PT is something that I don't see myself having a problem with. I DO seem to be having a problem working out the rest of my body. I need to get more structured around getting to the gym to do my arms workouts.

I'm committing to 2x arms a week and 1x cardio or bodyweight workout. Ideally I'll figure out how to fit in abs, but I had such a problem finding time last challenge I'm going to save this for BONUS POINTS.

 

 

 

 

FOOD - I am doing really good at eating pretty well and staying close to my calorie goals. HOWEVER there is definitely room for improvement. My last challenge I was over LOTS during challenge weeks. Without running regularly I can't eat everything I want, and I need to try and make sure that my limited calories are geared towards

I am going to take pictures of EVERYTHING I EAT. it's going to be annoying to me and everyone around me. But I think it will be helpful to think seriously about the food I'm putting into my body, the quantities, what it's made from, and also if I really want to eat it badly enough to take a picture. I'll try and share these in a non-spammy way on the forums. They'll all be saved in a flickr group too.

 

 

 

 

SLEEP - I need to be more structured around my sleep. Our household schedule has changed (details in HOMELY) and I have to take greater responsibility for going to bed every night at 9:30 so I can get up at 5AM and exercise. it's slightly less sleep than I really need, but it's sufficient to keep me healthy and also keep me from feeling like I'm missing out on things.

I have an alarm on my phone and I'm requiring myself to go to bed at 9:30 4 of the 5 "school nights" during the week. That 5th night is only flexible in case I have late meetings in NYC for my alumni organization, and shouldn't be taken as a regular pass.

 

 

 

 

HOMELY HOME - my husband is taking 3 classes this semester in addition to his regular day job with his regular long commute. This means that instead of being out of the house 5 days a week from 6:30 AM to 7:30ish PM, he's out of the house 3 days from 6:30 AM to 7:30ish PM, 3 days from 6:30ish AM to MIDNIGHT, and 1 day from 6:30AM to 4:30PM. yeah, that's right. he's taking a class on Saturdays.

our house is a disaster zone. it's super old and needs a lot of renovations. it's all we can do to keep it neat. I'm trying to deal positively with how his additional absences will impact our ability to get ANYTHING DONE around the house. PLUS I am already feeling resentful for the only time we have together being scheduled out for doing chores. He LOVES the new classes he's taking and it's very exciting, and I don't want to ruin that for him in anyway, but I have to find a balance for our family and for me too.

for this challenge I am going to get one major project scheduled with a contractor and get another smaller project started on my own. First steps are to do the flow chart for all house activities.

 

Current Challenge: Goals | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6

[MasterOfCows]

Bam.  First post!

 

This looks awesome, surgery buddy.  SMASH CHALLENGE!

[RedPandaOne]

Following!

[The.Introverted.Goddess]

Great challenge! 

 

Sub'd

[Nymeria]

I remember being a sad, bored panda around this point in my rehab, too.  I think hooping or any martial arts weapons should totally count as your cardio.  At least then you'd actually want to do them and not feel completely annoyed at having to do them.    

[Lou_be_Lou]

wow, kitties, pandas, polar bears and a graph!  All of the love!

 

AGGGGH re your schedule!  It sounds like a busy busy six weeks. 

Awesome stuff!

[karinajean]

I remember being a sad, bored panda around this point in my rehab, too.  I think hooping or any martial arts weapons should totally count as your cardio.  At least then you'd actually want to do them and not feel completely annoyed at having to do them.  

 

I did tell my husband I wanted to get a super sparkly hoop from etsy at some point... and! my tkd instructor and I are planning a trip to Asian World of Martial Arts in the next couple of weeks and I put him on notice that I am for sure buying stuff... I'm thinking sword(s), and nunchucks, and maybe a bostaff... hmmm....

 

One of the things we do in our occasional weapons class is to take early white belt and yellow belt forms and do them with nunchucks, and there's no jumping or kicking in the early forms so that would be VERY easy to do more of at home.

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Love the "take charge" attitude.  And third degree black belt while rehabbing?  I'm a going to slink in the corner in shame now but will take inspiration from your thread.

[holographicSam]

I did tell my husband I wanted to get a super sparkly hoop from etsy at some point... and! my tkd instructor and I are planning a trip to Asian World of Martial Arts in the next couple of weeks and I put him on notice that I am for sure buying stuff... I'm thinking sword(s), and nunchucks, and maybe a bostaff... hmmm....

 

One of the things we do in our occasional weapons class is to take early white belt and yellow belt forms and do them with nunchucks, and there's no jumping or kicking in the early forms so that would be VERY easy to do more of at home.

 

That sounds awesome! It's great that your recovery has been going so well; good luck on your new goals! The sleep one especially- sleep can be a hard thing to tame.

[Batwoman]

Happy panda

 

[AnnieP (respawned)]

Yay for a new challenge! Looking forward to it.

Sent using Tapatalk Owl Post.

[karinajean]

wow, kitties, pandas, polar bears and a graph!  All of the love!

 

AGGGGH re your schedule!  It sounds like a busy busy six weeks. 

Awesome stuff!

 

it seems to ALWAYS be busy, but I never seem to move ahead on some of the major life goals stuff, mostly the house being a nicer place to live in. I really need to figure out a way to buckle down on that but with my husband pursuing HIS life goals of learning to make shoes (I know - totally awesome and cool - ) I am trying to find a way to be productive instead of totally grouchy about doing it on my own!

 

Love the "take charge" attitude.  And third degree black belt while rehabbing?  I'm a going to slink in the corner in shame now but will take inspiration from your thread.

 

well they did totally restructure the test for me. I was so disappointed - this is a new-to-me school, and while I've been attending and helping for a year, this was going to be the first time that all of the black belts saw me "in action." and even though I know that showing off like that isn't really the point, I was still kind of looking forward to it. what they had me do instead was to organize and run the test in conjunction with a kid who was testing to 4th degree. it was really really hard to wrangle him into line, but I did it, and the test was almost perfect. 

 

That sounds awesome! It's great that your recovery has been going so well; good luck on your new goals! The sleep one especially- sleep can be a hard thing to tame.

 

I used to have super good habits but since my knee surgery I've been terrible! I am looking forward to getting back on track and to the point where sleeping early is a non-issue.

 

Happy panda

 

 

^^^ me at the end of this challenge!

[karinajean]

sunday pre challenge update!

 

I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row for a great successful Week 1.

 

we are home today which is nice and it's beautiful outside and I'm taking care of home things.

 

all the laundry

pickling some jalapenos that I had ambitiously purchased

freezing some corn off the cob that I had ambitiously purchased

making kale chips with kale my mom grew and gave to me

making my flow chart of things

grocery shopping for the week 

 

the kids are here for our weekend and yesterday was kind of brilliant, culminating in a demolition derby, endurance race, stunts, and trailer racing at the local dirt track. it poured on us but it was amazing and we all had a super good time.

 

I went off to the gym in the morning sat., and did legs and arms - and upped almost all of my arm weights - and did a good job. I'm going to give myself another week or so on the pull-up assist machine at 100lbs before I bump it to only 80 lbs assist - I just want to make sure I've got those 3x10 under my belt solidly. I think I do. I did it again yesterday. 80 lbs assist means I'm lifting about 110 body weight! yikes!

 

then Eleven and I went off to tae kwon do which was very good, and we went over to a local Farm Demonstration with old tractors in action at the Farm Museum in town that Fifteen was working at all day, and it was pouring so we took him home and Eleven and I got fresh delicious whole milk from the farmer so we've got that all set for the week ahead.

 

When I woke up this morning I had all the sore muscles and I am sure that sitting in the cold rain for a couple of hours yesterday after working out at the gym did NOT help. 

 

also my husband and I were meal planning for the week ahead and he realized he's going to be either at class or band practice all week except for wednesday - good because the kids are over, and friday - not great because that's when *I* am out because I have knitting club.

he made some serious sad panda faces himself then. he KNEW what this semester was going to be like, but he didn't KNOW. if that makes sense.

 

ANYWAY, he and I are going to go to the gym on Tuesday so he can see all the weight machines (I can bring a guest). when I told him I was only at, like, 30 lbs of chest presses, he was like: you have got to work on that! and I was like I KNOW THEY'RE SO HARD FOR ME. and this is probably exactly why I have such a hard time with pushups. my triceps are amazing! my chest muscles are atrophied and weak.  

 

so to my list of things to do I also need to figure out when I can do weights at the gym 2x next week and hit my goal when he wants to go tuesday. thursday isn't great for me to gym it up, but maybe if I'm better at resting this week I can manage to go there before leaving early for my construction site.

 

OK week schedule:

M - physical therapy PM

Tu - gym/arms AM

W - physical therapy PM

Th - gym/arms AM - but I have to get there FOR REAL at 5:30 latest, and for REALS I have to get all my food and clothes laid out in the morning so I can just roll out of bed at 5 and get in the car and then ALSO I will have to do leg lifts at the gym too.

F - hmmm I can haz nothing?

Sat. - gym/legs and arms - AM before TKD. UNLESS I do arms on friday, which is balls.

Sun - rest. 

 

Still to do: 

measurements 

photographs.

[The.Introverted.Goddess]

Looks like a great weekly plan!

This message was sent by my digital priestess, please excuse any errors.

[Nymeria]

I did tell my husband I wanted to get a super sparkly hoop from etsy at some point... and! my tkd instructor and I are planning a trip to Asian World of Martial Arts in the next couple of weeks and I put him on notice that I am for sure buying stuff... I'm thinking sword(s), and nunchucks, and maybe a bostaff... hmmm....

 

One of the things we do in our occasional weapons class is to take early white belt and yellow belt forms and do them with nunchucks, and there's no jumping or kicking in the early forms so that would be VERY easy to do more of at home.

That's awesome!  I found that the first few months after the ACL injury and surgery, everything physical fits into two categories: Boring, painful, things you have to do, and things you'd love to do but can't.  You're just about at the point where you get that third category:  Stuff you want to do and actually can do.  It's really liberating to start finding things that you want to do and can do.  

 

I hope the hooping, weapons, or whatever else you do will help take the sting out of not being able to spar or do solid kicks for awhile.  

[karinajean]

Oops, I already blew my photos for breakfast. I was so concerned with finding earrings and changing my nail polish for the girly PVP I'm participating in this challenge that I forgot ENTIRELY to snap a shot.

 

so here is the photo I didn't take:

two fried eggs, over easy, perched delicately on a bed of arugula and a piece of dry wheat toast.

another piece of wheat toast with butter and some cherry jam.

cups of black tea with whole milk.*

(I was a little hungover. one beer too many while watching The Avengers with the boys last night. The extra toast helped bunches.)

 

ALSO I blew bedtime last night because MOVIE NIGHT and we had to stop 2x to fix the internet lag and also to get pizza or bathroom breaks.

The Avengers was awesome.

The kids loved it too.

totally worth getting to bed 1/2 an hour late.

 

* not going to take pictures of my drinks. that's too much.

[karinajean]

POOOOOP but it's so super hard to remember to take pictures of your food.

I missed lunch too.

so I took pictures of the carry-out containers.

 

PANTS.

BALLS.

HECK.

POOP.

[RedPandaOne]

Where's Guzzi the Queen of Food Porn to give tips?

 

It will probably get easier to remember. It is only the first day. You can still get dinner!

[Priscillia]

Just you wait, you'll get used to it so badly it'll be automatic by the end and then you'll continue afterwards

 

You sound like such a busy bee for this challenge! Might I ask what diy you're looking at for the house (diy house stuff is a guilty pleasure for me)?

[karinajean]

Where's Guzzi the Queen of Food Porn to give tips?

 

It will probably get easier to remember. It is only the first day. You can still get dinner!

 

I just popped in to her "log" to say hi, I hope she shows up!

 

Just you wait, you'll get used to it so badly it'll be automatic by the end and then you'll continue afterwards

 

You sound like such a busy bee for this challenge! Might I ask what diy you're looking at for the house (diy house stuff is a guilty pleasure for me)?

 

oh, Priscillia. I will need to take all kinds of photos for you. we live in an old-by-US-standards house - half constructed in 1890, half 1920 - and the ground floor has been pretty nicely rehabbed but the 2nd floor hasn't, and the 3rd floor/attic needs a full build-out. right now our biggest problem is all of our stuff, so I need to get rid of lots of it before we can get started. All the rooms are full of things so it's hard to get anything done!

 

I'll share my embarrassing before pics but first this is what the house looks like:

 

[karinajean]

Oh and this is my list of tasks for two of the rooms - I'll get some pictures of the wreckage soon.

Sent from my iPhone while riding a unicorn through the cosmos.

[karinajean]

I'm blowing bedtime tonight.

But I'm texting my sister, who is in Boston having travelled for chemo for her breast cancer.

So I say that's worth it.

I'm planning a fundraiser for her travel expenses over the next year of treatment - and I'm thinking I'll shave my head to support her hair loss.

So I also spent some time taking selfies with my hair pulled way back to see what I look like. Also worth it.

Sent from my iPhone while riding a unicorn through the cosmos.

[karinajean]

Aaand I'm blowing off the gym today too. I'm having a rough start to this challenge. I'm struggling with a lot of feels surrounding my husbands schedule and the kids schedule and how my schedule is going to be me getting everything done / driving all the places so everyone else can do what they want. I'm not adjusting well. I'm considering resigning from one io my volunteer things and this morning I didn't get out of bed for gym because instead I woke up my husband and made him talk to me about this.

Really it's not that bad. I'm just feeling super constrained by my evening pick-up schedule. Which is, like, every evening right now. I'm used to banking on the step-family gig, which is 3 parents to do all the kid things.

/mope

Sent from my iPhone while riding a unicorn through the cosmos.

[elsfaire]

Subbing you.

Some goals are boring, but you are doing great with the progress you need to make for PT. i agree with Chris-Tien about the 3rd degree black belt....

By the way, what part of the NYC area are you in?

[karinajean]

Subbing you.

Some goals are boring, but you are doing great with the progress you need to make for PT. i agree with Chris-Tien about the 3rd degree black belt....

By the way, what part of the NYC area are you in?

 

I live in Orange County NY, so, about 90 miles north of NYC - near Newburgh. But I work in northern NJ, so that's only about 45 miles away... which means it's easy for me to say I'm 1/2 way there already and head into the east village for meetings when I need to. It's a late night to get home, though, a 6:30 meeting generally means an 11PM return home.

 

(also I fully recognize that these distances are ridiculous and I am clearly overextended.)