Tiffany D's Quest to Rangerdom

[.TIFF]

Hello There!

So I took a stab at this once but had too many forums and apps to keep up with so this time its just here and small updates to my academy battle log.

Main Quest:
To lose fat, gain strength, and feel better about my body.

I used to have a number in mind, and a size but I think for now I would like to focus on the process more than the end result.

Missions:
-Get 10k steps at least 4 days a week via my fitbit for tracking. (Graded weekly, A=4+, B=3, C=2, F=-2)
-Get in 3 dedicated workouts per week (crossfit, dumbbell division/cross training at home, or a new exciting class at the gym). (Graded weekly, A=3+, B=2, C=1, F=-1)
-Track all my meals via two grand, (Graded weekly, A=100-95%, B=95-76%, C=75-60%, F=-60%). This will also help me work towards the 80/20% healthy choices balance.

Life Quest: To try out the MMA intro class as well as some martial arts classes at my gym.

My Motivations:
I've always been chubby, and was raised in a family where healthy choices were broccoli drenched in cheese. I want to have the knowledge to teach my one day kids how to be healthy and not have to struggle like I have. And I want to get my body to a state that I can be proud of.

The Obstacles and Helpful Things:

Obstacles will mainly come from my home/boyfriend. As much as I love the guy he has an insane metabolism and could eat pasta every day. I do not have that super power so I will need to find a happy medium and make sure I portion control well when we do eat heavy dinners.

My work tends to have potlucks monthly, its always unhealthy food, and they tend to be mandatory. I will need to portion control, and look for the healthiest options available (aka. Say no to the Mac and cheese).

Holidays are coming up which was always associated with stuffing myself full of food as a kid.

I had a very bad sprain and am still recovering, I need to watch and listen to my body so that I don't reinjure myself or harm it more.

The Helpful Things:
I am already in the habit of cooking at home almost every day, and also can easily say no to lunches out with coworkers.

I am taking part in a 3 month weight loss challenge at work where I weigh in weekly, this should help keep me on track with goals.

I already love to work out, I just need to work on a set schedule and stick with it.

I will be back tomorrow with my proper weight and measurements, didn't have time this morning before work.

While I had to start this a day late due to traveling all day yesterday I am ready and excited!

[SjardisDead]

Look's like you already have those Obstacles under control and you will rock this Challenge.  Did you made an appointment for a tryout yet?

[Toshimi]

Obstacles will mainly come from my home/boyfriend. As much as I love the guy he has an insane metabolism and could eat pasta every day. I do not have that super power so I will need to find a happy medium and make sure I portion control well when we do eat heavy dinners.

My work tends to have potlucks monthly, its always unhealthy food, and they tend to be mandatory. I will need to portion control, and look for the healthiest options available (aka. Say no to the Mac and cheese).

Holidays are coming up which was always associated with stuffing myself full of food as a kid.

 

Something I do when I know there is going to be food I shouldn't eat, is I bring something of my own (salad or something I'm going to enjoy but not feel like im cheating on my eating) and/or I eat ahead of time. If you go into a potluck already having eaten, it's less tempting to eat everything you know you shouldn't.

 

My boyfriend and I also eat very differently (I eat a mostly paleo diet, he's far from it), When you're doing things like pasta some of the things i enjoy doing are- putting it over spaghetti squash or cooked cabbage instead (or whatever veggie you like).

 

I have loved cross fit, and martial arts when i was doing that. Either way I think you're on your way to a great start!

[.TIFF]

Look's like you already have those Obstacles under control and you will rock this Challenge. Did you made an appointment for a tryout yet?

The intro to MMA class is on Thursdays at 8pm or 7am Mon/Wed. I just have to figure out when that works with my schedule.

[.TIFF]

Well I got my butt out of bed and made it to crossfit before work. This evening I'm going to aim to get a good walk in and meet my 10k step goal. And I've been tracking my food!

All in all a good start, but I didn't pack a real breakfast (just post workout snack) or lunch so I will have to get something healthy from target or maybe chipolte.

[Blaidd]

Sounds like you're letting your helpful things outweigh the not so helpful ones.  As long as you have a plan, you're going to be just fine

 

You might notice that someone has added tags onto your thread.  This is not to pigeonhole you into a specific guild, but rather to attract the attention of the guild ambassadors because of your lifestyle or a grouping of goals, so that they might be able to motivate, encourage and advise you of anything during your challenge with us.  You don't even need to wait for them, you're welcome to pop into the Rangers to say hi and introduce yourself and to see what they're about. Also you are more than welcome to drop me a line at any time if you need anything.

 

Good luck

AB xx

[.TIFF]

While lunch was a big meal I needed the calories, a small snack of deli turkey and carrots after my workout was not going to cut it. I also tried a small bit of vegan cake at work since I never tried it, and tracked that as well which I wouldn't have before. It will be interesting to see all the food I intake on a weekly basis, and I hope it helps me continue to make better choices down the road.

I now have the rest of Nov scheduled, with one in the air day after thanksgiving since I'm not sure if my gym is open.

I may start a new system once I get into a routine, one with less descriptive text, but for now this will keep me on point.

[.TIFF]

Well I didn't get exactly 10k steps yesterday, I hit 9.6k.  I still considered it a 10k win for the day only because instead of just going for a walk I did some insane yard work to get that far in the step count.  I think pulling horribly overgrown weeds is a bit more strenuous than walking, and I got to feel overly productive

 

I am horribly sore today, and had to take a lava shower to even get my muscles relaxed enough to move around.  I am thinking at least until my body get's used to the work that cross fit will be on Mondays and Fridays, and I will do my own training mid week on Wednesdays.  I don't want to injure myself or get burnt out so slowing down a bit sounds like a good idea.  

 

I have managed to track all my food, though some are "oh crap I forgot to take a picture" so I just put in text what the meal/snack was.  While I feel I have done pretty well tracking I have had white rice for dinner 2 nights in a row (and leftovers for breakfast this morning), so I am going to try to spread that out and maybe add more veggies into the mix.  Tonight will be a light dinner, small lobster tails and some veggies.  I'm also going to get back into making my breakfast shakes since that seemed to tie me over well and it had a cup of spinach in it.

[.TIFF]

So, grading time for week 1.

10k + steps a week -C

3 Dedicated workouts -C

Track all meals -C

So I knew last week would be a pain, I started a day late and I was sore from Wednesdays cross fit up until yesterday :S

I was never one for being an average student, so hopefully that and my weigh in today (also not so great) will get me back on track.

Realizations!

Am Cross Fit is very intense, and I think it needs to be a once a week thing on Fridays until I get stronger. So Mon/Wed will be NF workouts at the gym or home, and then I'll have the weekends to rest everything.

My eating has gotten horrible again, so I need to get back to planning all meals and seriously restrict rice/pasta and wine.

With my extra day I think I can make most of my goals this week, but it will be challenging due to crunch time at work.... And maybe the new WoW expansion... I set up Garrison missions before I went to work, I'm horrible! Lol.

[.TIFF]

Well yesterday I got back on track with tracking my food, and dinner (crock pot chicken soup) is already cooking.

Breakfast was a homemade scotch egg, and I made a salad for lunch.

I also remembered my gym bag so a workout and 10k steps are looking good as well.

I had a bit of a breakdown yesterday when I got on the scale, I'm the heaviest I've ever been at 169. I refuse to let myself hit 170, so I guess its a good wake up call at this point.

I may also see a doctor, just to get a physical, and maybe talk about losing weight. I just seem to get one piece of the weight loss puzzle figured out before another crumbles apart, when I workout regularly my eating goes to crap, and when I focus on eating less I have no energy or drive to work out... Finding balance has been a pain.

[SjardisDead]

Hey it's good that you got back on track, with your food problems maybe you should take a closer look on what you eat and on Calories, macronutrient and micronutrient instead of the pure amount of food you eat.

As example I could eat a whole white bread what would give me lot's of calories but I would be hungry again ten minutes after. 

If I eat granary bread instead I eat far less because I'm sated after some slices and that's because my body get's more nutritions from it what keeps me sated for far longer.

So maybe you just need to change some foods to get less calories but still be replete and have energy for workouts.

[.TIFF]

Hey it's good that you got back on track, with your food problems maybe you should take a closer look on what you eat and on Calories, macronutrient and micronutrient instead of the pure amount of food you eat.

As example I could eat a whole white bread what would give me lot's of calories but I would be hungry again ten minutes after.

If I eat granary bread instead I eat far less because I'm sated after some slices and that's because my body get's more nutritions from it what keeps me sated for far longer.

So maybe you just need to change some foods to get less calories but still be replete and have energy for workouts.

I do know that I could do better with my grains. And a large part of my problem is not having enough self control. My boyfriend has no weight issues, and eats one real meal a day so Fettuccini Alfredo is fine, like weekly. I on the other hand shouldn't partake, but damnit we make good homemade Alfredo so I don't normally protest. I also feel horrible telling him the dinner he spent 3 hours cooking me is fantastic but I can't eat any.

I just need to focus, and not let him be my excuse for eating things that aren't helping me reach my goals.

I've found when I have a plan I'm much more likely to keep on track so that has been my focus this week.

Thank you for the advice, and I have been adding whole grains this week. I got cracked wheat rolls which have been great. And Ben even used brown rice tonight with the chili he made for dinner, so baby steps [emoji4]

[.TIFF]

So the past few days have had good win's. I have made it to the gym twice, 40 min on the elliptical happened both times, and a bit of a leg day happened today as well.

So:

- 2 days I've hit my 10k + steps goal

-1 weight training session

-All food has been accounted for, and I put salad on my plate for the potluck so I wouldn't fill it all with junk.

There is another potluck tomorrow, I'm going to aim for salad on half the plate, and my splurge will be a small square of my corn casserole. I had a bit of pumpkin pie and a few other treats so I'm good on those things. The one good thing about my boyfriends eating habits is he doesn't like sweet things so I've gotten used to not eating much of them.

I'm going to keep the gym thing going, the elliptical has been kind to my ankle so I am good with keeping it up.

Friday is cross fit, I'm a bit nervous but I want to keep it up because I know I get something out of it.

So far this week is more on track, and if by the end of this challenge I can meet these goals regularly I will be happy.

[Balthazar]

Hey there TiffanyD, just swinging by from the Rangers Guild to say hi

 

your thread may be one of the best and most organised I have ever seen, I'm loving it!

 

I really, really like when you said your motivation was to teach your yet to be kids about how to eat and be healthy, that's one of my goals to! I want to be the fit and healthy dad with the healthy kids that do fun active things as a family - not the chubby dad sat in the bleachers!

 

I love the variety of exercises you are packing in to your schedule and don't worry too much right now if you eat more than you think you were gonna, as long as the food comes from veg, meat and eggs you'll be golden - after all Beasts need Feeding!!!!!

[.TIFF]

Day 1 of week 3 is here! I started it off with a 33 min walk. My GPS thought I was the flash, spiking all over the place but my fitbit tracked the steps fine.

Last Weeks Scores:

Hit 10k 4 days a week - C

3 workouts per week - B

Food tracking - B

The good and what to work on:

Well I will start out with the fact that I lost 3 lbs this week according to my Monday morning weigh in.

I made an effort to drink a lot more water, and didn't have any pasta. I also made turnips for the first time, and I would have them again.

The first half of my week training was going strong, and I'm happy that I've made it back to my normal gym. The not great part being I skipped out on cross fit, and was lazy workout wise over the weekend. I still managed a decent amount of chores though.

Tracking has been more difficult for me than I'd like to admit with the phone picture app. I'm going to change to pen and paper this week to see if that's better. I have started thinking about better choices and alternative snacks besides cheese. So I'm continuing to improve overall which is what I wanted.

[.TIFF]

Yesterday I hit 10k steps and went to the gym for a weight training session. To hit 10k again today I'll have to hit the gym again due to bad weather.

I walked 34/35 min this morning before work, made a sweet potato for breakfast, and had healthy leftovers for lunch. Dinner will be salmon or pork loin chops with rice and veggies. I snacked on a few dark chocolate cashews and I'm still hungry but I don't want to leave the building with this weather :S so I'll snack on some pineapple and cherries when I get home.

[SjardisDead]

Are you keeping up the good work?

[.TIFF]

Well there was a wagon I was on but I seemed to fall off of it over the holiday.  I have now caught up to it and am in the process of jumping back on the damn thing.

 

Grades for last week

 

Hit 10k 4 days a week - C
3 workouts per week - C
Food tracking - F

 

Thanksgiving was nice, mainly healthy food, but the rest of my holiday I did not do so well in the healthy eating department.  Cheesecake for breakfast is not something I need to keep up with...  I did get some heavy duty cleaning done at the house, and pulled a full trash cans worth of weeds from the flower bed, so it wasn't all bad.

 

I have found it's much easier to be active when I have work, and I seem to lose my determination when I don't have to leave the house.  So I will focus this week (weekend especially) to get my morning walk in every day, and make sure one of my weekend days I get 10k steps instead of sitting in front of my computer all day playing video games (as much fun as that is).  I used to have a very bad WoW habit, and while I have gone back to the game I have promised my workout's and health come first so I need to remember that on my weekends and days off.

 

This weeks obstacles -  Awesome left over home made macaroni and cheese (7 cheeses, bacon and ham).  My boyfriend made it last night, it was his best mac and cheese yet, and let me tell you it's the best I have ever had.  I started making it a mission to not have the ingredients in the house so he couldn't make it, but caved and bought everything at the store this weekend.  Hopefully he will eat it all before I get to it...  I have some willpower but not much at this point when it comes to his cooking.

 

My fit bit is dead right now, but I did get up and take my walk this morning, and the gym is my first destination after work or maybe during lunch today.  So here is to getting back on schedule, and track...

[SjardisDead]

A big Hooray for getting back on that train!

 

With WOW you could use an alarm clock and every hour you can do a small circle like : 5 Push ups; 20 Squats; 10 sit ups, some jumping Jacks or something like this.

[.TIFF]

So I'm not going to lie, I don't remember my grades for last week offhand. But I took some great steps towards meeting my goals.

I got myself an online fitness coach, and while he has me doing some odd things, and the workouts are a bit too easy for me I am adjusting them where its needed, and its keeping me focused.

I got my AM walk in yesterday, but I had a migraine this morning so I slept it off instead. Today is a trip to the gym for my workout and getting my 10k steps. And I'm working on staying with the meal plan I was given within reason. 1 cup of sauerkraut as a snack just isn't appealing :S but I'm going to grab that first if I get the munchies (at least its helping me to not snack on cheese when I get home, Lol).

I guess I'll give myself an overall C for last week since I didn't track things well. But I felt pretty good, and put some new obstacles in place to make it more difficult to forget my fitness goals.

[.TIFF]

A big Hooray for getting back on that train!

With WOW you could use an alarm clock and every hour you can do a small circle like : 5 Push ups; 20 Squats; 10 sit ups, some jumping Jacks or something like this.

I'm honestly not too worried about WoW, I have a much more lax attitude about it these days. but that is a great idea with the workouts during!

[.TIFF]

I'm going pretty strong this week, though my ankle hasn't been happy about being pushed. I've had to baby it a bit but I've gotten 2 days of 10k + steps, and 2 full training workouts in so far. I've also done well with tracking food, and even when I haven't tracked I've had healthier meals and smaller portions in general.

I have noticed I've been exhausted this week, and sleeping in has been a common occurrence. I figure its the smaller amounts of carbs and food with the mix of more strenuous workouts, so hopefully I'll feel less tired next week.

[SjardisDead]

Sound's like you make good progression. Did you already visited the MMA intro class?

[.TIFF]

I have not yet made it in, I've been reading up on it and it seems like some martial arts knowledge is important. I'm thinking I'll check out the Muay Thai class first to get a grasp of things.

[.TIFF]

While I have been MIA a bit I have been keeping on track pretty well, just not tracking pretty well :S

 

My Aunt got herself and my mother fitbits as an early christmas gift.  So They have been on my challenges on there every day so I have been hitting my 10K step goal often.  I took some time off with weights due to my ankle having some pain from overworking it, but today I will be getting back into the swing of things when it comes to that.  Food has been an issue, it's always my biggest issue really.  We had 3 potluck/work lunches last week for the holiday (partially due to the fact that I am a sub contractor for my company so I work in a different office under a different company).  I skipped one all together, one my manager cooked for everyone on my team as a thank you so I had to go to that, and then the last was the party at this office which I wasn't going to go but my coworkers pressured me to.  It was a good and bad thing that they did, I did eat non ideal food, and desserts, but I also won a kitchenaid mixer which was pretty awesome.

 

Work has been the biggest bad influence when it comes to food, I am actually glad that I will be home for 6 days started Wednesday.  While the boyfriend loves extravagant foods, we normally eat maybe twice, so I know my calorie intake isn't insane at least.

 

I am extremely happy that I have hit my stride (literally, lol) with walks in the morning.  I am up to 40 min or so, and while I am getting in to work later due to it, it's worth it.  It's so easy to hit my goal when I get that in, now just to get it in when I don't have to go to work (weekends are still a bit on the lazy side in that right).  I also started a small accountability group on FB with some of the NF women, so that has been nice as well to keep track of things.  It's called "Fitness Protection" if anyone is interested, lol.

 

Things to focus on this week:

 

Getting back into weight training (and not overdoing it on my ankle).

Focus on eating better, and track with my fitness pal.

Get a stable meal plan set up for breakfasts and lunches so there is less room for unplanned splurges.