Shaeon's Second Challenge

[shaeon]

Argh. I typed most of this, hit the Enter key and for some reason Google Chrome decided that meant "go back." Starting over... *grumble grumble*

 

Main Quest: Obese No More. 

 

This requires that I lose almost 100 pounds. My current weight is 261, and in order to no longer be obese according to the BMI, I must weigh 169 at least. 

 

Quest 1: Heavy lifting workout 3 days a week (3 exception days permitted). 

I'm permitting exception days because I know that real life can get in the way, and there's also a much greater chance of me getting sick this time of year, which would prevent exercise. Also, 2 days a week of a good weight lifting workout is still good. But for the best results in this quest, 3 days a week is ideal. 

 

Quest 2: Tracking food every day (3 exception days permitted). Stay within daily food allowance limits.

Again, real life may get in the way. In my experience, especially when eating out it can be hard to track food. I want to strive for tracking every single day, though, and if I can't track something I want it to be because it's a meal that is very hard to accurately track, and not because of laziness. 

Also, last quest I stuck to tracking only, but could eat whatever I wanted, because I was just making myself get into the habit of tracking daily. This time, I need to stay within daily allowances and stick to healthy choices most of the time: good sources of protein, healthy fats, and of course lots of fruits and veggies. 

 

Quest 3: Lose 6 pounds. 

Quest 1 and 2 should lead to this goal. This is low-balling possible weight loss quite a lot - considering my weight, I wouldn't be surprised if I lose 10 or even a little more. But a pound per week is good healthy weight loss, and accounts for any plateauing that might occur. 

 

Life Quest: Complete one wearable garment for my costuming. 
DragonCon is at the end of the summer, which is closer than you might think.  
I have a bad tendency to start my costuming in June, and that means I spend the entire summer rushing to finish costumes. Things that I have a very hard time doing while rushing to finish costumes include having a social life, getting to the gym, and prepping healthy meals. So this year I'm striving to get started early because I know at least one costume will include a lot of leather work, and the other is an existing costume that I'm altering to make it look much cooler. 
And since "get started on costuming" isn't really a SMART goal, I've decided I should strive to complete one wearable item. Could be a leather gauntlet or armor. Could be one of the two jackets I need to alter. Just so long as I can wear it by the end of the challenge. And yes, everything I'm working on this early is either not relevant to size or else adjustable, so that weight loss won't prevent me from using it.

 

Editing to add point distribution for each goal. 
Quest 1: Heavy lifting 3 days per week: +3 to STR, +2 to STA
Quest 2: Track food every day: +3 to WIS 
Quest 3: Lose 6 pounds: +2 to CON, +2 to DEX 
Life Quest: Complete one wearable garment for costuming: +3 CHA

 

Point distribution in case of failure to complete any part of the challenge is as follows: 

A - 100% B - 75% C - 50% D - 25% F - 0%

 

I will also only award myself an A in lifting and tracking if I do these the set number of times (3 times a week for lifting, every day for tracking). I really only added the exception days in order to give myself permission to make a few exceptions, but still put a limit on the number I intend to take. 

[shaeon]

Just read this article. Good inspiration as I get started on a 6 week challenge that will be full of lifting: 

 

Iron and the Soul: Henry Rollins

 

That makes me want to read the rest of this book. 

 

I've also been thinking of what my workout days should be. I'm more likely to work out at the end of the day, after work. So I don't think Monday/Wednesday/Friday is a good choice - I'm going to end up skipping Friday a lot if I do that, just for social reasons. 

I'm thinking Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday. Pretty much every Saturday, I go to the leather shop and work on my whatever project I currently have going until 4, when the shop closes. Then I usually have a gap of at least 2 hours between then and whatever my evening plans are (it is incredibly easy to take a nap during this gap). So I could work out in the gap. And if for some reason I miss Saturday, I could always work out on Sunday and still have plenty of recovery time until Tuesday. 

[Granny Nogg]

Subbing!  And I just love your goals-- how healthy they are, both physically and emotionally.  I just like you.  <insert fangirl sigh>

Thank you for posting that article link!  Gonna read that as it piques my curiosity.  Yay lifting heavy things!!

 

[shaeon]

Aw, I have a fangirl! 

 

I predict I'll be your fangirl this Challenge, what with the Discworld updates. 

[Granny Nogg]

Aw, I have a fangirl! 

 

I predict I'll be your fangirl this Challenge, what with the Discworld updates. 

 

^^ She gets me.  

 

[shaeon]

I hope everyone had a great Day One! I ate a lot of good-for-me things. And of course since it is Day One of a new Challenge I was really tempted to eat things that aren't good for me, but I've thwarted the temptation for the day. 

 

Tomorrow is exercise day! Woooo!

[shaeon]

Day 2, and workout day. Woooo!

 

So today I hit the gym after work, and did my weights workout. I am doing the workouts in The New Rules of Lifting for Women, and following some of the nutritional advice (definitely upping my protein, for example, but I'm not investing in any protein powders). 

 

Basically, I have guidelines for what I should shoot for with the reps. More reps equals lighter weights. I don't have to meet the goals to complete the workout - the point is to push myself as I go along. 

 

Today's workout was as follows: 

 

2 sets of 15 squats: I did 15 at BW and 13 with 10 pound weights. 

2 sets of 15 push ups: I did all 15 of both at a 45 degree angle (on a bar set at about waist-height).

2 sets of 15 seated rows: 15 at 30 pounds (which was pathetic), and 15 at 60 pounds (good and challenging!)

2 sets of 15 step ups: I did both as a set of 10, at BW. I'm assuming that a set of 15 step ups is 15 per leg, so actually 30 (right? Makes sense). So 2 sets of 10 is 20 total per set. Which is pretty hard. The shortest step at the gym was pretty high!

2 sets of 8 prone jackknifes: Alright, THIS is where I should have planned ahead. I had no confidence that I could actually DO this at all, and I didn't want to fall off a yoga ball and onto my face in a crowded gym. Sooooo I cheated and did 2 sets of 8 on the ab coaster. But I came home and practiced the prone jackknife on my own yoga ball. Turns out I can actually do it and probably the worst case scenario is moving too far forward and landing on my knees. 

 

Had a bit of cheese and some almonds as soon as I got home from the gym to get some protein. I think I'm going to start bringing that stuff with me on exercise days. 

 

Now I'm at home and cooking up brown rice, and about to start a chicken stir fry. My quads are a little sore from the squats, but other than that I'm feeling pretty good. 

 

Happy day 2 everybody!

 

Edit: I've change the pounds for my seated rows, because someone had told me that the LOWER number on the stacks of weights is pounds. Not so. The lower number is kilograms and the higher number is pounds. The seated rows were the only change I've made here - for some reasons stack weights on cable machines and the plates for the barbells all have pounds and kg on them, but dumbbells are in pounds only. 

[shaeon]

In case you are wondering, this madness is the prone jackknife:

 

 

[Granny Nogg]

OOH that looks interesting and challenging!  

You sound like you had a good time today.  

[shaeon]

I did! Feeling good about the day. It's nice to shake it up with a new routine. 

I also like the way these work outs are laid out - there are 2 workouts that together are designed to last for 6 weeks if I do them 3 times a week (convenient, huh?). So on Thursday I'll have a different workout - which is nice because I get that much more recovery time from this one. Then Saturday, back to this workout. As I go along, I increase sets and weight. I like the way it's set up.

The stir fry was good too.

[RES]

Since I have issues with working out in front of anyone, I would have to do that in the comfort of my own home...(oh, and I have one of those, I could do that...)

 

[shaeon]

Since I have issues with working out in front of anyone, I would have to do that in the comfort of my own home...(oh, and I have one of those, I could do that... )

 

 

Indeed. And the gym is packed out with people now, too, because everyone is out trying to do their New Year's Resolutions (and also, my gym offered a discount for new sign ups this month). So I didn't feel confident enough to flail around on a ball like a badly trained circus clown. Now that I know that I can do it with a minimum amount of flailing, I will be including it with that workout because it really is meant to be part of a circuit. But don't think I won't feel self-conscious while doing it.

Oh man, especially when the area designated for floor exercises always seems to include one stunningly hot woman doing yoga stretches. "Pardon me goddess, I hate to disrupt the scenery surrounding your perfection, but I really need to derp around on this ball now..."

 

Added my point distribution to my first post, just in case you were dying to know, by the way. 

[Granny Nogg]

Stunningly hot woman, eh???

Sent from my Samsung S4 using Tapatalk.

[RES]

I'm just the opposite...what most consider stunning do not bother me....but let a butch be anywhere around and I'm a blithering idiot...

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk

[shaeon]

My range of what I see as hot is pretty broad. I like femme girls but I'm not crazy about makeup to the point of looking kind of plastic and unreal. I like some butch women but I like a hint of girliness. Androgyny is cute. Tomboys are awesome. 

I just like women a lot. 

But yes, last night at the gym there was a femme woman with an amazing physique, rocking her yoga moves while I was doing my step ups. I am not even ashamed to say that she was made out of boobs. And muscle. Girl had some incredible arms. 

I caught this guy on the ab coaster checking her out, and he gave me an embarrassed look. I just grinned at him like "dude, I was looking too!"

[shaeon]

So today is recovery day, and I am feeling that workout, although not as badly as I expected. I think there may be something to this whole protein aiding in recovery thing. I also think it mainly helps that I was exercising regularly during the last challenge. 

 

Today I also had planned to eat out with my dad and step mother. At a barbecue place. A place that prides itself on ribs, and that gives you sliced white bread and cups of warm barbecue sauce to dip the bread into while you wait on your food. Now for starters, this is ok because I am not paleo. 


 

Yes, Emily Blunt. Yes I do. 

Although normally not sliced white bread. Part of what I'm doing is shooting for foods with less processing - like the brown rice with my stir fry last night, or the old fashioned oatmeal that I have for breakfast. 

But the main thing I'm doing is tracking what I eat to stay within a reasonable level of consumption. I am upping the amount of protein I consume. I am staying away from fakey foods that are constructed out of chemicals to simulate the experience of having a brownie only with fewer calories. I am having 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day - usually 2 fruits and 3 veg. 

But sometimes a night out with the parents is a nice thing. And sometimes you eat food that you know is crazy because you also know you aren't going to eat like that once a week or anything.

So my point is, I had ribs and white bread. And barbecue nachos (which surprisingly was a pretty small portion and a very reasonable amount of food for 3 people to share. Seriously, one of the least ridiculous appetizers I've seen in a while, other than the fact that it was nacho cheese, tortilla chips, and pork barbecue). I took it really easy on the white bread. I loved everything about those nachos but it wasn't a crazy portion. I skipped dessert (I can't brag about this really - the only dessert they have at this place is banana pudding, and I don't like banana pudding. But I can honestly say I didn't really have room for it). 

Most importantly, because I knew this meal was coming, I very cautiously planned out what I ate early in the day. I had oatmeal made with fat free milk, with blueberries and walnuts for breakfast - this is my standard breakfast and it's pretty small because I fill up fast on oatmeal. I always make half of what is considered a serving. I had leftover stir fry and a salad for lunch, which worked out well because the stir fry is mostly veg - it's good for 3 servings and it has 4 cups of mushrooms and 2 cups of broccoli in it. I had an apple as a snack in the afternoon. Basically, I got all 5 of my fruit and veg servings in early in the day, because I knew I wouldn't be having them with dinner. 

The result is that things didn't get too crazy. I tracked everything, but it wasn't the kind of thing where I hate to track it because I'm freaked out by how much I've just eaten (this is a thing that has happened before). 

So frankly, I'm calling it a successful day. It's one thing to do good on a day when I'm just eating the food I very carefully planned to cook that day, and another thing altogether to plan out a day knowing that there's a big crazy meal coming up. 

[RES]

I just like women a lot. 

 

^^^This!

 

I so agree 110% on the plastic and unreal thing...I tend to identify as femme, but can't stand the whole high maintenance thing. Most day's I don't bother with makeup and my hair takes less than 5 minutes (part of which is just lucky LOL)

[RES]

So today is recovery day, and I am feeling that workout, although not as badly as I expected. I think there may be something to this whole protein aiding in recovery thing. I also think it mainly helps that I was exercising regularly during the last challenge. 

 

Today I also had planned to eat out with my dad and step mother. At a barbecue place. A place that prides itself on ribs, and that gives you sliced white bread and cups of warm barbecue sauce to dip the bread into while you wait on your food. Now for starters, this is ok because I am not paleo. 

 

Yes, Emily Blunt. Yes I do. 

Although normally not sliced white bread. Part of what I'm doing is shooting for foods with less processing - like the brown rice with my stir fry last night, or the old fashioned oatmeal that I have for breakfast. 

But the main thing I'm doing is tracking what I eat to stay within a reasonable level of consumption. I am upping the amount of protein I consume. I am staying away from fakey foods that are constructed out of chemicals to simulate the experience of having a brownie only with fewer calories. I am having 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day - usually 2 fruits and 3 veg. 

But sometimes a night out with the parents is a nice thing. And sometimes you eat food that you know is crazy because you also know you aren't going to eat like that once a week or anything.

So my point is, I had ribs and white bread. And barbecue nachos (which surprisingly was a pretty small portion and a very reasonable amount of food for 3 people to share. Seriously, one of the least ridiculous appetizers I've seen in a while, other than the fact that it was nacho cheese, tortilla chips, and pork barbecue). I took it really easy on the white bread. I loved everything about those nachos but it wasn't a crazy portion. I skipped dessert (I can't brag about this really - the only dessert they have at this place is banana pudding, and I don't like banana pudding. But I can honestly say I didn't really have room for it). 

Most importantly, because I knew this meal was coming, I very cautiously planned out what I ate early in the day. I had oatmeal made with fat free milk, with blueberries and walnuts for breakfast - this is my standard breakfast and it's pretty small because I fill up fast on oatmeal. I always make half of what is considered a serving. I had leftover stir fry and a salad for lunch, which worked out well because the stir fry is mostly veg - it's good for 3 servings and it has 4 cups of mushrooms and 2 cups of broccoli in it. I had an apple as a snack in the afternoon. Basically, I got all 5 of my fruit and veg servings in early in the day, because I knew I wouldn't be having them with dinner. 

The result is that things didn't get too crazy. I tracked everything, but it wasn't the kind of thing where I hate to track it because I'm freaked out by how much I've just eaten (this is a thing that has happened before). 

So frankly, I'm calling it a successful day. It's one thing to do good on a day when I'm just eating the food I very carefully planned to cook that day, and another thing altogether to plan out a day knowing that there's a big crazy meal coming up. 

I want this stir fry recipe!! *drooling*

[shaeon]

I don't really mess around with recipes that much when cooking dinner. I have learned a few things that basically equal The Taste I Want and stick with those things. 

So my secret to stir frying is mushrooms, garlic, and soy sauce. Everything else is just whatever you want in your stir fry, but these 3 things make a stir fry smell and taste "right". I heat the stainless steel pan on medium high until water tossed on it immediately sizzles and boils off. Add some oil that can do high heat (I use canola). Don't use too much because a greasy stir fry doesn't go well, but basically amount is relative to how much you are cooking. The oil is going to get hot immediately, so at this point I toss in minced garlic, and then pretty much immediately throw in the mushrooms (I usually go with sliced button mushrooms). You want them in fast and you want to start stirring immediately, so the garlic doesn't scorch. At this point, your kitchen will smell like a Chinese restaurant. 

 

What I typically do is the mushrooms and garlic in one batch, remove them, and then add a very small amount of oil and add the meat. If any of the other veg you want in your stir fry needs to cook for a bit, throw it in with the mushrooms. I tend to do broccoli as my other veg, and I buy frozen broccoli in large bags and cook it in the microwave both to defrost it and cook it. I also sometimes add water chestnuts from a can, but they don't need to cook as long as the mushrooms. So if you have veg that doesn't need to cook as long as the mushrooms, hang on to it. 

Anyway. I remove the mushrooms, add a small amount of oil, and throw in the meat. Cook until it's done. When the meat is very close to done, I throw in some soy sauce. Be as stingy or as liberal as you want with that, according to your tastes and dietary needs. 

 

Then I add back the mushrooms and garlic from before, and any veg that didn't need so much cook time (like the microwaved broccoli and the water chestnuts). I stir everything up together, add more soy sauce according to my taste, and maybe a little lemon juice. Let it all heat through, and then pull it off the heat and serve. 

The stir fry I made last night had 4 cups of mushrooms, 2 cups of broccoli, and one boneless skinless chicken breast (as is the way of things these days, it was enormous - almost 10 ounces of meat. I usually eat only half of a standard chicken breast for dinner). All that with the brown rice I made is about 3 servings, which is great because that's also lunch today and tomorrow. I'm not giving you the portions in order to say "this is how much you need". I just measured the portions that normally I would eyeball and say "that looks about right" because I'm tracking what I eat. In order to start the stir fry for the 4 cups of mushrooms, I used 3 teaspoons of oil. I used 1 teaspoon for the chicken. Again, not because I was following a strict recipe, just because I do need to track it and to give you a sense of what "about right" looked like to me.

[shaeon]

I edited above to add that it was 2 cups of broccoli, not one. Again, exact measurements aren't the point; if you used 3 cups of broccoli the only thing that would be different is your stir fry would be denser in fiber than mine was. But 1 cup for 3 servings is kind of pitiful so I wanted to clarify that. 

[RES]

"that looks about right" is exactly how I cook Thank you so much! I'm going to try this my next week to cook

[shaeon]

Yeah. I have a weight loss support group I go to here in town, and one of the things I don't like about it (and that made me seek out Nerd Fitness) is that everyone just wants to talk about recipes all the time. They love things that involve mixing a whole bunch of stuff together in a casserole dish with some cream of chicken soup. I've never really liked casseroles and I just find it easier to cook actual whole foods - and of course the more you do that, the less you need recipes or exact measurements because the whole thing will not succeed or fail based on bad measuring. 

I also feel like none of us in that group are there because we just haven't found the right recipe yet. I know how to cook, after all. What I really need is encouragement, and a place where I can talk about the emotional side of things, which is what really undermines my good eating habits and the drive to keep going to the gym. 

Speaking of which, after those nachos last night I'm craving more nachos, which is taking me on all these mental tangents about "hmm, where could I get some nachos for lunch?" 

But instead of doing that, I'm going to go home and have some of my leftover stir fry. And also accept that I've been working my butt off this morning at work and I'm just hungry because of that.

[shaeon]

Last night I got a bad stomach ache after dinner, and that was it for me for the night. I really wanted to update, but I have an incisional hernia from an abdominal surgery in 2008, and basically when I get a bad stomach ache, that's it. Nothing is happening until it is gone. 

 

Of course, lying around in pain with a heating pad on my belly gives me plenty of time to regret things, but it made me realize I do need to be more cautious and listen to my body when eating after a workout, because when I'm doing exercises that affect my core, I'm a little more prone to these belly aches. I did reach the point where I was kind of done eating, but I kept going because I was telling myself I needed the post-workout protein. I should have just stopped. I can always eat more an hour later or something, if I get hungry. I also have a really bad "I must finish everything in front of me" mindset, and I need to learn to let that go. Regardless of whatever my nutritional needs for the day are, it's foolish to keep eating when I just don't want the food anymore. I need to start trusting my gut (quite literally in this instance) much more. 

 

Anyway. Before the terrible saga of lying on my back and waiting for the pain to pass, I had a pretty great day! I've had a really productive week at work, which has nothing to do with my goals but certainly makes for a positive feeling for the week. Being productive at work has been a struggle for a long time now, but I'm lucky to have a good manager who has been willing to talk with me about my thoughts on why it's been hard to find productive time, and I finally keyed in on what I needed to do, found my flow, and got a lot done. 
 

Other than that I ate good all day, finishing off the last of the stir fry leftovers at lunch. I went to the gym and did my second workout, which is as follows: 

 

2 sets of 15 deadlifts: 15 at 35 pounds, 15 at 40. 

2 sets of 15 dumbbell shoulder presses: I did both sets of 15 at 10 pounds. Honestly? I think I need to lower the weights on my first set. It was a bit much. 

2 sets of 15 wide grip lat pulldowns: 15 at 50 pounds,15 at 60 pounds.

2 sets of 15 lunges: One set of 10 at BW, one set of 8 at BW. I always find lunges really difficult, so I'm not too surprised.

2 sets of 8 Swiss ball crunches: Both sets, all 8, at BW. I may add a plate to this exercise next time. 

 

OH. And I realized that I've been looking at the poundage on the weights all wrong. Someone told me the smaller number was pounds, and was all like "haha sorry! You're not lifting as much as you think you are!" Then once I started using the barbells for my deadlifts, I thought "really? I'm lifting 27.2 pounds?" It just seemed weird to be getting all these decimal points when people are always talking about the pounds they lift in round numbers. So I asked again, and found out that the small number was kilograms, and the large one is, in fact, pounds. 

Keeping that in mind, I know that whenever I'm using a cable machine (like for my lat pulldowns or seated rows) that a pulley is part of that equation, and sure I can row way more with cables than I can with a dumbbell row thanks to that pulley. But it's still nice to know the actual weight I'm pulling, and it's definitely a boost of confidence. I'm going to go back and edit my last workout day post to insert the correct numbers. 

[Teros]

Indeed. And the gym is packed out with people now, too, because everyone is out trying to do their New Year's Resolutions

Oh don't worry. Those people fall off the radar within a month.  There's always an influx for NYR at gyms.

[shaeon]

Oh don't worry. Those people fall off the radar within a month.  There's always an influx for NYR at gyms.

 

Oh yeah. Even today was a really slow day at the gym. I'm sure by the end of this challenge things will have gone back to normal. 

Speaking of which, update time!

I missed my workout yesterday because I actually had social stuff to do pretty much all day Saturday (not a bad thing!). Which is fine because I set up my workouts so that Sunday is my backup day. Workout today went as follows: 

 

2 sets of 15 squats: I did 15 with 5 pound weights and 15 with 10 pound weights. 

2 sets of 15 push ups: I do my push ups on the smith machine since I can't yet do standard push ups. I did 15 at 45 degrees and 15 with the bar lowered another notch. 

2 sets of 15 seated rows: 15 at 60 pounds and 15 at 75 pounds. 

2 sets of 15 step ups: both sets of 15 completed, at BW.

2 sets of 8 prone jackknifes: both sets of 8 completed. 

So first of all, I'm really proud of finishing all my sets! I added weight to BOTH sets of squats, and added a considerable amount of weight to my second set of seated rows. I finished all those damn step ups (although I sweated profusely through both sets and my legs felt like jelly after my workout). So that's definitely worth celebrating! WOOO! 

 

I have to say though, the prone jackknife is not an exercise that was made to make anyone feel like they look cool. To get into the starting position I lay on the yoga ball on my belly and just walk myself forward with my hands. To get off the thing, I pretty much just let myself roll off onto my knees. It's not as awkward as I originally dreaded it would be, but it's definitely not an exercise I'm doing in order to impress anyone with my grace. Fortunately for me, I'm not in the gym to impress anyone other than myself.

I've also extended my warm up because last time I did this workout, I got some serious pain in my quads during my first set of squats. It's really cold outside and my usual 5 minutes of fast walking on the treadmill isn't quite the warm up it was in the summer when the temp was in the 90s. So after that, I did two quick sets of 5 knee push ups alternated with 2 quick sets of 5 body weight squats. 

Unfortunately, I've continued to have tummy aches. I got a bad one last night. I blamed them on such a fast transition to a high-protein, high-fiber diet (particularly the fiber). I added a little bit more fat and carbs, but got another tummy ache anyway. Now I'm blaming them on broccoli, which I had every day that I got a tummy ache and which tends to make me bloat. No more broccoli for a while. After my post-gym shower, I'm headed to the grocery store to stock up on some veggies that I digest better. 

Alright, shower time. Week one is nearly done!