Presea enters the fray

[Presea]

I happened on the Nerd Fitness blog a week or so ago, and shortly thereafter found this forum.  I have been eagerly anticipating the start of the next challenge to jump in myself!

 

First, some background about me and my fitness history (feel free to skip J):

I was always on the very high end of the ‘healthy weight’ range as a kid and through high school.  I grew up eating a lot of junk food and spending a lot of time watching cartoons and playing video games.  When I started college I learned about calorie counting, and, being the nerdy numbers person that I am, became somewhat obsessed with minimizing calorie input and maximizing calorie output.  I dropped to 120 lbs (54 kg), which, while technically not underweight, in retrospect, I don’t believe it was a healthy weight for me.  I had anxiety about food, wasn’t as fun to be around as before, and I wasn’t menstruating.  After about a year and half of this, I was finally convinced I should start eating more.  However, once I lifted the limits on “bad†food and calorie intake, I couldn’t stop eating.  After two years, I was at my highest lifetime weight, 210 lbs (95 kg) when I graduated college. 

 

Since then, I have been working full-time doing actuarial work (desk job) while making efforts to eat healthier, exercise more, and get to a healthy weight, without going overboard this time.  It’s been 3 ½ years, and my weight has gone up and down with my on again, off again health efforts, though long term it has a negative trend, as I am currently around 185 lbs (84 kg).  I seem stuck in a cycle where I eat healthy and exercise for a time (anywhere from a few days to a month), and then fall off the rails and binge eat and stop exercising for a time (again, anywhere from a few days to a month).  I think the key for me for long-term healthy eating and weight loss is make sure I eat enough (and don’t deny myself a treat when I am craving one) to not feel deprived.  I need to break the restrict -> binge -> guilt -> repeat cycle.

I am a 5’7’’ female, and I will update my exact weight per the scale tomorrow morning for the start of the challenge.  

 

First Challenge (2/23/15 – 4/5/15):

Main Quest: Lose weight and get fitter - My goal weight is 160 lbs (72.5 kg), but my goal for my first 6-week challenge is to lose 5 lbs (slow and steady!).

 

Accomplish Main Quest by focusing on SMART goals:

 

1) Eat when hungry and stop when full - measure: eat above BMR (~1700) but below 2500 (goal is to break restrict, binge, repeat cycle)

 

Stats: Wis +2 Con +2

A: Don't exceed 2500 on any day

B: Don't exceed 2600 on any day

C: Don't exceed 2700 on any day

D: Don't exceed 2800 on any day

 

Edit:

A: Don't exceed 2500 on any day - all six weeks

B: Don't exceed 2500 on any day - 5/6 weeks

C: Don't exceed 2500 on any day - 4/6 weeks

D: Don't exceed 2500 on any day - 3/6 weeks

 

Note: Why 2500?  My BMR is a little below 1700 (according to an online calculator).  My biggest calorie burning exercise in the winter is probably a 1 1/2 hour tennis drill.  My Fitbit usually has me around 2500 calories burned on the days I have those drills.  So, the 2500 limit allows me to eat more on exercise days.  Obviously, I want to let my hunger guide me so ideally on days with little physical activity I'll naturally be full at an amount significantly lower.

 

2) Fitbit - 5,000 steps/day, everyday

 

Stats: Sta +2

A: 42 days

B: 37 days

C: 32 days

D: 27 days

 

3) Play tennis an average of 2x/week

 

Stats: Str +1 Dex +1 Cha +1

A: 12 days

B: 10 days

C: 8 days

D: 6 days

 

4) Practice Tai Chi 2x/week (the first few weeks will be finishing an intro class 1x/week)

 

Stats: Cha +1 Wis +1 Dex +1

A: 12 days

B: 10 days

C: 8 days

D: 6 days

 

Life Goal: Complete Pimsleur Japanes III (parts A &

 

Stats: Cha +2 Wis +1

A: Complete all 30 lessons

B: Complete 25 lessons

C: Complete 20 lessons

D: Complete Japanese III A (15 lessons)

 

Total possible attribute points: 15

A: 100% B: 75% C: 50% D: 25%

[Toshimi]

looks like some great goals! Welcome!

[Blaidd]

it's so hard to get the activity that you need when you're stuck at a desk job. nice goals.

 

You might notice that someone has added a tag to your post.  This is not to box you into a corner but rather because your goals or lifestyle have links to the guild you've been tagged and we'd like to bring you to the attention of one of their guild ambassadors. These ambassadors will be able to offer you advice, encouragement and support on your goals.  You don't even have to wait around for them to come introduce themselves to you, you are more than welcome to pop into the Adventurers' board and introduce yourself to the guildies there. I am also around to answer any questions that you might have so do not hesitate to PM me.

 

Good Luck with your challenge

AB xx

[Presea]

Thank you both for your words of encouragement and welcome!

 

Withings scale this morning showed the following to start off the challenge:

Weight: 184.9 lbs (83.9 kg)

Body Fat %: 39%

BMI: 29.0

 

I want to record my measurements for the start of the challenge as well, but didn't have time to do so before work.  I'll add it when I get the chance.

[Presea]

Measurements for start of challenge: 

Bust: 39" (99 cm)

Waist: 38" (96.5 cm)

Hips: 44" (112 cm)

Upper arms: 13" (33 cm)

[Teirin]

Hello Presea and welcome to NerdFitness!  You have a nice balance of food and exercise goals.  Hopefully the limits you've set will help break that cycle :-)

 

Walking, tennis, and Tai Chi are pretty comprehensive. Hope you enjoy your intro Tai Chi class! 

[Presea]

Thanks, Teirin!  Although the Tai Chi class isn't a strenuous exercise by any means, my gluts and thighs never fail to be sore afterwards.  I'm enjoying it a lot, though I've never done anything like it before so it's going to take some time until I feel comfortable doing it.

[Presea]

Day 1:

 

1) Calories intake:

• Breakfast: Egg bake w/broccoli, mushrooms, and brie; 1/2 large tomato: 507 calories
• Lunch: same as breakfast (had to work over the weekend, so I didn't have time to cook!): 507 calories
• Dinner: Smoothie (protein powder, chia seeds soaked in grass-fed whole milk, frozen blueberries and mixed fruits); Buffalo chicken tenders w/grass-fed sour cream: 1,261 calories
• Snack: 1 large grapefruit (106 calories)

 

Total intake: 2,380 calories

 

2) Fitbit: 13,339 steps (note: I keep wearing the fitbit when I'm exercising, for example today I wore it while playing tennis, hence the high step count)

 

3) Played doubles on my USTA 3.5 team.  We lost 2-6, 5-7 --- we were almost able to come back in the second set!  Had a great time

 

4) No Tai Chi today

 

5) Lots of time in the car today, so completed lessons 5 and 6 (I started a few days before the challenge commenced).  Each lesson is roughly 30 minutes, and I usually listen to each twice before moving on.

[brutalbears]

Welcome to NF, I am also doing my first NF 6 week challenge, and I want to wish you the best of luck! I really like how you laid out the stat gains from your quests here, I need to try that. I also need to figure out how that guild leader made the progress bars, because that is awesome. You rule!

[Presea]

Thanks, brutalbears!  I'm a number nerd, so I had my subquests all set up in an Excel spreadsheet with the attributes, grading system, etc. inlcuded.  I was just bummed I couldn't post my quests in table form!  Haha

[Teirin]

Tai Chi seems to be all about fine movement control.  It's a more subtle workout :-) 

[Presea]

Day 2:

 

1) Calories intake:

• Breakfast: Smoothie (protein powder, chia seeds soaked in grass-fed whole milk, frozen blueberries and mixed fruits); cafe con leche: 646 calories
• Lunch: large grapefruit; brie cheese (terrible lunch - see day 1: re: no time to cook over the weekend ): 532 calories
• Dinner: Double serving of southwest salad (chicken, romaine, salsa, sour cream, avocado); medium pear: 814 calories
• Snack: this is what killed me - I felt somewhat hungry around bedtime, so I decided to have a snack...that ended up being as many calories as a meal - another pear, brie cheese, mandarin orange, and a little of the ginger stir-fried noodles I made for my boyfriend: 735 calories

 

Total intake: 2,726 calories - So, already can't get an A (or B or C) anymore on this one.  I'm really kicking myself for that late night snack.

 

2) Fitbit: 4,087 steps - Didn't meet my goal on this one either, but I did do the nerd fitness warm up and the beginner bodyweight workout, which felt really good.

 

3) No tennis today

 

4) No Tai Chi today - tomorrow I have my class, and my goal is to write down everything we do during the break and afterwards (as much as I can remember), because whenever I think of practicing on my own I realize that I can't remember the order of things very well.

 

5) Completed lesson 7

 

Not a great day, but I won't let myself fall off the wagon completely like I so often do.  Going to get right back on track for day 3!

[Teirin]

One day should not wreck your goal.  Maybe consider changing that to a target weekly average and grade each week? 

 

Warmup, BBWW, and 4000 steps is a good day! 

 

Good atitude, keep right on going tomorrow :-)

[Presea]

One day should not wreck your goal.  Maybe consider changing that to a target weekly average and grade each week? 

 

Warmup, BBWW, and 4000 steps is a good day! 

 

Good atitude, keep right on going tomorrow :-)

 

I was originally going to have the grade be based on how many days I stayed under 2500 calories.  But thinking about it, and knowing myself too well, I realized that if I did that then any day I went over 2500 I would just keep eating because, well, the goal was shot for the day!  Which is why I switched it to A being no days over 2500, B no days over 2600, etc.

 

BUT your idea of a weekly target is something I hadn't thought of!  That way I have motivation in weeks 2+ for keeping it under 2500 rather than just keeping it under 2800.

 

Thanks so much for the tips and encouragement!  I've always tried to go it alone on weight loss and fitness goals; this is the first time I've tried something like this forum and so far it's been really helpful.

[Presea]

Week 1 - Let's Get SMART

So you've set up your challenge and people have popped in and said hi, given you some advise on your goals and just generally cheered you on for the start of your challenge. There's so much information to go that sometimes it seems like you're being overwhelmed.  How do I allocate attribute points?  Which guild do I join? What should my workout look like? Can I join an Accountability Squad?

 

You don't need to worry about these things right now.  What you do need to worry is your challenge.  For this first week you should be focusing on your own quests.  Once you're comfortable with them you can move onto other questions. Your mini quest this week will to really really look at your goals and make sure that they're SMART. 

 

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Attainable/Achievable

R = Realistic/Reasonable

T = Timeous

 

Here are some questions to put your goals to the test:

1. Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)?  Is it reasonable?  My overall quest for the 6-week challenge is to lose 5 lbs.  This is an average of less than a pound a week, so it is definitely reasonable.  No change needed.

2. Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much? Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on?  All four of my quests contribute to my overall quest because they are either focused on calories in or calories out.  They are each very specific, so they do not have subquests.  They are all modest goals: 2500 calories is a high enough upper limit because my BMR is below 1700, at least of the steps in my fitbit goal are built into my day (walking around the office and house like I usually do, taking the stairs like I usually do), I already play tennis an average of twice a week, and I am currently attending a tai chi class that guarantees the first four weeks I'll be doing it at least once.  I'm trying to start out with some very basic habits on which to build the foundation for future challenges.  No change needed.

3. Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them?  My main goals are to lose weight and get fitter, and I've already scaled both to small goals for first steps for the first challenge.  No change needed.

4. Are your goals able to be measured and tracked?  What will you use to track them?  Calories are tracked using my Loseit! account, steps are tracked using my new Fitbit Zip, and the tennis and tai chi are simple counts to track on my own.  I have a detailed grading scale in place in my challenge.  No change needed.

5. How are you grading your goals?  Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)?  Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€?  My calorie goal is an "every day" type goal, and on day 2 I already broke it.  It was suggested that I adjust the goal to make it a weekly grade instead.  Will change.

6. What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured?  If I become injured, I will scale back my activity goals depending on the injury or illness.  I will adjust down the calorie limit accodingly.  Will change if needed.

7. Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge?  What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those?  Not needed, as my goals are not ambitious enough to make special occassions a problem.  No change needed.

8. Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another?  No, none are so time or energy consuming as to conflict with eachother.  No  change needed.

9. Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set?  If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them?  As I am currently not studying for an actuarial exam, I believe I have enough time in my schedule to accomodate my goals.  In future challenges that coincide with exam preparation, I wll need to take this into account.  No change needed.

10. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest?  I am trying to build multpile small habits that contribute to my main quest.  No change needed.

Your mini quest: Make sure your goals are definitely SMART.

 

For completing this mini quest you will receive an additional +1WIS at the end of the 6 weeks.

[Presea]

Day 3:

 

1) Calories intake:

• Breakfast: Smoothie (protein powder, chia seeds soaked in grass-fed whole milk, frozen blueberries and mixed fruits); cafe con leche: 689 calories
• Lunch: Southwest chicken salad (romaine, chicken breast, sour cream, salsa, avocado): 485 calories
• Dinner: Southwest chicken salad (romaine, chicken breast, sour cream, salsa, avocado, tomato): 496 calories
• Snack: 1 large grapefruit, 1 medium pear, no sugar added hot cocoa made w/coffee, a few bites of the homeade pizza I made for my boyfriend: 633 calories

Total intake: 2302 calories

 

2) Fitbit: 4,452 steps - Just short of my goal again.  Maybe I'll add in a few sets of stairs at work (I work on the 9th floor, and almost always take the stairs up in the morning, but I could do a couple more sets during the day)

 

3) No tennis today

 

4) Tai Chi class today - I noted some of the warmup exercises to do another day later this week.  I also decided to purchase the DVD the instructor has for doing the form, but I won't have it until next week.

 

5) Completed lesson 8

 

Overall a good day!

[Presea]

Since nobody seems to have recognized my character, I will introduce you to my all-time favorite video game.  You're welcome  

 

[Presea]

Day 4:

 

1) Calories intake:

• Breakfast: Smoothie (protein powder, chia seeds soaked in grass-fed whole milk, frozen blueberries and mixed fruits): 533 calories
• Lunch: Southwest chicken salad (romaine, chicken breast, sour cream, salsa, avocado, tomato): 496 calories
• Dinner: Southwest chicken salad (romaine, chicken breast, sour cream, salsa, avocado, tomato, salami, manchego cheese): 697 calories
• Snack: 1 large grapefruit, 1 medium pear, homeade new england clam chowder: 570 calories

Total intake: 2295 calories

 

2) Fitbit: 6051 - I took the steps up to the 9th floor twice today; also did the NF warm up, beginner bodyweight workout, and beginner stretching routine

 

3) No tennis today

 

4) No Tai Chi today

 

5) Completed lesson 9

 

Another good day!  I'm feeling very energetic

[Teirin]

Lots of fruit and veg there :-)  Do you like sweet potatoes or carrots? 

 

Having the DVD will be nice.  Planning on doing some further training at home?

[Presea]

Lots of fruit and veg there :-)  Do you like sweet potatoes or carrots? 

 

Having the DVD will be nice.  Planning on doing some further training at home?

 

Probably too much fruit, but that's because I didn't have time over the weekend to make my usual egg/broccoli/cheese bake for breakfasts, so I was stuck having smoothies all week for breakfast.  I put carrots in the clam chowder I made yesterday, so I'll be getting my carrots in the next few days .  I also love sweet potatoes, but don't have many recipes that incorporate them.  Mostly just bake them and have as a side (slathered with butter of course! haha).  There are very few fruits and veggies that I dislike.

 

I think I need to practice the form more than the 1x/week in class to solidify it in my memory.  Long term, I'd like to be able to do a little every morning to get my body limber and energized for the day.  But first I need to learn the movements and get the theory down pat!

[Teirin]

Sweet potatoes are also really good with garam masala spice if you like spices.

[Presea]

Day 5:

 

1) Calories intake:

• Breakfast: Smoothie (protein powder, chia seeds soaked in grass-fed whole milk, frozen blueberries and mixed fruits); cafe con leche: 651 calories
• Lunch: Southwest chicken salad (romaine, salami, italian sausage, sour cream, salsa, tomato): 568 calories
• Dinner: 2 bowls of homeade clam chowder, 1 large grapefruit, 1 medium pear: 930 calories
• Snack: manchego cheese with salami: 470 calories

Total intake: 2619 calories - a little high because I got hungry right before bed and had that snack.  If I can just make those snacks smaller, and maybe hold some calories back knowing I get hungry then, then I can avoid going over in the future.

 

2) Fitbit: 9074 - I went to the gym at work (I work in a big corporate building) during my lunch break, and did 2 miles of easy walking on the treadmill.  If you believe it, I was playing Pokemon Black 2 on my DS the whole time I was walking  .  No one said anything to me, but I can only imagine what they were thinking, lol.  (Yes, I have fallen behind on my pokemon - this game was sitting in the box for 2 years, and I think at least 2 more pokemon games have been released in the mean time.  I have lots of catching up to do!)

 

3) No tennis today

 

4) No Tai Chi today

 

5) Completed lesson 10

[Presea]

Day 6:

 

1) Calories intake:

• Breakfast: egg bake (pasture eggs, broccoli, sauteed onion and mushrooms, Kerrygold Dubliner); cafe con leche: 627 calories
  
• Lunch: Southwest chicken salad (romaine, salami, sour cream, salsa, tomato); 1 large grapefruit: 581 calories
  
• Dinner: 1 1/2 bowls of homeade clam chowder, 1 medium pear: 644 calories
  
• Snack: brie cheese; 1 med banana: 413 calories
  

Total intake: 2264 calories - and pretty much 100% primal   

 

2) Fitbit: 14,260 steps!  Thanks to grocery shopping (my new technique at Costco has been to leave my cart in a quite area, then walk around and grab stuff, coming back to drop off in the cart when my arms are full - avoids the stress of giant cart over-congested aisles, and makes me increase my step count too!) and walking for an hour on the treadmill in the little fitness center in our apartment complex (again playing Pokemon all the while   )

 

3) No tennis today

 

4) No Tai Chi today

 

5) Completed lesson 11; Also facebook chatted with my dear sister (she lives in Nagasaki) so had a chance to drill her with a bunch of questions that have been lingering in my mind from Pimsleur lessons.

 

Amazing how easy it is to get lots of steps in when I am not sitting at a desk for 8-9 hours!  Although I did roughly 50% of my taxes, so I was sitting at a desk for a couple of hours....but still!

[Presea]

Day 7:

 

1) Calories intake:

• Breakfast: egg bake (pasture eggs, broccoli, sauteed onion and mushrooms, Kerrygold Dubliner); cafe con leche: 627 calories
  
• Lunch: Salad (mixed greens, sardines in EVOO, tomato, avocado, balsamic vinegar, mustard); 1 large grapefruit: 579 calories
  
• Dinner: 1 1/2 bowls of homeade clam chowder, 2 medium pears: 747 calories
  
• Snack: brie cheese: 201 calories
  

Total intake: 2152 calories

 

2) Fitbit: 10,524 steps   

 

3) Subbed in a doubles ladder.  We lost 6-3, 0-6, 4-3 (agreed to play as much of the 3rd set as possible until we ran out of time)

 

4) No Tai Chi today

 

5) Didn't have enough time in the car to complete a lesson.

 

****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

 

Week 1 Summary:

 

Main Quest: Lose 5 lbs. by the end of the challenge.  Monday morning weigh-in: 183.9 lbs (-1.0 lbs) / 83.5 kg (-0.5 kg)

 

Subquest 1: Don't exceed 2500 on any day: fail for this week, but I can still get a partial grade if I improve in the coming weeks.

• Day 1: 2380
  
• Day 2: 2726
  
• Day 3: 2302
  
• Day 4: 2295
  
• Day 5: 2619
  
• Day 6: 2264
  
• Day 7: 2152
  

Subquest 2: 5,000 steps/day on my Fitbit Zip: If I continue my current pace, I will only make the D grade.

• Day 1: 13,339
  
• Day 2: 4,087
  
• Day 3: 4,452
  
• Day 4: 6,051
  
• Day 5: 9,074
  
• Day 6: 14,260
  
• Day 7: 10,524
  

Subquest 3: Play tennis an average of 2x/week: Played twice this week (Monday and Sunday) - so far so good!

 

Subquest 4: Practice Tai Chi 2x/week: Only practiced once (in class Wednesday) - on par for D grade.

 

Life Quest: Complete Pimsleur Japanese 3: Have completed through lesson 11 (of 30 total), some done before challenge started - on par to complete quest.

[Presea]

Day 8:

 

1) Calories intake:

• Breakfast: egg bake (pasture eggs, broccoli, sauteed onion and mushrooms, Kerrygold Dubliner); cafe con leche: 627 calories
• Lunch: Salad (mixed greens, sardines in EVOO, tomato, avocado, balsamic vinegar, mustard); 1 large grapefruit: 740 calories
• Dinner: 2 bowls of homeade clam chowder: 721 calories
• Snack: Chopped Salad (romaine, corn, avocado, hard boiled egg, green goddess dressing): 386 calories

Total intake: 2472 calories - Just under the limit!  I was about to eat a pear last night, but checked my total first

 

2) Fitbit: 15,370 steps - Most of the steps are from my tennis match, but I did have another trying physicial activity.  My Dad dropped off my grandparent's old dinning room table, so we had to carry it up to my apartment.  My arms are killing me this morning!  Weakness.

 

3) Got to play singles in my USTA league team last night!  Victory! 6-2, 6-4

 

4) No Tai Chi today

 

5) Completed lesson 12.  Need to get to the library soon to pick up part B!