Solstice Tiger, establishing a basline

[Solstice Tiger]

Establishing a Baseline

 

OK! I've done two challenges here so far and they've both gone fairly well. Not as well as maybe I'd like (or as I could probably do), but decently well enough. I've increased my strength over both of them, my hydration over the last one, and am working on my flexibility too. I did all of this because I wanted to get started and do things or I wouldn't get started or do things at all.

 

Now it's time to get a baseline.

Quest 1: Track all caloric intake and exercise.

I don't know exactly how much I eat or how much the exercise I do affects anything. I used to think that food tracking was for weird people...but then I thought recently, "wtf, I AM A WEIRD PERSON." So it's time to get on the bandwagon. I'd like to know what I'm eating now so that in six weeks I can take a look at where I am and decide where I'm going. I can't really adjust my eating habits if I don't really know what they are, now can I?

This isn't a quest to judge me for what I'm doing; it's a quest to get to know me. I will strive for these six weeks to not be harsh with myself for doing or eating what I normally would. I know that as a consequence of tracking my intake, some of it will naturally change, but that is not the point of this exercise.

Grading: 7x/week = A

 

While I'm doing that, I want to kick my workouts up a notch. I may not be completely ready for the Advanced Bodyweight Workout, but if I waited until I was completely ready to try something, I'd never go anywhere!

Quest 2: Bodyweight workouts

I can do some modifications to the ABW to more match where I'm at, but I think I'm ready to move on from the Beginner Bodyweight Workout. I've started seriously working on completing a pull up, and I can do 2-4 pushups on the floor (depending on the day/set). I can do deep squats too! One-legged is just a step away.

My fiancé is even working out with me now, so this is extra motivation to not slack off. He may stay at the beginner routine since he just started doing this with me a couple weeks ago.

Grading: 3x/week =A

 

And what's a good workout without some flexibility? Bending and stretching and being able to move in many directions is an important component of future goals, so I'm keeping a quest from last time (assuming that's allowed!).

Quest 3: Stretching and sleeping

By far last challenge, consistently stretching was the quest I did worst on. Either I didn't want to in the morning because I was tired, or I forgot in the evening because I was tired. So this is a two-part quest. 

First part, I need to get to bed at about the same time every night, weekends included, so that I can get in the proper sleep cycles before morning. I already know that I need to be asleep before 10:30 in order to hit that spot.

Second part, I need to get out of bed at about the same time every morning and do my stretching. It's a good way to start the day and, along with water, helps me feel more awake.

Grading: In bed before 10:15p 5x/week = A

               Out of bed before 6:10a 5x/week = A

I'm allowing myself a couple of days for wiggle room as I adjust to this two-part quest. They are graded separately, but I must pass both of them to gain a level.

 

Finally, while I'm improving my body, let's also expand my mind! As I search for a new job, it's remarkable what skills recruiters are looking for these days outside of the regular what would be expected. It will be good to learn new things as well as add some skills to my resume.

Life Quest: Coding

Html is the code of choice in my field, it seems. Some of the bits on my company's website, as well as our e-mail marketing site, are easier to figure with some html knowledge. So I'll take these six weeks as a time to get a basic knowledge of html coding. I already have an account at CodeAcademy and had started one of their programs a while back. I will restart that program and progress as I gain confidence.

Grading: 3x/week = A

 

And now, to get at it!

[Solstice Tiger]

"Injury" note:

Due to a very odd lump on the back of one knee that hurts on occasion (like when I poke it or when I move from sitting to standing), I will be taking it easy on my leg workouts. I may do abbreviated sets or I may skip them entirely; I'm not positive yet. I did 3 sets of squats on Saturday when it first appeared, but since I don't have health insurance right now, I don't want to do anything potentially stupid. It seems to be smaller and less painful today than Saturday, so that is good. I will be keeping an eye on it.

[Solstice Tiger]

Sooooo I completely disregarded my "injury" and did leg workouts like I usually would. It's feeling OK, so I don't think I did anything bad.

 

Feb 23 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food! I'm using MyFitnessPal and I entered the workout I did today too....but for some reason strength training does not count against the calories I eat...OH WELL. This is an exercise in tracking, anyway.

Quest 2: Modified Advanced Bodyweight Circuit!! I did 2 rounds of this. I did assisted pull ups and chin ups since I'm not there yet (but YOU GUYS I did HALF OF A PULL UP and that's really exciting!!) and just did 30 bodyweight squats instead of 10 one-leggeds (not quite there yet) and 20 bodyweight. I also alternated leg and arm workouts, otherwise I'm not sure I could have done a full 2! But YAY!!! I think my fiance thought I was crazy as we worked out because I kept groaning and saying it was hard and then saying how great it was....haha! But I'm pretty proud of myself and I'm definitely proud that I can do half a pull up (I started from the hang and got myself to about 90 degree arms before I couldn't go up any farther).

Quest 3: I did not stretch this morning (because I kind of didn't make my quests until I was at work) but I have full intentions of going to bed at the proper time! (Guess I'll update this tomorrow morning?) [ETA: Success!]

Life Quest: No coding today. My fiance has an evening full of MTG tomorrow, so I'm thinking Tuesdays will be a good day to get some solid codework in.

 

[karinajean]

Yay for half a pull up! And yeah, my husband totally has gotten used to me swearing a lotvand then saying that I'm amazing. I mean what is he going to do, disagree!?

[Solstice Tiger]

Yay for half a pull up! And yeah, my husband totally has gotten used to me swearing a lotvand then saying that I'm amazing. I mean what is he going to do, disagree!?

 

Haha, exactly! He's pretty good at encouraging me, even if he thinks I'm crazy, which is nice.

[Scarlet Legend]

Hey!!!

Awesome goals and super props for working on pull ups!

One pull closer to being a better assassin.

[Solstice Tiger]

Hey!!!

Awesome goals and super props for working on pull ups!

One pull closer to being a better assassin.

 

Yeah! Gotta be able to reach my targets if they flee to rooftops!!

[Solstice Tiger]

Feb 24 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food. I did find myself re-evaluating some of my food ideas for the day, but went with them anyway since the point is to figure out what I do eat, not what I should eat.

Quest 2: no workout required

Quest 3: Up at the 6:10 alarm and did my stretches and in bed before 10

Life Quest: Logged in to Codecademy and did the first website creation module. I think it may have been about 1-2 hours of fun fun fun (watching as the code I typed became a webpage next to it was super awesome). I look forward to my next coding session. Hopefully I remember what I learned this time!

 

Feb 25 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food. Though there is something I had for lunch that I didn't put in because I didn't have the recipe with me...I shall go get that now and put it in...And I did it. Now everything is tracked for today.

Quest 2: 2 circuits. The fiance was sleeping on the couch for the duration, which didn't help anything because it kind of made me mad and made me want to stop. But I continued. I did most of the reps for each set, though there were a couple I had to back off on due to funny feelings. (Also, with him sleeping, it made it hard to do my push ups because I usually yell during those [it helps!] and I couldn't yell with him sleeping...)

Quest 3: Up at the 6:10 alarm (though I had basically woken up at 5:30 and wanted to stay in bed) and did my stretches. Will update tomorrow on sleep time.

Life Quest: no coding today

 

IT IS ONLY WEDNESDAY. /sigh

I want a weekend. It's snowing again, going to keep snowing overnight. I don't mind snow as long as I don't have to be out in it, but I have to go to work tomorrow and that makes me grumpy. Time to get to bed, I suppose!

[Space Monkey]

Hey awesome goals,

 

I too a using MyFitnessPal to track calories and exercise! The weight exercises dont get you extra calories it's only for tracking progress. You have to look it up in the cardiovascular section under e.g. circuit training to track the calories you've burned

[Solstice Tiger]

Hey awesome goals,

 

I too a using MyFitnessPal to track calories and exercise! The weight exercises dont get you extra calories it's only for tracking progress. You have to look it up in the cardiovascular section under e.g. circuit training to track the calories you've burned

 

Ah, hey, good to know! I'm not too concerned about it right now, but I might be toward the end of this challenge when I want to take my newfound knowledge and do something with it. I really like MyFitnessPal but I really hate that after I complete each day it tells me "you'll weigh xxx pounds in x weeks if every day was like today!" I want to yell at it that that's not the point for me...but it won't understand.

[Space Monkey]

Oh well I don't think you actually have to click the complete button, it doesn't do anything a part from giving you said estimate.

I really love the macro pie chart

[Solstice Tiger]

Oh well I don't think you actually have to click the complete button, it doesn't do anything a part from giving you said estimate.

I really love the macro pie chart

 

Oh good! hahaha, if I can avoid that estimate I might be happier The estimate has varied widely the last few days anyway.

 

Macro...pie chart? This is a thing I am unfamiliar with, being new to the world of food tracking.

[Solstice Tiger]

catch up time!

 

Feb 26 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food! I'm finding it's fairly easy to remember to track everything, if, while I'm eating it, I enter it in my phone. Though it isn't a foolproof plan, it's working OK so far.

Quest 2: no workout required

Quest 3: up before 6:10 and did my stretches. Also in bed before 10:15. I find I'm getting pretty dang tired at about 9:30 these days, which is super useful since that's the time I've designated as the time I get off my butt and start getting ready for bed.

Life Quest: Coding! I had done a little html and css last time and Codecademy wanted to get my into Javascript and JQuery and I was like NOPE so I switched courses from "learn to build cool websites" to "learn html and css." I basically spent my time re-learning what I had already gone through on Tuesday, but I think that's good because it more firmly cemented the stuff in my mind. (Also, my right pinky HURT after I got done coding. I guess that's what I get for only using that finger as my Shift button hitter. Yay for learning to type "incorrectly.")

 

Feb 27 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food!

Quest 2: I DID 3 CIRCUITS. I was tired after 2 but I wanted to see if I could do it, and by gum I can! So I'll be doing 3 from here on in. I am still only able to do 3 push ups on the floor before I have to elevate up higher but I'm OK with this since I'm doing a lot more with my arms with the ABW and consistently hitting 3 with all of that is pretty good. Of course, I will look to improve because ALWAYS BE IMPROVING but I will take what I got right now. Tried putting stuff on my chair to better do the jacknife pull ups but that mostly ended in my heels breaking the box and almost pushing the chair over...so we're back to assisted with my foot on the chair because that doesn't threaten anyone's safety. Planks were also at ~20 seconds; my lower back was rebelling and since I've had problems with it in the past, when it complains, I stop.

Quest 3: up before 6:10 to stretch and in bed before 10:15. ON A FRIDAY. That's right kids: I'm getting old! Or, rather, I'm just realizing that I can't stay up late and be productive. ....oh god....I'M AN ADULT. HAAAAAALP.

Life Quest: no coding today

[Space Monkey]

The macro pie chart is a feature in the android app that allows you to see what percentage of you calorie intake comes from protein carbs and fats. I'm not sure if it's available on the web page though. I personally prefer the app.

Great job on you quests!! Awesome that you kept on pushing for a third circuit!

[Solstice Tiger]

Ooo, I like the pie chart much better than the giant nutrition label!! Though it does show me that I am so not eating enough protein usually... That is going to be really helpful! Thanks!!

[jaex]

Love the challenge goals!  And glad to see my favorite Hawkguy is still around (I disappeared from the forums for a bit).  Definitely will be checking in on your challenge now!

[Solstice Tiger]

Hi Jaex! Good to see you around again I'll be following you too!

[Solstice Tiger]

Feb 28 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food

Quest 2: no workout required (weekend resting)

Quest 3: not up before 6:10 (I mean, it was Saturday and I figure if I'm not going to get up at the proper time, it's gonna be on a weekend) but I did stretch. I got to bed at 10:17 which is not close enough to count toward my goal.

Life Quest: no coding

 

March 1 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food

Quest 2: no workout required

Quest 3: not up before 6:10 though I did get to bed before 10:15

Life Quest: did some html practice

[Solstice Tiger]

Week 1 Wrap Up

Quest 1: Track all caloric intake and exercise

M, T, W, R, F, Sat, Sun

7/7 Success!

 

Quest 2: Bodyweight workouts

M, W, F

3/3 Success!

 

Quest 3: Stretching and sleeping

3a: In bed before 10:15

M, T, W, R, F, Sun

6/5 Excellent!

 

3b: Up before 6:10

T, W, R, F

4/5 Pretty good!

 

3c: Stretching

T, W, R, F, Sat, Sun

6/7 Pretty good!

I realize stretching wasn't explicitly enumerated in my quest grading. I should go back and do that, because the sleeping parts are only to facilitate the stretching.

 

Life Quest: Coding

T, R, Sun

3/3 Success!

 

Well, I am off to a rip-roaring start to this six-week challenge! Huzzah!! I even contributed some pull ups to the first Assassin challenge. (I don't keep track of stat points, so I don't feel like enumerating them here.) I'm feeling good about the challenge so far, and my knee hasn't been a problem in my exercises though that funny lump is still there. I will probably get it looked at eventually. 

 

Well, there we are. Woo!

[jaex]

Good job on week 1!  And congrats on the pull-up progress!

[Space Monkey]

Ooo, I like the pie chart much better than the giant nutrition label!! Though it does show me that I am so not eating enough protein usually... That is going to be really helpful! Thanks!!

 

Me tooo It can be a little bit addictive

 

 

Great job on your first week!!

[Solstice Tiger]

Oh-KAY!

 

I have not updated progress here for....um...this entire week 2. Whoops. >.< here goes:

 

March 2 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food and exercise

Quest 2: 3 circuits of ABW completed

Quest 3: Up by 6:10 and stretched plus in bed before 10:15

Life Quest: no coding practice

 

March 3 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food

Quest 2: no workout required

Quest 3: up by 6:10 and stretched plus in bed before 10:15

Life Quest: html coding practice!

 

March 4 Quest Log

Quest 1:  tracked my food

Quest 2: 2 circuits of ABW completed

Quest 3:  up by 6:10  and stretched plus in bed before 10:15

Life Quest: no coding practice

 

March 5 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food

Quest 2: no workout required

Quest 3: up by 6:10 and stretched but not in bed on time

Life Quest: no coding practice

 

March 6 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food

Quest 2: did not workout

Quest 3: not up, didn't stretch, not in bed on time

Life Quest: no coding practice

 

March 7 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food

Quest 2: did not workout

Quest 3: not up, didn't stretch, not in bed on time

Life Quest: no coding practice

 

March 8 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food

Quest 2: did not workout

Quest 3: not up, didn't stretch, made it to bed on time

Life Quest: html practice!

 

So, the week started well! Didn't end well because the fiance and I went up to Glenwood Springs at the end of Thursday for a long anniversary weekend. Ended up eating too much on Friday so I forgot about working out. Decided on Saturday to not workout, though we've walked around Glenwood a decent amount so we're not completely sedentary this weekend. Definitely eaten more than I usually do, though I still managed to track my foods. And (success!) the fiance is now using MyFitnessPal too; I didn't even have to suggest it. I've just been using it steadily for the last almost two weeks and he picked it up himself. We've been sleeping in and going to bed later than normal (only be an hour, usually) since we're on vacation.

 

The plan is to get home this afternoon and settle back in there and begin workouts again on Monday. I've a feeling it's going to be harder than usual, but that's what I get and I'll accept that. I'll see about getting some coding in this evening when we're home so the life quest isn't a wash and make sure I go to bed on time since tomorrow is a work day.

[jaex]

A break (especially to celebrate time with the fiancee) is fine to have.  Just so long as you get back to the good habits you've been building and don't let the break turn into something longer.  I have faith in you!

[Solstice Tiger]

Thanks Jaex! That's the plan

 

Week 2 Wrap Up

Quest 1: Track all caloric intake and exercise

M, T, W, R, F, Sat, Sun

7/7 Success!

 

Quest 2: Bodyweight workouts

M, W

2/3 Decent

 

Quest 3: Stretching and sleeping

3a: In bed before 10:15

M, T, W, Sun

4/5 Decent 

 

3b: Up before 6:10

M, T, W, R

4/5 Decent

 

3c: Stretching

M, T, W, R

4/5 Decent

 

Life Quest: Coding

T, Sun

2/3 Decent

 

So, despite my lovely weekend off, I'm still technically doing OK in terms of my goals.

For Week 3, back on the train!

[Solstice Tiger]

March 9 Quest Log

Quest 1: tracked my food and exercise and I even (essentially) hit the macros on the pie chart in MFP. Which is cool, if not the point of this quest

Quest 2: 2 circuits of the ABW. After taking about 4 days off, 2 was doing it. I'm determined to make it back to 3 on Wednesday.

Quest 3: up on time and stretched though I really wanted to keep sleeping and in bed on time

Life Quest: no coding today

 

Getting back on the wagon in good order And, just in case anyone was wondering, the curry stuffed sweet potatoes recipe that was posted a little while back is pretty delicious. And I don't really like sweet potatoes either! (But I'm kind of beginning to be OK with them, which is good. They're pretty delicious when you roast them in olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme too.)