Chris-Tien Jinn Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 I wasn't sure I was going to participate this time, but then an email inspired a theme and a purpose for the next 6 weeks ..... fixing a bunch of bad habits that have stalled my weight loss efforts!!!! As I skimmed this article from Fitocracy, I realized that I'm guilty on 5 of the 6 counts. If I want to succeed, I need to fix a bunch of mistakes and stop setting myself up for failure!!! Thankfully, I am usually a good shopper with only a weakness for the deli counter, but the others ..... I have my work cut out for me. So, this challenge will be a bit different for me. And newbies be warned - I'm breaking a number of the guidelines for RP challenges. So don't use me as an example. I'll be setting goals that primarily will increase wisdom and constitution. But, since 80% of success happens in the kitchen (and the grocery store), I think this challenge will set me up for success in the future. So, watch this space for details ..... I'll be editing it through the weekend to make measurable goals that help me fix my mistakes and use lots of exclamation marks!!! Mistake #1 - Eating out/Take out The good news is that I have historical data on how frequently I eat out or grab take out. The bad news is that ...... out of 42 days in the challenge, I ate out or grabbed "healthy" foods from the deli ....... get ready for it ..... 37 days!!! 88% of my challenge days involved buying prepared foods, most of which I can prepare easily at home. FIX #1: Stop eating out so much, DUH!! (2 WIS, 1 CON)To be reasonable and yet make progress, I'm going to reduce the number of days in which I eat out or grab something from the deli .... Scoring based on days that I mess up:4 days: A8 days: B12 days: C16 days: D20+ days: F Mistake #2 - SnackingThis isn't SUCH a big problem for me as eating out is ... or so I thought, until I went back through my data. YIKES!!!! 34 days out of 42 had a snack, and often NOT something light. FIX #2 - Reduce unplanned snacking (2 WIS, 1 CON)I am going to plan for truly healthy snacks, especially for after hard workouts. And I will aim at reducing the number of days when I give up and eat something just because I am bored, because hubby is having a snack, or because I didn't plan ahead and eat properly at the prior meal. Scoring based on days that I mess up:4 days: A8 days: B12 days: C16 days: D20+ days: F Mistake #3 - Not planning for splurgesIn fact, I have not been planning meals at all!! Breakfast (eggs) is on autolock, but the rest of the day has been done by last-minute inspiration. At the end of the day, when I enter in what I've eaten, I might be pleasantly surprised ..... or completely shocked. Logging is a good first step, but planning needs to be a close second. FIX #3 - PLAN!!!! (3 WIS)I'm usually a big planner, but a lot of things have been up in the air for the past two years, and I just stopped planning meals. In part, because when I'm home alone, it doesn't seem like I NEED to plan meals. Not like when I had a family, and we needed to know what we were eating so it could be accomplished before dashing off to the evening activities. So, time to stop moping about the empty nest and a hubby who lives a couple hours away. I'm going to sit down this weekend and create interchangeable menus on index cards. That way, I can have some variety within limits. And I'll be better about cooking (see fix #1) and freezing the extras. I have the big freezer plugged in downstairs and can just call this "cooking ahead". To keep accountable, I'm entering the weekly plan into LoseIt. And I'll post pics here!!! So, watch for food porn. I AM a pretty good cook. Scoring based on SUCCESS days:A: 38B: 34C: 29D: 25F: 21 or fewer Mistake #4 - Food as medicineAs an athlete, I was just interested in food to support my activity level and provide the needed macros. I've fallen a long way from that stance since 2005 and now routinely use food and wine to make me feel better, to reduce boredom, as part of socialization, and as celebration. The problem is that .... it doesn't work. And often, I not only feel worse physically but also then beat myself up emotionally. But I keep falling back into those patterns, in part because hubby encourages them. Fix #4 - Food as fuel (2 WIS, 1 CON)Measuring the mental shift might be a bit of a challenge, but I'm going to try this strategy:Identify 20 triggers or situations where food becomes more than food Construct 20 alternatives - one per trigger - that can be played to combat the problem situationScoring:A: 20B: 18C:16D: 14F: 12 or fewer Mistake #5 - Inconsistency in exerciseLooking back over my logs, I see that I have episodes of high activity, burning 400+ calories in exercise. And then, I have days when I don't really do much other than a gentle 30 minute walk. To some extent, that's fine, and I am exercising most days. But it also means that it is hard to plan meals when I don't know how much I'll be burning, and I've often eating as if I were going to have a big workout day ..... but then end up on the couch and stockpiling that extra calorie intake as fat. Fix #5 - Plan workouts and even out calorie expenditures (1 WIS, 2 STA)Well, the theme of the challenge is planning and consistency, I think. It's OK if I don't workout every day, but it is essential that I PLAN for rest days instead of letting them just happen. So, the aim is to plan my work and work my plan. At the beginning of the week, I'll sketch out planned activities as well as meals. That means that I ADJUST meal plan for the planned rest day(s), if necessary. I've been fighting a bit of a sore hip and knee, which means that I may end up adjusting workouts to prevent injury. Scoring based on days that I mess up:4 days: A8 days: B12 days: C16 days: D20+ days: F Attribute points .....A 100%B 90%C 80%D 70%F 50% for trying ..... PLUS MINIs!!!! Week 1: +1 STAWeek 2: Week 3: NadaWeek 4: 4 Quote Level 63 Human ... Oath of Ancients Paladin "We are better than we know, if we can be made to see it, [then] for the rest of our lives, we'll be unwilling to settle for less." - Kurt Hahn STR: 14 | DEX: 14| CON: 17 | INT: 17 | WIS: 17 | CHA: 14 Link to comment
DarK_RaideR Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 There you are! *subscribes* 1 Quote Lvl 54 Multitasker Link to comment
Chris-Tien Jinn Posted April 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 There you are! *subscribes* Assassins should be hard to find! 2 Quote Level 63 Human ... Oath of Ancients Paladin "We are better than we know, if we can be made to see it, [then] for the rest of our lives, we'll be unwilling to settle for less." - Kurt Hahn STR: 14 | DEX: 14| CON: 17 | INT: 17 | WIS: 17 | CHA: 14 Link to comment
Son of Rylos Posted April 11, 2015 Report Share Posted April 11, 2015 Love your goals! #1 hits me right where I'm wanting to go too. Damn those prepared foods!! Camping out and watching the progress (plus inspiration too)! 1 Quote Link to comment
petefeet Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Following along for a couple reasons... 1. I'm on loseit as well and like to support the people that use that wonderful site. 2. The theme of your challenge is something we can ALL relate to. 3. FOOD PORN!!! 1 Quote Race: Halfling Class: Rebel Recruit 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th Current Challenge Writer's Guild Fictionfirst Used Books (Feel free to like my page!) Link to comment
Elastigirl Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Love the challenge, and how it helps you focus on what will help you succeed. I hear you on the transistion from planning when kids were at home, and you had places to go, to empty nesting. I had gotten the hang of planning when my son was young, but after he moved out, I got lazy about it.Then, I figured it out, and had a good rhythm going and my son moved back in, and I struggled with that, and now I'm finally figuring it out. 1 Quote Wisdom 22.5 Dexterity 13 Charisma 15 Strength 21 Constitution-13 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind' Luke 10; 27 Link to comment
nightlight Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 hi hi hi 1 Quote "Come with me if you want to lift" -The Brominator "Later, I would learn that coincidences are the most planned things in the world. Later, I would learn that every single moment is a coincidence." - Douglas Coupland "Anyone who doesn't want french fries every day is a commie." - AngelaTheGeek Current Challenge INSTAGRAM!! find me on twitter Link to comment
karinajean Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 this is a tremendously good challenge! I love it! 1 Quote 2014! #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 2015! #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 | #11 | #12 | 2016! #13 | #14 | #15 | #16 | #17 | #18 | #19 | #20 | #21 | #22 | #23 | 2017! #24 | #25 | #26 | #27 | #28 | #29 | #30 | #31 | #32 | #33 | 2018! #34 | #35 | #36 | #37v1 | #37v2 | 2019! #38 | #39 | #40 | reference materials | academy battle log mermaid ninja assassin. on a motorcycle. with swords. and knitting needles. and kittens. Link to comment
Airlia Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 subscribing! Great goals. All habits that I need to keep in the forefront of my mind too. For me, unplanned snacking is the worst. Looking forward to seeing your success!! 1 Quote Level: 3Guild: AssassinRace: Air SpriteSTR 8 | DEX 4 | STA 9 | CON 3 | WIS 5 | CHA 3 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. - King Solomon Current ChallengePrevious Challenge Link to comment
Chris-Tien Jinn Posted April 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Day One went well .... so we are off to a GOOD START!!! No food porn yet. I messed around with some options last night and finally decided to reload Tapatalk on my iPhone in order to post pics of meals easily. Yesterday's meals weren't all that photogenic anyway. BUT - I did cook all three meals!!! "Cooking" for one often means pulling together leftovers, but at least I did that much work toward feeding myself well. I think the discipline of posting pics of my meals will help me enjoy the process and put a little more effort into it. And make me actually put food ON A PLATE!! Kitty and puppy will be bummed. They've gotten used to finding crumbs beneath my chair in the TV room. SummaryEat out or take out: 0Unplanned snacking: 0Planned Meals: 1Binge triggers & responses: 0Planned workouts: 1 4 Quote Level 63 Human ... Oath of Ancients Paladin "We are better than we know, if we can be made to see it, [then] for the rest of our lives, we'll be unwilling to settle for less." - Kurt Hahn STR: 14 | DEX: 14| CON: 17 | INT: 17 | WIS: 17 | CHA: 14 Link to comment
nightlight Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 YAY!!! Quote "Come with me if you want to lift" -The Brominator "Later, I would learn that coincidences are the most planned things in the world. Later, I would learn that every single moment is a coincidence." - Douglas Coupland "Anyone who doesn't want french fries every day is a commie." - AngelaTheGeek Current Challenge INSTAGRAM!! find me on twitter Link to comment
Evermist Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Congrats on good day 1 progress! I guess we'll have food-blog-worthy pictures by the end of the challenge, eh? XD All the best for the challenge! Quote Link to comment
petefeet Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Well done on day 1. I love to cook, though I find a lot of joy comes from cooking for other people. Eagerly waiting for food porn! Quote Race: Halfling Class: Rebel Recruit 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th Current Challenge Writer's Guild Fictionfirst Used Books (Feel free to like my page!) Link to comment
Chris-Tien Jinn Posted April 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 . Ok. Lunch of grilled chicken greens and raspberries. I had to use raspberries because the strawberries at the store were all either green or moldy.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 7 Quote Level 63 Human ... Oath of Ancients Paladin "We are better than we know, if we can be made to see it, [then] for the rest of our lives, we'll be unwilling to settle for less." - Kurt Hahn STR: 14 | DEX: 14| CON: 17 | INT: 17 | WIS: 17 | CHA: 14 Link to comment
petefeet Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Ok. Lunch of grilled chicken greens and raspberries. I had to use raspberries because the strawberries at the store were all either green or moldy. I actually prefer raspberries even if the seeds get stuck in my teeth. 1 Quote Race: Halfling Class: Rebel Recruit 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th Current Challenge Writer's Guild Fictionfirst Used Books (Feel free to like my page!) Link to comment
Airlia Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Ok. Lunch of grilled chicken greens and raspberries. I had to use raspberries because the strawberries at the store were all either green or moldy.Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkOh My that looks DELISH!!!! I'm an hour late having lunch and SOOO hungry and now I want a salad. But I'm all out of my favorite yummy lowfat Asian sesame dressing. I'm going to buy it at the store today and have a salad tonight or tomorrow. Quote Level: 3Guild: AssassinRace: Air SpriteSTR 8 | DEX 4 | STA 9 | CON 3 | WIS 5 | CHA 3 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. - King Solomon Current ChallengePrevious Challenge Link to comment
Chris-Tien Jinn Posted April 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 This is chicken curry, and I am SO HUNGRY!! Went to Rotary and avoided the snacks, however. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Level 63 Human ... Oath of Ancients Paladin "We are better than we know, if we can be made to see it, [then] for the rest of our lives, we'll be unwilling to settle for less." - Kurt Hahn STR: 14 | DEX: 14| CON: 17 | INT: 17 | WIS: 17 | CHA: 14 Link to comment
Clarys Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 We have similar goals this time! Meal planning on the list!!Your lunch looks so delicious!! 1 Quote Link to comment
Chris-Tien Jinn Posted April 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 We have similar goals this time! Meal planning on the list!!Your lunch looks so delicious!! Welcome back!!!! How is graduate school going??? Quote Level 63 Human ... Oath of Ancients Paladin "We are better than we know, if we can be made to see it, [then] for the rest of our lives, we'll be unwilling to settle for less." - Kurt Hahn STR: 14 | DEX: 14| CON: 17 | INT: 17 | WIS: 17 | CHA: 14 Link to comment
Companion Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 Subbing. Quote Battle Log Challenges: 1, 2 Link to comment
nightlight Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 mmm food porn. 1 Quote "Come with me if you want to lift" -The Brominator "Later, I would learn that coincidences are the most planned things in the world. Later, I would learn that every single moment is a coincidence." - Douglas Coupland "Anyone who doesn't want french fries every day is a commie." - AngelaTheGeek Current Challenge INSTAGRAM!! find me on twitter Link to comment
Evermist Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 Foooooood! The salad and curry look great, and good job with the meal prep! Quote Link to comment
Chris-Tien Jinn Posted April 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 Urgh!! Yesterday, I didn't plan well enough for being at the Red Cross for first aid and CPR training ... and running around doing errands. So, I swung by the grocery store to get supplies and succumbed to the deli. BUT I did get a good sandwich without a lot of goopy and plenty of veggies. The weather here is GORGEOUS - I've mostly been getting lots of long walks and starting to get out on the less soggy trails. And cleaning out the gardens in prep for planting. But, it's going to be cold next week (highs in the 40s), so I can't get TOO far ahead of the season with gardening plans. Still ..... I might head up to the garden center to look around ... and they might be looking for workers too ...... Summary (through Wednesday)Eat out or take out: 1Unplanned snacking: 0Planned Meals: 3Binge triggers & responses: 0Planned workouts: 3 3 Quote Level 63 Human ... Oath of Ancients Paladin "We are better than we know, if we can be made to see it, [then] for the rest of our lives, we'll be unwilling to settle for less." - Kurt Hahn STR: 14 | DEX: 14| CON: 17 | INT: 17 | WIS: 17 | CHA: 14 Link to comment
petefeet Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 Still ..... I might head up to the garden center to look around ... and they might be looking for workers too ...... I hope this works out, I'm sure you would be an asset to their team. Quote Race: Halfling Class: Rebel Recruit 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th Current Challenge Writer's Guild Fictionfirst Used Books (Feel free to like my page!) Link to comment
Chris-Tien Jinn Posted April 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 Baked tilapia and veggies. I feel very virtuous. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Level 63 Human ... Oath of Ancients Paladin "We are better than we know, if we can be made to see it, [then] for the rest of our lives, we'll be unwilling to settle for less." - Kurt Hahn STR: 14 | DEX: 14| CON: 17 | INT: 17 | WIS: 17 | CHA: 14 Link to comment
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