Harihead goes back to the 60s

[Harihead]

Yes, the thread title is code, a secret code! Let's see if anyone here can break it. *whistles*

 

Main Quest: Return to my "Work at Home" level of fitness

 

The epic quest is still unchanged, but I have a new mini-goal to meet. I travel to Europe mid-September. My immediate short-term goal is to arrive as a non-fat American. I don't have to meet my entire weight-loss goal, but I can get drop 15 pounds if I stick to a very realistic 1 pound per week. So that's the goal, folks!

 

Fitness Challenge #7: Bed by 10:30 

 

I'm looking at the ripple-through affect on my life of my late-night reading. I will have more time for fitness, more time for writing, and a better quality of life if I just turn out the light and put myself to bed. This I then do. 

 

 

Health Challenge #7: No wine-ing

 

Again, this is a quality of life improvement. I know I feel better and sleep better when I have no wine, yet I still like my glass with dinner. Well, tough luck. I'm going to go 6 weeks without. This will help with the calorie reduction and with getting things done around the house, since I won't be "relaxing". 

 

The one exception: I had a trip planned for ages at a condo with a wine snob. I am so going to enjoy his wine snobbery. But, I will do the trick of drinking a full glass of water between each glass of wine, so I won't go totally crazy. This worked for the holidays-- thanks for the tip, Rebels! So the weekend of June 18 is exempt. 

 

 

Life Quest Challenge #7: Write morning pages 

 

Every day, without fail. Butt in chair, writing. This will re-establish the habit of writing.  I've been doing it for the last week, and it's already starting to stick. I get twitchy if I'm late. It's working!

 

 

The mental skinny: Now, there are all sorts of activities going on around these challenges I've chosen. The pool is open, so I'm doing my daily swim. I haven't missed a day yet, and plan not to unless I have one of those hideously early East-coast meetings that will mean I just don't have that morning time. That happens maybe once or twice a month. 

It's summer, so there's plenty of light in the evening for hikes and bike rides. The High Country is open, at least enough for me. So, mountains, yay. Outdoor activities I will do. 

 

I had a make-over. Yes, I did. Right now, right in the middle of my main quest. I'm so glad I did! Instead of waiting for the never-arriving "tomorrow", I went ahead and redid my wardrobe, updated my make-up, got a nice photo, and started looking good right now-- right here, exactly where I'm at. People at work are complimenting me and it's done magic for my self-esteem. I'm really glad I didn't wait. I can be happy where I'm at, and still strive for better. Isn't that life, in a nutshell?

 

The exercise and new clothes have revitalized my commitment to fitness. I zeroed out my Nerd Fitness Academy tasks, and started over at absolute 0. I'm already up to Level 5 again in only 1 week. But I'm getting great enjoyment out of repeating the tasks, in part because I know "I got this". 13 glasses of water a day, check. Track sugar grams in food, check. I'm having fun with it and am really tickled at how quickly I'm progressing through the repeat, compared to the first time through. Yeah, all those months of being a practicing Rebel have paid off.

 

 

Scoring: Award or decrement accordingly

 

G1: A=lose 7+ pounds, B=5-6, C=3-4, else fail -----> CHA +4

G2: A=42-37 days success, B=36-31, C=30-25, else fail -----> STA +4

G3: A=42-37 days success, B=36-31, C=30-25, else fail -----> CON +3

G4: A=42-37 days success, B=36-31, C=30-25, else fail -----> WIS +4

 

I'm starting this challenge on June 1, because I can't wait. I'm already tracking and logging my fitness so I'm striking while the iron is hot!

Good luck, fellow Rebels!

[forkboy]

How's it coming?  Would love a new post!

[Neva]

Writing? Me too!

 

Book, mini-stories, letters for snail mail, or what?

 

I am mostly working prompts to get used to a variety of types and start exercising my creative idea generator again.

[Harihead]

How's it coming?  Would love a new post!

As always, your wish is my command.

 

Well, the early-to-bed thing isn't working so well. One night the cat refused to come in and I had to wait up for him, the next night I went to the last professional meeting of my writers group, which was going to be a tight timetable to begin with, when my driver ran low on gas and we had to stop for refueling. So I'm only halfway through Week 1 and have used up 2 of my early-to-bed grace exceptions.

 

BUT it's starting to pay off. Today, for example, I woke up nice and early. I did my Nerd Fitness home workout, and got to the pool before the rain closed in. I'm doing great with the pool, haven't missed a day since it opened. I also feel WAY more rested, so much so that I think I'll go for a hike tomorrow instead of collapse and die, which is my usual weekend behavior. So, at the moment I'm a fan!

 

No wine-ing is going well, but the weekends are the tricky part. I've put my friends on notice so they won't tempt me. I'm tracking my sugar grams to my cravings (for whatever) have virtually disappeared. I think I've found a system that works for me!

 

 

Writing? Me too!

 

Book, mini-stories, letters for snail mail, or what?

 

I am mostly working prompts to get used to a variety of types and start exercising my creative idea generator again.

Hi, Neva. Thanks for popping in!

 

Right now all I'm writing is "morning pages", which is simply a dump of whatever's in your brain at the time you sit down to write. I'm so glad I took this up. I'm actually on week 3 now, and have only missed one day. My intention is to re-establish a routine of writing. In that regard, it appears to be working; I get twitchy if I miss. 

 

What's nice is that I ran out of random mind gunk last week, and I've started writing scenes and snippets of stories. It's not like a real story (I write short stories and novels), but it's getting those rusty gears turning. (I'm out of practice due to a hectic volunteer org I was running last year.) So, the ideas are coming. Mostly, I'm just writing.

 

How about you? 

 

Good luck to all the new Challengers, yay!

[Swampling]

So happy to see you're back!

[Harihead]

Thank you, Swampling!

 

I'm doing well on no wine, excellent on pool, well enough on bedtime, so-so on diet, and getting those morning pages in. 

 

BUT I hurt my knee last night doing karate kicks-- what was I thinking? I'm thinking, "Better go easy on those karate kicks." It doesn't feel _bad_, but it is a setback. I'm nursing it today with ice. 

 

Ya wins some, ya loses some. It's all long-term goals I'm looking at. My will is strong.

 

Good luck, everyone!

[Swampling]

 

Ya wins some, ya loses some. It's all long-term goals I'm looking at. My will is strong.

 

 

That's the spirit!

[Harihead]

You're a sweetheart, Swampling. Thanks.

[forkboy]

Yay on the rested, helps everything!

[Harihead]

I just had my pre-planned wine bash and staying up too late night last night. Really great company and lots of fun.

 

Today, I'm puking. Apparently I caught a bug of some time, so I'm shivering and ill. Great; meet new people, puke in their home. I'm a class act. They're very kind and giving me ginger tea. 

 

Before that, things were going pretty well. I hope it's a 24-hour thing and I'll be back to normal next week. 

 

Hang in there, all!

[Swampling]

Ohnoes! Get better soon!

[forkboy]

No fun, sorry.  Ginger tea seems like it might make everything better.  On the bright side being sick allows you to keep kcals down for a day without even having to think about or count them or anything.  Seriously though, get better soon!

[Xena]

Loved hearing about your makeover!! Hope your knee is better* and you are over the stomach bug.

 

* I also overdid it on kicks this week. What was I thinking indeed!

[Neva]

What are your 1/3rd of the way through the challenge grades? What are you doing well and what do you need to work on?

[Harihead]

Popping in!

No fun, sorry.  Ginger tea seems like it might make everything better.  On the bright side being sick allows you to keep kcals down for a day without even having to think about or count them or anything.  Seriously though, get better soon!

It truly was a 1-day bug. I was a bit wobbly on Sunday, but I still managed a short, easy hike.

 

Loved hearing about your makeover!! Hope your knee is better* and you are over the stomach bug.

 

* I also overdid it on kicks this week. What was I thinking indeed!

LOL, I'm glad I'm not the only one! Sometimes you just feel good and... forget you're mortal. Ouch. 

 

What are your 1/3rd of the way through the challenge grades? What are you doing well and what do you need to work on?

Excellent question, Neva, and I'm happy to oblige.

 

Morning pages: Awesome! Not one miss, although they were pretty short on the day I was sick.

 

No Wine-ing: Awesome! I drank on the 18th, but because I was ill I didn't drink the rest of the weekend, so even my "grace" weekend was only 1 out of 3 days. The point is, I actually feel better and sleep better with no wine. So I'm thinking this is going to be shockingly easy. The hard part was the mental struggle beforehand: NO wine? Ever? REALLY!??!

And once I decided, yeah, no wine, then I started feeling good and I'm thinking, Okay! It really is for special occasions only. 

 

Bed by 10:30: NOT going so well, oh dear! I'm up to 5 misses; I only have 1 miss left for the whole challenge to cop an A. 2 were cat-related, and 3 were social outing related (I should have given myself grace for the "wine" weekend). But on the whole at least I'm mindful of getting to bed on time when I can control it, which is the point of these challenges. 

 

How's everyone else doing? I shall spy on your threads when I get home from work. 

 

ONWARD, REBELS!!!!

[Neva]

Regarding sleep times, a "B" or "C" grade is still passing, but if you think you miscalculated the goal you can re-evaluate it critically and perhaps adjust it to be more realistic. Perhaps the same number of skips but allow passes or only count a half skip for things out of your control?

[forkboy]

I have struggled with the idea of not drinking wine.  I know I am not an addict in the conventional sense because I don't drink until I'm drunk, it doesn't affect my home life or work life, yadda yadda, but I am not sure my relationship with booze is entirely healthy either.  I seriously have panic thoughts when I think about not having a glass or two of wine at the end of the night.  I am super precise with my macros and I measure everything and I am always careful to leave room for 5 or 10 oz a day.  That sounds kind of sick as I write it out and read back over it!  Wow.  Anyhoo, I identify with your no wine-ing goal.  Tips on overcoming the panicked thoughts?  Keep rockin' it!

[Neva]

I have struggled with the idea of not drinking wine.  I know I am not an addict in the conventional sense because I don't drink until I'm drunk, it doesn't affect my home life or work life, yadda yadda, but I am not sure my relationship with booze is entirely healthy either.  I seriously have panic thoughts when I think about not having a glass or two of wine at the end of the night.  I am super precise with my macros and I measure everything and I am always careful to leave room for 5 or 10 oz a day.  That sounds kind of sick as I write it out and read back over it!  Wow.  Anyhoo, I identify with your no wine-ing goal.  Tips on overcoming the panicked thoughts?  Keep rockin' it!

Could you wean yourself down? No more than one glass, then 3/4th, then 1/2, . . . ? Not saying 'never' but maybe 'just weekends' or 'not two days in a row' or 'when I really want something after/with dinner' might make it less scary.

 

Perhaps a substitute? Some tea or juice?

 

Have you given any thought to why it is so important? Identifying that aspect might help.

[Harihead]

Reporting in!

 

Morning pages: GAH! Missed a day. This is my first one. We had a sister call about a parental emergency, and I just clean forgot. So I'd better get cracking. Grr, it feels bad to have missed. 

 

No wine: Still excellent!

 

Bed: Holding at 5 misses. Oh, the suspense. 

 

Regarding sleep times, a "B" or "C" grade is still passing, but if you think you miscalculated the goal you can re-evaluate it critically and perhaps adjust it to be more realistic. Perhaps the same number of skips but allow passes or only count a half skip for things out of your control?

That's a kind thought. It turns out my mountain weekend last week, I didn't have a room. My place to sleep was the living room sofa, so it was impossible to go to bed with people still in the room talking. If we allow "honestly, you didn't know that in advance and couldn't control it" as an excuse, I get 2 days back. 

 

I won't allow the cat not coming in as an excuse, because I really should look for him earlier if I'm to meet my deadline. I chased him down last night and tagged the bed just in time. At least it's getting me into a consistent routine, which is excellent.

 

I have struggled with the idea of not drinking wine.  I know I am not an addict in the conventional sense because I don't drink until I'm drunk, it doesn't affect my home life or work life, yadda yadda, but I am not sure my relationship with booze is entirely healthy either.  I seriously have panic thoughts when I think about not having a glass or two of wine at the end of the night.  I am super precise with my macros and I measure everything and I am always careful to leave room for 5 or 10 oz a day.  That sounds kind of sick as I write it out and read back over it!  Wow.  Anyhoo, I identify with your no wine-ing goal.  Tips on overcoming the panicked thoughts?  Keep rockin' it!

MAN, are we ever in the same place on this!

 

I worry because some of my family members have problems with alcohol. I don't want to depend on it, but I find myself getting into that nightly habit. I don't know what the rules are for boys, but for girls they say if you have 7 glasses a week, you're a "high consumer." Really! That's one glass a night. According to that, yeah, I'm actually over the line for the "danger" zone, because some nights, while I have 0, other nights I'll have 2 or 3 (4 is too much, although I'll go there once a month or so if I've had a really stressful week). 

 

BY FAR the biggest battle with this challenge was mental. "But I want it!" I would whimper. I want something as a signal that says, "You are now excused about worrying over anything else for the rest of the evening." Wine is so convenient for that, because it's a sedative. When I made the commitment, though, the shock was that I made the switch to decaf coffee fairly easily. The 1st three days I was very conscious about it: I am not having wine tonight. Grr. Then, poof, the transition was made. 

 

I struggled yesterday with no wine for the first time since week 1. Again, it was stress. We are getting into tough issues with the parents, and I felt the need for wine to relax me that evening. Well, too bad! I just made myself decaf coffee (tea is too wimpy) and the moment of crisis passed. 

 

I really don't like the idea of a crutch. I'm hoping that this 6-week period will be long enough that my body will actually enjoy being alcohol free and I'll have found healthier solutions to my stress reaction. But like anything else, the mental battle is 98% of it. I wish I could just turn that switch on when I need it, but apparently it's an intermittent connection. 

 

Hang in there, and best wishes. 

HH

[Harihead]

I blew my last "bedtime" slot, so there goes my A. If I'm good, I'll be able to pull a B.

 

Wine is still doing good. I'm going to blow 2 slots on holiday parties this weekend, oh well!

 

Morning pages are great except for that one missed day. Hooray, hurrah, I have dreamed a new story. Now I need to write it!

[Neva]

It is discouraging to realize that no matter what you do that A is gone. I have tried to find ways of thinking in the reverse, starting from zero and adding points with each good day, but it is difficult to do.

[Harihead]

Update!

 

Morning pages: 3 misses! (Family emergency.) But I'm still on with my A. I think I got this!

 

Bed: 6 misses! But the retraining is proceeding. That's the point of this challenge-- at least I think it is. 

 

Wine: 4 misses! But it was intentional misses (I gave myself the holiday off). I feel as if I'm training myself to make choices instead of acting out of habit, which is a good thing. 

 

It is discouraging to realize that no matter what you do that A is gone. I have tried to find ways of thinking in the reverse, starting from zero and adding points with each good day, but it is difficult to do.

I did something last 2 challenges which really worked well for me. I gave myself an extra-hard goal, and if I met it, I could "recover" one of my missed days. I could even do the extra feat and "bank" a day. It kept me super motivated because I didn't have to write off the failure, I could reclaim that ground. 

 

For example, calorie goal was 1500/day. If I met 1200, I could "bank" one day, or recover from 1 failure. I also did this with money-- I'd have to pay a penalty if I missed. For me, it was great because no missed day was a write-off, it was a gauntlet thrown that I could pick up and defeat that failure. 

 

I didn't do it this time because I wanted to be super strict. So my failures are absolute failures. But I encourage you to work out your own reward/recovery system if you find it motivating. In general, I sure do! Good luck.

[Neva]

I did something last 2 challenges which really worked well for me. I gave myself an extra-hard goal, and if I met it, I could "recover" one of my missed days. I could even do the extra feat and "bank" a day. It kept me super motivated because I didn't have to write off the failure, I could reclaim that ground. 

 

That is awesome! I might have to try it. I tend to make my challenges push the bounds of reasonable (which, technically, makes it a challenge) but doing something like that could prevent losing before the challenge is over AND help make the benchmarks more obtainable.

[Harihead]

Week 5 Update!

 

Morning pages: Still at 3 misses. I'm on a roll!

 

Bed: 7 misses. What the heck, it's a "B" for bed.... 

 

Wine: 5 misses! I'm playing with fire, here. 1 more miss allowed!

 

I went for wine on Friday for an easy wind-down. Work is amazingly killer. I'm on a very visible project to the 2 dept heads on the East Coast and here (Denver), and can't afford to fail. It will be a tight July. Wish me well, my Rebellious friends. 

Best of luck to us all. 

[Neva]

I'm on a very visible project to the 2 dept heads on the East Coast and here (Denver), and can't afford to fail. It will be a tight July. Wish me well, my Rebellious friends. 

Best of luck to us all. 

 

No risk = no reward?

 

That much be scary! BUT if it goes well your rank will rise in the eyes of both heads, so it should be worth it, right? Good luck!