sozzielou builds a solid foundation

[sozzielou]

My main life quest is to improve my body composition. In order to achieve this, I need a solid foundation upon which to build a more balanced life.

 

My goals for this challenge focus on improving habits, routines and creating a more healthy way of life.

 

1. Walk!  STA+1  CON+2

I have already got into the habit of walking in the evenings (avec dog) but on weekdays I sit at a desk, looking at a computer screen for 7+ hours per day and I need to take proper breaks. I will buy a timer, bring it to work, and at some point in the day I will get up and take a 5-min walking break. So look out Mordor, here I come.

 

A = 30 or more 5-min walks

B = 24-29 walks

C = 18-23 walks

F = 17 walks or fewer

 

 

2. Gym!  STR+1 DEX+1  STA+1  CHA+1

I last worked out at the gym on 30^th June 2015; then summer happened, holidays happened and this all contributed to one big gym hiatus. The hiatus has to end. I will get back to the gym and do stuff. I will have to restart gradually but I will restart.

 

A = 18 or more workouts

B = 12-17 workouts

C = 6-11 workouts

F = 5 workouts or fewer

 

 

3. Sugar!  CON+2  WIS+1  CHA+1

I regularly consume excessive amounts of sugar, mostly in the form of chocolate, biscuits and desserts. Cravings get the better of me, causing me to mindlessly devour any sugar in sight. I will keep a check on my sugar intake and reduce the amount of added / processed sugar I consume. Naturally occurring sugars (in fruit and vegetables) are allowed for this challenge. I will treat this as a "hard hat" challenge for the whole 6 weeks, meaning I will not miss 2 or more days in a row and I will either pass or fail.

 

Pass = never miss 2 or more days in a row

Fail = miss 2 or more days in a row

 

 

4. Declutter!  CON+2  WIS+2

Building on my last challenge to get organised, it is difficult to achieve a good level of organisation in life when things are cluttered. A cluttered living space leads to a cluttered mind and body. The clutter has to go. I will rid myself of 126 bits of tangible clutter over these 6 weeks. That’s an average of 3 items per day. These items will be sold, recycled, donated or gifted to friends. Actual rubbish does not count. If something is put aside for gifting or donation it will be out of the house within one week.

 

A = Got rid of 127 items or more

B = 84-126 items

C = 42-83 items 

F = Got rid of 41 items or fewer.

 

 

Starting stats:

(using my home scale which I am sure is wildly inaccurate but at least will be consistently inaccurate)

Weight 86.9kg

Fat 33.6%

Water 48.4%

Muscle 31.4%

BMI 30.1

[maegs]

Subbed! I'm on the decluttering train this time around as well

[Stonie]

Lookin' good Sozzie! 

 

I had good luck resisting sugary things last challenge by making myself "chocolate" using coconut oil and cocoa - and as a bonus I went half-and-half with the cocoa and some protein powder so at least I was getting protein in when I binged on my pretend chocolate! xD

[Charlie_Quinn]

Subbed! 

 

If something is put aside for gifting or donation it will be out of the house within one week.

 

This reminds me of when I had a clear out a few months back and had 3 bags of clothes for donation. They sat in the house for 2 weeks until I decided they would be out of the house by the weekend. So I moved them to the boot of the car where they stayed for another 2 weeks!

 

I'm sure you'll be better at decluttering than I am! 

[sozzielou]

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following along

[Riverleaf]

Sounds good! 

[animuse]

Yay! I like your challenge set (DECLUTTER OMG), I have a few that are similar. If you'd like help with sugar coping techniques let me know, I've kept to fairly low sugar levels for some time now

 

Also, is that a Pullip doll I spy on your icon?

[sozzielou]

If you'd like help with sugar coping techniques let me know, I've kept to fairly low sugar levels for some time now

 

That would be great Animuse, thank you!

 

 

 

Also, is that a Pullip doll I spy on your icon?

 

That's Edna, she's a Blythe doll and my muse. I started doing a 365 project with her in 2010 (where I take a photo of her every day for 365 days) and we carried on! At the end of this week it will be the end of year 5!!

[Hiroro]

Awwww dog. 

 

Skimming over i first read that you were getting rid of 126 lbs of stuff O_O

 

Yayyyy good habits!

[Riverleaf]

It's really helped me to think of it not as a choice between eating the oreo or not eating the oreo, but as a choice between my new healthy lifestyle and self image, and my old one.   I did a behavioral psychology workshop called Living Lean, (it was offered free through my insurance) and it really helped to change my thoughts on the matter. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Behavioral Psychology was one of the best college classes I ever had.

[animuse]

Yup! I also recently web to a conference where I had an 8 hour course in Designing for Behavior Change. If you google Elephant and Rider you'll find a lot of the information I got - it's all about learning how to train your subconscious. We know how to do things, we just need to figure out how to get our elephant to do them

 

Sugar tip for the day - if you're feeling a sugar urge, try half as much as you would and see how it goes. Sometimes when we crave something we overeat it instead of savoring it, and we intake more than what we really needed.

 

The way I started lowering my sugar intake was not to stop it entirely, but to limit it. Since we're supposed to get approximately 50g of sugar per day, I limit myself to 10g per hour - so if I have a craving, I can still hit it without blowing my intake for the day

[weaver]

Excellent goals! Just one question - I have faith that this won't happen, but juuuuust in case...what if you do "fail" the sugar goal - say, halfway through the challenge? Will you still have an incentive to get back on the no-sugar horse (that's a weird phrase) anyway?

[sozzielou]

Excellent goals! Just one question - I have faith that this won't happen, but juuuuust in case...what if you do "fail" the sugar goal - say, halfway through the challenge? Will you still have an incentive to get back on the no-sugar horse (that's a weird phrase) anyway?

It's a very good point. I was struggling with how to make a SMART goal for this element of my challenge. Any better ideas?

I always track my food at MFP so maybe I could go for a target measuring grams of added / processed sugar but I have no idea of how many grams I should be aiming for. I'll have a look at my sugar over the past week and see if I can tidy this bit up. Thank you for mentioning it

[Stonie]

It's a very good point. I was struggling with how to make a SMART goal for this element of my challenge. Any better ideas?

I always track my food at MFP so maybe I could go for a target measuring grams of added / processed sugar but I have no idea of how many grams I should be aiming for. I'll have a look at my sugar over the past week and see if I can tidy this bit up. Thank you for mentioning it

 

What I did last challenge was attempt to drop my intake by 1tsp (4grams) every week. That way I could steadily cut things out. I did this by tracking everything in MFP over week zero, and averaging my weekly sugar intake into a number (because some days I'd do great and then like, two days a week I'd eat cake and my sugar level would skyrocket) then aiming for 1tsp lower then that for the following week. If that makes sense. In the end the average sugar level I was taking in was the sugar in my two daily cups of coffee and maybe a banana and that was it. So that's a possibility?

[maegs]

What I did last challenge was attempt to drop my intake by 1tsp (4grams) every week. That way I could steadily cut things out. I did this by tracking everything in MFP over week zero, and averaging my weekly sugar intake into a number (because some days I'd do great and then like, two days a week I'd eat cake and my sugar level would skyrocket) then aiming for 1tsp lower then that for the following week. If that makes sense. In the end the average sugar level I was taking in was the sugar in my two daily cups of coffee and maybe a banana and that was it. So that's a possibility?

I like this idea!

 

How did your week go?

[sozzielou]

Thanks for the input guys, really useful 

So my sugar intake for week 0 was:

• Mon: 161g
• Tue: 144g
• Wed: 121g
• Thu: 98g
• Fri: 162g
• Sat: 229g
• Sun: 192g

The average therefore is 158g per day; that's like 3 times the amount Animuse was talking about.

 

I'm starting the challenge by following the advice of the Nerd Fitness Academy and replacing the added / processed sugar with natural sugar. I have removed all the chocolate / biscuits / cake etc from my house and bought fruits instead.

 

Monday of week 1 went pretty well. Instead of biscuits mid-morning I drank 2 cups of tea (one teaspoon of sugar per cup of tea) and in the evening when I had a craving for chocolate I ate 100g of peach slices instead.

 

I had a bad headache all day Monday, my fingertips were wrinkly and I felt a bit sick. This makes me think I was dehydrated. Today I woke up with the same feeling so I took painkillers and drank plenty of water with rehydration salts in them. It's 3pm now and I have just about shaken that headache off 

[Hiroro]

Glad you killed the headache! Sounds like good sugar substitutes. Mmm peaches

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[Tanktimus the Encourager]

It was probably a combo of dehydration plus sugar withdrawls. Good job making those changes and sticking with them!

[weaver]

Sorry I didn't have any brilliant ideas about the sugar goal, but I'm glad everyone else did! Sounds like you're already doing well.

 

And yesssss, more water!!!

[Riverleaf]

3 days to detox.

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[Stonie]

Yess, this is why I lowered my sugar intake gradually! Good to see you getting right into it by chucking out all the crap! (i'd still eat it, I hate wasting food, even highly processed crap! xD) 

 

Good job on combatting the headache and dehydration

[sozzielou]

Good to see you getting right into it by chucking out all the crap!

 

Thanks! I didn't chuck anything out ... I ate it in week 0 and didn't replace it       

[Riverleaf]

Happy hump day. You can do this!

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