[Morag stalks the Epic] Onward!

[Morag]

 

 

Here we go again. Challenge goals for the next 4 weeks:

There are a few things that need to happen in the next few weeks. I need to keep steadily losing weight (without obsessing over it!). I need to keep the daily exercise habit rolling when school starts and "life returns to normal". As I said on my last challenge: these points of movement, they arent big. 30 min walk, 15-20 minutes yoga routine, 5-15 minutes workout at home or a 20-40 minutes workout at the gym or at the physical therapy place. They aren't big 2h sessions, they are "get started" tasks. It's like lifting, I imagine, you lift the empty bar to practice the movement "without load" so to speak. Similar thought is behind these goals, there is classes at the gym I could do, hour long classes, and eventually I want to try out lots of things and find something that engages me and is fun and challenging, but for now: No more Reasonable Reschedule. Do the Monday workout Monday, and so on and so forth, plan possible obstacles and contingencies each Saturday before the week starts.

 

Nutrition. Less leeway, stick to the budget, keep notes, always.

 

Balance. Mother, wife, house keeper, shopping monkey, appointment juggler, don't lose yourself. Keep breathing, stay connected to Source, keep up on the Domestic Rangering, have a cup of tea and a break in the pm, nap if necessary, but not longer than an hour, get to bed in time to be rested in the am, hubby's late shift be damned.

 

That's the goals for now. And Journey Quest, because on the 18th this month the kickstarter for Season 3 starts and I'm SO PSYCHED

 

Life goal: Get ready for the race. September I plan on running the Dirty Coast. My PT, and I trust him, said 75-80kg is the weight I need to reach to start running and not hurt myself. I can get there, I know it, I've lost a lot of weight in the last 9 months, question is: Can I lose it fast enough to have enough time to train up for an 8 km obstacle race?

Mathematically it sure is possible, but that is numbers, numbers are easy, it's the getting myself to stay within my margins that'll be the interesting thing. Monday I'll weigh in, as I always do, but I am in the vecinity of 92,5 kg. 25lbs to go in the next 20 weeks, during which I'll also be starting specific training to eventually be able to get past that blasted 2m wall as well as the pile of tires and the low crawly cold water places... leaving me with 14 weeks of 10K training. I tend to write too much, sorry guys.

 

 

 

 

Here's the short list:

EDIT I always forget to fill these out in the later weeks

Week 1 (4.-10. JAN)

Saturday 2nd: Plan. Done / Not done. Throughout the week stick to the plan:

Movement

Workout 3/3

Walk 4/3

Yoga 5/5

Pool day 1/2

Nutrition

Paleo (legumes and dairy allowed) if available

1200-1400 Cal budget

Ø 1296 cal/day

Balance

Domestic Rangering /15

Breathe none/5

Spiritual activity Not done.

Socialising Done

Return to the afternoon tea as "me"-time. no

Bedtime, aim for 7h30m of sleep per night needs work

 

Week 2 (11.-17. JAN)

Saturday 9th: Plan. Done / Not done. Throughout the week stick to the plan:

Movement

Workout /3

Walk /3

Yoga /5

Pool day /2

Nutrition

Paleo (legumes and dairy allowed) if available

1200-1400 Cal budget

Balance

Domestic Rangering 13/15

Breathe none/5

Spiritual activity Not done.

Socialising Done

Return to the afternoon tea as "me"-time. twice

Bedtime, aim for 7h30m of sleep per night. in the positive, first time ever

 

Week 3 (18.-24. JAN)

Saturday 16th: Plan. Done / Not done. Throughout the week stick to the plan:

Movement

Workout 1/3

Walk 1/3

Yoga /5

Pool day 1/2

Nutrition

Paleo (legumes and dairy allowed) if available

1200-1400 Cal budget

Balance

Domestic Rangering 2/15

Breathe /5

Spiritual activity Done / Not done.

Socialising Done

Return to the afternoon tea as "me"-time.

Bedtime, aim for 7h30m of sleep per night.

 

Week 4 (25.-31. JAN)

Saturday 23rd: Plan. Done / Not done. Throughout the week stick to the plan:

Movement

Workout /3

Walk /3

Yoga /5

Pool day /2

Nutrition

Paleo (legumes and dairy allowed) if available

1200-1400 Cal budget

Balance

Domestic Rangering /15

Breathe /5

Spiritual activity Done / Not done.

Socialising Do some D&D 5 and Dresden Files

Return to the afternoon tea as "me"-time.

Bedtime, aim for 7h30m of sleep per night.

[Rurik Harrgath]

Morag in the house, bringing along Journey Quest for hype.  Love it.  Following along!

[Morag]

Opening post edited.

1h walk done for today

yoga done

laundry done

dishes done

planning done

throwing out of needly branches done

swim bag (s) packed

workout clothes set aside for Monday

Eating was okay. Small Dürüm without sauce but with feta cheese, but breakfast and evening were mostly snacks, so meh. Still have to take notes.

Signature fixed (I just went with 2/3 of the points I had rounding up the one time it was iffy, plus last challenge's points).

 

 

Morag in the house, bringing along Journey Quest for hype.  Love it.  Following along!

 

 

Hey Rurik, good to see you. Not sure if I'll be able to keep up with your thread, but I'll try.

[maegs]

Hey Rurik, good to see you. Not sure if I'll be able to keep up with your thread, but I'll try.

I don't know how Rurik even keeps with with that monster

 

They aren't big 2h sessions, they are "get started" tasks. It's like lifting, I imagine, you lift the empty bar to practice the movement "without load" so to speak. Similar thought is behind these goals, there is classes at the gym I could do, hour long classes, and eventually I want to try out lots of things and find something that engages me and is fun and challenging, but for now: No more Reasonable Reschedule. Do the Monday workout Monday, and so on and so forth, plan possible obstacles and contingencies each Saturday before the week starts.

I like this idea, of doing something vs nothing to get in the habit of it before you go big I think having the goal of the Dirty Coast will help as well, it'll give you that extra kick in the pants when you need it! 

 

I'll have to come back later to watch JourneyQuest (while I'm technically in bed with the lights out, I think bringing my laptop with me makes it not count as being in bed on time!)

[Morag]

I'll have to come back later to watch JourneyQuest (while I'm technically in bed with the lights out, I think bringing my laptop with me makes it not count as being in bed on time!)

 

Do you have a filter on your phone? I use Twilight on the phone and f.lux on the PC to filter out the blue light, it actually helps. At least I feel it does. One morning I wanted to get to waking up and switched it so it shuts down in the am just before my alarm, and I read two chapters on my e-book reader and was awake, 5h of sleep to the contrary.

Anyway, was just wondering what your tools were.

 

Glad to have you along again. How was your holiday season?

 

Hugz

M

[maegs]

I have flux on my laptop, but nothing on my phone, I'll have to look into that! My phone light is really bright at night, even when I have the brightness turned down all the way (and then I can't see it when I leave my house in daylight!). Other than that I don't have any tools in my bedtime arsenal. My brother got me a sunrise alarm for Christmas that has a sunset feature as well, so I might start using that at night to help with getting to bed. I've been using the sunrise part for a week and it makes a huge difference for me!

[Morag]

A friend of mine has an alarm with sunrise that she doesn't use, I really wanted to take it off her hands when she was venting about buying something she didn't mean to buy. But hubby has shift work, having to get up at 4 am or working till past 10 pm, imposing a regular sunrise feels wrong, just feels like I would make his life harder, you know?

 

It sure sounds like good technology though.

Here's a link for the phone app I use, I quite enjoy it (and yes, I use the free version, it does the job).

[maegs]

Ya, my wakeup time during the week only shifts by an hour-ish, so it's not a huge difference timewise. But I have found that it makes a difference in that I'm not waking up groggy, staying conscious just long enough to snooze my alarm, and passing out again; instead I'm actually awake and don't fall back to sleep. I'll be downloading that phone app tonight!

Or not...

Not available for iOS, the best option seems to be to invert the colours and lower the brightness. [emoji107]ðŸ»

[Morag]

So apparently my google fu is better than my actual understanding of iOS phones and apps and such.

Maybe you understand what I don't, here's what I found out: apparently when you run this app, jailbreak, http://alternativeto.net/software/jailbreakme/, you can install f.lux, http://alternativeto.net/software/f-lux/, on your phone. Hope that helps.

 

 

So weighing in this morning:

4th Jan

92,5 kg

Chest 95 cm

Waist 91 cm

Hips 108 cm

 

Frittata for breakfast. Awake (after 7h39m of sleep) at 6:52am, yay.

 

Ordered school food (Thu, Fri, Mon, Tue)

Am calling doctores for checkup appointments done (mostly)

now off to kindy and gym, wish me luck.

[Terra]

Hey there you are, I'm following again!  Good luck at the gym!

[maegs]

I saw some stuff while I was googling about running flux on a jailbroken phone, but tbh it's more effort than I want to put in right now. I've got it all set up how I like it, except for the lack of a blue light filter, and I'm not sure I can remember everything I did to get it this way!

[Raxie]

I'll be following along with you   Good luck this challenge!

[Morag]

Hey there you are, I'm following again!  Good luck at the gym!

Welcome back, and thanks, more on the gym down below.

 

I saw some stuff while I was googling about running flux on a jailbroken phone, but tbh it's more effort than I want to put in right now. I've got it all set up how I like it, except for the lack of a blue light filter, and I'm not sure I can remember everything I did to get it this way!

I absolutely understand what you mean. I was googling it and thought: "I have no idea how much work this is and it does seem to be quite a bit, soooooo gonna stop here." Interesting convo nonetheless.

 

I'll be following along with you   Good luck this challenge!

How nice of you and WELCOME ABOARD

 

 

On the gym.

I have a heaping pile of uncertainty and worry going on atm. But I'm not going to do anything rash about it quite yet. The gym, doesn't really deserve the name, it's smaller than I thought, and I knew it was small. It's smaller than my living room, holds 10 machines in total, two of which are bikes that have no readouts anymore, and one is a stepper, dito. There are showers, it's really cheap and it's right across from kindy. That and the part where once I'm done with the intro thing, I'm on my own are the only good points I see though.

 

I'm still digesting. So my thoughts are unorganised and muddled. I would prefer the other gym, it's a bit more expensive, but huge, good hygene policy, personal trainers that help you set up a training plan, but, and that's the kicker, that one is 30 minutes by bus or bike away. I know people travel farther for less important things, but in my life, without job (atm), with two (kinda) small children, it feels really far away. And thus unrealistic as an alternative.

 

The fact that I keep thinking about alternatives should tell me something, but I tried the home workout thing for 6-9 months now. I suck at it. Not just a little. So canceling without alternative plan. Not an option. If necessary I will suck it up, get through intro somehow, and make a plan with my PT for when I can actually train.

 

What gives me a bad vibe was the repeated mentioning of my spine being not rounded enough (yeah, thanks I'm aware) and my shoulders being "to far forward" which given the fact that I still am in PT I kinda already knew. The problem I have with the guy was also that he kept showing me things telling me "never like this" to which I had to guess what he meant. Awesome sauce. I'll ask more pointed questions next time, maybe I get through it okay. I just woke up this morning with doms in my shoulders and tears in my eyes worried about getting hurt again.

 

FU%& I want to get better and run that race (and live life!) I don't want to juggle condecending somethingorothers the age of my father.

Gonna clean up last nights D&D table, ALL THE THINGS, and have a yoga session and a LONG shower, because mum is coming over to give me a hug and spend some time with me while I figure this out.

 

And yeah... pool didn't happen this morning, because as my alarm went off at 5 I had slept less that 4 1/2 hours and curled back up. Should have gone to the pool, could have skipped all the worrying and thinking in circles I did between 7 and 8. Meh.

 

So yeah... things are happening... kinda...

Glad I have an appointment with my PT this Friday and my physician early next week, they're cool, maybe they'll have an idea for a solution.

[maegs]

Re: phones - yes, interesting convo, and I learned something.

Re: the gym - if you get through the sessions and get the point where you're on your own, you might find that you enjoy it more. The guy showing you the machines doesn't sound very helpful! Since you're worried about getting hurt again, take it easy until you can talk to your PT and come up with a plan for training. The DOMS could just be that you're doing something different, not that you did too much.

I would have gone back to sleep as well, 4 1/2 hours is not a lot of sleep!

Chin up girl, you're headed in the right direction, just gotta find the path that suits you

Sent by carrier pigeon

[Raxie]

Re: the gym - if you get through the sessions and get the point where you're on your own, you might find that you enjoy it more. The guy showing you the machines doesn't sound very helpful! Since you're worried about getting hurt again, take it easy until you can talk to your PT and come up with a plan for training. The DOMS could just be that you're doing something different, not that you did too much.

...

Chin up girl, you're headed in the right direction, just gotta find the path that suits you

I second all of this!

[Morag]

both of you. You really cheered me up thnx

[Terra]

Re: phones - yes, interesting convo, and I learned something.

Re: the gym - if you get through the sessions and get the point where you're on your own, you might find that you enjoy it more. The guy showing you the machines doesn't sound very helpful! Since you're worried about getting hurt again, take it easy until you can talk to your PT and come up with a plan for training. The DOMS could just be that you're doing something different, not that you did too much.

I would have gone back to sleep as well, 4 1/2 hours is not a lot of sleep!

Chin up girl, you're headed in the right direction, just gotta find the path that suits you

Sent by carrier pigeon

I second all of this!

 

I'll third it too!  

 

It is so hard with little ones around the house to squeeze in exercise.  It feels selfish.  But YOU MUST BE SELFISH when it comes to taking care of you!!!  And if the gym guy isn't helping, make sure to question him lots.  Are you 100% sure he understands your injury and where you are in the recovery process?  If he doesn't then I say you need to have a long chat with him and your PT (if that is possible) because re-injuring yourself isn't necessary!  Long run ask yourself this >>  Will you go to the other gym as much as you want to go with that lengthly commute?  If it is worth it to you and you will go then reconsider staying at the little gym...  

[Rurik Harrgath]

Hey Rurik, good to see you. Not sure if I'll be able to keep up with your thread, but I'll try.

I don't know how Rurik even keeps with with that monster

 

It's a struggle some days; it's worth the effort!  Most adventures usually are...

 

Some days I think of tackling my replies as the day's Boss Battle though. 

 

So yeah... things are happening... kinda...

 

Everything is a process.  I have faith that you'll figure out the best solution to your gym woes and the PT will finagle your back into its good and rightful place!

[Morag]

7th JAN 2016

 

Gym done. Feeling WAY better about the whole thing. I took your pointing out that he may not have understood my injury and where I am in my recovery to heart, Terra, and explained it again, and then I went straight into: "I have PT tomorrow, I need to write down all the equipment available to me now (as I said not too much) and what I did and do weightwise on them so I can talk it through with my PT and make a plan for after intro." Very helpful. Asked lots of questions, got good answers. I have core stability issues, nothing that needs medical attention, just something to work on. And learning the form on the new exercises is... let's call it "interesting", in good firefly spirits.

 

Anyway, this is the machines I have.

Pushup (5kg) Pulldown (15kg) (shoulder)

Twist (10kg)

Legextention (2kg) Legcurl (10kg)

Abdomen (15kg -felt easy) Back (up to 1,5x abdomen, but stayed with 15 to practice form)

Multi hip (Abduction/Adduction/Extension/Flexion) 15kg reduced to 12, hip stability needs work

 

further there are

Latcurl

Legextention (looks a bit like a rowing machine, just without the rowing I guess, seat and push feet away)

Plus two bikes and a stepper

 

So far so good. Feeling better about the dude getting me through intro.

 

The main problem with ANY other gym is exactly that: I will not find a cheaper or closer to home thing. And I think if I get through intro okay, have a chat with PT Tim and we make a good plan, including down the road stuff... this could really be the cheap version of a rack in the basement. I just need to make sure the talk, talk, talk goes in the right direction and not in the "drive me off" direction.

 

On the other fronts I forgot to note down monday food (which was bad because of gaming night anyway, Tuesday was 1373, Yesterday was 1349, Not sure about it all, it feels too much, like I'm over indulging. Not sure if that's just insecurity talking. I have little experience about what calories mean. Beyond the fact that it's the fuel I put into my body. How much more exercise require how much more fuel? On the other hand I will just at some point spend some research time on it and fill that knowledge gap, and I just feel... like there's too much crap on my plate, snacks lying around, some pizza, some chips, but even the healthy snacks I have got devoured... Not sure if it's a mental/emotional hunger, the worries about the back and the gym and the financial situation and all that are real. Or if it's a physical thing... I have reserves to spare, body burn those... Anyway, rambling... Maybe the eating all the time thing would get better if I get my diet cleaned up a bit more. (And dang I miss my chai!)

 

Yoga front looks good so far. 2 of 5 done. Both nights I lay in bed and thought "Dang forgot yoga again." Got up, did my 15 minute routine and went to bed for good. One more session tonight, one tomorrow after PT and one to wake up Saturday.

The walking momentarily is partially grocery shopping and such, not walks that later can be transformed into runs, so that'll be interesting eventually.

 

Sleep so far was +9m, -1h18m, +1h20m, +50m. (total deficit last 14days: -1h17m) I feel good too. But this is early shift week, getting to bed during hubby's early shift never was a problem.

 

Did a heap of laundry over the last 2 days, some general cleaning too. Some extra cooking. Getting there, getting there. Currently at 7 of 15.

Read an interesting wikipedia article about Hathor (spiritual activity, kinda)

Did a bunch of RPG character background creation, plus socialising with the GM... he's really good about helping me figure out where the chara is coming from, which isn't easy because 1) I have a pretty good idea where she is now, and no clue how she got there and 2) I have not played in the Dresdenverse or in the rule system yet.

But it's so much fun. SO MUCH FUN.

 

Afternoon tea hasn't happened yet. But I curled up and was unavailable for children yesterday afternoon when I read all the 7 pages of your thread, Rurik.

Had a few really good laughs, eliciting, "what's wrong mum?" from Kid 1. Thanks for that. And I really enjoy your prose. Makes me want to write again... but people keep telling you that. I wouldn't put you near GRR Martin, as someone said, more next to Rothfuss, he's got a bard's voice as well. And like you he uses it consciously, or at least aims for it consciously. Whatever, I hope you get what I mean.

Short version: enjoy your words, thank you for writing and posting it.

 

Oh, and I wrote done the short list and have it ready to be ticked off in my journal. Helps keep the important things in sight.

 

I think this is WAY enough rambling from me for now.

I'm gonna grab my backpack, do a quick dash to the shops and buy some brussel sprouts (which I usually hate, at least the way my mum makes them) and some bacon, and more bacon, and try that recipe that I read on the campfire thread (don't ask for links because I'm LAZY, and anyway it was just the two ingredients and a baking dish and time and heat, I believe).

 

I ramble on and on,

gahhh

 

Thank you for your support.

Means a lot

 

M

 

[Raxie]

Nice job pulling yourself out of bed and getting the yoga in.  That's huge!

[Morag]

So apparently (as I said on the mini thread) I suck at keeping track of my calendar... I thought I was doing okay with it, but guess bump in the road. Moving on.

 

 

Friday I did do a walk in the morning, and just before midnight I did do a 10 yoga routine and 3 x 20 situps. I feel kinda bad about not doing as much, because I had planned for PT and that didn't happen because PT guy was still on vacation. It's not even in the vecinity of what exercise I would have gotten... but adapting, showing up. Anyway.

 

Food was okay yesterday for the first time this week. I do need to note down throughout the day what I eat. Not just in the evening in hindsight... I noted lunch and knowing how little budget I had left I switched around things for a bit and adjusted my evening meal. Felt better.

 

MON

4923 steps

unknown cal

gym

pile of adulting

rpg night

 

TUE

220 steps

1373 cal (not entirely paleo-esk)

skipped pool in favour of more than 4 1/2h of sleep

pile of adulting

freaking out about spine

forgot yoga, got back up and did yoga

 

WED

7071 steps (shopping with child, not really "sprints" more rucking, really)

1349 cal (not sure if acurate)

some extra cooking, further adulting

some character creation with GM

runner's yoga in the evening

 

THU

3742 steps

1649 cal (underestimated the bacon - damn)

gym

yoga (again with the getting back up)

 

FRI

5084 steps

975 cal (loads of fruit, some leftover brussel sprouts with bacon)

icy rain walk in the am

yoga and 3x20 situps in the pm

more character background fleshed out with scottish friend (character's family is from there)

 

SAT

5397 steps (so far)

1105 cal (soup was delicious! Some snacks during gaming but having a vegan over kept things kinda healthy.)

paleo soup (green beans, tomatoes, minced meat, broth and a dash of cream, but I am okay with all of that)

boardgames until 10 pm

8 min yoga before bed

will do week 2 prep planning while the soup simmers

 

SUN

planned pool day with mum

 

So far so good, week 1, I am pretty sure I can do better than this, but it's not an entirely bad start.

 

 

PS Researching costs for crockpots..... (and I still have no working blender, much sadness)

[Terra]

I don't think your calories are low, if you get lifting a lot I'd say it you need to eat more....

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Rurik Harrgath]

One thing to keep in mind with Paleo is that your calories tend to automatically adjust toward your budget because the bulk of calories come from protein and fats, whereas you need to eat a ton of vegetables to make up the same calorie amounts.  So set yourself a hard cap on the protein and fats while giving yourself lots of room for filling your budget with vegetables helps a lot with hunger control.

[Morag]

Thanks, Terra, Rurik, I do have a deficit in my dietary knowledge. Specifically how paleo changes things... and with today's bout of research I found I lack some knowledge about how things work in general too.

[Morag]

Weight-in and week 1 total:

A total of 27192steps walked

9075ish calories consumed (I guesstimated 1500 for the day I didn't track)

Leaving me with Ø 1296 cal/day

2 gym sessions

1 extra 3x20 situps

3 30min walks and 1 double length walk

1 casual pool day

And 5 yoga sessions

Further I accumulated an additional 30min of sleep deficit, didn't sleep too well this weekend.

Movement getting there, full points,

Nutrition a little bumpy but total was okay, also full points,

Balance, good socialising but not much towards spiritual things, or breathing breaks / afternoon tea, sleep needs work.

That's week 1

Weight-in 93.2 kg (+700g)

Switched to myfitnesspal for nutrient macros (noom coach doesn't have those, just a colour code of red-yellow-green displaying calorie density, which makes all fats bad, always).

Week 2 will be hell on wheels so balance will be paramount.