Fiddle-on focuses on business

[fiddle-on]

Weight:

I need to lose about 15 pounds to not be medically overweight, and would like to lose 30. I’ve also got a couple of injuries that I think would heal faster if I weighed less.

From experience, I know that if I want to lose weight, I need to be tracking what I eat. Otherwise, it just slips my mind when I eat “just one†cookie or candy multiple times a day. “Just one†is fine. “Just five or ten†is not. I’d like to lose 2 pounds by the end of January. I’m at 164 now, with 42 inch hips

Exercise:

I’m recovering from a back injury and from persistent plantar fasciitis.

I hurt my back in October, and reinjured it a little in November. It’s been healing well since then, but there’s still a ways to go. At my worst, I wasn’t even bending over to pick up silverware that I dropped because it was so painful. I can now bend over with only a little twinge, and stand up without upper body assistance a couple times before it starts hurting. It’s only slightly limiting now.

The plantar fasciitis showed up last June, and for the first three months, consistently got worse. Then I got better about actually resting it and wearing good shoes. It’s been holding steadily bad ever since. I can walk a mile with only a little pain, but by the end of two miles, it hurts. That’s walking slowly. So the goal for January is to actually rest my foot as much as possible. No long walks because the weather is nice. No hiking. No testing if I can run. This will be hard, but I’m hoping it will let me heal by spring, when staying inactive is really miserable.

Ironically, with the just the back injury, I could still do as much cardio as I wanted. With just the foot injury, I could still intensively lift weights. But with both, I need to be careful all around while I heal.

Life:

My most important goal is my life goal. I want to start my own business. I’m not to hung up on what that business does: I figure if I start at something I enjoy, I can tweak it as I get established. I like to read and write, so I’ve decided to start an editing and writing business. This has been lackadaisically in the works since October, but now it’s time to get serious.

The goal for January: find at least one client.

Ideas for finding clients

1. 
   

   Tell everyone what I’m doing.

   
   
   
2. 
   

   Find poorly written websites and product descriptions, and contact the site owners/product sellers.

   
   
   
3. 
   

   Find local businesses, and offer my services. This is hard because I work 9-5 in an office, so I don’t have time when these businesses are open.

   
   
   

Challenges:

1. 
   

   I’ve got a fair amount of social anxiety. I find making phone calls very stressful. Using my phone is going to be the biggest challenge.

   
   
   
2. 
   

   I’ve never done this before, so I don’t know what works. I’m going to track who I contact, and how I contacted them on a spreadsheet. With any luck, I’ll be able to see what gets responses.

   
   
   

[fiddle-on]

Here are my goals in easy-access list format. Listed from most important to least.

Exercise:

1. 
   

   Do not overuse foot. If it hurts worse this morning than it did the previous morning, I overused it.

   
   
   
2. 
   

   Stretch foot and back every morning for five minutes.

   
   
   
3. 
   

   Do ten minute yoga routine every evening to stretch and exercise foot and back.

   
   
   
4. 
   

   Do bodyweight exercise reps two to three times per week, with a focus on my core and not hurting my back.

   
   
   1. 
      

      Good: pushups, bridges, assisted pull-ups, side planks and leg lifts, lunges.

      
      
      
   2. 
      

      Bad: Squats, Good mornings, boats, supermans, wheels, too much of anything.

      
      
      
   3. 
      

      The good and bad change as I heal. Lunges and side-planks used to be on the bad list, squats used to be impossible, and good mornings still are.

      
      
      
   
   

** Reward: Once my back permits, attend once a weekly yoga class (1 hour). I’m very close to this point. I just need to be able to stand up more than once from a forward bend without pain.

Weight:

1. 
   

   Track what I eat for all meals.

   
   
   
2. 
   

   If I’m eating right, I will be eating between 1500 and 2000 calories per day.

   
   
   
3. 
   

   For week one, limit refined sugar a lot.

   
   
   
4. 
   

   Aim for eating lots of protein, making it 20-25% of my diet.

   
   
   

** Reward: If I hit 160 pounds, I get to buy a new pair of brown pants. My current pair is from when I had 44 inch hips, and they need a belt J .

Life:

1. 
   

   Contact at least four potential clients per week. E-mail is acceptable for this. Follow up on anything promising through phone or in-person contact if possible.

   
   
   
2. 
   

   Write for at least 30 minutes per day. 1 hour is better. Doing this at work counts.

   
   
   
3. 
   

   Edit at least one story on www.scribophile.com per week.

   
   
   

Limit this to 12 hours per week so I don’t burn out too fast. (1-2 hours on weekdays, 2-4 hours on weekends).

**Reward: This is self-fulfilling. If I get a client, I get money.

[fiddle-on]

Tuesday:

 

Diet: Excellent. Was good on eating, recorded everything, had a celemtine and a few chocoloate chips for dessert, and didn't feel like I needed anything more.

 

Physical: Meh. I did the morning PT, and in the evening did a few stretches, but not as much as I should have. At the office, I did about 20 lunges, a couple twists, and 30 desk-pushups. So I overdid the walking, and underdid the back stretching, but otherwise I did well.

 

New Job: OK. I spent about an hour writing my goals, and an hour working on my fan-fic story, but didn't do anything about contacting potential clients.

 

And since it's now Wednesday AM: I apparently didn't do too much on my foot. It hurts about the same as it did yesterday. I was wearing my new Altra Ultimates, and I think that made the difference. If you're looking for a super-padded shoe, it's an excellent choice.

[fiddle-on]

Today's not over yet, but I'm posting anyway. I've been good on diet, although I need to record the nibbles I've had this evening before I forget. They had quesadillas at lunch, which I love. But then I entered the estimated ingredients into MyFitnessPal, and it turns out they've got about 800 calories. So I had half of a quesadilla with salsa and a little guac and sour cream, plus carrot and celery sticks for lunch. I got the yummy food, and only had about 500 calories of it. Win all around.

 

I didn't go for a walk at lunch, which was kind of hard. But I walked about 40 minutes at lunch yesterday, and I don't want to push it. I was also avoiding walking around the office like I usually do: instead, I did push-ups and lunges every hour or so. Those are actually a lot more effective at giving me energy, so I'm going to keep that up. Easy on the foot and good exercise.

 

 

I need to try e-mailing a couple businesses about potential editing work tonight. And eat a healthy dinner.

[fiddle-on]

Thursday night.

 

Walked very little, and my foot is definitely happier for it. I did foot strength exercises today, and even with that, my foot barely hurts at all now, at the end of the day. Before the holidays, it was hurting with every step.

 

Diet: Still doing quite well.

 

Edit job: I've been avoiding this. I've got issues with social anxiety that make reaching out to strangers way harder than it should be. So my goal for tonight is to send off one e-mail. If I don't, I get a frowny face on my tracking calendar tomorrow. I've been good so far. I don't want this to be my first.

[fiddle-on]

Duplicate

[fiddle-on]

Wrote the e-mail last night, proof read it this morning and changed a whole lot, so I'm proof reading again tonight and sending it as is. Also going to modify it tonight to fit a different potential client, but that should be small change. So two tonight. Also updated my voice-mail so that if a client calls, they can actually know who I am. I'm thinking I'll need a second line, but I'll save that for after I've got income.

 

Did a difficult yoga routine last night, and my back is sore this morning, I had been thinking about doing a modified beginner body weight workout, but just as glad I didn't. Maybe next week.

 

But that means yesterday gets smileys in food, weight, and life. Triple Win! I think I'll post a picture of my calendar at the end of each week. :rolleyes-new:

[The Chameleon]

Sounds like you're off to a great start!

[fiddle-on]

Thanks Chameleon!

 

I slept very badly on Thursday night, which meant Friday was a bad day. I was just exhausted and sore. And since I couldn't just take the two hour nap I needed, I ended up eating instead, a very big cookie and a handful of hershey's kisses on top of overeating at every meal and snack. It came out to about 2500 calories, and no exercise at all.

 

But I slept better last night, and I can take a nap today if I need it, so it should be a better day.

 

I really need to keep my phone out of the bedroom at night, though.

[fiddle-on]

I'm setting a new 2 week mini-quest.

Keep the phone out of the bedroom after 9pm. Each day I succeed, I get a star on my calendar. Failure leads to a frowny face.

 

I'm really letting my inner five year old rule my rewards this time. She's very easy to please, though, so that's OK.

[fiddle-on]

Kept the phone out of the bedroom last night!

 

I also did 2 rounds of strength training. It was a variation on the beginner body weight workout, because I'm really cautious about doing squats right now, and I absolutely hate fore-arm planks. They combine being really easy to balance on and keep good form on with being extremely difficult on the muscles. So I've got all this lactic acid building up, and nothing to distract me from it. I subsitituted side planks with leg raises and 5 second bridges.

 

I was OK on food. Went out for dinner and split a smallish desert at Twist. I love their serving sizes - very reasonable, so you can eat it all and be satisfied, not stuffed.

 

Job: OK. I was hoping to do better, but I kind of got hung up writing a single letter, in the time I should have done 2.

[fiddle-on]

Me, food, and the weekend did poorly, as usual. I much prefer the structure of the workday when it comes to eating healthy. Not to mention the reasonably priced cafeteria with made to order eggs and salads.

 

Physically, this weekend was great. Worked out Saturday morning, and avoided any long walks.  Best of all was Sunday. It was pouring like crazy, and I didn't want to go out in my nice new sneakers. So I tried on my waterproof hiking boots, with a cushioned insole inccluded. Two weeks ago, these were seriously painful after about 2 steps, to the point I couldn't even wear them. They didn't hurt when I put them on, so I decided to give them a try. I went to Barnes and Noble, and wandered around for half an hour before I started to feel any pain. By the time I got home, it hurt noticably, but not to the point I couldn't walk. I'd say the resting is helping!

 

Work-wise: doing OK. I sent out a total of 3 e-mails last week. I'm hoping for something like a 10% response rate, since these are unsolicited but include samples where I've edited a paragraph or two from their web pages. So I really, really need to send more. 

 

I also found a full time job I'm interested in, so I need to apply to that tonight.

 

Karen

[fiddle-on]

Work's busy, and it's been exhausting. I took a nap when I got home today, which helped. I was going to go to a chorus rehearsal, but somehow siince getting home from work, over an inch of snow has fallen, and it's still coming down. That means that instead of an easy 30 minute drive, it would be a slow, challenging 45 minute drive. Possibly worse by the time I leave, if the plows still haven't gotten to my street (it's small, and it's a hill). So I skipped it, which also means I can apply for a job I heard about. Basically doing what I'm doing now, but for more money and using a wider range of skills.

 

Challenge wise: diet was a big fat F today. By 10AM, I was yawning. After lunch, I just kept on eating until I ran out of food. I probably should have gone home and taken a nap at lunch time. Oh well.

 

Physically: I think I need to do some strength training this evening, or else an intensive yoga workout. I'm just not getting enough exercise to sleep well. Normally, I get my exercise by walking. Two miles is enough to sleep at night. Less and I'm just not tired in the evening.

 

Now to get back to writing a cover letter for my life goal.

[fiddle-on]

Work's busy, and it's been exhausting. I took a nap when I got home today, which helped. I was going to go to a chorus rehearsal, but somehow siince getting home from work, over an inch of snow has fallen, and it's still coming down. That means that instead of an easy 30 minute drive, it would be a slow, challenging 45 minute drive. Possibly worse by the time I leave, if the plows still haven't gotten to my street (it's small, and it's a hill). So I skipped it, which also means I can apply for a job I heard about. Basically doing what I'm doing now, but for more money and using a wider range of skills.

 

Challenge wise: diet was a big fat F today. By 10AM, I was yawning. After lunch, I just kept on eating until I ran out of food. I probably should have gone home and taken a nap at lunch time. Oh well.

 

Physically: I think I need to do some strength training this evening, or else an intensive yoga workout. I'm just not getting enough exercise to sleep well. Normally, I get my exercise by walking. Two miles is enough to sleep at night. Less and I'm just not tired in the evening.

 

Now to get back to writing a cover letter for my life goal.

[fiddle-on]

My back did not hurt AT ALL this morning! Plan is to do a yoga class tonight, and see how it holds up to that challenge. And with the back pain basically solved, it's time to move on from pure bodyweight. I was looking at kettlebells online, and checked Craigsist. Some guy has a decent looking 25 lb ball about 10 minutes drive from me, so I'll be getting a kettlebell. Of course, suddenly adding a 25 pound kettlebell is NOT going slow, so I'll be extremely cautious about using it at first.

 

I also ordered Kettle Simple and Sinister by Pavel, since it's got good reviews as being extremely clear and simple.

 

To give myself more weight options, I think I'm going to make sandbags, filled with pebbles for easy cleanup when they inevitably spring leaks. Both cheaper than a kettlebell and not nearly as hard on my rented floor if I drop them. And since I can sew, I can make a decent sandbag, not one of those duct-tape do-it-yourselfies you see online. Since the stone comes in 50 pound bags, I'm thinking a 20 pound bag, 2 ten pounders, and 2 five pounders, plus a bigger bag so I can add the weights together. That'll give me some nice increments. Best of all, I already own the fabric, velcro, and zippers, so the cash outlay will be less than $5 for the rock, which I'd rather just buy than collect.

[fiddle-on]

Picked up the kettlebell. It's not as heavy as I was afraid of, so I'll be able to use it for some stuff even from the start. Of course, right now it's sitting in my car because I'm being too lazy to go all the way back out and get it. I left it there because I couldn't carry both it and my groceries. Guess it's body weight tonight.

[fiddle-on]

Didn't post yesterday because I had computer troubles and a migraine. I'm sorting out the computer now.

 

Did nothing on editing, so that was a frown.

Food: OK. I had no appetite, which sometimes leads me to chomping on junk food for no good reason. I didn't. Soup for lunch, a little pasta for dinner. Almost no breakfast.

Physical. OK. Did a 10 minute bodyweight workout in the morning, when I still had hope the headache would leave quickly.

 

I felt a lot better this morning, with a little more appetite. Had an omelet for breakfast, a late lunch, and have now been having healthy snacks all afternoon, which tells me I'm really better.

 

Physical: did a 10 minute body weight again.

 

Editing: need to spend at least an hour this evening. I've lost a lot of potential time because I had to do a factory reset on my computer, so I'm busy setting it up again and reinstalling all my programs. Ugh.

[Sunmage]

Looks like you are doing well!

 

If you do kettlebell swings: Be careful with your lower back. If you do the lower part of the movement unsmooth(more like letting it pull your arms down and catch it) it will put a lot if strain onto your lower back everytime. Painful and unnecessary

Congrats on getting one though. They are great!

[fiddle-on]

Looks like you are doing well!

 

If you do kettlebell swings: Be careful with your lower back. If you do the lower part of the movement unsmooth(more like letting it pull your arms down and catch it) it will put a lot if strain onto your lower back everytime. Painful and unnecessary

Congrats on getting one though. They are great!

 

Tried one swing on my own, proved you right. So I found a class nearby on Saturday. Plus it turns out it's at a gym where they've got a nice program for small group personal training for a month, so I'm doing that too. That should keep me out of trouble  .

[fiddle-on]

Here's my regular (irregular?) update.

I've been very good about food, which has been a little challenging because I haven't had much appetite, and a lot of times, when that happens, I just end up eating lots of junk, and nothing else. Instead, I've been making an effort to stick to the few sweets plan. More carbs than usual, since a lot of protein hasn't been sitting well, but very little added sugar.

 

Physical: I did a quick bodyweight workout Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Yesterday was chorus, so that was my time off. But I was next to Brenda, who it turns out is a serious hiker. Once the PF clears up a bit, I'll try going out hiking with her. Optimistically, March or April.

 

Job/Edit: I've been really, really bad about sending out e-mails. Haven't sent any since I reloaded Windows on Friday. On the plus side, I got in an job application for MassDEP.

 

Back and foot are both doing well.

[fiddle-on]

Took Friday and Saturday to not do much physically because I was pushing myself Wednesday and Thursday, and my foot and shoulders were both hurting, and my back was starting to complain. Did a round of bodyweight this morning, and I felt much better about it.

 

Snacked on junk food yesterday (almond joy, snickers (both fun size), 3 lindt chocolates, about 1/4 of a 8x4 loaf of cranberry bread). So not great. Started out this morning really just thinking about chocolate. I ignored it, and made eggs, so that's a win. I did eat a container of sweetened yogurt, which was supposed to be dessert. Tomorrow's back to work at least.

 

Got an e-mail

 

Also have two more businesses to e-mail about improving the writing on their websites.

[fiddle-on]

Mostly good on diet (with the usual weekend issues). A whole lot fewer sugar cravings than I had at the beginning of the month. My jeans that were almost unwearably tight at Christmas are now comfortable, though nowhere near loose.

 

My foot and back are both doing much, much better. My back doesn't strain at all when I squat, and even bending over doesn't hurt unless I overdo it.

 

I've been doing bodyweight workouts. 20 lunges have gone from challenging to easy. 10 pushups at desk height is pretty easy now, and I'm doing them from the second step of my step stool (maybe 18-24 inches?). The 9th and 10th are really hard, but still doable without losing all form.

 

 

I like the much shorter challenge time. I really doubt I could make another 2 weeks without fresh motivation, but I can absolutely finish up this week, and start again next month.

 

Here are my thoughts on next challenge.

 

Keep up the dieting: aim for no more than one sweet per day, and at least 3 fruits/ veggies, ideally 4-6.

 

Fitness: I'm looking for dumbells and kettlebells on craigslist. I've already got a pullup bar. I've also got a 1 month trial of small group personal training once a week, with unlimited general classes (strength focused). So that should let me learn enough basics to use weights safely. It's a 20-40 minute drive, depending on traffic, but there's a Saturday morning class that should work, and a couple of evenings that should be OK.

 

Life: I want to start a writing blog to go along with trying to start the editing business. More detail on all of these will be coming along over the weekend.