Granny Nogg's Mousetrap Challenge

[Granny Nogg]

TTZZAAPP!!! A PUFF OF SMOKE AND...

Granny Nogg has turned herself into a little brown mouse. The first thought that enters her mouse brain is, "Cheese. .. I smell cheese!!"
 

 
Lovely, golden, creamy, tangy cheese is going to help Granny Nogg gain some serious mouse muscles.

That, and lifting heavy things to the Rocky theme song.  Or Disco.  Because Disco isn't Dead. 

 

Fitness:

• Do the BBWW 3x a week (Tue/Thu/Sat).  Progression in squats, lunges, and dumbbell weight. Track workouts in spreadsheet. 
• Track steps the other 4 days with my FitBit. 

Diet:

• Track my food daily with My Fitness Pal.  1600 calorie goal.  
• Weigh and measure once per week.  Track in MFP.
  • weight:176.5
  • underbust: 32.25
  • waist: 32
  • hip: 39
  • thigh: 25

Life:

• Keep up with work orders and don't get behind.

 

 

Weekly Summaries: 

Week 1:

1. Fitness: workouts 1/3  Did track in spreadsheet and tracked steps.
2. Diet: Tracked 7/7.  Went over goal twice.  Weighed and measured.
   • weight: 179.3 
   • underbust: 32.75
   • waist: 31.5
   • hip: 38.75
   • thigh: 25
3. Life: orders still caught up.  

Week 2:

1. Fitness: workouts 3/3.  Did track in spreadsheet and tracked steps.
2. Diet: tracked 7/7.  Went over once.  Weighed and measured.
   • weight: 175.9
   • underbust: 32.5
   • waist: 31.25
   • hip: 37.25
   • thigh: 24.75
3. Life: orders still caught up. 

Week 3: 

1. Fitness: workouts 3/3, because I'm counting the Yard Work that gave me DOMS for 3 days.  Wow. Did track in spreadsheet and tracked steps (Fitbit needs a new battery!)
2. Diet: Tracked 6/7.  Dunno what happened to Saturday's food log, I can't find it. Went over only one day, on Wednesday. I know I didn't go over on Saturday because I didn't eat much. Weighed and measured.

   • Weight: 176.6 

     Underbust: 32.5 

     Waist: 31.2 

     Hip: 37.2 

     Thigh: 24.5 

3. Life: orders still caught up, but I'm feeling a little bit pressured by the number of them on the board, so I need to step up my game and get more of them actually completed. 

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[Paully Jane]

Hi Granny Nogg - great goals. I'm trying to do similar - increase my workouts/strength and log/track my workouts and diet. It's helping me to stay on track with the exception of my diet. I still struggle with that so I haven't seen any weight loss. This is my first challenge, so I'm hoping this will also help me to stay motivated. Good luck on your challenge!   

[Dogpuppet]

Good simple goals. You've got this. Go Granny, go!

[r7rok]

I Like the goals and are fairly similar to what mines were last time around, although at a slightly higher calorie budget.

 

Best of luck with your challenge.

[Rebe_J]

Sounds good. Simple, but not necessarily easy. Good luck!

[Granny Nogg]

Hi Granny Nogg - great goals. I'm trying to do similar - increase my workouts/strength and log/track my workouts and diet. It's helping me to stay on track with the exception of my diet. I still struggle with that so I haven't seen any weight loss. This is my first challenge, so I'm hoping this will also help me to stay motivated. Good luck on your challenge!

Hi Pauley Jane! I struggle with the diet part, too. Tracking makes a big difference.

Good simple goals. You've got this. Go Granny, go!

Thanks, Dogpuppet! We've both got this.

I Like the goals and are fairly similar to what mines were last time around, although at a slightly higher calorie budget.

Best of luck with your challenge.

Yeah R7rok, I needed to see that my calories needed to go up in order to build muscle, so I'm tracking weight but not trying to lose this challenge - hence the higher calorie allotment.

Sounds good. Simple, but not necessarily easy. Good luck!

No, not necessarily easy, Rebe_J! Good luck to both of us!

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Well the last couple days have been thrift store days. Allen (my dearest hubby, you'll hear about him allot) is going to do the newborn studio photo shoot for our newest baby granddaughter tomorrow. So it was a great excuse to go looking for props. Oh did we find some gems! A couple of baskets and lovely wicker Polynesian style chairs, and all kinds of stuff.

Allen is a talented amateur portrait photographer, so I'm really looking forward to this. We have dozens of props, vintage hats and space guns and costumes and the list is endless.

We set up his lights and umbrellas in the studio on Friday with the help of a young lady who's been like an adopted daughter since she was 10. She's restarting the drama team at our church, and wanted some photos for her portfolio. So in exchange for her help, Allen took some pictures of her. He said he didn't know who had more fun - myself or Allison! I did her makeup, helped with costume changes, hair arrangement, held the Supergirl cape out (oh yes, we went there, all right).

I'm usually his model, and we've been working on putting together the next photo shoot, a fantasy one called "White Queen". More on that as the month goes along.

So today I did my weight and measuring, and even though my weight is up a few pounds, I've lost over an inch in my hips, half an inch in my thighs, and quarter inch in my underbust. Which may be a problem, since I just started a project of sewing my first underwire bra. I'm going to cut the mock up tomorrow, and I'm debating whether or not to just cut the band size smaller and use a bra extender until I finish losing the last inch in my underbust. I'll only go down one more bands size, so it isn't a significant change. The cup size won't change much, I don't think. It didn't before.

Weight today, 176.5. Underbust,

32.25. Waist, 32, hips 39, thigh 25.

Calories were high today, too much dessert and poor estimating, 1895. Steps were 3672. Protein was 93, fat was 108, carbs were 149, fiber was 37, and net carbs were 102. Water was 5 cups.

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[Mark D]

Hey Granny Nogg!  Looks like another great challenge coming up for you.

 

I didn't get mine up yet, trains to catch, bills to pay and all that.  I'll try to do so later this week.

[Sylvaa]

Happy Challenge start date!

 

I'm following along - and always looking for fitbit friends!

[Granny Nogg]

Hey Granny Nogg!  Looks like another great challenge coming up for you.

 

I didn't get mine up yet, trains to catch, bills to pay and all that.  I'll try to do so later this week.

 

I noted that you have yours up now, though I haven't visited yet.  That's on my list this morning. Thanks for following!

 

 

Happy Challenge start date!

 

I'm following along - and always looking for fitbit friends!

 

And happy belated challenge start date to you too, Sylvaa!  I'd be happy to be a Fitbit friend. 

 

 

Update: 

Monday was really busy.  Our baby granddaughter's photo shoot went really well, and when Allen's done post processing, I'll post one of the photos.  Our daughter gave us quite a compliment -- she said she was planning to enter one of the photos in a beautiful baby contest.  

 

Monday is also Craft Night at my house.  It's something our daughter and oldest daughter-in-law started about 5 years ago.  Our daughter wanted to sew a t-shirt quilt but didn't have enough room at her house to spread it out on the floor.  So she asked if she could move their craft night to my house.  We're many quilts and crafting projects later, still going on a weekly basis.  All of our daughter-in-laws have come, although the original oldest is still the most consistent.  We also have had many "adopted" daughters join us through the years, and a couple of them are still coming, even though they started in their teens.  Sometimes their moms come.  So yeah, it's an opportunity to be creative on a regular basis.  I usually make dinner for us and we go from mid-afternoon until ten-ish.  We have a facebook group and everything.  

 

The last half of 2015 I spent many Craft Nights working on orders for customers because I'd gotten behind.  So now that I'm caught up, I'm working on craft projects again.  I'd started working on a handmade bra, but when the White Queen photo shoot idea happened between Allen and I, the bra went to the back burner so that I could work on costuming for the photo shoot.  THAT project has pretty much exploded since last night into four photo shoots with accompanying short stories and queens from four-way chess.  More on that later.  Yes, we are indeed crazy.

 

I'm working on the costuming for the White Queen and began with her crown.  I'd stumbled onto a cosplay costume creation thread on Pinterest, and it was exactly what I needed to see!  I've never done any costuming with craft foam and stress mats before, but there are tons of tutorials and information out there.  If you're interested/curious about how the cosplayers make these things, here's my Pinterest board. 

 

Progress on the White Queen so far: I've designed the crown and drawn it onto a sheet of craft foam, cut it out, shaped it with a heat gun, reinforced it with copper wire, and started stiffening the foam with a mixture of white glue and fabric glue because it needs to be able to flex a little bit. Next I'll be sanding the glue smooth and painting it white. 

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ynb2m2mxieqeplf/white-queen-crown-1.jpg?dl=0

 

Monday's food log:

Breakfast - skipped it.  Boo. That happens occasionally though. 

Lunch - a whole avocado, homemade Philly steak sandwich (steak, Ossau Iraty cheese, white sandwich bread because I'm out of flax bread, Earth Balance spread)

Afternoon snack - 5 slices of Gallo salami (our favorite taste of "home".  One of our sons picks up salami chubs for us on his Cali runs)

Dinner - a homemade Italian-influenced soup with sweet italian sausage, canneloni beans, onion, bell pepper, kale, cabbage, carrot, chicken broth

Dessert - 45 pieces of dairy-free semisweet chocolate chips

 

Monday's stats: calories, 1432 out of 1570; steps, 7396; protein, 61; fat, 102; carbs, 74; fiber, 15; net carbs, 59; water, I don't remember and didn't track it, oops. 

 

Tuesday is one of my busier days.  I had my Tops meeting.  I weighed in, 172.8, which is down 1.6 from last week. During the meeting we were talking about 10 weight loss myths, and when they got to one about exercise, they said that I was a big inspiration to get everyone attempting some sort of exercise.  I usually copy my food and exercise logs into our Facebook group for our Tops Chapter.  So far I'm the only one who does it, but apparently it isn't going unnoticed.  So they were asking about squats, and since I'm one of the youngest members at 50, I demonstrated a chair squat that they could all try.  Then I demonstrated a regular body weight squat for when they were able to move past chair ones. 

 

I spent the afternoon working on the handouts for CR and getting ready to go to the meeting.  CR is Celebrate Recovery, which is a Christ-centered 12 Step Program similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, but with a focus on Christ being the Higher Power.  I'm one of the leaders of our chapter so I do stuff like make the handouts and help with running the meeting.  I also struggle with things like codependency, food issues, and some non-traditional addictive tendencies (thrift store shopping, craft projects like the White Queen, etc).  

 

I didn't get my workout done yesterday like I'd wanted to;  too many things on my plate and I didn't wake up early enough.  So I did yesterday's workout this morning.  More on that later. 

 

Tuesday's food log (day 87 of my 100 day streak goal!  So close!):

Breakfast - skipped it.  Yeah, I know I know.  

Lunch - A cup of the leftover Italian soup and 3 oz of beef jerky

Dinner - McDonald's drive through.  Two McDoubles with no cheese and a medium fries.  No judging. 

Dessert - a quarter cup of fruit and a serving of non-dairy chocolate chips

 

Tuesday's stats: Calories, 1423 of 1570; steps, 4852; protein, 77; fat, 59; carbs, 151; fiber, 9; net carbs 142; water, 4 cups. 

 

Wednesday's workout (replacement for Tuesday's workout)

I'm doing the BBWW (Beginner Body Weight Workout).  3 sets of the following: 

Squats - 14 (20 is goal)

Wall push ups - 10 (at goal)

Walking lunges - 14 (20 is goal)

Dumbbell rows - 10 (way past goal at 20 lbs, up from 17.5 last week)

Planks - 15 seconds (at goal)

Jumping jacks - 30 (at goal)

 

Basically when I can master the BBWW, I'm going to work on another of the NF beginner workouts.  

[Elastigirl]

SO much creativity! That is awesome. The photo shoot sounds like sounds so nice, and the White Queen sounds super fun. Way to go on the weight loss too! The BBWW is looking great. And so cool that you inspired people .

[Chris-Tien Jinn]

Subbing for some Wise Woman Inspiration!!!!

[Granny Nogg]

SO much creativity! That is awesome. The photo shoot sounds like sounds so nice, and the White Queen sounds super fun. Way to go on the weight loss too! The BBWW is looking great. And so cool that you inspired people .

Thanks, Elastigirl! I'm feeling like I wobbled the rest of the week, so I'm a little disappointed about that. But I'm not giving up.

Subbing for some Wise Woman Inspiration!!!!

So glad to have you, Chris! And please do share your wisdom here, too.

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Allen goes back to work on Thursday, so I've been catching up the housework and laundry this week. It's so easy to forget how much he'd normally do around here. It sometimes feels a little overwhelming if I let the chores get behind, like I did the week before. But I'm mostly caught up now.

Finished the White Queen's crown tonight. It came out really well, I feel. http://pin.it/Z5a3Ket.

Started cutting all the layers for the costume corset. It's a lovely cream jacquard upholstery fabric that I had in my fabric stash and should match the dress and cape I found at goodwill.

Whenever I sew a costume, I have a few purposes in mind; one, for the event or photo shoot; two, for the Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin; and three, for other people to borrow (as long as they're more or less my size).

I only did one workout this week, because I got busy (let myself get busy) and put it off. I was active, cleaning and cooking, though. I also jammed my thumb putting something away in the pantry yesterday, and my wrist is bothering me. So I'm not sure how push ups and dumbbell rows will go tomorrow. But I'm going to try anyway.

Food has been mostly under control this week. Today's calories were 1420 of 1570, exercise was 300, protein was 64, fat was 96, carbs was 94, fiber was a whopping 31 (yay flax bread pizza), and net carbs were 65. Water was good at 6 cups.

Tomorrow I'll weigh and measure. I'm noticing changes in how my clothes fit.

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[Granny Nogg]

Lost half am inch in my waist, and a quarter inch in my hips. Weight was 179.3, but mostly ignoring that because I was 172 on Friday.

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[Mark D]

Lost half am inch in my waist, and a quarter inch in my hips. Weight was 179.3, but mostly ignoring that because I was 172 on Friday.

sent from my tiny particle accelerator

 

Great!  It's unlikely you gained 7 pounds of fat over a weekend, so something's probably goofy.  Either the scale is off (and they're ALL off to one extent or another) or you body is doing something like holding on to water.

[Granny Nogg]

Yup, I figured the latter. Berm drinking more water lately.

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[Granny Nogg]

Food log-

Breakfast: homemade eggnog

Lunch: long grain and wild rice

Dinner:beef stew, french bread, df spread

Dessert: honeydew melon

Calories:1539 out of 1570; protein, 70; fat, 43, carbs, 230; fiber, 10; net carbs, 220, water was 4 cups.

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[Granny Nogg]

Food log today, had a big breakfast with Allen and our grandson, Jon. I had a bacon sammich on flax bread and half an avocado, with some homemade dairy free/low sugar eggnog. Another way to eat eggs if you don't like them.

Had a couple graham crackers with the munchkin later in the morning. Then for lunch I had a bowl of homemade beef stew and a few corn chips.

Dinner was a half of a honeydew melon, and tonight Allen wanted Perkins for dessert, and I wanted french fries. It was a workout day so I could afford to splurge.

Calories were 1762 out of 1570, exercise was -227. Protein was 64, carbs were 165, fiber was 27, net carbs were 137. Fat was 101 and water was 4 cups.

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[Granny Nogg]

I did my workout yesterday on schedule, but because I had my 16 month old grandson with me, it had to be abbreviated. I wish I could have gotten a video of him doing wall push ups though. TOO DANG CUTE.

He also used me for a WWF dummy when I did my planks. YOU try to plank and laugh and not tumble over when a tiny tornado tackles ya. [emoji1]

I got most of the workout done but got interrupted before I could finish, so today I did the rest of it. Mostly it was the dumbbell rows; I didn't want Jon to get hurt, so the dumbbell stayed downstairs.

I really want to see how far I can safely push myself, so I went ahead and upped the dumbbell weight from 20 pounds to 22.5. Yeah, I'm feeling THAT already. But it also feels good. Which mildly creeps me out. I know endorphins can become an addiction. That's a real thing. I liked the stress the lifting put on me, it felt. ...I dunno. Hard to explain. Anyway.

I tried to do a few knee push ups but that sent my right wrist into actual pain, so I didn't get very far. Also realized that I couldn't do even one knee push up. Guess that's going on my challenge next month.

Overall I'm feeling really good about this challenge. Reminds me, I haven't done the recap of last week, I'll add that to my to do list.

Work is going fine, I'm still caught up so that's nice. So much stress relief!

Allen goes in today to the podiatrist to see if he can walk without crutches now. Hope so, since he goes back to work tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to him being gone; it's been a good 6 weeks and we know for sure we won't kill each other when he retires.

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[Sylvaa]

I tried to do a few knee push ups but that sent my right wrist into actual pain, so I didn't get very far. Also realized that I couldn't do even one knee push up. Guess that's going on my challenge next month.

 

Sorry I'm not familiar with previous challenges - do you have previous wrist issues or just pain with this?

[Granny Nogg]

Yeah there's a strain or sprain that I did to that wrist a few challenges back; might even be 2014, I'm not sure. Basically I twisted the wrist during an incline push up set, and that knocked me back a bit. Then last summer the car accident was on my right side, and I'd braced that arm in the car window frame so some further damage. And this past Sunday I was putting something away in the pantry, and jammed the thumb on that hand. So I think there's some issues there that are long term and I'm maybe going to have to work around them.

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[Granny Nogg]

Workout log:

+Squats -14/15/14, got lost in thought on that second set

+Wall push ups - tried 3 feet away again, could do them but wrist hurt, so other 2 sets were at 2.5 feet

+walking lunges - 14/14/15, busy bees in my head

+dumbbell rows - 10/10/10 @ 22.5 lbs, back to max weight I was lifting a year ago

+planks - 20/20/20, just to see if I could do it. Yep. 15 is goal. Maxed it. Aced it. Go me.

+Jumping jacks - 30/30/30

At the end I felt warmed up and kinda like. ..is that all there is? It seems like increasing my food allotment has been a good thing so far. I'm feeling energetic after my workout instead of tired, my heart doesn't pound like it did before. I'm seeing muscle definition in my thighs and calves, even while seated.

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[Sylvaa]

Yeah there's a strain or sprain that I did to that wrist a few challenges back; might even be 2014, I'm not sure. Basically I twisted the wrist during an incline push up set, and that knocked me back a bit. Then last summer the car accident was on my right side, and I'd braced that arm in the car window frame so some further damage. And this past Sunday I was putting something away in the pantry, and jammed the thumb on that hand. So I think there's some issues there that are long term and I'm maybe going to have to work around them.

sent from my tiny particle accelerator

 

Have you worked with a PT to get some exercises to do to strengthen your wrist? Especially since you are still having issues - there are some great stretches you can do some of which can also be done with weights to keep progress going.

[Granny Nogg]

I've been seeing a chiro and she's been adjusting my wrist, but I do have a wrist mobility and strengthening exercise I've done, after the swelling from the car accident went down. I can go back to those, for sure.

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[Rebe_J]

Workout log:

+Squats -14/15/14, got lost in thought on that second set

+Wall push ups - tried 3 feet away again, could do them but wrist hurt, so other 2 sets were at 2.5 feet

+walking lunges - 14/14/15, busy bees in my head

+dumbbell rows - 10/10/10 @ 22.5 lbs, back to max weight I was lifting a year ago

+planks - 20/20/20, just to see if I could do it. Yep. 15 is goal. Maxed it. Aced it. Go me.

+Jumping jacks - 30/30/30

At the end I felt warmed up and kinda like. ..is that all there is? It seems like increasing my food allotment has been a good thing so far. I'm feeling energetic after my workout instead of tired, my heart doesn't pound like it did before. I'm seeing muscle definition in my thighs and calves, even while seated.

 

 

It's a great workout when you feel energized afterward, rather than wiped out. And Woot! about seeing muscle definition.

[Granny Nogg]

Food log:

Breakfast, a cup of diced chicken thigh and two dumplings.

Lunch, a whole avocado, third of a serving of cocoa dusted almonds.

Dinner, 4 oz roast beef, a cup of potato flakes reconstituted with water and 2T palm spread, a dozen baby carrots.

Dessert, more almonds, raspberries, and a few ritz crackers.

I changed my cocoa almonds recipe a bit, dusting the finished almonds in erythritol powder. Mmmmm.

I've started eating a whole avocado every day, and really fits the bill foe adequate fiber as well as satisfying fats.

Calories, 1600 out of 1570; workout calories, -472; protein, 77; fats, 100; carbs, 106; fiber 37; net carbs 69. Water, 5 cups.

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