Lady Lunaels Logbook

[Lunael]

So this is it – the beginning. Although actually, everyday there is a beginning, a middle and an end to something. Anyway, it is the start of me being here, pursuing my current goals, trying to become the person I’d like to be.

 

The status quo:

I am currently about 10 kg overweight, with about 10 to 15% excess body fat. I have an issue with my self-image, self-imposed pressure and loneliness, resulting in a strong tendency for emotional eating. Fixing my diet without overdoing it is quite hard for me. I suffer from slight hypothyroidism that is sometimes hard to get controlled, which often leads to dizziness, weakness and depression. Allergies and some food intolerances complete the picture. Another thing I struggle with is relaxing and be easy about things. I stop having fun when I feel I HAVE to do something instead of CHOOSING to do so. I am shifty, headstrong and sensitive and need to live in balance with my intuition and instincts.

 

What I like:

- running, hiking, swimming, biking (except in winter)

- ballroom dancing, archery, skating (I suck at the latter)

- yoga and meditation

- singing, drawing, books, movies, games and podcasts and cooking

 

the BIG WHY

1. SELF-CONFIDENCE: I want to be proud of myself. I want to feel like someone who could impress others, or someone who might be capable to be a hero if I'd have to be one. Also, I want to live a lifestyle that makes me feel secure by knowing that I choose wisely.

2. ATTRACTIVENESS: I want to buy various clothes, not only those that hide my stupid body the best :-/. I want to recognize myself in the mirror. I want to wear a swimming suit or attractive underwear without any second thoughts.

3. CARELESSNESS: I miss the way I felt when I was so fit a few years ago. I want that feeling again, lighthearted and simply fine with who I am, never being afraid of being judged by others.

4. FAMILY AND FRIENDS: I want to feel at level with my friends or old classmates. Especially my sister - I don't want to feel second class anymore every time I am with her. I cannot get closer to her as long as this stands between us. And she sets the standard preeettty high! Also, all my family is constantly talking about their fitness classes and I don't want to feel so left out.

5. HEALTH: I don't want to feel controlled by any sickness, nor struck down with any of the symptoms. No pain, no sadness, no weakness.

6. SKILLS and TRAITS: I want to have skills and traits that I can say, represent me. I want to be elegant, gracious and have the petite body my build is actually structured to have, I want to be cat-like, a little mysterious, strong and most of all: free and full of emotions.

 

Who I want to be:

Just recently I realized, being shifty isn’t bad at all. It means, I am curious, that I value freedom and do my own thing. It means I am versatile, giving my body and mind always new challenges, and that I am open to new ideas and impressions. I can imagine myself roaming around the city, doing whatever I feel like to do, taking a nap when I am tired, going for a run if my feet won’t hold still, lazily sipping on coffe while drawing a picture for hours, trying to do things I suck at simply for fun, or being grumpy and chill out. If I follow THAT ideal, I MAY do anything, instead of HAVING to do any of it if I don’t feel like it.

 

Challenge #1: Reduce my body fat percentage to less than 30% until end of April
1) not eating any sweets/unhealthy snacks during lent

2) 2 workouts a week

3) one nap a week (at least 5 min)

4) one yoga session a week (at least 5 min)

5) try out archery this year DONE!

[LucentFrost]

I want to try archery, too!

Good luck to your quest!!! :nevreness:

[Lunael]

Lucent Frost,

 

thank you for your reply!! It is so awesome to see someone sharing that awesome interest!

 

Indeed, I made progress already and tried out an archery club in the city. It's not been my first time, but I am still a beginner.

 

God, I love archery!!!!

 

Some story of my life:

It has fascinated me since ever. Even in any pc game whatsoever I always play preferably the ranger class. I love everything about it, including reading trails, being in the forest, have a close association with animals (I studies biology because I love animals and nature ).

Anyway, the first time I laid hands on a bow was more then 10 years ago, when I was on a summer vacation with my best friend. At the hotel they offered archery and we decided to try. Luckily, the holiday entertainer was doing a good job and did know about the technique. The funny thing was, I sucked at first, never hitting any target – my friend meanwhile did quite well. I guess, it was because I was extremely weak back then, cause at some point there was a hotel archery tournament and we decided to take part. Being the shy, panicky girl I was, I was so freaked out to shame myself, I was totally stiff and tensed up. Obviously that gave me so much body tension that I hit gold almost every shot, kicking almost everyone out of the game until the finals (I lost by one shot or so). Since then, I never got it out of my mind..

 

I am so happy that I found this club now. It is the most awesome thing ever!!! In contrast to a previous club I tried last year, they do intuitive archery (without a sighting attachement). It is not only shooting on traditional round target discs but also rubber animals from various angles. I can't describe how much fun that is!! I love it!

 

My next archery quest is to do one hour archery in February (tight schedule :-/), then go 3h in March. I might do (much) more, but I want to take things slowly, and not create too much pressure on myself ;-).

 

It feels so good to do this again. I couldn't even play any ranger in pc games anymore, cause I felt like a betrayer when I was not actively doing archery myself anymore ^^""".

[LucentFrost]

Lunael,

 

Wow, you already have experience in archery! And you participated on a tournament already. Good thing you found a club you really love!!!

 

I don't have any experience, though. And it's so good to see people who are carrying bows and arrows. We have a shooting range (is that what you call that?) for archers in our school, but only those who are athletes are able to use it, I think.

 

Anyways, I have a wish to confidently use a bow and arrow ... soon. I just need to have that 20 seconds of courage to start archery.

[Lunael]

Oh yeah, you're right - actually it was a tournament back then ^^"". I never really counted that cause the tourist-based hotel-enterntained archery was sort of a poor excuse compared to real archery^^. So, taking part in a real tournament still remains on my to do list ;-), haha.

 

Oh wow, a shooting range (I have no idea if you call it that, I am no native speaker ;p) at school! That is amazing, they never had cool stuff like that back in my school days^^.

 

The great thing about archery clubs is that (at least around here) you are allowed to practice whenever you want in daylight time, and you can actually be lucky and find some time where you are all by yourself. Noone disturbs you or is engaged in whatever you do. I like being all by myself when I do most of my activities. I'd definitely give it a shot! It is not so hard as it may look , there is a bow for everyone, I lack any arm strength whatsoever myself, and yet, after a few failed arrows, I hit the easy practice target right away. It's actually not so much about hitting every target right away, but more about not thinking so much, simply focus your eyes on the target, then letting the arrow go. Maybe it is easier for you to find an archery club outside of school? I was always scared to shame myself in front of others when in school, but if you go somewhere you do not know anyone, nothing can go wrong !

[Lunael]

Gnaaah, I've got so much to do at work and yet, I have a ton of things planned - I just can't keep up with gathering all the data in this thread^^"". I just got myself a fitbook, because I love the design. I plan to put down everything in there and put all the improvement data in here. I just need the time for all this @_@.

[Lunael]

Finally, I have time for an update!!

 

Soo, I got my fitbook and now, it is my journal for tracking everything. I still track my food intake in an app as well to get a closer look at carb levels and such, but after 1 month of tracking, I want to focus on writing stuff down only and only use the app tracking for specific challenges.

Anyway. So in the book there goes all the details, but I want to share all my little progresses and improvements here. To inspire others but also to remind me of all the things I do achieve instead of sulking over the smallest of failures.

 

So here are starts the list of progress I made on my journey to become awesome:

 

1.2.16:     Started tracking food and planning my challenge

2.2.16:     Did the recruit workout, decided for a proper warm up and cool down routine and planned my workout schedule

5.2.16:     First workout Bodyweight Level 1, Bonus: 2 rounds of Cool-Down/Stretching

10.2.16:   No sweets/unhealthy snacks during lent [sTART], Increased Plank time to 20s in one set

12.2.16:   Increased Lunges to 11 reps in one set, Bonus: Yoga Water A, Tried out archery

14.2.16:   Got very touched during todays preaching

15.2.16:   Increased Plank time to 20 s in two sets

17.2.16:   Increased Reverse Crunches to 11 reps in one set, Started to read "Level up your life"

 

today:      Business trip to Münster, instead of going by taxi I walked to the congress hall (30 min), I fit into one of my dresses again

[Lunael]

rose early to complete my workout in the morning in the hotel room, increased Plank time to 20 s in all three sets

[Lunael]

20.2.16: Yoga Water B

 

today: walked home from my friend instead of going by public transport (6 km)

[Lunael]

22.2.16: increased reverse crunches to 11 reps in two sets

 

today: felt pretty tired, dizzy and weak. Increased sqaut reps to 16 in one set. Took a walk home from work (6 km).

[Lunael]

25.2.16: Took walk home from work (6 km)

[Lunael]

Increased reverse crunches to 11 reps in 2 sets

 

I am still reading "Level up your life" whenever I find some spare minutes. I already thought about my alter ego and it truly is totally inspiring and motivating.

[Lunael]

28.2.16:  visited a bodystyling course at my moms gym (I'm so gonna be sore on Monday x_x)

 

For my challenge I wanted to do 1 h of archery training this month and I didn't make it . However, I really tried. It was either too bad a weather or I was not around. Today was the last day for this challenge, and I grabbed my bike despite belly ache, cold wind and all - and then the training area was closed at least I was doing a short bike tour (2x 20 min a 6 km)

 

29.2.16: increased Squats to 16 reps in one set

[Lunael]

2.3.16: icreased one-ar,ed dumbbell rows to 11 reps in one set

[Lunael]

5.3.16: increased squats to 16 reps in two sets, double cool down, archery 1h 15 min Iove this!!!

 

today: accepted a mini muffin :x cause I felt stressed out :/. Okay, fell off the wagon a little here, but I'll keep going with my "no sweets during lent" challenge, I'll extend it for 1 day to make up for it!

[Lunael]

7.3.16: took a walk home from home (6 km), increased one-armed dumbbell rows to 11 reps in two sets

8.3.16: my muscles are terribly sore and I don't know why :/ (they still are...)

[Lunael]

9.3.16: Increased squats to 16 reps in 3 sets

11.3.16: increased reverse crunches to 11 reps in 3 sets

13.3.16: Archery 1h <3

 

14.3.16: increased plank time to 25 s in one set, 1h 15 min running

[Lunael]

15.3.16 Yoga Water A

16.3.16 Increased step ups to 11 reps in one set

17.3.16 1 h Archery

18.3.16 Increased plank time to 25 s in 2 sets (missed cool down)

[Lunael]

intense gym workout (bodystyling 1h) @ my moms gym

[Lunael]

19.3.16 1 h Bodystyling class in local gym

21.3.16 Increased step ups to 11 reps in all three sets; went for a run (1h 15 min)

22.3.16 1 h archery, lots of biking

23.3.16 Increased plank tome to 25 s in all three sets, read a very good book about overcoming sugar addiction

26.3.16 Increased step ups to 11 reps in all three sets

29.3.16 Increased inclined push ups to 11 reps in one set. lots of biking

30.3.16 lots of biking

31.3.16 Increased one armed dubbell rows to 12 reps in all three sets, 1 h archery