Corrupt save file. Much cursing. Restart from Level 0.

[Ripple]

(Ad)Venturing out into the unknown... 

 

Alas, the time has come for this adventurer to head out into unknown environments. 

 

No retreat at the retreat... 

 

From this afternoon - Friday I'm going to be out of town on a business retreat. This is the first time since my respawn where I will be facing multiple days in which I don't have total control over what I eat and we will be eating out for several meals. I figured posting a plan of action might help me stay on track. The ultimate goal is to stay in the neighborhood of TDEE. Here's how I plan to do it:

 

Keep up with current IF schedule (11am - 8pm window). 

IF has been a godsend for me this respawn. I've never been much of a breakfast eater, and I find it much easier to stay on target if I wait to eat until lunch. When I'm traveling I inexplicably decide that I need to eat breakfast even though I never eat it at home, so the plan is to continue skipping breakfast as I normally would. 

 

Grab a few emergency supplies.

I plan to pick up some greek yogurt (all that delightful protein really helps me stay full), some fresh fruit, and a couple of Luna bars to keep myself from snacking mindlessly on any available junk. I LOVE all of these foods so staying on target should not be an issue here. 

 

Focus on high protein, low carb restaurant options.

I'm not typically a person who is afraid of carbs, but I find for restaurant meals the safest bet is to always go for protein and green veggies. Salads can be tricky so as reminder to myself: bunless chicken sandwiches or burgers make a great lunch. 

 

Limit the boozy-ness.

No beer. None. I fucking love a good IPA but it's a calorie bomb. Whiskey & Diet Coke is the name of the game here. 

 

Track intake to the best of my ability.

Obviously with restaurants it's sometimes a guessing game, but I will track as best and as honestly as I can while I'm at the retreat. 

 

 

Slay that (evil) Easter bunny...

 

Easter dinner presents its own challenges, but nothing that I can't navigate fairly easily. Since Easter is coming on the heels of several days of eating out I'll want to be extra diligent as I won't have the flexibility that I normally have for a larger intake day. 

 

Destroy that Easter ham.

Protein is good. Ham is good. Meat is good. Nom. 

 

Green beans, green beans everywhere. 

Roasted green beans are nom nom good. These should fill half my plate. 

 

Skip the cheese & roll.

Because who needs Easter ham on a sandwich, really? It's delicious all by itself. 

 

One serving of cheesy potatoes. I SAID ONE, DAMNIT.

Oh, these are my downfall and I cannot say no. But, I can say that I will have one serving (at 450 cals that's freaking plenty) and one serving only. 

 

BACK AWAY FROM THE SECONDS.

No seconds. One plate, one plate only.. better make it good. 

 

Drop that cupcake.

The dessert this year is a type of cupcake that isn't that tempting or tasty to me - so I will skip this. If I have room in my intake goal left after dinner for dessert I'll have some jellybeans instead. 

 

 

 

 

[Briniel]

Good luck with your adventure. Sounds like you have quite the battle plan, I'm sure you'll be fine!

[Ripple]

Retreat: Won some. Lost some.

 

Overall I feel pretty good about how I did at my retreat. The old me that hadn't yet embraced the concept of the grind would look at these results and be like ohmygawdyoufailedmightaswellquit. New embrace-the-grind me is all like well, that certainly could have been better but it could have been a whole lot worse... now how can I do better next week to offset the not-so-good points? 

 

Fuck yes to grind mentality. 

 

The results... 

 

Keep up with current IF schedule (11am - 8pm window): Almost, but not quite. 

For whatever reason, I found that I actually wanted/needed breakfast in the mornings. The first morning I had a hard boiled egg and a bit of fruit... good choices that did not do much to destroy my available calories for the rest of the day. The second morning I had a Luna bar and fruit with fruit dip... a less good choice that did more damage than I realized until I tracked it. Also... I am reminded that fruit dip is really sweet, a bit gross, and totally unnecessary. I ate it because it was on my plate already and for no other good reason. I did not eat after 8pm so I maintained the second half of my window fairly well. 

 

Grab a few emergency supplies: Done did. 

I picked up exactly the snacks I named and nothing extra. 

 

Focus on high protein, low carb restaurant options: Nope, nope, nope. 

Night one was mexican for dinner and I had an enormous burrito. It had lots of beans and meat (high protein) but I'm sure it was a calorie bomb with the tortilla and cheese and rice. I did not eat the entire thing but I also did not stop eating at the first sign of fullness. Basically I ate to too-full but not to painfully-uncomfortably-full which I actually consider a bit of a win given my love for mexican food in general and the utter top notch deliciousness of this particular burrito. Lunch the next day was a sandwich joint so I had no choice on carbs. For dinner I did choose pot roast which came with mashed potatoes but was overall a pretty decent nutritional choice given we were eating a at a pub with traditional bar fare. 

 

Limit the boozy-ness: 50/50

Only had 4 drinks the entire time which is awesome by my typical boozy standards. Unfortunately those four drinks were 2 margaritas and 2 kentucky mules, neither of which are known for their low calorie mixers. 

 

Track intake to the best of my ability: Winner winner chicken dinner. 

Everything that went into my mouth was tracked. I'm learning that for me there is a lot of power in seeing that one bad meal does not make or break my day/week: both days, even with the bad choices, I was right at TDEE one day and not horrifically over (200-500 calories over depending on which calculator you believe) TDEE the other two days. Old me would have used being over as an excuse to turn the rest of the retreat into a binge fest which likely would have kept on going once I got home. New me looks at the numbers and resolves to move more in the coming days to offset the overages and to focus on making this next week a week that I am at least 500 cals under TDEE daily to continue weight loss without a major stall. In fact, when I got home yesterday evening we went out to dinner and I chose a smoked BBQ place so I could load up on delicious pulled chicken (nom nom protein) and not totally blow my day. 

 

 

Overall, I feel good...

 

Yes, the retreat could have gone better. Had I fallen into old "fuck it" binge eating/drinking patterns it also could have gone oh so much worse. A step on the scale this morning shows me I'm right were I was before I left. It's actually pretty fucking awesome that I was able to take a mini-trip that involved some less than stellar decision making without derailing my goals entirely.... I just put them on pause for a few days. Not only can I live with that, I think sticking to the grind is much more sustainable this way. 

 

Now, onward to Easter dinner survival... 

[Briniel]

32 minutes ago, Ripple said:

I was right at TDEE one day and not horrifically over (200-500 calories over depending on which calculator you believe) TDEE the other two days. Old me would have used being over as an excuse to turn the rest of the retreat into a binge fest which likely would have kept on going once I got home. New me looks at the numbers and resolves to move more in the coming days to offset the overages and to focus on making this next week a week that I am at least 500 cals under TDEE daily to continue weight loss without a major stall.

This is what I call a win right there. Mentality changes are so hard and you pulled it off. Congrats on moving forward and good luck on being equally awesome at Easter dinner

[Ripple]

8 hours ago, Briniel said:

This is what I call a win right there. Mentality changes are so hard and you pulled it off. Congrats on moving forward and good luck on being equally awesome at Easter dinner

 

Thanks! I actually went out and swept our driveway and sidewalks this afternoon to get some extra movement in. It's a huge task the first time it's done in spring because we have so many trees and gardens lining our driveway so there's just gobs of debris... it took me about an hour to do and I was working my ass off the entire time. Now, to destroy some Easter ham tomorrow without destroying my intake goal for the day...  

[Ripple]

Challenge Brainstorm... 

 

So, I'm chomping at the freaking bit here for the next challenge forums to go up. In the meantime I thought it'd be helpful to get all of the things out of my head that I'm considering doing for my challenge so that I can evaluate what will work with my new mentality of grinding out actions until they become habits. These aren't my challenge goals yet, just ideas that are floating around in my gray matter demanding to come out RIGHT NOW. I'll come back later to really look at everything and determine what is MOST IMPORTANT for the next 4-5 weeks... the rest can wait for a future challenge. 

 

Weight/Tracking/Eating:

Continue daily tracking.

Tracking goal of -500 TDEE daily or -3500 TDEE weekly. 

Goal regarding hitting protein macros or increasing protein. 

 

Movement:

Goal to move intentionally X times a week. 

Walking or fitbit steps goal. 

Try out BWF goal: Do the /r/bodyweighfitness recommended routine X times. 

 

Other stuff:

Chores: Could build into fitbit movement (big house + chores = steps) or non-zero days. 

Non-Zero days: More than one area this time? Habit tracking? Hmm... 

Sleep: Need to un-fuck my sleep. Goal for X hours a night? Goal to be in bed by X time? Something. 

Enjoying outside more: working / playing / reading / whatever during spring. 

[Briniel]

This sounds like your next challenge is going to be just to my taste. I followed you so I won't miss it

Regarding the sleep goal - I would advise against an x hours/night goal. You can't really control when you fall or asleep and wake up and making sleep a chore is known to have the opposite effect from intended. I know if this was my goal, I would end up lying in bed, calculating how many hours until I have to get up and how fast I need to fall asleep to still get my x hours in. Or I would wake up early, feeling awake and refreshed, but arguing with myself over whether to get up or not because my x hours aren't done yet What about establishing a bedtime routine? You know, screens off at x:xx, maybe some pampering, some reading (preferably with a yellowish light source) in bed, positive affirmations about the next day, meditation, lights off at x:xx (and then just relax, no pressure about falling asleep). Something like that, whatever floats your boat.

[Ripple]

7 hours ago, Briniel said:

This sounds like your next challenge is going to be just to my taste. I followed you so I won't miss it

Regarding the sleep goal - I would advise against an x hours/night goal. You can't really control when you fall or asleep and wake up and making sleep a chore is known to have the opposite effect from intended. I know if this was my goal, I would end up lying in bed, calculating how many hours until I have to get up and how fast I need to fall asleep to still get my x hours in. Or I would wake up early, feeling awake and refreshed, but arguing with myself over whether to get up or not because my x hours aren't done yet What about establishing a bedtime routine? You know, screens off at x:xx, maybe some pampering, some reading (preferably with a yellowish light source) in bed, positive affirmations about the next day, meditation, lights off at x:xx (and then just relax, no pressure about falling asleep). Something like that, whatever floats your boat.

 

YAY! I followed you too and one of my personal goals for the next round is to stay on top of a few other challenges. I didn't do so well with that this time as I came in a week after the challenge round started and I had a lot going on personally that made it hard to check in regularly, but I'll be checking in more next time around! 

 

Thanks for your insight - it makes a lot of sense! Perhaps I'll just aim to be in bed with no screens by X time. Typically once I lay down I'll naturally get more sleepy as I read and it becomes pretty easy to put the Kindle down and go to sleep at a reasonable time. I find it is REALLY hard for me to set a designated "lights out" time, so instead I think the way to go might be to build in enough "reading time" that I get plenty of sleep whenever I naturally get sleepy reading. I'll ruminate some more... 

[LadyMonk]

I just read through your thread, and I've got to say I love your style of posts. It's like I'm reading a video game blog! Also, you are seriously kicking butt at griding right now. I definitely think you'll be ready to level up for the next challenge. I can't wait to see which stats you decide to grind for next.

[Jarric]

Cool theme, really enjoyed following this along. Will definitely be with you for the next challenge.

 

Re: diet tracking, I would say stick with TDEE for the time being. It's just easier to keep track of than macros rather than rushing in too fast. Also, I would have a weekly goal rather than daily to give myself a bit more flexibility for unexpected events, but it really depends what you'll stick to best

[Ripple]

On 3/28/2016 at 11:36 PM, LadyMonk said:

I just read through your thread, and I've got to say I love your style of posts. It's like I'm reading a video game blog! Also, you are seriously kicking butt at griding right now. I definitely think you'll be ready to level up for the next challenge. I can't wait to see which stats you decide to grind for next.

 

Thank you! Twas a good respawn and I'm glad to have you along for the next round... which I should go get set up right now! 

 

 

5 hours ago, Jarric said:

Cool theme, really enjoyed following this along. Will definitely be with you for the next challenge.

 

Re: diet tracking, I would say stick with TDEE for the time being. It's just easier to keep track of than macros rather than rushing in too fast. Also, I would have a weekly goal rather than daily to give myself a bit more flexibility for unexpected events, but it really depends what you'll stick to best

 

Yay! Looks like it'll be a party in my next challenge thread (I better get to setting it up)! Probably smart on the TDEE vs macros thing for now. There's no real reason to work specifically on protein other than I sorta suck at eating enough of it and I'd like to work on that in the event I decide to attempt to become a bodyweight badass ala @Waldo... but I've got a long way to go before I even start to get there. One step at a time right?! 

[Ripple]

Super lazy final respawn update... 

 

Tracking: Only missed one day out of 3 weeks. Lost six pounds. Woo! 

 

Moving: Went to yoga 3x. Took some walks, too. Woo!

 

Non Zero Days: Was bad about tracking this daily and seriously am terrible at remembering what I did an hour ago much less days ago but I would conservatively say I got 75% of the way to no non-zero days. It's a start. 

 

Bonuses: I randomly decided to stop biting my nails and they're looking quite nice. I've also been doing a better job of taking care of myself overall. Whee! 

 

 

Overall...

 

I slipped. I stumbled. I got fucked up by a giant binge or two. But, I'm closer to where I want to be today than I was three weeks ago. And my next challenge is all about moar. grind. Woo!