AthenaMM Re-ignites

[AthenaMM]

I've been on this health/fitness journey for exactly two years now. Over the last few months I've kept up with things, but I haven't really been challenging myself very much. My big overarching goal when I started two years ago was to feel better and to be able to do more. Not very specific I know, but I succeeded! Far beyond what I thought I could do. Even though I knew I wasn't where I wanted to be I stopped trying so hard. I've kept up with things enough that I haven't lost any ground in fact I've lost a few more pounds. Reading other peoples threads and peelout asking me what my goals were forced me to step back and realize that I've stopped making any real forward progress because I didn't know where I was going. So I sat down and determined what my new goals were and this time I was specific. I purposely did not make any weight goals. I believe that as I work toward my goals the weight will naturally take care of itself. I still don't want to take on too much at once, because I want to create habits. I sat down and made a list of six healthy eating changes and six exercise habits that I think will help me reach my goals. For the rest of the year I will tackle one healthy eating change and one exercise habit in a challenge. Every third challenge I will work on maintaining the habits from the previous months but will not add any new ones. That is how I started two years ago and it worked really well. Usually after a couple of months there will be at least one habit that needs a little more work and this way I have time to work on it, instead of trying to add new habits on top of unstable ground.

 

Quest 1: I still want to exercise every day and I can still employ placeholder workouts as needed. My elbow is not healed yet so I'm keeping the type of exercise open for the most part. One workout a week however, MUST be a run or a run/walk depending on the distance.

 

Measurement: A = 26-28 workouts and 4 runs, B = 23-25 workouts and 3 runs, C = 20-22 workouts and 2 runs, D = 17-19 workouts and 1 run 

 

Quest 2: Several years ago I did the Weight Watchers Core program. There was a "core" list of foods that you could eat as much as you wanted and everything else required "points". There were certainly problems with it (too much fat free and artificially sweetened) but I have honestly never felt as good as I felt when I ate that way. The majority of the core foods were fruits, veggies, lean meats, fat free dairy, eggs, and whole "intact" grains. I'm going to do a little experimenting with my diet but I know that this general framework works well for me. I've tried going back to this before, but I haven't been able to maintain it. I think it was partly because I was trying to change everything at once and partly because, without the "points", I didn't have a firm limit for eating outside the plan. This time I'm starting with eliminating bread instead of going cold turkey. I'm also borrowing the term "variance" from Tank and I'm allowing myself 2 variances a week. Bread includes bread, rolls, buns, tortillas, cake, pie and cookies; essentially anything baked and made with any kind of flour. I actually am making some other changes to my diet right now, but none of the others are "required". If I fall off the wagon with them there is no guilt and it has no effect on the challenge. If I succeed, YAY! And I'll probably need to rework my plans for later challenges. 

 

Measurement: A = 8 or less variances, B = 9 variances, C = 10 variance, D = 11 variances

 

Quest 3: I'm sticking with the 10,000 step average a week. Later on I'll probably increase the amount of steps but I'm definitely sticking with averaging the steps over the week.

 

Measurement: A = Average 10,000 steps all 4 weeks, B = Avg 10,000 for 3 weeks, D = Avg 10,000 for 2 weeks

 

Life Quest: Every time I get groceries I have great plans to eat lots and lots of produce, so I buy lots and lots of produce. Sometimes it works out well and I use most of it. Other times it doesn't work so well and I end up throwing a lot of it away. Sometimes it doesn't work at all and I might as well have set fire to the money I spent for all the good it does me. So for this quest I'm going to throw out no more than 10% of the produce I buy. This is a tough one to measure. I decided to make a note of each of the different types of fruit and veggies I buy and then decide how much of each type I throw away. For example let's say I bought 10 different types of fruits and veggies. Then I threw away half the broccoli, a quarter of the lettuce and all of the oranges. That would mean I threw out 17.5% of the produce. It's not exact by any means, but it's the easiest way to track it that I can come up with. Freezing stuff (if it's freeezable) before it goes bad is allowed. That may lead to another quest down the road where I have to eat the stuff I froze, but that's a worry for another day. 

 

Measurement: A = Throw out 10% or less of the produce I buy, B = Throw out 10.1%-20% of the produce I buy, C = Throw out 20.1%-30% of the produce I buy, D = Throw out 30.1% - 40% of the produce I buy 

[AthenaMM]

And because I know peelout is going to ask. Here are my new goals. I'm sure they'll change as I go along, but this is where I am currently.

 

• Be able to run a 5K
• Be able to complete the Simple kettlebell requirements
• Be able to walk all over Disney World without giving out the next time we go (I may already be there, but it can't hurt to keep working on it)
• Get to the point where I NEVER eat past satisfied
• Stop thinking of food as a reward
• Learn how to fuel my body to achieve my goals
• Work up to doing advanced yoga poses
• Be able to do 10 real push-ups
• Be able to do 5 real pull-ups

[Cataleya]

This looks like a great challenge. Following!

[Jonesy]

Woo-hoo new challenge! Following along.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[peelout]

16 minutes ago, AthenaMM said:

And because I know peelout is going to ask. Here are my new goals. I'm sure they'll change as I go along, but this is where I am currently.

 

• Be able to run a 5K

I actually put a running goal in my bucket list on my battle log.  My goal is just to be able to jog 6 blocks though.  Not sure when I'll work on this one though.

 

I'm following to learn, be inspired, offer praise when deserved, and kicks in the azz when needed.

[AthenaMM]

I like to use zero week to test out my new challenge, so I'm already doing all of the above. I got groceries yesterday and bought 19 different fruits and veggies, which is INSANE and prompted a change in the life quest for this challenge. Since some of that is "long term" produce like potatoes and onions, I'm going to go ahead and start tracking that quest starting yesterday. The other quests I'm doing now, but they aren't actually part of the challenge yet. I will post how/what I'm doing this week, but it will be sporadic and won't count in my totals. Part of what I like about zero week is taking a break from posting and keeping up with others threads, so I won't be on here too much.

 

Monday: I did a new strength training workout that I found thanks to Lightning . It's at http://www.startbodyweight.com/ . I'm avoiding the two pulling exercises until my elbow is better, but it's an excellent workout and I'm really excited to work my way through the progressions. I did not eat any bread and didn't miss it. I finished the day with 14,258 steps (VERY long day with a big shopping trip). I prepped some of the produce when I got home to make it easier to use.

 

Tuesday: I'm sore today and it got worse as the day went on, so I think tomorrow might be bad. I'm still really pleased with the workout though. I walked for 30 minutes today. I'd thought about doing the run today, but after the Bulgarian Split Squats yesterday I was too sore. No bread today either and I still didn't miss it. Right now I have around 10,000 steps, though I'd like to get some extra before bed. I made a couple of food choices today solely to help use up the produce. I think this particular quest is going to have a big impact on my diet.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following along again. Honored you are using some of my vocabulary for diet stuff.

[Schaengel]

6 hours ago, AthenaMM said:

Life Quest: Every time I get groceries I have great plans to eat lots and lots of produce, so I buy lots and lots of produce. Sometimes it works out well and I use most of it. Other times it doesn't work so well and I end up throwing a lot of it away. Sometimes it doesn't work at all and I might as well have set fire to the money I spent for all the good it does me. So for this quest I'm going to throw out no more than 10% of the produce I buy. This is a tough one to measure. I decided to make a note of each of the different types of fruit and veggies I buy and then decide how much of each type I throw away. For example let's say I bought 10 different types of fruits and veggies. Then I threw away half the broccoli, a quarter of the lettuce and all of the oranges. That would mean I threw out 17.5% of the produce. It's not exact by any means, but it's the easiest way to track it that I can come up with. Freezing stuff (if it's freeezable) before it goes bad is allowed. That may lead to another quest down the road where I have to eat the stuff I froze, but that's a worry for another day. 

That's a really good quest. I'll put that on my "things I have to steal later"-list

6 hours ago, AthenaMM said:

And because I know peelout is going to ask. Here are my new goals. I'm sure they'll change as I go along, but this is where I am currently.

 

• Be able to run a 5K
• Be able to complete the Simple kettlebell requirements
• Be able to walk all over Disney World without giving out the next time we go (I may already be there, but it can't hurt to keep working on it)
• Get to the point where I NEVER eat past satisfied
• Stop thinking of food as a reward
• Learn how to fuel my body to achieve my goals
• Work up to doing advanced yoga poses
• Be able to do 10 real push-ups
• Be able to do 5 real pull-ups

Nice goals, really looking forward to seeing you crushing them.

 

Also following of course

[Lightning]

Oh I'm so glad you like Startbodyweight!  I just love the feeling of moving through the progressions.  It's taking longer to reach new exercises but that just makes it sweeter.

 

Great goals, both short term and long term.  

Quote

• Get to the point where I NEVER eat past satisfied

YES!  THIS!  Easily my biggest challenge.

[Rebe_J]

Excellent goals and challenge! I'll be following along.

 

 

[peelout]

Athena,

Can you explain how you get links in your signature with just the name?

Like you have a link called "Current Challenge" and another called "Fitbit".

My links have 300 letters of URL showing.  Somehow you named the URL.  How do you do that?

[lullaby88]

And because I know peelout is going to ask. Here are my new goals. I'm sure they'll change as I go along, but this is where I am currently.

 

• Get to the point where I NEVER eat past satisfied
• Stop thinking of food as a reward

These two! I'm working on these concepts in the background of everything else.

I'm also digging the produce goal. Try to eat the produce by how fast it expires. And remember, if you have fruit that is starting to be too ripe, freeze it and use it in a smoothie later (or eat it as a snack).

Following along!

Sent from my Nexus 6P

[AthenaMM]

On 3/30/2016 at 11:55 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Following along again. Honored you are using some of my vocabulary for diet stuff.

Glad to have you here! I really love the term variance instead of calling it a cheat or something.

 

On 3/30/2016 at 3:03 AM, Schaengel said:

That's a really good quest. I'll put that on my "things I have to steal later"-list

Nice goals, really looking forward to seeing you crushing them.

 

Also following of course

Feel free to steal anything! And thanks for the confidence!

 

On 3/30/2016 at 7:06 AM, Lightning said:

Oh I'm so glad you like Startbodyweight!  I just love the feeling of moving through the progressions.  It's taking longer to reach new exercises but that just makes it sweeter.

 

Great goals, both short term and long term.  

YES!  THIS!  Easily my biggest challenge.

I REALLY like it. Of course I haven't been able to do it again yet because I've been so sore, but it's still awesome.   I can just barely do 4 reps of a couple of the exercises so I'm sure it will take me a little longer to get to the new ones as well. But the definite plan and progression is exactly what I need. I think if I could reach the eating just until satisfied goal all the rest of the eating stuff would be easy.

 

On 3/30/2016 at 7:40 AM, Rebe_J said:

Excellent goals and challenge! I'll be following along.

 

 

Glad you're here!

 

2 hours ago, peelout said:

Athena,

Can you explain how you get links in your signature with just the name?

Like you have a link called "Current Challenge" and another called "Fitbit".

My links have 300 letters of URL showing.  Somehow you named the URL.  How do you do that?

It's actually a little easier on the new board than the old one. When you find the place to edit your signature (which was a little tough for me to find), click on the fourth format button, the one right before the quote button. It's supposed to look like a couple of chain links but it doesn't. That pops up a small window with a text box for the URL and another text box for the link text. Put what you want the name of the URL to be in the link text box.

 

2 hours ago, lullaby88 said:

These two! I'm working on these concepts in the background of everything else.

I'm also digging the produce goal. Try to eat the produce by how fast it expires. And remember, if you have fruit that is starting to be too ripe, freeze it and use it in a smoothie later (or eat it as a snack).

Following along!

Sent from my Nexus 6P

Those two goals will definitely have far reaching benefits if I can ever get there. I am trying to focus on the stuff that will go bad first. I'm definitely choosing to eat fruits and veggies when I normally would have chosen something else, so that's a good thing. I love smoothies, so freezing the fruit is a good plan. Right now I'm more worried about the stuff I can't freeze (lettuce, cucumbers, etc).

[AthenaMM]

Wednesday: Sore! Very, very sore. Legs were better though so I'll be doing my run soon. I did a 30 minute walk for my exercise. I still haven't had any bread and still haven't missed it. For a long time there I wasn't eating very much bread, but I started eating it again and haven't had much luck cutting it back out. I think maybe I just needed a flexible plan that would still let me have a hamburger on a bun or a sandwich every now and then. I finished the day with 10,027 steps. Definitely no extra but I have extra from Monday and Tuesday (finished Tuesday with 11,301). Still eating plenty of produce and I haven't had to throw any away yet.

 

Thursday: Still sore, but definitely better. I didn't run today though. I didn't sleep well at all last night and I was just too tired. I did end up walking for 40 minutes to make sure I got all my steps though, but it was easier to convince myself to walk a long time than it was to try to run. I have over 11,000 steps right now. I will do my run tomorrow and hopefully I can do the strength training again on Saturday. Still no bread, still eating a lot of produce and still haven't thrown any away.

[peelout]

22 minutes ago, AthenaMM said:

It's actually a little easier on the new board than the old one. When you find the place to edit your signature (which was a little tough for me to find), click on the fourth format button, the one right before the quote button. It's supposed to look like a couple of chain links but it doesn't. That pops up a small window with a text box for the URL and another text box for the link text. Put what you want the name of the URL to be in the link text box.

 

Thanks, 

That really cleans up the signature box.

[lullaby88]

10 hours ago, AthenaMM said:

Right now I'm more worried about the stuff I can't freeze (lettuce, cucumbers, etc).

If you get the dark green lettuces (like kale and collards) and have a good blender, you can freeze them and make green smoothies.

Oh and I just saw this idea this morning.

Cucumber sandwiches! lol. Personally, I like just munching on cucumber slices. Or eating them with hummus. 

 

Looking good so far.

[peelout]

1 hour ago, lullaby88 said:

 

Cucumber sandwiches! lol. Personally, I like just munching on cucumber slices. Or eating them with hummus. 

Had to giggle at this one.  How would you even cut out the round inside the cucumber (even after cutting it in half lengthwise)?

[lullaby88]

7 minutes ago, peelout said:

Had to giggle at this one.  How would you even cut out the round inside the cucumber (even after cutting it in half lengthwise)?

You can use a spoon or an ice cream scoop or melon baller. I found the below instructions.

How to (De)seed a cucumber

[Lightning]

Glad to hear that the soreness is calming down for you.  Walking is probably the best thing to do when your sore it's great that you got in all your steps.  

 

Missing a good night of sleep is never fun but, it seems to be more problematic now that I work out regularly.  You really need that restoration that only sleep can give you.  Hopefully you will be well rested before you tackle that next workout!

[Teancum]

Following! And checking out that Start Bodyweight!

[AthenaMM]

On 4/1/2016 at 7:42 AM, lullaby88 said:

If you get the dark green lettuces (like kale and collards) and have a good blender, you can freeze them and make green smoothies.

Oh and I just saw this idea this morning.

Cucumber sandwiches! lol. Personally, I like just munching on cucumber slices. Or eating them with hummus. 

 

Looking good so far.

Hmm, avoiding bread and I have extra cucumber. This might happen! Right now I'm using them in salads and for snacks.

 

On 4/1/2016 at 8:57 AM, peelout said:

Had to giggle at this one.  How would you even cut out the round inside the cucumber (even after cutting it in half lengthwise)?

It's actually pretty easy with a spoon. I've never done it for that particularly reason, but there are recipes where you need to deseed a cucumber (tzatziki is the one I remember).

 

On 4/1/2016 at 3:08 PM, Lightning said:

Glad to hear that the soreness is calming down for you.  Walking is probably the best thing to do when your sore it's great that you got in all your steps.  

 

Missing a good night of sleep is never fun but, it seems to be more problematic now that I work out regularly.  You really need that restoration that only sleep can give you.  Hopefully you will be well rested before you tackle that next workout!

I don't know if it's worse now that I workout or not. I've never done well when I don't get enough sleep. The soreness was totally gone by Friday and I still really like the workout.

 

12 hours ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

Following! And checking out that Start Bodyweight!

Thanks! It's a really great workout progression.

[AthenaMM]

Friday: I wasn't sore at all today, but I went ahead and did my run anyway. I ran a mile. It wasn't particularly fast, but I did well. Next time I'll increase the distance a little bit. It felt like a mile was my limit, but I think it was more a mental limit than a physical one. Still no bread. I don't think I'll need a variance this week. The variances are for when I really want Mexican food, a burger or sandwich for the most part. I actually don't expect to need 2 variances every week, but if I want a burger I want a big burger from a restaurant and that will take me two meals to eat. I finished the day with 12,054 steps which is more than I need. Still haven't thrown any produce away and I finished the strawberries and cabbage today.

 

Saturday: I did the StartBodyweight workout again, this time with dips instead of push-ups. I can only do the Bent Knee Bench Dips which is the very first progression. That's actually the only exercise that I had to start with the first progression. They weren't as hard as the 3/4 push-ups + 5s eccentric push-ups that I did in the last workout, so I don't think I'll have as much trouble with soreness, since most of the soreness was from those. Still no bread, which means I did not use a variance for this week. Hubby and I are eating out tomorrow though, so I may need one then. I have over 12,000 steps right now, which is much more than I needed to average 10,000 for the week. I haven't thrown out any produce and I cooked the broccoli and leeks today, so I just have to make sure we eat all the leftovers before I have to toss them. 

 

Well zero week was a success! I worked out every day, including a run. I did not eat any bread/bread product. I averaged over 10,000 steps and so far I haven't had to toss any produce.

[Rebe_J]

Your successful zero week will give you a running start to your challenge. Looking good!

 

Funny, I run out of vegetables between shopping days. I think I need a second refrigerator just for kale and Brussels sprouts.

[Schaengel]

That is a perfect start, if I ever saw one:D

[peelout]

16 hours ago, AthenaMM said:

 I actually don't expect to need 2 variances every week, but if I want a burger I want a big burger from a restaurant and that will take me two meals to eat.

 

I haven't thrown out any produce and I cooked the broccoli and leeks today, so I just have to make sure we eat all the leftovers before I have to toss them. 

 

Well zero week was a success! I worked out every day, including a run. I did not eat any bread/bread product. I averaged over 10,000 steps and so far I haven't had to toss any produce.

Great job on the planning aspect.  I think a big reason a lot of people fail at a challenge is because they don't plan for the inevitable.  You chose to allow yourself to do something up to 2 times per week and therefore can be successful.

 

I'm sorry you had to eat broccoli.  Broccoli should never have been created.  Little stinky green balls.

 

Congrats on a successful zero week.