Cephalopod_Dreams attempts the hard stuff

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

I don't have a full challenge sorted out yet, so this is kinda a place holder.

 

I've been on NF a little over six months now. When I started in September 2015 my goal was to lose 20lbs by Christmas. Instead I gained 3lbs, am up to the heaviest I have ever been and it's getting to the point where my clothes don't fit. I know that I'm stronger than I was six months ago, but I still cant do a push up, I'm not as strong as I want to be and I REALLY don't like how I look at the moment.

 

I know this challenge is going to have to focus on my diet, and that means tracking. But I just haven't worked out how I'm going to make that happen yet. 

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Quest 1: 

Go to Karate twice a week. I am committing to staying for the whole of each lesson (1 hour 45 minutes per session). 

 

Goal: A = 3 lessons a week. B = 2 lessons a week. C = 1 lessons a week.

Reward: A = +2 Str, +2 Dex, +1 Sta. B = +1 Sta, +1 Dex. C = +1 Dex

 

Quest 2:

Strength training twice a week. This can be at home, but ideally will take place at the gym. It's the SIXTH challenge where i've wanted to focus on strength and it's time I got serious about it. The plan is to strength train after my pilates sessions.

 

Goal: A = 2 gym sessions a week . B = 2 sessions a week (home/gym). C = 1 session a week.

Reward: A = +2 Str, +2 Sta, +1 Dex,. B = +1 Sta, +1 Str. C = +1 Str

 

Quest 3:

I haven't lost a pound since I joined NF 6 months ago. Obviously I need to track my diet better, as I'm pretty sure I have no good idea of what my calories or macros are. I am really really nervous about this but I've downloaded My Fitness Pal and hopefully that will give me a good place to start. 

 

Goal: A = 7 days a week . B = 5 days a week . C = 3 days a week.

Reward: A = +2 Wis, +3 Con  . B = +2 Con, +1 Wis . C = +1 Con

 

[Kishi]

FWIW, it sounds like you're putting a timetable on yourself to get the things you want, and while that works for some people I would advise you to relax a bit. (di)Stress is a great killer of fun in the game of life. And you're not running a sprint. You're running a marathon, where you can run whatever pace you want for however long it's given to you to do so.

 

Also, as you are a woman, you have a far more drastic hormonal response to distress that will impede your efforts. It shouldn't make weight loss impossible, obviously, but there's no sense in setting more obstacles before you. You've got enough on your plate as it is.

 

So... I guess what I'm saying is, don't be afraid of attempting the hard stuff? But like. Don't worry about it if it doesn't go according to plan. This game doesn't exactly have a lose option; you either win, or you learn. The only real way to lose is to fail to apply the lessons you learn.

 

I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

When I tracked with MFP, food prep made that significantly easier. I can get really annoyed by weighing everithing I eat. Also it's easier to stick to your eating goals, when you already have something healthy sitting in your fridge.

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

21 hours ago, Luciana Valerosa Culming said:

When I tracked with MFP, food prep made that significantly easier. I can get really annoyed by weighing everithing I eat. Also it's easier to stick to your eating goals, when you already have something healthy sitting in your fridge.

 

Thanks Luciana! I think I'm definitely going to have to start prepping some lunches, it's the only way I wont go insane measuring food every day if I can do it all at once on a Sunday.

 

 

Challenge update:

 

I went to karate on Monday and stayed for the advanced lesson. Woo! It's fun but hard and my left arm is now covered in bruises after spending 45 minutes blocking attacks from a black belt student. I also managed to drink no coffee or alcohol on Monday - double win! No coffee yesterday either. I discovered a cinnamon tea which is my new favourite thing, and there's a ginger tea as well which I love. Finally a 'fruit' tea that doesnt taste of perfume!

 

I went to pilates yesterday and I really enjoyed it, but oh god I am feeling it today. it was mostly hip flexor and hamstring work, and since mine are screwed it was really painful. Has to be good for me though. After pilates I forced myself to stay in the gym and do a short strength set:

 

3 sets:

Barbell Squat 10kg x 10

Bent over Barbell row 10kg x 20

Barbell overhead press 10kg x 10

 

I'm starting to feel more confident with these so I might up the weight soon. I wanted to get on the assisted pull up machine but the gym was way too busy so I just went home.

 

One of my goals for this challenge is to track my food, so I downloaded My Fitness Pal and logged all of my food yesterday. That's a massive success for me! I also changed the calorie and macro goals to personalise it, and MFP suggested I should be on 1200 calories a day. NOPE. 

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Yeah, the suggested kcal are funny. I usually use http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ to calculate my calories. I like that they also take your training into consideration. But than you shouldn't enter your exercises into MFP of course.

 

I love ginger tea, too. Have you tried it with fresh ginger? It's also nice to drink green tea with ginger. But as you are avoiding coffein now, perhaps that's not the right tea for you at the moment.

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

 

14 hours ago, Luciana Valerosa Culming said:

Yeah, the suggested kcal are funny. I usually use http://www.iifym.com/iifym-calculator/ to calculate my calories. I like that they also take your training into consideration. But than you shouldn't enter your exercises into MFP of course.

 

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll look into it

 

14 hours ago, Luciana Valerosa Culming said:

I love ginger tea, too. Have you tried it with fresh ginger? It's also nice to drink green tea with ginger. But as you are avoiding coffein now, perhaps that's not the right tea for you at the moment.

 

I grow my own tea plants at home (mint, lemon balm, borage, bergamot) and I plan to start growing my own ginger soon so I can make fresh ginger teas  

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Challenge update: I have successfully managed to track my food on MFP for two days in a row. While my calorie consumption isn't too bad I'm already surprised by how much fat I'm consuming. I'm definitely going to have to keep an eye on that as the challenge continues.

 

I had an appointment with my Doctor yesterday and he confirmed that I do in fact have IBS. I've suspected this for a few years, but with everything else going on I didn't get around to checking it out. My Dr even said to me "I'm surprised you lived with it this long without getting help." I had to explain that it's the least of my problems. 

 

Oh well, now I'm armed with a whole booklet of information, and maybe this will give me the push I need to finally get my diet under control. 

[sarakingdom]

I have heard that an IBS/gluten intolerance link is pretty common.

 

Fat consumption is sort of a matter of nutritional philosophy.  The paleo and low(er) carb crowd are pretty much strongly in favor of fat consumption, provided calories are looking good.  (They have to be, they'd be living on 600-800 calories a day if they didn't.  But the theory behind balancing their macros that way is also interesting stuff.)  Some people do very well with IBS on that sort of diet.

 

I'm glad you're telling MFP's calorie recommendation to get stuffed.  They're infamously low, and 1200 is borderline irresponsible to tell anyone who's exercising regularly.

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Thanks Sara ☺ I still have some work to do on cutting down grains (actually, quite a lot of work) but I'm pretty sure it will help y health and weight management so it's worth doing.

 

I have logged my meals for seven days in a row! I am inordinately proud of myself for this.

 

I had a wobble towards the end of last week in terms of food and exercise but I logged all my sins and spent two hours being active in the garden on Sunday to make up for missing karate and pilates.

 

Back into my usual routine this week though. I think this challenge is going OK so far, but I clearly still have work to do when it comes to my alcohol consumption. 

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

SO much for usual routine.... I didn't make it to karate last night. I had a meeting with a new physio and it turns out that I am much more screwed up than I thought I was. By the time he'd readjusted my shoulder EVERYTHING hurt so I went home and slathered myself in tiger balm instead. Pilates tonight though. I'm going straight from work so I cant bail. 

[Shotokan]

I also have a hard time training whenever I get worked on.  When my chiropractor works on me, even the day before class, my muscles do not respond normally.  I hope you made it to Pilates today.

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

I made it to pilates! But I had another session on Thursday that finished 20 minutes before my karate session, so I didn't make it to karate. 

 

I have however managed to track my food intake every day! and I've stayed away from coffee and reduced my alcohol intake again. So these things are good!

 

I'm having a super stressful time with my insurance company, who screwed everything up and have left me over £2000 out of pocket. It's awful and overwhelming and I hate it, so keeping my focus on other things is hard. Thankfully I have these two to look after me. 

 

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

I went back to karate on Monday. I had a couple of weeks off as I was getting demotivated and depressed, so I went back to karate on Monday, pilates and lifting on Tuesday and karate again tonight.

 

I had a nice chat with the ladies on the Nerd Fitness facebook group this week. I'm still unhappy that I'm not losing weight or gaining muscle; my lifts aren't improving at all and I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall. But the ladies were really helpful, and some even suggested that I might not be eating enough calories! I don't know about that though as I think my weight is going up, which means I'm gaining fat as if it was muscle my lifts would be improving. 

 

I need to set aside some time for myself to go over the nutrition module and see what I can change. 

 

Tuesday's gym:

 

2 sets

10 x squat - 10 kg

20 x dumbbell row - 10 kg

10 x overhead press - 10 kg

 

and:

 

5 x assisted pull up 40kg assist

5 x assisted chin up 40kg assist

5 x assisted dip 40kg assist

 

5 x assisted pull up 35kg assist

5 x assisted chin up 35 kg assist

5 x assisted dip 35kg assist

 

I tried another set at 35 after a rest but only managed another one with very bad form so I gave up. 

 

 

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

 

 I'm still unhappy that I'm not losing weight or gaining muscle; my lifts aren't improving at all and I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall. But the ladies were really helpful, and some even suggested that I might not be eating enough calories! I don't know about that though as I think my weight is going up, which means I'm gaining fat as if it was muscle my lifts would be improving. 

 

I need to set aside some time for myself to go over the nutrition module and see what I can change. 

 

For how many kcal did you settle?

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

 

For how many kcal did you settle?

 

1500 on non exercise days, 1800 on exercise days. Aiming for 30% protein, 30% fat and 40% carbs

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

Time for a belated challenge summary:

 

OK, so I kinda dropped off the map a bit. But since no one seemed to notice I guess that's ok.

 

Quest 1: 

Go to Karate twice a week. I am committing to staying for the whole of each lesson (1 hour 45 minutes per session). 

 

Goal: A = 3 lessons a week. B = 2 lessons a week. C = 1 lessons a week.

Reward: A = +2 Str, +2 Dex, +1 Sta. B = +1 Sta, +1 Dex. C = +1 Dex

RESULT:  FAIL

I just didn't manage this. I went 3 times in the whole of April. And truth be told I feel pretty shitty about that. 

 

Quest 2:

Strength training twice a week. This can be at home, but ideally will take place at the gym. It's the SIXTH challenge where i've wanted to focus on strength and it's time I got serious about it. The plan is to strength train after my pilates sessions.

 

Goal: A = 2 gym sessions a week . B = 2 sessions a week (home/gym). C = 1 session a week.

Reward: A = +2 Str, +2 Sta, +1 Dex,. B = +1 Sta, +1 Str. C = +1 Str

RESULT: FAIL

I didn't so this either. A couple of times I managed a short strength workout after pilates, but nothing consistent. I'm still not able to lift any more that I was in February, and I'm no closer to a push up or a pull up. 

 

Quest 3:

I haven't lost a pound since I joined NF 6 months ago. Obviously I need to track my diet better, as I'm pretty sure I have no good idea of what my calories or macros are. I am really really nervous about this but I've downloaded My Fitness Pal and hopefully that will give me a good place to start. 

 

Goal: A = 7 days a week . B = 5 days a week . C = 3 days a week.

Reward: A = +2 Wis, +3 Con  . B = +2 Con, +1 Wis . C = +1 Con

RESULT:  +2 WIS +3 Con

 

I still haven't lost so much as a pound, but I tracked everything I ate for the whole month. It's helped me realise that I eat too much fat, don't eat as much protein as i thought I did and I have 'treats' way more often than I thought. Unfortunately I also ended up having a bulimia set back for the first time  in years. Damn but food makes me feel back about myself.