Damn, EternalJourno! Back at again with the white Vans!

[Butternut]

It's an awesome feeling when you find the lifestyle to fit your goals. 

[FatboySuave]

Day 21 update: I had a few cheats this past week, but for the most part I'm sticking to the game plan. I've been walking on the treadmill every day, but I've taken a break from the beginner bodyweight workout. As far as my walking, I've been holding steady at a 1 percent incline, but I've been increasing my pace slightly every day. I started out at 3.0 but now I'll usually start at 3.2 and work my way up to 3.5 or 3.6. I have to remind myself not to push too hard — yet. My initial goal is to form this into a lasting habit. Whereas it took a lot of motivation to get off my ass before, I find myself craving my daily walk most days. Even if I'm not feeling motivated, I tell myself, "All you have to do is walk. Just walk. Just 30 minutes." And that helps. I was thinking that for my next challenge I'll focus on increasing my speed and incorporate a few minutes of running, but still concentrate mostly on walking daily.

I mentioned I cheated a few times this week. I introduced my friends to the work of Cities and Knights Thursday night. I also got motivated to grill after looking up recipes online. So I grilled some chicken wings and drumsticks after marinating them in olive oil and a barbecue-style rub. A friend brought some asparagus for the grill also. Then I made some guacamole. That's my new go-to for social gatherings. But I was concerned about how much chips I end up using to shovel guac into my mouth, so I looked up alternatives. The first suggestion that caught my eye was red bell peppers, which I love. I bought a few but ended up not using them. The other suggestion that I was wary of but actually worked out remarkably: pork rinds! And the flavor actually mixes really well with the guac! I also found a "hot and spicy" variety that could substitute my snacking cravings for other "flaming hot" chips. But I also foresee a danger in wanting to snack too much and thinking, "Oh, they're not bad for me, keep eating." So I'm going to try to bust them out only as a substitute during social gatherings.

I also drank a few beers Thursday. I was determined not to give in, but as soon as a buddy showed up, he offered me a beer. I had a second or two of strength, but then immediately caved to the pressure and cracked it open. I think I had four or five. So, not good. But every day after drinking/staying up late, I immediately regret it and feel terrible. So I have to remember that feeling the next time I'm tempted so hopefully I can moderate myself or avoid drinking all together. 

Then Friday I was lethargic from the previous night. I ended up snacking quite a lot, which may be a result of my lack of energy(?). I had two chocolate bars, some flaming hot Fritos and — my weakness — a slice of pie. My boss made a pecan pie the other day and he wafted it in my face, but I avoided the temptation. Then the leftovers were left on a desk near our work station Friday night and I couldn't resist. Then we have a new intern who sounded like he was about to make a fat joke at me (our office is extremely non-PC and we rag on each other a lot). He stopped himself, but I could tell that's where he was going, and I was very conscious of it. I've never really been made fun of for my weight (thankfully), though I do make fun of myself sometimes. Anyway, in the back of my mind I kept thinking, "Well, I'll have you know that I've lost 10 pounds this year!" I also thought, "Just wait until October when I've lost 30 more pounds!" The thought of losing weight is really exciting and, like I've noted before, I feel like it's real this time. My goals seem achievable and the amount of progress I've made so far keeps me feeling motivated. 

Today I'm going to see a movie with some friends, but I'm going to sneak in a healthy snack. Probably grapes. Or maybe even some pork rinds, lol. But most likely grapes. Then tomorrow a friend plans to grill, so I'm taking guacamole and asparagus. I know some other friends who are vegetarians will likely bring some healthy sides or salads. So I'm not too worried. There will be burgers and dogs, but I'm going to try to forego the buns.

 

Then Monday may be another opportunity to grill some more. The buddy who's grilling tomorrow got a new grill for himself, so he gave me his old gas grill. I usually use charcoal, but I'm excited about the thought of how easy and quick gas is to use, so I want to give it a shot Monday. I'm thinking a steak with asparagus. I may even try grilling some peaches or pineapple for dessert.

Goal 1: B (I was so close to an A, but I'm counting last Sunday when I drove back from Scottsdale and didn't workout at all)

Goal 2: B (I only had one outing this week, but I had quite a few drinks. I don't plan on drinking tonight, but knowing my friends, that could change quickly)

 

Goal 3: B (I only bought breakfast burritos once this week! The rest of the week I've been eating my omelet muffins! But again, last Sunday was a day of indulgence.)

 

Week 3 grade: B

[Jormungand]

Very well done all around. Red bell pepper slices are a favorite of mine for dipping. I usually go through quite a few this time of year. I know your struggle when it comes to the workplace snacking. I quit trying to leave it up to willpower and took things in my own hands eventually. I try to drink water constantly throughout the day so that I feel more full. Plus, I keep a stash of my own snacks handy (cashews are my usual go-to) so that when the inevitable cake or pie comes around, I can munch on my own pre-approved snacks and won't feel like I'm missing out. 

 

Stay motivated and mindful. The good habits will become easier with each passing day. 

[Butternut]

Pork rinds and guac?!?!! Sounds amazing.

 

When I'm at social events its so hard to not drink.  You sound a lot like my battles.  For the longest time I would just say before going into the place "I won't drink, I won't drink," but by the time I am in view point of that booze... 5 beers later, yeah you feel like a lame-o for not being strong enough.

 

In these last couple of months I just have accepted that I love drinking at social events. It loosens me up and its fun But I give myself a limit.  I chug down my first and slowly sip on my second.  Sometimes I get to a third, but I have been known to dump out half of it.    I also try to drink a glass of water in between drinks. 

 

So What i'm saying is don't be so hard on yourself, like you've said before your in a small town with nothing better to do than drink.  At least your aware of what its doing to your psychy. 

 

Keep up the hard work! 

[FatboySuave]

Day 25 update: Guys! I just made cauliflower rice for the first time and it is sooooooo gooooood! My roommate has a food processor and let me borrow it. She's a vegetarian so she's made all sorts of things out of cauliflower (mashed "potatoes" and pizza crust, for example), so she gave me a few pointers. I didn't expect it to come out great, but I fried it with some oil and then threw in two eggs, and wow. Then I mixed it with my usual beef stir fry with red and yellow bell peppers, broccoli and carrots. 

I had a few lazy days this week. On Monday I got on the treadmill but my legs just started to give out after about 20 minutes, so I barely got through half an episode of The Flash. Then Tuesday I was really tired from the long weekend. I grilled a lot and, unfortunately, drank a lot of booze. I also had two breakfast burritos Tuesday and I was almost too unmotivated to do my meal prep. Then I got inspired to grill a healthy meal — chicken and asparagus — so then I decided to grill more chicken for the week. I also got frozen veggies that I can throw in the microwave at work. I needed a break from chopping and steaming. I also made some omelet muffins again, this time altering the recipe a bit. This time I didn't cook anything ahead of time. I also used some almond milk in the egg mixture. Oh, and I tried some avocado oil spray, but the eggs still got stuck to the muffin tin, so next time I'll go back to my regular cooking spray. With enough salt and hot sauce, they're pretty decent though. Not my favorite thing in the world, but they get the job done. 

Today I went to my doctor to talk about my weight loss goals. She's the one who originally told me about Nerd Fitness and the paleo diet. I last visited her in July 2015, which was a shock to me because I don't recall it being that long ago. I remember being so determined then to start losing weight and then I just lost my way. I once was lost, but now I'm found. We caught back up and I told her about my recent weight loss. She put me on a 30-day challenge to basically do what I've already been doing. Then at the end of the 30 days, she's going to run some lab tests on me to check my cholesterol and whatnot. 

Oh, and my buddy "challenged" me to a weight loss competition. We're going to see who loses the most weight by the end of the month, but we're not wagering anything other than pride. He's lost 27 pounds this year! And my roommate may join our contest too. I'm hoping to lose another 10 pounds by the end of June, which would be great so I could show my family and friends in Colorado (visiting them July 4) how much weight I've lost.

 

I'm just really excited and looking forward to crushing this last week of the challenge and continuing to do better in the next one. 

[Kiki Dee]

That looks amazing! Have been thinking of trying cauliflower rice, we had good results with garlic cauliflower mash. I'm really craving a good curry so cauliflower rice and possibly paleo naan (saw a recipe recently) could make that a reality!!!

 

You are really determined to stick with these omelet muffins aren't you?  I gotta admire your tenacity, I'm not prepared to eat anything I don't love.

 

We'll all be gunning for you to beat your buddy! (Unless he's on here too? Then we may have a conflict!)

[Jormungand]

Mashed cauliflower is awesome, and I try to eat it any chance I have. I think it's awesome how you're going about this, especially how you're consulting with your doctor. A couple years ago, I went to talk to mine because I was getting into my late twenties. He was appreciative of the fact that I was just there for a checkup rather than because there was something wrong with me. Keep up the good work. 

 

Having a few drinks throughout the week is a tough habit to break. One thing that really helped me is looking up the actual nutritional information on my favorite beers. (Wait, three beers are how many calories?!) Once I knew that, I realized that I would have to seriously cut back if I wanted to realize the fitness goals I'd set out for myself. Anymore, I treat beer as just another snack in the house. If I have it around, I will drink it. So now I just don't keep my fridge as stocked and try to limit it to when I'm going out to eat or to a cookout. 

 

You've made some really awesome progress. Keep after it for the bragging rights you'll have over your friend when you beat him at the end of the month. 

[Kvedulf]

Good job on seeing the docs. And you're going to kick your buddies arse. You got this bet. I'd have given up on those damn omelettes ages ago. You got some crazy levels of determination

 

Awesome to see you're doing well and I think you've created some really good habits. Which is what these challenges are all about really

 

P.S. How the hell do you make good cauliflower mash? I can make cauliflower rice but every time I try to do mash, it comes out looking and tasting that slop they eat on the ship in the Matrix!

[FatboySuave]

Day 26 update: Just finished a beginner bodyweight workout and, boy, are my everything tired. But wearing my neighborhood friendly workout shirt makes me feel like Spider-Man during my workout. And now I almost feel like I could scale the Daily Bugle skyscraper. That is, if I weren't so beat. It's been almost two weeks since I last completed the workout, but I feel really proud of myself because for the first time in a long time I was able to do 10 full pushups in a row without stopping! Not just once but twice! The third circuit my arms pooped out. No, they didn't poop out spider webs (You can tell I'm in a really good mood because of all my corny jokes and puns ). 

@Kiki Dee, maybe I just had a bad weak with the omelet muffins, but this week they're working out really well. I'm sure next week I'll hate them again, lol. And, no, my buddy is not on Nerd Fitness — yet. But I've been telling all my friends about the forums, so maybe we'll get some new Rebels soon. 

@Jormungand, I used to drink whatever was left in my fridge just because I couldn't resist. I also told myself that I needed to drink all the beer to make more room in my fridge for regular food, but lately I've been avoiding that. I only drink when my friends come over but then they always bring a fresh batch of beer, of course. I have probably 20-30 beers in my fridge right now, but I'm planning on just taking them out and storing them elsewhere. I know some people say that makes the beer taste worse, but I figure I'd rather risk that than drinking it. 

Tonight is game night, so I bought some low carb dry wines — a bottle each of pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon and sauvignon blanc. I'm not going to drink them all at once, of course. I'm going to try having only two or three glasses. I'm hoping those will be a somewhat healthier alternative to beer (they're supposed to have only 2 or 3 carbs per serving). And I'm not a big fan of wine, so I'm hoping the fact that I don't like them will slow me down from drinking too much. Ideally though, I really want to quit. So maybe I'll drink water and only water.

Speaking of quitting, my doctor also advised me to flat out stop smoking cigarillos. My buddy likes to smoke them when he comes over. I wasn't a smoker and still don't really consider myself a smoker, but I've been joining him out of solidarity. As soon as my doctor found out though, she practically yelled at me, lol, which is a good thing.

I also have some nuts and berries that I'm planning to portion out ahead of time so I have some snacks if I get the urge to munch on something. 

I just remembered that I forgot to mention something on my last post, but now I can't remember what I remembered... Oh yeah! Since I missed a day walking Tuesday, I decided to finish that last half episode of The Flash and then get through another episode, so I walked for a little more than an hour yesterday!

In other news, I started reading Steve Kamb's book "Level Up Your Life" last night. I finished the first chapter and I nearly cried a few times thinking about where I was, where I am and where I see myself going. So far, the part that really struck me was about trying and failing:
 

"I'm going to let you in on a secret: spend 10 percent of your time and effort on Phase 1 (learning, researching, etc.), and 90 percent on trying out the new things you are learning. Paint your first terrible picture. Write the first chapter of a book that will never be read. Ask somebody out and get shot down. Save money for a trip and book the damn thing. Start a crappy blog. Record a few awful podcasts. Pluck a few wrong notes on a guitar. Pronounce words incorrectly in a foreign language. 

"Why?

"Because you're actually doing something!"

There are a lot of things that I keep not doing because I'm afraid of failure. I'm scared of doing some incorrectly and terribly, so I end up just doing nothing. I know this is basic advice, but for some reason it just makes more sense with where I'm at mentally right now. A month ago, I don't think I would've been ready to really read that and take it to heart. But things feel different. I feel different. I'm hopeful, which is another thing Steve talks about: 

"We can hope for a better existence — we can want happiness and adventure in our lives — but in order for that to happen, we need to heed the call when it comes knocking. Hope without action results in no change." 

I'm finally taking action and I'm finally seeing some positive change rather than waiting for it to happen. 

[Jormungand]

 

21 hours ago, EternalJourno said:

I'm finally taking action and I'm finally seeing some positive change rather than waiting for it to happen. 

 

That is awesome to read. I know that you'll eventually find a sustainable balance with the eating, drinking, and living. Major kudos to you for making the effort to find what works best for you. 

[Butternut]

Right on Journo!  Can't wait to see your next challenge!  

 

That's a lot of beer by the way, that's so cool your staying out of it! 

[FatboySuave]

Final challenge update: This last week was not the best, particularly Friday when I went out to eat with friends and caved in to temptation. I had chicken tacos for lunch with French fries Friday, but I didn't eat many fries. I really wanted to walk after lunch, but I was so tired I ended up taking a nap before I had to go back to work, so I didn't do any physical activity. Then for dinner I went out and had two drinks with friends (only 2, which is good!) with fajitas. I was planning to only eat the chicken and veggies, but the beans and tortillas were too tempting. 

 

Overall I'm still feeling really good. Saturday was a quiet, mostly lazy day. I walked for an episode of The Flash and finished my leftovers for the week. Then I cooked a steak and some veggies for dinner. I spent a lot of time reading though. I'm in the second section of "Level Up Your Life" and I took a break to do what Steve told me to do, which is create a character on the site. Then I finally did what I've been putting off for a long while: I joined the Nerd Fitness Academy. I was putting it off until I had enough money, and also I felt like I was making progress without it, just using the free materials and forum. But I want to try kicking things up a notch, so I joined (sorry if I sound like a bad infomercial). Since yesterday, I've been reading a lot of material. Some of it is review from the stuff they share in emails and whatnot. I've barely started, but I find myself really enjoying the quests and leveling up experience. I already feel myself getting that itch to level up (like in a video game) and I'm genuinely fiending to accomplish more quests, lol.

Week 4 Goal 1: B- (I skipped two days of activity this week. And I had one day where I didn't quite push myself hard enough but made up for it with a harder workout one day)

Week 4 Goal 2: F (I drank a lot over the Memorial Day weekend. Then I drank nearly an entire bottle of wine on game night. Then I drank again Friday, but I actually limited myself to 2 drinks)

 

Week 4 Goal 3: B (I believe I had McDonald's for breakfast once this week. Then I went out to eat for lunch and dinner Friday). 

 

Week 4 Grade: C

 

Final challenge grade: C

 

I feel like my grade doesn't necessarily reflect the progress I made this month, but that's OK. I'm not sure if I should adjust my goals to make them more realistic for myself and make it easier to earn better grades, or if I should leave them relatively the same to give myself a real challenge. The working out and cooking goals feel good. It's just the drinking goal. But then if I don't challenge myself, I could see myself feeling OK with the same old same old. I'll adjust slightly and see how the next challenge goes. 

 

Also during the next challenge, I want to push myself a little more physically, primarily by committing to more beginner bodyweight workouts (at least two a week). I'm doing well with the cooking, but I know I can still do better by controlling my snacking temptation. 

 

As for my weight, I started this challenge in the 237-240 range. As of this morning, I'm at 231, which means I've lost about 6-9 pounds this month! 

 

I'm ready for the next challenge!

Oh, and more thing: I think I'm going to join the Rangers for the next challenge. For now, I feel myself craving a balanced workout. I like the mindset of the Druids and can eventually see myself getting into yoga and meditation, but for now my goals are primarily geared toward losing weight and getting fit via walking and workouts. 

[Kvedulf]

Awesome work! After reading along I have to agree with you that a C doesn't really reflect what you achieved. I think it's the fact that even if you only just achieved your goal its the fact that 1) its more than what you were doing and completing the challenge is a massive achievement in and of itself and 2) there's a big run-on effect on being able to achieve things that weren't part of the challenge.

 

Awesome job and I'll be following your next challenge

[Jormungand]

Way to finish things out. It is a huge accomplishment just to hold yourself accountable throughout the entirety of the challenge, and I'm glad to see you already thinking about what can be adjusted for the next challenge. I think you will really thrive by pushing yourself and finding new ways to challenge yourself. I'm always a fan of (realistically) upping the difficulty. I'm making similar considerations for my own challenge plans. Congrats on your weight loss success. 

 

Looking forward to having you among the Ranger ranks.