Dagger's Progress as a Nomad

[Dagger]

Written 2016-05

 

I'm starting my battle log because I want somewhere to record my progress when I'm not in a challenge. I think my first challenge will be the one coming up in June (2016).

 

Written 2017-05-25

 

I'm putting the rest of the original post of this battle log in a spoiler and starting with a fresh first message, written in May 2017. So a year after joining the forums and a year after starting this battle log which I barely used because I've done a year of consecutive challenges.

 

Spoiler

 

Written 2016-05 and edited early 2017

 

If you want to know more about me, check out my introduction thread where I have detailed where I started. May 2016 is the first month of trying to become my level 50. To see more about what that looks like, check out my NF character.

 

I'm trying to start really small and now after my first month (end of May 2016), there are so many changes I want to do. So I have several optional goals. Those goals I try to do, but I don't strain myself to do them. That means they are the first I say no to when I can't get everything done. They are also there to let me try things out or to just start tip-toeing into making them non-optional goals.

 

Mostly I worked on building habits in May 2016 because that seemed to work very well for me (and I hadn't tried that in the past when I'd failed). I still mainly work on habits, but it might not always be true.

 

Current Challenge

#2: Dagger Paints Her Home Base

 

Current Goals (check current challenge for updates and correct goals)

Exercise

1. Walk 6'500 steps per day
2. Yoga 2 times per week
3. Morning walk (hoping for every day, but I'll be happy with four times per week within 30 minutes of waking)

Nutrition

1. Meal timing (Lunch ready between noon and 13:00. Dinner ready at latest 19:30, cooking will generally start between 17:30–19:00.) (Kinda optional because I don't know if I will keep it)

Level Up My Life

1. Writing 500 words per week
2. Studying craft until current workshop done plus two leftover weeks from previous workshop

 

Geez, I have to look at and completely revamp this intro post. But right now, I'm only visiting my dormant battle log to add some 2016 year end things and put my goals for 2017 here so I can easily find them.

 

 

If you want to learn more about where I started, here is my original introduction thread. Otherwise you can find links to all my past challenges in the post right below this one.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Written 2017-05-25

 

With all that out of the way...

 

Hi!

 

I sold my home on May 2 and became voluntarily homeless at that point. I am technically residing at my parents' address in Stockholm, Sweden and will return there periodically, but most of the time I am traveling the world.

 

Now, when I say traveling the world, I mean slow travel. I go to a place and stay there for 2 weeks to 3 months or so. Or that is how I travel most of the time. There are exceptions, of course.

 

In the post below this, you might also find an up-to-date travel schedule of where I will be. If I remember to keep it up to date. And if you at any point would love to meet me when I am in your neck of the woods just post or PM me and we'll see if I have plans to be close by soon or if I'll just add you to a list I have that I always check before I travel somewhere to see if there is anyone I know in the area.

 

This battle log will basically help me challenge myself. My travels make it hard to follow the normal challenges since my life will be chopped up into blocks depending on where I am at the time and those blocks might not at all correspond with the normal challenge dates.

 

The post right below this one (aka the first reply or the second post depending on how you see it) will be a post that holds links for organization of this battle log as well as previous challenges and such. So if you keep track of that post, you should be able to find the goals I'm trying to currently follow and such. I also tend to keep my signature up to date so you should be able to find the latest relevant links there.

 

I most often do daily reporting with some lag (especially on travel days, aka when I move from point a to point b). The easiest way to find the most relevant posts, beyond going to the last page, would be to go to the latest goal post or whatever I call it below and to read from there. Feel free to read the whole battle log but the first couple of pages span my first year on the forum and that was all before I became nomadic.

 

Bon Voyage and See You Around the Forum Block!

[Dagger]

Previous Challenges

#1: Dagger Builds a Home Base

#2: Dagger Paints her Home Base

#3: Dagger Joins the Adventurers Guild

#4: Dagger Thinks and Re-Focuses

#5: Dagger is Ooching a Potential Change

#6: Dagger Preps for Christmas and Travel

#7: Dagger Shifts Priority Temporarily

#8: Dagger Builds Strength and Travels

#9: [CAT TAKEOVER] Dagger iz Advenchur Kitteh

#10: Dagger Metamorphose Into a Nomad

 

Links to Review Posts

• Ode to 2016
• Accomplished in 2016

 

Links to Goal Posts

• 2017 — The Year of Fitness
• 2017 — Goals broken down into categories
• 2017 — Summer challenge (Jun-Aug)
• 2017 — Italy Goals
• 2017 — Sweden Goals
• 2017 — Norway Adventure
• 2017 — September Goals
• 2017 — Last Quarter Goals

 

2017 Travels (after becoming nomadic)

05-17 May: Costa Rica (mostly Nosara)

17-20 May: Boston, USA

20-29 May: Sthlm (Stockholm), Sweden

29 May-17 July: Italy (mostly in Tuscany)

17-30 July: Sthlm, Sweden

30 July-7 August: Norway (mostly in Lofoten)

7-9 August: Sthlm, Sweden

9 August-26 September: London, UK

26-30 September: Paris, France

30 September-29 October: Barcelona, Spain

29 October-8 November: London, UK

8-23 November: Sweden (Skellefteå and Sthlm)

24 November-31 December: Tokyo, Japan

 

2018 Travels (after becoming nomadic)

1 January-XX February: Tokyo, Japan

XX February-XX May: Oregon coast, USA

XX May-?? : I have no clue yet...

 

Obsolete links:

Spoiler

Links to Monthly Review Posts from this thread

1. 2016, May 
2. 2016, June
3. 2016, July
4. Did no more monthly reviews after July

 

[Dagger]

Big Wins

2016-05-27

I bought a raincoat May 6 (2016), so 21 days earlier, that was tight around my midsection. It fit, but maybe a little closer than it should. I needed a raincoat though and I thought it looked good. Today when I put it on to take an evening walk in the rain, it was looser around my midsection. 21 days of walking and cutting out frozen meals have lead to a slightly slimmer stomach for me. Yay!

 

So happy about that. Now it fits better too. Maybe it will become actually loose eventually. I look forward to that progress. 

 

2016-06-09

Monday this week (2016-06-06) I had decided to mow my lawn on Wednesday (2016-06-08), but then it rained really heavy on Tuesday and with an electric lawn mower I wasn't supposed to mow when the grass is wet (or preferably not). So while I had planned to do Zumba on Thursday (2016-06-09), I decided to switch. Zumba on Wednesday and mowing on Thursday. At that time I didn't think much of it.

 

Then after doing Zumba on Wednesday, it hit me that while I've tried to switch plans around like that before I hadn't ever succeeded in following through. I got this breathless feeling of success, but I didn't want to crow in advance. But today, I have mowed the lawn. Today is Thursday. So I did it. I switched my plans out of necessity and I got both done. 

 

2016-06-26

Ever since I started my journey or when I've tried to start my journey, I've wondered what my friends would say. Mostly I haven't wanted to change what I do when I spend time with my friends, because I enjoyed how we spent time. But I've finally realized I can do active things with my friends and still have deep discussions. Even better if I ask a friend if they might want to do some exercise while visiting me, the worst they can say is no but they will probably say yes as long as it isn't a too crazy idea.

 

2016-06-29

So I think it was when I got out for a walk around 4 in the afternoon that I realized I was sick. I've been sneezing a lot and had a slightly runny nose. I let other people convince me that it was probably just sleep deprivation or pollen allergy. I even tried to convince myself it was just a bit lack of sleep I know better. I keep careful track of how I feel. And I was waaay too tired—I did not realize this—and had a runny nose. The nose should have alerted me. So I had a mild cold. If I had realized what was happening, I would have rested more and maybe I wouldn't have felt as bad as I did. But I didn't rest more.

 

I let the challenge push me more than usual and work through tiredness that should have clued me in. I see that as a win and as a loss. Win because it proves I can overcome false thoughts of rest. Loss because this time it wasn't false so I need to recognize when my body asks for rest and give it rest, and know when my mind is whining and ignore it.

 

Lessons Learned

• Binging really affects the days following it. Since I've eaten a lot of sweets for far too many years, I haven't really noticed from one day to another if a little more eating caused me to feel worse. The weekend around my birthday (2016), a week ago, I ate a lot more sweets than I have lately. I'd gotten cake, cookies and other stuff to serve while my family celebrated me. Unfortunately there was a lot of leftovers so I ate a lot Saturday to Tuesday; the bulk of it eaten during Saturday and Sunday. Monday through Wednesday I was really tired and lethargic. And I could see that it most likely had to do with the additional sugar I ate during the long weekend. Might be obvious to other people, but I hadn't seen such a clear path for extra sugar being followed by a couple of lousy days.
• Don't go "grocery" shopping unless I want loads of sweets if: i) I am really low energy and my head feels thick, or ii) I have no will power left.
• As of 2016-05-31, I still need to schedule a whole day if I want to get exercise done, otherwise I won't do them. I'm working to get them earlier in the day instead because when I'm done I have the energy from the workout to get stuff done.
• When hiking, take the right gear with you. I took sneakers with me to chance into when my feet got too tired from the Vibrams, but I forgot socks. So I should put together a hiking kit in the backpack I got and that way I won't forget something as important as a(n extra) pair of socks.
• After social events, I need a recovery period of at least a couple of days. During these days, my will power will be low and my emotional stability will be at rock bottom because I will have used most of it during the social time. So always plan two rest days after a big social event, and at least one day after a smaller one.
• I made the habit of putting on workout clothes at the start of the day on days I would workout. This has turned out both good and bad. I'm likelier to actually workout if I put the clothes on first thing. The clothes are slightly uncomfortable so I might be uncomfortable until I workout (it puts pressure on my stomach). Two possible solutions: 1) Get a different style of exercise pants that doesn't cover the stomach. 2) Get a larger size that doesn't press as much or loose weight for the current pair (I wish!).
• Convenience rules. I should have learned, but I guess I needed to learn again. I go for convenience because I have a hard time even keeping up with daily life when I have a lot of modern conveniences such as a dishwasher and my own washing machine (shared one with the whole apartment building when I lived in an apartment, never again). When I decided that I wouldn't get a robot grass mower because I had all these plans to change my garden and why do the work twice, I forgot about all the work I would do until I changed the garden. I also forgot how long I usually take to get to my future plans. That is why my backyard is a jungle and I had to order a service to help me tame it because I'd burn out my lawn mower if I tried with that. So convenience first. I need to remember that. It isn't that inconvenient to change stuff later especially if later tends to happen a few years later.

[Dagger]

Review of May, 2016

So my first month to try for more fitness and adventure in my life. I've tried before, but failed because I haven't tried to create habits and I haven't tried to start small enough.

 

Exercise

• I have taken at least one walk practically every day (I started the habit in May 3). I averaged 7'500 steps per day although the later part of the month helped a lot with that average.
• 5 weeks of doing Zumba once per week except the last week where I did it twice (yay!). Total times in May: 5 (one of them was done April 30)
• I've gone from a daily step goal of 3'000 to 5'000 steps (taking it slow so I don't loose momentum, upping every 14 days).

Nutrition

• I haven't had a TV dinner/frozen meal from the grocery store in at least two weeks. I still eat a lot of mostly finished food, but I still have to take a few minutes more to cook it than just nuking finished meals.

Level Up My Life

• I've now read fiction for at least 15 minutes per day for almost 3 weeks (today will be day 21 when I get to it before bed). Considering I always had my nose in a book in my teenage years, I'm just working to get back to that.

I'm so excited by how this month have been. I've also taken care and learned a lot about chores you need to do when you own a house with a yard. I've celebrated my birthday and one of my brothers slept over for a night: All without knocking me completely off (I will admit that those were some of my worst days when it comes to good eating so was tired and lethargic after).

 

I feel very positive about this change. I'm planing for what I need to do given a bad day vs a good day vs an average day (I have to go edit my current challenge it is misaligned for this!). And I "judge" how I've done depending on what kind of day it has been.

 

Today my will power has been extremely low (aka a bad day) but I'm at almost 9000 steps after two walks and I've done a couple of other chores, which makes today a great day in my daily questing.

On Sunday, I had a really good day when it came to will power, I did a huge amount of chores, what impresses me most is that I went from chore to chore to chore without needing 15-30 minutes of a break in between (which would normally grow to an hour or two...), instead I didn't take breaks every time; so I got a lot done and so that was a great day too (I hit my step goal too; I did 6700 steps).

 

This is why I work with optional goals. I prioritize the important ones to get done even when I feel like crap. And on days I can deal with it, I hold myself to higher standards.

 

Lessons Learned

• Binging makes you lethargic (see this post for slightly more info)
• I still need to schedule only workouts on workout days; I know because today (May 31) I tried to do more than workout and in the end I didn't exercise except for my walks. I need too much will power to get started on them; I need to build up to them. So my goal is to work on doing them earlier in the day instead of around 17:00. Because after the workout I have a lot of energy and space in my head to do other stuff.
• Don't go "grocery" shopping unless I want loads of sweets if: i) I am really low energy and my head feels thick, or ii) I have no will power left.

Big Win

Fitting better into a rain coat I bought at the start of the month, slightly more info here.

[Dagger]

June 1

Energy/Willpower: Bad to average day when it comes to energy. Not entirely sure why. Today is two days after a day where I got a lot done, so that usually means low energy.

 

I'm very happy with the day anyway.

 

Exercise

I did Zumba for 20 minutes.

I did the Get Started video for NF yoga, basically trying out some different positions and remembering that downward dog sucks. I hope regular yoga will make it suck less. I also tried a mini-session.

I walked more than 5000 steps; it is at 7200 steps now, and I might add another hundred before midnight (1 hour away).

 

Nutrition

Still no frozen dinners, yay! If I'd had one at home, I might have gone there today.

Missed finishing lunch and dinner according to the new times. Lunch wasn't much after 1 PM. Dinner was probably around an hour late or a little more (I didn't check exactly).

 

Level Up My Life

I've read fiction although probably not quite 15 minutes yet, I plan to read more in a bit.

I did not write. I did not study craft.

 

Misc

I'm having trouble with feeling unsatisfied (food-wise) throughout the day. I've been trying to lessen my portions slightly, and I'm guessing that is affecting me as well as the chocolate I'm eating a lot of. No will power means sugar gets eaten if I have it at home.

 

I think I had something more, but I've forgotten it. It was really, really warm today and it wasn't even sunny. Overcast and probably a little oppressive. Probably didn't help with my energy. I'm now trying to get my house to cool by having windows open, but I don't want to have all windows open because I have spiders living outside most of them! I don't like spiders.

[Dagger]

June 2

Energy/Willpower: It started good/average, but then I had to make a tough decision or rather follow through on one. So my emotions got all wacky, basically I was emotional and I knew I had to treat this day as a bad day.

 

Considering I've been crying multiple times today, I'm very happy with the day. Strange, I know.

 

Exercise

I walked in the morning. I'm slowly teaching myself to take a walk first time, although it wasn't quite first thing, but close enough to after I woke up for me to count it. I'm not very strict about this habit yet, it is only one of the optionals after all.

I also walked in the evening and today was day 30 of my walking habit. I have taken at least one walk per day for 30 days. *dances happily*

I walked more than 5000 steps; it was above 8000 steps, but I don't have the exact number because then I have to go sync my Fitbit because it is after midnight.

 

Nutrition

Still no frozen dinners, yay! If I'd had one at home, I might have gone there today. I even eyed one in the store today, but decided I would stick with my new habit of no frozen dinners (or meal in a can in this case).

Missed finishing cooking lunch and dinner according to the new times. But then a lot of the day was screwed up today.

 

Level Up My Life

I have not yet read fiction, but I will because I enjoy it.

I did not write. I did not study craft.

I played Super Mario Galaxy because it is fun, and doing stuff that is fun helps me get in control of my emotions. And I'm trying to get back into gaming more regularly, but it is not even an optional goal yet, but I'll still mention it here!

 

Misc

So a lot of emotional damage control today. It went surprisingly well. I thought I'd be more messed up. Whether that is due to regular moving around makes my life easier over all or I've gotten really good at damage control... It doesn't matter, probably a bit of both.

 

I'm really enjoying my walks in my new Vibrams. So far I haven't overtaxed myself, but I did get a slight blister, mostly from not being used to them I think and going for a long walk.

 

I made a lot of iced tea yesterday which I forgot to mention. Next time I need to brew it stronger or switch the tea out after the second straining. I made 2 liters but only used about 3-4 teaspoons. I did almost one liter at the time. Well, you live and learn. This was my first time trying to do iced tea (not that it is hard, as it turned out. Just do tea normally, wait for it to cool, pour over ice).

[Dagger]

June 3

Energy/Willpower: I'd say good day. No reason for low energy beside a little short on sleep, but I haven't felt it during the day.

 

Exercise

I walked in the morning (within an hour-ish of waking up).

I walked in the evening.

I walked more than 5000 steps; it was about 7200 steps.

 

Nutrition

Still no frozen dinners, yay! I really need to go food shopping...

I ate both lunch and dinner within the times I want, yay!

 

Level Up My Life

I have not yet read fiction, but I will because I enjoy it.

I did write, yay!

I did study a little craft, yay!

I will have to do a lot more studying for the next few days or cram on Monday due to deadline.

 

Misc

Very happy about today. I might have played a little much Super Mario Galaxy, but since I hit a lot of my habits, I won't sweat it.

[Dagger]

June 4

Energy/Willpower: I'd say good day. No reason for low energy. Although I was pretty tired when I woke up.

 

Exercise

I walked in the morning two hours after I woke up.

I did my second Zumba pass of the week. So all done.

I walked more than 5000 steps; OVER 9000!!!! (I did that just because it was fun, not because it is a particular accomplishment of mine.)

 

Nutrition

Still no frozen dinners, yay!

My day got delayed by an hour in the morning (aka two hours after I woke up I took the walk instead of one). So both lunch and dinner were late by about an hour.

 

Level Up My Life

I have not yet read fiction, but I will because I enjoy it.

I did write, yay! It is easy to get to writing when I have such low word counts as goals. Considering the word count gets another 56 words every day, tomorrow I'll need 168 words, still a piece of cake. I did realize the words I wrote today and yesterday will be thrown out, but that is okay. It often happens early in a story.

I studied craft, yay!

I'm more on target with my online workshop now. Still more behind than I like, but I can hopefully catch up by Monday. Next week starts another workshop, but only for one week will I do two.

 

Misc

The one hour delay was because I was chatting with someone in the US (me being in Sweden), since it is so hard to catch people in other time zones I indulged myself and didn't regret it.

 

Good day.

[Dagger]

June 5

Energy/Willpower: Thought it would be a good day, but it went from average to bad. Not 100% sure why. First I let myself sleep in to since I've been sleeping too little for a couple of days. So I woke up 1-2 hours later than normal (depending on what you call normal for me), after that it seems I was behind all day and I had a list of things to do and since I was getting through it too slowly, I think I got anxious/stressed and then it all kind of went downhill.

 

Exercise

I walked in the morning, more or less as soon as I got up. That walk was pretty long (I was at almost 5000 after it).

Due to feeling short of time, I didn't take another walk or do anything else moving-wise except for chores.

I walked more than 5000 steps; just over 6000 or so. Didn't check exactly but considering I spent all day at home after the walk I shouldn't have gotten much.

 

Nutrition

Still no frozen dinners, yay!

Due to a longer walk in the morning (that started late because I got up late), lunch was late and so was dinner.

I did not go to the store to buy loads of sweets although I was anxious (normal anxious activity for me is to eat a lot of sweets). I did "bake" right before dinner, but then at least I had to make a little effort.

 

Level Up My Life

I have not yet read fiction, but I will because I enjoy it.

I did a lot of chores. Clearing of in the kitchen, washing clothes, clearing tabs in my browser and did my normal Sunday review and planing.

Realized I should skip writing on Sundays so I can focus on all the chores I want to get done on Sundays (eventually I hope to add cooking for next week to Sunday too). But I should have studied craft. Now I will have a hellish day tomorrow like I've had every week for three weeks.

 

Misc

I'm not sure how I feel about the day. I got maybe 2/3 of the chores done that I planned. Mostly I don't like feeling anxious so that makes it feel like a bad day. But I still got several things off the table so that is good.

 

Verdict: Probably good since I don't think I can trust my feelings on the matter right now.

[Endor]

You're doing great on the walking  

 

The 2 things that helped me the most to drop weight when I first started out were walking and cutting back sugar, you're on the right track, stick with it. 

[Endor]

Also fellow Swede: @Mad Hatter

[Dagger]

7 hours ago, Endor said:

You're doing great on the walking  

 

The 2 things that helped me the most to drop weight when I first started out were walking and cutting back sugar, you're on the right track, stick with it. 

Thanks! 

 

I will get to reducing sugar, but decided to work with my meals some first. It is on the agenda when I think I can tackle it and actually make progress, right now I'm pretty sure I'd just run into a cement wall. Know yourself and all that. I need to have more will power before I attack the Sugar Dragon.

 

[Endor]

3 minutes ago, Dagger said:

Know yourself and all that

Very wise, take your time to galvanise one thing at a time and build momentum. 

[Pat G]

12 hours ago, Endor said:

Very wise, take your time to galvanise one thing at a time and build momentum. 

Going to stick my head in here and agree  Keep on layin those bricks down Dagger.

[Dagger]

June 6

Energy/Willpower: Started low because I had gone to bed late the night before. It got worse after that because I got what I am starting to call an anxiety attack over a garden chore I really need to do. Of course, becoming that anxious means I barely got anything done, certainly not that chore. It also means it was better to plan the next day as a day off because I'd most likely be low energy so the chore won't get done then either.

 

Exercise

I walked in the morning and in the evening.

I walked more than 5000 steps, ca 7700 steps.

 

Nutrition

I had no TV dinners.

I also cooked dinner, but neither lunch nor dinner hit the time frame.

 

Level Up My Life

I read fiction a lot.

I played Super Mario Galaxy 2 since I finished Super Mario Galaxy on June 4.

 

Misc

Emptied dishwasher.

I prepared the lawn mower I bought last week for the garden chore I really need to do.

 

Not a very good day. It did turn out alright when I look at what I got done. I did the minimum on a bad day and then a couple of extras that seems to have become more normal which is good. I'm "Do It Now"-ing several things without much energy so that is great.

 

Thanks, @Endor and @Pat G. Good to know I'm taking the right steps. And that I'm not just speaking into the universe.

 

EDIT: Ops, wrong date now fixed.

[Dagger]

June 7

Energy/Willpower: An alright day. I didn't keep track because I decided I had today off, so nothing bothered me much. Score!

 

Exercise

I walked in the afternoon. So I took a day of the morning routine (I'd just finished a epic NF quest for it, five days in a row accomplished!).

I walked more than 5000 steps, ca 6200 steps. One of my lowest days in a while.

 

Nutrition

I had no TV dinners.

I ate lunch in the time frame, score!

 

Level Up My Life

I read fiction a lot.

I bought the NF Academy since the price will go up. I'll start in on the mindset and nutrition module, I will probably wait with the workout module until July.

I started my June challenge thread.

 

Misc

We had a heavy rain, lighting and thunderstorm this evening. This means I can't cut my lawn tomorrow as planned (I'm not supposed to use my electric lawn mower when the grass is wet). It has been moved to Thursday if the grass/ground is dry enough.

 

I will from tomorrow and on update in my challenge thread which you can find here: Dagger Builds a Homebase

 

I might update the initial posts of this log to reflect what is happening in the challenge, or I might do it as a debrief when the challenge ends. I will definitely review the end of the month here in a few weeks.

[Laghail]

Congrats on investing in yourself dagger. I hope it's a help to you.

Anything good for lunch? After the gym today I couldn't even do creative -

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Dagger]

14 hours ago, Laghail said:

Congrats on investing in yourself dagger. I hope it's a help to you.

Anything good for lunch?

Thanks. I hope so too.

 

The last few days I've had tortellini with a mixed green salad on the side. I need to go do a big grocery shopping run so I have more options at home.

 

Although I'm updating in my challenge thread, I'll add something here:

 

Big Win

2016-06-09

Monday this week (2016-06-06) I had decided to mow my lawn on Wednesday (2016-06-08), but then it rained really heavy on Tuesday and with an electric lawn mower I wasn't supposed to mow when the grass is wet (or preferably not). So while I had planned to do Zumba on Thursday (2016-06-09), I decided to switch. Zumba on Wednesday and mowing on Thursday. At that time I didn't think much of it.

 

Then after doing Zumba on Wednesday, it hit me that while I've tried to switch plans around like that before I hadn't ever succeeded in following through. I got this breathless feeling of success, but I didn't want to crow in advance. But today, I have mowed the lawn. Today is Thursday. So I did it. I switched my plans out of necessity and I got both done.

[Dagger]

Big Win

2016-06-29

So I think it was when I got out for a walk around 4 in the afternoon that I realized I was sick. I've been sneezing a lot and had a slightly runny nose. I let other people convince me that it was probably just sleep deprivation or pollen allergy. I even tried to convince myself it was just a bit lack of sleep I know better. I keep careful track of how I feel. And I was waaay too tired—I did not realize this—and had a runny nose. The nose should have alerted me. So I had a mild cold. If I had realized what was happening, I would have rested more and maybe I wouldn't have felt as bad as I did. But I didn't rest more.

 

I let the challenge push me more than usual and work through tiredness that should have clued me in. I see that as a win and as a loss. Win because it proves I can overcome false thoughts of rest. Loss because this time it wasn't false so I need to recognize when my body asks for rest and give it rest, and know when my mind is whining and ignore it.

 

2016-06-26

Ever since I started my journey or when I've tried to start my journey, I've wondered what my friends would say. Mostly I haven't wanted to change what I do when I spend time with my friends, because I enjoyed how we spent time. But I've finally realized I can do active things with my friends and still have deep discussions. Even better if I ask a friend if they might want to do some exercise while visiting me, the worst they can say is no but they will probably say yes as long as it isn't a too crazy idea.

 

Lessons Learned

• When hiking, take the right gear with you. I took sneakers with me to chance into when my feet got too tired from the Vibrams, but I forgot socks. So I should put together a hiking kit in the backpack I got and that way I won't forget something as important as a(n extra) pair of socks.
• After social events, I need a recovery period of at least a couple of days. During these days, my will power will be low and my emotional stability will be at rock bottom because I will have used most of it during the social time. So always plan two rest days after a big social event, and at least one day after a smaller one.
• I made the habit of putting on workout clothes at the start of the day on days I would workout. This has turned out both good and bad. I'm likelier to actually workout if I put the clothes on first thing. The clothes are slightly uncomfortable so I might be uncomfortable until I workout (it puts pressure on my stomach). Two possible solutions: 1) Get a different style of exercise pants that doesn't cover the stomach. 2) Get a larger size that doesn't press as much or loose weight for the current pair (I wish!).

[Dagger]

Review of June, 2016

Second month of focusing on fitness done. I don't think I've managed to hang on this long before. Of course, I don't have much of other things to distract me, although soon I'll have to add those in myself!

 

This is a week late. Oops!

 

It is mostly because I only update on my challenge thread, which was how I intended to do things.

 

Exercise

• First 10 days my goal was 5000 steps per day and I hit that every day.
• For the rest of the month it was 6000 steps, and I hit that every day except for two sick days where just one walk was enough.
• Zumba twice the first week of June, then once per week for the rest of the month (I paired it with yoga). So total: 5x
• Yoga once a week for four weeks in June. Total: 4x
• I went for a long hike with a friend. Not sure how long, but I got 18'000 steps for the day.

Nutrition

• No TV-dinners through all of June.
• I started trying to tame my meal times. More and more meals are now eaten during the times I want. Lunch started between noon and 13. Dinner started between 18:00-19:30. However, both lunch and dinner is too often eaten late still. I need to figure out how to coral this without trying to do an everyday goal about it.

Level Up My Life

• I continued reading fiction for at least 15 minutes per day.
• Writing didn't happen much, but I did write a couple of times throughout the month.
• Studying happened a lot since I had a new online workshop, but too often last minute or parts of it late.

June was a good month all things considered.

 

I started yoga which I've dreaded due to how hard it has been the few times I've tried it before, but this new program is working well.

Zumba have been a lot of fun, but will now be moved to an occasional thing I do if it is too rainy/stormy to walk outside for my (all) steps.

 

I'm especially proud of the hiking and yoga I did when a friend came to stay over to celebrate Midsummer with me. The hiking/long walk could have happened anyway, but yoga wouldn't have happened if I didn't think to ask about it and then made sure to follow through on it. It is a Big Win that I've already written about.

 

On the nutrition front, I think it is time to start attacking more tasks. No TV-dinners are now beaten into my skull pretty well and unless I start slipping this isn't a challenge anymore. And as I mentioned on the meal times above, I'm not sure how to tackle that more than I do right now. I try to hit one meal per day in the time frame on four different days per week. If the rightly-timed meal is lunch, then dinner is more likely to happen within the right time too.

 

I ordered a crock-pot in June and hope to start using it. Since that should give me plenty of leftovers that might be the answer to my meal timing. Or more meal planing and more timely grocery shopping might be the answer. One main concern is that I want a big supply of frozen leftovers for when I feel really down or sick. The time I've gotten closest to buying TV-dinners was when I was sick at the end of June. And that kind of food wouldn't help except for some energy, so it isn't a good option.

 

During June I also stopped working with optional goals, and instead limit them to how many times I have to do them per week. That way they are optional on any given day, but I still have to do them a few times per week. I also started accounting more for events and other things, recognizing that sometimes the plan have to change temporarily. To see this progression, reading my current challenge thread will tell it all.

 

I think that is plenty of review for June, although I'm sure I could figure out more things to say about it. Maybe listing fun events would be a good addition?

 

Fun Events: Celebrating Midsummer with my friend Karro and we also went hiking and did yoga together, on top of playing board games, video games and just talking.

[Dagger]

Quick reporting for the last two days since I'm not reporting in my challenge anymore.

 

July 11

This whole week is rest week with a few things I need to get done.

 

I walked. I read. I studied a little. I played Plants vs Zombies. I wrote forum posts about the challenge.

 

If I did anything more than a few household chores, I don't remember.

 

July 12

So another rest day. I did try for yoga, but as usual the first time I try I miss.

 

I wrote more posts about the challenge and I had a dance party late at night to help me feel good about the challenge.

 

I walked. I read. I played Plants vs Zombies.

[Bookish Badger]

There you are!  Following along.

 

[Dagger]

Two things I mean to talk about:

1. How I felt about the challenge and how I think about doing next time.
2. What my goals look like now, so I can update the first post with what I'm doing.
3. Lesson Learned: I need to prioritize convenience over possible future plans.

NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our three talking points are...

 

1. Feelings about Challenge. Thoughts About What to Do Differently.

Like happens sometimes, I started feeling meh when I finished the challenge. Part of my brain said: "So what? What is the results? Are you lighter? No. Are you stronger? No. Do you feel any different at all? No? No? No? So what was the point?"

 

Obviously this voice in my head lies. Big fat lies. As fat as I am. *fierce face*

 

What did I do different from what I would have done just a few weeks ago?

• Yoga, almost once a week and twice one week? For realz? You did that? That is AWESOME.
• No TV dinners. No TV dinners. It felt ridiculously easy to quit, but then it would have been ridiculously easy to start again to, huh? But I didn't. I didn't. I haven't had a frozen meal from the grocery store in two months, and before I barely went a day or two without one. I don't care how easy it was to quit, or how your other choice is just a teeny tiny bit better, because it is a teeny tiny bit better. We'll tackle mostly processed food one step at a time. This was the first step, cutting out processed meals and switching to real food or processed food (as in parts of the meal is still mostly processed).
• You took a walk every freaking day! Remember when that last happened? And you've been doing it for two and a half months now. What, you say you've done it for a week here or there? SUCKER. That is nothing against 2,5 months! MONTHS, mother fucking stupid lying voice in my head.
• You are reading again. Reading every day, and you have for two months. You've done that before when you were a teenager and didn't realize how much time you had, but you didn't too. Let us not start lying about memories too. You finish a book every few days or even every other day if it completely captures you. You've gotten so far that you are thinking that maybe you should read while eating meals even though you think it sucks on some levels because it is hard to eat and read.
• You did all that and you actually wrote twice. Doesn't sound like much? Well, it is more than ZERO, which would be your usual mode.
• You got sick and two weeks didn't disappear? You didn't fall off all your commitments and just hung out on the couch? You actually did take a walk every day while sick? You actually did cook some meals and ate leftovers? You actually let yourself rest without recriminating yourself for it? You just did what you had to and some things that you didn't but you knew would be good for you? Damn girl, that is great.
• You needed social recovery and you didn't lose two weeks for that either? What is wrong right with you, girl? Social recovery was mostly done after two days, but complete after about four? Good to know, good to know. Now you know what you need to plan for next time. What? Sorry, I didn't get that. You've already planned the recovery time for your next social event? Damn girl. Are you listening to yourself?
• You actually tackled a challenge. You didn't just say you would and then never started. You didn't just say you would, started and then gave up. You didn't just say you would, started and gave up when social recovery/sickness/really crappy days arrived. You said you would; you started; you adjusted for the obstacles when needed; you managed your dark moods so you didn't lose more time than necessary to deal with the feelings; you finished strong.

Shit, I made myself teary-eyed. I wasn't perfect even with my planned changes. I could have done better, but you know what?

 

I DID FUCKING GREAT!!!!!

 

So what will I do different next time?

 

This challenge felt a lot like just building habits and creating maintenance stuff. Considering my level on those things was about negative twenty-five when I started in May, is that really so strange?

 

Should I berate myself for doing what I needed to instead of what looked shiny?

 

I'll get to shiny.

 

You know what I meant to say here? I meant to say that next time I should try to do it more challenge like, go totally bananas for a week or two of the challenge and maintain for the rest of it.

 

Now I don't know if I will. I'm still upgrading my habits to just get to a basic I want.

• I want to cook more of my meals and use less processed stuff because cooking it myself makes it so much better. Yes, I'm not even doing it because it's a healthy ideal. I'm doing it because it tastes better.
• I want to build up enough leftovers in the freezer that when I get sick or in bad moods I have loads of good food to choose from. (Not quite a habit. Although it is a habit to maintain it.)
• I want to be walking every morning, followed by yoga and then a shower.
• I want to walk 10'000 steps per day.
• I want to do some kind of strength training three times per week.
• I want to do one or two fitness classes per week (might reduce the strength training then). I want to learn a martial art and there are other interesting fitness things I want to learn.
• I want to get up at 7 or 8 (I haven't decided) and get to bed on a regular schedule so my sleep will be better.
• I want to write for a few hours every day (after shower until lunch, probably).
• I want to be able to have evenings off to do whatever I desire: reading, gaming, etc.

That is the daily me I'm striving for. I'm not sure if I have to get to that perfect state before I do more challenge-esque challenges. But I want to be closer to that. I'm not even sure if that ideal is even achievable. How would I know? I've never been a normal productive member of society. And I don't know what is possible for me. I don't even know if there are enough hours in a week, to achieve my ideal. Daily life is just daily, then you have errands (technically part of daily life but anyway...), events, friends, etc.

 

2. New Goals!

So after that, I guess it is time to start figuring out new goals.

 

First, let me take a look at what goals I have been doing that are staying and which are going (and why).

 

Exercise

• Steps goal — Is now up to 6500 steps per day, and will stay for the foreseeable future. If doing 10'000 steps per day ever get normal, I can take it down.
• Zumba — Is biting the dust. I want to focus on yoga. However, I think Zumba would be an excellent way to get a lot of steps when it is really stormy or come winter with all the snow. So it will probably come back. If nothing else I hope maybe I'd do it on rest/off days as if yoga and walking wouldn't be enough activity on an off-day...
• Yoga — Definitely staying and so far keeping to twice a week. I want to bring it up to three times per week. That will be the next exercise bit I upgrade (beside steps from time to time).
• Morning walk/routine — I completely forgot this one in the June review. Lol! So that is why it didn't appear here first which you guys don't know since you just see the post as finished, not how I craft it. Anyway, this needs to stay. I need to put more focus on it and stop being lazy about it.

Nutrition

• No TV-dinners — This one is biting the dust because I think it has mostly settled now. If I get back into old habits, I'll take it back. But for now, I feel confident I don't need to track it.
• Meal timing — Not sure what to do about this one. It has helped me not eat dinner as often after 21:00 which I definitely like. At the same time, I'm not sure it is serving its purpose properly. So I don't know???

Level Up My Life

• Reading — I don't think I need to track this anymore. I'm having too much fun to got back to my only-reading-from-time-to-time self.
• Writing — Oh this is staying. This one need to take a more major role.
• Studying — Will stay for another week plus until I finished those two review weeks I didn't do when I was sick. Then I'm saying bye bye to this as a regular goal this way.

Right, so looking at that (yes I'm thinking on the page), it seems clear to me that I have two three exercise goals, one to zero nutrition goals, and one plus a hanger-on level up my life goal.

 

If you look at the Challenge FAQ for a suggested level 1 challenge, it suggests four goals. One exercise, two nutrition, and one level up. Obviously I don't have to follow that. And I probably won't in this case. I just wanted to check if I could possibly fit it. Lol, nope.

 

For this week and next is mainly maintain. Next week I have a friend staying over for four days and then I need social recovery. This week I designated as rest week and right now I'm doing all my walking in one long evening walk and this is the second day I tried to get myself to do yoga and failed. So it is looking like asshat week... >____>

 

So I'm not introducing any new goals right now. However I'm thinking of joining the next challenge starting end of this week a week and a day late (I start on Mondays). I'll introduce some new stuff then.

 

3. Lesson Learned: Convenience

Ugh! More to talk about, this is already super long post, so lets do it in a short paragraph.

 

I should have learned, but I guess I needed to learn again. I go for convenience because I have a hard time even keeping up with daily life when I have a lot of modern conveniences such as a dishwasher and my own washing machine (shared one with the whole apartment building when I lived in an apartment, never again). When I decided that I wouldn't get a robot grass mower because I had all these plans to change my garden and why do the work twice, I forgot about all the work I would do until I changed the garden. I also forgot how long I usually take to get to my future plans. That is why my backyard is a jungle and I had to order a service to help me tame it because I'd burn out my lawn mower if I tried with that. So convenience first. I need to remember that. It isn't that inconvenient to change stuff later especially if later tends to happen a few years later.

 

4. Goal to hit before NF CAMP!

Our four talking points are...

 

So I wanted to add a couple of things I want to do before I go to camp in September. This probably means I'll do it the week before camp, but I don't care. I want to do them.

 

#1 — Do my first NFA workout!!!

This has a couple of things I'll need to do first to reach it.

1. Do the warm up NFA quest.
2. Do the cold down NFA quest.
3. DO THE WORKOUT!

The other things I want to do before camp has to do with camp. I want to actually do some kind of nerd outfit for the first party and some kind of glow outfit for the other party. But mainly I want to do my first academy workout before going. (As I said, I'll probably do it the week before going, but I can try for earlier... ... ... I'll do the warm up and cold down quests earlier! ... Hopefully...)

[Dagger]

July 13

Tried for yoga again and I didn't get off my ass.

 

I had an afternoon of darkness where my emotions tried to break out and ask what the point was. I fought valiantly and only let it out for a few minutes before I drowned it in other thoughts and tasks. This is pretty impressive considering those kinds of feelings could derail me for days before. Now I can get control of them after a couple of hours—eating/energy helps.

 

I think the main reason I got those dark thoughts or why I was susceptible to them was because I slept so poorly. I woke up completely knackered (and yes I know I switch between American and British English, knackered just sounds so much more fun than exhausted).

 

So poor sleep and a sugary sweet for "breakfast" might have actually caused it. When I got some lunch in me as well as reading some fiction I felt so much better.

 

I guess today wasn't a loss. It could have been. I could have had a really poor emotional day, instead I had a pretty average day. I'll take that win even if I didn't do yoga.

[Alicia]

July 13

Tried for yoga again and I didn't get off my ass.

 

I had an afternoon of darkness where my emotions tried to break out and ask what the point was. I fought valiantly and only let it out for a few minutes before I drowned it in other thoughts and tasks. This is pretty impressive considering those kinds of feelings could derail me for days before. Now I can get control of them after a couple of hours—eating/energy helps.

 

I think the main reason I got those dark thoughts or why I was susceptible to them was because I slept so poorly. I woke up completely knackered (and yes I know I switch between American and British English, knackered just sounds so much more fun than exhausted).

 

So poor sleep and a sugary sweet for "breakfast" might have actually caused it. When I got some lunch in me as well as reading some fiction I felt so much better.

 

I guess today wasn't a loss. It could have been. I could have had a really poor emotional day, instead I had a pretty average day. I'll take that win even if I didn't do yoga.

Days can be tough. I'm the same when a dark feeling gets me it can get me awhile. Good for fighting back good on you ☺!!!

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