In Which Sarah Barr Works on Getting Her Energy Back (#20)

[Sarah Barr]

 

Last challenge I took care of some habits that were starting to worry me, and I'll continue working on them, but I've broken them enough that I can start to focus on other things again.

I want some energy – the kind I only really get when I'm active – since last challenge was so focused on mental health I let the exercise flap off out the window, and I'm feeling bloated and sluggish, like a... slug. So this challenge is all built round the things that I know make me feel more like a human being. 

I MISS COFFEE SO MUCH

Goal 1: Cut out caffeine.

• Had last cup of tea on 11^th July. No more at all till end of challenge, in order to sever my dependency on an absurd volume of energy drinks. I've found it's good for me to do a hard reset every few months, so here's to Hell Week. 

 

freggies freggies freggies freggies freggies

Goal 2: The Usual

• 1600kcal/day, 5 freggies/day, 1.5l water/day.

 

Goal 3: The Unusual

Every weekend, I will do something active that I've not done in a while. Just for an afternoon. The lack of commitment feels much less stressful, and I can afford that because I have commitment in Goal 4.

• Week 1: Well, this'll be in the middle of Caffeine Crash Hell so let's start off with a gentle walk round the botanic gardens.

• Week 2: Swimming (Can be swapped with another week if the proverbial sharks descend. If the actual sharks descend, I will just regret not having my camera.) Would be good to swim in a loch or the sea, then I can get my snorkel out. It's my birthday that week, and since I managed to get a little time off work I'm going to North Berwick to do a shark eggcase search on the beach, so there's a good opportunity to splash about. 

• Week 3: Scramble over the rocks on Cramond Island (Can switch with another week if tides are terrible)

• Week 4: Learn a new kind of dance! (See Gif. Or tango. Does tango have caffeine in it? I miss caffeine so much)

(Note: I have resisted Pokemon Go so far. So far. I'm waiting until the initial rush calms down.)

 

Goal 4: Lifting

• Three mornings a week – whether this takes the form of powerlifting has yet to be seen, but I will be picking up heavy things and putting them down again, because it makes me feel happy and gives me a much-needed sense of achievement.

• Comes with a protein shake at 200kcal or less that doesn't need to be counted in my daily calorie limit

 

 

Oh hey, I searched for Idiot Jar and this gif came up from the last challenge I had with an idiot jar. 

Tracking:

Here cometh the return of the Idiot Jar.

• Sticking £1 in the Idiot Jar at the end of each day for every goal I missed.

• Money goes to charity at the end of the challenge, preferably through buying something from a charity shop that'll help me with whatever I struggled with most.

• Alternatively, spend it on something hideous from a charity shop as a reminder that I am an idiot.

•  In addition, this time, since I'm beginning to lose track of what marine animals I've already posted before, you'll get a new journal article abstract, interesting documentary clip, or vaguely reputable magazine article (Nat Geo, New Scientist, etc.) about the sea every time I update. 

I'm not planning to do accountability group things with the Doodlies this challenge (next time, though) but I am together enough to follow more than a couple of threads this time, so I'm off to try and sub everyone.

 

OR APPARENTLY I'M GOING TO WATCH TRIBUTES TO THE COFFEE ON TWIN PEAKS ON YOUTUBE.

My head

My poor head

 

[deftona]

33 minutes ago, Sarah Barr said:

Or tango. Does tango have caffeine in it? I miss caffeine so much)

 

34 minutes ago, Sarah Barr said:

 

• Alternatively, spend it on something hideous from a charity shop as a reminder that I am an idiot.

 

I saw some One Direction shoes in a charity shop the other day and it made me think of you and your 'idiot' purchases! 

 

Good luck Sarah!

[SomeGuyFromScotland]

Idiot Jar! North Berwick! Dancing!

 

Aye, gawn then. I'm in.

[Terah]

46 minutes ago, Sarah Barr said:

Had last cup of tea on 11^th July. No more at all till end of challenge

This might sound like swearing to you: but have you ever tried herbal tea? It has no caffeine in it. 

There is also coffee made from hazelnuts if I remember correctly, also no caffeine. 

 

I love the unusual challenge stuff! 

And thanks again for inventing the idiot jar. It's making my challenge a lot easier

[Sarah Barr]

Just now, Terah said:

This might sound like swearing to you: but have you ever tried herbal tea? It has no caffeine in it. 

There is also coffee made from hazelnuts if I remember correctly, also no caffeine. 

Hazelnut coffee sounds amazing. 

I've got my herbal tea stash prepared in the office cupboard! It'll be good. I do love herbal tea but I might buy some nice decaf tea to give me something like the proper tea experience. (I feel that, as someone who eats fake bacon, I can't really be too snobby about fake everything else)

 

Update:

- Gymmed (did bench presses, dumbbell rows, and lat pull downs along with some core work in my warm up and cool down. I've lost a fair chunk of strength since May but I got back in there, so that is the important thing)

- Food on track

- Caffeine-less so far. The sweet siren call of bed or starbucks or canoodling with a massive cappuccino in bed is growing louder. The huge construction site orchestra next to my office has finished "Pneumatic Sonata" and has moved onto a rendition of "Oh! What a massive saw!", which is doing my headache the world of good. But I have a copy of Murder on the Orient Express at last, so I can go sit in... in a... everywhere sells COFFEE - and read in relative quiet on my lunch break. 

 

Today's article I find interesting (scroll down for a poster) talks about the spiny dogfish - the "only known wild elasmobranch with a diet solely reliant upon other chondrichthyans". (Elasmobranchii: sharks, rays, skates. Chondrichthyans: The Elasmobranchii plus the chimeras (the Holocephali). Basically, it's a shark that only eats other shark-like beasties.)

[Shello]

Ah, the old no coffee I need energy business.   I feel for you.  I don't drink coffee but I need my caffeine and I don't have the balls to kick the habit.  I did find this for you though.. 

 

 

[Guzzi]

Heeeeeeeeeey!!!!!  

 

Nice goals! I love the Idiot Jar idea and I'm stoked to see you're still lifting. I'll have to let Norma know, she thought you had some real potential.  

[Sloth the Enduring]

You don't know me, but I've been lurking about forever because I like your marine animal updates. I'll continue lurking about if you don't mind.

[MichiruSedai]

I hope the caffeine withdrawal goes magically fast and relatively painless!

[Sarah Barr]

14 hours ago, LadyShello said:

Ah, the old no coffee I need energy business.   I feel for you.  I don't drink coffee but I need my caffeine and I don't have the balls to kick the habit.  I did find this for you though.. 

 

That is so trippy. I love it.

 

7 hours ago, Guzzi said:

Heeeeeeeeeey!!!!!  

 

Nice goals! I love the Idiot Jar idea and I'm stoked to see you're still lifting. I'll have to let Norma know, she thought you had some real potential.  

Guzzi!! Hallo! Sometimes when I consider slacking I think of Norma for motivation. 

 

5 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

You don't know me, but I've been lurking about forever because I like your marine animal updates. I'll continue lurking about if you don't mind.

Haha, that's one of the main reasons I still post marine animal updates, Sloth! 

 

5 hours ago, MichiruSedai said:

I hope the caffeine withdrawal goes magically fast and relatively painless!

Thankyou!

 

 

Update:

 

Gymmed this morning- It's still just my second day back and I haven't got round to getting my form checked so only lighter squats and no deadlifts yet. 

- Front squats (20kg x 5 reps x 3);

- OHPs (15kg x 10 x 2 + failed at 8 reps on the 3rd set);

- Leg presses (59kg x 10 x 3 plus some warm up sets);

- And I had more time than I thought so I tried out farmer carries for the first time (28kg x 3 laps x 3).

I think the farmer carries will come in really handy in fixing my grip strength and in lugging things about day-to-day. Definitely keeping those. 

 

I now have £1 in the Idiot Jar, because I am an idiot and let the caffeine withdrawal get to me. I stayed off the caffeine, but I did eat over my calorie limit. 

(I'm just going to keep emboldening the salient details so I can track progress through my waffling.) Got 5 freggies, got 1.5l water. 

 

Today I am feeling much less dead. Head still throbbing a little but I am definitely conscious. This is a good sign.

 

 

Marine Thing:

 

Look at all these open access journal articles on sharks from the University of Miami!
The first one on the list, about the Great Hammerhead in shallow waters, is particularly interesting and fairly easy to read. You can find out more about the Great Hammerhead on this page, which I'm absolutely going to copy out onto paper later. Includes this rather lovely video by Joe Romeiro:

 

 

[Sarah Barr]

Side note: A problem I've run into is my packed lunch - I keep eating it at about 10 in the morning, and then by 1pm I'm hungry again so I go get lunch. It is not good.

 

I need something in the morning to get me up and running because the gym is a shaky mess without some food, so I think I'm going to whip up some protein bars tonight. 

Something like peanut butter, chocolate protein powder, ground ginger and some kind of nut flour mixed into a soft dough with a touch of milk, and then dipped in strong-tasting dark chocolate before leaving them in the fridge overnight. Then I can have a banana before workout, and the protein bar straight after, and it should give me enough of a fix that I don't raid the packed lunch. 

 

I'm going to make these pretty enough to take photos of. (Read: I will make amorphous blobs of goo and then cover them in edible glitter.)

 

Ooh, I could dye them different colours. I could use my star shaped cutter!

 

This will be a good evening. 

[SomeGuyFromScotland]

1 minute ago, Sarah Barr said:

This will be a good evening. 

 

You wild rock 'n roller, you.

[Terah]

1 hour ago, Sarah Barr said:

cover them in edible glitter.)

dye them different colours.

use my star shaped cutter!

You, my lady, are an artist

[Snarkyfishguts]

Following!   I am looking forward to your tales of being awesome  

[ExpectJade]

folowing

[Sarah Barr]

Hey Snarky and Rab!

 

Update:

So the protein bars did indeed turn out to look like little horse presents, and they kept falling apart in the melted chocolate so after about three I gave up and just left them uncoated. Guess that means they come in under 200kcal a ball, though! I had D&D at 7 so I basically just managed to get them into balls and cook dinner before I had to go frantically work out how to level up my wizard. (Wizards confuse me so much.) I need to work out the kinks in the dough, it's too dry and crumbly - I might try adding banana or something to add more binder without just adding more peanut butter. 

 

Yesterday:

 

- Calories on track

- Freggies on track

- Lifting on track

- Water on track

- Caffeine on track

= NO more money in Idiot Jar

 

I finally downloaded myfitnesspal, which may turn out to be the best app I've ever downloaded (the only other one I have is Instagram, mind). 

Rest day today, I'm planning on the four days a week I did last time: 2 vertical push/pull days (Wed, Sat), 2 horizontal push/pull days (Tue, Fri), two days extracurricular activity if desired (Mon, Sun), and one day of proper resting (today).

 

 

Marine thing/Shark Article (Or "Sharkticle", because Sharticle is just not appropriate.)

 

Southern Fried Science's "15 important shark conservation and management terms explained with memes."

 

And a new shark for you: the Pyjama Shark! So-called because it is striped, like pyjamas in drawings of pyjamas. 

 

(My pyjamas are always tartan. Without fail. It means when they finally wear through I can harvest the fabric for tacky-looking heart shaped Christmas decorations.)

 

 

 

[deftona]

10 minutes ago, Sarah Barr said:

(My pyjamas are always tartan. Without fail. It means when they finally wear through I can harvest the fabric for tacky-looking heart shaped Christmas decorations.)

 

So are mine! Although it might be cultural appropriation when I do it... 

[Raze]

Lurking!

[Sarah Barr]

Hey JC!

 

So Pokemon Go's in the UK now. I downloaded it, got to the fourth time when it asked me for my date of birth then crashed, and gave up and uninstalled. Next month, maybe. I'm now constructing my own paper version based on a book about plants that could be found in Edinburgh in 1863, because I am that sad. 

[Einar]

Just now, Sarah Barr said:

Hey JC!

 

So Pokemon Go's in the UK now. I downloaded it, got to the fourth time when it asked me for my date of birth then crashed, and gave up and uninstalled. Next month, maybe. I'm now constructing my own paper version based on a book about plants that could be found in Edinburgh in 1863, because I am that sad. 

I don't think that's sad.  You're doing something constructive and using your brain instead of walking around like a zombie and flicking your finger on your screen.  Your version sounds interesting and informational.

[deftona]

3 minutes ago, Sarah Barr said:

So Pokemon Go's in the UK now. I downloaded it, got to the fourth time when it asked me for my date of birth then crashed, and gave up and uninstalled. Next month, maybe. I'm now constructing my own paper version based on a book about plants that could be found in Edinburgh in 1863, because I am that sad. 

 

I want in on this pls.

[Raze]

1 minute ago, Björn Járnhamar said:

I don't think that's sad.  You're doing something constructive and using your brain instead of walking around like a zombie and flicking your finger on your screen.  Your version sounds interesting and informational.

 

This is ture, but is only a temporary fix until the zombies take over the UK (provided they fix the servers) like it has the U.S.

 

I do like that version, especially if you start doing which things are edible, so when the Pokemon apocalypse does happen you now have skills to survive once society no longer exists outside of Pokemon Go!

[Sarah Barr]

It's going to be good. Here's the book I'm trying to base it on, and I think the premise'll revolve around seeing if the species are still there!

 

6 minutes ago, jcsimmons said:

especially if you start doing which things are edible

There is a very good pocket book called Food for Free by Richard Mabey, and I might use that to build a UK-wide version rather than just an Edinburgh version...

I will admit that I was very excited for Pokemon Go until it took more than 10 seconds to load, and I'm so happy that people are actually getting outside and having fun, but I'm not looking forward to the imminently looming convergence of the aPokélypse and the Fringe. I work right in the heart of town. Send help.

[SomeGuyFromScotland]

1 minute ago, Sarah Barr said:

Send help.

 

Will rum do?

[Raze]

I couldn't log in for the first like 4 days due to the servers being down the entire time!