Erick the Red: Lighter and Faster

[Erick the Red]

I want to be more attractive.  I want to fit in my clothes.  I want to have a high quality of life -- to casually tie my shoes without my belly getting in the way, to easily run up the stairs.

 

I want to enjoy living. 

 

I am trying to restart some good fitness habits, to get back into the right mental and physical shape.  I am currently about 45 lbs (20 kgs) above the target weight I achieved at the end of my 7th Challenge in February 2014, and far less physically capable (both weaker and slower).  It won’t get fixed overnight, since it took me over two years since then to get into the shape I am in now.  I am doing what I can to make a new beginning.

 

Diet goals

1. Replace sugary drinks with water: I don’t drink sodas unless I am eating out. I just need to order water rather than a sugary drink.

 

2. Reduce fast food consumption by at least 50%: Right now I eat out for lunch just about every work-day.  I will bring my lunch at least three days per week.  I plan to prepare the next day’s meal each evening before going to bed.

 

Fitness goal

3. Walk/run at least one mile three times per week:  I used to wake up early three or four days per week to run in training for a 10K or half marathon.  After dealing with some chronic-use injuries, I have stopped running for a while.  I will start relatively short and slow, and build up.

 

Level Up Your Life goal

4. Journal writing each evening before bed.  I will record my successes and failures, and think through what I can do to improve.  I am working through the mindset goals in the Nerdfitness Academy, and this is a good opportunity to I spend too much time browsing social media and not enough time thinking for myself.

[theophilus]

Good luck slaying the fast food dragon. The workday lunch struggle is real.

 

Looking forward to following along!

[Basement Cat]

Ohh, fast food! I find preparing a batch of food during the weekend helps with the 'bring lunch to work' thing. Just prepare your meals in advance, freeze them (if necessary) and just take them with you! Easy peasy.

 

Sandwiches are great for that, unless you want to cut bread. Just transform the sandwich into a salad then.

[Erick the Red]

22 hours ago, theophilus said:

Good luck slaying the fast food dragon. The workday lunch struggle is real.

 

Looking forward to following along!

 

7 hours ago, Basement Cat said:

Ohh, fast food! I find preparing a batch of food during the weekend helps with the 'bring lunch to work' thing. Just prepare your meals in advance, freeze them (if necessary) and just take them with you! Easy peasy.

 

Sandwiches are great for that, unless you want to cut bread. Just transform the sandwich into a salad then.

 

Thanks to you both.  Good suggestions.

 

I am trying to use this "Week Zero" to get a game plan together and start practicing my new habits.  So far in the last 24 hours I have fallen down on all four goals.    So I have plenty of room for improvement.

[Princess Pineapple]

Good luck!

 

I finally gave up the sugary and fizzy drinks about two months ago.  It's boring as hell drinking water all of the time but I am saving a lot of money and I know it's so much better for my insides.  

 

Fast food is my downfall too.  I wish you well with that one.  I dare not even tackle that one yet.

[charlomechfry]

Rooting you on!

 

Adding to what Basement Cat said, you can make a large tub of salad to eat from for the week. Just keep anything that will make it go bad faster out until you eat it. It should easily last the week. Also, crockpot meals are amazing for cooking for the week.

 

You got this!!

[Erick the Red]

17 hours ago, Princess Pineapple said:

I finally gave up the sugary and fizzy drinks about two months ago.  It's boring as hell drinking water all of the time but I am saving a lot of money and I know it's so much better for my insides.  

 

I used to drink a lot of water, and I still mostly drink water at home.  It is just something about the convenience of the self-serve soda dispenser that makes me lose control.

 

11 hours ago, charlomechfry said:

Adding to what Basement Cat said, you can make a large tub of salad to eat from for the week. Just keep anything that will make it go bad faster out until you eat it. It should easily last the week. Also, crockpot meals are amazing for cooking for the week.

 

Two good suggestions.  We already do a crock pot meal most Sundays -- I agree that it is very convenient.  I just have to get the food packed in meal-sized portions to take with me.

[Erick the Red]

Brought lunch to work today, leftover chicken salad from last night.  Baby steps, creating new habits that will stick. 

[Jakkals]

I seem to be in the same boat as you are. The stickiness does not last long.

[elinox]

As long as you plan ahead, the eating and drinking goals should be easy to maintain. And eventually, once you kick the fast food habit, you won't crave or even miss that junk any more!

[Pavowski]

The more you drink, the more you WANT to drink.

 

 

...Water, that is. I totally meant water.

 

Good luck with your goals!

[Princess Pineapple]

Leftovers are great.  Buy enough ingredients so that there definitely will be leftovers, job done!

[SaltyDragon]

Eating habits are some of the toughest to change, but it's so rewarding when you finally succeed. Keep it up! Also, wishing you well getting the mileage safely back up.

[Erick the Red]

What I have done so far to prepare over the weekend for the challenge:

1. Replace sugary drinks with water.  Negative preparation, actually brought some cans of soda home from a weekend trip.  I won't drink them though, I have kids for that.

 

2. Bring my lunch at least three days per week.  Cooked a lot of chicken in the slow-cooker and pre-packaged some into containers to take for lunches.  Also, although not directly to meet this goal, I baked a dozen eggs with sausage and vegetables in a casserole dish to eat for breakfast.  So I have lots of pre-cooked food this week, and have even prepared it to make it easy to grab and go. 

 

3. Walk/run at least one mile three times per week.  We took a trip over the weekend to an event at a university campus, and to keep some of the younger kids occupied I put the "Pokémon Go" game on my phone and we walked around catching pocket monsters while my wife was in a class.  I don't think I will be playing the game myself, but I did get more walking than I normally would have.

 

4. Journal writing each evening before bed.  I have a book next to my bed to right in.  I just need to have the discipline to turn off electronics after dinner and keep them off.

 

And this morning starts day 1.

[Princess Pineapple]

You are planning well.  That's the best start you can have.  Well done and keep it up.

[Basement Cat]

You're doing great, Erick!

 

Meal planning is the key to success! Keep it up!

[Erick the Red]

Week 1, Day 1

Monday, 18 July 2016

1. Replace sugary drinks with water.  I think I am addicted.    Brought my food, but at the last minute I got up and drove the car to a fast food place instead of eating what was in my bag.  Very counter-productive, so I am still trying to work out what is going on in my brain.

 

2. Bring my lunch at least three days per week.  0/3 so far. 

 

3. Walk/run at least one mile three times per week.  0/3 so far.

 

4. Journal writing each evening before bed.  0/7 so far, missed one day.  Got home very late from an evening demonstration at the local university, hurting and tired.  I had done some initial planning for what to write about, specifically to explore what was going through my head when I blew off the perfectly fine food that I had to hand, but I was distracted and simply forgot when the time came. 

[Basement Cat]

I did that too, bring my lunch but go for fast food anyway.  It's like your brain is telling 'but that is so much tastier!' That's why I like spicy foods. Or pork chops in tomato sauce. With cheese. *drool*

 

Try to make a dish that you really, really like for lunch. That helps escape temptation. 

 

Hang in there!

[theophilus]

4 hours ago, Erick the Red said:

 

1. Replace sugary drinks with water.  I think I am addicted.    Brought my food, but at the last minute I got up and drove the car to a fast food place instead of eating what was in my bag.  Very counter-productive, so I am still trying to work out what is going on in my brain.

 

 

Gosh, this gets all of us, doesn't it? It's easy to get down on yourself for that. But remember, you're literally rewiring your brain to make these changes. These habits are so engrained that we have to unlearn them. At least you recognize the addiction. It's a lot easy to fight an enemy you know than an enemy you don't.

 

 

On ‎07‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 1:27 PM, Erick the Red said:

I want to enjoy living. 

 

Not sure how I missed this the first time I read through your post. But, THIS. IS. IT. You absolutely nailed it. And I'm confident that you'll start to see this sooner than you think.

 

You're doing awesome, keep it up!

[Princess Pineapple]

Don't get disheartened.  You know you can do it.  Can you drink diet soda instead of a sugary one?  A bit of a compromise.  or drink half the can and through the rest away.  Not financially sound but you will halve your consumption.

[Erick the Red]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement.  Good suggestions too.

 

Week 1, Day 2

Tuesday, 19 July 2016

1. Replace sugary drinks with water.  Went to Subway for a sandwich, but did not buy any drink.  Small success.

 

2. Bring my lunch at least three days per week.  0/3 so far. Went out to eat.

 

3. Walk/run at least one mile three times per week.  0/3 so far. Nothing yet.

 

4. Journal writing each evening before bed.  1/7 so far, missed one day.  Wrote about being overwhelmed.  Quote of the day, "Every day is better than the next."

 

Also lost a big tree limb in a windstorm and am putting together a work crew to get it cut up and put on the curb for removal.  Kind of a metaphor for my life right now.

[theophilus]

16 minutes ago, Erick the Red said:

 

Also lost a big tree limb in a windstorm and am putting together a work crew to get it cut up and put on the curb for removal.  Kind of a metaphor for my life right now.

 

 

If by that you mean, "out with the old and in with the new," then it's absolutely a metaphor for your life. You friggin' got this, Erick.

 

Another thought... Is there another real-time incentive you could tie to these goals? With soda/eating out, the obvious one that comes to mind is some financial incentive. For every meal or soda you don't purchase, you put that money in a jar. Then you can use it to buy something totally rad that you've been eying. I dunno, something like that.

[Princess Pineapple]

Theophilus is right.  You need to look at everything as a small goal.

 

Not buying the drink in Subway is a success, not a small success.  Take the money that you would have spent on it and put it in a pot.  Tell your kids that in four weeks you will have a nice trip out, movies, park, zoo, whatever.  The more money you save, the better your day out will be.  

 

Either that or buy yourself something amazing.

[Erick the Red]

Week 1, Day 3

Wednesday, 20 July 2016

1. Replace sugary drinks with water.  Success.

 

2. Bring my lunch at least three days per week.  1/3 so far. Skipped lunch.  Not exactly my original plan, but I'll take it.

 

3. Walk/run at least one mile three times per week.  1/3 so far. Lots of walking cutting up and clearing out my tree.

 

4. Journal writing each evening before bed.  1/7 so far, missed two days.  Just forgot.

 

 

Week 1, Day 4

Thursday, 21 July 2016

1. Replace sugary drinks with water.  Success.

 

2. Bring my lunch at least three days per week.  2/3 so far. Brought from home, mostly vegetables that I like.

 

3. Walk/run at least one mile three times per week.  1/3 so far (still).

 

4. Journal writing each evening before bed.  1/7 so far, missed three days.  Just forgot (again).

[Erick the Red]

On ‎7‎/‎20‎/‎2016 at 0:07 PM, theophilus said:

Another thought... Is there another real-time incentive you could tie to these goals? With soda/eating out, the obvious one that comes to mind is some financial incentive.

 

This is a good idea.  I will think about what I can aim for.

 

On ‎7‎/‎21‎/‎2016 at 2:12 AM, Princess Pineapple said:

Not buying the drink in Subway is a success, not a small success.  Take the money that you would have spent on it and put it in a pot.  Tell your kids that in four weeks you will have a nice trip out, movies, park, zoo, whatever.  The more money you save, the better your day out will be.  

 

Good suggestions