walking The Scarlet Pimpernel goes back to school ... In scrubs!

[Teancum]

 

 

Last challenge was a bit of a wreck - I hurt my back and got completely off my diet. So it's time to start fresh. Also I'm back in school again, so that will change things a lot. Especially because I start clinical rotations this year which means long hours and feeling incompetent, but hopefully also a lot of learning and fun along the way!

 

 

 

So it is certainly a respawn in a few different senses. For that reason I'm going back to basics: 

 

 

Ugh, that's a bad gif... Anyway

 

Diet: I really need to fix my relationship with food, and I believe that will come down to being more mindful. The trouble is, I'm not really sure what form this will take. So my quest for this challenge is to try to develop some mindfulness around eating. Basically I will still follow a paleoish basic structure, but will work on paying attention to my body and hunger level, forgiving myself quickly when I mess up, and slowing down my eating in general. This is more a challenge of discovery than sticking to a specific goal

 

Walking: I enjoy walking and I usually find it pretty easy to work into my day, so I will continue my goal of walking 10000 steps/day

 

Strength: My back is still not 100% so my goal is to keep doing my rehab core strengthening exercises, and then add on other bodyweight/minichallenge exercises as my back permits.

 

I think these will be good to focus on as I get into the back to school mode. These first 6 weeks shouldn't be so bad schedule-wise, but then I head into my surgery rotation, so I expect next challenge will involve a fair amount of self-care haha. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Let's get this party started!

 

[Leimanu]

My cousin did an accelerated nursing program, and it was tough when he did his rotations.  In the moment, he actually regretted it a little, but here we are a few years later and he's fine.  Scrubs is amaze-balls, and you can totally do it, and good for you for thinking ahead of self-care!

 

The air-band episode is one of my favorites.  Whenever I heard the songs from that episode, I picture them singing and dancing.

[Akura]

A Scrubs challenge from a fellow rebel, who has back problems like me? That will be interesting...!

 

If you want to build mindfulness around eating, tracking or keeping a food log might help. And always remember: I can't do this all on my own... So keep us up-to-date!

[Cataleya]

Love it. Following!

[Teancum]

On Saturday, August 20, 2016 at 0:02 PM, Akura said:

If you want to build mindfulness around eating, tracking or keeping a food log might help. And always remember: I can't do this all on my own... So keep us up-to-date!

 

Well, I'm certainly no superman, so I'm glad to have you guys along to support! 

 

I'm waffling about tracking. I've done it before, but I find it often tedious, and I'd  usually end up eating junk, justifying that I was still under my calorie goal, but then be hungry later because it was junk and end up eating more. On the other hand though, it does force me to take a moment to think about what I'm eating. I'm not sure. I could maybe try a tracking system that doesn't involve as much measuring. 

[Akura]

9 hours ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

I'm waffling about tracking. I've done it before, but I find it often tedious, and I'd  usually end up eating junk, justifying that I was still under my calorie goal, but then be hungry later because it was junk and end up eating more. On the other hand though, it does force me to take a moment to think about what I'm eating. I'm not sure. I could maybe try a tracking system that doesn't involve as much measuring. 

 

I was thinking exctly the same during my last challenge. Only measuring/tracking calories can be deceiving. Because of that I now take pictures of my meals. No way to sugarcoat bad eating habits. And it's faster and easier than tracking calories. Maybe it's something for you, too.

[Teancum]

I tried putting in a gif from my phone... We'll see if it works. 

 

Today was pretty good - got my steps, did my back exercises, and did some Wonderland work for the mini. I also took the stairs instead of the escalator thanks to @UnquietBones's AIBARN (Am I Being Assassiny Right Now). 

 

Food was ok for the most part, but fell apart a little at dinner. Some friends brought us dinner today: vegetarian chili (healthy!) with corn bread and brownies (not so much). It was delicious, but I ate a bit too much, especially the unhealthy corn bread and brownies part. 

 

I'm still trying to figure out how best to listen to my body when eating. I did start taking pictures of my food today as a method of tracking. I forgot at lunch and dessert, but did breakfast and dinner. I'll keep trying that for a little while and see how it turns out. 

[Teancum]

I forgot to take a picture of my food this morning, so I'm posting here for some accountability...

 

Brownies for breakfast

 

 

My nectarine went bad, so of course brownies are the obvious alternative right? Ugh...

 

Anyways, moving on, and planning to make some healthier choices the rest of the day. Leftovers for lunch, but I only took one piece of cornbread instead of two like I was planning. It's small, but it's something.

[Myrik]

Every epic story begins with small steps.

[tenaciousglee]

Oh man, I'm loving the Scrubs gifs.  Keep your head up! I think taking pictures of your food is a good idea.  I do the MyFitnessPal tracking, but I agree with you, it's quite tedious.

[UnquietBones]

The best AIBARNs are the small ones!  (Look at it this way, you had something for breakfast instead of skipping it, so that's good right? ) ((If it helps I might have resisted the brownies but totally taken the escalator. )

 

People move mountains with teaspoons all the time, never underestimate the power of being just a little bit better! I bestow upon thee a teaspoon badge for your cornbread win! (And that awesome stairs AIBARN!) 

[Teancum]

7 hours ago, Myrik said:

Every epic story begins with small steps.

 

True that. Steps backwards are annoying, but hopefully enough small steps forward makes up for them!

 

4 hours ago, tenaciousglee said:

Oh man, I'm loving the Scrubs gifs.  Keep your head up! I think taking pictures of your food is a good idea.  I do the MyFitnessPal tracking, but I agree with you, it's quite tedious.

 

I do like myfitnesspal for tracking - the food look up is really good. It's just the measuring part that gets to me, and I feel like if I estimate the measurements it's just not worth tracking in such detail. I think I would like to get back to it eventually once I'm ready for macros, but for now I'm focusing on just what I'm eating.

 

1 hour ago, UnquietBones said:

People move mountains with teaspoons all the time, never underestimate the power of being just a little bit better! I bestow upon thee a teaspoon badge for your cornbread win! (And that awesome stairs AIBARN!) 

 

Thank you for the badge!!

 

School finished early today (hooray!) so I'm going to go do a pokewalk (campus is the best for that) and then hopefully do some more mini challenge work tonight.

[Jonesy]

Following along! We all have one of those days. 

 

[Teancum]

1 minute ago, Jonesy said:

Following along! We all have one of those days. 

 

 

HA! This

[Akura]

15 hours ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

It's small, but it's something.

 

One step at a time! If you jump forward, you'll lose your balance on landing and fall an your ass. Oh, and to resist brownies you would need to be some kind of demi-god. Just. Not. Possible!!!

[Teancum]

Update for the day :

 

Walking was good - got my 10000 steps. Food was once again my nemesis...  But I've been learning! I've found this week that right when I get home from school is probably my weakest point - I'm in the habit of eating something when I get home, whether in hungry or not, and if that's not healthy (and it hasn't usually been recently) that throws my whole evening off. If I can figure something out then, I think it'll help a lot. Any ideas? 

 

I'm going to do my back exercises and some mini work tonight, just waiting for kiddo to fall asleep...

[Akura]

3 hours ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

Any ideas?

 

Maybe do ten push-ups and then drink two large glasses of water? But no matter what solution you'll find it will require some sort of habit breaking/building.

[Teancum]

7 hours ago, Akura said:

But no matter what solution you'll find it will require some sort of habit breaking/building.

 

Thanks for pointing that out!! It seems obvious, but as I've been reading through the mindset stuff on the academy I've been trying to think of a habit that I can replace, but I couldn't think of a solid one. This is definitely a habit though! I like the exercise idea too, because I'm usually not hungry for a little while after I exercise. 

[Jonesy]

Exercise, cleaning or some sort of project maybe? It gives you something to do and focus on. 

[Teancum]

Yesterday was once again good for walking (12500!) and mini, but bad for food. This challenge I'm really trying to break the mindset of "I already screwed up so may as well devour a whole bag of chips", but it is a persistent little bugger.

 

As for the home from school eating habit, I think I'm going to try doing dishes. I'm hoping I can take advantage of the walking into the kitchen habit, and just open the dishwasher instead of the fridge. Kitchen cleanliness has been a problem recently, so it's something I need to get on, and a habit would be good to have, what with my upcoming diminished free time. Also i'm hoping it will indirectly help my health goals, because a clean kitchen is MUCH easier to cook in. I've noticed when it's dirty I'm much more likely to go for prepackaged food, because I don't want to clean the pan to make a stir-fry, or clear off the counter to cut up vegetables.

 

Rowdy = Kitchen

[Jonesy]

OMG Kitchens are the worst! I love that idea to help break your eating habit. Next week I'm going to tackle the disaster that is my kitchen. 

[Teancum]

Update from yesterday:

 

I got my steps, by doing an impromptu rucking for an hour. The train was delayed, and I didn't feel like waiting on it, so I got off two stations too early and walked home. I like walking, it just took a while haha. I was too lazy to do my back exercises, I'll do it today though. Food wasn't so great again upon getting home, but I did do my dishes habit for the first time! I do think it'll work (or at least help), if nothing else to give me a bit more time to think about eating something healthy before stuffing my face. 

 

I also finished Wonderland!

 

 

So I think it's on to Deep Space now. I plan to do real push-ups, even though I can only do one or two, because it'll be easier to drop to the ground and do one when I'm at school than try to find a surface that will give me a consistent incline.

[Cataleya]

Yay! Congrats on finishing Wonderland!

[Akura]

Hm, the forum software randomly decided I shouldn't follow you anymore... Very weird...

 

 

On 26.8.2016 at 4:00 PM, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

I already screwed up so may as well devour a whole bag of chips

 

This! Exactly this is my greatest weakness! This mindset is especially damaging, when I'm standing in the grovery store between the chocolate bars and potato chips. Tell me if you find a solution.

 

 

On 26.8.2016 at 4:00 PM, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

As for the home from school eating habit, I think I'm going to try doing dishes.

 

Sounds like a good idea. Maybe the smell of the washing-up liquid and the sense of cleanliness will even prevent you subconsciously from eating.

 

 

12 hours ago, The Scarlet Pimpernel said:

so I got off two stations too early and walked home.

 

Fantastic! Public transportation is surely great. But I think we all should walk wherever we can. In huge parking decks (of malls most often) I often see people in their cars circling around the escalator/elevetor, waiting for a parking spot to become free. The don't even come up with the idea of parking farther away and walk a couple of hundred yards. But maybe that's just the Germans...

[Teancum]

12 hours ago, Akura said:

But maybe that's just the Germans...

 

Haha definitely NOT just the Germans. I'm guilty of it myself sometimes.