Eat, Sleep, Lift, Repeat

[ManicSpider]

My goal for the 4 weeks is to get my process down pat. 

 

 

Backstory

 

I was very overweight, then I lost a lot of weight going to a nutrition guy who deals a lot with bodybuilders. Then, when I had lost 39 kilos, I freaked out at the thought of having lost 40 kilos and fell completely off the wagon. 

 

The good part is that I know I can do it. I know that if I follow the process, I can eat enough that I'm not hungry and still lose weight. I just have to get the process right again, and not get stuck in my own head. 

 

On a personal level my time is very tightly scheduled. I work full-time, I'm studying for my law degree at night, I am a single parent (though my son goes to his Dad's place on the weekends) and I powerlift twice a week. I'm also learning Italian for 15 minutes each day and I write at least one sentence of my novel a day. I've made huge progress in the last few years coming from sitting around all day eating nothing but crap to being active, more organised, and only eating crap some of the time. But it's time for me to make another push at habit building.

 

Goal 1 - Eat

 

I'm going to aim to follow my nutrition plan 100%. The most difficult thing about this will be not eating chips - I love Twisties way too much. My brain is already trying to negotiate "Well, what if I do well for 6 days a week, or 4 but mostly good on the other 2?" but I'm just going to gently remind myself that chips are not an essential and you could go a whole year without them at it would be okay. The other obstacle will be exams. I am in a pattern of throwing my eating goals out the window during high-intensity study periods, but there's no reason why that has to be the case. 

 

My water goal is 2.5 litres per day. The obstacle here will be Diet Coke and Red Eye. I will cut out Red Eye and I can have a can of diet coke with lunch and dinner. 

 

Goal 2 - Sleep

 

I am really bad at getting enough sleep on a regular basis. I've improved a lot. When I started out getting fit several years ago I was sleeping about 4 hours a night. I'm now up to about 6 hours a night. It impacts on my lifting because I'm already so exhausted by the time I get there. 

 

My goal is going to be to go to bed at 11:30 and get up at 6:30, which gives me time to get everything together to get my bub to school and me to work. The obstacle here will be I don't like going to sleep when there's so many other interesting things to do in the world.

 

I'm going to set an alarm for 11:20 to remind me to get ready for bed, and record my time asleep, time awake and how energetic I feel on waking each day. 

 

Goal 3 - Lift

 

I have had a lot of trouble these last 12 months with injury and illness. My RMs have dropped considerably, and it's because I haven't been able to go consistently. My goal is to make sure I lift at least twice a week, and to do at least 3 half-hour cardio sessions a week. Lifting should be okay as long as I can avoid getting sick again, but the cardio I find hard because I have no time. I'll schedule one for Thursday with my son, then do half an hour each day on the weekend. 

 

Looking forward to getting back where I was. I'm happy that I'm managing to get my plan in gear before I get right back where I started - at least I'm making progress each time!

 

 

 

[Grymm]

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

Hi!

You can do it!   

[RedStone]

Hi hi!!

Sent from somewhere in the universe

[ManicSpider]

So because I'm an Australian I just finished the first day of Week 1! 

 

 

Eat - Big tick. Forgot to eat my last meal of the day so I was a little under. Stuck to 2 diet cokes. Drank all my water. 

 

Sleep - No tick :-/ It's past midnight and I'm still awake. But I don't have work tomorrow and I have an assignment due on Tuesday. It's looking good at the moment - I'm actually intending to sleep tonight. Often when I have an assignment due I don't because there's too much to get done and not enough time. 

 

Lift - Also a nope. Because today's Sunday, I was supposed to go for a half an hour walk and I bailed. In my head I said it was to work on my assignment, but then I watched the last episode of Full Metal Alchemist instead and cried a lot. 

 

 

Still, not a terrible start. I'm feeling pretty in control of everything! (knock wood)

 

[ManicSpider]

Week 1, Day 2

 

I have a migraine. It is un-fun. 

 

One big tick again today for eating. Ate a little under because the migraine made me less hungry. Drank all my water, had only 2 diet cokes. 

 

I'm about to go to bed now so that's also a plus for today in the sleep column

 

Lifting was not good, because my migraine spiked so badly after each set of squats that I could barely see. I hated having to leave, I really want to get back to the level I was at before I injured my knee and then succumbed to a variety of illnesses, but after my third working set I couldn't continue. 

 

Squats today was: 

• 20 kg x 5 rep (44 pounds)
• 32.5 kg x 4 reps
• 45 kg x 3 reps
• 50 kg x 2 reps
• 55 kg x 3 reps
• 55 kg x 3 reps
• 55 kg x 3 reps (121 pounds)

My 3RM for squats is 75 kilos (165 pounds), so this is frustrating. Still, I was squatting okay, the strength was there, my knee injury has healed and it was only the migraine holding me back. I really think I'll be back where I was in a few cycles. 

 

Hope you all had an awesome day!

[Sam Ashen]

Hi!

 

First of all, given that you are expressing everything in kg, I assume you are based somewhere in Europe.  You will score bonus points with one of our best Powerlifters if you are from Scotland.

 

(Canadian over here)

 

Good luck!

[Grymm]

On ‎8‎/‎21‎/‎2016 at 10:31 AM, ManicSpider said:

So because I'm an Australian I just finished the first day of Week 1! 

 

 

 

On ‎8‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 9:14 AM, Sam Ashen said:

Hi!

 

First of all, given that you are expressing everything in kg, I assume you are based somewhere in Europe.  You will score bonus points with one of our best Powerlifters if you are from Scotland.

 

(Canadian over here)

 

Good luck!

So close, yet so far.

[Sam Ashen]

1 minute ago, Grymm said:

 

So close, yet so far.

 

<------busted for not reading Challenges

 

Again.

 

x.x

[ManicSpider]

On 8/22/2016 at 11:14 PM, Sam Ashen said:

Hi!

 

First of all, given that you are expressing everything in kg, I assume you are based somewhere in Europe.  You will score bonus points with one of our best Powerlifters if you are from Scotland.

 

(Canadian over here)

 

Good luck!

 

Ha! Europe always sounds fun through. I've always wanted to go to Scotland. And Canada. Everyone loves Canada  When I was in high school we'd sign the Canadian national anthem because we were trying for this alternative cool thing and that worked out exactly as well as you might have expected. 

 

[ManicSpider]

Week 1, Day 3

 

Got my Human Rights Law assignment finished and handed in. Woooooo!

 

 

 

Eat - Half a point. Recorded all my food, and stayed within my calorie goal, but had lunch in the food court because I was disorganised and forgot to bring my own chicken. Drank my 2.5l of water. 

 

Sleep - Big no. Finished my assignment at 1am and got about 4 hours sleep. 

 

Lift - Nothing planned for Day 3. 

 

I'm going to do a thing I learned each day as well because maybe I'll get better at life stuff if I think about it some. 

 

 

Thing I learned today - Don't cancel the meeting, even if you're sure they're going to say no. I was so convinced this meeting this afternoon was a waste of time and that we should cancel it, but my supervisor was all "No, go and wow them with all the work you've already put together and maybe they'll see how valuable this process is" and that actually happened.

 

It's an Xzibit kinda day  

[SpecialSundae]

Hey hey hey!

 

Loving your challenge and all the memes. Love a meme! Happy meme!

 

Don't worry about weights feeling stupidly heavy for no reason... it happens! I was struggling slightly with 50kg yesterday when my max is 135kg!

[ManicSpider]

Week 1, Day 4

 

Had a bad day. I've been super stressed out about work and my assignments and being sick and then I just kind of crumpled into a corner trying to get rid of the rest of my migraine. 

 

Eat - I was doing well until the evening when I went to my friend's place and had fish and chips for dinner. Ended up being 300 calories over. Drank 2l of water. 

 

Sleep - Got to bed around 12 and woke up at 7, which isn't awful but I felt reallly tired. 

 

Lift - Still had the remnants of my migraine, so skipped lifting. 

 

Thing I learned today - When Bhutan were going from being a monarchy to being a democracy, they had mock elections to teach everyone how democracy worked. They had four "parties" that they allocated a colour and a party platform. Yellow (which had the platform of "traditional values") won pretty convincingly! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutanese_National_Assembly_election,_2008#Mock_elections

[BarbarianBassBro]

Eat, sleep, lift, repeat is one of my favourite mantras these days! Here for gainz an´ glory! And gifs!

[ManicSpider]

Week 2, Day 2

 

So I completely fell off the rails while I finished my assignment. I slept in 2 hour shifts, ate everything I could get my hands on, and didn't get to lifting. But it's in now so I can get back on track! 

 

Eat - Perfect day, right on my calorie goal and the right foods. 

 

Sleep - Tick, but I feel like I could have slept for three days. I'm used to be able to pull two all-nighters in a row around exams and assignments when I first went to uni. Now I have to sleep 10 hours a night to make up for 3 days of shift sleeping. 

 

 

Lift - I almost didn't go to lifting due to severe sleep deficit, but instead I put on some super upbeat encouraging GO FOR IT YOU CAN WIN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS AND GET TO STATE YOU'RE THE MOST AWESOME! music and got all pumped up and ended up squatting pretty well in terms of technique even if the weight is still low.

 

• 20 kg x 5 reps
• 32.5 kg x 4 reps
• 45 kg x 3 reps
• 50 kg x 2 reps
• 55 kg x 3 reps
• 55 kg x 3 reps
• 55 kg x 3 reps
• 55 kg x 3 reps
• 55 kg x 3 reps
• 55 kg x 3 reps (121 pounds)

 

Thing I learned:

I really need to get to a point where I don't let everything slide when I have an exam or assignment due, but I'll start thinking about that in 2 weeks when it's time to start getting ready for exams I'm at least really happy I didn't let the whole week go, and picked up straight away once my assignment was in. 

[CJ the (soon-to-be) Mighty]

49 minutes ago, ManicSpider said:

 

 

Lift - I almost didn't go to lifting due to severe sleep deficit, but instead I put on some super upbeat encouraging GO FOR IT YOU CAN WIN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS AND GET TO STATE YOU'RE THE MOST AWESOME! music and got all pumped up and ended up squatting pretty well in terms of technique even if the weight is still low.

 

•  

Great job powering through when you weren't feeling it!  

[ManicSpider]

Week 2, Day 3

 

So, so tired. 

 

Eat - Another tick. Right foods, and right on my calorie limit. 

 

Sleep - Got the right number of hours for this challenge, but still so exhausted. 

 

Lift - Nothing scheduled for today. 

 

 

[ManicSpider]

Week 2, Day 4

 

Still exhausted, but getting near the end of my responsibilities for the week. I told everyone I'd host a morning tea on Thursday for Children's Cancer Research, so I went over to my friend's place after lifting to make cupcakes and didn't get home till like midnight. 

 

Eat- Again, right on target. I didn't even have a cupcake after I finished making them, which is unheard of! 

 

 

Sleep - Nope. About 5 hours. 

 

Lift - Okay, but not great. My coach pulled my last working set because my form wasn't on point, but the weight didn't feel heavy. I worked hard during my accessories, and I'm happy I got to lift twice this week at least. 

 

Bench Press: 

• 20 kg x 5 reps
• 30 kg x 4 reps
• 35 kg x 3 reps
• 40 kg x 3 reps
• 40 kg x 3 reps
• 40 kg x 3 reps
• 40 kg x 3 reps
• 40 kg x 3 reps (88 pounds) 

 

Thing I learned today-  Apparently, your phone logs when you plug it in to charge. I know this because the Australian High Court just handed down a decision about a murder case, and the guy accused said he'd been sleeping at from 10pm, but his phone showed he plugged it in to charge at 1:30am. Which the prosecution then used with other circumstantial evidence to show he'd murdered his wife. The decision is pretty interesting if you're into law because it says that if you lie TOO hard, then the jury is entitled to assume you did the worst possible thing. So in this case, it could have been manslaughter, but because when he was charged with murder he kept lying about how he never even saw his wife that night and didn't admit to manslaughter, therefore it was okay for the jury to assume murder. 

 

 

God I miss sleep. 

[Sam Ashen]

32 minutes ago, ManicSpider said:

I know this because the Australian High Court just handed down a decision about a murder case, and the guy accused said he'd been sleeping at from 10pm, but his phone showed he it was plugged it in to charge at 1:30am. Which the prosecution then used with other circumstantial evidence to show he'd murdered his wife. The decision is pretty interesting if you're into law because it says that if you lie TOO hard, then the jury is entitled to assume you did the worst possible thing.

 

This is interesting.  However I did a little edit.  Maybe his lawyer did not do a good job.  How does the phone know he was the one plugging it in at 1:30am?  Is it possible somebody else plugged it in?

 

Agree on the lying TOO hard.  A story (alibi) is being presented and they can't put it together in a way that makes sense.  Meanwhile the prosecution is presenting a "weak" case based on circumstantial evidence that can be believed and did not get contradicted in court.  So.  Guilty verdict.

[ManicSpider]

1 hour ago, Sam Ashen said:

 

This is interesting.  However I did a little edit.  Maybe his lawyer did not do a good job.  How does the phone know he was the one plugging it in at 1:30am?  Is it possible somebody else plugged it in?

 

 

Ha! Good point, yes, I should have phrased that more precisely. 

 

1 hour ago, Sam Ashen said:

Agree on the lying TOO hard.  A story (alibi) is being presented and they can't put it together in a way that makes sense.  Meanwhile the prosecution is presenting a "weak" case based on circumstantial evidence that can be believed and did not get contradicted in court.  So.  Guilty verdict.

 

I can't agree there. Evidence in an Australian criminal matter has to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. In this particular case, the circumstantial evidence was very strong. He had fresh cuts on his face that resembled scratch marks, he was seeing another woman and lied about their relationship to the police and sent her an SMS telling her keep quiet. The wife was found 13 kilometers away from the house but with leaves from plants that grew in their garden in her hair, and I think there was also some car evidence too (from memory based on the Court of Appeal decision, but the High Court I don't think mentioned it). 

 

And the reason the decision of the High Court is interesting here is that if there is a reasonable hypothesis consistent with innocence, it was usually accepted that the jury couldn't convict. So even though he said he was at home, and the circumstantial evidence pointed to murder, it could be a reasonable hypothesis that he did cause her death but didn't meant to kill her or cause her serious injury, therefore it could have been manslaughter, therefore he shouldn't be convicted of murder. But now, even though his testimony was inconsistent with both allegations of murder and manslaughter, it would be okay to assume that because he kept lying he was conscious within himself it wasn't manslaughter and find him guilty of murder. 

 

If you're interested, the decision is here - http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2016/35.html - and here's an article that talks about some of the precedent issues it sets - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-31/high-court-sets-precedents-testimony-post-offence-behaviour/7801628 

 

This is why I love law, it's fascinating

[ManicSpider]

Week 2, Days 5-7

 

Okay, it was not a great three days. 

 

Eat - Over my calorie limit each day. Saturday was the worst because I went to my Dad's place for Father's Day lunch and ate way too much Chinese food, and then I went to my friend's place in the evening and ended up having pizza.  

 

Sleep - Soo much sleep. It was great. I feel caught up on sleep. 

 

Lift- Didn't get any cardio done :-/

 

Thing I learned - Thanks to my 8-year-old son for this one

 

[ManicSpider]

Week 3, Day 1

 

Eat - On point all day. Ate a little under because I skipped a meal. Drank my 2l of water. 

 

Sleep - Got enough sleep, yay!

 

Lift - Did a session of C25K. 

 

 

I'm not sure how committed I am to running. I will try and keep doing two sessions per week. 

 

Thing I learned today- My shower uses 8.5 litres of water per minute. I know because my son's homework was to wait a minute with the shower on and then see how many litres it was, and then do the math to work out how much water we use during each shower. The answer is generally too much. Also the Italian word for litre is "litro". 

[ManicSpider]

Week 3, Day 2

 

Eat - Spot on again Really happy with how my eating is going this week, and with far fewer cravings than last week. Also drank all my water. 

 

Sleep - Got enough sleep, yay! 

 

Lift - Had a fantastic day at squats. My coach said my first working set was the best I've squatted in three years. Managed to go the heaviest I've been all year. Still 10 kilos below my 3RM, but I feel like I'm finally building some proper momentum. 

 

• 35 kg x 5 reps (77 pounds)
• 45 kg x 4 reps
• 55 kg x 1 reps
• 60 kg x 3 reps
• 60 kg x 3 reps
• 60 kg x 3 reps
• 60 kg x 3 reps
• 60 kg x 3 reps
• 60 kg x 3 reps (132 pounds)

Also managed to get my bum off the ground in the single leg glute bridges

 

. 

 

 

Thing I learned today - About the Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice - "In 2010, scientists named a pheromone identified in male mouse urine darcin, after Mr Darcy, because it strongly attracted females." Thanks Wikipedia!

[Jord]

On 9/5/2016 at 7:50 AM, ManicSpider said:

 

 

 

I'm not sure how committed I am to running. I will try and keep doing two sessions per week. 

 

 

Steady state cardio bores me to tears*. So I guess it depends on how you feel about doing the same activity for more than 5 minutes at a time. Some people manage to fall in love with running, how, I don't know. 

 

*except for hiking/walking outdoors in beautiful weather, bcuz at least the scenery changes

 

 

[ManicSpider]

19 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

Steady state cardio bores me to tears*. So I guess it depends on how you feel about doing the same activity for more than 5 minutes at a time. Some people manage to fall in love with running, how, I don't know. 

 

*except for hiking/walking outdoors in beautiful weather, bcuz at least the scenery changes

 

 

 

 

I am exactly the same I love taking my son on bushwalks, or riding around the lake, but running is just the worst. I'd like to be able to run 5K, because that seems like something I *should* be able to do, but I don't know if I actually *want* to *lol*