Dan gets rolling

[Torch]

Wedding having been successfully survived, on to the next challenge:

Two main themes on this one: First, I'm currently not in full time employment, so have a fair bit of time on my hands, which I need to use productively so as not to get used to wasting time. Second, helped along by a lack of consistent exercise routines and assisted by various well meaning relatives and their delicious cooking, my body composition has been sliding in a direction I'm not happy with. As I'm still in post-wedding travels, parts of this challenge will be divided in two, let's call them "on the road" and "back at base".

Therefore, the challenge will be:

 

1) Nutrition:

Reduce calorie intake to something a bit more sensible.

On the road: Salads for lunch + at least once per day choose a lower calorie option (this is more for mindset, and includes little things like "have simple black coffee instead of something with milk & sugar")

Back at base: As above + plan & prep meals for 3-4 days at a time

 

2) Get busy:

Treat weekdays as (short) workdays. Have a number of projects to complete, and now I have the time.

Spend 5h per weekday working on projects. Rules are: Must be directly related to a project (doesn't matter which one); Only time actually worked counts; Can be anything including writing, studying, research, phone calls etc. but must have a tangible result at the end of the day.

Spend 1/2 -1h, of this or in addition, working on accumulated crud. aka annoying less important things that have accumulated.

 

3) Martial arts

Minor for this challenge. Am attending a seminar on kata applications (Karate) at the end of September, and since I don't do karate will try to teach myself the basic motions of  two kata by then. Don't have to do them well, but have to know the sequence. Spend 10-20 min per day.

Related, moving meditation or visualisation 10 min per day.

 

4) Movement:

This will be bigger next time, for now:

On the road: be active 45 min per day. Exercising, swimming, walking whatever. 

Back at base: As above, but including coming up with an actual (for now, light) exercise plan and sticking to it.

 

Actually travel days (today, Saturday & next Wednesday) excluded from most of the above.

[RisenPhoenix]

Nice challenge!

 

But have fun on the post-nuptial travels!  Don't let the challenge bog you down!

[Torch]

15 hours ago, RisenPhoenix said:

Nice challenge!

 

But have fun on the post-nuptial travels!  Don't let the challenge bog you down!

 

Thanks! Yeah, after discussion with the wife, I'm changing things a little bit (although most of the actual travelling is done).

The "Get busy" part will be:

On the road: 3h/day projects + 1/2 h crud clearing

Back at base: 4h/day projects + 1h crud clearing

 

So far:

 

Monday:

Nutrition: Lunch was mixed salads. Avoided croissant and sweets at breakfast buffet. success.

Movement: Several hours walking through London, success.

Martial arts & get busy: Nope, rather be sightseeing

 

Tuesday:

Nutrition: Lunch was a small wrap with plenty of salads, I'm counting that. Picked lower carb dinner option. Success.

Movement: Many hours walking though London and a museum, success.

Martial arts & get busy: Nope, rather be sightseeing

 

Wednesday: Travel day exclusion.

[theodinspire]

 

Get it rolling!

[Torch]

Update:

 

Thursday:

Nutrition: Salad with Turkey strips for lunch. Plain black coffee. Success

Get busy: 2,5h on projects, good results. No crud work. Not quite but almost success.

Movement: Walking for about 1h, success.

Martial arts: Nope.

 

Friday:

Nutrition: No salad but vegetable soup for lunch. One less bacon rasher with breakfast. Not quite but close.

Get busy. 2,5h projects + 1,5h crud. Not quite as planned but close.

Movement: Walking, success.

Martial arts: 15 min research & physical practice. Success

 

Saturday:

Nutrition: Sandwich with salad. No cake despite being in delicious cake making shop. Not quite.

Get busy: Weekend exclusion, but still did 30 min. Small bonus win

Movement: About 2h walking, success.

Martial arts: Nope

 

Sunday:

Nutrition: Salad for lunch. More veggies instead of carbs with breakfast. Success.

Get busy: 3+h for projects, 0,5h crud. BONUS WIN!!! Worked on a weekend.

Movement: About 45 min walking. success (just barely).

Martial arts: Nope

 

Summary: So far the get busy portion is good, the nutrition is getting there. Movement is decent but limited to walking, I want to change that when I get back to base. Martial arts goals are mostly a fail so far, I lack motivation. Will work on making it more interesting for myself today, see if I can improve this week.

[Kishi]

Hey, walking is a great way to move. Don't knock it. It gives a lot more benefit than most of us are willing to give it credit for, myself included.

 

You're busy and getting things done, as is proper for unemployed times. And it sounds like you're getting more veggies in, which is always a good. Good to see, man, good to see.

 

With the martial arts goals, is it a matter of not having an art or are you doing self-study for one?

[Torch]

On 04/09/2016 at 7:33 AM, Kishi said:

 

With the martial arts goals, is it a matter of not having an art or are you doing self-study for one?

No, I have an art and a dojo (I teach Aikido). I'm referring specifically to my goals for this challenge, which is self studying a kata or two for a seminar I'm attending. I think I'm realising why I picked an art with little kata practice

 

General update:

I should do these more regularly, I hardly remember some of the specifics since the last one...

 

The last few days "on the road" were very good, in terms of movement, productivity and nutrition.

Since I got "back to base", two weeks ago, it's been mixed.

 

Nutrition: Generally good, salads for lunch when possible, though not every day (mostly if I'm working somewhere in a café in town at lunchtime, I'd have a sandwich with a side salad instead). Advance meal prep for 3-4 days has worked well, although I need to adjust my shopping habits a little to make that easier.

 

Getting busy: This has taken a hit since I got back. I've been regular with working on my projects, but it's been closer to 2-3h per day rather than 4h as planned. Also less crud clearing than I was planning. Turns out I have more distractions & bad habit triggers here than I realised. Did a "respawn" this Weekend, it's better now with longer work sessions, and entirely separate ones for accumulated crud.

On the plus side, I have really good progress. One project completed, two others likely done by the end of the week

 

Martial arts: Yes, plenty, but not what I was planning. The kata thing maybe isn't for me at the moment.

 

Movement: Not so good. Climate makes walking during the day unpleasant. Need to increase training at home to get in my 45 min per day. Only plus is with classes at the dojo back on I get much more movement there, plus when I prepare for them.

 

[Kishi]

Well, as far as work goes, it's not the hours, it's the productivity, right? If you allot hours for a task and you get the rest of it done... well, why not let the rest of the day go? I mean, if you feel like working, then yeah, sure, hustle with it, but otherwise it's not as if the project is going anywhere or away anytime soon, right?

 

Alternately, don't be afraid to be ambitious and schedule more than you think you can do, since apparently you're good for more than you thought.

 

I feel you on the weather making outdoor things unpleasant. Definitely affects how I feel about it too. But the task awaits, and better done than not.

[Torch]

On 15/09/2016 at 0:16 AM, Kishi said:

Well, as far as work goes, it's not the hours, it's the productivity, right? If you allot hours for a task and you get the rest of it done... well, why not let the rest of the day go? I mean, if you feel like working, then yeah, sure, hustle with it, but otherwise it's not as if the project is going anywhere or away anytime soon, right?

 

True, but I'm more inclined to go for behaviour goals rather than outcome right now. Hours worked are also pretty easy to track

 

Final update:

 

Nutrition was a success, especially in the second half of the challenge. Both the food prep for several days and the salad. Weight is moving in a direction I feel more comfortable with too, so outcome is good as well.

 

Get busy was largely successful. There were a few useless days and I didn't always meet the hours, but the work was consistent and results were good.

 

Movement less so. I did walk pretty consistently especially while abroad, but not a lot otherwise (well, except martial arts classes the last two weeks). This will be big in the next challenge.

 

Martial arts. Nope, totally did not do what I wanted. Only applies to the challenge goals though, otherwise dojo classes are back on and totally on track.

 

So about 50% success. The more important 50% for this time though, so I'm overall quite satisfied.