My Tutorial Level

[imprimis5]

Hey, Rangers!

 

This is my first challenge, so I'm definitely open to pointers and such. It looks like my first post here, even, but I promise it's not (technical difficulties and such).

 

Since my introduction is apparently gone, I'll give the short version here. About two months ago, I decided it was time to make some drastic changes in my life. So, all in one day, I quit smoking, joined a gym, got a personal trainer, and threw out all my junk food. I've kept to it really well, and it's time to take things to the next step. Setting specific goals and pushing myself to reach them has never been my strong point, so I figure if I let other people see what's in my head, it'll help me stick to it.

 

The challenge list!

 

• Finish up my NRT
  • Done! Suck it, addiction! Suck it, industries that rely on the cycle of unhealth! That's a 15 year habit that I thought I was shackled to for the rest of my life gone, and I've never felt better about anything. I won't say it's all completely over; there's a part of me that still wants a cigarette, and I may have been kind of a jerk to my boyfriend on the first day with no patch. But the biggest battle is over, and I can conquer the rest.
• Switch to paleo
  • Bleh. I'll talk about this more in the meta challenge section...
• Get in at least three workouts a week
  • If I count setting up and tearing down a convention booth, as well as a walk from the Alphabet District of Portland up to the top of the Japanese Garden, I managed this. I actually had a couple real workouts in there, too, including starting Couch to 5k (which I made the mistake of starting in downtown Seattle, hills and all...)
• Meta Challenge! Do all this while traveling from August 30th to September 9th!
  • As expected, this was the hardest part of this challenge. I did middling-well, I think, except for diet. When you can't cook for yourself, paleo gets way hard. I really need to figure this out, since I travel regularly for work. Almonds and beef jerky, quinoa and fruit bars, and fresh fruit and veg worked wonderfully as snacks, but that all went out the window when it was time for the one or two real meals for the day, especially when my boyfriend wants pizza. Honestly, there's grain, legumes, or sugar in almost literally everything you can get in a restaurant. Ugh.

[imprimis5]

Following up after a day.

 

Yesterday was a total success for paleo. Coming off traditional weight loss dieting, it's a bit of a struggle for me not to feel like I'm over-eating. I've basically gone two months without feeling full, so eating when I'm hungry, until I'm full, feels like cheating.

 

Workout last night with my personal trainer. By far, one of the best I've ever had. We're finally figuring out the intersection of {effective exercise} and {things I like}. Lots of TRX and resistance band stuff seems to be a winner.

[Andrees]

Keep at it, looks like you're off to a strong start.  I just joined and I'm doing my first challenge as well.  Keep that willpower up so you can knock out the traveling portion of the challenge, I know I sure haven't.  I have a 0% workout/healthy eating record whenever I go on vacation or travel so good luck man, I know you can do it.

[imprimis5]

1 minute ago, Andrees said:

Keep at it, looks like you're off to a strong start.  I just joined and I'm doing my first challenge as well.  Keep that willpower up so you can knock out the traveling portion of the challenge, I know I sure haven't.  I have a 0% workout/healthy eating record whenever I go on vacation or travel so good luck man, I know you can do it.

 

Thanks! Traveling is rough, for sure. I travel probably half a dozen or more times a year for work. I've chosen to think of it is lots of opportunity for practice, rather than lots of opportunity to mess up. Eating well is the easier part; working out is hard. My job involves running a tabletop gaming company's presence at conventions, and I'm usually exhausted from being on my feet 12+ hours each day. That doesn't lend itself to, say, wanting to go for a run or hitting the hotel gym.

[Andrees]

4 minutes ago, imprimis5 said:

 

Thanks! Traveling is rough, for sure. I travel probably half a dozen or more times a year for work. I've chosen to think of it is lots of opportunity for practice, rather than lots of opportunity to mess up. Eating well is the easier part; working out is hard. My job involves running a tabletop gaming company's presence at conventions, and I'm usually exhausted from being on my feet 12+ hours each day. That doesn't lend itself to, say, wanting to go for a run or hitting the hotel gym.

Whoa now you're speaking my language, I love tabletops even though at the moment I can't really afford to invest in the really expensive/large scale ones.  But I love busting out the occasional King of Tokyo or Castle Panic game with my family.  Which one do you represent?

[imprimis5]

1 minute ago, Andrees said:

Whoa now you're speaking my language, I love tabletops even though at the moment I can't really afford to invest in the really expensive/large scale ones.  But I love busting out the occasional King of Tokyo or Castle Panic game with my family.  Which one do you represent?

 

I am the official Greater Than Games Community Overlord! So you'll usually find me hawking Sentinels of the Multiverse, Bottom of the 9th, New Bedford, and others.

[DarK_RaideR]

Welcome to the Rebellion and the Rangers! Your goals look pretty solid, now if you'll excuse me, I'll just go an research that company you represent and its games...

[imprimis5]

Hmm. I had an awful workout today. I still went, and I moved heavy stuff from one place to another and back again. But I couldn't seem to focus, and I found myself just getting bored with what I was doing. It was a new routine, too, so it's not like I've been doing the same thing for a month.

 

Anyway, I feel like I didn't push myself as much as I should have because I just wanted to get done and back home. At least I got something done.

[imprimis5]

It's Monday. Let's do a first-week recap, shall we?

 

The challenge list!

 

• Finish up my NRT (I'll put on my last 7mg patch on September 4th, then the program is done!)
  • I haven't missed a day (though I was close on one occasion), and I haven't had a cigarette in 64 days.
• Switch to paleo (I've transitioned my lunches and most of my dinners since the 21st)
  • One week down. I made it over a week almost fully paleo. Probably 80/20 paleo split. It went really well, and I'm excited to keep on this track.
• Get in at least three workouts a week
  • Success for this past week, for sure. I was at the gym four times, and I pushed myself for three of those. ;-)
• Meta Challenge! Do all this while traveling from August 30th to September 9th!
  • This is what I'm most worried about. I leave tomorrow early evening.

[Andrees]

Looks like your first week went very well.  Only 3 more to go and you sure are making it look easy so far.  Just remember to be selfish and push to get your challenge done during the travel period.  Best of luck on it.

[imprimis5]

19 minutes ago, Andrees said:

Looks like your first week went very well.  Only 3 more to go and you sure are making it look easy so far.  Just remember to be selfish and push to get your challenge done during the travel period.  Best of luck on it.

 

Thanks! I'm pretty nervous about keeping up while I'm on the road. At the very least, I should be able to get in some bodyweight exercise and cardio.

[DarK_RaideR]

Gaining momentum. Hope it carries into your travel period.

 

P.S. I checked out the "Sentinels learn to play" app but currently have some issues getting it to run properly. Your company has some good looking stuff out there

[imprimis5]

Well, I just woke up for my second day in Seattle. It's been rough, friends.

 

First of all, I realised that this is the first time I've ever been in this city without smoking like a chimney. So I've been craving a cigarette a lot due to sense memory and the fact that so many people smoke here. Haven't given in, though!

 

Exercise has been… passable. I count setting up a convention booth basically by myself as a light workout, and you would too if you'd ever done it.

 

Diet has been the worst. We got in late Tuesday night, and nothing was open. The only places were bars and pizza. So I got the "best" pizza I could and assured my boyfriend it was ok for him to eat most of it. Breakfast was fine since I had brought some fruit and quinoa bars I made myself. Lunch was a fail; we went to Subway since I could get a salad and was told they couldn't do salads. I got a flatbread sandwich instead. Then dinner was stir fry that mostly fine but for the rice. I'm a little disheartened right now, but I'm still trying.

 

@DarK_RaideR: Sorry to hear it's not working right for you. Unfortunately, that's made and supported by another company who licenses our IP, so I don't know much about it. Thanks for the look!

[imprimis5]

I'm back in St. Louis after an exhausting week and a half! Let's update!

 

 

The challenge list!

 

• Finish up my NRT
  • Done! Suck it, addiction! Suck it, industries that rely on the cycle of unhealth! That's a 15 year habit that I thought I was shackled to for the rest of my life gone, and I've never felt better about anything. I won't say it's all completely over; there's a part of me that still wants a cigarette, and I may have been kind of a jerk to my boyfriend on the first day with no patch. But the biggest battle is over, and I can conquer the rest.
• Switch to paleo
  • Bleh. I'll talk about this more in the meta challenge section...
• Get in at least three workouts a week
  • If I count setting up and tearing down a convention booth, as well as a walk from the Alphabet District of Portland up to the top of the Japanese Garden, I managed this. I actually had a couple real workouts in there, too, including starting Couch to 5k (which I made the mistake of starting in downtown Seattle, hills and all...)
• Meta Challenge! Do all this while traveling from August 30th to September 9th!
  • As expected, this was the hardest part of this challenge. I did middling-well, I think, except for diet. When you can't cook for yourself, paleo gets way hard. I really need to figure this out, since I travel regularly for work. Almonds and beef jerky, quinoa and fruit bars, and fresh fruit and veg worked wonderfully as snacks, but that all went out the window when it was time for the one or two real meals for the day, especially when my boyfriend wants pizza. Honestly, there's grain, legumes, or sugar in almost literally everything you can get in a restaurant. Ugh.

[Elastigirl]

Were you in Seattle for PAX?  Sounds like you did pretty good food wise really, making the best food choices with what you had at the moment.  Seattle in not the place to start a running program, unless you happen to love running up hill

[imprimis5]

15 minutes ago, Elastigirl said:

Were you in Seattle for PAX?  Sounds like you did pretty good food wise really, making the best food choices with what you had at the moment.  Seattle in not the place to start a running program, unless you happen to love running up hill

 

Indeed I was there for PAX, running my company's booth. Were you there?

 

Ha. Yeah, I realised that. But it was something I told myself I would do if I didn't have access to a gym, and my boyfriend held me to it. I don't love running AT ALL, so it was quite the trial.

[Elastigirl]

I didn't go to PAX, my son did. I'm hoping to go next year I'm not really into video games, but I love board games. 

 

 Good for you and your boyfriend for tackling those Seattle hills.

[imprimis5]

2 minutes ago, Elastigirl said:

I didn't go to PAX, my son did. I'm hoping to go next year I'm not really into video games, but I love board games. 

 

 Good for you and your boyfriend for tackling those Seattle hills.

 

Well, it just so happens I work for a board game publisher. Come find us!

[imprimis5]

It feels so good being back home and back on track.

 

I continued Couch to 5K on Sunday morning, and it went so much better in the flat midwest than hilly Seattle. :-) Monday afternoon was my first time back with my trainer, as well. He kicked my ass with 45 minutes of solid circuit training, and it was delightful. I do wish he'd stop having me do crunches as part of the circuit, but the rest of it tends to be pretty good.

 

I'm having a little trouble with scheduling this week. I'm trying to get three gym sessions and three runs in, but that's proving challenging. Yesterday was a bad day for some personal reasons, and today is all about the company that my boyfriend and I are entertaining tonight. With one gym day and one run in, that leaves me three days to get two runs and two gym sessions. Now, you're probably saying, "Why don't you just do your run on the treadmill while you're already at the gym, dummy?" Well, I've learned something about myself: I can't motivate myself on the treadmill, so I'd really like to just run outside.

 

So, tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday are my gym days. Tomorrow is going to have to be the combo day, I think, which is ok. I'll just have to get up a little earlier so I can run before work in the morning. Then another run on Saturday morning, after Starbucks. :-P

 

Diet is going great, when I'm home. I prepped all my meals on Sunday night, and I've been totally paleo all week so far. Even the dinner I made for company tonight is paleo (but they don't have to know that).

 

It's been a good week on the fitness front, despite yesterday's setback.

[Elastigirl]

Woot for meal prep and staying on track with the food!

[imprimis5]

This has been a really great week, physical fitness speaking. I've made it to the gym three times, as expected. I've also run 6.5 miles this week, over three sessions. Paleo is going great, and I've stuck with it really well all week; I'd say probably 90/10, if not slightly better. Still haven't smoked' haven't even thought about it today, until writing this status update.

 

I'm well on track to (mostly) crush this challenge. I don't think I can claim the bonus XP for the meta challenge, though.

 

I really need to talk about emotional health here, though. I think there will be something on my next challenge about that. My father is going through some pretty serious medical stuff, and it's hitting me hard. Like, I've legitimately got to think about the prospect of losing a parent here, and that's awful. Keeping active does a great job of distracting me, but it isn't helping my downtime. Any suggestions?