redimagination: Starting Again

[redimagination]

As stated, this challenge is about starting again. Albeit a little late to the party compared to most people. I have neglected my health and fitness to focus on being lazy and eating a lot of rubbish, if not delicious, food. It has been a while since my last challenge and I have a habit of doing some challenges and then not doing any for a while. I think this just suits my life. As it stands, I was planning to get back into the swing of things tomorrow (26th) so this challenge is well timed. So today doesn't really count though my partner and I did do a meal plan for the next few nights (until our weekly veg box arrives) and went food shopping mainly in the vegetable aisles. I am going to focus on the following points:

 

Exercise

This one I haven't done too badly on recently. But I need to keep building on it.

 

• Go to the gym at least once a week
• Walk at least 10,000 steps a day (as measured by my fitbit)
• Do yoga once a week

 

I think this is definitely achievable. Going to the gym once a week does not sound like very much but in reality it will just be one week that is like that; I should be going at least twice. I have an Atlas wristband to test out as well which has only had one gym use. So I will use this challenge as an opportunity to test it out and report back.

 

Walking 10,000 steps isn't going to get me fit by itself but it keeps me active and is definitely more of a challenge on days off. So, at least for the rest of the challenge, I am going to get up and dressed to go for morning walks on my days off. I accidentally done this recently and made sure I got stuff done the rest of the day so I am going to mirror it this challenge and see if it helps.

 

Yoga because yoga. It keeps me flexible and mindful. I definitely need to get this back into my routine.

 

Diet

This is one area that I have been doing pretty badly on. I have had some good days but then the next day I can eat a ridiculous amount of rubbish.

 

•  Make lunches for work again. Cheaper and healthier.
•  Track what I eat and make sure I am eating a varied diet (not just carbs unfortunately)
•  Eat vegetables every day (that is a challenge at the moment)

 

Making my lunch for work ties together my diet and life goals together. I do have to do some research and vary what I make though as I tend to make the same thing. I just want to make something the night before work that will keep for the next four days, is easy to make and has a good helping of protein. I don't ask for much, right?

 

My diet recently has mostly just been varients of carbs for a while. I need to make sure I am sticking to my macros and not just eating rubish. Some rubbish is allowed though. I track with MFP with altered calorie goals; I may be small but 1450 cal is not enough for me. I am not too worried about going over as long as I am making better food choices.

 

 

Life

• Money - don't spend any money on non-essentials for the challenge. Put spending on my spreadsheet.
• Writing - plan what I am writing for NaNoWriMo. Attempt to write every day.
• Time - spend my time being more productive and not just wasting it all on Tumblr or Facebook.

 

I have been terrible with money recently and really need to get myself sorted. It means I can't go to the Edinburgh meet up despite wanting to. I am not going to buy anything I don't need. The only thing I am allowed to buy is a bluetooth keyboard for my iPad as I did buy one but Amazon failed to deliver it. It is for NaNo to enable me to write at work and such when carrying my laptop would be too much hassle. I also need to work a system out to deal with writing on a windows laptop and an iPad. I have my idea for NaNo and it is something I want to develop after NaNo and keep working on so I need to actually plan this one to a degree.

 

I think that is fairly simple and should be able to actually stick to this one.

 

 

 

[redimagination]

Week One

Days at the gym: Two! PASSED

Days walked 10,000+ steps: Four. COULD DO BETTER

Days yoga done: 0. NEXT WEEK IS A NEW WEEK

 

Made lunch for work: Yes. PASSED

Days food tracked: 5. NEXT WEEK WILL BE HIGHER

Days eaten at least one vegetable: 7. PASSED

 

Days I haven't spent money I don't have: 0. PASSED

Days I have written something: I'm going to give myself a 6. NEXT WEEK 7

Days I have felt productive: 7. Some days more than others but every day I have done something. PASSED

 

5/9

 

Overall a good week. Some areas I still need to work on. But it wouldn't be much of a challenge if it was all easy. For week two I just need to work on getting the number of passes higher.

 

Week Two

Days at the gym:

Days walked 10,000+ steps:

Days yoga done:

 

Made lunch for work:

Days food tracked:

Days eaten at least one vegetable:

 

Days I haven't spent money I don't have:

Days I have written something:

Days I have felt productive:

 

 

Week Three

Days at the gym:

Days walked 10,000+ steps:

Days yoga done:

 

Made lunch for work:

Days food tracked:

Days eaten at least one vegetable:

 

Days I haven't spent money I don't have:

Days I have written something:

Days I have felt productive:

 

Week Four

Days at the gym:

Days walked 10,000+ steps:

Days yoga done:

 

Made lunch for work:

Days food tracked:

Days eaten at least one vegetable:

 

Days I haven't spent money I don't have:

Days I have written something:

Days I have felt productive:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Xena]

Sounds like a great challenge...seems focused on sort of refreshing and rebooting your habits. Good luck. And don't worry that lots of people start early. You're right on time...and even if you weren't so what?!

[redimagination]

22 hours ago, Xena said:

Sounds like a great challenge...seems focused on sort of refreshing and rebooting your habits. Good luck. And don't worry that lots of people start early. You're right on time...and even if you weren't so what?!

 

That is true. I just feel late to the party when people have already started and have four pages of replies so far, just glad I found it in time to start! Definitely a reboot after ignoring and then slowly clawing back some habits. At least here I can be more accountable for what I do! 

[redimagination]

So I am going to do an update for yesterday. Mostly because I have a cup of tea to hand and I want to feel a little productive.

 

Yesterday I was at work so I managed to get a few steps in. Nearly 20,000 in total missing by only 300 steps according to my fitbit. If I cared more I would have taken a short walk outside but I was too tired. Overall, fitness wise I couldn't have done much more so I am happy with that. My fitbit considers me to have consumed fewer calories than I burnt also so I am happy with that. I was only a couple of hundred calories over my MFP target but still under as a whole. I didn't get as much fruit and veg in as much as I know I can. But that is why I set that bar so low: baby steps. I had grapes, onions and peppers (not in one meal). Though I did buy my lunch as I am only in for one day. I will be cooking tomorrow! Also, not too much temptation to procrastinate as I had a meeting after work. And as the weather wasn't great I didn't spend time in town to buy rubbish I don't need.

 

Though I am feeling a little less enthused today. But managing to sort of get through my to-do list that I made yesterday. Importantly I sent birthday cards to family! And I also went to the gym. I had the rare experience of a completely empty gym when I first walked in and that lasted for about half of my workout. One other person came in but they were sort of wondering aimlessly and spent more time watching the tvs. Annoying but at least they kept to themselves. I did have a little walk this morning - to Tesco to get birthday cards. I only spent money on what was needed including some food for tonights tea: creamy courgette pasta. Not been the most productive today but as I said not feeling enthused.

[redimagination]

Feeling a bit better today. Possibly to do with the fact that I got a task out the way that I have been putting off.

 

A sort of morning walk today. We had a house viewing so we walked to that. It was a lovely day but I had to walk faster than was comfortable for me. Still only walked 5.5k steps today so I could have done better. Though according to my fitbit it got my heart going enough. I also didn't get any yoga done because I still felt a little rubbish in the morning. Not the best start to the challenge but at least I can only improve! I don't even feel too sore from the gym yesterday which is a relief especially as I have had over a week break.

 

My eating has been a lot better too. I am under calories, had two servings of fruit (my favourites: grapes and strawberries) and stir fry for tea that had a lot of veg in it. Also my macros have been pretty well balanced at 47/28/25 (C/F/P) which is an improvement. I am also still under my calorie goal but don't feel hungry. I am also feeling a bit better in everything too. I always feel better when I eat well but apparently that isn't enough to keep me at it. I have made my lunches for the next three work days with lots of veg and decent serving of protein.

 

As for life goals, well I procrastinated a lot this morning as I was putting off the horrible (ok, it was easy but I didn't want to face it) task. But then I gave myself a kick up the bum and have been a lot better. And not been able to spend money I don't have. Though I did check out my, slightly neglected, budget spreadsheet and assuming I don't spend anything I don't need I can return to a reasonable state by November (by which point I will be doing NaNoWriMo).

[redimagination]

So I haven't updated in a few days. Oops. I am still challenging away but having laptop issues (despite it being only a couple of months old). But nothing exciting has been happening. Mostly because I have been at work.

 

Thursday:

I was back to work. So most of my activity came from walking: 16,187 steps in total. I ate my premade lunch which was nice and everything else was pretty healthy too. Fitbit thinks I under ate but I ate as much as I felt hungry. Also, as last day before payday there was no unrequired spending. This would be an unremarkable thing to say if I didn't mention the fact that my work had a book sale which, as much as I love books, I didn't venture near. Even though it was on the same floor. The one thing that isn't going as I hoped is writing. I have been doing little bits (not always creative but writing all the same). I need to do some prep for NaNo (it involves multiple universes so I need to do some planning this year). But at the same time I want to do some creative stuff. Yet, I don't want to get involved with another idea and forget about this one that I want to write. So as long as I am doing some planning and finding a way to get words out. I need to get back into that creative mindset in which I know that I can write well. I am not in that at the moment and the words don't come out as nicely as they should.

 

Friday:

Again, a work day. 17,000 steps. Though this is overshadowed by the amount of cake I had as my work had a bake sale. I didn't buy any cake (go me!) but others did and well, it was hard to resist cake. I don't feel bad about it. Otherwise I made healthy choices, even telling my partner that no we were not ordering pizza regardless of how stressed he is. Instead, I searched for a treat that was lowish in calorie that didn't have any cow or pig in it which wasn't easy. But I got us little pots of creme caramel which were 181 calories per pot and made of proper ingredients not a bunch of chemicals. In the end we didn't even eat them! I hit my vegetable target too with my premade lunch. Not much time to procrastinate either as we had a lot of housework to do.

 

Saturday:

Work day again but a shorter one. 11,931 steps. I didn't have the best of days, not helped by venturing into Tesco after work which was mayhem. I escaped and got home but just wanted to avoid everything. So I watched a bunch of Netflix and avoided everything else. It worked and I ended up in a better mood. Also, I ate some cake again (by some I mean three cupcakes). But again, avoided take away dinner with macaroni cheese. Not exactly a healthy meal but still better than a meal of over 1,000 greasy calories. And again, vegetable goal met by lunchtime! So, while I haven't been the healthiest I could at the same time be a lot worse.

 

Today (Sunday) is a day off. I am going to the gym (just before lunch again to see if it holds up on a Sunday too and hopefully there is sport on because that helps empty the gym a bit). I will also be doing some writing. I have already created my novel on the NaNoWriMo website and I have been testing out my new wireless keyboard, which I did buy during the challenge but it was a calculated spend and not just on a whim. I bought it mostly for NaNo and to encourage me to write outside of NaNo when I am away from home and don't want to bring my laptop. I find now that my laptop is working a bit better but we will see how long that lasts. I also have a to do list for my days off that I need to get through. It is the last day of week one (for me as I sort of had a 0 day last Sunday so I am including today in week one).

[redimagination]

So last day of the week update!

 

I went to the gym today. I thought I would try midday again just to see if it was any quieter (I can't wait until I have space/ money for a home gym). It wasn't too bad. Apart from the personal trainer who was there at the beginning. He pretty much took over the entire weights section with his two clients (and not even doing anything) he then just left with them and didn't tidy away the weights. Then there was a guy curling in the rack and not even with the barbell! Who then later claimed two benches (my gym only has three). Otherwise I had a good workout. Though I have walked an embarrasingly low number of steps. Under 5000. I can do better than that. I know my fitbit doesn't always count my steps around the house for some reason but even then its not going to be that much higher.

 

Diet has also been good. I had my vegetables! Including kale in my smoothie and onion, leek, carrot and butternut squash tonight. The only thing I could have done better on today would have been to eat more fat. But over the week I more or less average out. I could probably do more to up my fat intake.

 

No money spent today! I have also budgeted for the rest of the month. Which is basically don't spend money unless I need to. I have also started to list my stuff on ebay that I have been meaning to do for ages. Extra pennies and clearing out clutter, plus something to add to my being productive list. As I mentioned, I have created my NaNo novel page. I have set up my yWriter project. Current title is "A different world to murder in" mostly because it captured everything I know about my novel at the moment. It may change. I have also decided that I am going to write about 100 words based on a prompt a day. Not enough to distract me from my NaNo but enough to get some creative juices flowing. This is on top of my NaNo planning.

 

Overall, today has been good and so has the week. I have had worse first weeks and feel motivated to continue on to week two!

[Xena]

Sounds like things are going really well! You are keeping up very well with your step goal and doing good solid writing prep. Sounds like you are rearing to go for November!!

 

It's good that you are experimenting and trying to find the best times to go to the gym. My gym is mostly fine with occasional ridiculous behavior.

[mom2sjm]

entering the final stretch of this challenge.  Have you stuck with it?  Great goals you can carry over to another challenge if life got crazy and interrupted this one!  

[Xena]

Hope to see you back next challenge.