DungeonTacoVendor: Ch 01 Repairing the Taco Cart

[DungeonTacoVendor]

Challenge 01 Goals:

 

Quest 01: Strength

- Three bodyweight workouts per week (using the Reddit routine).  Reward: I'll get stronger?  Or at least feel stronger?  Maybe lose some weight?  Those sound like likely rewards, right?  

 

Quest 02: Walk

- Walk 5.25 hours a week with the strict purpose of exercise.  This works out to 45 min a day.  I set the metric based on a per week basis to account for inclement weather (this is late autumn in Canada).  Walks must be done in blocks of at least 30 minutes.  Regular old walking doesn't count, this has be walking carried out at a fast pace with the purpose of getting the heart rate up.  Reward: I feel better.

 

Quest 03: Teetotaling

- No more booze, at least not for four weeks, I will then access how I feel about it.  This will be pass or fail.  Luckily no weddings, holidays, or other big social occasions are set to occur during this time frame.  Reward: Less calories in, more energy, less anxiety (maybe), clearer head, save money, and maybe more?

 

Life Quest 04: Track My Money Daily (a la "Your Money or Your Life" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin)

- I started this in October, but I flubbed a few days.  It is far from being a habit.  I need to focus on making this a habit so I can figure out where all my money goes.  Reward: Fiscal awareness, and thus more savings and less debit.  I hope.  

 

Bonus/For Fun... Quest?  Challenge?  Thinger?

- At the end of each challenge, cook, photograph, and post (with recipe) a new taco.

 

The Really Long Backstory

 

"I used to be much stronger!" - Old Guy from the Wedding Singer, when he punches Glen Goulia at the bar.

 

I once was on track, from obese couch potato to fitness fanatic, I spent nearly three years doing 5 strength work outs a day, running nearly everyday for up to 15km, and counting calories and ingesting half my calories as protean powder based liquids.  Yet I never managed to manage my drinking, and eventually I imploded.  I woke up, nearly a year later, 50lbs heavier, a sore knee, stiff limbs, and barely able to run 5km.   What really woke me up was when I ran into an old co-worker, who only knew the fit version of me, unabashedly remarked, "Wow, you got fat."  The desire to get drunk and binge eat tacos was never so strong as that moment.  But I was also mad, very, very mad.  Mad at him, but more so at myself.  Took a couple months of self-loathing to get over it and now I am here.  

 

Some Challenges 

 

Anxiety issues cause me to want to drink to avoid feeling... feelings, I guess.  By giving up alcohol, I risk getting sucked into other traps like marijuana or Netflix.  I cannot let that happen.  I need to face the discomfort in life.  (Cold shower therapy?  Meh... Maybe not in Canada during winter, that'll be a summer challenge.)

 

I work on road in construction.  For every six nights I spend at home, I spend eight nights in a cheap hotel, often with no gym and never a kitchen.  My coworkers love to go out for wings and beer after work several times a seek.  (Several?  There are only seven days in a week?  Exactly.)  I need to find ways to eat healthy in a hotel working with nothing but a microwave and an electric kettle.  (And maybe a flavor wave of electric grill that I will buy.  Suggestions?)

 

I have a full gym at home, with free weights and pull-up bars.  However, I want to focus, for now, on bodyweight (and maybe this kettle bell) until I get back into the swing of things.  I can do a bodyweight workout in any hotel and there is no excuse.

 

**Written on an iPad, so the formatting might be a little wonky.  When I get infront of a proper computer, I may fix this up.  And when I get home (Nov 1st) I can do a weigh-in.  

[Infinity.Creates]

Awesome name! Always need tacos in a dungeon. Also, there was something brought up in the Ranger forum - but this is a things : http://tacocleanse.com/

 

Sounds like a harsh backstory, but I'm here to cheer you on as you get back on track! 

Steve has a couple of hotel workouts on his website, and as for the food, when you do go out, would it be possible to get better options? 

 

As for the anxiety issues, there are a couple of support threads in the forum. But maybe you can find something else to be sucked into? Or is the aim to not be sucked into anything but face life as it is? In that case, you might want to look into mindfullness. 

 

All the best!

[Akdavis1814]

It sounds like you have a really good handle on what your demons are. Might not feel like such a huge step but there certainly those out there who don't even know that much yet.

It must be so difficult to be away from the good tools of your home for so much of the time. And things nutritionally would certainly be easier if you could be staying in a hotel with a kitchen or even just a fridge. My first instinct we'd be to stock up good healthy shelf stable things. Fruit like apples and orange and nuts of all kinds. Maybe no sugar added applesauce or something? None of those things make a meal but it might make make better choices when going out just a little easier?

 

 I think given your work situation concentrating on bodyweight work is a stellar idea. You can do it anywhere and scale it as needed. If you find yourself someplace with a gym - bonus.

 

As for the booze. Ugh. It is so hard. I'm not a binge drinker - I can just have one or two. But I really really like it and would really really like to have one or two every single day. No question it has an impact on us nutritionally, physiologically, and psychologically.  I agree finding a replacement for it emotionally is key as is having a plan for when you do have to go out with guys after work.

 

 

 

[DungeonTacoVendor]

4 minutes ago, IAmInfinite said:

Awesome name! Always need tacos in a dungeon. Also, there was something brought up in the Ranger forum - but this is a things : http://tacocleanse.com/

 

Sounds like a harsh backstory, but I'm here to cheer you on as you get back on track! 

Steve has a couple of hotel workouts on his website, and as for the food, when you do go out, would it be possible to get better options? 

 

As for the anxiety issues, there are a couple of support threads in the forum. But maybe you can find something else to be sucked into? Or is the aim to not be sucked into anything but face life as it is? In that case, you might want to look into mindfullness. 

 

All the best!

 

Thanks for the encouragement @IAmInfinite.  I have looked at Steve's hotel workouts, but for this challenge I am sticking with the Reddit one.  Though it overlaps a lot with Steve's - rowing, pushups, squats, planks/handstands, L-sits, etc... 

 

As for anxiety, I don't want to make it sounds worse than it is.  I just spent a lot of time thinking on things and observing myself, and it seems I am quick to withdraw from discomfort.  I recently quit Facebook because it conditioned me to be afraid of boredom, yet it was also a huge contributor to anxiety.  (So many angry people on there posting vitirol about politics and race and gun control.)  A few weeks ago, I got back home from running errands in crowded stores and obnoxious traffic, I felt so agitated and nervous afterward.   So I cracked and drank several cans of beer.  Yeah, it was my day off, but it was 1:00 in the afternoon.  I was drunk by dinner time.  I am trying to be more mindful and meditate (using Headspace), but omitted it from my challenge since the idea here is to focus on a few, small changes, and I really want to see what four weeks sober will feel like.

 

You're probably right, there is likely better options at Boston Pizza (my coworkers' restaurant of choice), but I really need to stop going out so much.  At $15.00 per salad and $3.00 per club soda with lime (my teetotaling option, which I genuinely enjoy the flavor of) they're not exactly helping my debt repayment plan.  Not everyone goes out, it is just hard to resist the lure of being social.  Even when I do go, it is not always fun.  I drink too much, which makes me eat too much, and they watch sports and I get confused.  So much talk about openers and closers; I am told these are types of pitchers in... wait, wait... I know this... baseball?  Yeah, baseball I think.  

[DungeonTacoVendor]

1 hour ago, Akdavis1814 said:

It sounds like you have a really good handle on what your demons are. Might not feel like such a huge step but there certainly those out there who don't even know that much yet.

It must be so difficult to be away from the good tools of your home for so much of the time. And things nutritionally would certainly be easier if you could be staying in a hotel with a kitchen or even just a fridge. My first instinct we'd be to stock up good healthy shelf stable things. Fruit like apples and orange and nuts of all kinds. Maybe no sugar added applesauce or something? None of those things make a meal but it might make make better choices when going out just a little easier?

 

 I think given your work situation concentrating on bodyweight work is a stellar idea. You can do it anywhere and scale it as needed. If you find yourself someplace with a gym - bonus.

 

As for the booze. Ugh. It is so hard. I'm not a binge drinker - I can just have one or two. But I really really like it and would really really like to have one or two every single day. No question it has an impact on us nutritionally, physiologically, and psychologically.  I agree finding a replacement for it emotionally is key as is having a plan for when you do have to go out with guys after work.

 

 

 

 

@Akdavis1814, thanks for the support!  I do have a small, small fridge but typically no freezer - which makes using homemade frozen meals trickier.  The first five days, sure, but the last three?  I find I am eating a lot of sandwiches.  I used to be paleo (plus beer and fermented dairy), so it feels weird to eat sandwiches now.  I keep them healthy (lettuce, cucumber, tomato, avocado, turkey), but is it just me, or does all bread seem kind of evil?  Even the 100% whole grain bread, it has such a high sugar to fiber ratio and so calorically dense.  I am going to try to prep and plan ahead.  In order to maintain variety, and not spend my entire weekend cooking, I am going to make double of every meal at home and freeze half (if I can resist eating it).  The problem is, like beer, food is a source of pleasure, and it's hard to treat it like fuel.  I remember once seeing on someone's fitogram that they posted a photo of their lunch: plain shredded wheat cereal (dry) and to drink, chocolate whey protean mixed with water.  The caption was a genuine "yum!"  I remain skeptical that that would taste good.  

 

About finding a place with a gym.  I am considering adding weights as I used to use weights exclusively (BDSM: bench, deadlift, squat, military press), but I don't want to get caught up trying to work out a progression for a plan that is one week weights and one week bodyweight.  At least I can bring a kettle bell with me for a little conditioning.  However, when I lifted all the time, I always felt run down.  I am getting older and trying to get back to squatting twice my bodyweight seems a little daunting.  Before I was sort of obsessed with strength and vanity.  I want to just be healthy, and I think focusing on mobility and bodyweight is my best bet.  Maybe in six months I'll change my tune.  

 

I am glad to hear you are not a binge drinker, cause I am, and it sucks.  You spend so much time telling yourself, don't drink so much, don't you remember how sick you were the next day?  Damn... one beer turns into 10 or more.  Get crap sleep, hung over the next day, workouts get missed, etc... Such a spiral.  I have just come to realize I don't have a normal relationship with alcohol.  I can go sober for work, and I never drive after I have had even a single drink, but with a six day weekend I get loaded way too often, or wind up drinking after work at the local sports bar with guys from work.  None of them care about eating right or exercise.  I have no IRL support, hence me coming to this forum.

[jenkofb]

Glad you are here! You have some awesome goals and you can do this! I gave up alcohol completely 9 years ago because I just couldn't drink normally. It was tough, but well worth the effort and I only miss it occasionally, but I never miss it in the morning when I wake up clear-headed and ready to start my day. Exercise is a great substitute because it helps with stress and anxiety (in my experience, anyhow). 

[Sloth the Enduring]

Welcome to the rebellion.

[Lateral Planet]

Welcome, it sounds like you have a great understanding and awareness of your situation. Good on you! That mindfulness definitely gives you a headstart.

 

About your dinners, you might be able to get a portable gas stove and a little frying pan so you could do a nice steak or something in the hotel? But if you have to fly to the site that might not work; butane doesn't like to fly.

[Infinity.Creates]

How has your challenge gone so far? DId you manage to find a solution to your food problem?