otterbyte presses on

[otterbyte]

Hello!

 

I'm otterbyte and this is my very first challenge. A bit about my road so far: entered my mid-40s overweight, out of shape, and unhappy with how I looked and felt. Six months ago, I finally finally got off my can and joined a cardio kickboxing class. As of today, I've lost all the weight I gained since turning 20: over 30 pounds - w0ot!  But I want more. I want to be strong, agile and flexible. I want to reach 50 in better shape than I was at 20. (Well, not much to be done about the wrinkles, but at least body-wise.) 

 

To that end, my goals for this challenge are all about PRESSING ON: to keep going down this path, adding new skills and meeting new goals a little bit at a time. Now, I am pretty lousy at self-discipline, but I'm hoping this challenge (and the next, and the next...) will help me stay on track. My six-month goal is to get in good enough condition to join a parkour class in the spring. My long-term goal thirty years from now is to be a spry old lady whose body is still a working tool and not a burden.

 

So here goes:

 

DIET GOALS

• Eat at least one fruit or veggie per day. Okay, this is a super-tiny goal, but I am bad at this. I *really* love my carbs and protein, and it's amazing how often I will only eat things in the 'brownish' food group.
• Drink 6+ glasses of water per day. I'm constantly dehydrated when it's cold. I hate being cold, so I shy away from drinking water and opt for hot drinks like coffee or yerba mate. Caffeine is not helping me stay hydrated. So I need to drink water, even if I have to heat it first!

 

FITNESS GOALS

• MAINTENANCE: Keep going to fitness kickboxing 3x per week. I ain't gonna fix what ain't broke. I love this class, even though the instructors are obviously cheerful sadists.
• STRENGTH: Start Bodyweight fitness routine 3x per week. I just started this, and his progressions are so inspiring. I know that if I just keep at it, I will be able to do a pushup! And maybe even a pullup! (I said my goals were small.)
• AGILITY: GMB's Vitamin training routine. The plan is to finish this 28-day routine by the end of the challenge. It's only 10-15 minutes per day, and it looks super fun.
• FLEXIBILITY: GMB's Hip Mobility routine 3x per week. I have lots of flexibility - but only in very specific directions. My inner thigh muscles are really tight and my side 'split' is nothing of the sort. Let's just say you could use me as an L-square, and that's on a good day. The current plan is to do this on the same days as StartBodyweight.

 

LIFE GOALS

• WORK: Spend 1/2 hour per day coding. I have a database development business, total employees: just me. So if I don't work, I don't make money. I want to bill for at least 15 hours a month, which means 30 minutes per day, average.
• HOME: Holiday stuff. Every year, I send out holiday cards with pictures of my girls, and make a photo album for the grands with pictures of them throughout the year. And every year I wait 'til the last minute to do so! Ugh. Not this year. I'll have to finish this goal early in the challenge. December 11th? That sounds good and not all all terrifying! December 11 it is!

 

Anyhow, that's my plan for my first challenge. I look forward to the day I'm an assassin in good standing!

 

[Myrik]

Welcome to the Assassins.  Goals look awesome for your first Challenge.  Best of luck.

 

Oh that is awesome losing 30 lbs in 6 months.

[Manarelle]

4 hours ago, otterbyte said:

My long-term goal thirty years from now is to be a spry old lady whose body is still a working tool and not a burden.

 

That is a fantastic goal. I second Myrik in saying welcome to the assassins, and you've got a great challenge. The GMB modules look solid, and several of the hip mobility exercises are used as warm-up in (my) parkour class. Glad you found the kickboxing class - having exercise that you enjoy is a big key to sticking with it. Looking forward to hearing you progress over the next five weeks!

[mom2sjm]

I'm interested in hearing more about the GMB.  I keep seeing it, I've looked into it but so far haven't opened the wallet.  I'm also near 50 so would love to hear your feedback on how it works for you.  Good luck with your first assassins challenge, it's a great group!

[otterbyte]

22 hours ago, Myrik said:

Welcome to the Assassins.  Goals look awesome for your first Challenge.  Best of luck.

 

Oh that is awesome losing 30 lbs in 6 months.

 

Thanks for the welcome, Myrik! To be absolutely honest, I had lost ten pounds in the year previous, by being better about my eating habits. But it was when I added exercise that I was able to really make progress and lose the other 20.

 

19 hours ago, Manarelle said:

 

That is a fantastic goal. I second Myrik in saying welcome to the assassins, and you've got a great challenge. The GMB modules look solid, and several of the hip mobility exercises are used as warm-up in (my) parkour class. Glad you found the kickboxing class - having exercise that you enjoy is a big key to sticking with it. Looking forward to hearing you progress over the next five weeks!

 

Oh, I'm glad to hear my choices make sense! It's hard to know what to do at first. Thanks for the welcome, Manarelle!

 

15 hours ago, mom2sjm said:

I'm interested in hearing more about the GMB.  I keep seeing it, I've looked into it but so far haven't opened the wallet.  I'm also near 50 so would love to hear your feedback on how it works for you.  Good luck with your first assassins challenge, it's a great group!

 

I've been spending a lot of time on their website lately and what they say seems to really click for me. I don't think I can afford to do a whole package, but $75 is doable - especially as the rest of my family promised they would do it along with me.  Also, you can redo the routines as often as you want; the content is yours to use forever. I don't think I would have been as willing to spend that money on a subscription that ended in 4 weeks.  

 

-otterbyte

 

PS: can anyone tell me how you insert another member's name in a post so it functions as a link to their profile? I've seen that in other folks' posts and I can't seem to figure out how to get that cool blue box. Thanks!

 

 

[Manarelle]

2 hours ago, otterbyte said:

Oh, I'm glad to hear my choices make sense! It's hard to know what to do at first

 

So true. It's way too easy to try to do everything at once and get burned out or overwhelmed. Little steps and habits add up though.  You got this.

 

To put someone's name in a post, type "@" (minus the quotes) and then their name. If you wait for a second, it should pop up a box with matching names, and you can pick the right one. The more you type before waiting, the more exact your choices will be. So "@M" will get Myrik, mom2jsm, and myself, but "@mom" will narrow it down. Hope that makes sense!

[otterbyte]

Week 0 Updates

 

Day 0.1

Diet: Meh...any day that includes both a donut and apple pie can't actually be a win. But there was a vegetable consumed at some point. And apples are fruit, right? Even when coated in flour, sugar and cinnamon? Water was a bust. So, a slow start.

Fitness: Nope. But things get better further down, and I have one rest day built into the week...so, I guess this was it!

Life: Do not ask. I swear I'll get this together by Week 1. 

 

Day 0.2

Diet: Made 15-bean soup, with carrots AND mushrooms! That's TWO veggies, for them that's counting. Not to mention a bunch of sauteed veggies before my workout and an apple at lunch. Compensating? Who, me? Mostly drank my water - I know I got at least 4 cups, because I always drink a lot during KB class.

Fitness: Tuesday Kickboxing! First class back after the Thanksgiving break. As usual, left feeling nearly dead, but still able to walk out under my own power. Winning!

Life: Still cranking the motor on this one.

 

Day 0.3

Diet: MOAR 15-bean soup for me. (Also more leftover Thanksgiving apple pie. Gotta eat it before it spoils. Yep. That's totally the reason.) But I did get my 6 glasses of water in, finally.

Fitness: BollyX class cancelled today, booooo! So I used today to do the StartBodyweight routine. Leveled up to 5/4/4 reps today. Did the hip flexibility routine before bed.

Life: I actually looked at my open cases in my project management software. Also looked up the deadline for ordering photobooks from Apple. Verrra teeeeny baby steps...

 

Day 0.4

Diet: Can you believe the soup is still going? I should have this around all the time. I love it and it's perfect for the coming winter. Because I HATE being cold, as mentioned above. So, some veggies there, plus @Bighara made us a lovely sweet potato/turkey bacon/egg scramble for our post-workout dinner. I love sweet potatoes almost as much as I hate the cold. And I drank my 6 glasses of water! And *only* 6 glasses, but hey, progress is progress.

Fitness: Thursday kickboxing. Do you know what a 'russian twist' is? I didn't. Now I do, and I can't say that knowledge pleases me. Where do our teachers come up with this stuff?

Life: Still baby stepping along. Planned out my next actions and created time estimates for coding (but didn't actually, you know *do* any coding ). Created new Xmas files for 2016 and started updating the address list.

 

Day 0.5

Diet: 3 veggies today, so an 'X' for day 5! And (drumroll, please...) *8* glasses of water for today. 

Fitness: Did the bodyweight workout, so yay...but didn't do the flexibility, boo...but will try to catch up tomorrow. 

Life: No Xmas stuff, but I did set up my new work computer. Which is not actually coding, but is helping me get to coding. I'm not saying it *counts*, but it's in the general *neighborhood* of counting.

 

Day 0.6

Diet: Totally fell down on fruit or veggie today. Unless nori counts as a veggie? Did get in all my water and then some, so not a complete bust in this category.

Fitness: Kickboxing day. And the instructors were extra special brutal today. Im-a sleep well tonight!

Life: Still falling down on the Xmas front, but I totally nailed coding - over 2 hours today, which makes up for some of my laziness earlier in the week. Now I've gotta keep this momentum going!

 

Day 0.7

Diet: Made up for yesterday by eating all kinds of veggies today. Alllllmost through the soup. Maybe one more bowl. Drank at least 8 glasses of water, probably more, but I stopped counting after 6! I was unwillingly better than I wanted to be about diet, as I had plans to finish up the leftover apple pie from Thanksgiving, but as I'd feared it might, it got some fuzzies and had to be thrown out.  I consoled myself with a piece of VERY good chocolate.  

Fitness: Did my Startbodyweight and GMB hip.flexibility. So I finished off the week only 1 item shy of my fitness goal, yay!

Life: No coding today, though I did keep working on getting the new laptop set up for work. But I finally got started on Xmas stuff for real - I got all the pictures for the year in one place ready to go through.

 

FINAL TALLIES:

Diet: 10/14

Fitness: 8/9

Life: 2/14 <= I think we can all agree on the fact that this needs some serious seriousness next week, yes? 

Scoreboard for Week 0:

DIET \\ Fruit&Veg |oxxxxox \ H2O |ooxxxxx\\

FIT \\ KB |x x x \ STR |x x x \ AGL | - - - - - - - \ FLEX | x o x\ (Agility starts on 12/5)

LIFE \\ Code |oooooxo \ Xmas |oooooox \\

 

[zeroh13]

Baby steps are great. As long as you keep at it, you'll go far. And if a few of your goals turn out to be too challenging or aren't working out (or you're just doing too much), it's totally cool to scrap them. You can always go back to the goal later. Basically, don't be afraid to change your challenge if something isn't working!

 

For staying hydrated, you can try herbal teas (or even green teas). 

[mediaguy99]

I agree with zeroh13.  Baby steps are where it's at.  One must start where one is.  And a pull up is a worthy goal...

[Cataleya]

Welcome! Following along!

[LogiBear]

This is awesome! It's my first challenge too, glad to see someone else starting out. Your goals look great. As long as they're working for you, keep at 'em! Rooting for you!

 

[otterbyte]

Week 1 Updates

 

Day 1.1 

Diet: Veggies *and* water, so a check for both here.

Fitness: Did Startbodyweight (Up to 6/5/5 reps). Did day 1 of Vitamin..so fun, with the bearwalking! Started the hip flexibility routine, but craziness this day meant I didn't even *start* working out until almost 10pm, and by then it was 11, so...gonna try to fit that in on Day 1.2. Still haven't settled on a routine I like for this. I may switch to GMB's splits routine, which I like better, but it's loooooong - and I'm already running short of time with life getting in the way all the time. Darn responsibilities! Adulting is hard! 

Life: I joined the Monkey Tamers United challenge. I'm keeping it super simple, one brick a day to represent a half-hour of coding that day. And I laid 2 bricks! One was half-assed, but it's down there! As for Xmas stuff, my old laptop (which has all the photo data and software) requires a lot of cajoling. I spend some time yesterday clearing out files so I can get it upgraded to the latest OS, which *should* let me update iPhoto, which *should* let me finally create this &$*%^ photobook! I said December 11th to finish Xmas stuff, didn't I? What was I thinking???!!? ...okay, breathe...breathe...oooommmmmm... 

 

Scoreboard for Week 1:
DIET \\ Fruit&Veg  X - - - - - - || H2O  X - - - - - - \\
FIT    \\ KB  - - - || STR  X - - || AGL  X - - - - - - || FLEX  - - - \\
LIFE \\ Code  X - - - - - - || Xmas  O - - - - - - \\

[mediaguy99]

OH LORD!  Splits routine?  That's bendy people stuff.  Looking for progress reports if you go down that path!  Keep it all coming!

[otterbyte]

6 hours ago, mediaguy99 said:

OH LORD!  Splits routine?  That's bendy people stuff.  Looking for progress reports if you go down that path!  Keep it all coming!

 

Well I am very UN-bendy in that direction. I have a feeling this will be a long journey rather than a destination type thing!

 

[otterbyte]

Week 1 Updates

 

Day 1.1

Spoiler

Diet: Veggies *and* water, so a check for both here.

Fitness: Did Startbodyweight (Up to 6/5/5 reps). Did day 1 of Vitamin..so fun, with the bearwalking! Started the hip flexibility routine, but craziness this day meant I didn't even *start* working out until almost 10pm, and by then it was 11, so...gonna try to fit that in on Day 1.2. Still haven't settled on a routine I like for this. I may switch to GMB's splits routine, which I like better, but it's loooooong - and I'm already running short of time with life getting in the way all the time. Darn responsibilities! Adulting is hard! 

Life: I joined the Monkey Tamers United challenge. I'm keeping it super simple, one brick a day to represent a half-hour of coding that day. And I laid 2 bricks! One was half-assed, but it's down there! As for Xmas stuff, my old laptop (which has all the photo data and software) requires a lot of cajoling. I spend some time yesterday clearing out files so I can get it upgraded to the latest OS, which *should* let me update iPhoto, which *should* let me finally create this &$*%^ photobook! I said December 11th to finish Xmas stuff, didn't I? What was I thinking???!!? ...okay, breathe...breathe...oooommmmmm... 

 

Day 1.2

Diet: Did my veggies & drank my water...I think I'm starting to get the hang of this water thing.

Fitness: Kickboxing day! Oy oy oy. Today we finished up with Plank Jacks. I didn't know what those were, and I wish I could still maintain my ignorance. But no. We did eight 20-second rounds of these bad boys, with 10-second rests in between. And that was at the end of class! I think our instructors come up with these crazy moves over drinks on the weekends. ("No, no, wait, I've got a better one. This will really wear them out...." That sort of thing.) I also did W1D2 of Vitamin. Shoulder rolls, forward and back. Those need...a LOT more work. But they were fun! I may repeat Day 2, as there are only 4 days of exercises in Week 1 of the program.

Life: Xmas stuff is still stalled while I get the old laptop working properly. But I placed my coding brick! Just the one, but that's all I'm aiming for. I've got to remember that when I try to do too much, I burn out and then do zilch. One brick at a time...

 

Scoreboard for Week 1:
DIET \\ Fruit&Veg  X X - - - - - || H2O  X X - - - - - \\
FIT    \\ KB  X - - || STR  X - - || AGL  X X - - - - - || FLEX  - - - \\
LIFE \\ Code  X X - - - - - || Xmas  O O - - - - - \\

[raptron]

Welcome to the Assassins! I see you are in the groove already.  

[otterbyte]

44 minutes ago, raptron said:

Welcome to the Assassins! I see you are in the groove already.  

 

Thanks, @raptron! Everyone here is so positive and welcoming, it's easy to feel at home here. 

[Willard Watts]

Keep up the good work! I'm the type to be way overambitious about my goals and then I beat myself up when I fall short. Love the "journey not the destination" type mentality.

[otterbyte]

Week 1 Updates

Day 1.1

Spoiler

Diet: Veggies *and* water, so a check for both here.

Fitness: Did Startbodyweight (Up to 6/5/5 reps). Did day 1 of Vitamin..so fun, with the bearwalking! Started the hip flexibility routine, but craziness this day meant I didn't even *start* working out until almost 10pm, and by then it was 11, so...gonna try to fit that in on Day 1.2. Still haven't settled on a routine I like for this. I may switch to GMB's splits routine, which I like better, but it's loooooong - and I'm already running short of time with life getting in the way all the time. Darn responsibilities! Adulting is hard! 

Life: I joined the Monkey Tamers United challenge. I'm keeping it super simple, one brick a day to represent a half-hour of coding that day. And I laid 2 bricks! One was half-assed, but it's down there! As for Xmas stuff, my old laptop (which has all the photo data and software) requires a lot of cajoling. I spend some time yesterday clearing out files so I can get it upgraded to the latest OS, which *should* let me update iPhoto, which *should* let me finally create this &$*%^ photobook! I said December 11th to finish Xmas stuff, didn't I? What was I thinking???!!? ...okay, breathe...breathe...oooommmmmm...

 

 

 

Day 1.2

Spoiler

 

Diet: Did my veggies & drank my water...I think I'm starting to get the hang of this water thing.

Fitness: Kickboxing day! Oy oy oy. Today we finished up with Plank Jacks. I didn't know what those were, and I wish I could still maintain my ignorance. But no. We did eight 20-second rounds of these bad boys, with 10-second rests in between. And that was at the end of class! I think our instructors come up with these crazy moves over drinks on the weekends. ("No, no, wait, I've got a better one. This will really wear them out...." That sort of thing.) I also did W1D2 of Vitamin. Shoulder rolls, forward and back. Those need...a LOT more work. But they were fun! I may repeat Day 2, as there are only 4 days of exercises in Week 1 of the program.

Life: Xmas stuff is still stalled while I get the old laptop working properly. But I placed my coding brick! Just the one, but that's all I'm aiming for. I've got to remember that when I try to do too much, I burn out and then do zilch. One brick at a time...

 

 

Day 1.3

Diet: Veggies: check! Water: check! w0ot!

Fitness: Finally, FINALLY, got to do BollyX again! It's been 3 weeks and I missed it so. A nice new person in class today, who says she'll come back for more; so that's all good. 

OH AND THE NEWS! I CAN DO ONE PULL-UP! It's not a *beautiful* pull-up, but it's a *real* pull-up. I can only do one a day. But that's okay.

Life: Half-hour of coding done, *and* I worked on the Xmas stuff. I can finally post an X for Xmas.

 

Scoreboard for Week 1:
DIET \\ Fruit&Veg  X X X - - - - || H2O  X X X - - - - \\
FIT    \\ KB  X - - || STR  X - - || AGL  X X X - - - - || FLEX  - - - \\
LIFE \\ Code  X X X - - - - || Xmas  O O X - - - - \\

[Manarelle]

14 hours ago, otterbyte said:

OH AND THE NEWS! I CAN DO ONE PULL-UP! It's not a *beautiful* pull-up, but it's a *real* pull-up. I can only do one a day. But that's okay.

 

Hahaha, congrats! One is still more than none! And if you keep at it, that one will bring friends along too. You got this!

[otterbyte]

Week 1 Updates

Day 1.1

 

Spoiler

 

Diet: Veggies *and* water, so a check for both here.

Fitness: Did Startbodyweight (Up to 6/5/5 reps). Did day 1 of Vitamin..so fun, with the bearwalking! Started the hip flexibility routine, but craziness this day meant I didn't even *start* working out until almost 10pm, and by then it was 11, so...gonna try to fit that in on Day 1.2. Still haven't settled on a routine I like for this. I may switch to GMB's splits routine, which I like better, but it's loooooong - and I'm already running short of time with life getting in the way all the time. Darn responsibilities! Adulting is hard! 

Life: I joined the Monkey Tamers United challenge. I'm keeping it super simple, one brick a day to represent a half-hour of coding that day. And I laid 2 bricks! One was half-assed, but it's down there! As for Xmas stuff, my old laptop (which has all the photo data and software) requires a lot of cajoling. I spend some time yesterday clearing out files so I can get it upgraded to the latest OS, which *should* let me update iPhoto, which *should* let me finally create this &$*%^ photobook! I said December 11th to finish Xmas stuff, didn't I? What was I thinking???!!? ...okay, breathe...breathe...oooommmmmm...

 

 

 

Day 1.2

Spoiler

 

Diet: Did my veggies & drank my water...I think I'm starting to get the hang of this water thing.

Fitness: Kickboxing day! Oy oy oy. Today we finished up with Plank Jacks. I didn't know what those were, and I wish I could still maintain my ignorance. But no. We did eight 20-second rounds of these bad boys, with 10-second rests in between. And that was at the end of class! I think our instructors come up with these crazy moves over drinks on the weekends. ("No, no, wait, I've got a better one. This will really wear them out...." That sort of thing.) I also did W1D2 of Vitamin. Shoulder rolls, forward and back. Those need...a LOT more work. But they were fun! I may repeat Day 2, as there are only 4 days of exercises in Week 1 of the program.

Life: Xmas stuff is still stalled while I get the old laptop working properly. But I placed my coding brick! Just the one, but that's all I'm aiming for. I've got to remember that when I try to do too much, I burn out and then do zilch. One brick at a time...

 

 

 

Day 1.3

Spoiler

 

Diet: Veggies: check! Water: check! w0ot!

Fitness: Finally, FINALLY, got to do BollyX again! It's been 3 weeks and I missed it so. A nice new person in class today, who says she'll come back for more; so that's all good. 

OH AND THE NEWS! I CAN DO ONE PULL-UP! It's not a *beautiful* pull-up, but it's a *real* pull-up. I can only do one a day. But that's okay.

Life: Half-hour of coding done, *and* I worked on the Xmas stuff. I can finally post an X for Xmas. 

 

 

 

 

Day 1.4

Diet: Ate good things! Fruits and veggies, and also my water. And I've got beans soaking for tomorrow, so I can make 15-bean soup again. Because I found out that I reaaaaally like 15-bean soup. And if I have a big pot of it all ready, I'm less likely to eat a bowl of pasta the size of my head.

Fitness: Did a flexibility session, at last! I'm going to have to hustle if I'm going to get two more of these in this week. Ended up doing GMB's stretches for side splits. It's going to be a long long time before I can do anything like a side split (if ever) but hopefully this should help my pancake look a little less pathetic.  Also, kickboxing night. No more plank jacks (thank goodness) but there were new tortures in store for us, so we wouldn't miss them.

Life: I got the new OS loaded on my old laptop, as well as the new photo software, and everything seems to be running smoothly. Went through all the pix from 2016 and picked out the best ones for the photo album. Now, to lay this sucker out! Also, I *just* finished my 1/2 hour of coding, so I get to record that brick before I face-plant into my bed. Goodnight, and good luck!

 

Scoreboard for Week 1:
DIET \\ Fruit&Veg  X X X X - - - || H2O  X X X X - - - \\
FIT    \\ KB  X X - || STR  X - - || AGL  X X X X - - - || FLEX  X - - \\
LIFE \\ Code  X X X X - - - || Xmas  O O X X - - - \\

[mediaguy99]

What are you coding?

[otterbyte]

16 minutes ago, mediaguy99 said:

What are you coding?

 

I program in VBA for MS Access - I have one client for whom, for the last 15 years, I've been building and maintaining a suite of custom-built database apps that they then lease to auto dealerships. It's great because I can just code, which I love, and they handle all of the selling and dealing with end users. I just get to sit in my jammies and be a codey otter whenever I can. Which hasn't been as consistent as it should be lately, hence adding it to my "life" goal.  Anyhow, it's a lot of fun trying to get VBA to do fancy things like class structures and object inheritance (kinda sorta) and what not. 

 

Do you also code? What sorts of things do you do?

[otterbyte]

Week 1 Updates

 

Day 1.1

  Hide contents

Diet: Veggies *and* water, so a check for both here.

Fitness: Did Startbodyweight (Up to 6/5/5 reps). Did day 1 of Vitamin..so fun, with the bearwalking! Started the hip flexibility routine, but craziness this day meant I didn't even *start* working out until almost 10pm, and by then it was 11, so...gonna try to fit that in on Day 1.2. Still haven't settled on a routine I like for this. I may switch to GMB's splits routine, which I like better, but it's loooooong - and I'm already running short of time with life getting in the way all the time. Darn responsibilities! Adulting is hard! 

Life: I joined the Monkey Tamers United challenge. I'm keeping it super simple, one brick a day to represent a half-hour of coding that day. And I laid 2 bricks! One was half-assed, but it's down there! As for Xmas stuff, my old laptop (which has all the photo data and software) requires a lot of cajoling. I spend some time yesterday clearing out files so I can get it upgraded to the latest OS, which *should* let me update iPhoto, which *should* let me finally create this &$*%^ photobook! I said December 11th to finish Xmas stuff, didn't I? What was I thinking???!!? ...okay, breathe...breathe...oooommmmmm...

 

Day 1.2

  Hide contents

Diet: Did my veggies & drank my water...I think I'm starting to get the hang of this water thing.

Fitness: Kickboxing day! Oy oy oy. Today we finished up with Plank Jacks. I didn't know what those were, and I wish I could still maintain my ignorance. But no. We did eight 20-second rounds of these bad boys, with 10-second rests in between. And that was at the end of class! I think our instructors come up with these crazy moves over drinks on the weekends. ("No, no, wait, I've got a better one. This will really wear them out...." That sort of thing.) I also did W1D2 of Vitamin. Shoulder rolls, forward and back. Those need...a LOT more work. But they were fun! I may repeat Day 2, as there are only 4 days of exercises in Week 1 of the program.

Life: Xmas stuff is still stalled while I get the old laptop working properly. But I placed my coding brick! Just the one, but that's all I'm aiming for. I've got to remember that when I try to do too much, I burn out and then do zilch. One brick at a time...

 

Day 1.3

  Hide contents

Diet: Veggies: check! Water: check! w0ot!

Fitness: Finally, FINALLY, got to do BollyX again! It's been 3 weeks and I missed it so. A nice new person in class today, who says she'll come back for more; so that's all good. 

OH AND THE NEWS! I CAN DO ONE PULL-UP! It's not a *beautiful* pull-up, but it's a *real* pull-up. I can only do one a day. But that's okay.

Life: Half-hour of coding done, *and* I worked on the Xmas stuff. I can finally post an X for Xmas. 

 

Day 1.4

Spoiler

Diet: Ate good things! Fruits and veggies, and also my water. And I've got beans soaking for tomorrow, so I can make 15-bean soup again. Because I found out that I reaaaaally like 15-bean soup. And if I have a big pot of it all ready, I'm less likely to eat a bowl of pasta the size of my head.

Fitness: Did a flexibility session, at last! I'm going to have to hustle if I'm going to get two more of these in this week. Ended up doing GMB's stretches for side splits. It's going to be a long long time before I can do anything like a side split (if ever) but hopefully this should help my pancake look a little less pathetic.  Also, kickboxing night. No more plank jacks (thank goodness) but there were new tortures in store for us, so we wouldn't miss them.

Life: I got the new OS loaded on my old laptop, as well as the new photo software, and everything seems to be running smoothly. Went through all the pix from 2016 and picked out the best ones for the photo album. Now, to lay this sucker out! Also, I *just* finished my 1/2 hour of coding, so I get to record that brick before I face-plant into my bed. Goodnight, and good luck!

 

Day 1.5

Diet: Only saved by 15-bean soup - no other fruit or veggie was consumed. But it still counts, darnit! Water was drunk.

Fitness: Did StartBodyweight (up to 6/6/5 reps). My daughter was hanging out with a couple of her friends who take parkour downtown at APK, so I inveigled them into helping my practice my safety rolls from Vitamin. Note to self: playground mulch is considerably harder than gym mats. Have the bruises on my shoulder to prove it. ow ow ow ow...

Life: Coding - yay! Xmas - boo!

 

Day 1.6

Diet: A fruit *and* two veggies. Take *that*, diet goals. Water drunk. (By that I mean, I drank the water, not that my water is inebriated. English is weird.)

Fitness: Kickboxing day, with the eternally (almost insufferably) chipper Saturday morning instructor. No flexibility or Vitamin today, probably gonna end up posting some red zeros for the week.

Diet: Total wash. Nothing for today. The combo of holiday prep + my older daughter's show is in tech week + helping my mom move into her new condo, has really kicked my behind. Going to try to plan better next week, as I'm already going to blow my 12/11 Xmas stuff deadline. 

 

Scoreboard for Week 1:
DIET \\ Fruit&Veg  X X X X X X - || H2O  X X X X X X - \\
FIT    \\ KB  X X X || STR  X X - || AGL  X X X X X O - || FLEX  X O - \\
LIFE \\ Code  X X X X X O - || Xmas  O O X X O O - \\

[mediaguy99]

On 12/9/2016 at 8:30 AM, otterbyte said:

 

I program in VBA for MS Access - I have one client for whom, for the last 15 years, I've been building and maintaining a suite of custom-built database apps that they then lease to auto dealerships. It's great because I can just code, which I love, and they handle all of the selling and dealing with end users. I just get to sit in my jammies and be a codey otter whenever I can. Which hasn't been as consistent as it should be lately, hence adding it to my "life" goal.  Anyhow, it's a lot of fun trying to get VBA to do fancy things like class structures and object inheritance (kinda sorta) and what not. 

 

Do you also code? What sorts of things do you do?

 

Cool, sounds neat!

 

As for me coding, I don't really code per se.  I configure.  Basically I'm an AV Engineer and so I design AV systems that do a lot of intra-system commands and controls.  OCCASIONALLY that involves actual coding but usually it's just linking commands in an interface.  I am working towards learning more about the actual coding that goes into touch panel programming (it involves C+) and I've done some coding in Python, Java, and C+.