CraftyHeathen The Healthy Frontier

[Wolfy]

CHALLENGE LOG

Earth Date: December the First, Two Thousand Sixteen. 

 

This month marks One Year since I first began my voyage into the unknown frontier of becoming healthy. I joined the Rebellion and never looked back! I have learned many things over this past year and have shared in many failures as well as successes. In all I have gone so far from 200 pounds down to 165. This year I hope to get down to about 140 and maintain. I have gone from size 18 pants down to 12 and hope to get to 8 by this time next year. I have learned that there are no short cuts and that slow, small progresses add up in the end. 

 

I have just begun the second attempt at reaching the Healthy Frontier. My previous attempts were thwarted by the stresses that life has to bestow so generously upon my family. Having recovered and found myself ten pounds heavier, I have researched the problem areas and laid out a fresh course to begin anew. 

 

Moving forward for the month of December, I will be following a strict health plan that is laid out in detail below. It is designed to start with the basics and will build once Mastery of Basics has been confirmed.  

 

An "X" indicated goal was achieved. 

 

DIET 1: Maintain caloric deficit as tracked using application name MyFitnessPal. Notate every item ingested, regardless of size (example: "just a bite.") Allot additional daily caloric intake based upon additional physical activity tracked via the personal fitness transponder, herafer referred to as "FitBit." Remain in "Green Zone" to achieve best results.

| X X X _ _ _ X | _ X X _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ _ X | _ _ _ _ X _ _ |

 

DIET 2: Follow paleo-centric nutrition plan for optimal health. Alot for one  non-paleo item per day (example cereal or hot dog bun) to allow for smoother transition, maintaining resolve to lifestyle changes, and legitimize the longevity of follow through. This is not crash and burn mission, this is a change in my relationship to food. Many small changes over time.  

| _ X _ _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ X X | _ _ _ _ X _ _ |

 

FITNESS: Increase endurance while in the recesses of space by meeting daily step goals as laid out by my FitBit. Estimated daily goal will be approximately 5-6 miles. 

| X X X X X _ X | X X X _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ _ X | _ _ _ _ X _ _ |

 

LIFE: Use off duty time effectively by allotting at least one hour daily towards yarn projects. The holidays are coming and there are 4 items that MUST be completed.  Do something for 1 Hour that brings me happiness. This can be crocheting, watching a movie with the hubby, spending time on the rebellion forum and listening to good music. Anything that I find enjoyable and relaxing. 

| X X X X X X X | X X X _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ X X | _ _ _ X X _ _ |

 

[Wolfy]

So this past week has been a trial and error for the challenge starting tomorrow. Getting back into a healthy lifestyle has been challenging to say the least. We currently are residing with my monster-in-law. Half the time she is sweet and wonderful and helpful, the other half she is a screaming, yelling, cursing, throwing stuff monster. Bi-polar without medication. So yeah, our living situation lends itself to some interesting challenges. 

 

Stay The Course

• Been getting up with the kiddos before dawn (yes, that is when my lovely toddlers decide we wake up) and as soon as the sun starts peaking out we have been going on a walk. Averaging 3.8 miles in about an hour and a half. I LOVE getting out early in the cool air (omg it's 70s in South Florida!) and getting the kids outside. Getting a HUGE chunk of my steps done before 9am means I can focus on other things throughout the day without feeling guilty. Woot woot!
• Lessened caffeine intake by swapping Rockstar Silver (240mg caffeine) to Rockstar Sugar Free (160 mg). Cut it by a third by just switching which one I drink. Half way through the challenge I will begin phasing that out for coffee. I am a caffeine addict. 100% accept this. 

Work On Issues For Boss Battle

• Sticking to a paleo-centric diet during the day has been a bit difficult. I come from a huge italian family and carbs are BIG. Swap poptarts in AM for eggs. Swap 1 full sandwich for 1/2  a sandwich for less bread. For sweet cravings, have an applesauce or banana readily available. 
• Have yet to meet the 10 cups of water a day that I'm supposed to drink. Averaging up to 6. Make 16oz tea in AM and PM to compensate. 

 

Overall my habits have drastically improved from a month ago and I am excited to continue challenging myself. 

[Tova, Warrior of the Wilds]

Hi there!

 

Following because small changes FTW, but even more so because of Star Trek.

[Wolfy]

20 hours ago, Tova the Vibrant said:

Hi there!

 

Following because small changes FTW, but even more so because of Star Trek.

Thank you Tova! This gif makes my heart smile. Love Captain Picard soooo much! Glad to have you aboard Tova!

[Wolfy]

CHALLENGE LOG

Earth Date December the Fifth, Two Thousand Sixteen

 

DIET 1:

The maiden voyage of the SSCrafty is going well. Calories remained well within reasonable limits as indicated by my wrist transponder program (aka FitBit, LOVE IT!) About 100 calories of wiggle room were the result of due diligence and planning ahead. Healthy snacks were kept easily within my reach and foods that were perilous (cookies, etc) were put in higher cabinets where this short space traveler could not easily reach them. A special appreciate is to be noted to my husband who's epic tallness assisted in this task. 

 

DIET 2:

While traveling in the Elder Zone (aka my parents house) we successfully navigated past numerous perils (donuts, cookies, and everything carb/sugar loaded and evil). During my daily visit to this area of space I came prepared with Apple sauce cups (when I needed something sweet) and water. I will follow through with this action plan to circumvent unnecessary carb-loaded peril.  As a side note, does anyone know approximately how many carbs is appropriate to be considered "low carb." Currently my goal is 100, but in truth these are new areas that I am traveling and am going mostly off of my gut and what MyFitnessPal automatically suggested. For future notice, I will no be eating mashed potatoes very much moving forward as the level of carbs took me aback. Daily carbs was 133 - well over my goal. 

 

FITNESS:

In the morning, the crew (my two toddlers) and I went out on our usual morning expedition. We traversed over 3.8 miles, our normal circuit around the ship (our neighborhood). Daily miles exceeded transponder suggestion at 6.7 miles for the day. 

 

LIFE:

I have altered the course of this initiative slightly. Instead of just focusing on my crochet projects (which have admittedly gotten backed up), I will instead be focusing at least 1 hour a day on inner satisfaction by spending that time doing "something that brings me happiness." This can be playing around on this forum and listening to music (which I NEVER get to do), watching a good movie and cuddling with the hubby (again, never get to), or working on one of my many crochet projects. I spend far too much time focusing on others and for my own mental health I need to set aside SOME time for myself. Last night I spent time watching a funny movie with hubby and enjoying a nice glass of red wine (only 7 carbs woot woot!).

 

All in all I consider it a good start to the challenge. A few things that need tweaking (potatoes how I will miss thee!) which is awesome because it means that I am learning and working to improve. 

 

END TRANSMISSION

[Elastigirl]

I like how you reworked your life goal. Great planning to win and navigate past the sweets with the applesauce. People's numbers vary on the low carb. When I was losing weight, I tried to be under 100, usually somewhere around 50 -75

[Wolfy]

22 minutes ago, Elastigirl said:

I like how you reworked your life goal. Great planning to win and navigate past the sweets with the applesauce. People's numbers vary on the low carb. When I was losing weight, I tried to be under 100, usually somewhere around 50 -75

 Thank you! I will adjust MyFitnessPal to reflect the lower carbs. It can be so confusing. This is the first time I'm really focusing on carbs at all, usually its just calories. 

 

Update: adjusted MFP to 25% carbs which brought it down to 75 daily. This is going to be tough, but with a little willpower and planning, I WILL ROCK THIS! 

[Wolfy]

Challenge Log

Earth Date December the Sixth, Two Thousand Sixteen

 

For the first time in a while I feel optimistic about where we are heading. A clearly defined path lays out the journey ahead. Our mission is clear: traverse the month while navigating some pretty dangerous expanses of space: holiday world, the elder zone, well intentioned friends who bring you cookies.... That being said, yesterdays leg of the journey went flawlessly. Each goal was achieve with maximum efficiency! Below is a summary of how each goal went.

 

DIET 1

The daily allotted goal for calories of 1786 was achieved with 300 additional calories available, but not consumed. Alternatives have continued to assist in my success here and logging foods before I eat so I know exactly what I am ingesting. 

 

DIET 2

My newly altered goal of under 75 carbs was met with 2 to spare! This included a ration of homemade lasagna which totaled 36 of those 73. I have also discovered that BBQ sauce has a high number of carbs, 1 ounce equating to 15 carbs. For dinner I rocked the low carb with a steak (0) and asparagus (1) and it was quite delicious!

 

FITNESS

My wrist transponder informed me that I exceeded my goal, walking a total of 6.9 miles. The crew and I taking our daily walk has been a large part of the success in this area. Almost 4 miles daily on our route. The fresh air each morning is quite enjoyable and greeting and speaking with the local inhabitants is great for my generally socially inept life. I have met Bob the Builder (yes, he really does build houses! lol) each morning as he tends to his yard. The flora is beautiful and seasonal decorations are abundant in a large portion of the domiciles. I have found if our walk is not completed in the morning the likelihood of completing it is greatly diminished.  

 

LIFE

Yesterday's life goal was met by updating my challenge log here and posting responses to several other threads from my fellow rangers. Then more time was spent with hubby. woot woot!

[Wolfy]

On an interesting note, my mother in law saw her doctor today and her doctor wants her to switch to a low/no carb diet to lower some things that were dangerously high. This means that I might have a partner in crime to this low carb living thing (hubby is a carbaholic and I know it's a lost cause there!). I'm not super handy in the kitchen but I can bake fish and chicken and cook up some veggies. Nothing fancy though. I run on "poultry seasoning" "steak seasoning" or "old bay seasoning" for fish. lol. Idiot proof. When I want to get fancy I've been using a cook book my mom bought me from way back in college, betty crockers picture cook book. Looking over it in a healthy light I must say OMG the recipes in there are so fatty and carby that they could kill someone! Definately need to search online for more paleo-ish recipes. If anyone has a good source (besides what's posted on the Academy) I would greatly appreciate the share! Otherwise, eating is going to get very tedious quickly! lol Will post updates on what kind of foods I come up with. 

[Wolfy]

A new job has kept me fairly busy (yay!) so pardon that I have not updated. I have been considering what is going well, and what is going not so well. Below are my findings.

 

GOING WELL

*Daily walks with the boys. New job is a PM job, so I can continue to take daily walks with the tiny heathens. 

*Logging everything I eat, whether I'm proud of it or not. This is about 80%. I would like to improve, but still proud of this overall.

*Staying within calories. Sometimes I go a bit over, but all in all doing well here. 

 

 

NOT GOING SO WELL

*carbs. carbs, i have concluded, are one of the most addictive substances for me. Forget alcohol, pot, or even caffeine. I almost got into a fight with hubby over apoptart. so yeah, evil addictive monster that I need to squash.

 

[Wolfy]

Ok, so I have been working hard to Crush my Inner Demons - DESTROY THE CARB BEAST!!!

 

I am proud to say that I am shifting my nutritional focus on a more paleo-centric diet. The key that has been helping me this week are my alts - tunafish and applesauce. Whenever I am hungry and find myself scouring the pantry (which has no cookies, candy, etc anymore yay for clearing out the closet!) I have the applesauce front and center for my sweet tooth and tunafish when I just want to eat. I mix the tuna with some old bay seasoning and i'm good to go. So far combining the two has worked well. Also drastically working to increase my water intake. Averaging 8-10 cups a day. Woot Woot! 

 

For lunch today I went to the grocery store and got fresh salmon burgers. Literally just shredded salmon and seasoning. Only 9 carbs in the whole thing. I added a tbsp of mayo for flavor. All in all, baby steps are finally moving foward. I also lost 2 pounds last week thanks to these changes. I'm still pretty fail on prepping stuff. I need to set aside a day that I can cook all the things for the week and freeze them. I'm thinking I might search for my crockpot and cook some chicken and veggies in there. 

 

I have identified the battle. I am studying the pattern and memorizing it so I know when the beast is priming for an attack. And I am doing the best I can to stay away and choose my alts instead. I'll be interested to see the week over week difference on MFP. 

[Wolfy]

Challenge End Recap:

 

This challenge was largely a learning experience for me. After this challenge I have realized the level of dependency I have on carbs and sugar. I have spent the month memorizing the carb beasts battle style and have learned ways to adapt, attack, or avoid the beast's carby attacks. I have successfully been implementing those strategies this past week and lost 3.5 pounds! total of about 6# for the month! Win! I cannot wait to see what I can do this next month! I plan to begin the academy bodyweight training to my goals. Wish me luck!