3rd Challenge Lucky! Spikings Respawns

[Spikings]

I almost forgot to make a challenge thread completely, jeez!! Ok, hi there guys! This is now my third consecutive 4-week challenge, and while I did about average on the last two, I've managed to gain some weight in that time (about 6lbs, ugh). Probably because of the holidays and all the treats that come with it, but I wasn't amazing with my food even before that. The optimist in me likes to think a couple of those pounds might come from new muscle since my gym game has been high and I've beenupping my weights slowly, which means progress! But we shall see...

 

I hope to change the bad habits with a hard-hitting four weeks so I can at least get back to the size I was before - I'm starting to notice some extra 'me' that wasn't around before. >_> So with that, the challenges!

 

THE CHALLENGES:

 

Current weight: 181lbs.

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend.
  • This shouldn't be too hard, as I did break the habit of drinking by myself last month for the most part. I mean again, holidays got in the way, but I still feel confident I can do this, even with some whiskey and a bottle of mulled wine left over. Just got to keep on that water or occasional tea.

• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories.
  • Now this one WILL be hard. I have 1460 calories per day, and if I'm sensible I should be able to achieve this goal for the most part. If I have a...not so sensible day though, I will get worried for myself. This one is all about discipline and sticking to the rules for 28 days. If I can find a way to put up the summary of each day on here, I shall do!

• Go to the gym every weekday.
  • More or less the same as last time, but cutting out the weekend and trying to make the weekday gym outing a solid. I'm almost there and I'm clocking in about four days a week right now. If I can get that last day down, then I should be fine. Only 20x 40 min seshes, right? What's the worst that could happen?

 

LEVEL UP MY LIFE:

 

• Draw something for myself every day.
  • I'm a full-time artist and art is my life. I couldn't stop if I had to. <3 However I often run out of energy at the end of the day to take time for myself and draw my own thing. I mean I do sometimes, but I don't even give myself time to improve or do studies, and if I don't do regular studies then I'm holding myself back. I don't know how easy this challenge will be for me, but I'll see how it goes! If I can post up some art bits on here, I will!

 

 

So here goes, third time lucky! Or better yet, third time disciplined.

 

 

[Spikings]

'Kay, let's get started! And like most first days, it's a full house!

 

DAY 1:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • Easily done today. Ain't no one having alcohol on a Monday night, eck.

 

• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • Not only did I get in under my calorie limit, I did so by 560 calories! If I do that every day this week then I'll be sailing through no problem! I've also found that a good way of me keeping on track is to put in the food for the next day before I have it, so that I know how much I'll have left, and it also sets in stone my food plans for the day. I'm also going to try and stay away from red meat a little bit right now as I know that's pretty hard hitting for calories, and swap it out for fish instead. Now to up my fish meal game...anyone got any good recipes?

 

• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • It was hard to wake up today, but the moment I considered sleeping in I felt so bad so I got up anyway. It's really starting to sink in now, I love it! Leg day today and I raised a few of my weights and just about managed, but I had to cut it short as I was feeling a little light-headed and dizzy. More water in the morning next time, methinks. :/

 

• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • Drew two lots of stuff for myself today! I finished off a Pokemon Sun/Moon fanart piece you that you can find here, and I also did some additional sketchwork on a personal project I've had lying around for years. It's a graphic novel/webcomic kinda thing, and I've just sketched over 25 pages now, so I'm chuffed!

 

 

Here's the MyFitnessPal of the day. I might actually do this as a weekly thing just because of the hassle it took to get this screenshot up here! Also ignore the Sunday measurement, I.... I finished off a Celebrations chocolate box. >_<

 

[otterbyte]

2 hours ago, Spikings said:

I've also found that a good way of me keeping on track is to put in the food for the next day before I have it, so that I know how much I'll have left, and it also sets in stone my food plans for the day.

 

I do this just before I eat. (I'm not organized enough to plan out a whole day's worth of meals  ) And I find that if I enter my calories before I eat them, I enjoy the food more because I've already 'paid' for it. Brains are crazy, what?

 

Sounds like you've got an amazing start to this challenge!

[Manarelle]

Nice all-around challenge. If you need a fellow tracker on MFP, I'm there under the same name. Your art is super impressive, by the way! I don't have a twitter account to give feedback, but consider a +1 added to that drawing. 

[Spikings]

On 10/01/2017 at 1:06 AM, otterbyte said:

 

I do this just before I eat. (I'm not organized enough to plan out a whole day's worth of meals  ) And I find that if I enter my calories before I eat them, I enjoy the food more because I've already 'paid' for it. Brains are crazy, what?

 

Sounds like you've got an amazing start to this challenge!

 

Same here! I don't do it for every meal, but it gives me a rough idea of where the calories are going to be and how much I have left for the rest of the day. It's kind of like a guarantee that "if you stick to this, you'll have achieved this" kinda thing. I love it!

 

On 10/01/2017 at 3:32 PM, Manarelle said:

Nice all-around challenge. If you need a fellow tracker on MFP, I'm there under the same name. Your art is super impressive, by the way! I don't have a twitter account to give feedback, but consider a +1 added to that drawing. 

 

Ahh thanks for letting me know! I've just sent a request on MFP, it'll be great to see someone else doing the journey with me! And thank you again, I practice a lot with it and always try to improve. All feedback is appreciated and keeps me going with it all!

 

 

DAY 2:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • Done again, not even thinking about it as often as I was a few months back.
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • Another great day with 584 calories remaining out of 1490, thanks to my 35-min commute to work every day and my 30-40 mins in the gym every morning. I'm surprisingly still holding back from snacks at work, which is amazing. I'm just having fruit if I'm hungry, and I've also took in a jar of boiled sweets to satisfy my taste buds if I get distracted (aniseed balls, so yummy). Thumbs up here!
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • Arms today, and I went up some weights here as well! I can now do 8kg on each arm with dumbbell shoulder presses, and I've also moved up a weight on my tricep extensions. Gotta get them gains, bro!
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • I did a quick study at lunch of a woman sitting down, so nothing too fancy. Since it's at work I can't show you here, but if I have the chance I will do.

DAY 3:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • All good here!
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • 369 calories remaining today, so another good result! This also breaks my habit of only sticking to good food for two days only, as I've now done it for three! xD I'm hoping to make the next few days count too, but when it gets to the weekend I might have a spot of trouble here. I'll do my best to be good about it though!
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • Back day this time, and it's my least favourite day. I don't know whether I just suck at getting the form right for some of these exercises (I feel it more in my arms than my back sometimes) or whether I just have a weak back in general and need to find other exercises for strengthening it. I'll probably have a quick google tonight and see what I find, as this is the only area where I feel like I'm getting nowhere. I want to be able to do a pull-up in a few months, gosh darn.
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • I....kinda did? I started shading in the study from yesterday then focused on the face a bit and treated it like a traditional painting (no undo's, resizing, erasing, etc) and that was nice. I don't know if I got anything from it, but it was a relaxing way to pass the lunchtime.

[Spikings]

Here's the lady I've been drawing the last couple of days, and a few studies - I started getting distracted by the Games Done Quick charity so I only got a couple in

 

 

[Manarelle]

20 hours ago, Spikings said:

Ahh thanks for letting me know! I've just sent a request on MFP, it'll be great to see someone else doing the journey with me! And thank you again, I practice a lot with it and always try to improve. All feedback is appreciated and keeps me going with it all!

 

Woot, added! Love the sketches, by the way. I'm amazed at how much can be conveyed by even a rough outline (done properly, that is). 

 

What are you doing for the back day at the gym? That seems like a good area to take slowly to avoid injuries. Looks like a good week overall though!

[Spikings]

3 hours ago, Manarelle said:

 

Woot, added! Love the sketches, by the way. I'm amazed at how much can be conveyed by even a rough outline (done properly, that is). 

 

What are you doing for the back day at the gym? That seems like a good area to take slowly to avoid injuries. Looks like a good week overall though!

 

Woo! And thank youuu! Same here with the rough outlines, it's still a skill I can try and do with reference, but one day I hope to do it as well without reference up all the time, improve my visual memory and all that jazz.

 

My back day at the gym seems ok on paper, but in practice it just doesn't flow so well. Here's the quick list:

 

• 3x 10 second Deadhang Pullups (I need to buy gloves for these soon)
• Deltoid  - Fly 4 sets, 10 reps
• Lat Pulldown - 1 set 10 reps, 4 sets 8 reps.
• Close-grip pulldown - 4 sets, 8 reps. (not been able to get the right equipment to do this yet)
• Divergin seated row - 1 set 10 reps, 4 sets 8 reps.
• Seated dip - 4 sets, 8 reps. (more of a shoulder exercise, but its a nice finisher)

I find the problem is when I use a lot of the equipment for these back exercises, my arms start to feel the burn instead of my back. Even now, as I did my back yesterday, I feel no soreness/tenderness. It's kind of like going in a circle really.

 

 

DAY 4:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • Still going strong.
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • 496 calories under target - this almost seems to be too good to be true, I swear I'm calculating it right! Maybe this is the difference when I don't go to the biscuit cupboard at work anymore. Also I'm finding it hard to put my gym exercise down into calories as the muscle section of MFP doesn't weigh in calories. But I'm huffing and sweating enough to be feeling something, so I put down "aerobics, general" for 15 minutes which gives me a 180 calorie deficit. If this is incorrect let me know, but it's the only way I can really measure this part of my day right now. :0
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • Speaking of the gym, another day was done! Chest day today and while I still haven't managed to move up my bench presses, I can still feel improvement on some of the machines and have moved up to 8kg dumbbells quite nicely now. I mean, it's difficult to finish, but definitely not difficult to start and that's the main thing!
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • As seen above, yup I've been drawing! And I also did some more sketching this evening of other characters for my graphic novel project which was cool! So yeah, job done

 

 

Also I'm really surprised I'm on Day 4 and still at 100% completion 0_0 I know it won't last forever, but oh my gosh this is amazing for me right now. It's like everything has just clicked for this challenge, it's amazing. <3

[Manarelle]

37 minutes ago, Spikings said:

I find the problem is when I use a lot of the equipment for these back exercises, my arms start to feel the burn instead of my back. Even now, as I did my back yesterday, I feel no soreness/tenderness. It's kind of like going in a circle really.

 

What are your goals for your back? Are you aiming for Schwarzenegger-esque rippling muscles, or strengthening to recover from/prevent an injury? 

 

Grats on the 100%, too! That's one heck of a roll you're building up there!

[Spikings]

On 12/01/2017 at 10:53 PM, Manarelle said:

 

What are your goals for your back? Are you aiming for Schwarzenegger-esque rippling muscles, or strengthening to recover from/prevent an injury? 

 

Grats on the 100%, too! That's one heck of a roll you're building up there!

 

 

Well last March I had a setback with a back injury due to too much coughing when I had a cold. For the next month I was on and off meds/work trying to let the muscles heal again, and it totally threw my exercise and diet out of whack. I'm not as flexible with my back or as strong as I was before then, so I'm just hoping to get that strength back and more. Ideally, my main goal is to do one full pull-up and then work that up to five! If I can do that, I would be beyond pleased.

 

DAY 5:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • Five days without alcohol, feels really good, guys. <3
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • Despite the fact I snacked a little bit, I still managed to have 750ish calories left in my day. 0_0 I wasn't even hungry after my small meal today, it's ridiculous. I mean, ridiculously good, but I've been fighting this battle for months and now all of a sudden it feels so easy. The results are already starting to come in as I've lost 2 pounds since Day 1 - 3 more to go until I'm back to pre-xmas weight! Now to see how I fare this weekend, as I know my diet is going to be severely challenged.
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • Five days in a row in the gym, a first!! I really didn't want to get up today (my bed was a cocoon and outside was snow and windy gales), but I did it anyway. Another leg day in a week and despite my concerns, I did great! Even moved up a couple of weights here too! Now to do all of this again, three more times ;D
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • Was finding it hard to get something down until I came across a  face-angle study. So I spent the next three hours killing my hand to bring you this gif! She's my main character from my story and she's called Clara. She has black eyes, but for good reasons. ;P
  • 

[Spikings]

So here comes the weekend! And it was a doozy.

 

DAY 6:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • Had a fair amount of alcohol saturday as a bunch of us got together to play board games and party games - a lot of fun! I remembered to drink some water though, stop when I felt done and had no hangover the next morning, so all good!
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. FAIL!
  • Nope - my main meals were fine, but then in the evening I just snacked and then the alcohol drove up the calories big time. I clocked in at around 1700 calories, maybe a little more as its hard to list down all the small sweets I was munching on. But I guess if I'm going to have a fail day, it might as well be at the weekend with a bunch of awesome people. Shame I broke my 100% stroke though!
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • Today was a rest day, and I think my body needed it! The lie-in was appreciated, and I still did a lot of walking to public transport to get over to my boyfriends, so it wasn't all sitting around.
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. FAIL!
  • I had a bit of time in the morning, but figured if I took my sketchbook with me I'd do some on the train. I forgot on the train, then by the time I was with my friends, that was that really. No problem though, I'll be making up for that on Day 7!

DAY 7:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • Definitely no alcohol today, just recovering from the night before. No hangover, but my stomach felt like it wasn't used to everything being crammed in after 5 days of goodness. So I've just been sipping on water and trying to get my 2.5 litre goal complete, or close enough before I go to sleep tonight.
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • About 200 calories or so left - I had some chocolate snacks for breakfast, and then also some mussels and whelks. Like I say, my food routine goes everywhere when I'm socialising! But still I had my protein for the day. Otherwise nothing much to say, I haven't been too hungry so I kept food to a minimum.
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • My second rest day, and just as appreciated as the first. Apart from my legs, I'd say my whole body is back to normal and ready to start off a new week!
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • Not done yet, but I'm going to be sketching out some Team Skulls in my sketchbook this evening, and maybe a couple of Rowlets too.

 

And below should be my weekly calorie chart! Over 2,000 lost and then some, which shpuld equate to at least 1lb of fat. I'll weigh myself tomorrow morning and see.

 

[Manarelle]

Woot, grats on a solid week 1! And thank you for the reminder- I hadn't updated mfp with all the weekend stuff. Looks like you've got some solid habits in the making!

[Spikings]

4 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Woot, grats on a solid week 1! And thank you for the reminder- I hadn't updated mfp with all the weekend stuff. Looks like you've got some solid habits in the making!

 

Thank you! It's taken years to get to this point, but finally everything is starting to click! Keep updating mfp, it's a pain when food outside of your routine comes your way, but it's always nice to see the results in the end!

 

DAY 8:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • Still got plenty around the house that I haven't touched. Waiting for that sweet pay-day!
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • Another solid day with 759 calories to spare! Also worth noting that I'm getting my carb/fat/protein macro ratio down to amost perfection (currently going for a 50% carbs, 30% fat and 20% protein, although if anyone thinks a better ratio would suit for losing my holiday weight then let me know.
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • Done - I took it a little easier today with some of the exercises, but still felt the burn well and truly before the end. Dreaded back day tomorrow, I'm off to search for more exercises!
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • Continued with my pokemon sketches in my moleskine book, inked a couple too. They might take another day or two but it's nice to just have sketches ready and waiting to ink in my sketchbook from time to time.

 

I do feel like I dont have enough time in the evenings to do other stuff though - I feel guilty if I don't do constructive stuff and just chill, so I always race to be doing something, but it's now 8:30pm and I need to sleep in two hours! :0 I have sandwiches to make, a shower, learning some GML code and hopefully start Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I've never played a Zelda game before btw, so I'm really looking forward to it!

[Spikings]

DAY 9:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • Still going.
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • About 300 or so calories left today, reason being I got pretty hungry in the afternoon so I grabbed some pistachios, and also made myself a protein shake in the morning, which adds on another 250 calories. This is fine though, they're both healthy things that I need, so I should be a-ok. I do need to have some vaggies soon though, missed them out of my last couple of evening meals...!
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • I did my back sesh today and incorporated a couple of new exercises - too early to tell whether it'll have any effect or not, but I don't feel at a loss anymore during this workout! I've segmented each exercise up easier and reorganised it so I can slow from one to the next without too much trouble, so that's a step in the right direction!
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • Well, it will be done! Got a couple of other bits to do first, but I will try to finish off my pokemon sketches tonight...and try to get to bed at a decent time like last night. Can't underestimate sleep! Anyway, onwards!!

 

[Spikings]

DAY 10:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • Still going.
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • Almost 500 calories remaining, so even without the gym it was a good day!
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. FAIL!
  • I accidentally slept through my alarm and didn't have enough time to get to the gym ^_^;; I guess it happens sometimes, and the break was appreciated. My morning felt a lot less tight and walking to work in the daylight was soul-warming.
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • Drew more pokemans! Here's the finished page! Plus I did some othe sketches elsewhere in my book.
  • 

 

DAY 11:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • Still going.
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. FAIL!
  • Shark week has arrived and I'm tired and hungry/want to eat all the time right now, so I oversnacked when I got back home. About 300 calories over my limit, but next to yesterday it all balances out. I don't want to think that way all the time, but on these occasional days, it does help. Will try and keep everything under the limit tomorrow, since it doesn't seem to be that hard for me right now.
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • Chest day, and this was fun! I finally went up some weights with bench pressing which I hadn't progressed on since the start of December, so this fuelled me through the rest of the sesh. I also increased weights on a couple of other exercises, and when some dumbbells weren't available, I went the next set down to concentrate on my form and do slow reps. It was really cool to do, and while it sounds boring I really did enjoy it! xD
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • I got some doodles done at lunchtime, but had no energy this evening to draw. It's like, 9:40pm and all I want to do is sleep. xD Until tomorrow!

[otterbyte]

OH MY GOD. IT'S FULL OF OWLS. 

Your art is making me so happy right now, I feel like this:

[Manarelle]

Seriously love your sketches, they're so beautiful and look effortless. Grats on bumping up a level on your weights! I hear you on shark week... the only reason I haven't completely eaten like crap the last few days is because we don't have what I'm craving in the house, and I don't want it badly enough to put pants on and go get it.  

[Spikings]

6 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Seriously love your sketches, they're so beautiful and look effortless. Grats on bumping up a level on your weights! I hear you on shark week... the only reason I haven't completely eaten like crap the last few days is because we don't have what I'm craving in the house, and I don't want it badly enough to put pants on and go get it.  

 

Ahhh, thank you! I love sketching really, and I hope to fill up this sketchbook with bits and pieces as I go along. It's over halfway which is nice! And yeah, so hyped about bumping up my weights, it feels like solid progress, especially in these early days when it's hard to see the body changes/differences. Shark week is still being a pain (actually even more so today), but I'm battling through it. It really does suck, I agree >_< most of my junk food is gone now, but I've taken to my crackers that I usually pack for work instead...they're small in calories though, thankfully.

 

 

DAY 12:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • Still going.
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • Just about fine, again I got hit with the munchies this evening, but I had enough calories left to do so. I also had a vegan curry for lunch today, as someone made some from home and it was so tasty! I couldn't calculate the calories correctly, but would definitely have again. Or even make myself... >:)
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • Leg day, and no increasing weights today. All about the form and trying to stay alive during those bench squats, jeez. x_x I'm sure my legs won't thank me tomorrow, but another good sesh.
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • UH, I....drew a really quick doodle of a penguin pokemon before I left work. O_O That's not enough, I'm gonna do some quick sketches before I hit the hay tonight xD probably nothing too interesting, but anything to tide me over until tomorrow (where I'll be drawing a heckuva lot more)!
  •  
  • 

[Spikings]

Weekend time! Let's see how I fared...

 

DAY 13:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • I had one glass of whiskey which I thought would make me fail this challenge, but then realised I was drinking it while skyping my friend for a couple of hours - and I only had one glass too, which I was seretly happy about!  Yay for not overdrinking!
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • Only just about under today, since I didn't really go out and do much exercise, but otherwise I was fine. Originally I was going to treat myself to a pizza from the shops, but my boyfriend came up with a better idea - I grabbed a huge bag of lychees instead to snack on throughout the day and they were so nice, seriously. Definitely no pizza, but a great substitute as a treat is some tropical fruit that I rarely eat. I also had another top-up of food in general and bought more fish and veg than was intended, but that's probs a good thing. xD
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • Break today, and happy for it. I did walk to the shops, and thankfully my legs weren't in too much pain, so that was nice, woo!
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • I started on a "Meet the Artist" piece which is part of a trend going round the art circles on twitter, so I thought I'd contribute. Also sketched part of a comic page today as well.

DAY 14:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • No drinking today.
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • Again, a close call today since I didn't even go out the house today, but I kept it as healthy as I could. Not a lot of protein, but otherwise some good food was had. Also I made a vegan casserole which was so tasty I cannot describe. Had it all weekend and got one more serving for tomorrow!
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • Another break, so nice to be lazy from time to time. xD
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • A couple more comic pages sketched out today, and also finished my Meet the Artist piece! I'm not 100% happy with the colours, but I still enjoyed making it, so I'm content for now.
• 

 

 

Also extra news, I've lost another pound! Three pounds down, two to go until I'm pre-xmas weight! I'll upload the MyFitnessPal chart below shortly as a weekly summary.

 

 

[Manarelle]

Woot! Congrats on one step closer to pre-xmas weight! As usual, your sketch is very cool - I particularly like the galaxy effect on the hoodie (and cheesy doritos, too).  Looks like a great second week, here's to another one!

[Spikings]

21 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Woot! Congrats on one step closer to pre-xmas weight! As usual, your sketch is very cool - I particularly like the galaxy effect on the hoodie (and cheesy doritos, too).  Looks like a great second week, here's to another one!

 

 

Thank you! I'm absolutely in love with that hoodie, like seriously I go into ecstasies whenever someone talks about it xD I may have to buy a couple of spares so I can elongate my space hoodyness!

 

Just a quick post before I do my update a little later tonight, but here's the two sketches I've done over the past two days - the first one is a chibi-esque version of my character Robert (he's a sulky one), and also Nathaniel, who likes his hair too much

 

 

[Spikings]

Ok, so..!

 

DAY 15:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • This is getting easier and easier. I may be able to cut out the alcohol challenge next time round finally, that would be wonderful. <3
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • About 130 odd calories left, not a lot but still within the target range. The only slip-up was having a huge portion of the vegan casserole for dinner. You know when there's more than one portion left, but not enough for two portions (or even a lunch portion)? Yup, that happened. I had a food baby.
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • Started back with the arms and to tell the truth I went a bit light on this one. I didn't push my weights as I was happy to maintain what I had for a little while, and still am. Will try to push the weights maybe next week again.
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • As shown above, I drew a lil grumpy blonde dude.

DAY 16:

 

• Alcohol only when I'm socialising, or on pay-day weekend. DONE!
  • No drinking today.
  •  
• Use MyFitnessPal for a month, stay under target calories. DONE!
  • About 500 calories under, that's what I'm talking about! And plenty of protein to make up for the lack of it over the weekend. I'll probably weigh myself again at the end of the week, but until then I'm happy to keep on cruising along. I've already put in my breakfast/lunches/snacks up until friday, so that will definitely keep me on track! Now to just follow through, which shouldn't be an issue.
  •  
• Go to the gym every weekday. DONE!
  • Back day, and I really wish I could gain some weights here, but sadly it's not to be...yet. On the upside, I'm starting to see some improvement in my pull-ups, or at least deadhangs. Instead of just moving my legs up to my chest, I can now get an inch of height through my shoulder muscles...slowly I will conquer this thing! >:D
  •  
• Draw something for myself every day. DONE!
  • And the other moody fellow above. I was going to do more of my own comic project this evening, but a lot of other life bits are starting to pile up around me, so I better get on with them for the rest of the week. D:

[Spikings]

Also, over halfway through now and the green DONE!'s warm my heart so dang much. Like, I know it's all my doing, but I've never had a challenge this good, like, ever. Really hope I can keep this up, 16 days has done a great amount of difference already, so I can't wait to see the end challenge results!!

[Manarelle]

Positive feedback is a huge motivator. You're already past the halfway point; you got this!

[Spikings]

22 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Positive feedback is a huge motivator. You're already past the halfway point; you got this!

It really is, I'm failing a whole lot less this time round which is awesome! I also did a sneaky weigh-in today and that I've lost another half pound, so still on the right track!

 

I'll update properly again this evening, but here's my piece I've done during lunches the last few days - some serious walking woman, which I needed reference for xD