Bring Me To Life

[LivingDeadGirl]

This are mostly personal musings, but it'll help me hold myself accountable by writing in daily. The more focused I am on my goals, the more likely they'll come to fruition. 

 

Current Stats:

Female | 26 | 230 lbs. 

Class: Rebel | Level: 2

 

Fitness Goals: Mon: at home workout | Tues-Thurs: 30 minute gym workout | Fri: at home workout | Sat: rest | Sunday: 15 minute outdoor walk
Diet Goals: Reduce soda to one a day | Reduce carbs by 50% | Drink more water

Life Goals: Practice Spanish 15 minutes a day - 5 days a week | Social interaction at minimum once a week 

Cosplay Goals: Complete Kate Bishop's Hawkeye uniform by the end of January

 

 

That's not too hard... but it is a lot. I'll be taking baby steps so as to not trip into failure as I have done so in the past. So far in 2017, I've kept up a 2 nights a week at the gym goal. I've had an average of 1-3 social hang outs a week, and Hawkeye is halfway done. 
 

I'll most likely do daily reports the following day, since I have most free time when I'm in my office. (I work real estate management.) It's unlikely for me to update on the weekends, because I try to not touch my computer for fear of distracting myself from more important projects (cosplay work or cleaning house.) My past is riddled with bad computer addiction (spending 10+ hours a day online playing WOW or useless internet surfing) and so I've reduced my computer usage by 90% outside of work. My phone usage still trips me up, but nowhere near as bad. 

 

But yeah. Here goes it. 

 

 

 

Monday's Battle Log 1/23/2017

• Breakfast: Cereal
• Lunch: Chicken and green bean stir fry, soda
• Snacks: Beef Jerky, 3 cups of orange juice, 1 cup coffee
• Dinner: 2 mini hamburgers with cheese, onion, lettuce. I waited for about 40 minutes and was still starving, so I ate a bowl of cereal. 

 

• Exercise: 20 minutes walking on property and up and down staircases 

 

• Pros: Weighed myself and saw that I have lost 2.5 lbs. since my last weigh in, felt incredibly motivated despite the lack of energy
• Cons: Sleeping horribly, consistently hungry - even shortly after eating, drank a soda because of time constraints, didn't follow the strength training email from NF because I was so exhausted and went straight to bed after work, disregarded the reminder from Duolingo and forgot all about my Spanish lesson

 

End Result: obviously more cons than pros. I'm eating healthier and making better choices (even denying the free biscuits and doughnuts offered at work) but I'm not used to feeling non-stop hungry. I've tried chewing gum as a substitute, but my resolve is only so strong. Munching on peanuts and beef jerky helps... but only for maybe 20 minutes till I feel hungry again. Besides the hungry struggle, it's also incredibly difficult to stock the pantry with healthy food options when my budget is so minimal. After paying bills, I have maybe $200 left to cover groceries, cosplay supplies, and any other needs that pop up. Being poor is really cramping my style. I'm working with what I have. 

 

 

 

[turboseize]

Skip the soda entirely. I'd also skip cereals ( i assume you mean corn flakes and similar processed stuff) - that's mostly simple carbs as well, and not very rich in nutrients.
If you have sweet tooth, you might instead try oats. Oats and milk. Or overnight oats. Or you boil oats in water until you get a pulp. If that tastes to boring, you can add some slices of apple or whichever fruit you have around. (Add last, so you just warm them a bit. You don't want to overcook the fruits.) Then, sprinkle with cinnamon and let a little bit off butter melt over it.
Dirt cheap (500g of oats are 0.39€ where I live), a bit of fat, full of complex starches and fiber (these three keep you full for a long time), some vitamins, even decent (for plant-based stuff) protein. 

[LivingDeadGirl]

3 hours ago, turboseize said:

Skip the soda entirely. I'd also skip cereals ( i assume you mean corn flakes and similar processed stuff) - that's mostly simple carbs as well, and not very rich in nutrients.
If you have sweet tooth, you might instead try oats. Oats and milk. Or overnight oats. Or you boil oats in water until you get a pulp. If that tastes to boring, you can add some slices of apple or whichever fruit you have around. (Add last, so you just warm them a bit. You don't want to overcook the fruits.) Then, sprinkle with cinnamon and let a little bit off butter melt over it.
Dirt cheap (500g of oats are 0.39€ where I live), a bit of fat, full of complex starches and fiber (these three keep you full for a long time), some vitamins, even decent (for plant-based stuff) protein. 

 

I don't eat the sugary kiddy cereal, and instead prefer those similar to Raisin Bran. Currently I picked up a cheap box that's mostly granola and pecans. But oatmeal is a good alternative. I do have some oatmeal left over from trying a couple pinterest "overnight oats" recipes... but they were so awful. I ended up tossing most of them out. Maybe I can find some new ways to eat it without it tasting so bland. Apples would be a good start.

 

As far as soda goes, I can barely stand it. I prefer coffee, tea, and Kool-Aid with a tiny bit of sweetener... but soda is all my household drinks. In the few instances that I run out of tea, then I'll stomach soda. I maybe have 2 a week, though I want to cut it out entirely. It's funny that I used to drink it non-stop, but slowly reducing it from my diet has made it unbearable to drink. 

[turboseize]

Granola is 30% sugar. Tastes nice, but you'll be hungry soon again. 

Regarding Soda: good job on weaning your self off that stuff. But if you don't like it, why do you even drink it? ;-)
The very best drink ever is water. Just plain tap water. (But hat depends on the shape the water distribution network in your area is in and also the climate. If they overdo the chorine stuff it tastes ... not so good.)

[LivingDeadGirl]

Tuesday's Battle Log 1/24/2017

 

Diet

• Breakfast: Cereal, 1.5 cups of coffee
• Lunch: Chicken and green bean stir fry, Kool-Aid
• Snacks: Beef Jerky, 2 cups of tea
• Dinner: Taco Salad, Kool-Aid

Fitness

• Exercise: 30 minutes on the Elliptical
• Drank 3/4th of a bottle of water (not great, but it's a start)

Life

 

• Practiced Spanish for 30 minutes+ to make up for Monday

Cosplay

• Planning to dedicate Saturday to finishing Hawkeye
• Scheduled to host a swap meet on Feb 11th to try and help clean out unneeded supplies that are just taking up room
• Posted ads to sell some of my retired outfits as a way to fund future projects

 

End Result: I'm super motivated to hit the gym, and the first 15 minutes were effortless! I'm already building up endurance - so I can tell every little bit is helping. After a little coercing, I convinced a coworker to go with me. He's not super sold on getting into shape, and so I've been sharing how helpful this website has been for me. More than likely it's not his cup of tea, but even talking about it keeps me focused. 

I'm still sleeping horribly - can't stop tossing and turning. It seems to be a combination of stress and muscle tension, but I'm a bundle of nonstop stress. Meditation has never really worked for me before, but I may try it again just to add some XP points. Maybe this time will be different? 

 

 

[LivingDeadGirl]

2 minutes ago, turboseize said:

Granola is 30% sugar. Tastes nice, but you'll be hungry soon again. 

Regarding Soda: good job on weaning your self off that stuff. But if you don't like it, why do you even drink it? ;-)
The very best drink ever is water. Just plain tap water. (But hat depends on the shape the water distribution network in your area is in and also the climate. If they overdo the chorine stuff it tastes ... not so good.)

 

Damn. Foiled again. I thought granola was supposed to be good for you. I'll finish my current box and abstain from buying any more. 

 

I used to love soda, and every so often it will cure a caffeine headache, but I've tried to wean it out completely from my diet. The only reason I succumb to temptation is because my roommates drink it, and therefore it is always present in the house. I've resorted to purposefully buying sodas that I can't stand - that way I have to be pretty desperate to choose to drink it.

 

The water here is disgusting. Oklahoma doesn't have the best purification system and therefore it tastes like chlorine. I refuse to drink tap water. My alternatives are tea and Kool-Aid, and I've begun to reduce the amount of sugar in each gallon I make. More recently, I'm trying to convince my workplace to provide bottled water and I could bring in my own flavor packets (lemonade or whatever.) 

[turboseize]

Oh, and Kool-Aid... I had to google that. (Never seen that in Europe).
From what I can gather online, that, too, seems to be mostly sugar. Conclusion: Don't drink the Kool-aid.

[bobcat2189]

I remember being so disappointed back when I found out that there are virtually no cereals that are even relatively healthy, and that granola is basically the equivalent of sugary cereal. BAH!  I always hated oatmeal growing up—tried overnight oats and hated those too—but I finally found an EPIC oatmeal recipe that I love and eat most mornings.  I try to share the recipe with everyone who'll listen because it's easy, cheap, delicious, and it honestly keeps me full until lunch on days I don't work out.  (Days I do work out in the morning, I still need a 10am snack, usually plain Greek yogurt with honey.)   

 

OK so here goes:

Ingredients: one-minute oats, milk, salt, an apple, cinnamon, peanut butter.  

Notes: I make the oatmeal with milk because it's more substantial and sticks with me better, but you could use water in a pinch.  I also use less liquid than the recipe on the back of the box of oats calls for because i like my oatmeal thick, but again, your call!  

Directions: Measure out 1/2 cup of dry oats.  Pour 3/4 cup of milk in a saucepan and add a few dashes of salt.  Crank up the heat.  While that's heating up, dice up your apple.  When the milk is boiling, pour in your oats and crank the heat down to low.  Stir the oats regularly for about a minute or so until most of the liquid is absorbed.  Turn off the heat, and pour oats into a bowl.  Top with cinnamon, chopped apple, and a spoonful of peanut butter.  Realize you like oatmeal.  I've done this with other fruit too, but this combo is my favorite.

 

Other breakfasts that stick with me until lunch are: scrambled eggs on toast (try finding a decent whole grain bread that you like), scrambled egg tacos with salsa, Greek yogurt and a little cheese (swoon), and honestly, leftovers if it's something good.  Who says you can't have a bowl of pulled pork or enchiladas for breakfast?  My hunger is greatest in the mornings, but it kind of has a domino effect throughout the day.  As long as I set myself up well with a big, healthy breakfast and maybe a morning snack if I've worked out, I can eat a medium sized lunch and then not be starving by 4pm.  Then, I'm usually satisfied with a small-medium sized dinner and I don't get the late-night munchies (or worse, the pre-dinner munchies in which you'll find me eating half a family-sized bag of chips, or obscene amounts of cheese and crackers while I cook dinner, hahaha.  Those aren't the best moments.).  

 

Keep at it!  

[LivingDeadGirl]

On 1/25/2017 at 9:31 AM, turboseize said:

Oh, and Kool-Aid... I had to google that. (Never seen that in Europe).
From what I can gather online, that, too, seems to be mostly sugar. Conclusion: Don't drink the Kool-aid.

 

I reduce the sugar in my Kool-Aid. It's not perfect, but it's weaning myself in a better direction. 

 

Also, I recently watched a documentary about the Jonestown murders and it was incredibly interesting. I had no idea that's where the phrase came from. 

 

 

where are you from? 

[LivingDeadGirl]

On 1/25/2017 at 10:09 AM, bobcat2189 said:

I remember being so disappointed back when I found out that there are virtually no cereals that are even relatively healthy, and that granola is basically the equivalent of sugary cereal. BAH!  I always hated oatmeal growing up—tried overnight oats and hated those too—but I finally found an EPIC oatmeal recipe that I love and eat most mornings.  I try to share the recipe with everyone who'll listen because it's easy, cheap, delicious, and it honestly keeps me full until lunch on days I don't work out.  (Days I do work out in the morning, I still need a 10am snack, usually plain Greek yogurt with honey.)   

 

OK so here goes:

Ingredients: one-minute oats, milk, salt, an apple, cinnamon, peanut butter.  

Notes: I make the oatmeal with milk because it's more substantial and sticks with me better, but you could use water in a pinch.  I also use less liquid than the recipe on the back of the box of oats calls for because i like my oatmeal thick, but again, your call!  

Directions: Measure out 1/2 cup of dry oats.  Pour 3/4 cup of milk in a saucepan and add a few dashes of salt.  Crank up the heat.  While that's heating up, dice up your apple.  When the milk is boiling, pour in your oats and crank the heat down to low.  Stir the oats regularly for about a minute or so until most of the liquid is absorbed.  Turn off the heat, and pour oats into a bowl.  Top with cinnamon, chopped apple, and a spoonful of peanut butter.  Realize you like oatmeal.  I've done this with other fruit too, but this combo is my favorite.

 

Other breakfasts that stick with me until lunch are: scrambled eggs on toast (try finding a decent whole grain bread that you like), scrambled egg tacos with salsa, Greek yogurt and a little cheese (swoon), and honestly, leftovers if it's something good.  Who says you can't have a bowl of pulled pork or enchiladas for breakfast?  My hunger is greatest in the mornings, but it kind of has a domino effect throughout the day.  As long as I set myself up well with a big, healthy breakfast and maybe a morning snack if I've worked out, I can eat a medium sized lunch and then not be starving by 4pm.  Then, I'm usually satisfied with a small-medium sized dinner and I don't get the late-night munchies (or worse, the pre-dinner munchies in which you'll find me eating half a family-sized bag of chips, or obscene amounts of cheese and crackers while I cook dinner, hahaha.  Those aren't the best moments.).  

 

Keep at it!  

 

I'll definitely give this recipe a try! I am a big an of apples, so hopefully that'll add a better texture and flavor to oatmeal. 

Honestly, breakfast is the most difficult for me because I have sleeping struggles and therefore am typically a late riser and always rushing to work. Very rarely is there time for me to invest in cooking a solid, satisfying meal in the mornings... but I spent some time  yesterday digging through pinterest to find some recipes that would be appropriate for meal prepping my breakfast foods. 

 

A friend and I are going to get together this weekend and try out some of these: 

 

http://apple-of-my-eye.com/2014/10/17/baked-chocolate-chip-cookie-oatmeal/

http://ketosizeme.com/keto-sausage-balls/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/136445063688625780/

http://livelytable.com/pumpkin-pie-baked-oatmeal/

http://afewshortcuts.com/2011/08/tide-you-over-tuesday-baked-peanut-butter-oatmeal/

 

I'm hoping that they work out for me! 

[LivingDeadGirl]

Wednesday's Battle Log 1/25/2017

 

Diet

• Breakfast: Cereal, 1 cup of coffee
• Lunch: Two mini pizza wraps that turned out terrible and left me hungry still so I ate a bowl of cereal
• Snacks: chewing gum, 2 cups of tea, Red Bull
• Dinner: Chicken stir fry with green beans

Fitness

• Exercise: 40 minutes on the Elliptical

Life

• Practiced Spanish for 20 minutes
• Confirmed 17/20 donations for my Blood Drive tomorrow

Cosplay

• Have a potential buyer for a costume, won't hear back till Monday

 

End Result: I slept horribly again.. household turmoil kept me up all night and the few hours of sleep I had were pitiful. The whole day left me cranky, stressed, and emotional. I probably shouldn't have had the second bowl of cereal, but the pizza wraps were poor-tasting and unfulfilling. I wanted nothing more than to go home after work and sleep away my worries, but instead I hit the gym and put in an extra 10 minutes. I left feeling proud, but incredibly achy. My left knee starting wobbling, and does this strange thing where it almost feels as though it's slipping out of socket. I'm unsure what exactly that is, but it's a repeated problem that happens whenever the weather is poor or when I run for extended periods of time. I chalk it up to my arthritis since I can't afford a doctor's visit. #americanhealthcare

 

Even while yesterday sucked, I didn't binge eat... per my usual MO.... and I still committed to the gym. Half because I wanted to feel like I had some control in my life, but also because I didn't want to admit here that I didn't follow through my goals. Good job website. You've shamed me into keeping up my fitness goals this week.

[LivingDeadGirl]

Thursday's Battle Log 1/26/2017

 

Diet

• Breakfast: Cereal, 1 cup of coffee
• Lunch: 3 boneless wings and a salad (that was actually just lettuce and Parmesan cheese) from Buffalo Wild Wings
• Snacks: 2 cups tea
• Dinner: Chicken stir fry with green beans

Fitness

• Exercise: None

Life

• Confirmed 23/20 donations for my Blood Drive tomorrow

Cosplay

• No progress

 

End Result: Yesterday was awful. Completely and utterly awful. Work sucked and everything was crazy hectic. A friend brought me lunch from Buffalo Wild Wings to try and make the day better, but the restaurant completely messed up my order and sent me the wrong wings and a box of lettuce with cheese. My friend split his order with me, so I only ate 3 boneless wings and the lettuce (they spilled ranch over half of it when I requested no ranch at all) so I was surprised that it kept me as full as it did. I was too slammed in the office to practice Spanish so that didn't happen. My brother had eye surgery that was expected to be 1 hour and exceeded 5 hours so my time at the gym didn't happen. By the time I got home, I managed so scarf down some stir fry and pass out. 

 

Definitely not my best day, but I still made good eating choices. 

[turboseize]

22 hours ago, LivingDeadGirl said:

 

Definitely not my best day, but I still made good eating choices. 

Which is no small feat in itself. 

[LivingDeadGirl]

Friday's Battle Log 1/27/2017

 

Diet

• Breakfast: Starbuck's ham & cheese croissant, cinnamon dolce frapp no whip
• Lunch: Panera Bread's Fuji Apple Chicken Salad
• Snacks: 
• Dinner: Taco Bell's double decker taco and chalupa

Fitness

• Exercise: None

Life

• Hosted a blood drive through Red American Cross

Cosplay

• Sold Lady Deadpool!

 

End Result: Fuckall. What a day. The day of the blood drive at my work place, and it was a total joke. The team they sent was incredibly unprofessional, showed up late - started 2 hours late, turned away half of the donors because they couldn't properly stick them, had 4 people walk out after an hour plus wait time. 

 

I had exceeded my goal of 20 appointments, and ended up with 25 donors. Of those, we only managed to get 11 pints. While it is better than nothing and no fault on my staff and my team, the people sent out by the American Cross were aggravating. Between their inability to do their job, to complaining about each other, to chainsmoking outside of the bus (fyi I'm allergic to cigarette smoke), and their trying to turn away donors because they were ready to leave (an hour before they were scheduled to wrap up.) 

 

By the time the day was over, I was mentally exhausted and bitter. Between the stress and chilly weather, my back was absolutely aching and I skipped my workout to eat crap food and pass out at home. 

[LivingDeadGirl]

Saturday's Battle Log 1/28/2017

 

Diet

• Breakfast: None
• Lunch: Steak and shake burger with the bread removed, 5 singular fries
• Snacks: 4 cups Kool-Aid
• Dinner: Chicken parmesan with steamed green beans

Fitness

• Exercise: None

Life

• Meal prepped for the week! I tried out some recipes found on pinterest to make a week's worth of Keto Sausage Balls, Baked Oatmeal, and tuna salad for my lunch at work. The sausage balls are amazing; the oatmeal is not so much. I added half of the recommended chocolate chips and tossed in a couple pecans to make the texture more preferable, but it doesn't have a strong flavor - still bland. I'll try a different oatmeal recipe next time.

Cosplay

• Helped a friend with her cosplay
• Replaced Hawkeye's zipper

 

End Result: Not too bad of a day. My back pain seems to be getting worse, which in part is surely because of my sewing chair. It's just some office chair I found, and it isn't horrible.. but definitely not recommended for several hours - which tends to happen whenever working on cosplay. 

 

 

Sunday's Battle Log 1/29/2017

 

Diet

• Breakfast: 3 small squares of the baked oatmeal, 5 sausage keto balls
• Lunch: 
• Snacks: 1 cup milk, 1 brownie
• Dinner: Taco salad

Fitness

• Exercise: None

Life

• Practiced Spanish! I didn't intend to keep up with it on the weekends, but I put some down time to use and tried out the Duolingo mobile app

Cosplay

• Minimal progress on Hawkeye; I'm unhappy with the wrinkles in the spandex, the droopy collar, the sleeve is too tight
• Switched from sewing to prop making, so I spent $4.60 to on some pvc and began making Codex's staff from The Guild

 

End Result: A pretty average weekend and multiple hours in my sewing chair. I won't take paint or clay into the living room because it's such a mess, and so I spent a couple hours in my sewing chair. My back continues to hurt, so my boyfriend applied some Icy Hot in hopes that it would ease my tense muscles. Normally I love this, but because the pain reached along the entirety of my spine... he put on quite a lot which ultimately woke me up from the searing heat. I could see my skin inflamed in the mirror and had to wash it all off. Even then, my skin was still burning. No more Icy Hot for me. 

 

 

[turboseize]

19 hours ago, LivingDeadGirl said:

Saturday's Battle Log 1/28/2017

 

Diet

• Meal prepped for the week! I tried out some recipes found on pinterest to make a week's worth of Keto Sausage Balls, Baked Oatmeal, and tuna salad for my lunch at work. The sausage balls are amazing; the oatmeal is not so much. I added half of the recommended chocolate chips and tossed in a couple pecans to make the texture more preferable, but it doesn't have a strong flavor - still bland. I'll try a different oatmeal recipe next time. 

 

 

 

 

Oats actually have a pretty strong, peculiar flavour and texture. 

But taste is actually aquired.* Most processed foods are full of sugar or artificial sweeteners, salt and flavour enhancers. Don't forget "natural flavours", which can be derived from anything. If you eat, say, a strawberry yoghurt, what you are tasting is neither the yoghurt nor the strawberry depicted on the packaging, you are tasting the "natural strawberry flavour" which is, by the way, extracted from fungus that grows on a substrate of saw dust (fungus is natural, hence "natural flavour"). And you are tasting the added sugar. 
And being constantly exposed to over-flavoured and/or over-sweetened stuff, your taste changes. You aquire a tolerance. Now you need this frontal attack on your tastebuds to perceive anything. If you then try something that is not artificially taste-enhanced, it tastes bland.
It takes a few weeks of withdrawal to reset your taste. Skip all processed stuff, skip sweetened drinks, and after a few weeks vegetables, oats, buckwheat, millet - whatever! - will surprise you with very distinct flavour and texture. You'll just have to endure the withdrawal period. 

. 

 

*Yes, you can train yourself to like vegetables.

[LivingDeadGirl]

3 hours ago, turboseize said:

Oats actually have a pretty strong, peculiar flavour and texture. 

But taste is actually aquired.* Most processed foods are full of sugar or artificial sweeteners, salt and flavour enhancers. Don't forget "natural flavours", which can be derived from anything. If you eat, say, a strawberry yoghurt, what you are tasting is neither the yoghurt nor the strawberry depicted on the packaging, you are tasting the "natural strawberry flavour" which is, by the way, extracted from fungus that grows on a substrate of saw dust (fungus is natural, hence "natural flavour"). And you are tasting the added sugar. 
And being constantly exposed to over-flavoured and/or over-sweetened stuff, your taste changes. You aquire a tolerance. Now you need this frontal attack on your tastebuds to perceive anything. If you then try something that is not artificially taste-enhanced, it tastes bland.
It takes a few weeks of withdrawal to reset your taste. Skip all processed stuff, skip sweetened drinks, and after a few weeks vegetables, oats, buckwheat, millet - whatever! - will surprise you with very distinct flavour and texture. You'll just have to endure the withdrawal period. 

. 

 

*Yes, you can train yourself to like vegetables.

I didn't know this! Seriously loving how much stuff I learn from this website. Not quite an excuse, but I come from a long background of fast food because I lived with a single mother that worked 2+ jobs and fast food was cheap and easy. I find that it's a pit that most Americans are falling into, and it was a trap that I've only managed to crawl from since I graduated college. Since leaving my tiny home town to live in the city (Tulsa, OK. Not that big, but still large enough to have a multitude of options beyond Sonic and McDonald's) I've tried to train myself into better habits. I'm fortunate enough to enjoy fruits and vegetables, but still limited to liking a few of each. I've spent the last couple of months weaning myself from soda, and I can definitely taste a dramatic difference from carbonated drinks to anything else I intake. Starting next month will be the next 4-Week Challenege in which I will set a goal of drinking water regularly. It'll be particularly difficult in that Oklahoma doesn't have the cleanest water. I guess that's what makes it a challenge. 

[turboseize]

It is not only Americans falling into this trap, it is us Europeans, too. Only recently the results of a survey done for our departement of agriculture came out - showing that about 1/rd of Germans preferred fast food and processed stuff, and also, that only 2/3rd ate vegetables and fruit daily. Sad...

[LivingDeadGirl]

17 minutes ago, turboseize said:

It is not only Americans falling into this trap, it is us Europeans, too. Only recently the results of a survey done for our departement of agriculture came out - showing that about 1/rd of Germans preferred fast food and processed stuff, and also, that only 2/3rd ate vegetables and fruit daily. Sad...

 

That's really upsetting to hear. I know that it's ultimately up to us as individuals to make healthy choices... but there's definitely a multi-billion dollar industry that sets up the system in their favor. Between marketing and media and sales, it truly is cheaper and faster to eat poorly. In addition to those profits, there's also the medical industry that processes thousands of "get fit quick" schemes to try and squeeze more money out of people. 

 

But on a positive note! I recently heard about a "Salads to Go" fast food restaurant that is popping up multiple locations to try and offer a healthier alternative to their competition. There isn't one anywhere near me at the moment, but here's hoping that they continue to grow and become a mainstay in "quick and easy" lunch venues.  

[LivingDeadGirl]

Monday's Battle Log 1/30/2017

 

Diet

• Breakfast: 4 sausage keto balls, 1 cup coffee
• Lunch: 1 Granny smith apple with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
• Snacks: 1 cup milk
• Dinner: Baked bbq porkchop, 1 cup green beans, 1/2 cup garlic mashed potatoes

Fitness

• Exercise: None

Life

• Practiced Spanish for 15 minutes
• Visited a chiropractor for the first time

Cosplay

• None

 

End Result: As mentioned a couple times already, I've been dealing with some pretty moderate back pain. On a scale of 1-10*, I'd rate my daily living around a 3-5 on any given day. Lately, it's exceeded to about a 5-6. My usual methods of combating the pain has been the occasional Aleve or a nightly rubdown with Icy Hot. But after last night's episode in which the Icy Hot irritated my skin to the point of searing pain (what I liken to an 8) I started looking for alternatives. I checked in with my health insurance provider, asked for some recommendations, and finally decided to suck it up and visit a chiropractor. 

 

The experience left me with more despair than hope. While an incredibly kind and informative guy, x-rays revealed that while my scoliosis has straightened up in the last decade, the vertebrae** in my upper back are twisting into each other and appear to be shoving themselves out of place. He explained that the cause of this is a result of my workplace environment and the required computer usage in addition with bad posture that's most likely a result of having bad back issues for as long as I have. He went on to say that this issue can easily be resolved with multiple visits to his office and a scheduled regiment of aligning things back into place. Seems easy enough, but the repeated visits does concern me considering my already struggling finances. 

Worse still, it appears that a past accident*** resulted in some threatening damage to the vertebrae just above my tail bone. There are two vertebrae that have been shoved into place, ultimately locked together in a way that the chiropractor was definitely concerned about. He said that he would make some phone calls to find an inexpensive place for me to get an MRI. While trying to not panic me, he explained that if unresolved, the vertebrae will push the disc out of place if it doesn't burst first. All of that was finished with the actual alignment, and I ended up walking out with my pain level increased to a 7. I went home, crawled into bed, and passed out so I didn't have to deal with the pain. 
 

*My back pain typically rates about a 3-6, my cramps would rate about a 5-7. My brother shot me up close with a BB gun, and I'd rate that about an 8. I'd say I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and nothing less than an 8-10 will ever get me to a hospital. American healthcare for the fail. 

**Not my x-ray. This is a normal x-ray that reflects how the vertebrae are supposed to appear. In mine, you could see the full circle of the vertebrae because of how badly out of place they were. I was unable to find a matching image online to better reflect my image.
***Past accident was regarding an abusive ex boyfriend. I think that's the most upsetting part; my past catching up to me and still causes me problems. 
 

[LivingDeadGirl]

Tuesday's Battle Log 1/31/2017

 

Diet

• Breakfast: 1 cup coffee
• Lunch: 2 cups tuna salad
• Snacks: 3 cups milk, 6 pieces of beef jerky, 2 shortbread cookies
• Dinner: taco meat, lettuce, cheese wrapped up in a wheat tortilla

Fitness

• Exercise: None

Life

• Practiced Spanish for 20 minutes

Cosplay

• None

 

End Result: I've been told by several people that the first two visits to the chiropractor would be kinda painful, and it certainly was. I had been led to believe that the day after would get better, and while it did start off around a Pain Level 2, it increased throughout the day to about a 6. It was recommended that if my back was hurting as bad as it was, that it was better to skip my gym workout for the day and instead try a hot soak and lie down. So I did. Kinda helped? I'm exasperated because I was noticing an immediate change in my shape, and now it's been several days since I've gone to the gym due to back pain. It seems almost ironic that when I actually want to hit the gym is the time in which I physically cannot do so. I've only missed a couple of days at the gym and already I feel more lethargic, more likely to make bad decisions (hence the 2 cookies I snacked on) and more depressed. I don't want this. 

[turboseize]

There is a difference in pain/discomfort between "meh, I Just dont like exercising... can't we just chill a bit?" and "STOP! Something is going to break. DON'T YOU DARE!"
Unfortunately, it often takes some experience with training hard or at least physical labour until you can reliable differentiate between the two and know what your body is trying to tell you. Even more unfortunate, mistaking a "STOP" for a "not used to exercise, I'd rather sit on the sofa, like all the years before" can result in crippling yourself, if not for the rest of your life, then at least for a longer time - be it weeks, months or even years. For example, my achilles tendons took more than 2 years to heal completely. Been there, done that. And with nearly two decades of sports background at the time of the injury, I should have known better... but I still managed to ignore the warning signs. 
Mistaking the "just chilling"-discomfort for "STOP!", on the other hand, only looses you one day. When you weigh the risks, it's obvious that you would always err on the side of caution. 
And remember: a day not at the gym need not be a lost day. You can still take a walk. You can still try some light exercises for your core at home (sometimes that helps ease the pain, sometimes it doesn't, then stop immediately). And most important, you can still get your diet right. 
 
 

[Da Troll]

I don't really know enough to give advice here, and turboseize seems to have that covered anyway, but I can say that I just read through this thread and DEAR GOD YOU ARE WORKING YOUR ASS OFF! It sucks that these back problems are hitting you so hard but the fact that you're balancing everything as well as you are, even if you feel like you're failing at times, makes me feel like I need to step my game up. I can't wait to see what you're accomplishing down the road.

 

[LivingDeadGirl]

11 hours ago, turboseize said:

There is a difference in pain/discomfort between "meh, I Just dont like exercising... can't we just chill a bit?" and "STOP! Something is going to break. DON'T YOU DARE!"
Unfortunately, it often takes some experience with training hard or at least physical labour until you can reliable differentiate between the two and know what your body is trying to tell you. Even more unfortunate, mistaking a "STOP" for a "not used to exercise, I'd rather sit on the sofa, like all the years before" can result in crippling yourself, if not for the rest of your life, then at least for a longer time - be it weeks, months or even years. For example, my achilles tendons took more than 2 years to heal completely. Been there, done that. And with nearly two decades of sports background at the time of the injury, I should have known better... but I still managed to ignore the warning signs. 
Mistaking the "just chilling"-discomfort for "STOP!", on the other hand, only looses you one day. When you weigh the risks, it's obvious that you would always err on the side of caution. 
And remember: a day not at the gym need not be a lost day. You can still take a walk. You can still try some light exercises for your core at home (sometimes that helps ease the pain, sometimes it doesn't, then stop immediately). And most important, you can still get your diet right. 
 
 

 

I don't mind working through discomfort, that hasn't been real issue for me. Lately my back pain has been at an all time high and that does make it uncomfortable for me to get out and do much. I will certainly take your advice and, should I not feel capable of a trip to the gym, try to substitute for a walk instead. There's no reason I couldn't manage that much. 

[LivingDeadGirl]

2 minutes ago, Da Troll said:

I don't really know enough to give advice here, and turboseize seems to have that covered anyway, but I can say that I just read through this thread and DEAR GOD YOU ARE WORKING YOUR ASS OFF! It sucks that these back problems are hitting you so hard but the fact that you're balancing everything as well as you are, even if you feel like you're failing at times, makes me feel like I need to step my game up. I can't wait to see what you're accomplishing down the road.

 

 

I have my good weeks and my bad. The last two weeks felt like a running start, but this week has been like I'm running backwards. I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm taking it easy on myself, but I'm trying to warm myself up to the 6 Week Challenge that will start Feb 12th. It will be my first attempt at something like that, and I really want to bring my A game. It have quite a few goals to accomplish and I want to work up to it so that I'm not setting myself up for failure.