Thalianost Returns from his Wanderings

[Thalianost]

I have been away from the rebellion for a while and, if I'm being honest, my time away hasn't done me much good.  Over the past year, due mainly to stress at work and the birth and care of my twin sons, I have managed to put on about 20 lbs!  Not the good kind either, I'm up to 28% body fat from 23% about a year ago.  Mid spring last year I started relaxing a little and by summer I had completely lost the will to do anything for my body... and then the boys came along. 

 

Anyway, enough of the excuses.  I have been back at it since the start of the year, with a few slip ups here and there, but I am working on a system to keep me on track.  This challenge is only a small part of it though.  I am doing this mainly to give me an excuse to keep fitness on my mind when I am on my lunch break and there are no new articles to peruse on the Blog.  I am going to be relying heavily on my LifeRPG app to get me through this time.  If you haven't heard of it, it is a "gamify your life" app available in the google play store.  I have already set up my training schedule and set up reminders to keep an eye on my diet.  I have also used the built in reward system to try to keep my diet cheeting under control. 

 

Anyway, Here are the nuts and bolts of this challenge:

Q1:  Lift 3 times a week.  Time is a major issue for me now since I have 3 kids and only one sister in law to help when the wife is away (sanity wares thin) so I need to keep my workouts small.  I am focusing on Bench, Deadlift and supersets of pullups and chin-ups 3 sets of 6 for everything increasing whenever I can get 8 on the last set.  Not perfect by a long shot but it is what I can do for now. 

Q2:  Stick to diet.  I am working on cutting right now so I am shooting for 2500 cal per day with a minimum of 180 g protein.  I am using My Fitness Pal to track everything. 

Q3:  Grease the groove.  With the weight I gained and muscle I lost over the past year my pullup ability has suffered greatly so I am going to work on attempting a set every time I let the dog out.  I do my pullups in the rafters of my sun porch so this works out pretty naturally. 

SQ:  In addition to getting my body back on track I am also trying to breathe some new life into my side business making and selling chainmail.  My goal will be to complete 3 chainmail pot scrubbers by the end of the challenge. 

 

That's it for now.  Honestly, I sorta just made this up on the fly.  I decided to poke around the rebellion on a whim and notice the challenge was starting.  Any notes or criticisms to my plan are welcome.  

[RedStone]

Hai! Only note - crush it  

[Thalianost]

17 hours ago, RedStone said:

Hai! Only note - crush it  

Good note, Thanks. 

 

Off to a decent start so far, getting the workouts in.  I botched my protein intake yesterday because I fell asleep before I could eat my evening snack, not a big stumble though.  I should be back on track now and as long as I can resist all the chocolate that has flooded my house in the past couple days I think I will be able to continue on fairly easily. 

 

Next challenge I think I will consider adding a sleep quest, kinda risky with two babies and a three year old to contend with but really if it weren't for them there would be no need for a quest.  Last night I got about 5 hours mainly because I woke up early to make my wife a Valentines breakfast before she had to go to work. 

 

[Br0din]

[Thalianost]

Thanks, Allspotter. 

 

Did well with the rest of my day yesterday.  I did have one piece of chocolate but I made sure to log it and take the necessary penalty on LifeRPG.  I also skipped pull ups one time I took the dog out, but in my defense it was 4 in the morning.  Still it counts as a strike against. 

I worked up a chart to track my progress by percentages.  Since the pull up quest is dependant on how many times my dog goes outside, it only takes into account what has already occurred not how many times I predict my dog will need to go outside. 

 

Q1:  17%

Q2:  9%

Q3:  75%

SQ:  0%

[Thalianost]

The weekend was hit and miss.  I did well on Saturday, ate well, tracked everything, I even went to the zoo with my family so I got a lot of walking in.  Then on Sunday we had family over and I overdid it with the food and booze.  I also had a difficult time keeping up with my pullups when I let the dog out because most of the times I take her out it is the middle of the night and I don't want to work myself up so I have trouble sleeping.  I think if I use that quest again I will amend it for waking hours only.  I was able to get some work done on my chainmaile on the way to and from the zoo (though honestly I opted for a nap for most of the return trip) still haven't finished a pot scrubber though. 

 

Highlight of the Zoo:  Asking my 3 year old daughter what animal she wanted to see first and her responding:  "The crocodiles and the sick bats."  (They have a separate exhibit for bats that are sick or injured so they can recover without too much competition.  My daughter feels bad for them and hopes they get better.) 

 

Q1:  33%

Q2:  23%

Q3:  65%

SQ:  0%

[Laghail]

That's adorable. The sick bat thing, not the pullups. That sounds pragmatic on guarding your sleeping time.

[Jord]

I know peeps who do chainmail. What are you making? 

[Thalianost]

4 hours ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

I know peeps who do chainmail. What are you making? 

At the moment pot scrubbers, I sold a lot of them last year so I am trying to stock up before the craft fairs hit.  I also make armor and some basic jewelry items.  It is a hobby I would like to work on more often but tools and small rings don't mix well with infants. 

[Thalianost]

Yesterday's workout didn't go so great.  I have reached a point where I am ready to increase my Bench weight but at the same time, it looks like I will need to decrease my deadlift weight because, though I could complete at least two sets a week ago at the same weight, I can't even lift it once now.  I don't know if it's lack of sleep, the caloric deficit, or just my mental state but hopefully I will be able to recover and make up the lost ground quickly.  For my next work out I am going to try 195 lb for bench (+10) and 215 for Dead lift (-10). 

 

I need to find an effective way to psych myself up for the lift.  Any thoughts?

[AugustaAdaByron]

28 minutes ago, Thalianost said:

I need to find an effective way to psych myself up for the lift.  Any thoughts?

 

I'm in search of the same thing at the moment. Maybe we need...

[Jord]

A million things can affect your lifts from week to week. I need to save this in my phone notes because it comes up every 3 months in the forum.

 

sleep

water

calories

time of day

exercise order

rest between sets

# days between workouts 

protein

hungover status

fatigue

room temperature 

music

environment 

mood

bracing for the lift

etc

etc

[Thalianost]

3 hours ago, AugustaAdaByron said:

 

I'm in search of the same thing at the moment. Maybe we need...

of course everyone needs a little more NPH in their life.  Maybe I will try blaring Dr. Horrible while I lift. 

 

1 hour ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

A million things can affect your lifts from week to week. I need to save this in my phone notes because it comes up every 3 months in the forum.

 

sleep

water

calories

time of day

exercise order

rest between sets

# days between workouts 

protein

hungover status

fatigue

room temperature 

music

environment 

mood

bracing for the lift

etc

etc

Thanks for the list, I can eliminate several of them because I know they have remained somewhat constant.  Looks like sleep, fatigue, mood, and possibly hydration are the top contenders from where I am sitting.  Alcohol intake also is a possibility, though I am not sure I drank enough to make that big an impact. 

[Thalianost]

I tried Deadlift at 215 today and crushed it like before.  I think I will try only a 5 lb increase from now on.  10 lb worked well for the first month back but I think I need to prepare myself for slower progress now. 

[Laghail]

20 hours ago, Thalianost said:

I tried Deadlift at 215 today and crushed it like before.  I think I will try only a 5 lb increase from now on.  10 lb worked well for the first month back but I think I need to prepare myself for slower progress now. 

ehhh, around here, we prefer to do 10-20lb increases, reap a sweet abdominal hernia, get sidelined for months, then complain about genetics. Get with the program

[Br0din]

34 minutes ago, Laghail said:

ehhh, around here, we prefer to do 10-20lb increases, reap a sweet abdominal hernia, get sidelined for months, then complain about genetics. Get with the program

 

 

but, its more likely to be a disk herniation...

[Jord]

50 minutes ago, Laghail said:

ehhh, around here, we prefer to do 10-20lb increases, reap a sweet abdominal hernia, get sidelined for months, then complain about genetics. Get with the program

 

15 minutes ago, Br0din said:

 

 

but, its more likely to be a disk herniation...

 

you guys are killing it today 

 

*gut busting laughter*

 

 

[Thalianost]

I have not injured myself lifting yet, I ain't starting now.  Tried a 5 lb increase.  Did the job and made it sufficiently difficult. 

I had a rough run with my diet since Thursday.  There was a retirement party, a birthday party, and enough baked goods at home to choke a horse.  I couldn't stick to both my protein intake and calorie count but at least I managed one or the other on each day since.  I'm back on the horse now.  I made up some chicken for lunches and I am prepared to resist the onslaught of Fat Tuesday. 

[Jord]

11 minutes ago, Thalianost said:

I have not injured myself lifting yet, I ain't starting now.  Tried a 5 lb increase.  Did the job and made it sufficiently difficult. 

I had a rough run with my diet since Thursday.  There was a retirement party, a birthday party, and enough baked goods at home to choke a horse.  I couldn't stick to both my protein intake and calorie count but at least I managed one or the other on each day since.  I'm back on the horse now.  I made up some chicken for lunches and I am prepared to resist the onslaught of Fat Tuesday. 

 

RESIST! i just pretend that the fat tuesday sweets are poisoned.   Ok, not really, but that's what I'm going to do. 

 

I've been mainly "off the sugar" and trying to keep it that way, so that helps. 

[Thalianost]

4 minutes ago, Taddea Zhaan said:

 

RESIST! i just pretend that the fat tuesday sweets are poisoned.   Ok, not really, but that's what I'm going to do. 

 

I've been mainly "off the sugar" and trying to keep it that way, so that helps. 

That's a slippery slope.  First you pretend they are poisoned and that doesn't work.  So, next you actually poison them and before you know it you and your entire household is in the ER getting your stomachs pumped saying "Yeah, but it was totally worth it."

 

Now that I think about it, if they pump your stomach you don't get the calories from the sweets.  So... win / win?

[Jord]

15 minutes ago, Thalianost said:

That's a slippery slope.  First you pretend they are poisoned and that doesn't work.  So, next you actually poison them and before you know it you and your entire household is in the ER getting your stomachs pumped saying "Yeah, but it was totally worth it."

 

Now that I think about it, if they pump your stomach you don't get the calories from the sweets.  So... win / win?

 

LOL. 

 

I find the longer I don't eat sweets the easier it is to turn them down. But it really depends on your outlook and willpower. Some people are of the mindset to have sweets fit their calories/macros. But I develop a sweets addiction. If I have sweets too often I start craving and giving into them every day. I know myself and know I do better if I just avoid them all together, lest I (re)start a daily dessert habit. Maybe when I am no longer on a cut and have 400 calories are more added back in I can consider what I want to do with them. 

 

I do like something sweet after lunch as a post-salt snack. For that I bring a piece of fruit with me to work. 

[Laghail]

39 minutes ago, Thalianost said:

That's a slippery slope.  First you pretend they are poisoned and that doesn't work.  So, next you actually poison them and before you know it you and your entire household is in the ER getting your stomachs pumped saying "Yeah, but it was totally worth it."

 

Now that I think about it, if they pump your stomach you don't get the calories from the sweets.  So... win / win?

I can get behind this kind of thinking. Ain't no weight loss like dehydration / vomiting weight loss.

[Jord]

15 minutes ago, Laghail said:

I can get behind this kind of thinking. Ain't no weight loss like dehydration / vomiting weight loss.

 

I mean, it is the easiest kind of weight loss. I'm in. It sounds better than a tape worm. 

[Laghail]

[Thalianost]

3 hours ago, Laghail said:

I can get behind this kind of thinking. Ain't no weight loss like dehydration / vomiting weight loss.

Throw on the vinyl suit and you have the holy trinity of old school wrestling.