Elleme respawns

[Elleme]

Hello fellow Rebels!

 

It's been a while since I've been here on the forums. I've done two challenges in 2014, but then life got really stressful and I stopped visiting the forums.. Lately I have been focusing more on getting healthy, and when I read Steve's article on Intermittent Fasting and I wanted to give it a go, I figured I should return here and join the awesome community, to make sure I stick to my plan! I think I created achievable goals, and I'm seriously motivated to ace this challenge! 

 

My main quest

I want to be happy, healthy and mentally strong!

 

Current goals

1. Have fun with IF

Every other day, I will have a 500 calorie dinner and fast the rest of the day.

The other day I will eat as usual (2 or 3 meals). I have been reading about Intermittent Fasting, and I recently (no more than a week ago) decided to just try it. And I actually really enjoyed it! I haven’t even weighed myself since I started doing it. Anyway, I’m really excited to experiment with it some more and hopefully lose some weight (I want to lose 20 kg, which translates to 44 lbs) and improve my health in general.

 

Pass:                      12 or more fast days (of the possible 14 days)

Total:                      6/14 fast days

 

2. Swap unhealthy snacks for fruit

Instead of having an unhealthy snack, I will have a piece of fruit.

Especially in the evenings, I tend to succumb to unhealthy snacks. Sometimes I even have a sandwich. I usually do it because I don’t like going to bed hungry and because it’s so easy, but seriously, it’s not a healthy habit and I could just as well have a piece of fruit (and a cup of tea). Either no snack, or fruit. It helps that I love fruit, especially oranges, I think I just need to focus on this a bit more.

 

Pass:                      2 or less unhealthy snacks during the entire challenge (no more than 1 per week)

Total:                      1/2 unhealthy snacks

 

3. Go explore! (take regular walks)

Go for a walk at least 2 times a week, for at least 45 minutes each time.

I have been wanting to move more to lose weight and improve my health. Since I really dislike going to the gym, I decided I should start walking more (sometimes my boyfriend and me go for walks in the forest, but not very often). I especially love listening to the birds and looking at the nature around me, and just get some quiet time.

 

Pass:                      2 or more walks a week, for 45 minutes or more each time

Total:                      3/8 walks, 125/360 minutes

 

4. Daily mood reflection

Reflect on how I’m feeling that day, everyday, and what I can do to improve how I feel.

Recently (February this year) I have been diagnosed with autism. It’s changed a lot. It feels as if I never really knew myself and I’m just starting to understand myself, very weird. I also went from having a full-time job to not having a job and focusing on taking care of myself. Part of taking care of myself is learning to recognize when I’m not feeling too happy, and acting on it. For example, when I feel overstimulated (social/sensory), it could help to lie down in a dark room for 15 minutes. So everyday I will take 5-10 minutes to reflect on my feelings, my thoughts, how my body feels, etc.

 

Pass:                      5 or more reflections a week

Total:                      12/28 reflections

 

My progress

Here I will keep track of both my goals and my weight. I weigh myself every Saturday or Sunday.

 

Starting weight (Apr 22): 88,8 kg (195,7 lbs)

 

Week 1 (Apr 23 - Apr 29)

2/3 fast days

1/1 unhealthy snack

1/2 walks, 75/90 minutes

6/7 reflections

Weight Apr 29: 88,7 kg (195,5 lbs)

 

Week 2 (Apr 30 - May 6)

3/4 fast days

0/1 unhealthy snack

2/2 walks, 50/90 minutes

5/7 reflections

Weight May 6: 87,5 kg (192,9 lbs)

 

Week 3 (May 7 - May 13)

1/3 fast days

0/1 unhealthy snack

0/2 walks, 0/90 minutes

1/7 reflections

Weight May 13:

 

Week 4 (May 14 - May 20)

0/4 fast days

0/1 unhealthy snack

0/2 walks, 0/90 minutes

0/7 reflections

Weight May 20:

[Elleme]

Okay, this is pretty cool. Usually I weigh myself on Saturdays, but I've been so excited to weigh myself since I started IF.. and I've already lost 0.8 kg (1.76 lbs) since last Saturday! I could barely believe it. I reckon it could be some water weight, but it still feels very promising!

[Plazmotic]

Great challenge setup! And hooray for IF! I’m trying it out too, not to your extent (I'm eating lunch and dinner) but I find it's something that works really well for me!

[Erick the Red]

Great set of goals.  SInce you already have your food choices dialed in, it makes sense to use fasting to take it to the next level.  I really like your daily reflection as well!

[AverageFish]

Great goals!

[Elleme]

Thanks guys!

 

I had a weird start with the challenge. Yesterday was the first day, but I totally forgot about it because my parents were visiting (I just turned 28!). Obviously I wasn't planning to fast that day, but because I forgot, I also didn't do the daily reflection, boooo. 

 

Today I did well though. I met my coach (because of my autism) today, and because their office is right next to a pretty big park, I went for a walk afterwards. I ended up walking for 75 mins and had so much fun. I used to work near the same park before, and I went for walks on pretty much every lunch break, but there's only so far you can walk within 30 minutes and there were certain routes I've been wanting to explore. EXPLORATION!  I will definitely do that again. And I need to make sure to do some reflection too today... Tomorrow will be my first fast day of this week.

[Njumoona]

Really great goals. You will feel so much better at the end of the challenge. My last goals were similar and I lost weight and felt fitter when I finished it.

My clothes fit me again

[fleaball]

I'm always in awe of people who can manage IF because I get hangry so easily. 

 

Happy late birthday!

[Elleme]

That's awesome Njumoona! I really hope it's the same for me. I'm especially looking forward to being able to wear my summer jacket again...

 

Thank you fleaball! I admit I was quite surprised that I managed it as well. They say you should distract yourself, go do something else to keep your mind off food. It sounds very "yeah right...", but apparently it worked for me, haha.

[Elleme]

Another thing I found quite effective to think while I'm fasting: "It's not that I can't eat, it's just that I have to wait a little while before I get to eat, and I can wait a little longer!"

 

I've been doing quite well. I haven't weighed myself this week, but I noticed my summer jacket is a bit less tight than usual, and my pyjama pants have been falling off  Also, I have been reflecting every day. I just need one more walk and I'm good to go!

[AverageFish]

Yay for exploration!

[Elleme]

Sigh. I weighed myself this morning, and yes I lost weight, but it was only 0.1 kg less than at the beginning of the challenge. I had the feeling I had lost more, but I know I didn't do as well as I wanted this week, so I suppose I'll just try harder next week.

[Thura]

Keep going! Perhaps you've lost some fat and your body is just storing water. I have a similar issue and didn't lost a single pound this month. Now I start to measure myself once a week because I curiously have the same feeling as you have: I do feel leaner and leaner but the weight stays the same. Perhaps that's something for you too?

 

I like your goals and love the format of your thread. It's a real example for me and inspires me to invest more effort in my upcoming challenges.

[Elleme]

Thank you Thura, that is so kind of you to say (basically everything you said), and it really encourages me! I've lost my measuring tape lol, I suppose I should go looking for it again. I always liked keeping track of especially my waist and hip measurements.

 

About the format of my challenge: I've been a member of the forums for a while now, but I've been away for a couple of years. When I came back, I was looking at my past challenges and was actually amazed by the format that I used, so I'm using it again

[Elleme]

Okay so apparently logging the distance I walk is just a bit too much for me, I never feel like it. But since I go for walks anyway, it doesn't really matter if I don't do it.

 

Apart from that, I'm doing pretty well this week! I started really strong with a 32-hour fast (yup, really, I felt like trying it out, and it went really well, and it was an interesting experience!) and yesterday I went for a nice walk through the city. Aaaaand another fast today until dinner. Feeling good!

[fleaball]

I'm a little late here but yeah, there's so much going on that the scale isn't showing you. If you can find a measuring tape, start taking measurements too. If your clothes are fitting better or falling off, there's stuff happening. Just not in the way you're looking for it. 

[Elleme]

That's true fleaball! In the last comment I wrote I said I would look for it, but I still haven't got to that  First I thought it wouldn't matter to me, that I would just see the results when I look in the mirror etc., but I suppose I do want some 'validation' for my work!

[fleaball]

2 hours ago, Elleme said:

That's true fleaball! In the last comment I wrote I said I would look for it, but I still haven't got to that  First I thought it wouldn't matter to me, that I would just see the results when I look in the mirror etc., but I suppose I do want some 'validation' for my work!

I totally get it. Sometimes it's hard though and no matter how much progress you've made you might not see it yourself, so having a backup (or several) non-scale option is helpful. 

 

...says the girl who hasn't weighed or measured anything in weeks >_>

[Elleme]

On 2017-5-3 at 8:17 PM, fleaball said:

I totally get it. Sometimes it's hard though and no matter how much progress you've made you might not see it yourself, so having a backup (or several) non-scale option is helpful. 

 

...says the girl who hasn't weighed or measured anything in weeks >_>

 

But I know you're going through a stressful time, I wouldn't get to weighing or measuring either if I was in the same situation

 

I should really post everyday. It's so silly, but I forget what I did the day(s) before so quickly! Either way, today I did pretty well, went for a small walk because I was 'out and about' anyway, I fasted throughout the day and I had a really nice salad with chicken, mozzarella, egg and pineapple for dinner. Yummmmm.

[Hymnusal]

Hey @Elleme! How has the last week gone?

[Elleme]

Hi Hymnusal, thanks so much for asking!

 

I've not done very well to post here regularly, even though I should, it helps me to keep focused on my goals. I haven't been doing as well as I imagined at the start of the challenge... honestly, so far I've not taken as many walks as I wanted (it holds me back to go for a walk because of how much I dread seeing/interacting with people outside, and I don't know how to overcome that feeling), I haven't done as many fast days as I wanted, and after a week or so I started to forget reflecting on myself. Oh and I didn't eat very healthy past weekend, because I was staying at my parents', and that somehow totally threw me off course, because I haven't felt like doing any fast day this week. I'm a little disappointed in myself, but I do realize that I have a lot on my mind lately. Finances, I'm looking for a new apartment/house...

 

Oh, I also just realized I really need to drink more water. I enjoy drinking water, but I don't do it a lot if I'm not focusing on drinking enough water. Maybe I should drink a glass of water when I feel like I want to eat (but am not really hungry or when I'm fasting) and then wait some time before I get something to eat.

[Hymnusal]

Hey Elleme! How did the last week of the challenge go for you?