Jarric

The shading and highlights on this are amazing, absolutely love it.

W3D3 Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit was muscle ups, handstand pressups, and KB swings. I must have got around 18-20 muscle ups and twice as many HSPUs. Really pleased with that. I then ran out of enthusiasm for the rest of the day, and laid in bed on my phone until lunchtime. Missed morning Duolingo. Finally got some inspiration in the afternoon to set up our TV, and do a tiny bit of cleaning. I did also buy some cans of coke, which fails my hoardsperson goal. I went bouldering, before chilling at home for the evening. Kneehab done and heat applied, calories tracked, drew a tiny, shitty octopus, did evening Duolingo, teeth brushed. 5.5/6.

Oo, now that's interesting. I'm finding it harder to think of something to draw than seems reasonable, but I'll try and come up with something.

Glad the university gig got sorted out, that sounds really exciting! Also, handy that you can now fit your trousers, because going to work in sweats might not be the best starting image Hope Ghostess's trial stuff goes smoothly.

Thank you mate.

W3D2 Yesterday was a good day. Did my kneehab as a warm-up before a very slow cycle. Working from home, though I had technical issues plaguing my morning and was very busy. In the evening we had Pathfinder session zero, and by the time we got home I was exhausted. I went straight to bed skipping food, languages, art, and teeth brushing. Spent money on parking and a drink at Pathfinder. Calories were low at least. 2.5/6 Pathfinder stuff for those interested: We had session zero of abomination vaults, which was a bit of talk about the session (not too much to discuss, as Paizo produce really good players' guides for their adventure paths, so we had a good idea of the setting/premise). Then we set about making our characters, and working out party optimisation (checking we had all the roles, skills, and equipment we needed between us). We wouldn't usually bother, but Abomination Vaults has a real reputation for TPKs, and we'd like to try our best to survive. Our party is, provisionally: Trip, my human inventor. He's an archer, crafter, and will have all of the INT skills covered. I will also be our hoardsperson (i.e. I'll keep track of the party's loot). Charnamé, a wood elemental person kineticist. He will be our front line tank. The player is our documancer (he'll keep good notes of every session, unlike the rest of us who'll keep bad notes) Erica Withakay, a frost-touched human leaf druid with a leshy familiar. She'll be our healer, primal caster, and cover the WIS skills. This is WW's character, and she'll also be our cartographer (she'll map the dungeon for us) Obong, King of the Swamp (I think), a monkey folk rogue. He'll be our trap-finding, lock-picking, skill-monkey skirmisher. An as-yet-unnamed fetchling summoner and his undead eidolon. He'll be weird divine magic, and the eidolon might be a front line fighter while he stands back and blasts cantrips I think? The player will be our rules lawyer (he'll look up rules to take some of the work off the GM)

W3D1 Monday was a good day. Crossfit was squats, 95kg (190#) x 3, 85kg x 5, 77.5kg x 7. Then some rope climbs and rowing. Work was busy, but we had a team lunch for someone's birthday which was fun. I finished late though, and was knackered in the evening. We had to do some cleaning as we had an electrician coming round Tuesday, which used the remainder of my energy. Skipped kneehab and art, calories tracked (a little high from lunch), and languages done. 5/6 (with the double up from cleaning and hoarding).

Thank you. I don't actually know if I'm feeling disappointed because I'm not doing as well as I'd like on my goals, or if I'm disappointed because I'm just feeling off. Either way, I hope this week is better for me too! Session zero was not super exciting, mostly just trying to balance a party that won't be immediately killed in session 1, but I will do a proper recap (maybe not tonight now). I know, I just haven't drawn anything I didn't hate in the last week. Although to be fair, I've drawn exactly one thing in the past week, so that's not particularly surprising. I'm just not really feeling inspired to draw anything, and although forcing myself to do some little 2-minute doodles is probably the right thing to get me back in the swing of it, that isn't very inspiring. Thank you man. Let's reframe that; I'm not happy with the amount of time I've been putting into this recently, and I want to make it more of a priority.

Thank you! And yeah, that is a very fair point. I'll be cutting for the next cycle of this challenge too (assuming we do it again), so it really doesn't matter if I hit the goal at the end of this one. Happy early birthday to you too! ?I share a birthday with your daughter then! Hope both you and your daughter have great days when they come.

No idea yet . I bulked a bit last year, then stuck in rough maintenance during race season, then started a half0hearted attempt at cutting in about November and started cutting properly in January. I like the sound of 3-month bulk and cut cycles, but I really need to decide how long I want this cut to be first! That sounds like a excellent programme, which will get you a long way. And yeah, creatine supplements have a fairly marginal effect, and for some people they don't work at all. It would depend what your creatine phosphate storage capacity is, but some people will reach saturation just from diet and some will be able to take on a fair bit more through supplements. It's probably never likely that the gains will outweigh the lack of lifting you'll want to do if it gives you a bad stomach though.

Week 2 stats The muscle - 6/7 kneehab sessions done, though one was a token gesture. Only managed to apply heat 3 times, but got 3/4 cycle sessions. The decisionist - 7/7 days tracked. Finished the week at 18,907kcal (average 2,701 per day), over my target of 18,000, so no extra credit. I was basically over because I was 1,000kcal over on Sunday, otherwise I would have made it. I gained 1.4lbs this week, but I lost 3.5lbs the previous week so it's probably still a realistic number. The cartographer - 2/7 days doing art, and I didn't share any art here. I need to get my mojo back with this; I'm really not feeling it right now. The translator - 4.5/7 days of Duolingo (actually 2 days and 5 half days). More commitment needed here, mainly to do an evening lesson when I've already done a morning lesson. The hoardsperson and the campmaker - 6/7, being 5 days with no spending and one cleaning session. Could easily have done another cleaning session, but this still isn't bad. The face - 4/7 days of tooth brushing. This is a sure sign that I've been tired/overwhelmed/feeling rubbish, though I'm not sure what to do with that information right now. Week 3 will be all about calorie damage reduction early in the week, as I have a friend's work leaving do and my birthday at the weekend. I'll also be having session zero of our Abomination Vaults campaign (finally!), and I'm hoping that will give me some enthusiasm for art again. For the other goals I just need to put in some damn effort.

W2D7 Sunday was a good day. Went outside on a real bike for the first time in bloody ages. Turned into a 2-hour ride (with some pushing up muddy hills), which was quite nice. Accidentally ate loads. Lunch was a full english at a local place - went for the second smallest option and it was still over 1,000kcal. Then cooked roast lamb for dinner, overdid the amount of veg, and ended up over 1,000kcal for that too. Had a bath in the afternoon, then collapsed on the sofa after dinner until bedtime. didn't do languages or art, 4.5/6 again.

W2D6 Saturday was a good day. Cycled at the gym, then went bouldering for a nice chill session. Saw my grandma, watched the rugby, and chilled with a beer in the evening. Kneehab done, calories tracked and reasonable, and even did some drawing (though I hated what I drew, maybe I can fix it?). Not sure if I brushed my teeth in the evening so haven't counted it, pretty sure I was quite tired and didn't do evening languages. No money spent, but though I rolled for cleaning I didn't actually do any. 4.5/6

Payday last week, so I spent a while bunch of money on stuff. All planned spends though - a race I'd agreed to sign up for and accomodation for another race I'd already signed up to in the main. I had a bit of a weird win too. We're going to France this summer, and our Airbnb cancelled on us a couple of weeks ago. It's taken ages to find another place, but we've ended up somewhere that's £250 cheaper than the first one we booked. The net result is that I didn't need to pay off my credit card this month, and I'm a couple of quid in credit on it still.

01/01/2024 - 174.4lbs 08/01/2024 - 172.0lbs 15/01/2024 - 170.9lbs 22/01/2024 - 169.2lbs 29/01/2024 - 169.0lbs 05/02/2024 - 168.8lbs 12/02/2024 - 169.2lbs 19/02/2024 - 165.7lbs 26/02/2024 - 167.1lbs After a massive loss last week I'm not surprised to see a bit of a gain back this week. I might have got away with keeping last week's weight, but I accidentally had two massive meals yesterday and finished the week almost 1,000kcal over target as a result. The start of this week is all about damage control, as I've got a colleague's leaving do on Friday, tapas out for my birthday on Saturday, and then lunch out on my actual birthday on Sunday. I plan to enjoy all of that, but I can set up the start of the week to mitigate its effects somewhat. With 3 weeks left and 5lbs above target I'm not sure I'm going to hit it, but we'll see what we can do.

This was really interesting, thank you. It's got me thinking about how I deal with my next bulking phase once I'm done with this cut. Have you considered creatine supplementation? (Or are you doing that already, and I've misunderstood stood the bit about ATP?)

This sounds absolutely beautiful. Putting that on my wishlist.

Love the fish bowls, that's a really nice idea. A visual mood tracker in general is a pretty fun concept. Would be interested to see your daily/weekly spreads - my bujo tends to just be a load of plain lists.

Good job on the comeback mate - the scale will come round soon enough.

Yeah, doing a little 7km obstacle course with a few people from work. It's mostly a beginner' race, but it'll be nice to do something with the group. And also got our accommodation for Man v Coast in the summer (25-mile adventure race along the South-West coast of England). When I have the gym in the morning I don't really have time to do anything else before work unfortunately. When I'm cycling, like I did this morning, I can do my physio as a warm-up before I leave the house, but that's only helpful 3 times per week. The other option is to do it as soon as I get in from work, but that only works if I finish work on time and I don't have D&D/BG3 night. Otherwise it's after dinner or late before bed. Writing this out has been helpful actually; if I know that I have an evening where I'll be late or I have commitments, I can at least think about planning around that.

Finance update Every payday I take any money I had leftover from the previous month, split it based on my challenge goal completion from that month, pay extra off my mortgage for the percentage I failed and pay the rest into my savings. I hit 74.52% goal completion over the last month, so of my £91.83 surplus I kept £68.44 in my savings, and paid £23.39 off my mortgage.

Friday week 2 Yesterday was a good day. It was payday, which helps, and I spent a ton of money on races, race accommodation, and holiday accommodation. We did pullovers at Crossfit, and I got a whole bunch of them - really loving gymnastic movements right now. Worked late and was knackered in the evening. Did some token kneehab, but skipped evening languages, teeth, and art (again!). Calories tracked, so 2.5/6 for the day.

Thursday week 2 Thursday was a good day. Muscle ups at crossfit again - I got a bunch of singles and a double or two. Then intervals of skiing and push press, which was fine for me, but not great for the guy who push pressed the bar into his chin and chipped his tooth ? In the evening I cooked dinner quickly, then jumped online to play BG3. By the time I'd finished I was knackered, and didn't do my physio , drawing, or teeth. Generally feeling in a funk towards the end of the week I think. 3.5/6 today.

Yeah, your right of course. I think it was the change from last session's 'it should be good in 6 weeks' to this session being 'it'll be healed when it's healed'. Yes, a job is a stovetop (though I did google stovetop to confirm as it isn't a term here). Ours is a gas hob, i.e. a few individual gas burners to put pans and things on. Isn't it though? Can't wait for it to arrive. You know what, not only are you right, but you saying I'd been consistent with posting made me reply to these messages before bed. So thank you for that.

Don't worry, he'll only keep doing it until it stops being inconvenient How can things be this far delayed? That just feels crazy.