Jarric

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 Well, I was right - this week was almost bang on target for calories, and I've only seen a 0.2lb drop. At least it's not a surprise :lol: One thing that has helped is changing my lunches. When I get a chance I take leftovers for lunch, but when I've been busy I've just been filling a lunchbox full of fruit and veg, which is much more filling at lower calories then going to get a baguette from Greggs.

As someone who's got their runs planned out until July, I very much support this line of thinking. You can always tweak things if they're not working, but just having a plan and not having to think about what you're going to do and when makes it so much easier to be consistent (for me at least).

A bit of a spendy week this week, though I don't regret it. Tuesday I went for a haircut, which was pre-booked. Thursday was payday, so Friday night WW and I went out for tapas, which was wonderful. We don't do it very often, and it was an evening well spent. Then Saturday, after a couple of hours writing a running training plan, I went and spent £120 on running shoes. Intellectually I think it was the right move - they're exactly the shoes I want, they were half price (two pairs at £60 each), I would have to buy new ones when my current onces wear out anyway, and I won't get them cheaper than this again. So logically it's a good call, but it's also a chunk of money I don't have to chuck on a credit card. Things are tight at the moment, and both my main accounts will be in overdraft by the end of the week. That's not really a problem; I have savings available and I'm choosing not to use them because it reduces my interest if I access them, but being this tight to the wire makes me feeel very stressed.

I like both of those theories, particularly the second one makes sense. Thank you mate.

Yeah, this is a half marathon improvement programme, so it's got me doing longer workouts and longer intervals. Though they're also slower, so it's a mixed blessing. I thought I'd hate these pyramid workouts; I've very much a long slow distance kind of runner, so I'm pleasantly surprised to enjoy them!

This describes every educational establishment I have ever attended

Seems entirely reasonable - spending on a good working environment is an investment worth making. Can you get the spending back on the rails for the rest of the challenge, to retroactively recover the money for the speaker?

I hope that times get much less interesting for you as soon as possible; sounds like you've had one hell of a week. Also...

Stats at Friday - week 4 day 5 The decisionist: 5/7 The muscle: 4/7 The face: 5/7 The cartographer: 1/4 The hoardsperson: 2/7 It's been a few days since I updated, let's see... Calories have been tracked. Last night I went out with WW for post-payday tapas. We had a lovely meal and a few beers. That was obviously high calorie, and I'm not right on the cusp of my calorie goal for the week being possible. If I can have a low calorie day today it might still be possible. That was also a day off for my no spending goal, but I did make a point to spend no money before we went out (even if i picked up a couple of extra beers on the way home). I've mostly been good with rolling my shoulders, it was only yesterday that I totally blanked on it (I blame the beer!). Art has been less good; I haven't really been thinking about it. I did work on a drawing of a grick on my day off on Wednesday, might try and shade it tonight before I share it here. Teeth brushing is going fine - is it weird that I think making the goal doing it standing on one leg is helping? Crossfit's been going well - some days better than others but I managed a 50ft. yoke carry at 215kg (473lbs), which I'm fairly sure must be a PB. This morning I went for a run and then bouldering. I've done the same ridiculous interval run a couple of times now, which is: 1 mile warmup Speed intervals (10k pace) of 1/16 mile, 1/8 mile. 1/4 mile, 1/2 mile, 3/4 mile, 1 mile, 3/4 mile, 1/2 mile, 1/8 mile 1/16 mile, each with 1/4 mile rest between them 1 mile cool down Total: 8.25 miles Or, if you're metrically inclined: 1,600m warmup Speed intervals (10k pace) of 200m, 400m, 800m, 1,200m, 1,600m, 1,200m, 800m, 400m, 200m, each with 400m rest between them 1,600m cool down Total: 13.2km Either way, it's a big one, but oddly I'm really enjoying it for some reason. I also feel like I'm getting faster too. Tomorrow is a 10 mile (16km) session at pace, so we'll put it to the test. This afternoon I might write myself a running plan - my current one ends at the end of February, but I'm pretty convinced that I'll be running a 25 mile trail race in the summer and I'm exciter to start getting ready for that. On the other hand, I might just play Baulder's Gate all day!

It's pretty amazing isn't it?

I'd second this; it's quick to prep and it's so nice to come home to a warm meal and a house that smells of stew. I'd even stick all of the veg in the pot, so that I don't have to cook anything on the side.

This is always going to be a bit of an individual thing - there's plenty of studies on protein intake, but they can only tell you what is ideal for a population average, not what is ideal for your specifically. You've said that, as far as you can tell, what you're doing is working. I'd keep monitoring that, and if it keeps working then you're probably doing fine. Or you could experiment with a little more protein, and document any changes in trends to see if it helps or not. There will come a point where your body is using all of the protein it can possibly use, and increased protein won't make a difference, though judging by the levels you've mentioned you're probably not there yet. This is quite a good, in-depth article on protein if you want a more scientific opinion: https://www.barbellmedicine.com/blog/barbell-medicine-protein-recommendations/

I don't tend to plan like this, but very much interested is seeing how others do it. My main strategy is just to make massive meals, and then have the leftovers for lunches on subsequent days. That sucks. On the bright side, at least you have the savings to cover unexpected costs, even if that's not how you want to spend them. Think how much worse it would be if you hadn't had the foresight to put some more away for the future.

Honestly, I don't imagine many people here would make that connection. I very much appreciate you doing so though.

This looks like a thing that might be useful for me - will have to dig into it further. Oo, now you're making me want to buy it! Sounds really good though, glad you liked it. I find my feet hurt a lot more when I'm standing around than when I walk a lot, thought that might just be me.

It's not even the only one (there are two piers - one it's in great shape...)

If you don't mind some unsolicited advice, I'd recommend starting with just the most basic bullet journaling method (shown here: What is the Bullet Journal Method?) to start with. There's about a million resources online and all sorts of fancy, pretty spreads that people put together, but at its core the beauty of bullet journaling is that it's simple and effective. Overcomplicating it can make it create more work than it solves.

Just found out yesterday that I got paid less than expected last month, and I will be this month, February and March. Apparently I've been undertaxed up until this point, so I end up with the right amount of money for the year, but this isn't super helpful for my very to-the-wire budget right now. Even more reason to keep track of everything and keep accountable here I suppose. How's everyone else's weeks going?

Tuesday - week 3 day 2 The decisionist: 2/7 The muscle: 2/7 The face: 2/7 The cartographer: 0/4 The hoardsperson: 1/7 Monday was a good day. Crossfit was deadlifts, and I worked up to 145kg (319#) x 5 - slowly getting back to where I want it to be. Then we had a really fun little workout, an 8-minute ladder of 1, 2, 3 etc. air squats and 50ft. shuttle runs (25ft. each way). I perversely enjoy shuttle runs now, which I used to hate as a kid, something about trying to work the technique to get the turns as accurate as possible whilst going balls to the wall for 8 minutes. I don't think I did much other than work, eat, and chill for the rest of the day. I already don't remember! Tuesday was also a good day. Went for a run first thing - 5.5 miles (8.85km) with the middle 4 miles fastish. I went out slightly late, partly because I was procrastinating and partly because the cat got in a fight with a random other cat that just wandered into our house. Other than the lateness it was good. Work was ok, but both Monday and Tuesday were really draining for some reason. Just a lot of very intense concentration work I think. Yesterday evening was Liminal, with WW as our GM. She's doing a really good job, and lead us through a potentially fatal battle with a nest of vampires on Brighton Pier. In the end we managed to disrupt the horrible blood ritual, although all of the vampires escaped to continue their unlives, but that's a problem for another day. I don't know why this gif exists, let alone why it's in the gif button here Anyway, when we got back it was late, and I've been tired all day so far today which I think is a result of that. It was good fun though, and that's worth a bit of tiredness.

Week 3 scores The decisionist: 7/7, but calories well over so no extra credit The muscle: 4/7 The face: 7/7, and all on one leg for extra credit The cartographer: 4/4, forgot that I could do more for extra credit! The hoardsperson: 4/7 Last week was a good one. I went our Friday night for Shit Shirt Friday (someone bought me an insane tacocat shirt which I very much appreciate). That involved spending some money, and it was both more money than I intended and more beer than was ideal. I don't regret it though, I had fun. The one big downside was that I ended the day on 4,325kcal, which combined with not being too strict earlier in the week to make my weekly calorie goal just about impossible. Saturday I also spent money, because in my morning haze I forgot to bring a banana to bouldering, and I definitely needed to eat something between a 8.25 mile interval run and a 90-minute bouldering session . It was only 50p, but that's the point of the no-spend challenge - the 'onlys' add up. I've also discovered that I'm going to be taking home less money than I expected for the next couple of months (apparently I've been under-taxed earlier in the year), so really need to tighten the belt there. Running and bouldering were good, but then I felt really horrible on the way home (perhaps the hangover finally kicked in). The rest of the weekend was pretty chilled, and on Sunday we played D&D and I got to continue terrorising my players by being a creepy sentient magic item. Our rogue has now befriended said item, which can only be good for me.

I, too, would like this. For me it's Discord, though maybe one day I'll delete 90% of my Facebook contacts and make the place palatable to spend time at

Woo! I did miss my title; I know it's only a silly joke, but it genuinely influenced who I wanted to be here. Just wanted to echo others and say thank you for all of the amazing work you've done for this place. You really are an inspiration to a lot of people here, and whatever's next for you this place is better for having had you.

Had to google this one - I was wondering what a cafetière had to do with your triceps . Fantastic album, even without the historical context it's just a great piece of work. I'm gonna have to disagree with you on this one though. Then again, I might just have a bit of a soft spot for it because so much of it is in the Yellow Submarine film, and I loved that as a kid.

Really sorry to hear that, that's really tough. Good choice to give yourself some space.

Re-did my budget yesterday to account for current expenses and income, and to work out what to do for savings over the next year. Re-affirmed how much I need to focus on spending, because there is almost no margin in those numbers right now. Still, spending has been very low this month, so I think it can be done.