Jarric

Hope the shoulder heals up soon man, and that you enjoy your break from challenging.

We got it for my BIL for Christmas, and got to play a bit over the Christmas break - it's really fun, isn't it? Took us a while to get our heads around it though!

Thursday - Week 1 Day 4 Yesterday was a good day. I managed to set my alarm wrong yet again, but this time only 5 minutes late. By the time I'd got up and scraped the ice off the car I was 10 minutes late for the gym, which isn't the end of the world. We did a nice little workout of muscle ups (I subbed for Russian dips), ball slams, and double unders. I spent most of the time on the skipping, but I am gradually getting able to do a couple of doubles without falling over. We followed that with some weighted dips and tricep extensions. Work was ok. I had to finish bang on time to go and get my booster jab, which was a bit stressful. I'm crap with jabs, but it wasn't too bad - I got them to do it with me lying down so that I couldn't pass out, and after 10 minutes of lying there I was able to get up and get out. In the evening we watched TV and chilled out. Album for the day was Ray of Light by Madonna, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Without the vocals it feels like the soundtrack to a cyberpunk computer game, which was pretty cool, and I don't think the vocals detract from that feel. Standard 600kcal breakfast, cheese and chutney sandwich and a carrot for lunch at ~600kcal. Dinner was a beef chilli - it was a recipe box meal so I didn't really have control over the calories, and it came in at about 850. I also went over on snacks - not massively but definitely over. Teeth and creativity weren't done - feeling better but still not quite in the mental place - and no revision either.

Yeah, maybe I shouldn't be worrying about looking for a reason. Thank you.

Wednesday - Week 1 Day 3 Wednesday was a good day. I got up first thing and got out for my run. I say first thing - I woke up, started browsing my phone whilst I properly came to, and then promptly fell asleep despite the phone light shining in my face. I did manage to get out for a couple of miles in the end, which was shorter than I would have liked but at least it's something. Work was ok, but for some reason I was mentally exhausted by the time I finished and in a not great mood. I finished more or less on time because I was too tired to keep working. In the evening WW cooked kedgeree and we chilled on the sofa, where I had a couple of beers. I didn't drink that much, but I definitely stayed up to late, and had a whiskey because I didn't want to go to bed. I don't know why I felt the need to stay up drinking, or why I was in a bad mood. Maybe I'm worried about WW being in isolation and whether she'll get COVID symptoms? Maybe I'm stressed about work (which would be ironic, as it's much quieter that it was for a lot of last year)? I don't know. Standard 600kcal breakfast, cheese and chutney roll for lunch with a carrot and an apple, plus a KitKat to make it up to 600kcal, the kedgeree was about 460kcal, pretty sure I made up a little on snacks so I wasn't too low but it's a tick for the day anyway. Beers day is now at ~800/2,400kcal. No creative stuff; I just wasn't feeling it, and no teeth brushing or revision either.

'Extra' really depends on your starting point though, doesn't it? One of the reasons to track macros is to see what your baseline is. It's not just about increasing protein to build muscle, it's about understanding what the current composition of your diet is. Everyone has a different starting point, and someone who determines that they need to eat more protein might not be eating extra protein when compared to a standard recommended daily allowance.

So I generally see protein recommendations more commonly for cutting than bulking, and protein as a percentage of total consumption is usually recommended as higher when cutting than bulking. As far as I can work out from studies I've read, an individual's protein requirements seems to be set based on their mass rather than based on the amount they eat. The difference is that it's significantly easier to get 100g of protein eating 4,000 calories per day than it is eating 2,000 calories per day. So tracking protein may be more important when cutting and trying to maintain muscle than it is when bulking. Particularly if someone is cutting quite severely. 100% agree with this. For some people something like IIFYM is a great structure to help them think about the way they eat more widely. For others, macro tracking is a great way to just get people reading the contents and portion sizes of the food they eat. Most people don't need to be 100% dialled in to strict marco ratios all the time, but it can still be a worthwhile exercise to consider them.

That sounds like a great idea to me - a bit of creativity usually helps me when my mind's wiped out.

Sounds good! Let me know when you've got a free weekend morning and we'll set something up

This is a cracking track! I know that you're QUEEN CAPSLOCK, but I feel like it should be a requirement that DRAGONFORCE is always written in caps. Not drinking will probably make you feel better mentally in the long run too. I've been thinking a lot over the past couple of months about using alcohol to deal with bad things, and I don't think it does that. I think it distracts you from your problems. That's totally welcome sometimes, but all the time you're distracting yourself you're not actually dealing with the things that are making you feel that way, and you're not getting better. Not drinking is hard now, but you'll probably be in a better mental state in the long run as a result. Or maybe I'm just projecting YMMV

I keep meaning to stay that we picked up the 1001 albums list again. Monday's album was The La's by The La's. The only La's track I know is There She Goes, and I was pleasantly surprised that the rest of the album wasn't much like that. Actually, it sounded a lot like The Kinks, which is always a good thing in my book. Yesterday's album was Rubber Soul by the Beatles. It was pretty good, but then I guess Beatles albums are generally pretty good. I knew more tracks than I was expecting reading the track list, which helped.

Thank you! They're much appreciated.

Wow, that's an intense workout, well done Rho! IagreewithTank™

Glad it's not COVID mate. Hope you feel better soon.

That's good instant feedback from your body - shows you it know what it needs!

Yesterday was a good day. A challenging day, but still a good day. I woke up when my alarm went off at 7. This was a problem, because my gym session started at half 6. Clearly I forgot to change my alarm after the bank holiday back to normal working week time. I was annoyed at missing the gym, but I dragged myself out of bed and did 15 minutes of yoga so I could at least say I'd done something with my morning. Breakfast was three boiled eggs, a banana, and a protein shake. Well, most of a protein shake, some of it I managed to chuck across the floor, and my brand new shoes, when I got into the office. That was annoying! About 600 calories, some of which were shared with the floor . Lunch was a Gregg's ham and cheese baguette and a carrot, about 600 calories. I had a nectarine as a snack mid-afternoon. Work was good - was pretty chilled out as we chatted and caught up with people, but I still got a reasonable amount done. I stayed late at work so that I could walk WW home, but for some reason her text didn't come through, so she got home before me and I stayed late for no reason. For those of you sensing a theme here yes, that was annoying. I was irritated and hungry when I got in, so I finished off WW's sister's chocolate fudge cake. For dinner I made a potato and onion omelette with cheese, and somehow it was bloody excellent. I cooked it through slowly, more like a Spanish tortilla than a French omelette, and put it under the grill at the end to finish the top and brown the cheese. We had it with a crusty roll, for about 600 calories again. After dinner we took lateral flow tests. We hadn't been able to get hold of any for ages because there's shortages here. I was on the phone to my dad when I glanced down and saw that WW's test was positive! Not a good end to the day; she now has to isolate at home for the next week or so, and go for a PCR test. On the plus side she hasn't been particularly ill, it's just annoying that she can't go anywhere. I apparently don't have the 'rona, but I'll keep testing every day and see what happens. I'd saved enough snack calories for my evening glass of milk, about 150, but decided I'd rather have a snack. So I worked out and weighed how many chocolate coins I could have. 3. 3 chocolate coins have the same calories as a whole glass of whole milk. I ate them anyway, and hit my calories for the day. Before bed I did a bit of digital drawing on the laptop. I'm not sure how well I'm going to get on with it, but it's fun to play with right now and I'm sure it'll have its uses. Teeth done, no running or revision today.

Thank you! It's good to have you! Some of your goals inspired mine so I'm not surprised we're ticking some of the same boxes. Also pretty sure I got Northgard on your recommendation, so thank you very much for that! We should play together sometime if we can make the timezones work (though I'm pretty rubbish if I'm honest!)

I've found the MFP works well enough for me. I think the thing is, it doesn't really matter if the numbers are accurate, as long as they're consistent. Because MFP prioritises options for foods that you have chosen before, you end up using the same option and so end up with a consistent number. The number itself could be wildly out, but as long as you're only comparing your own numbers to your own numbers it doesn't actually matter. For example, if MFP tells me I'm eating 3,000 calories per day, and I decide to cut to 2,700 according to MFP, I've cut 10% of my calories. If that 3,000 should actually be 3,500 in reality, and I've only cut to 3,150, it doesn't matter, because I've still cut 10%.

Yeah, I've got the brown cover, but it's definitely the same one! Well don on rocking day 2 - keep it up Puck!

If you're stuck, maybe look at it the other way? Come up with the name, and then work out what must have happened in her life to have given her that name. Down dog stretches so much of your body, I don't think feeling it in your hip flexors is that weird? I usually find my calves are the bit most affected. You can probably change where you feel it by pointing your toes in or out, to give a different stretch.

Monday - Week 1 Day 1 Let the challenge commence! Yesterday was a good day. Went to Crossfit first thing (thankfully at 8am, rather than the usual 6.30, as it was a bank holiday). We had a fun session, starting with a medley of deadball/sandbag clean and press - basically we lined up deadballs from 15kg (~33#) to 70kg (~154#), and walked down the line cleaning and pressing until we could lift no more, then going back to the start until we'd done 3 rounds. After that we had dumbbell bench press and farmers' carries. I felt so damn weak, but I guess doing 'murphish' on Friday, climbing Friday and Sunday, and drinking copious amounts of alcohol whilst eating endless party food will impair performance somewhat. WW and I spent the next 4-5 hours tidying the house. Well, mostly what I did was 5 full loads of washing up, because we're absolute slobs and every dish, plate, and pan we own needed washing. Everything looks much better now, though there's still plenty more house to clean. When we got bored of cleaning WW and I got back on Northgard for a few hours until dinner time. We had a baked camembert for dinner, and then I jumped into Northgard again while WW watched old Taskmaster re-runs. Fortunately I finished my level about 15 minutes before bedtime, which gave me a chance to do a bit of drawing before bed. I spent a little bit of time reading The Silver Way and thinking about picking up the drawing exercises in there again, and then did some silly doodles which is more than enough for my creativity goal. Food was good: An avocado and two fried eggs on toast (about 700 calories), because of the larger, late breakfast, I just had a protein shake, a couple of bits of fruit and a KitKat for lunch (about 500), and the baked camembert and veg for dinner (about 500 again). Two glasses of milk, morning and night, and 300 calories worth of chocolate fudge cake baked by WW's sister rounded out the day on target. Teeth were done, nothing for the revision or running goals today.

I have never heard this used in an exercise context, but it's spot on! I'm going to steal that; I'm always telling people the best way to avoid DOMS is to never stop exercising Your tracking pages are so cool! I feel like I should re-do mine now to make them a bit more interesting and a bit more functional. Also, I'm pretty sure I have exactly the same journal as you. I got mine for Hummingbird, the gnoll bard I played in the recent Pathfinder 2e campaign that collapsed much, much too early. I'll have to think about giving that a second life too.

Friday - Week 0, Day 5 I forgot to mention in my last update that I got out the guitar and strummed a few chords on Friday. I'm not counting score for zero week, but as it was goal relevant I thought I'd mention it. The Captain's NYE party was fantastic - he's got such a lovely group of friends and he and Mermaid put a lot of effort into making everyone happy. I don't envy them having to organise it all, but they did a great job. There was a lot of drinking, smoking, singing and dancing, just as the last day of the year should have. Saturday - Week 0, Day 6 Saturday was a good day. WW and I had our standard New Year's Day plans - eat party food, watch TV, and play computer games. WW wasn't feeling well - she hadn't come to the NYE party as she'd had a horrible headache and that was continuing, so it was a pretty subdued day. We watched all of World's Strongest Man, which is amazing lifting inspiration to watch whilst eating mozzarella sticks, pigs in blankets, and an entire Oriental party selection. Sunday - Week 0, Day 7 Yesterday I went climbing with Hopalong and MG in the morning. Given the ridiculous workout and climbing on Friday, and the copious amounts of beer and party food since, it was not my most successful climbing session. It was still good to go though, and it's as much about having a nice time with mates as it is about the exercise. In the afternoon we went to my parents' house for a late Christmas dinner, having been at WW's parents on actual Christmas. That was a nice day, and it was good to see my parents and my grandma (though also a bit stressful, as seeing family often is). We had a massive roast goose dinner and I drank about a bottle of red wine. In the evening WW and I played Northgard, drank beer, and ate more party food for about 5 hours. I'm really loving Northgard at the moment, and having WW and I playing co-op in the same room (me on the PC, her on the laptop), is loads of fun. I'm realising that none of this sounds very much like a fitness challenge! But today is day one of the challenge proper #mondaystarter4lyf #mondayisthefirstdayoftheweek. It's a bank holiday in the UK today, so the plan is to use it to sort myself out a bit and generally get prepared for the year before I go back to work tomorrow.

Borrow away! Yeah, it's definitely easier to plan a year around fixed events, but I don't trust anything planned more than 3 days in advance to happen any more! Thank you! I love those! How about witchlifter? Swolecaster? There's got to be a pun on necromancer, but I haven't got to it yet. Good to have you Rho Good shout, you're absolutely right! Today is the first day of the challenge though, and so I'll give a proper update later.