Shello 2022: Body, Mind, & Castle: The 300 Day Roadmap

[Sloth the Enduring]

 

You need to show the scale who’s boss.  

[Shello]

15 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

You need to show the scale who’s boss.  

I like the data too much for that.  

 

[Shello]

The master closet reno is finally done!  It's taken months and several trips to IKEA which is 3 hours away.  

 

The before pics:

This is how it was designed by the builder with the cheapest builder supplies.  When I divorced and my ex moved out I changed one section of hanging to a jewelry counter with a mirror.  I added some cubbies for additional folding storage.  This obviously didn't work well and there is stuff everywhere, including the floor.  I hated walking into it and I could never find things.  As I've discovered there were clothes buried in there I had completely forgotten about.  

Spoiler

I can't get them to rotate so you're going to have to turn your head.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the big reveal!   I had this designed by the folks at The Container Store.  Their closet supplies were too expensive but I was able to recreate it pretty closely using IKEA materials at about a 3rd of the cost.   I am so pleased with how it turned out and everything fits!!!?

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Snarkyfishguts]

That is spiffy! What a cool looking closet, I can see why you were so particular about what you put in it!

[Shello]

8 minutes ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

That is spiffy! What a cool looking closet, I can see why you were so particular about what you put in it!

Thanks!  I love it.  I even spent an hour and a half today shopping for the perfect baskets to use.  I changed my mind at least 3 times but I am very pleased with how they look.  

[deftona]

That's wonderful! 

[Shello]

Challenge 2 Update

 

 

 

Challenge 2 is closed up.  It was another strong challenge.  I'd score it an A-.   I was more consistent with workouts and food.  Weight loss was close to target.  I lost 5 pounds this challenge making the total so far this year 9 pounds.  The goal was 10.  Close enough.   I got my reading streak back as well and read every day during this challenge.   

 

Where am I on the map?

 

Body:

• 300 Days of Activity:  This was better defined this time around, setting the daily movement threshold to 2400 calories burned in a day.  It might be a little too low but I'll tweak as I go.  To stay on track I needed 35 days of activity.  I got 33 plus 8 passterisk days for migraines and Covid.  This puts me a head of target overall with 72 days running total.  
• 300 Days of Calorie Target (or alternatively keeping average daily calories at or under goal):  Achieved by either measure.  I stayed within 100 calories of my goal 37 days with 1 migraine passterisk day.  The overall average daily calories were 40 under target.  

Mind:

• 300 Days Reading: Back on track with 43 reading days.  
• 65 hours of creativity:  I didn't get to any projects this challenge but didn't really make plans to.   I got extra time in last challenge and realized it's easy to spend hours at a time doing something fun.  I should be at 17 hours total for the year so far and I'm still at 13 hours.  

 

Castle:

• 65 Hours Upkeep:  I struggle with this goal but mostly because I just don't keep track.  I logged 6 hours but I suspect there was more than that.  DDG also takes care of a lot of chores so I may intend to get something done but then he'll beat me to it.  
• 300 Item Purge:  Another 43 items gone!  Woot! 

[Snarkyfishguts]

Omg you are killing it! I love seeing your plan work so well for you! ?

[Shello]

Wow, it's already halfway through challenge 4 and I haven't posted an update in awhile.  Last challenge was a bit of a struggle.  It took me longer than I expected to recover from Covid.  Activity levels dropped quite a bit for too long.  Food wasn't terrible but it didn't result in very much weight loss.  I finished the challenge at 238.4 which was a 2 pound loss.  

 

Body:

• 300 Days of Activity:  I had to modify my definition of daily movement while I recovered so it feels a little disingenuous but it's what I needed at the time.  35 days needed and 35 days achieved.  The total is now at 107.  
• 300 Days of Calorie Target (or alternatively keeping average daily calories at or under goal):  I had a lot of days over budget but my average stayed under budget, barely.  I stayed within 100 calories of my goal 32 days with 1 migraine passterisk day.  The overall average daily calories were 10 under target.  

Mind:

• 300 Days Reading: On track with 37 reading days.  
• 65 hours of creativity:  I found it difficult to prioritize creativity projects.   I'm not too concerned about it.  It never felt like I wanted to get something done and couldn't.  It was more a matter of wanting to do other things.  I did get some bread baking done and I counted that as creativity.  4 hours

 

Castle:

• 65 Hours Upkeep:  Still struggling to track this.  I logged 6 hours but I suspect there was more than that.  DDG continues to do way more than me.   
• 300 Item Purge:  This task is slowing down. Only another 13 items purged.

[Snarkyfishguts]

Covid is a jerk! Now that you're feeling better, you're making good progress.  It makes sense you'd have less stuff to purge as you clean out. Pretty soon you'll whittle it down to where you only have the collection of little weird things that don't really belong anywhere.  

[Shello]

Monday official weigh in day and I came in at 234.6.  I'm not keeping up with the pace I had planned but I'm still very pleased to be where I'm at.  The schedule doesn't matter anyway.   Now I just need to keep under 235.  

 

That also means I've passed another marker in the Noom app.  The first weight loss goal was to get under 250 and then 235.  Now I need a new goal.  220?  That sounds reasonable. 

 

ETA: I set the goal to 220.  Noom says I should get there by Aug 16th.  It usually takes me at least three times as long.  I'm ok with that. 

 

[Snarkyfishguts]

4 hours ago, Shello said:

Monday official weigh in day and I came in at 234.6.  I'm not keeping up with the pace I had planned but I'm still very pleased to be where I'm at.  The schedule doesn't matter anyway.   Now I just need to keep under 235.  

 

That also means I've passed another marker in the Noom app.  The first weight loss goal was to get under 250 and then 235.  Now I need a new goal.  220?  That sounds reasonable. 

 

ETA: I set the goal to 220.  Noom says I should get there by Aug 16th.  It usually takes me at least three times as long.  I'm ok with that. 

 

I AM SO STINKING EXCITED FOR YOU!!!

 

Congrats, friend. You are DOING this! ❤️ 

[ReturnOfTheDad]

On 6/6/2022 at 9:55 AM, Shello said:

Monday official weigh in day and I came in at 234.6. 

Congratulations!

[Shello]

On 6/11/2022 at 6:22 AM, ReturnOfTheDad said:

Congratulations!

+

On 6/6/2022 at 2:25 PM, Snarkyfishguts said:

I AM SO STINKING EXCITED FOR YOU!!!

 

Congrats, friend. You are DOING this! ❤️ 

In  discouraging turn on events I am weighing in for the new challenge exactly where I started last challenge.   Boo!  Oh well.  New challenge and onward we go.  I'm keeping my goal set to 220 anyway.  Hopefully I will get right back under 235.  

[Shello]

Challenge 4 is done.  It was a moderate success but it didn't really support my roadmap very well.  I'm lagging behind on many of the goals, including nutrition,  and oddly enough, weight loss is slacking too.  Don't get me wrong; I'm still making progress and I'm happy for it.  It's just not keeping pace with the roadmap.  I just have to continue to remind myself that I am not actually on a schedule.  But I do need to do better adhering to the goals.  

 

Body:

• 300 Days of Activity.  This goal was met.  I needed 35 to keep up and I achieved 34 and had 2 passterisks.  Total so far is 144/300.  
• 300 Days of meeting Calorie Targets: I didn't do as well here but came close.  I was within margin 28 days and had 3 passterisks.  I was short 4 days but there are already plenty of off days allowed in this plan.  There is no need to be going over this frequently.  My average was still under budget so there's that.  But the off days are frequent enough to derail weight loss.  

 

Mind:

• 300 Days of Reading.  This is now habit.  I read 41 days, nearly every day.  
• 65 Hours of Creativity.  I initially didn't log any time for this during the last challenge but in retrospect I focused a lot on the garden and I think that should count as creativity.   I was designing the landscape after all and using my creativity.  So I've gone back retrospectively and added approximate but conservative times for the days I logged yard work as fitness.  I came up with about 5 hours.  That makes me feel better.   I'm still behind pace for the year but I have a couple on the books again for this challenge and it's easy to make up time. 

Castle:

• 65 Hours of Upkeep.  I simply am terrible at logging.  I went back and added approximate numbers.  I do little bits here and there but honestly DDG is keeping the house together, bless his heart.  I came up with another 5 hours.   it should be closer to 9 each challenge to keep up.  I'm at a total of 24.  I should be around 35 by now.  
• 300 Item Purge.  I only purged 4 items this challenge.  I'm at a total of 116 and should be around 135.  It's been added as a goal for the new challenge so hopefully that will get the ball rolling.  

 

 

[Snarkyfishguts]

4 hours ago, Shello said:

+

In  discouraging turn on events I am weighing in for the new challenge exactly where I started last challenge.   Boo!  Oh well.  New challenge and onward we go.  I'm keeping my goal set to 220 anyway.  Hopefully I will get right back under 235.  

You'll totally get there, you're making amazing progress this year! This teeny backstep will be forgotten at the end when you're where you want to be.

[Shello]

Eek.  I realized I haven't updated in awhile.  Challenge 6 is completed and it was fairly successful.  My vacation over week zero almost brought me right back to my 2022 starting weight.  This is a huge setback but I'm hoping a lot of it is vacation bloat (That's a real thing right?)  

 

Body:

• 300 Days of Activity.  This goal was met.  I needed 35 to keep up and I achieved exactly that with 3 passterisks.  Total so far is 210/300.  
• 300 Days of meeting Calorie Targets: Ever the nemesis!  26 of 35 days achieved and a little behind schedule on this goal.  So far at 191/300.   

 

Mind:

• 300 Days of Reading.  Easy peasy.  37 days.  Total so far 212/300
• 65 Hours of Creativity.  I was able to make up some lost time with this goal during this challenge.  14 hours, give or take.  Still a little behind schedule but at 36/65 for the year.  

Castle:

• 65 Hours of Upkeep.  Not a terrible challenge and what I didn't do for this goal I made up in the declutter goal.  Only 5 hours logged.  30/65 so far.  
• 300 Item Purge.  Great challenge!  62 items purged.  That's the most for any challenge so far.  Still a little behind but I'm keeping the same daily purge goal for next challenge.  194/300  

 

 

[Shello]

My recent vacation really did a number on my weight.  I'm flirting with 250 again and I don't like it.  I'm still determined to keep this year's weight graph from maxing out at 250 so there is no option to get to 250.  I was really bummed as I started getting back to business as usual (well almost as usual.  We've been eating at a lot of food trucks) and the weight didn't just fall off as it vacation weight is fake or temporary.  

 

But I had an epiphany about it the other day.  I've always thought my weight loss journey more like a game board, with a path progressing towards a finish line, like CandyLand.  I know progress isn't linear and for the most part I'm good with the daily and weekly fluctuations.  But gaining weight back that I'd already lost always felt like being picked up off the board and moved back several spaces and I'm back at the Gumdrop Mountains and have to do a section of the game all over again.   But it's not like that.  It's a much more complicated game path, more like a D&D map.  Maybe I tackled 250 back in the last village and got through it and now I'm battling it again.  But I'm not necessarily back doing the same mission over again, I've taken a side path and on a side quest finishing up some loose ends, battling some leftover minions, or circling back for treasure.  It's never the same adventure twice and I'm still on my journey.  My journey is just a complicated adventure and you never know where it's going to take you and what monsters you will encounter.  

[deftona]

2 hours ago, Shello said:

But I had an epiphany about it the other day.  I've always thought my weight loss journey more like a game board, with a path progressing towards a finish line, like CandyLand.  I know progress isn't linear and for the most part I'm good with the daily and weekly fluctuations.  But gaining weight back that I'd already lost always felt like being picked up off the board and moved back several spaces and I'm back at the Gumdrop Mountains and have to do a section of the game all over again.   But it's not like that.  It's a much more complicated game path, more like a D&D map.  Maybe I tackled 250 back in the last village and got through it and now I'm battling it again.  But I'm not necessarily back doing the same mission over again, I've taken a side path and on a side quest finishing up some loose ends, battling some leftover minions, or circling back for treasure.  It's never the same adventure twice and I'm still on my journey.  My journey is just a complicated adventure and you never know where it's going to take you and what monsters you will encounter.  

 

This is a really good way to think about it. Like you, I have regained a lot of the weight I lost previously and I always feel like I can't celebrate my milestones because I've already hit them and it's not cause for celebration, it's the very least I should be doing but this is such an unhealthy way to view it. Whether we've been at this weight before or not, losing 1 lb still takes the same amount of effort as it did the first time around, only we don't have the FRESH NEW TERRITORY feelings we had the first time around as a morale boost. So really they should count double, are we all agreed?

[Shello]

1 minute ago, deftona said:

So really they should count double, are we all agreed?

AGREED!!  It's twice as hard because you are also fighting the disappointment.  

[Shello]

So long no update!   With one challenge left it's time for a check in!  

• 300 Days of Activity.  This has been a struggle since my Fitbit died.  I haven't been doing a lot of actual fitnessing but without the fitbit to track calories burned I'm having trouble determining a pass from a fail.  I'm just guessing at this point and have tracked 268 days.   That doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room for the last challenge and since my goal is all about rest and relaxation it isn't looking promising.  

 

• 300 Days of meeting Calorie Targets: This one has been hard to track too since I stopped logging and having been trying to judge by being mindful.  245 days passed so far and not enough days left in the year to hit 300, not to mention the holidays and cookies I have planned.  

 

• 300 Days of Reading.  Currently at 284 days.  This is a shoe in.  

 

• 65 Hours of Creativity.  I didn't get any creativity hours in during the most recent challenge.  I needed them to make progress on the goal but it didn't fit with how life went.  I'm currently at 46 hours.  It's theoretically possible to still pull this one out but not at all likely.   However, the spirit of the goal seems successful so far as it's definitely a part of my life and not a long forgotten hobby.  

 

• 65 Hours of Upkeep.  37 hours.  Still struggling with actually keeping track but also DDG is just so incredible and does most of the daily stuff.  

 

• 300 Item Purge.  I did a little extra purging over Thanksgiving long weekend and now up to 289 items purged!  I'm guessing the goal will be surpassed and I'm excited!

[Shello]

I weighed in this morning as the first day of the new challenge,  246.6.  That's 4 pounds up from the start of the last challenge and 5 pounds up from the start of the year.  At this point I'm just hoping to finish the year with any loss at all.  

 

The new challenge is all about rest and relaxation but I'm still tracking and hoping to make some progress on the roadmap goals.  This is the home stretch everyone! 

 

 

[Snarkyfishguts]

Honestly, your year looks really good when you look at the numbers. I know you may not hit your two 300 numbers, but you are gonna finish pretty close, and the purging items is awesome!  Do you feel like you have more freedom and less stress with less stuff?

[Shello]

12 minutes ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

Honestly, your year looks really good when you look at the numbers. I know you may not hit your two 300 numbers, but you are gonna finish pretty close, and the purging items is awesome!  

That is true.  On many  fronts it's been successful and habits are being reinforced.  I'm disappointed though that the goals didn't result in weight loss.  

 

13 minutes ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

Do you feel like you have more freedom and less stress with less stuff?

It feels SOOOO much nicer.  It's easier to keep clean and everything has a home.  It is stressful being surrounded by stuff! 

[Shello]

This year's roadmap is not quite complete.  There's still tallying and more reflecting to do.  But in the meantime, here's 2023's roadmap!