We're Being Chased by Bears!

So I've been thinking about what to do for the next challenge. I decided that this week off between challenges is no excuse (especially when you consider I've not worked out in 2 weeks) to slack off.

So Jonas and I went to do a sprinting workout last night after dinner.

I told him we were walking to his school playground for our workout. He wanted to know if we were doing "rowboats". I explained to him, that no, we weren't doing body weight rows or lifting heavy things, we were going to play a game. So we discussed the rules for "We're Being Chased by Bears!"

Rules:
There were 6 sprints, running as fast as you could.
We'd map out approximate 50 Meters to sprint. (It ended up being around 30, I later calculated)
We would take turns chasing each other to pretend we were running away from bears.
If you were caught, you had to do 5 push-ups per time caught. First time, 5 push-ups... second, 10, etc.
The "predator" gave the "prey" a bit of a head start.
We would go into a "grok squat" between sprints while we caught our breaths.

We had a blast! I did one extra sprint where he timed me. I clocked in at just under 9 seconds.

When we were done, he asked if we could jog one lap of the laps he has to run for gym class. Since the laps are around his playground, and mostly rectangular, he decided that after the last turn we had to sprint to the end. We finished a lap in 1:25.

We then walked home, talking about how we were going to map our the rest of our week with workouts. He's very excited about both the body weight "Lift Heavy Things" workout as well as the "Play" workout, which he asked if we could do "rowboats" during the play if we did them during the lift heavy things. I told him he'd have to come up with fun stuff for our play "dates" but if he wanted to do the rows, we could.

We also talked about "eating our special way" and how he enjoys the variety of his lunch, but eating breakfast at my mom's house wasn't always easy to "eat special". She usually makes him pancakes or oatmeal and bacon/sausage. I figure the one meal is OK for him (given it's not all sugar), for now. He's easing into eating primally, later we can move his breakfast to something more primal too.

So, in short... my kid is awesome.

Challenge #3 Final Report

Report Time!

You'll notice a pattern below, I did good the first 4 weeks, the last 2, eh… not so much. This is due to the changes happening in my house and the amount of stress that is all bringing.

Eating Goals:

• 100% Paleo
  Not quite, but I think I did very good at this considering everything going on at home.
• Fruit 1 serving per day, choosing between: Berries or apple (apples are accessible if I forget my berries at home). Try to only do an apple once a week.
  I actually did really good at this. There were quite a few days where I didn't have fruit and didn't feel a pressuring need to.
• Nuts 1oz per day. These will either be pistachios (which I'm still trying to figure out how much 1oz is with the nuts in the shells) or almonds.
  Same as fruit, there were days I didn't have any nuts, and a couple I had more than planned.
• I will not be logging my food into a calorie counting program, however I will be logging everything I put into my mouth and my feelings each day. This is vital to me figuring out what my triggers are.
  I did really good for the first 4 weeks but the last two I didn't log anything. My triggers? Stress. Which I already knew.
• Create a weekly menu on Saturday for the following week. Post it. Follow it.
  Again, did really good the first 4 weeks. I need to keep doing this, it kept me on par for where I needed to be.

Fitness Goals:

• BW Workouts 3x per week
  I got these all in the first 4 weeks. The last two, I did maybe 2 workouts.
• Cardio (biking, walking, chasing my kid, etc) 2 hours per week
  This is the one I probably got closest to doing all 6 weeks. I didn't hit 2 hours each week, but I did get out and do things for all six.

Life Goals

• Knit every night on the Dr. Who scarf I started 2 years ago for my brother's birthday so I can finish it for his birthday this year. (Fun!)
  This so did not happen. The first 3-4 weeks I did alright, the last couple I so did not want to pick up those knitting needles.
• Take my kid to hiking twice, once at Starved Rock State Park and once at Indiana Dunes State Park. (Fun!)
  This didn't happen at all.
• Continue working on budget, cutting down spending such that I can put money into savings every month. (Adult)
  This I've gotten under somewhat of control. I've spent this six weeks trying to catch up on everything so I could implement the budget I created. We've been living on a very minimal budget because of this. Things should be even out in the next month. Five more months until my CC debt is paid off!
• Update my resume and put it out there to find a job closer to home. (Adult)
  I've not updated it yet. I did find it. Oddly enough, my boss is finding me a job elsewhere… with him. Hah!

Starting Weight: 273
Ending Weight: 276
- I did lose 6 inches over all my measurements tho.

This whole, I've not lost weight in so long thing is really pissing me off. I know stress is effecting it, but really, it's pissing me off. I still have quite a bit of weight to lose. I can use the excuse, "You've lost 140 already, you've got a lot of skin hanging around." But in reality, I have a lot of fat too. The fat should be coming off quicker and it's not. I can't fathom that I'm losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time. I really need to figure this out for the next six weeks or it's going to drive me nuts.

Overall Grade for this challenge? C

I've had some wins, some losses, but overall I averaged out somewhere in the middle.

Words

Words have been floating through my head for the past couple of days, but have escaped somewhere between my head and my fingers.  I have so much floating through that I lose the topics on my brain before I have a chance to get them out.

A new chapter in my life is in the works.  Things will be changing. Due to this, I need to do some changing as well.  Fear grips me when I think of all of the changes that will happen. My words and thoughts escape to the point I can't concentrate on anything but that fear. Yet, I know, change happens for a reason and because of change, we can grow. I know I will grow and become a stronger person in spite of these changes.

How will this effect my personal goals with my journey to a healthier person? I'm not 100% sure yet. Exercise has been difficult for me to get in for the past week due to some family obligations.  Since eating properly is 80% of the game for this journey, I am focusing on that.  I will exercise when I have time until things settle into a routine again.

Stress & Addiction

I am a stress eater.

To say that I've been stressed recently is an understatement. Due to the stress, I've done a lot of thinking about my own ties to stress and my addictions to food. I have noticed over the past few weeks that my drive to stick to my eating lifestyle plan (I am not on a diet, I am changing my eating lifestyle), has fallen by the wayside.  80% of the time, I do fine.  The other 20%, I fall way off my plan. Eating is a something you can do anywhere, no matter what you're doing.  It's an easy addiction to have when stressed.

Something better for me, say exercise, isn't as easy to do when I'm sitting at my desk, stressing over the idiots who are driving me to the point I feel I need something to eat.  Something, anything…

Somewhere, back in the recess of my mind, I know I could stand up, walk around, go outside or stretch instead of reaching for something to eat. Yet, there are days, I just don't. For this reason, I bring snacks to work.  Usually, snacks that are on my eating lifestyle plan.  Days like today, however, I get up, go for a walk and grab a bag of pretzels. Do the pretzels make me feel better? In the immediate, for about 30 seconds?  Yes.  After that, when my mind kicks in, or worse yet, my body says to me, "WTF did you just feed me?!", it is a resounding, very loud, "NO!"

So, my thoughts today revolved around, what can I do to feed my food addiction, when I feel the need to stress eat?  Other than actually eating?  I decided, I really need to make two lists.  One for while I'm at work, and one for while I'm at home.  Each list has 10 items on it.  My goal is to pick one of the items and do it.  If I still feel the need to stress eat, do another one… so on and so forth.  If I somehow manage to get through the ten items, then I will grab a healthy snack and write down what I'm thinking and feeling.

Non-Food Stress Relief For Work

• Get up from my desk (leaving my wallet & money), take the elevator downstairs, go outside and walk around the block.

• Drink a glass of water, don't sip, drink it all, top to bottom.
• Close my eyes and take 10 deep breaths.
• Turn on my "Dancing @ Work" playlist of bouncy tunes and dance in my chair.

• Open up Nerd Fitness Forum and gain some inspiration from others who battle the same things I do and still manage to succeed.
• Take a walk to the bathroom, do down dog in the lobby for 20-30 seconds.  Sit in chair and take 10 deep breaths.

• On really bad days, beat the living crap out of the office voodoo doll.  Preferably when the object of my stress isn't at my desk.

• Clean my desk.
• Walk around the office and look at the pictures of people we help, they are worse off than I am and desperately need my help.
• Angry Birds - blowing up pigs for 5 minutes should relieve stress.

Non-Food Stress Relief For Home

• Grab something heavy, lift it 10 times!

• Go out for a walk.

• Play a game with Jonas.

• Read a book.

• Watch a movie.
• Go to the park and play on the swings.
• Do my workout.
• Clean the floors, or walls/windows/table/whatever else needs cleaning.
• Drink a glass of water, a really big glass.

• Leave the room, go to my bedroom, lay down, close my eyes and concentrate on breathing deeply for 5 minutes (if I fall asleep, it's better than eating, right?!)

So there we have it.  I have a list of 10 things to do wherever I'm at that should help me stop stress eating.  I'll continue to bring my healthy snack to work (with an addition of roasted seaweed when I find it and pick some up) and have my scheduled snacks and meals.  But the between time, stressful eating will be replaced until I can get rid of the enormous amount of stress I'm under.

Week 4 Wrap Up

Week 4 Wrap Up

Eating Goals:

• 100% Paleo: Close? I had 2 meals that were not overly paleo.
• Fruit 1 serving per day: Saturday I had a few extra servings of fruit
• Nuts 1oz per day: I actually didn't eat nuts very much this past week
• Logged food: Even though I caught it up today, yes.
• Menu: Created and Followed pretty well.

Fitness Goals:

• BW Workouts 3x per week: Done. I started following the Primal Fitness workouts on Thursday (2nd workout of the week). I like the format, even though the reps are higher. I still have a ton of fat to lose, so as long as I gain a bit of muscle along the way I'm good.
• Cardio (biking, walking, chasing my kid, etc) 2 hours per week: Nope. I got about an hour in. Not overly worried about this one though. The higher rep circuit BW style workouts are a cardio workout too!

Life Goals:

• Knit Daily: I don't think I even looked at the knitting project this past week...
• Hiking: Sadly, this one isn't going to happen. Only having Jonas 3 weekends for the summer, we had other things that had to happen.
• Budget: It's... going. I'm hoping in the next 4 weeks (2 paychecks) to be all caught up with late payments.
• Resume: Found the external hd with the resume.

Overall? I'm happy with my progress so far. Which is by far the best measurement of my success.

Random Updates

I realized today that I've not updated in a while. So, as I am sitting here waiting for dinner to be ready, I figured it was a good time for an update of sorts.

Exercise Front:

This week I finally read The Primal Fitness eBook from Mark Sisson. I decided it was a really awesome set of exercises I could do at home (or a park) with excellent progression milestones.

Yesterday I did the self assessment and figured out what levels to start at. Not surprising! Level 4 in squats. Level 2 in push-ups. Level 4 in plank and Level 2 in overhead press.

Tomorrow I have a virtual date with some Nerd Fitness friends. We are going to do our workouts at the same time. It gives me motivation to push through and rock at my workout.

Eating/Nomming Front:

Things here are going really well. This week I gave up fake sugar (aka crystal light). I've had a goal to drink a gallon of water at work. Met it 3 days and got close the other two! I'm trying to get more protein in during the day. So far so good!

Life and Other Stuff Front:

I've not knitted much. Lack of desire.

I'm planning on hiking on Sunday afternoon.

Work and work possibilities are going swimmingly.

Bills should be caught up at the end of the month so I can stop living paycheck to paycheck.

Oh! And I got my bodyfat retested by the gym trainer. In 3 months, I've gone down 8%! Not only that, I stayed the same weight. Know what that means? Yep! I put on as much muscle as I lost fat. How awesome is that??

Well, food is here and it smells great. Time for me to bid adeiu!

Another week, completed!

Another week, completed!

Eating Goals:

• 100% Paleo - I did eat unpaleo yesterday, twice. I had popcorn while watching Harry Potter and a slice of pizza for dinner. Other than that, eating was very good!
• Fruit 1 serving per day: Done!
• Nuts 1oz per day: Pretty sure I went over the 1oz a couple of days. I roasted some almonds and they were too good.
• Logged food every day.
• Menu - Created and followed!

Fitness Goals:

• BW Workouts 3x per week - Done
• Cardio (biking, walking, chasing my kid, etc) 2 hours per week: Ugh, this one was only 1.5 hours this week! Miscalculated this one. Heh!

Life Goals:

• Knit Daily - 5 out of 7 days, not too shabby. Currently 18.23% Done.
• Hiking - None yet, pondering calling in sick next Monday to go hiking... erm.
• Budget - Right now I'm still living paycheck to paycheck while I get everything back evened up. By the end of the challenge I should be caught up and actually following the budget and saving monies!
• Resume - I've not found my old one, so updating hasn't happened. I have started looking for jobs and have figured out what I want to do (Bonus!). I want to stick with Business Intelligence, reporting writing and database stuffs.

Other Stuff: (y'know because it's my post and I can have an other stuff section!)

After taking my measurements and photos yesterday I was feeling quite... down isn't the right word, dejected by my progress is more like it. Yes, I lost inches. No, I really can't see much of a change. After having lost 150 pounds, you'd think I'd be used to this whole process. I'm getting stronger. I have more energy. I like to do things instead of like, sitting around and watching TV. I'm trying to figure out if I'm doing things right and if my body is just going to take this final stretch slower than previous ones, or if I'm doing something a little off. I know if I keep it up I will come out stronger and leaner, I need to keep faith in myself.

Rest & Hummus!

Update time again!

Thursday was a complete and utter rest day! No workouts. No knitting. I painted my nails after cooking a kick ass dinner, lol! Then threw my phone down the laundry chute because I was that tired. I was in bed by 9:30.

The Noms!

Let me just preference this with... I was HUNGRY yesterday!

Breakfast - Eggs, Tomatoes, Bacon
AM Snack - 2 Plums, 2 Hamburger Patties
Lunch - Leftover Pinwheely Chicken, Green Beans
PM Snack - Pistachios & Almonds
Dinner - Paleo Hummus w/ Carrot Sticks -n- Pork Fried "Rice" My favorite part of this... The Pork Fried "Rice" recipe says to cook the cauliflower until it doesn't taste cauliflower-y! That made me laugh!

Jonas LOVED the hummus. I think this will become a staple for his school lunches this year.

Another day, another sighting of awesome!

The Exercise:
Yesterday's workout started with a 5k bike ride with Jonas. He wanted to go home instead of going to a park to workout. So we opted for a longer ride and then a workout at home.

So what did I do as my workout? Fun stuff!

• Push-ups: 4 sets of 10. Each set was broken up into 5 full push-ups and 5 full-to-knee push-ups.
• Flexed Arm Hang w/ Band Assistance: 4 sets of 30s. I wanted to aim to work on the strength of holding myself up so that when I start doing negatives, I can go slow. By the last set, these were 3 holds of 10s for the set. The important part was that I did the 30s.
• Kettlebell Swings: 4 sets of 15. I attempted the one leg squats but it just wasn't working. While looking around, pondering what to do instead, I saw the kettlebell and thought, why not? I payed close attention to form.
• Full BW Squat Hold: 4 sets of 30s. What was this?! I went down into a full squat and held it for 30s. Why? Why not? (Seems to be the theme of my workout last night)
• Plank: 70s. I tried to do this for longer but my abs weren't having any of that!

The Noms:
Ok, let me preference this with... a day full of YUM!

• Breakfast: Blueberry Paleo Pancakes, Bacon, Clementines
• Lunch: Burger Patty, Green Beans
• Snack: Leftover Kebabs from previous night
• Dinner: Chicken Pinwheels, Squash, Carrots

Chicken Pinwheel - Ham wrapped up in chicken, wrapped up in bacon.
Sauteed and finished in the oven.... = YUM!

The Life:
Knitted on the train! I'm at... 17.27% done now... woot?

Week 3 Day 2 Upity Update!

The Exercise:

Yesterday was a rest day, on the workout front anyways. I did just that, minus some dancing around. Who doesn't like to dance around (y'know, when no one else is looking and you can act like a fool while cleaning the kitchen and cooking...)?

The Noms:

Breakfast - I did some whacky things! I had Bacon and made some paleo pancakes (eggs with almond butter). Good stuff, a little dry though... I may fiddle with it some more.
Snack - Clementines & Almonds
Lunch - Leftover Sausage & Cabbage "Noodles" with some Green Beans
Dinner - Snacked on Almonds while I cooked. Had a couple of the Lebanese Kebabs and a spoonful of broccoli. Apparently I wasn't hungry.

The Life:

Knitted! I finished up the 44 rows of grey I had been struggling through and started green! Through right this very minute, I'm at 16.31% done! So that's 170 rows of 1,042 done... only 872 more to go! (Yeah, I might finish it by November).

On the job front... Things are becoming very interesting... I got asked yesterday, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" from my boss. :)  More on this later, I'm sure.

The Other Random Things:

I noticed a couple of things yesterday:

• My boobs stick further out than my tummy. (WIN!)
• I notice fit people more.
• I notice unfit people more and feel sadness, wishing I had the guts to tell them they could do so much more with their lives if they cared about themselves.

Rowboats? Not today!

Update time!  Week 3 Day 1 - Status: Complete & Rocked!

The Exercise:

Jonas and I did our bike ride with stop in the middle for strength training. We rode down a hill to the park, which Jonas thought was awesome.  So awesome, that while I was doing push-ups he was riding up and down the hill, laughing.  It was so hot out, that we aimed for streets with sprinklers on so we could ride through them!  LOL!

Side story, Jonas calls body weight rows, rowboats.  He wanted to know if I was doing any rowboats today!  It cracked me up!

The Workout: In Circuit Style with rest enough that I could walk between stations.

• Back: Rows with Body Band: 4 sets of 15
• Upper Body: Incline Close Hand Push-Ups: 4 sets of 15
• Legs: 15 split squats each leg, 15 box jumps, 15 step ups each leg, 15 box jumps (variety, baby!)
• Core: 10 Legs up in the air slowly going down while laying back on the slide, 60s plank, 30s plank while feet on the swing (yeow!)
• Finishing Move: Jogged a lap around the parking lot with Jonas!

The Noms:

• Breakfast: Eggs, Bacon & Tomato Slices
• Snack: Clementines
• Lunch: Pork & Green Beans
• Snack: Sugar Snap Peas & Pistachios
• Dinner: Sausage with Cabbage "noodles" (YUMMY Stuff!)

I drank a lot.  Didn't feel overly hungry all day.  Good stuff.

The Life:

• I worked on the knitting project on the train.  Got some more done.  Woot.
• Budget is depressing, I'm not looking at it until I get paid on Friday.

Current Challenge Week 2 Summary & Look Ahead to Week 3

Firstly, the Week 2 Summary

Can I just say week 2 sucked?  I fell off the wagon so to speak. I did pretty well up until Friday evening.  I could give you a bunch of excuses but that is what they'd be.  Excuses as to why I didn't stick to my plans.  So instead, I'll give a summary of my week and just let y'all know I'm back where I need to be today.

The Exercise Goals:

• I did 2 of my 3 strength training workouts
• I only did about 30 minutes of cardio

The Eating Goals:

• I didn't eat Paleo so much from Friday evening through Sunday evening.  About 70% those 2.25 days.  The rest of the week was at 100%.
• Fruits & Nuts - I did good with these on the days I stayed on plan.
• Overall?  I think that it was 23 out of 28 meals I ate according to my goals, so that's not overly bad.

The Life Goals:

• Firstly, I leveled up my life by completing the SSAS (SQL Server Analytical Services) training and doing a damn good job at it.
• Knitting?  I think I knitted... maybe 3 out of 7 days.
• Budget... working on this one still, basically living paycheck to paycheck and I hate it.

A look ahead to week 3

The Exercise - I told Jonas last night I want to do what we did last Thursday.  Ride our bikes to a park, do our strength workout and ride home again this week.  We have plans to do this Monday and Wednesday.  Weather permitting we may ride on Thursday just for a ride.  I'll do my 3rd strength training on Friday night after I get home from dropping Jonas off.  I'm also going to plan a bike ride for early Saturday and Sunday mornings.

The Eatings - Menu is created!

The Life - I knitted this morning.  Budgeting will be done more in Excel to figure out what I'm doing wrong. Resume must be worked on.  Hiking - Jonas really isn't home over the weekends until school starts.  I may have to rethink this goal.