We must be vigilant, but we must also be compassionate

So, another four week challenge down, gearing up for one. The BIG one, the one that will cover Thanksgiving leftovers, Saint Nicholas day potlucks, and pre-Christmas cookies.

Y'know, have lost count on exactly what challenge number this is. I mean, I could math it out, but a0 math is hard and b) I don't really care - how strange is that. Challenges like this have stopped being tasks to cross off, a tally or to-do list of miserable things I have to get through just to hit my goal. I basically realize that this is life now.

I mean, that was kind of always the point. I, from the very beginning have been fairly slow and gentle with the changes I am making. This was always meant to be a permenant change, not a "live off nothing but liquids for 6 weeks" thing. I mean, no lie, I am looking forward to when I hit the stage where I can do maintenance calories instead of deficit. . . . I was about to say that I don't think I could go back to the way I was eating before, but that is not true. I could 100%, totally easily, without trying, go back to the dance of gluttony and feasting that I lived by.

Here is the real victory - I don't WANT to any more. I mean, would I like to go eat a whole box of cookies? Sure. But I don't WANT to. It's not worth it. I won't have any cookies for tomorrow. I will feel terrible. Makes me value the cookies less. I will instead have a reasonable portion of cookies when and if I haven't had any other treats that day.

Deprivation, quitting cold turkey, would never work for me. I will never be full paleo. I will never be a health food nut. Cookies will always be my soul mate. But it's about healthy balance (and I don't mean a cookie in each hand)

So, other then existential realizations that I feel that I am actually invested into lifestyle change and not just a diet (5.5 months later) what else has been going on?

Well, here is a list of my weird, small victories, as I have noted them over the last few weeks"

• I no longer buy 4 kinds of bread on my weekly shopping trip. 
• Not only do I fit in jeans (skinny jeans no less) a size and a half down from where i started, I can once again fit standard size bathtowels around me again. Also, my rings are too loose. Apparently even my fingers were fatter
• I have discovered i love sweet potatos. And I can be ok with mushrooms, as long as they are in things. And polenta! Where has polenta been my whole life?
• I have managed to keep my 1 pound loss a week momentum going. I still swing back and forth from day to day, but cumulative . . . I am still down
• I am actually kind of good at the whole food prepping thing and am actually enjoying it
• I am starting to ACTUALLY look like the person I see in the mirror  ..  

Let me explain that last one. Lots of people, when getting started, talk about wanting to like what they see in the mirror. I was kind of the exact opposite. I would look in the mirror, and still see how I looked long ago at my healthiest weight. But then, I would look down and see my spare tire belly, I would cringe at my double chin in photos, clothes no longer looked good on me. What I saw in the mirror, just wasn't there any more, and I needed to get to the place where I stopped lying to myself an pretending that she was. Like I said in my "big why" - I want to be the truest, most geniune version of myself, and that involved the reality check, that enough was enough, and I didn't look how I wanted to look. 

At any rate, the holidays are here, and I am looking forward to them. A little indulgence makes the hard work before and after so much more worth it. I am going to be vigilant, but kind to myself. And in addition to another four weeks of attacking it with gusto, trying to become a healthier, better habit building person, I also am hoping to work on being a kinder, better person too.

I guess that is it for now, but as is tradition, the list!!

Current work out strength: push ups are slowly but surely getting better, but still need work. Honestly, my cardio is what has really been a noticeable uptick. I can run in place, jumping jack and dance part way longer then I could before

Current work out weakness: . Honestly tho - I have been avoiding planks the last few work outs. I hate them. They make me sad. Need to do better at that

Nutrition win: aforementioned sharp curbing of massive bread intake. I miss how close I was with bread, but the empty calories are just not worth it, and then the distance makes our occasional reunion so much better

Nutrition fail: I am ok at portion control, but my measurment skills are lacking. And yes, I know, I should get a food scale. I am not there yet. Getting there, but not there yet. I still think if I had to weigh every single thing that went into my mouth I would probably use that scale as batting practice - and I don't even play baseball. But I am getting there. Imprecise measurements are driving me crazy.

Current favorite inventory item: Booband. Expect a full review at some point.

Current favorite "fight" song: Anything Bhangra

Smutty literature recommendation: This one is not smutty at all actually, it's an old, kind of YA (from before YA was really a genre) Christian fiction book called "The Silver Sword" by Angela Elwell Hunt. It is historical romance, though not deeply detailed, and moderately accurate (for those of that to which that matters). It is also absurdly fluffy and full of all the romance-y tropes without the smuttyness. It is actually decently written despite the tooth-achingly sweetness and super pro-protestant reformation subliminal messaging. But I **looooooved** this book and it's subsequent sequels as a teen - Bad ass girl, orphaned and in danger, dresses as a boy to become a squire and eventually in 13th century Bohemia to defend her self and defeat the bad guys, and **spoiler** bags herself the Lord of the Estate by the end of it. Like I said - tropes abound, but the main character, Anika,  had something to her. I loved her. I loved her so much, I might name a kid after her someday.

I can cook . . . yes

Well, another meal prep for the upcoming week has come and passed.

Previously I have been on point with getting my lunches prepped, cooking and freezing batches on Sunday, occasionally supplimenting with dinner left overs.

This week I decided to try my hand at prepping some dinners for the week. This was inspired by 2 different things. First, I had some misses on my meal plan, when I just came home and could not face prepping then cooking everything. Secondly, the Nativity Fast is starting on Wednesday. I am going to make it part of my next 4 week challenge to have 0 days of breaking the fast (Thanksgiving excluded, obvi), so, with the struggles I faced with meal plans, and with how labor intensive some vegan recipies can be, I decided to set myself up for success.

So, left to right in the photo:

The 2 small containers are lunches for Monday and Tuesday. Those are my last non-fasting days, so I whipped up a batch of Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet. Last time I modified and added zuchini. This time, yellow squash. Portioned out the 2 servings for lunches, and then the husband and I had the remaining 2 portions for dinner tonight. Rather, I had it for dinner and he had it as a snack to hold him over until the frozen pizza was cooked. He would have had to eat the whole skillet to feel full. Damn him and his super over-active metabolism and/or tapeworm! I take heart that he liked it so much so though. He has heretofore stated that he doesn't like sweet potato but was basically licking the plate clean on this one.

The glass tray on the right is some pre-cooked ratatouille. I have never cooked it before, but I have been wanting to. This particular recipe is from my copy of "From the Monastery Kitchen" which is cookbook put out by the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration, and is to be served with lightly pan-fried polenta (which, I likewise have never made but have been wanting to try). So, since none of the ingredients in the ratatouille itself seem like they would be any worse for the wear by pre-cooking and freezing, I whipped it up pretty quickly and will just have to fry up the polenta day of. Easy peasy. And hopefully yummy . . .

The tall plastic container is nothing pre-cooked, but at least pre-diced veg, for a Teriyaki Stir Fry. Got this recipe from The Make Ahead Vegan Cookbook. I highly recommend this cook book - I mean, there are only a few recipes in it that I actually want to try, but the first chapter is actually dedicated to explaning what can be frozen, for how long, what kind of container is best, best heating methods, etc, etc. Added bonus is each recipe tells you when in the cooking process to freeze and how long it can be in the fridge or freezer. So for this meal, the teriyaki sauce wouldn't freeze well, so it just has you dice up all the fresh veg you are going to use and freeze them, thaw them day of and cook quickly with the sauce and serve over rice. So not as quick as fully cooking and just nuking the day of, but not having to spend time chopping before I can even begin cooking still will make my Stir-Friday less of a time commitment.

Ziploc baggies in the back are left over zuch/squash and left over eggplant, diced and ready to grab out at a whim next time I need some. 

So, that is my meal prep for the week. Part of my goal in keeping all the fast days is to try a new recipe every day. But I know myself, and the laziness might take over on nights after particularly stressful days at the office. So I also have a head of lettuce at the ready to whip up haluski, and some perogi's in the freezer, so that I can sub in something that is still ok, and that I can cook in my sleep. So YAH for being prepared and knowing my own short comings.

And now . . . just to clean up the kitchen . ..

And once that is done - I am going to stop being an adult, play some video games, watch some tv, and maybe have a cup of tea and a small treat of cookies. Mmmm, cookies.  . .

Report for you, ser

Reporting in -

It is the start of week three of this round of four week challenges. Week one was super strong. Zero misses. Last week ..  . . ehhhhhh.

Cassandra would be shamefaced.

My calorie intake has been on point. There has not been a single day - except for a planed day of indulgence, celebrating 3 years of being married, that I haven't been at or under my target intake, netting an average daily deficit of approx 500 calories.

Sticking to my meal planning on the other hand . . .that's where it starts to crumble. Work has, as usual, been in awful-overdrive. Busy season + mangers quitting + viruses in the system = cranky. Getting home late, I just don't have the will to argue with my husband when he says, "I don't want you to have to cook. Let me get you take out." I can't blame him - he will literally do whatever I want to do. But what I wanted to do in that moment was to not have to cook. Luckily, despite deviating from plan, I did manage to make healthy choices when it came to what I was eating, despite the take-away-ish nature.

There was no class option for me this last week, only because was on my own all week, with Husband out of town, so had to actually come home after work to let the dog out and spend some time with her. She doesn't really have separation anxiety, but I would like to keep it that way, and being alone for nine hours during the day was already stressing the poor pooch out enough.  So, no class was a gimme - didn't skip it, conscientiously did not schedule. Hit all my work outs but one this weekend.  Basically, my entire weekend's schedule got shot to hell due to unexpected events and terrible weather, so . . .  not an excuse, just a little self-realization. I apparently need to work on my ability to adjust based on changes in plan. Also, if I am being honest, the work outs I did do this last week I kind of phoned in. I usually work out upstairs in the bedroom, it's out of the way, I can play my awful work out music, I won't trip over the dog, etc, etc. But then, I feel terrible cause I am spending a precious hour of our time together clear on the other side of the house from the husband. Of course, the night I was like "hey, I will work out downstairs - I don't care if HE sees me all sweaty and ridiculous" I ended up feeling awkward AF and frustrated, because right as I was ending my first set, the Roommate decided to surface from the basement, get the dog all wound up so that she kept tripping me and getting in the way (when previously she was sacked out on the couch next to the husband) and then plopped down on the couch chilling in the living room for no particular reason. There was nothing good on TV, she was just playing on her phone. I didn't want to be a dick and ask her to bugger off, but while I am confident enough at this point to work out in front of the man I love, working out infront of the roommate is a completely different story.  . . . it was just so damned awkward and weird, and honestly, it might make me a terrible person, but I can't wait until we don't have a roommate any more.

Weeknight bedtime routine - once again, solid followed by some fail. I finally downloaded the Dragon Age 2 DLC. Defeating Corypheus was more important then sleep. And then last night was just back to my "i don't want to go to work, so if I don't go to sleep, tomorrow will never come, right" ill-logic.

So, now that I know where my weaknesses are, I can make a plan to sure up the defenses.

Going forward for my remaining 2 weeks, in addition to my meal plan, I want to create a "back up" plan, for nights that I am just too tired and miserable. Not sure what this will entail, but maybe have a stock of healthy canned soups or something microwaveable - not ideal cause hello high sodium and super processed-yness. But it's a safety net between 100% success and splatting on the ground in failure. I might also stretch my meal-prep skilllz, which have kept me winning the lunchtime game for weeks now, and try to stock my freezer with crock pot dump meals. Or, at very least, pre-prep my ingredients for what needs to be cooked. Cause, the main reason I decided to eat out on Friday was that while I was super excited to try the NF Rice and Bean recipe, the idea of spending forever cutting veggies made me want to flip over a table and burn all the cook books. Which would be bad. So, if I can keep little frozen baggies of pre-cut onions and peppers and stuff, cooking in the evenings won't seem such a chore.

I am not sure what my game plan is to get my workouts back on track. I have considered trying a different time rather then evenings, but that is a no-go. Mornings are the worst possible time for me and after a few attempts earlier in my NF journey to create the habit of waking up early, I realized that was just setting myself up for failure. Likewise, my lunch hours are already triple booked - that's the time I am SUPPOSED to be working on my writing, or working overtime to try and keep up with work and get some extra $$, or y'know actually eating. So lunchtime work outs are not on. I think I am going to start with adding some more fun music to my work out playlist. I am also finding the BWWs a wee bit frustrating. Push ups continue to defeat me, whereas everything else is getting boring. I don't want to deviate from the course, but I have got to think of something to make it both more challenging and yet less frustrating from lack of progress.  Maybe finally break down and buy the pull up bar so I can stop altering some of the exercises all of the time. Might also have to rearrange some of my loot - if I want to beat the challenge, I might need a new sports bra sooner rather then later. Until then, I just have to bully my way through, I think.

As for bedtime - I think I need to be more conscientious of scheduling down time. Actually put it in my plan "take some time to play a bit" or "sit and read". I acknowledge that work is super stressful right now. I acknowledge that sometimes I just need to unwind, and not feel like I have to be "responsible adult" every single second.



So, now for the recap:

Current work out Strength: My push ups have improved (slightly) since last time. Still not great, but moving my hands back to shoulder width has actually helped. I feel less wobbly and can get a bit closer to the ground. Also I am back to being able to do my warm up with out getting winded after the first two exercises, and have actually added time to the running in place and jumping jacks.

Current work out weakness: I don't have a pull up bar so basically any chin-up, pull-up or hanging drill is basically off the list of things i can do and I want to fix that.

Nutrition win: I am getting waaaay better at portion control and learning how to tell my stomach no when it is being a demanding bitch

Nutrition lose: I have somehow fallen off the water wagon. I was doing pretty well, at least on weekdays getting most if not all of my water goal. It was part of my walking at work schedule. Now I neither walk nor drink water.

Current favorite inventory item: My "quest log". It is a graph paper journal from Redbubble that has "Disgusted Noise" on the cover. It makes me smile every time I see it, and helps me keep a visual tab on my challenge progress, and keeps my work out notes, and big why, and warm up/work out series all in one place.

Current favorite "Fight" song: "Take 'Em Down" by Dropkick Murphy. It is perfect for my one dance drill, or just fast aerobic running/jumping, and also speaks to my current hatred of managers. Yah for getting work induced agressions out!

Current nerd activity: Aforementioned killing of Corypheus, and also bashing out three new chapters in my Harry Potter FanFiction.

Smutty literature recommendation: Recently did a re-read on "How to Ravish A Rake" by Vicky Drieling. Yah for Regency romance combing my history-nerdism with my illicit love of crappy literature. Some of the more winning characteristics are the fact that the cover art actually looks like the characters are described in the book, including outfit they are wearing - added bonus, the dress she is wearing on the cover is actually period-correct for the regency. Yes, my standards for judging romance novels are strange, and not particularly high.

This would be a good place to set up camp

So, when you are gaming, and you have been defeated by your enemy, you respawn, right - depending on how evil the game, either you are dropped back in right before you started that battle, or somewhere like a million miles/save spots ago.

This is not a respawn. I haven't been defeated. I was just ganged up on by a hella lotta bears in the Hinterlands or something. Survived to tell about it, but definitely need to get some rest. 

So this is my setting up camp.

Perhaps it was too ambitious to try and start this blog at the very beginning of my Quest. I mean, I have a hard enough time focusing on one battle at a time as is, so why did I add more to my plate? Call it newbie enthusiasm that quickly waned. 

So the past umpteen weeks that I haven't been writing, I *have* been fighting, and as much as the enthusiasm on the blog front waned, the motives behind it did not. 

Those motives were, first and foremost, simply that as a writer, I like to hear myself  "talk". Secondly, not that I expect readers in legion, but if I learned one thing from my previous run Irish Dance blog (which too, in zombie fashion, make an over-two-three out of the grave) is that I find endless fulfillment and squeeish happiness if even one person reads this and is encouraged or enlightened by something I have to say. Also, I use it as a benchmark for myself. A place to get my ever tumultuous thoughts, feelings and opinions out, without having to bore everyone around me all the time. 

Basically, I am still that nerdy, emotionally stunted 14 year old with a Xanga, whining about the boy she has a crush on. 

But I digress . . .

Now that I am a little more established in my regular routines, have a few four-week challenges under my belt, I think I can eek out some time to actually update this place, and make it a bit more substantive then "this is what I ate" - not saying I won't regale you with my culinary genius occasionally too, but I am not a hipster with an instagram account, and am under no delusions anyone actually wants to see ever morsel of food I shove in my cake-hole. 

So, who am I? I'm Meara. Or Myrna. Or M. Or Panda. Heck, I am now even starting to answer to Cassandra or Cass on some forums, though that is someone I more aspire to be rather then a persona I adopted. (Very Blackwall/Thom Rainer of me, eh?). And I was 190 pounds when I started all this. (vanity severely challenged in actually putting that number out there!)

I was always a bookish, not terribly athletic child. Conveniently, I had been born with a heart condition, so exercise, and even overly strenuous playing was never really allowed, which was kind of ok by me. 

I did like having back yard adventures - my swing set was alternatively a time machine, pirate ship, the millennium Falcon, and Zorro's hide-out, all of which I mentally occupied as a cool, smart, strong character. (Can you tell I always wanted to be a writer?) Still, despite all this "adventure" there was not a lot of running/jumping/climbing, more sitting around  on my swing, thinking up stories. 

Fast forward to end of high-school, I am the token slightly chubby & super cynical kid in the back of the class, who writes fanfic rather then homework assignments, and knits in the back row of class to ignore the useless teacher.  Graduation was quickly followed by open heart surgery, and blicky-blam, EASIEST TEN POUND WEIGHTLOSS IN A WEEK (TM) - just required having your chest cracked open like a walnut, and a week in the hospital refusing to eat the awful food. 

Suddenly I was actually kind of fit! In my BMI range and a pants size smaller. After recovery, joined the workforce in a fairly active profession, also worked at the Renaissance faire on weekends, took up dance classes, and stayed this gloriously svelte weight for about 6 years (abject poverty of the 20-something lifestyle helped too! lol)

Press "A" a few times to skip some cut-scene dialogue about marriage, growing addiction to the Xbox,  job changed to completely sedentary office type, etc, etc,  and here we are - just turned 30, and those ten pounds brought back 40 of their closest friends, but forgot to bring any motivation to lose them. I had a few false starts. Just general "ick, I don't fit into yet another up-size of jeans again", or "since when do I have a double-chin in photos?" moments, that triggered about three days (ok, two days) (maybe a day and half) of hyper focusing on super restricting my calories, which eventually (almost instaneously) lead me to rage quit because it was such a pain in the ass to find food in whatever app. My inspiration, my motive, was never big enough. I basically phoned in those attempts, just like I phoned in high school, and just about everything else that I knew I should do but didn't really want to. But then, I realized it . . .

So, I've always loved great adventure stories, right? To watch, to read, to write, to play. The tough warrior girl who took no crap from anyone, got results and kicked ass, always was my favorite. I always wanted to be her, but never actually thought I could be. And then I started playing Dragon Age Inquisition and decided I wanted to be Cassandra Pentaghast when I grow up. Except - I already was grown up! 

Then, what started off as a joke, me telling my one friend who is the spitting image of Lelianna that we should go to a con and Cosplay as the Right and Left hand of the Divine, spurred on a realization: If I want to don the Seeker's armor, maybe I should be more like her - physically and mentally.  She is the type that when she sees something that needs to be done, she just does it. No excuses, no bullshit, no short cuts. 

I googled "warrior workout" and eventually stumbled across Nerd Fitness, and the rest, as they say, is history.

And so my quest began. 

Since signing up, I have been through three 4-week challenges. I have gone from wanting to punch my phone out of frustration and eating a box of cookies to spite the app telling me I have gone over my calories even though I have only eaten like an apple and a bag of broccoli, to actually understanding how BMR and net calories work (still, don't ask me to do the math myself). I have gotten past the mentality that if I "cheat" or "fail" and eat something I shouldn't or eat to much, I might as well go whole hog and just eat whatever the hell I want. I am learning how that proper nutrition does not mean deprivation, nor does it mean you can never have treats. I have discovered that you CAN lose weight without having to step toe inside of a revolting gym (thank GOD!). I have learned alot about myself; my determination, my shortcomings, my upper body strength (or lack of!).

I have also, so far, managed to lose 20 pounds. 

But I have also learned that the scale lies. Still though . . .proof that somehow, despite thirty years of laziness, and love for baked goods and craft bear, and religious avoidance of anything athletic that also wasn't generously peppered with arts and culture, I might *actually* be able to succeed at this. 

So . . . that's me. That's why I am here. That's what I've done. 

I don't have a set schedule in mind for this blog. I think my (failed) attempts to use it as an accountability blog proved that if I try to commit to doing it daily or weekly, I just stubbornly won't. So, it will be an "as the spirit leads" sort of situation. Victories, failures, product recommendations, loot scores, delicious comestibles, whatever else strikes my fancy. 

Closing Review:

Current work out strength: my abs hate me for it, but I am getting pretty good at the "six-inch lift" style exercises. Though, not when the trainer at boxing makes us put a medicine ball on our legs, that's just torture and should be forbidden by the Geneva Convention.
Current work out weakness: While my upper body in general has made some good progress, push ups continue to be my arch-rival. My "girlie" knee push ups are getting much better, but still stuggling for the full on version. Can't get all the way down. Can plank like a boss, but the down motion . . . hubs recently recommended I move my hands out to widen my base. It's helped a bit, but now I feel like my elbows are going cockeyed. 

Nutrition win: Discovery that I *actually* like sweet potatos and vegetable sushi

Nutrition lose: I still love sprinkled donuts with a passion that puts Romeo and Juliet to shame. That will never change. But as long as I keep myself at current rate of consumption (1 in the past 3 months or so?), I think it will be ok. . . 

Current favorite inventory item:  I am in a love/hate relationship with my Fitbit. I picked it up used, and it has been amazing at helping me track calories, steps, logging, etc, but the fact that it is not the HR model is driving mental! It seriously logged my 1 hour boxing class as only 30 minutes of walking, my dance class as 1 hour of walking, and a 40 minute walk I did as "sport". So, an upgrade may be needed eventually.
Current Favorite "Fight" song: Live Like A Warrior by Matisyahu. The words are hitting me in a spot right now. Check it out

Currently playing: No lie, am half way through a replay on Orgins, 2, AND Inquistion

Smutty Literature recommendation: (Because even though Cassandra P. can slice training dummies without breaking a sweat and punch bears for fun, she is still a bookworm at heart): I am on about my millionth reread of a book called Nikolai by Roxie Rivera. It's part of a series (all of which are pretty good but go ahead and just skip to this one first cause it's the best), but this one . . . this one has stuck with me. Russian mob boss with a hidden heart of gold, pretty waitress (who also is a little bit of a tough girl, not physically but with moxie for miles), sweeping, epic and sometime just a touch bleak, adventure. Book can be found on Amazon (for kindle, or actual hard copy), Barnes & Noble, or iBooks. (Smutty level: 7 out of 10 Varrics)

Week 2 Recap } Week 3 Goals

Need a firm reset on things - blog formatting, sleep journal, food journal, all of it. This week got away from me. We had house guests for three days which involved lots of ice cream, the weather has been horrible, and general female not-wellness killed 2 days of walking.


Soo, here we go

• - Cook at home at 4 nights every week and if eating out the other nights, keep calories to under 500 and drink 4 large tumblers of water a day
• Monday: Ate at home, Chicken Florentine Pasta, with salad and bread. Large Ice Cream for dessert = +1
• Tuesday: Ate out at request of guest, Hibachi Chicken, with salad and Miso soup, and having had pre-gamed with Ice Cream = +0
• Extra Credit: I tried a piece of sushi while out. I didn't die. This is an achievement = +.5
• Wednesday: Grilled Steak, potato salad, grilled asparagus, homemade ice cream cookie sandwiches = +1
• Thursday: Chicken patties and Mac 'n Cheese (x2 helpings). I felt like shit and was not able to go to the Church event that promised me lovely finger sandwhiches and veggies platters. = (technically) +1
• Friday: ate out at request of Boys, Caprese Chicken = (because I am sure that it was over 500cal) +.5
• Saturday: Herb Chicken Tortellini and a Cesar salad = +1
• Sunday: Homemade Lasgne = +1
• Score : 6 out of 7
• Walk at least 10 minutes a day at work
• Monday: 12 minutes/.65 mi = +1
• Tuesday: 12 minutes/.66mi = +1
• Wednsday: +0
• Thursday: +0
• Friday: +0 for walk
• Extra Credit: Went to gym and worked out for about 45 minutes = +1
• Extra Credit: Thai Chi on the xbox = +1
• Saturday: +0 for walk
• Extra Credit: smashed walls!! Good work out, lifting heavy things! = +.5
• Sunday: +0
• Score: 4.5 out of 7
• Work way up to doing the Nerd Fitness Body weight workout out 3 times a week, over three weeks (1st week = 1 time, 2nd week = 2 times, 3rd week = 3 times, 4th week = 3 times) **ADDED SPECIFICALLY TUES AND THUR**
• Tuesday: = +1
• Thursday; = +0
• Extra Credit: did one circut sunday night = +.5
• SCORE: 1.5 out of 2
• Start bed time process at 10:30 every week night
• Sunday: +0
• Monday: +1
• Tuesday: +1
• Wednesday: +.5
• Thursday: +1
• Score: 3.5 out of 5
• FINAL SCORE: 74%

Other Challenges:

- Bat cave: I ended up adjusting my incomplete bat cave goals to make them something more immediate and effective. I added barriers by (1)moving cookies to top shelf  (2) put the sodas in the downstairs fridge (3) started keeping healthy snacks at my desk/in the car so I am no so hungry leaving work that I cave for drive thru. I have removed barriers by (1) keeping walking shoes at my desk so I can walk every day (2) put air conditioners in the living room and bedroom so that it is not 'too hot' to work out (3) set up the hold Xbox 360 so that I can start to do work out games. THIS QUEST IS NOW COMPLETE!! Wooohooo

- Hack your sleep: sleep journal was even less done this week

- Personal quests: Completed "Upgrade your quest: paint backsplash quest"

Revised and New Goals for next week

- Get at least a 90% on my challenge

- complete "Hack your sleep" quest by ACTUALLY keeping a journal

- complete NF Diet level 2, keeping calories under 1800 for the day

- complete NF benchmark test
- BBWW Monday, Wednsday, Friday

Week 1 Recap } Week 2 goals

So, we are at the end of Week 1.

I am still not in love with the formatting, and honestly, despite the ease of putting everything in one place, I am hating have to blog daily. It's making it a chore. I barely do my *actual* chores. SOOO, I might switch this to once a week, with occasional daily updates for something spectacular. Who knows, will continue to mess with it until I find a formula I like. . .

So, lets break down my challenges and see how I did:

• - Cook at home at 4 nights every week and if eating out the other nights, keep calories to under 500 and drink 4 large tumblers of water a day 
• Monday dinner: Hassleback Chicken with lightly sauced veg and potato, with and indulgently delish beer                                   
• Tuesday - make at home Tacos - healthy pulled salsa chicken, beans, lettuce, guac and a touch of sour cream and cheese with homemade lavender jasmine iced tea                            
• Wednesday - ate out 1. the boys rioted and voted Pizza. I stuck with a small veggie sub - under 500cal                                           
• Thusday - Grilled steak, big green salad, potato salad and more homemade iced tea
• Friday - left over steak, over a large salad and since it was a weekend a little soda treat  
• Saturday - ate out 2. Burrito Loco, which is basically a less hipster Chipotle. I ordered a steak salad, calculating calories around 540, but I had intentionally eaten lighter earlier in the day to make up for it and made sure to leave off any chips, etc
• Sunday - bacon & cheddar pork patty with some fries. Ok, so my cooking chops were worn out and it was a freezer roulette kind of night. Kept my portions smallish at least. 
• CHALLENGE SCORE = 6.5 of of 7 ✓
• Walk at least 10 minutes a day at work
• Monday - 14 minutes, .72 miles
• Tuesday - 19 minutes, 1.07 miles *note; had to be after work because of weather and general work ickyness, but I still made sure to walk
• Wednesday - 15 minutes, .8 miles
• Thursday - 16 minutes, .79 miles
• Friday - 14 minutes, .78 mile
• EXTRA CREDIT: Friday, again - 16 minutes, .82 miles
• EXTRA CREDIT: Sunday - 19 minutes, 1.01 miles
• CHALLENGE SCORE: 6.5 out of 5 ✓
• Work way up to doing the Nerd Fitness Body weight workout out 3 times a week, over three weeks (1st week = 1 time, 2nd week = 2 times, 3rd week = 3 times, 4th week = 3 times)
• So this one time, in eighth grade, I waited til the night before to do my science fair project, and the next morning I rolled in with a sheet of cardboard covered in computer paper and some sharpie drawn charts on how much I liked tea, and if I felt relaxed afterwards. I basically only even put that much effort fort so they had to give me some kind of grade, rather then flat out fail me. This, is kind of like that. I kept putting it off, cause I always had some other day this week to do it. It was easy to do, because in order to do the work out I also had to complete part of my bat cave quest which is to clean out the sunroom to get some floor space in which to work out. 
• CHALLENGE SCORE = 0 out of 1 ❌
• Start bedtime process at 10:30 every night
• You will note, that I am in fact posting this AFTER 10:30. Take that as a sign of things to come. However, the sleep journal I did keep kind of showed a trend that the earlier I started my process, the longer it took me to fall asleep. Going to keep gunning for a 10:30 start time, but thinking of adjusting goal to be an 11:00 actual bed time 
• Monday: 10:45
• Tuesday : 10:35
• Wednsday : 11:00 
• Thursday: 11:00
• Friday: 1:00
• Saturday: 12:30
• Sunday: 11:30 (till I get done writing this up and posting etc)
• CHALLENGE SCORE: 2 out of 7 ❌

Other Challenges:

• - Bat Cave: the moving the soda and cookies has helped. The walking shoes at my desk are the only reason I was really able to push through walking every day at work. Still have to do the stinking sun room
• - Hack your sleep: my sleep journal was dodgey over the weekend. Basically... I didn't do it. So while I have a few days journaled under my belt, this will still be a work in progress
• - Personal quests: Continued work on my "Upgrade your keep" quests and spent all day Saturday digging out the jungle that was growing in my front garden and pulling the weeds from my patio. Also, not a formal quest, but unlocked achievement 'help friend in need' and got said friend moved in to our second spare room until she can get back on her feet after making some life changes

Revised and new challenges for Week:

• - Continue with 4 main challenges
• Adjust: Start bedtime process every WEEK night at 10:30
• - Specify!: Complete Bat Cave quest by Friday afternoon
• - If Bat Cave has not yet been completed, still do BBWW, in the bathroom if that is the only available space. Other possible locations are in the living room (AM, before everyone is awake so they don't see me blubbering every where), Front porch, back patio area, laundry room
• - Specify!: Do BBWW Tuesday and Thursday

12 July 17

Maybe I will just keep doing these as day after accounts, since doing it before bed like the lowest thing on my priority list.

It was quite the day here on Wednesday and threw me some challenges. Work stress and pea-soup humidity made me not want to work AT ALL. Then after picking up a free grill, the men-folk decided unanimously they wanted pizza.

I WANT pizza too y'know. But I also want to NOT FAIL at something for a change.

I triumphed. Toasted veggie sub.

Certainly not as thrilling as Ultimo Pepperoni, but I felt good about the choice in the end, because it was healthier, kept under my 500 calorie challenge, and was closer to keeping the Wednsday fast.

So here it goes:

• - Sleep: actually slept ok despite weird dreams about having brain surgery in my sister's old bedroom at the house we grew up in
• In bed by: 11:05 - husband tempted me with the xbox controller at 9:30 and Thedas needed me!
• Asleep by: 11:15 - all that inquisting must have worn me out.
• Tv was  OFF
• Last caffeine consumed: 9:30ish (creature of habit, me)
• Number of times up over night: 0 that I recall, so if I did get up, I was at least asleep for it
• Alarm time: 6:45
• Snoozed: 3 times, until 7
• Food
  
• Exercise: 15 minute walk out work (possibly consider it a swim taking into account the high humidity?), just under 1 mile
• Water: 3.5 tumblers at work, final last .5 to hit goal drunk at home
• Note: loot for completing 4 week water challenge is totally going to be a britta filter. I've been spoiled on the filtered water at work

Wins for today:

- got grill, got it mostly scrubbed down and cleaned up

- walked, kept under 500 cal goal for eat out/take out food, and the Fast (mostly), despite challenges

Goals for tomorrow:

- cook out! Celebrate Roxie's homecoming and me and the Commanders' 8th year together anniversary with steak and salad! - low carb, high protein, plus a heap of veggies? WINNING!

-  get all of Roxie's stuff moved in

- ACTUALLY get to cleaning out the sun room as part of my bat-cave quest

- Start house cleaning now so it's not a marathon on Sunday, the day before houseguests return . ..