Fitness Fellowship 2022: Week 1 Check-in

[sylvanwitch]

We've done it! We've made it a week into 2022!

How are you doing so far? What, if any, challenges have you experienced? Have you found anything giving you the strength you need to keep on keeping on? Share your ups and downs with us, if you're so inclined.

And, if you're late to the party, please join in now. Anyone can join at any time. No pressure!


Since I took the time to write a list, I'm going to use it to structure my weekly personal reviews.

1. Return to and maintain my goal weight of 170 pounds.

Start: 184. Current weight: 181.2. Total loss: 2.8 pounds.

2. Get more and better sleep.

Progress has been inconsistent. I've had snow days, which means I can stay up later and then sleep in, and I have been doing that. I am *trying*, though, on work days to get to bed by 11:00.

3. Eat clean(er).

I have certainly been eating cleaner. I still have some processed bits and pieces (e.g. vegan sour cream and cheeses) as garnish/condiment, but mostly, I've been good about avoiding processed stuff, and I've definitely been keeping within my calorie limits.

Yesterday, I made a huge pot of homemade soup by throwing together stuff I happened to have in the pantry and freezer, and it came out pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. Plus, it's healthy. So, go me!

4. Incorporate strength training into my daily exercise.

This I've been good about. I lifted weights and/or did floor work for four of seven days. This month, I'm trying to earn a badge via my fitness watch, which is a Garmin. The badge requires four total hours of strength training in the month. So far, I've earned .4 hours. It's not a lot, but it's something. Onward!

5. Exercise daily.

Oh, I have been kicking ass on the elliptical, so much so that I'm taking a breather today and actually getting an outdoor walk in. The series I'm currently doing is more challenging than the ones I did last year--apparently, iFit knows I'm on year two with the machine! Anyway, lots greater resistance and inclines, LOTS of sweating and swearing. But I'm DOING it. That makes me feel pretty awesome in retrospect, though immediately after the fact, I'm mostly noodle muscles and gasping. ;-)

6. Incorporate a spiritual element (e.g. meditation) weekly.

I ordered a book that gives me a little daily evening meditation on peace, and I've looked at that at least a couple of evenings this week. I need to be a little firmer about this, but I *am* doing it.

The week ahead: More of the same.



May the week ahead bring you the strength you need to reach whatever your goals might be.

Comments

[delphi]

Congratulations on the progress - that sounds like a strong first week!

I'm pretty happy with the food choices I made last week, and for figuring out before grocery day that this coming week is likely going to be rough and that I'd benefit from having healthy meals and snacks be as quick and easy as possible.

On the sleep front, I'm 6 out of 7 on my goal (having stayed up last night trying to cram everything else in after working late). I also followed through on assembling my new stationary bike and took it for an inaugural spin.

[sylvanwitch]

Thank you!

Congratulations to you for the good food choices and for planning ahead for a busy, tiring work week. (I'm taking a page from your book and trying to do some food prep this afternoon, so I have veggies for salads and stir-fry when I get home from work.)

And that's AWESOME about the sleep! I keep cheating it because I want to read longer, but it creates a vicious cycle during the work week, so I really do just have to suck it up and go to bed earlier.

How did you like the bike? I hope you enjoyed it (for a given value of enjoy, of course ;-).

[delphi]

I hope the food prep went well! I ended up making a pot of sweet potato and chickpea stew, and it's nice to have the freezer stocked with something that can be nuked in under a minute.

And ugh, I really hear you on the vicious cycle of sleep. I was hoping that while I'd be missing out on reading time in the evening, I'd be making it up by having more time in the morning. However, ever since my first bout of COVID, eight hours is insufficient - so I'm falling asleep 60-90 minutes earlier but so far only waking up 15-30 minutes earlier (if it's earlier at all). We'll see how it shakes out once it becomes a habit, though.

I'm digging the bike so far. It's not the sturdiest model, but if everything goes well on the work front I might be moving long-distance in about a year's time, so I was all right getting a cheap one and seeing how it holds together. So far my rides have been low-key with some intermittent bursts of speed, but I reckon it's good just to get some extra movement in while I'm listening to something. This week's project is to fashion some of the packaging it came with into a phone mount.

[cornerofmadness]

My goals are to keep the knee healthy and to lose the 10 pounds I regained over Christmas. This will probably start in two weeks given I'm still home and away from the gym

[sylvanwitch]

These are excellent goals, and it's nice to have a little buffer window before you have to get serious again. I hope you enjoy the remaining time you have at your folks' place before teaching, etc., starts up again.

[cornerofmadness]

thanks

[oschun]

Well done on the good start, hon!

I really liked what you said about Franklin's 13 virtues in the previous post. It feels very true and a really helpful way of viewing it. I managed virtue #1 this week. It's probably the first time since the pandemic began that I haven't had a glass of wine all week. For normal people that probably sounds like a small step; for me it's a giant leap. The withdrawal made me a little jittery so I tried to walk it off and went out twice on a weekday - something I really struggle with in the winter months. Once it was dark by the time I got back and the other time it was raining and pelting me in the face, which was bizarrely bracing and enjoyable :)

S also wants to reduce his consumption of processed vegan products. We're trying out a different home-made vegan burger each week that we have as a protein-side with other vegetable dishes. This is all in service of our mission to discover the perfect vegan burger recipe :)

[sylvanwitch]

YAY! THIS IS HUGE! I'm so proud of you, hon--and I mean that in an entirely non-patronizing way. Having some compulsive behaviors of my own, I know how difficult breaking bad habits is, and I think it's awesome that you've gone a week without drinking wine during it! That's amazing! YAY! Also, it makes me smile to hear you talk about walking in the rain. I've learned that sometimes, to get out of my head, what I most need is a walk or jog in the filthiest weather imaginable. There's nothing quite like that feeling of you against the natural world to get you out of your head, yeah? (Maybe that's just me, though...)

Anyway, good luck with your quest for the perfect homemade veggie burger, and if you finally hit upon the recipe and would be willing to share it, I'd be super grateful.

I did a bit of my own experiment this morning, adapting a recipe from the How Not to Die Cookbook, using brown rice, mashed up Great Northern beans, a little agave nectar, spices, cashew milk, ground flaxseed, and blueberries on top for a hot breakfast grain bowl. It turned out better than I'd expected it to be. I eat a lot of oatmeal from scratch, but it gets tired after a while, and I do love a good rice pudding, so this was a nice compromise.

Anyway, I hope you have a great week ahead! Go, you! :-)

[aien_hime]

Wow, you had a great first week! Congrats!

My first week was not so good. I had a roaring headache the entire week which only started to lift last Saturday. I didn't lose any weight but I did ride our exercise bike a few times, so there's that, which I'm pretty proud of considering how I felt Oo'

[sylvanwitch]

Thank you!

Oh, that sucks about the headache and I am SO sorry. That's awful. I think it's impressive that you rode the bike under those conditions, and I hope that once you recover from the headache, you're able to focus as you'd like. I used to get cluster migraines, so I know how debilitating that kind of long-term pain can be and how unmoored of reality it can make a person (at least, that was my experience--I'm sure yours is different).

[ysilme]

It's such a joy to read about your successes and plans, and to have observed them going into action during the last years! ♥ Congratulations to all your wonderful achievements! ***\O/***
I've read most of them, even if I comment/participate so rarely: I can't tell how often I've started an answer, didn't finish it because I'm horribly disorganised that way, and then the next post came up and my data was outdated already... /o\ I want to try to change that this year.

For me, the last year brought one major change which makes me incredibly happy and gives me a huge motivational boost to continue, although I have to re-establish some good habits I'd acquired last year/done throughout most of the year, as the weeks before Christmas and the time after was very demanding emotionally and energetically, which in turn caused me to slack in various regards.
The main thing was changing my diet considerably, mainly as I was diagnosed with the onset of prediabetes, and to cut down carbohydrates in a massive way which isn't easy regarding what I can eat in generally (leaving out oh so many food groups), am willing to eat in particular (organic, regional, seasonal and unprocessed food), and prefer a vegetarian diet. This in turn led to a surprisingly quick and large weight loss (relatively speaking - you know that I've always aimed at a slow but steady weight loss I can maintain without any calorie counting or portion limitations, to avoid triggering my eating disorder) combined with muscle increase (this mainly through more intense gardening than before), and I lost about six kilos (might not sound much but is a lot for my way of going about it; before it's been about a kilo a year or so) and went down at least one clothes size, maybe even two. I'm also one BMI category down, but much more importantly, I no longer feel fat/obese, which is the most amazing thing ever.
I've never been obese in the proper sense of the word, even for an European, and I still do have a lot of fat in some places, but I just lost the critical amount and gained sufficient muscle to have a different body shape and shilouette, a visibly slimmer face, no longer have my belly getting in my way when doing some yoga exercises, and I feel totally different.
Due to increased emotional distress and a lot of RL stress over the holidays I slacked in some of my routines, so I'm currently up one kilo again, but I know this will leave on its own again once I get back on track. My goal for the year is getting much better with the things I started, particularly anything that is about mental self-care, getting below 90kg by Easter, and establishing some routines I started last year more thoroughly, so I'll find it much easier to do them even when I'm stressed. I also need to work at my diet options to get to a choice which suits better what I want to eat, but that's a bit tricky so I'm not going to stress me out with that for the time being, possibly waiting until it's easier to get fresh seasonal veggies, and increase my own production of them. ^^

[sylvanwitch]

Thank you so, so much for the encouragement, my friend. It gives me a warm feeling in my breast. *hugs*

I'm so sorry to hear about your latest diagnosis but am not at all surprised to learn that you have taken your usual sensible, naturopathic approach to curbing the onset of diabetes. I'm pleased for you that you lost weight but not the reason for it, if that makes sense, and I hope you're able to re-establish your routines, make your goals, and that fresh veggie season is upon us quicker than we expect. (The winter here can really drag on, and I'm hoping that's not so for you.) You're absolutely welcome here whenever you have the energy to join us, but I completely understand why it's sporadic for you--and that just makes it all the more a treat when you DO pop in! *grins*

Anyway, I'm so excited for all the good things you've said here about how you feel having lost some weight, and I hope you continue to find good things. Big, big *HUGS* to you!