Fitness Fellowship 2023: Week 39 Check-in

[sylvanwitch]

Happy Autumn to those in this hemisphere! Happy Spring to everyone else! :-)

I hope the week has treated you well and that you met some or all of your week's goals. Please share your ups and downs with us if you're so inclined.



I definitely lost weight this week, though how much depends on which day's weigh-in I count, as the weekend was extremely busy, and I ate a bunch of healthy, delicious food, some of which is not low-cal. (I splurged on an enormous salad bar takeaway salad last night as well as some veggie biryani and chana masala. SO GOOD.) (I did, however, also eat apple cider doughnut holes. Also very, very good.)

Exercise-wise, I had a bunch of late nights and a busy weekend, so some days I only got in extra steps at work, but when I could (and had both time and energy), I used the recumbent bike and/or took walks.

My dedication to hydration was irregular this week, and I don't recall any breathing or meditation exercises either. Sleep was okay, though I had a couple of nights when it took me a while to fall asleep, and I had to be up earlier than usual for a weekend yesterday and today, but I did get some decent sleep last night.

My goal for the week ahead is to eat well, continue the intermittent fasting (which has been successful), get more sleep, hydrate more regularly, and exercise every day. I'm also going to try to meditate and/or do some mindful breathing at least once.


I'm sending you whatever extra energy I can, my friends, to have a great week ahead!

Comments

[oschun]

Food synchronicity! I made a tomato and mushroom biryani with masala chickpeas and lemon dal on Saturday! I've linked the recipe below if you're interested.

I had a good week. I did pilates on Tues and the exercise session after school on Fri. We did a youtube video that was mostly squats. I could hardly walk on Sat and Sun! I also did two fasting days in the week, and somehow, amazingly, managed to avoid drinking wine, even over the weekend.

It's weird. I'm actively being more healthy for reasons that I can't totally pinpoint. I think it's mostly centred around a renewed interest in food and cooking (and my gut biome). Focussing on that one thing has had a knock-on effect for me with exercising, sleeping better, being less tired. I've been feeling better physically and mentally because I'm avoiding processed foods and meat and white bread. I eat brown rice and something with it (vegetable stir fry or dal) every day for lunch and I feel so much better in the afternoons.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/aug/28/cheap-indian-recipes-masala-chickpeas-biryani-rukmini-iyer

[sylvanwitch]

First, I apologize for the VERY delayed response. ALL that you've said here is SO good to hear, and it deserved to be acknowledged when you commented. Second, it makes me so happy for you that you're having this success with mindful eating and enjoying cooking and getting exercise and socializing, et al. You sound *so* good, hon, and knowing how much of a struggle the beginning of a new school year can be, I am just immensely impressed that you've made your health a happy priority for you. YAY! *hugs*

[luzula]

Ugh, I have not managed to reply to this until today! My week has been a little tough, I slept badly the last two nights because of some interpersonal conflict, which i have hopefully resolved now. But damn, it takes it out of you. I did manage to go running and work out today, but I really feel the effects of the lost sleep in that I had so little energy.

Anyway. All your delicious healthy food sounds great--I am also doing well with food, there are so many delicious vegetables in my CSA bag. For example, I never particularly liked celery root before, but the ones from my CSA are just so mellow and tasty! It's amazing what a difference there is in taste between these vegetables and ordinary grocery store ones. By the way, what are doughnut holes? Is it the thing you remove in the middle to get the ring shape of a doughnut?

Last week's goals:
- No work emails after nine, no computer after ten, and turn out the light at eleven.
Okay, I think? This is what happens if you don't report in at once… you forget how you did.
- Go running once, and work out twice. (Low goals here, because I'm going away over the weekend, and also travelling one other day, and one day is just packed full of other stuff. It MIGHT be that I can work out where I'm going on the weekend; we'll see.)
I went running once and worked out once, because my week was so busy. But I did get bonus exercise on the weekend, since we biked a fair distance on both Saturday and Sunday.

This week's goals (now sort of retroactive…):
- No work emails after nine, no computer after ten, and turn out the light at eleven.
- Go running twice, and work out four times. Also go on two long walks.

[sylvanwitch]

I hope life is less busy for you now or soon, and I applaud your dedication to finding opportunities to exercise as and when you can. I also hope your sleep gets better now that your situation is (hopefully) resolved. That's just an unhappy circumstance when sleep is disturbed by personal upheaval. *hugs*

And yes, you are right about doughnut holes! They are deceptive little things because they are so much smaller than a whole doughnut, but then, of course, that also makes them easier to eat more of! Lol!