Fitness Fellowship 2023: Week 47 Check-in

[sylvanwitch]

I am sort of staggered by how swiftly this year has gone. At least, it feels very much like it's disappeared in the rearview. I'm not sure I felt that way while it was happening to me.

Anyway, this is the usual post to ask you for your check-in notes on the past week. It is, again, a day late because I plum forgot about it until just before bedtime last night. ;-)

Please do share with us how your fitness journey has been for you and what your plans are for the week ahead.



Not only did I lose all the weight I gained on my birthday weekend last week, but I lost another .4 pounds, for a total weight loss of 13.2 so far. I'm actually a few pounds lighter than where I was at the beginning of this year, which is awfully motivating.

The intermittent fasting continues to work well for me. This week, I spent some of Sunday roasting veggies and putting together a dish of "lazy pierogies" with vegan kielbasa and some sauerkraut our school's culinary club made (it's delicious!). Of course, there's a big eating holiday ahead, and my weakness is stuffing, but I am going to let myself enjoy it and just make sure I'm also getting plenty of exercise.

This past week's exercise was good--lots of outside walking because the weather has been uncharacteristically mild for this time of year. No more, alas--we're getting more typical weather this week.

Hydrating has been a bit of an issue because I don't always have time to brew tea at work, but it's often cold in my room, so I don't want to drink from my water bottle either. I'm going to have to be better about it.

Sleep has been okay. I'm getting to bed on time (and sometimes early), but I'm having trouble falling asleep, and then I'm up at least twice in the night.

I don't think I've deliberately meditated this week at all, but I have spent some time in prayer and mindfulness while walking in the woods, so I think that counts.

For the week ahead--continue the IF (even on T-day), exercise, sleep, hydrate, meditate/pray/breathe.



I'm sending you all the good vibes I can spare that this week is a good one for you, friends!

Comments

[cornerofmadness]

The first half of the year seemed to go at normal speed and then suddenly it's Christmas. Weird. My main accomplishment has been not boredom eating while I'm lying around here recovering

[sylvanwitch]

I can imagine that it would be extremely boring to be on enforced rest. I guess it's an opportunity for binge-watching (or an epic rewatch of your faves)? But yes, NOT eating out of boredom is a major win, for sure! Go, you!

[cornerofmadness]

My parents are like me too rural for streaming so no binging. You'd think I'd read or write but no. Just bored.

[oschun]

Ooh pierogies and sauerkraut sounds good. We recently bought some turmeric flavoured sauerkraut. It's really good. (Must feed fermented foods to the gut biome!)

Actually, I think I've been overdoing the 'vegetable rainbow' cooking on a Sunday. My stomach hasn't felt great the past few weeks when I've eaten like 10 different vegetables in one meal. I cooked an Indian feast on Sunday - vegetable biryani, whole roasted cauliflower in coconut milk, fried cabbage with mustard seeds, spinach dahl. I think reading Tim Spector's 'Food for Life' is making me a little obsessive!

I haven't been very good at doing the intermittent fasting, but I'm planning on rectifying that tomorrow and on Friday. No food, just water and black tea and coffee between dinnertime the day before and lunchtime the next day.

[sylvanwitch]

It was delicious! It was "lazy pierogies," so it was basically noodles (I used farfalle, but the recipe calls for egg noodles), vegan kielbasa, plant-based "butter," and homemade sauerkraut our cooking club made. VERY high in calories altogether but totally worth it. *grins*

YAY for eating veggies but BOO for gut issues. My good friend is the healthiest eater I know, and a few months ago she was stricken with absolutely awful gut stuff. Eventually, the doctors were able to say only that she eats too healthily, if you can believe it, and her own experimentation with dropping and then re-adding foods helped her realize it was her daily kombucha (which she makes herself), too many beans (fiber), and then other fermented foods. She is slowly, SLOWly regaining her old eating habits, but she's had to reintroduce some meat (for protein, since she can only tolerate very small amounts of beans so far again) and dairy into her diet, and it's been very frustrating and disheartening for her, as you can imagine.

So, absolutely, it's good that you're paying attention to your body's signals and making sure not to overdo the veggies. (IT seems SO counterintuitive that that should even be a problem, doesn't it? And yet...)

Good luck with your fasting this week!

[oschun]

That's interesting about your friend. The way your gut responds to different foods is so individual. The food for life philosophy is that certain things work for everybody. Whole foods and more vegetables are good for everybody. Industrially processed foodstuffs that pretend to be real food are bad for everybody. But people respond differently to things. Natural foods can be strongly medicinal. My sister in law makes her own kombucha and it's helped a lot with my niece's gut issues. I think the issue is mostly, as you say, about paying attention to your body. 

[luzula]

I am sort of staggered by how swiftly this year has gone.
I always think this way about your check-in posts. *facepalm* Half the week goes by before I remember to reply to them! But yeah, it's true about the year, too.

Anyway, looks like you're on track, congrats on working on your goals! \o/

My goals for last week:
- Go running two or three times, depending on schedule
- Work out five times.
- Usual schedule with sleep: no work/environmental organization stuff after 9, no computer after 10, turn out light at 11.
I worked out and went running on Monday, but then I got a cold, so the rest of the week was a wash exercise-wise. But the cold didn't last long, and I did get in a long forest walk on Sunday, when I was feeling well again. Sleep has been okay!

This week's goals:
- Go running three times.
- Work out five times.
- Usual schedule with sleep: no work/environmental organization stuff after 9, no computer after 10, turn out light at 11.

[sylvanwitch]

I'm glad your cold didn't last very long and that you are already feeling better! I'm also glad you took it easier on yourself, so your body could recover swiftly--go, you! I hope you are meeting/continue to meet your goals this week! :-)