Fitness Fellowship 2024: Week 26 Check-in

[sylvanwitch]

Look at me posting on the actual day of check-in! That's wacky! :-)

As always, I'd love to hear how your fitness journey has been this past week and what your plans are for the week ahead. Please do share as much or as little as you'd like.



Weight: I regained about .8 pounds of what I'd lost post-vacation, for reasons that will become apparent below.

Exercise: I was very good about this, most days spending at least an hour gardening and also getting in a good walk as well. On Friday, I took a 4.4 mile solo hike, which was lovely. I did not do intervals, however, nor did I lift weights. (I completely forgot about weights, to be honest, but also the gardening was a LOT some of those days.) I did one day of incline work. I was quite sore from the day I spent two hours putting in a new garden bed, so that contributed to the lack of more strenuous upper body exercise the following days.

Eating plan: Here is where I failed miserably. First, I have a snacking-in-the-evening problem, which ends tonight. Second, I had a lot of leftover goodies from the trip, and I hate wasting food, which is absolutely the excuse it sounds like. The good news is things either got too stale, or I ate them, so now there are many fewer temptations in the house. Also, I've been hungrier than usual, which I attribute to both moderate summer temperatures (hotter temps tend to dampen my appetite) and the heavy-duty gardening I did for several days. I really was quite active for most of the week, and I think my body expected more food as a result. I will say that for the quantity of food I ate (not counting the treats), I did eat *healthy* food. For example, it is now officially smoothie season in my house, which means lots of frozen and fresh fruits, a plant-based complete protein powder additive, and lots of greens. Also, meal-sized salads have returned to the menu. (I do love a good salad.)

Meditation: Yes.

Sleep: I had some trouble getting to and staying asleep this week, to the point at which I finally caved and took melatonin, which helped me sleep through the night but also made me logy the next morning. I'm working on it.

Hydration: I've been extra careful about this while working outside.

The week ahead: If I can continue to eat healthy meals but smaller portions, can avoid snacking at night, and continue to regulate the goodies, I should see some progress on the scale. I will continue with making sure I do yardwork/gardening every day and also get formal exercise, and I will go back to making sure I lift at least twice, do intervals at least twice, and get some incline work in as well. I also hope that with the reduction in snacking at night the sleep might resolve itself. We'll see.


May the week ahead give you what you need to reach your goals.

Comments

Re: 💟

[sylvanwitch]

GOOD LUCK! I hope you dodge the weight-gain bullet from the food you chose to eat. I hate that we have to even worry about having popcorn, for example, or treating ourselves once in a while. It irks me to no end that I can gain SO much in so little time, but it takes FOREVER to lose it. I hope you don't see too big an uptick and that you get that best week again in the week we're in!

Re: 💟

[oldtoadwoman]

Yes! I swear that I don't even eat that much (except when I do) and just one lapse will be enough to undo a whole week of healthy eating. It doesn't seem to balance out at all.

I have a question for you. What do you eat when you are craving something "substantial"? Sometimes I crave pure sugar, which I know has nothing to do with hunger, but rather stress or boredom or other emotional stuff and I can talk myself out of these cravings half the time. Sometimes I'm normal levels of hungry and I can be fine just getting a salad or something reasonable. But then there are those "hangry" times where I'm hungry and tired and cranky and I find myself desperately craving meat. (If I were getting a steak or something it might not even be that bad, but generally the easiest and most affordable options end up being very unhealthy junk food like burgers or fried chicken or something.) I can't imagine vegetarians crave meat, but I'm sure "hangry" is a universal state so what sort of things do you end up eating?

(I had a chicken sandwich from KFC for lunch and instantly felt guilty about it, but I'm not sure what a good alternative is when my InnerBrat is going "No!" when I even consider salad or soup.)

Re: 💟

[sylvanwitch]

When I'm really hungry and craving something substantial, my go-to is usually toast with plants-based cheeses or some other savory plants-based spread, or I will have nuts themselves or wheat crackers with "cheese" and/or hummus spread or something like that. Snacking feels like a transgression, but I try to make it healthier choices, so I'm both "cheating" and not, if that makes sense. I don't always succeed in resisting the urge for something less healthy, of course, but I do find that pretending to snack but on things that are better for me tends to work.