Fitness Fellowship 2024: Week 38 Check-in

[sylvanwitch]

Greetings, friends! We celebrated the autumnal equinox in my part of the world on Sunday, for which I made apple walnut raisin muffins (vegan-ified), drank cider, and had an apple cider doughnut, too.

You might notice a food theme. I associate every part of the year with particular foods, and given how often food is my reward for having survived a hard day or whatnot, it's not surprising that I look forward to the autumn for not just the good-for-me stuff (Ginger gold apples, Bartlett pears, butternut squash, to name a few) but also the not-so-good-for-me stuff, like the aforementioned doughnuts.

What do you look forward to this time of year? Feel free to skip that question, but please do tell us how your week has gone in terms of your fitness goals.


Weight: Ugh. Way up. I'm not sure why, either, which is frustrating. I'm trying to focus on other fitness markers, i.e. increased flexibility, instead.

Exercise: Daily yoga, light weights five of seven days, some walking every day, a 3-mile walk on Sunday. I continue to aim for 45 minutes to 1 hour of exercise daily.

Eating plan: I really have been pretty good, but we did get Chinese takeout on Friday, and I ate that for the main meal on Saturday and Sunday, as well, so I'm guessing that was the culprit with the weight gain.

Sleep: I'm trying to get to bed on time. I've made some strides in that direction this week. I'll keep at it.

Hydration: I have not been so good at this, especially at work. I have to make a better effort. I have my cold ginger tea with me, but I don't always get around to drinking it. I think I get busy and then simply forget, even though my insulated bottle is right there on my desk.

The week ahead will be more of the same, minus the Chinese food. ;-)

May the week ahead be filled with things you look forward to. :-)

Comments

[cornerofmadness]

Pumpkin and apple butter, that's what i look forward to and all the warming spices.

PT hasn't killed me yet but they're trying. No weight loss but strength improving

[sylvanwitch]

That’s excellent news about the strengthening! I really hope it helps somehow, even if it won’t help with the underlying issue. Also, apple butter and warming spices—yum!

[cornerofmadness]

Both of my coffee houses have an apple butter latte. That'll help the diet I'm sure...

[delphi]

Cool weather and good baking are definitely the things I look forward to this time of year!

It's been a decent week. Still working on good sleep, but that's mostly because the concert venue next door has had shows every night. I've been hitting three meals a day, and exercising and walking. I'm in that nice lull where the heat has gone away but it's not yet pitch black or snowy in the morning, so I can get out for a good long ramble before work.

[sylvanwitch]

It is *so* nice to turn on the oven without sweltering for it!

I hope the concert venue is seasonal (?) and that it closes soon, so you can get better sleep, but I am super happy for you about the waning of the heat, so you can get in your long rambles!

[delphi]

Alas, it's an all-year thing and just getting busier now that the sweltering season is over, but I'm going to be better about getting to bed before the late shows start. With earplugs and the white noise machine going, they're rarely loud enough to spontaneously wake me up, just erratically loud and vibratey enough to make falling asleep tricky.

[luzula]

Yum for good food! : )

I am extremely busy, but doing well fitness-wise. Weight is good, sleep is good, I'm doing physical work in the garden, I'm also managing to work out a reasonable amount. Also, I have so far an unbroken streak of bathing in the lake every day since the 13th! \o/

Obviously some of the being busy is because of still unpacking and setting up things in the new place, and still doing administrative stuff related to the move. I guess I'll need to see going forward how my new routine settles down, though that might take a while.

[sylvanwitch]

It is wonderful to hear how invigorating your new life is and that you are able to have at least some routine (swimming, for instance) in the midst of unpacking and setting up your household and getting to know your housemates. Yay for sleep and gardening and lake swims and lovely views and all the rest of the good stuff that comes with your new home!

[oschun]

I mostly look forward to mists and cool weather. It was beautifully misty this morning. Very Keatsian weather.

I did hardly any exercise last week but got really into fasting and did two full-day fasts (skipping breakfast and lunch) and two half-day fasts (just skipping breakfast). I'm finding that as long as I drink enough water regularly during the day I actually feel more energetic on fast days. Dehydration does suck. I got a headache one day last week and I hardly ever suffer from headaches. My plan is to alternate fasting and eating days, so do a full-day fast on Mon, Weds and Fri, and eat normally on the other four days. We'll see how it goes.

[sylvanwitch]

Oooooh, I envy you coolness and mist. We are still in the 70s here during the day, but at least we’ve had rain on and off for a few days. I hope you’re able to get in many misty rambles!

Also, GO, YOU! for fasting so diligently. I’m so glad it’s working for you!

Here’s to the importance of hydrating!

[batdina]

Still in HiHo prep hell, so most of my self-care has been backburnered. I'm still exercising, but my food intake has sucked.

OTOH, hydration is good, sleep is finally turning around, and while the heat has been up and down around here, I can finally walk outside later in the day.

I hope your shift to working again eases up. I think of you often and will get back into the swing of things in a few weeks.

[sylvanwitch]

Sometimes, all we can do is what we can do. Or, I guess, philosophically speaking, that's ALL the time all we can do? I don't know, I'm tired and probably babbling--lol!

Good luck with your preparations for the High Holidays! Go, you, for exercising and hydrating and sleeping, all GOOD things. I hope your prep is completed with a minimum of hassle and a maximum of joy. I think of you often too, my friend.

*hugs*

still surviving

[oldtoadwoman]

I looked at my weight tracker and the entire month has just been up, down, up, down, up and I'm pretty much exactly where I've been all summer.

(Yesterday I splurged on a sandwich that I like and the guy who made it forgot the sauce that makes that sandwich good ... I asked for "with everything" as usual and he didn't include anything other than the dry ingredients so I had to put mayo on it when I got home. And the store was pretty chaotic when I went to pick up my sandwich--someone was literally reaching around me to put their stuff on the counter before I had a chance to pick up my things and leave--and so I was thinking to myself that maybe this is the universe reminding me that I don't need to pay for a too-large deli sandwich every time I'm too lazy to make dinner because sometimes it's not less hassle.)

Re: still surviving

[sylvanwitch]

I like the idea that the Universe communicates via sandwich-making. That's a Universal message I can definitely relate to! LoL!

I have been reminding myself that as long as I am still keeping active and have not outgrown my work clothes, I am doing alright. The scale number is necessary for me to keep myself in check, but I can't let it rule my moods. And I also can't live my life without any treats. (I mean, I could and have, but I do prefer when I can have a non-dairy ice cream or pizza on the weekend or something.)

Good luck with the weekend and the week to come!

Re: still surviving

[oldtoadwoman]

I have stricter goals that I'd like to maintain, but my bottom line is that as long as I'm physically capable of walking to get it, I'm allowed pretty much any treat I want when I'm having one of those "those" days.

My ex-roommate used to order a lot of food delivery and even though I only gave in and ordered along with her a handful of times, that was still the time when I gained so much weight. The quantity of (usually calorie-dense) food you can have just delivered to your door these days would do me in if I let myself do it. I don't understand how people can afford to do that all the time, but I can see how tempting it would be if I had the money to spare.

Re: still surviving

[sylvanwitch]

Re: Take-out/delivery. I am also glad that we can't afford take-out more than a couple times a month (delivery isn't really an option where we live) because if we could, I would *definitely* weigh more. I am already tired of preparing my own meals, and it's only the end of September. *sighs*