Fitness Fellowship 2025: Check-in 32

[sylvanwitch]

Hello, Friends!

How'd the week go for you? I hope you have good news to report, but even if the week was a wash, don't despair--there's another week ahead to give you time to achieve your goals. Please do share, if you're so inclined, and know that there's no judgement here, only support.



Weight: I'm down more than 1.6 pounds this week--yay! As I suspected, last week's big uptick was a weird blip as my body adjusted to getting up earlier for the workshop I was teaching. Now that I'm back to my summer hours, so to speak, the scale is reflecting those habits. I didn't really *lose* anything, of course, but I'm happy at least not to have gained.

Exercise: I did yoga four times, did strength-training four times, and walked every day, though some days more than others. We got out for a (very hot) hike on Saturday, which was much needed, but yesterday was too hot to be outside longer than it took me to water everything, so I got on the elliptical in the evening. That's my plan for today, too, since it is even hotter today.

Eating plan: I've been pretty good, making mostly healthy choices and eating lots of fruit and veg and mostly avoiding overeating and indulging in too many sweets.

Hydration: Yes, absolutely.

Sleep: My sleep has been epic this past weekend as my body was reminded it could go back to my night owl ways. Even during the week, however, I had a lot of success with going to bed at my "regular" school time and getting up without trouble in the mornings for work. We'll see if I have the same success transitioning to the actual school year, when I have to be up an hour earlier than I was up all last week. *sighs*

Meditation: Yes! I finished the series of short meditations from my yoga app and returned to my favorite soothing voice from FitOn.

The week ahead: We're on "staycation" beginning tomorrow, which will include some eating out. We'll see how it goes, but I think I'll be fine. The heat tends to reduce my appetite, and we'll be outside a lot. Still, I'm not going to resist indulging in, for example, fair food, since we're hitting our county fair this week.


May your week be a good one, whatever that means for you.

Comments

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

Yesterday I hauled out the hose to water plants because there's been no rain. So, 100' of tape hose that has to be unreeled completely in order to use. Once full of water, it is fucking heavy. I have two general areas to water: the patio, old picnic table garden, and house yard which are east and northeast of the spigot; and the new picnic table garden and septic garden which are southwest of the spigot. That means I have to water one area, pick up the hose in loops and carry it to the other area -- because dragging it is both bad for the hose and prone to snag on or wreck everything in its path -- then spool it out again and water the other section.

I'm not sure how much it weighs when full of water, but it is a lot more than the 2 gallons = 16 pounds of my watering can. The one advantage to the hose is that I can really soak everything, so I don't need to use it often. Other areas north of the driveway, like the telephone pole garden and savanna seedlings, I still have to hand-water.

Yesterday wore me out so much I had to take a break between the two sections, and then didn't have enough daylight or energy to put the hose away. When the daylight is shrinking and the heat index is still 90F so I have to water in the evening, this is a losing proposition. Next time I'll try doing one section before supper and one after. Oh, and today my back hates me.

Still, I got the watering done, so that's something.

Re: Well ...

[sylvanwitch]

That is a project and a half! I spent about forty-five minutes watering this morning, before the sun reached most of my backyard, and the same amount of time yesterday morning. Both days, I came in drenched in sweat. It is too hot!

Hauling that much hose sounds extremely punishing, and I don't blame your back a bit. But what can you do, right? We're having the same sort of weather here, so I definitely empathize with your efforts to keep things alive.

I do hope you get rain soonest, so you can take a break from moving all that heavy hose around!

[celestialstuff]

Wow! It looks like you had a great week! Well done!

I bought clothes for a new job that are 3 sizes smaller than the last time I shopped. Unfortunately, that wasn’t small enough and I showed up day 1 in baggy clothes, constantly having to pull my pants up!

I guess this is a good problem to have though!

[sylvanwitch]

Thank you so much!

That is an excellent problem to have, though, of course, I'm sure you'd prefer to have the right size. How marvelous it feels to have new clothes that show your impressive progress, though, right? YAY!

[celestialstuff]

For sure!

[oschun]

Enjoy your staycation.

We got back from SA on Sunday and I don't seem to have put on weight despite eating and drinking a lot over the past two weeks. My body is like that, though. I can eat badly (or drink litres of apple cider) for weeks with no change on the scale and then suddenly wake up and be two kilos heavier overnight. Same with losing weight.

I've got a few things I want to get done (or get started on) in the next three weeks before going back to work. The couple who owned the house before us were permaculture hippies and planted a lot of fruit trees in the wild area alongside the house. (Technically, it's guerrilla gardening as the land is owned by a private estate but nobody comes around or seems to notice.) S and I have not been great at using the fruit but that's going to change this year. We've got a bumper crop of yellow and purple plums, figs, apples and pears. I'm interested in learning how to use the fruit in pickles, relishes, savoury dishes etc because I don't really have a strong sweet tooth so am less interested in eating plain fruit or making fruit desserts. I tend to prefer umami and tangy flavours. We want to make chutney and use the fruit for compote with greek yoghurt, which I do like as a dessert after dinner. I've also been reading up on how to use fig leaves in cooking and for making oils and vinegars.

[sylvanwitch]

Oh, how wonderful for you to have access to all that delicious fruit! I *am* a sweets person, but I love a good chutney, too, and compote is my favorite thing because I am lazy--lol!--and it's easy to make. (I also love it on yogurt with some nuts or granola tossed in too.) I hope you find all sorts of amazing recipes and have a fantastic time exploring and experimenting!

Also, I am so glad you had a good time in SA and that the eating and drinking had no ill effects for you.

And thank you! We're just doing day trips and local sightseeing, but it's nice in its own way not to have to have packed and planned and etc. One last hurrah before school resumes. *sighs*

[lenzes]

Congrats on such a successful week! I hope you have (or had by now?) a lovely staycation as well :)

Goal 1 – walking: I walked three times. Short walks, but it felt good to get at least some steps in.

Goal 2 – push-ups: I worked out once. I reduced the number of reps, though. I didn't want to overexert myself after last week's "break".

[sylvanwitch]

Thank you so much! Our staycation was lovely, though I definitely ate more than I should have and more "bad" things, too! ;-)

Oh, excellent progress on the walking, especially given the way things have been going for you lately. That's good news! And it makes absolute sense to ease back into the reps when you've had a break.

You really had a great week! Go, you! YAY! *\o/*