Fitness Fellowship 2026: Week Four Check-in

[sylvanwitch]

Greetings once again from the snowy north! We had a big storm roll through and drop a bunch of snow on us. It's quite wintery out there! We're expecting Arctic cold this week (literally, it's coming from the Arctic :-), so that ought to be interesting. For all that my region of New York State has been infamous for snow events and bad winter weather, the weather we've been getting for many years now is much less predictable than what we used to experience, and that's probably because Lake Erie gets and stays warmer than it used to, such that we have more wide open water for storms to pick up and dump on us as snow. (Note: The most recent storm was, refreshingly, not a lake effect event at all.) The Arctic cold we've had and will be having should take care of that, at any rate. Silver linings.

At any rate, there has been very little walking outdoors. The good news with proctoring exams (BORING) is that I get to pace up and down the aisles, so I got plenty of steps on proctoring days. The rest of the time, I made sure to use the elliptical, a purchase I am still so grateful I took the chance on a few years ago. I've certainly gotten my money's worth out of it!

So, as usual, please share how your fitness efforts have gone for the past week and any changes you're envisioning to your goals for the week ahead.



Weight: 193.8, down .2 from last week. That's fine, truly. I saw a lower number yesterday morning, but last night, we had subs my husband brought home from work. Mine was hummus, veg, and greens, but the bread alone, I'm sure, had an impact.

Exercise: I did yoga 4/4, strength-training 3/3, and got in steps every day of the week.

Eating plan: I had some later-night snacking this past week (sunflower seeds or popcorn), but I stuck to healthy portions and healthy choices with my regular meals. In fact, I made a big pot of veggie and bean chili that we've been working on. The other night, we had it over baked potatoes--so hearty, warm, and filling! I do like making enough that we can use it in a variety of dishes for the week.

Sleep: Ha! During the school week, I did okay, mostly getting to bed within twenty minutes of my usual time, but the weekend (and last night because today is a snow day off from school), I definitely stayed up later than I should have.

Meditation: No, not once, and I'm not sure why. I thought about it several times but just never did it.

Hydration: Yes!

The week ahead: More of the good habits and more meditating!



I'm sending you lots of chill vibes (ha!) for the week ahead, friends!

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> We had a big storm roll through and drop a bunch of snow on us. <<

Yeah, this has meant that my activity has consisted of much wood hauling and stove tending rather than anything outdoors or travel related. We did also install the new heated mattress pad, which involved a lot of shoving things around. And I'm working on laundry.

>>the weather we've been getting for many years now is much less predictable than what we used to experience<<

Same here in central Illinois. When I was little, it was Zone 5b, then over 30 years ago it shifted to 6a, which I noticed long before the government admitted it. Now it's probably 6b since it was right on the border several years ago. :/ There are more unbearably hot days in summer, which is a blighted nuisance at best and a survival threat at worst; but also more days in winter that are cold but still suitable for outdoor work.

I found a new recipe for Healthy Spice Quick Bread. I think if I make it again, I'll add applesauce. I made it to go with the spectacular apple topping. Together they are awesome. :D

Re: Thoughts

[sylvanwitch]

Both recipes look very yummy, indeed! I have bananas to use up, so I'm making basic banana walnut muffins sometime today. I sliced my thumb but good this morning, though, so I'm a little hampered in the cooking department. We'll see how it goes!

Our gardening zone has changed, too, and we are also experiencing hotter and longer summers than we used to. This is a problem for many of my teaching colleagues because they're in the older buildings, which do not have AC, and we have days in September and May now that reach the nineties. (My room is in the "new" building and has intermittent AC, which is better than none.) Like your region, I suspect, AC was a luxury and not the norm growing up; now, it really is necessary, but places are slow to adopt because of the expense.

Anyway, all of that is to say that I empathize with your situation there, re: weather.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Both recipes look very yummy, indeed! I have bananas to use up, so I'm making basic banana walnut muffins sometime today. <<

I use this recipe as a base, sometimes switching around ingredients -- our favorite uses chopped dried strawberries.

>>Our gardening zone has changed, too, and we are also experiencing hotter and longer summers than we used to.<<

Alas!

>> This is a problem for many of my teaching colleagues because they're in the older buildings, which do not have AC, and we have days in September and May now that reach the nineties. <<

Even when I was little, we had occasional days over 100F. Now it's more common. Only when I reached college were some buildings air conditioned. This was a problem for me because I need to stay cool. But people were simply allowed to abuse students by forcing them into schools that were basically giant hotboxes.

They still are allowed. In fact companies are free to murder employees by making them work under hot conditions, often without shade or water. OSHA theoretically has requirements for shade and water, but there's no law setting a maximum work temperature despite increasing deaths and crippling injuries. It's a problem that is getting rapidly worse, but every attempt to set heat-related safety standards has been shot down.

still making excuses

[oldtoadwoman]

I've been very caught up in the doomscrolling this winter and then it's very hard to convince myself that it matters that I abstain from junk food. I'm just cold and sulky and feeling guilty that I'm not doing anything to improve the state of the world. I alternate between defeatist mode and denial & escapism mode.

My exercise is limited to taking the stairs against my will and feeling very shaky about halfway up or down a flight. I've been trying to cut out sugar while making excuses that it's okay to finish off things that were already in my apartment (cocoa powder etc) so that it doesn't go to waste. And this was also supposed to mean avoiding processed carbs, but I've ended up buying and binging on bread twice in the last week. (I think cold weather triggers my eat-all-the-things instincts.)

So basically I'm about where I've been for the last year, always swearing that I'm about to turn things around and then immediately sabotaging myself.

Re: still making excuses

[sylvanwitch]

I am struggling through some seasonal affective bullshit and with the general state of the world, and work has also been extra stressful. All I want to do is play Stardew Valley and read m/m romance smut. I have almost zero bandwidth for anything meaningful and have to force myself to do basic household chores. But, I am, somehow, still exercising regularly, in part because I know I have to report in here and in part because I know that if I let that go, I will feel *so* much worse. I think if I could get outdoors for a walk, I'd feel better than I do, but it's prohibitively cold here right now.

We're ordering Chinese takeout tonight, which would be fine, except we had takeout on Thursday night and oven pizza last night, so... Oh, and I made turnovers for a "treat." Thankfully, there are only four of them total, and we're splitting them, so I can do only so much damage.

All of this is to say that I appreciate and understand how you're feeling and how monumentally hard it is to work up motivation to make changes. I am offering commiseration and support, but if you need more accountability and/or butt-kicking, please let me know.

Re: still making excuses

[oldtoadwoman]

I am struggling through some seasonal affective bullshit

Winter suuuuuuuuuuucks!!!

I have almost zero bandwidth for anything meaningful and have to force myself to do basic household chores.

Ditto. It's so hard to do anything.

in part because I know I have to report in here

I really need to get more active on Dreamwidth again, because I've been lacking that accountability in my life lately.

it's prohibitively cold here right now

::whiiiiiiiiiiiiine:: Make it stop!

I am offering commiseration and support, but if you need more accountability and/or butt-kicking

I need the butt-kicking for real. My real life friends are either life-long skinny people who have no concept of why eating healthy is difficult or they're the kinds of friends who enable binges. (I get a lot of "Treat yourself!" "You deserve it!" "Just one won't hurt!" And I make enough of my own excuses without "help" from others.)

Anyway, apparently my last weight-chart update was in August?! How did I let that slide for half a year? The fact that I made no progress during that time period shouldn't be such a surprise.