2014 TypeC Health and Exercise Challenge

[Ivy]

IMO, the best number would be whatever your personal TDEE is, minus a modest deficit of <500cals or so. It's really worth trying to figure that out to avoid downregulating your metabolism because if you go too low you'll feel like gnawing off your own arm and then overcompensate by overeating later on.

 

[INTJMom]

1,500 is a much better number.

*I* was told 750 calories a day.
I don't think I could do that.

 

[INTJMom]

IMO, the best number would be whatever your personal TDEE is, minus a modest deficit of <500cals or so. It's really worth trying to figure that out to avoid downregulating your metabolism because if you go too low you'll feel like gnawing off your own arm and then overcompensate by overeating later on.

I just calculated my TDEE. I got 1674.

 

[Udog]

*I* was told 750 calories a day.
I don't think I could do that.

Who in the world told you 750? That's incredibly low...

 

[Evo]

I'm late.

Was going to post an update on Sunday but forgot.

But this past week like usual I lost momentum... its normally how it works for me.

Weekly rate: 5/10

 

[Firebird 8118]

Hmm...

This has been a crazy week. Still not finding the time I need to train for the halfathon, owing to the chaos that is my college schedule - but of course that's no excuse for me. I seriously need to sort out my priorities in a more organized way. And I need to stop procrastinating on that task (with re-organizing, that is).

Dad bought quite a few bags of apples from the grocery store this last weekend , so along with my water bottle (from which I've still been drinking a lot of water) I also carry an apple every day. [With the exception of Tuesday - because of transportation issues due to the Chicago weather, I stayed at home. But I still had an apple. ]

I've started cutting down on the amount of carbs that I eat. Still not cutting down enough yet, but it's a start.

 

[Glycerine]

Sorry, I went on a little hiatus but would like to keep a fitness journal and such. I apologize for the late start.

Goals: Exercise 4+ times a week, gain weight/muscles. I have two personal trainers and I want to make them proud but I haven't done as much as I should.

The first few weeks: I kinda failed but I am eating more.

 

[Udog]

I'm late.

Was going to post an update on Sunday but forgot.

But this past week like usual I lost momentum... its normally how it works for me.

Weekly rate: 5/10

What do you mean by "it's normally how it works for me"?

Sorry, I went on a little hiatus but would like to keep a fitness journal and such. I apologize for the late start.

Goals: Exercise 4+ times a week, gain weight/muscles. I have two personal trainers and I want to make them proud but I haven't done as much as I should.

The first few weeks: I kinda failed but I am eating more.

Hey Glycerine! Welcome. Would you like me to add you to the list of participants, or would you rather just in and out of this thread at will?

Also, two personal trainers? Nice.

 

[Glycerine]

I would like to be added to the list!

Yes, both of them are amazing!

 

[Udog]

Please post your summaries, everyone! I'll post the list tomorrow.

We are reaching the 3-6 week period, which seems to be where we've lost the most people in past Challenges. So I'm especially curious to hear how everyone is holding up.

----------------------------------------------
As for my summary:

My main focus this week was managing willpower. Two weeks ago, I learned that I have 1 day worth of willpower when it comes to resisting junk food. Once my willpower was used up, I was vulnerable to binging. So this week, I allowed sweets two times, both times because of someone's birthday forcing junk food in my face. The trick was to eat a FULL meal before I ate the sweets, and then I used my willpower to eat the junk food slowly, and stop.

I also finally realized why M-Th was so easy, while I struggled so much during Fri-Sat: I don't get enough sleep during the week. When I'm only getting 5.5-6.5 hours of sleep a night, of course I'm going to be tired out by Friday. Kind of obvious, now.

So I'm adding a third goal:
1. No sugar, small amounts of flour.
2. Exercise 5x a week, with 4x resistance and 1x cardio.
3. Sleep at least 7.5 hours a night.

As for numbers, I did 4 out of my 5 workouts, and had no sugar for 5 out of 7 days. Slightly better than last week...

 

[Evo]

What do you mean by "it's normally how it works for me"?

Well right around the14-18 day mark...I lose momentum whenever I start something new. After that though, I normally get right back into the swing of things...not sure why... I feel like its something I do when I'm trying to form new habits though. And it always seems to be around that transition from the 2nd to 3rd week.

 

[Randomnity]

week 4 summary: did OK on bodyweight, only 1 circuit each time though. I'm slowly increasing my pushups and dumbbell weight, but nothing else is changing much. All 3 nights I started at midnight or later, showing how much I'm procrastinating on it (I normally try....ok fail, but try, to be showered and in bed by midnight). I'm going to try harder to start by 11pm next week. I actually have set a timer for 10:55 to remind myself, but I'm really good at ignoring it. Did a new routine for yoga and actually hurt myself (some weird cramp/pulled muscle deep inside my hip joint) but otherwise it was OK. Other activities: went skating twice (sunday and wed), wed for a long time and skipped yoga that night. Also did soccer on thurs, and ankle was more or less ok, so that's a good sign.

Goals for next week:

1) new diet goal: at least one healthy meal every weekday, i.e. a good amount of greens and protein that isn't crazy high in fat or carbs.

2) start exercise by 11 pm

 

[Glycerine]

I still kind of failed but at least I am consistently eating more. I need to get back up to 92-95 lbs.

This week:
I need to keep eating more.
Stay consistent with my exercise program.
Move more.

 

[INTJMom]

Reporting in for last week...
The good news is I did the ab-crunches every day.
The bad news is I couldn't get myself to do my exercise routine Saturday.
I also did the bicep curls on Monday and Wednesday, but I think I forgot on Friday.
So, not so great.
I think I must be a little depressed because I have been eating to comfort myself... eating too much.

 

[prplchknz]

this last week, not good not even gonna explain

goals for this week
-eat when I get hungry ie don't restrict
-stop counting calories
-continue to eat healthy food.

 

[Coriolis]

Fourth weekly update.

1. Improve eating habits, specifically eating between meals.
I am consistently eating less between meals than before starting the challenge, but not as much less as ideal, so still need to work on this one. No regress is good, though.

2. Get more exercise: at least three times each week, in addition to martial arts practice.
Didn't do so well on this count. I wound up needing to bring alot of work home this week, which cut into evening time, and I got only 2 exercise sessions in. Next week I will also be travelling for work, so real workout time may be scarce. On the plus side, however, I will likely be doing much more walking than I usually do, perhaps several miles per day. If this holds true, I will consider it an acceptable week.

3. Weight loss.
Perhaps 1-2 lbs? Hard to tell with a scale accurate only to +/- 1 lb.

 

[Ivy]

Update! Last week sucked.

Eating the Food- mostly okay, but I did overdo it one day on some stuff that I used to use for planned binges. Not quite to the degree I once would have but enough that I felt like it was a bit of a relapse. The victory I managed to pull out of the ashes is that I tracked it anyway, and then didn't go off the rails for days or give up entirely because I had messed up once. I got back on track and I think I'm okay now. 6/7.

Taking the Steps- horrible this week. It snowed and was really super cold otherwise. I only made it to 5K steps on 3 out of 7 days, and then just barely. And on the days I didn't, I was a massive slug. Didn't do the 7-minute bodyweight app even once. Gotta pick myself up. 2/7.

Sleeping the Sleep- mediocre. On the days I didn't walk enough, I napped more than usual. On those days I found myself slipping into later bedtimes, though I still managed to get 7+ hours most nights, but not every night. 5/7.

Loving the Peeps- at least that went well. Going to bed at the same time as my husband most nights has been nice- it's a time we can check in after the day's events and talk about what happened. He gets his "physical touch" love language needs met and I get my "words of affirmation" love language needs met. Also, the kids were home two days from school and we had a good time together on those days. On the night when it started snowing we took a long snow walk together. My son and I kept walking after the girl and the dad and the dog got too cold and went inside. We were probably out for a couple hours all told. He drew foxes in the snow all over the neighborhood and we wore out the batteries in the headlamp. And the girl made us hot chocolate for when we came back inside. (That's one reason I don't want to be too dogmatic about "good" foods vs. "bad" foods- foods are more than their nutritional profiles, and things like hot chocolate after a walk in the snow are more about closeness with family and warmth and comfort than nutrition. I don't want to give that up.)

Again didn't see any extended family this week including my mom whom I miss a lot right now. But I did text continuously with my brother and we agreed that all three of our kids who are old enough (my 14yo and his 12 and 16yos) will go to the same music camp this summer that my daughter has gone to for the past two summers. They all play stringed instruments and don't get to see each other as much as they'd like, so a week together on a college campus playing music will be fun for them. So let's call this week 6/7.

EDIT: Reading this over again, it doesn't seem like it sucked as much as I thought it did. Maybe just the normal fluctuations and up-and-down of life. Need to walk more though, that's for sure.

 

[Qlip]

I don't think I did my pushups this week, or any workouts. It's been a complete blur. But I am down to 161 from 163(?).

 

[kyuuei]

Update: I suck at this!

But really.. I have been highly distracted. No excuses or ways of getting around that. Superbowl, school, exams, a date, hip pain, trying to balance home life out a bit more, fixing army stuff that's still broken.. bleh! I need to do a serious decluttering of my life.

What I realized is going to need to happen: I'm going to need to work out in the mornings. I've been avoiding this as I 1. hate mornings, and 2. start them in the asscrack of the evening's end lately. But it's only 3 days a week (soon to be 4), so no excuses anymore. My schedule won't allow me to work out 2-a-days without waking up super early. Even if the evenings get super busy for whatever reason, at least I bothered to work out in the morning. That's really been tripping me up.

1. A Jillian Michael's DVD and some stretching in the mornings will add 30 minutes to my morning routine. I'll just be doing the light mode, as I want most of my focus to be on P90X.
2. P90X in the evenings 6x a week. Saturday will be a total rest day except physical therapy. Chest, triceps, and shoulders day 1. Running outside day 2. Biceps and back day 3. Legs and back day 4. Stretch day 5. Plyometrics day 6. then a total rest. My ab work outs will be on the non-cardio days.
3. I was looking at a raw-food diet during school days for convenience. Carrying a bag of fruit and a big bowl of salad seems a lot easier and cheaper than all of the lunch stuff I currently have even if it is more expensive fruit and veggies. I still need bread, so I figured I would just start using a whole wheat baguette with some mild cheese and jam in it. I could cut the bread into pieces ahead of time and slather that on first thing in the morning. I could freeze smoothies and let them thaw out for breakfast as well, not even worry about protein until the evening meal, and have a nice evening meal of chicken breast, fish, and steamed veggies and use a high-quality chocolate milk and coconut water as an after-work out drink for both work outs. I haven't really been able to organize this food-side of my life at all lately.. So, raw-food-ish diet on school days, and at home when I have more time more traditional meals.. oats and cereals for breakfast, healthier substitution diet options for lunch and dinner like vegetable puree soups and lighter-cooked meals..

.. I'll get there. I can't believe anything would distract me from my love of working out so much.. they're mostly good distractions, so I'm not really upset at all.. but I still need to get back into gear. My December and January vacations are quickly catching up with me, and I'm realizing I'm gaining weight I really don't want to gain.

 

[Udog]

Reporting in for last week...
The good news is I did the ab-crunches every day.
The bad news is I couldn't get myself to do my exercise routine Saturday.
I also did the bicep curls on Monday and Wednesday, but I think I forgot on Friday.
So, not so great.
I think I must be a little depressed because I have been eating to comfort myself... eating too much.

I'm a bit frustrated as well, I must admit. My cheats are adding up, and likely undoing all the work I'm doing in other areas of my life.

I'm mainly focusing on not undoing all the work I've done so far, and regaining the weight. If I can maintain, I'll take it as a win. Is it possible for you to do the same? Instead of trying to making major progress, maybe just try and tread water for a bit.

this last week, not good not even gonna explain

goals for this week
-eat when I get hungry ie don't restrict
-stop counting calories
-continue to eat healthy food.

I like these goals very much.

On the plus side, however, I will likely be doing much more walking than I usually do, perhaps several miles per day. If this holds true, I will consider it an acceptable week.

Would it be possible to slip in a quick session in the morning, just to get the blood flowing?

What I realized is going to need to happen: I'm going to need to work out in the mornings. I've been avoiding this as I 1. hate mornings, and 2. start them in the asscrack of the evening's end lately. But it's only 3 days a week (soon to be 4), so no excuses anymore. My schedule won't allow me to work out 2-a-days without waking up super early. Even if the evenings get super busy for whatever reason, at least I bothered to work out in the morning. That's really been tripping me up.

I've come to like working out in the morning, although it's causing me problems when it comes to getting enough sleep. If I can figure out the sleep part, it really solves a lot of my problems. Plus, getting up early when I have the day off from exercise means I get to do something relaxing for an hour before work... like read a book or do a bit of coursework. It's actually pretty awesome.