Day 8: mindful of difference between hunger and appetite.

Made it till 5:45, then REALLY hungry, and the fact that dinner was getting started didn't help. Ate one left over hot dog (2 carbs--a real find!)

Now I can wait for the pork chops and mushrooms to be done, and make some dressing for the kale.

Challenge Goal:

Net Carbs: 45 or under for 90 days
Calories: 2500 or less everyday as well
Daily upper body resistance training (New)

Today:

Net Carbs: 33
Calories: 2475
Weights: Dips, flies, sit-ups, and not one pull-up (but I tried). 2 years ago I could not support my own weight just hanging from a pull-up bar. By the end of this challenge, I'm going to do a pull-up or two.

One way to build up to a pull-up is to step up on stool/chair/whatever to get your chin above the bar. Lift your legs away from the stool so you're holding your own weight with your arms, then sloooowly and with control lower yourself until your arms are extended. Step back up on the stool/chair/whatever, and repeat until you can't keep it slow and controlled.

Today Day #4 50 push ups

Day 9 - No playing hearts on the computer
Day 6 - no eating after 6 PM

This is going so well that I have decided to add another challenge. My goal is to go to bed by 10PM and have lights out by 10:30.PM. I almost always wake up between 5:00-5:30AM. I am hoping that a consistent earlier bedtime will help me get a little more sleep. During the day I get quite tired and will fall asleep when reading or watching anything on the computer and I often struggle to stay awake when meditating. I want to be awake during the entire day and asleep at night for at least 6 hours. Seven hours would be better but unlikely, at least at the moment.

Day 1- in bed by 10PM

My 90 day "no snacking between meals" habit I'm developing.

Day 1: Restart
Restarts: 2

Comments:

Excellent insight, cogitation and right decision making. Yeah for me thanks to you guys being here. Last night before bed I was cooking bacon for the greese and scraps. I cook these giant walmart 'bits and ends' things. maybe 4 pounds. Anyway, I cut them in half and realized I needed to cook the other half that had been sitting in my fridge for a while. It was just starting to turn a little bit. Not bad. Should I cook it? Why not, maybe the grease will be ok. So I went thru my long cooking process and it looked and smelled fine. As it cooled I checked a chunk for taste. It tasted ok too. I literally saved the bacon

Before I slept the thought occurred to me, "Hey dumby, you at something not a meal. Was that a snack?" I thought, "Umm, I don't think so! Let me sleep on it." (ps I love talking in third person ha!) I got up this morning and tried to justify it as just tasting and was almost OK with that until I thought about other chefs, even chefs here, that cook with carbs for people. They taste too. It's part of cooking. What the DO do, I think, Is SPIT IT OUT. This was my insight. It didn't occur to me to spit out the bacon after tasting it. Not doing this could lead to a branch of behaviour that I don't have to want to unlearn.

So I called shenanigans on myself and am happily starting over, a wiser person.

See, restarts aren't so bad, they are only if you poke, prod and shame yourself

90 day Squat Challenge

Day 1: 6/5/2016
Day 90: 9/3/2016

Day 10
AM: 15
Mid: 1 - really low and deep - held for 20 sec
PM: 20
Total: 36

Grand total: 229

Notes: The past couple mornings getting past ten was feeling a little laborious. I had a lot of energy last night so...what the heck! Added 5 more in.

Feeling a little knotty in the upper thigh region. Doing some stretches and realized that the hamstrings are tight. Need to remember to stretch them out after doing the squats.

My thoughts after I recovered from my shock of the thought of someone spitting out bacon:

I would've been inclined myself to not count a taste as a snack. Though I can see that as a habit that could become ingrained and a loophole that could unintentionally foil you.

It's good that you can gain insights and that starting over doesn't bother you. I know for myself I will do what it takes to avoid starting over, because the more restarts I have usually the worse I do. Perhaps I have not done enough self-examination between them.

Dang! That is impressive. Push-ups have always been tough for me. Tried it this morning. I did one and was barely breaking the plane. WTG!

Totally rooting for you. You can do it!

Goal:
>10k steps, >100 oz water

Steps: 11,182
Water: 120+ oz

Rewarded with a 2.8 pound whoosh this morning!

Day 3 done

Just had to question my (want as opposed to need) and made the right decision

I'm imagining what it will feel like to have a fail day 30 - 40 - 60 days into the challange and having to start over. Hoping that as time goes by the motivation will increase and I will not fall prey to the mindset of allowing small slip ups!

Revised list:

thud123 - Stop snacking between meals
cotonpal - Stop playing "Hearts" on computer, no eating after 6:00pm, go to bed by 10pm
khrussva - Net Carbs: At or under 45, Calories: Less than 2500 each day plus daily upper body resistance workout
NEMarvin - 10,000 steps per day, 3 qts water every day
dex - Meditate every day
Ambulo - 10 min. mindfulness meditation every day
ReneeH20 - Squats every day
MickiSue - Snack only if really hungry, do plancks everyday
cshepard - Eat slower (put fork down between every bite)
esw - No snacking on average days
Jamackarch - excercise every day
Liz53 - Exercise 5 days a week

I think I need to add something, too. Planking. I've been doing it half-heartedly, two or three times a week, but I really want to do it every day.

I'm up to 30 seconds, and can now do a 30 and, after a rest, a 12 second plank.

So. Second goal: daily plank, minimum of 30 seconds. Work up to an additional 30 seconds/month, so at end will have 4 30 second planks.

OMG. My abs and butt will be awesome.

Not to mention shoulders.

Day 1, June 15. Day 90, September 13.