I found the stat lurking in Garmin that describes how utterly crap I feel after the moderna shot.
Progress as of today: 83 lbs lost so far, only 74 lbs to go!
For Friday 8-20-21:
Productivity was a challenge today. I got enough sleep this week to feel emotions other than tired... and I mostly felt "I miss my mom." Loudly. With snotty tears. The cat felt bad for me and gave me a lap cuddle. Good kitty.
My claim to fame for today was getting one day of meals in place for my macros.
BpNs14h2doPln-25010cr10Kstp
Progress as of today: 83 lbs lost so far, only 74 lbs to go!
Your menu sounds delicious!
Yes nice you have a new kitty to cuddle …..I wish you better day to come !!!
For Thursday 8/19/21:
2nd post... Keeping up with the habits.
It's 7:20pm. Just had some keto cookies without checking the calories... Weirdly I eneded up OK according to my forecaster. I should actually eat at least another 74 calories... But it won't improve my macros much... so why bother eating since it will just push my fasting window out tomorrow. Meh. This is why this was so handy. Sleep makes such a difference. I kept trying to figure this out for months... and I knew I could make a little calculator... but just couldn't get my head around it...
The next part of the challenge is to get my macros right... the forecaster now tells me how many grams of what I need to eat... But it would be better if I had an actual meal plan. This has been a challenge because I haven't been able to figure out what I need to add to make the meals I already eat (keto hot breakfast cereal replacement, chicken breasts and bags of salad) and can pull off given all my constraints (kitchen access, preference, budget). Today I figured out how to add custom recipes and foods on strongrfastr.com... and then how to generate meal plans around them to get to my calorie / macro goals... I will play with it more tomorrow. But hope springs.
Since I am starting to nail down the nutrition, I am changing up how I track how on or off track my caorie goal is in a separate column... no sense trying to figure out later if I got it right or not in the past. Apples to apples.
I was pretty scrambled today because nothing was in order for today when I went to bed last night. I just did my best. I froze up on the morning walk because I didn't want to encounter my dad before I was ready to get out to pick up prescriptions. I grocery shopped at aldi's without a list, threw stuff in the oven and tried to get things done... I spaced and missed yoga at 3pm because of the new time and my Alexa alerts weren't in order. I needed to wash my shoes so I didn't go for a walk today. I could have done core workout, but I worked on meal planning instead and ate cookies. Sigh. If I can knock that out though... better and better every day.
Progress as of today: 83 lbs lost so far, only 74 lbs to go!
It does sound as though it's coming together - loud applause from this corner :-)
Good idea with your 2 cups broccoli. Do you flavor it or at least at some garlic / pepper ?!
Good idea to quit after so many cookies if you got the flavor ….
People at work like a keto flakes cold cereal replacement - I like seeing this one man eat it - it will prob help him with his total calories as who would binge on keto cereal ?!
For Thursday 8/19/21:
I do not understand cats... she took a swipe at me yesterday and drew blood as I was cleaning, so I clipped her claws. She'd been a little standoffish for a week or so, and instead of getting more withdrawn she's back to tucking me in at night and giving me cuddles in the morning. Cats... Sigh. Today I bring by some cans of cat food I bought that she won't eat. The neighbors that trapped her and her 6 kittens had to put 2 of the oldest kittens outside again and have ended up feeding them and several other cats. I was goimg to return them, but since they are her kittens... donate to the pool. Apparently the two oldest kittens are friendly to people, but probably just under a year old and more work than they could pull off to make them inside cats. The middle ones are doing ok as inside/outside cats. The youngest, too early to tell. Mama Cat is happy in her window perch and not asking to go outside, but when she does I will start walking her. She needs more exercise for sure. She's getting a little porky and races around when I am trying to do paperwork. I just don't want to start walking her till she starts scratching to get out in case that triggers a behavior of her scratching to get out like the last cat. He was sweeter and never bit or scratched me, so he was easier to walk. This one is a little pirhanna.
BUT I digress... The reason for my early morning post... My little calorie forecasting calculator worked! I stayed within my calorie tolerance, went to bed on time, got to sleep in about 15 minutes, slept enough to make up for the night before, charged my body battery, controlled my sugar overnight... and most importantly didn't struggle to do it after an emotionally difficult day that left me physically worn out. Just need to do it all over again today.
Here was my bedtime check to see how close the calculator would be. It was only off by about 20 calories.
Here are my actual calories burned in Garmin.
It helped me sleep enough and raise my body battery a little higher.
And control my sugar overnight.
Progress as of today: 83 lbs lost so far, only 74 lbs to go!
For Wednesday 8/18/21:
Today was a weird mix of success and setbacks.
Success was... 1) sticking to my plan for today. 2) I made a calorie forecasting tool so that I can check my calories at 5pm and easily tell whether I need to eat more before my fasting window starts to cover my remaining calories. My stats tell me that everytime I hit a slightly more physically intense day after several negative calorie days and my negative calories top -700, the next two days I will overeat until I have exceeded the negative calories for several days by a couple of hundred. In theory, if I use this calculator everyday at 5pm, eat enough to top it off... then fast... I will lose a couple of pounds and not struggle with sleep or fasting... improving my 9pm bedtime and 14h fasting benchmarks. I think I can say this is effective if I can fast continuously for 14 days. My longest chain of fasts is 7 days in a row.
Setbacks...
1) Walked ro the post office this am and couldn't hold it when I got home. I may have another UTI. 2) Doing better so I need to do more for dad... so I added a 1 hour dad session on wednesdays. Today was the first one. An atom bomb would have been less explosive.
Sigh...
Here goes my 10...
Progress as of today: 83 lbs lost so far, only 74 lbs to go!
For Tuesday, Aug 17, 2021:
One foot in front of the other, one pebble at a time, inch by inch... It's paying off. Last week was all a "good brain" week. It was also the first week where I looked at all my habits, hours I slept, what I ate, and it all kind of made sense and looked right... like yes... if I had done X, Y, or Z... that would have improved and then I would have gotten A, B, and C done.
OMG. What a relief.
Therapist says that now that she sees the 90 day averages etc. she understands now why I made a balanced scorecard across all my healthcare providers... and she might start using this with her other clients. Maybe different habits for different health situations... but 10 of them that represent bare minimum goals that can be achieved no matter how busy or tired they are. She set a target for me for this next 90 day period of just trying to get all of them to 50%. I like that idea. I think I will set up the "scoring" for the next 90 day marker so I can watch my averages.
Haven't posted habits since Thursday. Catching myself up... I just went through my weekly calendar template I made myself. It looks like that with the good brain week I just had, I successfully used my planner daily and accomplished things. Hopefully this will just keep getting better and better.
I really need to figure out WTF is up with Nutrisense calorie tracking and figure out a meal plan. I started one yesterday.
Progress as of today: 83 lbs lost so far, only 74 lbs to go!
I’d be all Nutrisense given the cost!
I don't want to switch yet, I'll wait till I am over 50% on all before I change platforms and mess with my data.
And I *love* the therapist's idea of getting each one of your goals to 50% success. The water and the fasting goals would the major changes.... I bet you could reach the water goal pretty easily. (I find consuming to be easier than restricting, lol.)
The post-it and sleep goals just need a little boost to bring them up to 50%.
I'm wondering... Are all your goals equal? Do you benefit more from reaching some of them rather than others? (Does that make sense?)
A few months ago, all of these would have been at like 2%. I was so out of it I couldn't reliably track anything.
They aren't goals... they are benchmarks. A benchmark is a standard yardstick with which to measure performance. A goal would be to drink more water, measured by the number of oz of water entered into Garmin. Another goal would be to drink the right oz for my body weight, currently measured by the benchmark of days where I drank 7 16oz bottles of water. If my body weight drops, the goal number would change, but the benchmark of 7 16 oz bottles of water would be the same.
The benchmarks are all equal in that all of them are a "Canary in the coal mine" and have to happen at least 50% of the time in order for me to maintain my health at whatever level it is at that moment. They have to be higher than 50% to improve my health. In theory, once 50% is reached, any drops below that threshold would require immediate investigation and might trigger me to seek additional medical assistance or make major life changes (schedule a visit with an endocrinologist, cut back on a commute, etc.)
Remember that I am compensating for being stuck in the house with my dad all the time... if there was reliable casual daily company to say "Hey you seem like you are getting tired a lot more lately, what's up?" I might not need benchmarks.
Yes, I do acknowledge that your living situation is a huge factor. I apologize if I come across as not recognizing that or considering that. It really should be in the forefront of all things considered.
Friday, August 13, 2021 - 5 days in a row of being mostly on plan. Knock on wood. Spent too much time on the Book Club notes... but it really makes me feel good to put something together that seems to help other people. Posted it right before Alexa told me to stop working and wind down for the night.
Progress as of today: 83 lbs lost so far, only 74 lbs to go!
I've had Alexa offer to help me with a schedule, but I have not used her for that yet. I don't have an Alexa at work, so... there's that. I wonder if she can help me meditate? I will ask her today.
For yesterday Thursday 8/12/21:
Overall not that productive a day in terms of getting myself back to work (no paperwork or job search, information that moved me forward), but a necessary pause to move forward.
Habits:
Reflected, grounded, and centered. Ready to start my first task of the day, book club notes before 10am Dad session and outing to Big 5. 1pm yoga. Make a decent dinner.
Progress as of today: 83 lbs lost so far, only 74 lbs to go!
Seems like you’re making steady progress in all of your goals! Yay!
Augh, I unplugged Alexa so I could help my friend with her Alexa, forgot to plug her back in and missed my window for yoga. Doh!
I was too involved putting together the stats for my doc appt tomorrow.
These are the stats to beat for the next 90 day window...
I discarded 10 days after the nurse practitioner/uti drama.
For Wed, 8/11/21:
Habits:
Progress as of today: 83 lbs lost so far, only 74 lbs to go!
Goal is to get 7-8 hours of sleep and wake up at the same time everyday and fast till 7. 4 when I am working, 5 would be my preference, but just starting with 6 am for right now so I am ready to be up, eat quickly at 7, and get one hour to myself before dad's alarm goes off at 8. It takes me an hour or more to fall asleep... so 9pm. That's a buffer to guarantee I get 7h in before my alarm goes off.
If I wake up on my own earlier, bonus. I can read, browse Pinterest, play with the cat etc. while I wait for 7 to eat.
Just a thought but if you're reaching your goals only 30% of the time, maybe it's time for different goals? At least for a short period of time?
remember it's ok if not every goal is reached - make sure you aren't overwhelming yourself with too high aspirations only to fail....i was listening to the radio about "BTN" goals i was telling Donkey about. "Better Than Nothing," easier, more attainable goals...
Today is the kind of day that I will look back in my logs and try to figure out what went right... why was I able to do things today that I couldn't do other days? I didn't get enough REM. No idea what my sugar was last night but probably too hign... I don't know because my glucose monitor gave up the ghost and I had 2 Nutrisense sensors fail on me (though to be fair one was due to the cat crotch-punching me while I was putting it on). My blood sugar overnight was probably too high. I didn't eat enough yesterday and I ended up with terrible insomnia and eventually at 12am gave up and ate carrots, tzatiki, and pumpkin seeds. Then I slept way too late (8:12 am) then I shlumped aroung till 10 am spaced out.
And yet, somehow... I got everything on my to do list done. I said no to 2 really tempting things and stuck to my plan. I handled a dad derail... he booked a last minute 2pm health appointment because I had said I would be ready to take him to the lab at 2... Which meant I needed to be ready to go at 1. It cut the last hour of my productive time out... and I had the presence of mind to move the last thing on my list to the next morning and move in 2 pnone calls while I got dressed. I somehow resisted the temptation to sit and work on a grocery list while he was in the appointment and lab, and I went for a walk. I got about 6000 steps in. He came out, and I said no to grocery shopping without guilt. "Today is Tuesday. We get the ads. I make my list. I go shopping on Wednesday. I need to be home with enough transition tim to do yoga." We went home. He wanted the ads. "No, I need the ads. I have just enough time before yoga to make a shopping list." I made a shopping list. I gave him the ads. When Alexa told me to start cleaning up for yoga, I did it. I logged in and did the entire class from start to finish. I stuck chicken in the oven so I could make chicken salad for my dad tomorrow. Then the Alexa reminder went off to go for a walk. I went for a walk. I got my 10,000 steps. I came home. Alexa told me to shower. I showered. Alexa said it's time to watch TV. I started watching tv but looked at my agenda again. I caught that I had missed something vital and would need tomorrow am to myself. I told my dad. I got him on board. I went back to my bedroom. I realized I hadn't put away the chicken after I left it to cool. I went back out... that was 2 ventures after a closed door that didn't result in world war 2. I had picked doing book club notes as my wind-down activity. I did that. I logged (am logging) here.
So what is it that keeps Fing me up? Do I have a day like this, think I've made a breakthrough, get over confident and overreach? Is this the start of some codependent cycle with my dad and he got away with the last minute add on of the health appointment and I should have said "Oh great! Take a cab!"?
Time will tell. Please remind me about today and help me figure out the cycle. I'll be damned if I know why I can't stack up more than one or two days like this every 6 weeks or so.
For today, Tuesday 8/10/21:
Habits
For yesterday, Monday 8/9/21:
Habits:
Progress as of today: 83 lbs lost so far, only 74 lbs to go!
Your dad sounds trying. Set your boundaries and hang in there.
On the other hand, perhaps it's best not to question a good day, and just enjoy & appreciate it...... No, I think your approach is correct, to see if you can find some answer or direction or indicator.
good job being flexible and moving your activities around to the next day...i am like that lately as well...
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Oh wow do I have a long way to go on the cardio. Tried Garmin training plan today. Kind of a dress rehearsal for tomorrow. Step 1 put cat in bathroom. Step 2, reclaim treadmill desk from being a cat window perch where she hangs out all day for TV. Not the other way around :-).
bearcountrygg on 08/24/2021:
When did you get the jab? Just got mine 2 hours ago.....and I'm positive you do not want to have a fitness age of 79 .
April. I have felt half dead since.
bearcountrygg on 08/24/2021:
What is vo2 max
It’s a measurement of how your body uses oxygen.
Jacky82020 on 08/24/2021:
Does that vo2 max mean you’re not working out? Or are less active? I felt fatigued a few days after the vaccines
I walk and do yoga. Have only started to feel well enough to attempt cardio this week. Just going to the grocery store wipes me out.
horn_of_plenty on 08/24/2021:
i wouldn't want a device to tell me i'm at the bottom 5%...it's like a major diss in my face! you WILL pull it together!!!
I mostly feel relieved that it’s not in my head that I feel like I’m 80. It’s a lot easier to fix my body than my head.
innerpeace on 08/24/2021:
Yeah, not sure about that machine. I hope you feel better soon.
Donkey on 08/25/2021:
Whoa... That is so cool! Your Garmin really gathers a LOT of data - and useful data! The next time you're having an off day, maybe check your VO2 levels, to see how you're consuming the oxygen.
That would be pulse ox… the Circuul ring. The all day VO2 max is more… do I have the ability to make dinner when I get home from the grocery store.
Maria7 on 08/26/2021:
Hoping you feel better. Get some rest if you can.
Hugs