Mamatigerj
Well-known member
Cheers for double badges!! 
Because I'm Still Stupid...
- Thread starter LongSlowBurn
- Start date
MadamMeow
Well-known member
Fae
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
"I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but Im too young to worry..."
Congrats for both challenges! 
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thank you @Fremen , @Mamatigerj , @MadamMeow !
April 1st through 3rd, 2024
New month, new programs! Let's see, what happened... someone tried to side swipe me in traffic today! Fun times!
Power HIIT - Days 1 - 3. Days 1 and 2 were full body, while Day 3 focused on core. My choices of weights seemed a little low, so that will have to change.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 1 - 3. Bicep Extensions, Shoulder Taps, Plank Holds. Part of me wants to add weights to the Bicep Extensions, so I'll see how this goes. Done.
Walk. I needed a bit of extra calorie burn on the 3rd, plus work is offering a Step Count Challenge... with prizes! So, basic walk around the park it is.
Steps: 7,392. I have no idea how accurate these things are.
Distance: 3.72 miles
Duration: 1 hr 7 minutes
Calories Burned: 641. Hey! I can have dinner now!
Calories Out: 11404
Calories In: 10213
Deficit: -1,191. About half of where I wanted to be, but still a deficit. Good enough!
April 1st through 3rd, 2024
New month, new programs! Let's see, what happened... someone tried to side swipe me in traffic today! Fun times!
Power HIIT - Days 1 - 3. Days 1 and 2 were full body, while Day 3 focused on core. My choices of weights seemed a little low, so that will have to change.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 1 - 3. Bicep Extensions, Shoulder Taps, Plank Holds. Part of me wants to add weights to the Bicep Extensions, so I'll see how this goes. Done.
Walk. I needed a bit of extra calorie burn on the 3rd, plus work is offering a Step Count Challenge... with prizes! So, basic walk around the park it is.
Steps: 7,392. I have no idea how accurate these things are.
Distance: 3.72 miles
Duration: 1 hr 7 minutes
Calories Burned: 641. Hey! I can have dinner now!
Calories Out: 11404
Calories In: 10213
Deficit: -1,191. About half of where I wanted to be, but still a deficit. Good enough!
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
April 4th through 7th, 2024
Eventually, I'll start doing these every night again.
Power HIIT - Days 4 - 7. On the 5th (I think), I wound up falling asleep and not getting any workout done. Consecutive Days Exercising counter reset.
I doubled up on the 7th, though, so I'm caught back up on the days. Weights vary from 10 pounds to 20, depending on the exercise. Days 4, 5, 6, and 7 complete.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 4 - 7. I tried adding weights to the bicep extensions, but that's not really working. Maybe a 2.5 lb weight, but with this many reps, no weight will probably have to do.
Others. I did at least one cardio workout, and a couple of walks to improve my calorie and step counts. Nothing on the day I missed, though.
Calories Out: 3132
Calories In: 2827
Deficit: -305. For the 7th only. I should have taken a walk when it was sunny out, instead of waiting for it to rain and for me to remember I needed to do laundry. Its still a deficit, though.
Eventually, I'll start doing these every night again.
Power HIIT - Days 4 - 7. On the 5th (I think), I wound up falling asleep and not getting any workout done. Consecutive Days Exercising counter reset.
I doubled up on the 7th, though, so I'm caught back up on the days. Weights vary from 10 pounds to 20, depending on the exercise. Days 4, 5, 6, and 7 complete.Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 4 - 7. I tried adding weights to the bicep extensions, but that's not really working. Maybe a 2.5 lb weight, but with this many reps, no weight will probably have to do.
Others. I did at least one cardio workout, and a couple of walks to improve my calorie and step counts. Nothing on the day I missed, though.
Calories Out: 3132
Calories In: 2827
Deficit: -305. For the 7th only. I should have taken a walk when it was sunny out, instead of waiting for it to rain and for me to remember I needed to do laundry. Its still a deficit, though.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
April 8th through 12th, 2024
Really, really meant to do these every night... It's been a week of working swing shift, 5 in the afternoon until 2 in the morning, so I'm running on caffeine and junk food. Very not good long term. Good news, the project that has me doing this should be done tonight. In the meantime, here's Friday!
Power HIIT - Days 8 - 12. Well, I perused the guide on High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Benefits and I definitely, positively have not been doing these wrong. I definitely, positively have been doing the reps at speed and with light weights, giving me a bit of cardio as well as the strength boost. Definitely, positively. So, using 10 lb / 4.5 kg weights, I've completed Day 12 at Level 2.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 8 - 12. All days completed. I've been bumping up the plank holds to match the number of shoulder taps, but that can be kind of rough when it's stacked with an upper body HIIT workout. But it's still done!
Calories Out: No idea
Calories In: No idea
Deficit: No idea, but it's probably not good.
Really, really meant to do these every night... It's been a week of working swing shift, 5 in the afternoon until 2 in the morning, so I'm running on caffeine and junk food. Very not good long term. Good news, the project that has me doing this should be done tonight. In the meantime, here's Friday!
Power HIIT - Days 8 - 12. Well, I perused the guide on High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) Benefits and I definitely, positively have not been doing these wrong. I definitely, positively have been doing the reps at speed and with light weights, giving me a bit of cardio as well as the strength boost. Definitely, positively. So, using 10 lb / 4.5 kg weights, I've completed Day 12 at Level 2.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 8 - 12. All days completed. I've been bumping up the plank holds to match the number of shoulder taps, but that can be kind of rough when it's stacked with an upper body HIIT workout. But it's still done!
Calories Out: No idea
Calories In: No idea
Deficit: No idea, but it's probably not good.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
April 13th and 14th, 2024
Ever have one of those weekends where you can't tell if it was long or short because your sleep schedule is all messed up? Just me? Okay...
Power HIIT - Days 13 and 14. Lower body, then upper body. I found the 10 pound weights a bit much for the lower body, but that's mostly from what I think is some kind of inflamed tendon or ligament on the left knee. Upper body, the 5 lb weights seemed a bit light, but I knew the shoulder taps were coming, so I left it at that. Completed at Level 2 and Level 3.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 13 and 14. Completed.
Calories Out: Still no idea
Calories In: Still no idea
Deficit: No idea, but I'm going to start tracking again on Monday.
Ever have one of those weekends where you can't tell if it was long or short because your sleep schedule is all messed up? Just me? Okay...
Power HIIT - Days 13 and 14. Lower body, then upper body. I found the 10 pound weights a bit much for the lower body, but that's mostly from what I think is some kind of inflamed tendon or ligament on the left knee. Upper body, the 5 lb weights seemed a bit light, but I knew the shoulder taps were coming, so I left it at that. Completed at Level 2 and Level 3.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 13 and 14. Completed.
Calories Out: Still no idea
Calories In: Still no idea
Deficit: No idea, but I'm going to start tracking again on Monday.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
April 15th, 2024
Just another day at work. Didn't get as many steps in as I wanted, and probably could have used the extra calories from those steps, too.
Power HIIT - Day 15. Core and a bit of upper body. I used the 10 lbs weights and found it easy enough. Maybe should have tried the 15s for a set. Anyway, completed at Level 3.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 15. Bicep extensions, no weights. Completed.
Calories Out: 3165
Calories In: 3058
Deficit: -107. Junk food for morning snack, fast food for lunch, candy bar after lunch... I'm surprised I still came in under the line. Tomorrow, I cheat my urges by not taking as much money with me to work.
Just another day at work. Didn't get as many steps in as I wanted, and probably could have used the extra calories from those steps, too.
Power HIIT - Day 15. Core and a bit of upper body. I used the 10 lbs weights and found it easy enough. Maybe should have tried the 15s for a set. Anyway, completed at Level 3.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 15. Bicep extensions, no weights. Completed.
Calories Out: 3165
Calories In: 3058
Deficit: -107. Junk food for morning snack, fast food for lunch, candy bar after lunch... I'm surprised I still came in under the line. Tomorrow, I cheat my urges by not taking as much money with me to work.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
April 16th, 2024
Virtually no memory of this day. The whole week has been recovery from switching over from swing shift to regular shift because of last week. That means a lot of sleep got missed and more is getting missed now. I know I did some stuff, and remember the workouts. Mostly.
Power HIIT - Day 16. Upper body. I used 5 lb weights, as the punches would be dicey with the 10s. Pretty sure I completed this at Level 3, but it may have been Level 2.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 16. Shoulder Taps and Holds. Completed.
Calories Out: 3302
Calories In: 2786
Deficit: -516. Not bad!
April 17th, 2024
Not nearly enough walking at work today. I had to spend time standing at a workbench, which is not the calorie scorcher it should be. Fortunately, I can fix that at the end of the day.
Walk/Jog. I had a bit of time to kill, as I had to wait for the laundry machine to finish, so I went out and did a half-hour walk. To make things different, I jogged regular small portions of it. My legs took a while to warm up, but I was doing four 350 feet (100-ish meter) jogs per half mile (0.8 km) loop. Joints are not really ready for this every day yet, though.
Power HIIT - Day 17. Lower Body. That wasn't great after the jog, especially the lunges. Completed at Level 2.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 17. Bicep extenstions. No problems there, though.
Calories Out: 3540
Calories In: 2800
Deficit: -740. On target, yay!
April 18th, 2024
Well, my diet went down the tubes this morning. I thought that if I tried taking some items to work, I might not need the mear 600 calorie pack of chips I normally get. It turns out that Jimmy Dean Biscuit Sausage sandwhiches do nothing to fill you up. Neither do hot dogs from a convienence store. Luckily, I had a coworker mention that a stretch of concrete needed pressure washing, so I got a little extra burn (750 cals in an hour and a half!) in during the second half of the day. At least this won't end as badly as it could have.
Power HIIT - Day 18. Squat presses and upper body work. I used 10 lb weights to start, but dropped to 5 lb weights for the lateral raises only after the first set. There was burn, but not quite enough to really work up a sweat. If I go faster, though, I get sloppy. Just doing by best, I guess.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 18. Shoulder taps and holds, completed.
Calories Out: 3501
Calories In: 3180
Deficit: -321
Virtually no memory of this day. The whole week has been recovery from switching over from swing shift to regular shift because of last week. That means a lot of sleep got missed and more is getting missed now. I know I did some stuff, and remember the workouts. Mostly.
Power HIIT - Day 16. Upper body. I used 5 lb weights, as the punches would be dicey with the 10s. Pretty sure I completed this at Level 3, but it may have been Level 2.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 16. Shoulder Taps and Holds. Completed.
Calories Out: 3302
Calories In: 2786
Deficit: -516. Not bad!
April 17th, 2024
Not nearly enough walking at work today. I had to spend time standing at a workbench, which is not the calorie scorcher it should be. Fortunately, I can fix that at the end of the day.
Walk/Jog. I had a bit of time to kill, as I had to wait for the laundry machine to finish, so I went out and did a half-hour walk. To make things different, I jogged regular small portions of it. My legs took a while to warm up, but I was doing four 350 feet (100-ish meter) jogs per half mile (0.8 km) loop. Joints are not really ready for this every day yet, though.
Power HIIT - Day 17. Lower Body. That wasn't great after the jog, especially the lunges. Completed at Level 2.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 17. Bicep extenstions. No problems there, though.
Calories Out: 3540
Calories In: 2800
Deficit: -740. On target, yay!
April 18th, 2024
Well, my diet went down the tubes this morning. I thought that if I tried taking some items to work, I might not need the mear 600 calorie pack of chips I normally get. It turns out that Jimmy Dean Biscuit Sausage sandwhiches do nothing to fill you up. Neither do hot dogs from a convienence store. Luckily, I had a coworker mention that a stretch of concrete needed pressure washing, so I got a little extra burn (750 cals in an hour and a half!) in during the second half of the day. At least this won't end as badly as it could have.
Power HIIT - Day 18. Squat presses and upper body work. I used 10 lb weights to start, but dropped to 5 lb weights for the lateral raises only after the first set. There was burn, but not quite enough to really work up a sweat. If I go faster, though, I get sloppy. Just doing by best, I guess.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 18. Shoulder taps and holds, completed.
Calories Out: 3501
Calories In: 3180
Deficit: -321
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
April 19th, 2024
Friday! A long, drawn out day, but everything that needed to get done got done. Even got a tool repaired at work! Plans are made for Monday, so work is finished.
Walk/Jog. If I remember right, and based on my Fitbit logs, I fell asleep after getting home from work, then woke up late. I wanted to keep up with a bit of walking and jogging, so I ended up doing this late. Same pattern as before: jog the length of one block, walk the next block, jog, then walk, and so on. It took three laps before my legs were finally getting warmed up enough to not ache with every step. But it was after midnight by this point, so time to head in.
Distance: 1.89 miles
Duration: 26.5 minutes
Power HIIT - Day 19. Core Work. It's technically the 20th, but so what? Straightforward workout, completed at level 3 with a 10 pound weight.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 19. Bicep extensions. Completed, no problem.
Calories Out: 3607
Calories In: 3206
Deficit: -401. Looking at my log, that could have been better. Those Jimmy Dean biscuits gotta go.
April 20th, 2024
Mostly hung out through the day, got lots of sleep. Then, I headed out to water my little hidden tree shortly before sundown. On the way back, I saw the "trailhead" I've known was there, but have never investigated. Well, I have a half hour before sunset, why not check it out?
Ahhh... Spring time in the Pacific Northwest!
Walk. The aforementioned trail. I went 15 minutes in and about 10 minutes back out. The initial 5 minutes led me down a walking path that turned into a mud field which then turned into a lake. The water table is pretty low here. I backtracked and took the other direction on the path until I reached the half way mark of my half hour trip before turning around. I'm pretty sure the path ended not too far from where I turned around, but I guess I'll have to go back to find out for sure. I had a few minutes left so I took a look at the walking path on the other side of the road from where I parked, leading down a short space into what looked to be either farmland or a nature preserve. There are both in this area, but the sign didn't say No Trespassing, so...
Distance: 1.55 miles.
Duration: 34 minutes
Walk Again. On the way back from the first stop, I went into work and... took care of the rest of those buscuit sandwiches. That means I'll need some extra calorie burn, plus help keeping the legs in shape. So, off on the full walk! Which I then cut a little short, which was fine because I was being creeped up on by rowdy youngsters in a car. Not a great feeling when walking down a road at 11 pm. They turned around and headed back the way they came when I cut off and headed across a field. Maybe coincidence, maybe not. But I'm here to report it, so it's all good.
Distance: 2.8 miles
Duration: 53 minutes
Power HIIT - Day 20. Upper Body. I used 10 pound weights all through, but I think I cut myself off at Level 2. The Lateral Raises probably should have been done with the 5 pounders, then I could have finished at Level 3. But, done is done!
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 20. Taps and Holds. After upper body. Uggghhh... Done, and it's getting easier! Yay!
Calories Out: 3149
Calories In: 2756
Deficit: -393. Still a deficit. And those buscuits are now gone, and I have no desire to buy them again. Biscuits really shouldn't have a rubbery texture.
April 21st, 2024
Water the plants... do some laundry... make an IKEA run... Pretty basic weekend. I had wanted to get up to a nearby mountain to do a hike this weekend, but I read that the weather was going to be bad these two days (it wasn't) and that the road up there is still socked in with snow (probably true). Well, my plan is to try again on May 18th, bit of an anniversary day for it.
Walk/Less Jog. Oww! Oww! Oww! Okay, there was some jogging, but just imagine the old man shuffle and you'll know how that went. I cut the jogs pretty quick and am realizing either I need more rest breaks or some tendon training. My legs are not liking me much right now.
Distance: 1.7 miles.
Duration: 33 minutes.
Power HIIT - Day 21. Oh, good. Lower body. Used 10 lb weights and finished at Level 2. The split lunges were not helping.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 21. Bicep Extensions. Up to 40, still no problem.
Calories Out: 3563
Calories In: 2874
Deficit: -689. Did pretty good until the last second, then flubbed with a bit too much ice cream. Oh well, it's better than the last two days!
Friday! A long, drawn out day, but everything that needed to get done got done. Even got a tool repaired at work! Plans are made for Monday, so work is finished.
Walk/Jog. If I remember right, and based on my Fitbit logs, I fell asleep after getting home from work, then woke up late. I wanted to keep up with a bit of walking and jogging, so I ended up doing this late. Same pattern as before: jog the length of one block, walk the next block, jog, then walk, and so on. It took three laps before my legs were finally getting warmed up enough to not ache with every step. But it was after midnight by this point, so time to head in.
Distance: 1.89 miles
Duration: 26.5 minutes
Power HIIT - Day 19. Core Work. It's technically the 20th, but so what? Straightforward workout, completed at level 3 with a 10 pound weight.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 19. Bicep extensions. Completed, no problem.
Calories Out: 3607
Calories In: 3206
Deficit: -401. Looking at my log, that could have been better. Those Jimmy Dean biscuits gotta go.
April 20th, 2024
Mostly hung out through the day, got lots of sleep. Then, I headed out to water my little hidden tree shortly before sundown. On the way back, I saw the "trailhead" I've known was there, but have never investigated. Well, I have a half hour before sunset, why not check it out?
Ahhh... Spring time in the Pacific Northwest!
Walk. The aforementioned trail. I went 15 minutes in and about 10 minutes back out. The initial 5 minutes led me down a walking path that turned into a mud field which then turned into a lake. The water table is pretty low here. I backtracked and took the other direction on the path until I reached the half way mark of my half hour trip before turning around. I'm pretty sure the path ended not too far from where I turned around, but I guess I'll have to go back to find out for sure. I had a few minutes left so I took a look at the walking path on the other side of the road from where I parked, leading down a short space into what looked to be either farmland or a nature preserve. There are both in this area, but the sign didn't say No Trespassing, so...
Distance: 1.55 miles.
Duration: 34 minutes
Walk Again. On the way back from the first stop, I went into work and... took care of the rest of those buscuit sandwiches. That means I'll need some extra calorie burn, plus help keeping the legs in shape. So, off on the full walk! Which I then cut a little short, which was fine because I was being creeped up on by rowdy youngsters in a car. Not a great feeling when walking down a road at 11 pm. They turned around and headed back the way they came when I cut off and headed across a field. Maybe coincidence, maybe not. But I'm here to report it, so it's all good.
Distance: 2.8 miles
Duration: 53 minutes
Power HIIT - Day 20. Upper Body. I used 10 pound weights all through, but I think I cut myself off at Level 2. The Lateral Raises probably should have been done with the 5 pounders, then I could have finished at Level 3. But, done is done!
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 20. Taps and Holds. After upper body. Uggghhh... Done, and it's getting easier! Yay!
Calories Out: 3149
Calories In: 2756
Deficit: -393. Still a deficit. And those buscuits are now gone, and I have no desire to buy them again. Biscuits really shouldn't have a rubbery texture.
April 21st, 2024
Water the plants... do some laundry... make an IKEA run... Pretty basic weekend. I had wanted to get up to a nearby mountain to do a hike this weekend, but I read that the weather was going to be bad these two days (it wasn't) and that the road up there is still socked in with snow (probably true). Well, my plan is to try again on May 18th, bit of an anniversary day for it.
Walk/Less Jog. Oww! Oww! Oww! Okay, there was some jogging, but just imagine the old man shuffle and you'll know how that went. I cut the jogs pretty quick and am realizing either I need more rest breaks or some tendon training. My legs are not liking me much right now.
Distance: 1.7 miles.
Duration: 33 minutes.
Power HIIT - Day 21. Oh, good. Lower body. Used 10 lb weights and finished at Level 2. The split lunges were not helping.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 21. Bicep Extensions. Up to 40, still no problem.
Calories Out: 3563
Calories In: 2874
Deficit: -689. Did pretty good until the last second, then flubbed with a bit too much ice cream. Oh well, it's better than the last two days!
Mamatigerj
Well-known member
Beautiful photos; you're making me homesick!
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thanks, @Mamatigerj ! I didn't realize you were from the area! Just imagine... the rainy season is almost done. 
April 22nd, 2024
Well, hurrah! The buscuits are gone! I'm also trying switching up what I have for lunch and improve the full feeling to calorie intake ratio.. Hopefully, this will keep my calorie deficit where I want it.
Power HIIT - Day 22. Upper Body. Started out with 10 lb weights and burned through the first three sets. On Lateral Raises, though, that can be a bit much. Switched to the 5s, then finished out the last 4 sets. Completed at Level 3.
Iron Tendons Lowerbody Workout. I'm looking to toughen up my joints and bones in order to possibly keep working towards running and jogging. So, to help with the joint pain, I'm doing this one. The leg raises were a bit of a problem, mostly with balance, but I fought through it with only a few falls. Otherwise, completed with EC.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 22. Shoulder Taps and Holds. Completed.
Calories Out: 3820
Calories In: 3069
Deficit: -751. Nice! Chunky soup and veggies for lunch for the win!
April 23rd, 2024
Another day of work, but today we're busting out the pressure washer. Lots of... well, seems like the same amount of calories burned as yesterday. Huh. Thought that would be better. Oh well, on to the workout!
Power HIIT - Day 23. Core and Back. Messed up the first set by doing a superman hold instaead of a scorpion twist, but otherwise, it went well. Used 10 lb weights the whole time. Completed at Level 3.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 23. Bicep Extensions. Completed.
Part 2 Workout. Pressure washing is always pretty brutal on the legs and was actually the activity that first got me pushing towards really losing the weight (sooooo much pain...), so I was just glad there weren't any lunges today. Instead of doing a walk/run, I tracked down a leg stretching workout to get my joints in a better place. I'm looking at the Walk to 5k Program for next month, but that will depend on how this leg treatment works. Anyway, completed. Felt good right after, but tomorrow might be a different story.
Calories Out: 3612. 200 less?
Calories In: 2850.
Deficit: -762. Still good!
April 22nd, 2024
Well, hurrah! The buscuits are gone! I'm also trying switching up what I have for lunch and improve the full feeling to calorie intake ratio.. Hopefully, this will keep my calorie deficit where I want it.
Power HIIT - Day 22. Upper Body. Started out with 10 lb weights and burned through the first three sets. On Lateral Raises, though, that can be a bit much. Switched to the 5s, then finished out the last 4 sets. Completed at Level 3.
Iron Tendons Lowerbody Workout. I'm looking to toughen up my joints and bones in order to possibly keep working towards running and jogging. So, to help with the joint pain, I'm doing this one. The leg raises were a bit of a problem, mostly with balance, but I fought through it with only a few falls. Otherwise, completed with EC.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 22. Shoulder Taps and Holds. Completed.
Calories Out: 3820
Calories In: 3069
Deficit: -751. Nice! Chunky soup and veggies for lunch for the win!
April 23rd, 2024
Another day of work, but today we're busting out the pressure washer. Lots of... well, seems like the same amount of calories burned as yesterday. Huh. Thought that would be better. Oh well, on to the workout!
Power HIIT - Day 23. Core and Back. Messed up the first set by doing a superman hold instaead of a scorpion twist, but otherwise, it went well. Used 10 lb weights the whole time. Completed at Level 3.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 23. Bicep Extensions. Completed.
Part 2 Workout. Pressure washing is always pretty brutal on the legs and was actually the activity that first got me pushing towards really losing the weight (sooooo much pain...), so I was just glad there weren't any lunges today. Instead of doing a walk/run, I tracked down a leg stretching workout to get my joints in a better place. I'm looking at the Walk to 5k Program for next month, but that will depend on how this leg treatment works. Anyway, completed. Felt good right after, but tomorrow might be a different story.
Calories Out: 3612. 200 less?
Calories In: 2850.
Deficit: -762. Still good!
MadamMeow
Well-known member
Fae
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
"I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but Im too young to worry..."
The programs aren't perfect so try not to stress over it.
I've seen cases where I have taken less overall steps in a day, but the miles reported a farther distance. Not too crazy, but still.
For calories out, I think there are other factors like your body's readiness and other variables.
Or it's just wrong like you suspect. So I agree it is annoying when ww catch these things though!
I've seen cases where I have taken less overall steps in a day, but the miles reported a farther distance. Not too crazy, but still.
For calories out, I think there are other factors like your body's readiness and other variables.
Or it's just wrong like you suspect. So I agree it is annoying when ww catch these things though!
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
@MadamMeow Yeah, I suppose the devices have issues. I've got a FitBit and I've seen it do something called "Active Minutes" that say I've had 20 more "Active Minutes" then I actually worked out for. So good at working out, I've been the space-time continuum to fit more exercise in. . I guess I just have to deal with it.
April 24th through 27th, 2024
Gonna roll most of this week together. There's a one story hill that I have to walk up or down to get back and forth from where my work truck is parked. For a while now, it's hurt enough walking down this hill that I have have to turn aound and walk backwards down it. Going up, no issues. Going backwards down it, no issues. Going forward down it, it's a stab just below the kneecap every step. But, that's slowly been getting better. If I keep up the lower body tendons and stretching work, I hope this will clear up.
Power HIIT
Day 24 - Punches and Upper Body. This was a pretty good cardio workout, even with only 5 lb weights! Completed at Level 3.
Day 25 - Lower Body. 10 lb weights, not a problem. Thought it would be worse, but my knees seem to be slowly strengthening. Completed at Level 3.
Day 26 - Upper Body. 10 lb weights. My arms came close to giving out by the end, so good workout! Completed at Level 3.
Day 27 - Core. 15 lb weight. The only lift that used the weight is the bridge, so I probably could have gone harder. Completed at Level 3.
Almost done!
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 24 to 27. Easy peasey. I say that, but I keep upping the count for the plank holds, so It's really not that easy. Still done, though!
Part 2 Workout. Pretty Sure I did this on days 25 and 27. Makes a good lower body stretch after the workout and is hopefully part of what's keeping my knees from hurting so much.
Iron Tendons Lowerbody Workout. Pretty sure I did ths on the 26th. It's really nice here that it doesn't involve a timer. Having to find my phone or mouse to set the timer just breaks up the flow. Done, no problem.
Okay, maybe this will come out fine on average...
Calories Out: 13,550
Calories In: 12,427
Deficit: -1,123. "Fine" is a bit much, but still a defict.
. I guess I just have to deal with it.April 24th through 27th, 2024
Gonna roll most of this week together. There's a one story hill that I have to walk up or down to get back and forth from where my work truck is parked. For a while now, it's hurt enough walking down this hill that I have have to turn aound and walk backwards down it. Going up, no issues. Going backwards down it, no issues. Going forward down it, it's a stab just below the kneecap every step. But, that's slowly been getting better. If I keep up the lower body tendons and stretching work, I hope this will clear up.
Power HIIT
Day 24 - Punches and Upper Body. This was a pretty good cardio workout, even with only 5 lb weights! Completed at Level 3.
Day 25 - Lower Body. 10 lb weights, not a problem. Thought it would be worse, but my knees seem to be slowly strengthening. Completed at Level 3.
Day 26 - Upper Body. 10 lb weights. My arms came close to giving out by the end, so good workout! Completed at Level 3.
Day 27 - Core. 15 lb weight. The only lift that used the weight is the bridge, so I probably could have gone harder. Completed at Level 3.
Almost done!
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Days 24 to 27. Easy peasey. I say that, but I keep upping the count for the plank holds, so It's really not that easy. Still done, though!
Part 2 Workout. Pretty Sure I did this on days 25 and 27. Makes a good lower body stretch after the workout and is hopefully part of what's keeping my knees from hurting so much.
Iron Tendons Lowerbody Workout. Pretty sure I did ths on the 26th. It's really nice here that it doesn't involve a timer. Having to find my phone or mouse to set the timer just breaks up the flow. Done, no problem.
Okay, maybe this will come out fine on average...
Calories Out: 13,550
Calories In: 12,427
Deficit: -1,123. "Fine" is a bit much, but still a defict.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
April 28th, 2024
Sunday. I made it out today to water my little tree I have hidden away. I tossed on some expired outmeal to compost into the ground, then watered away, but I noticed that the leaves that had opened up on the top of the tree have up and vanished. I'm guessing they were torn off in the wind and hoping they aren't being eaten by a passing animal. The eating option means my tree is probably going to get gobbled up instead of growing tall and proud. The lower leaves are still present, so the plant will still get some photosynthesis action going, just maybe not as much as I had been hoping.
Walk. I want dinner, and that means extra calorie burn on a weekend. Or display more restraint earlier in the day, but where's the fun in that? My walking path was a little oddball, but I now know that the walking track a quarter mile away from my house is a quarter of a mile long. So 10 loops, plus the walk there and home creates my 3 mile walk. But not today. I wanted to stay closer to home, just in case the rain kicked off. Still no jogging, and I'm starting to rethink the 8 week program next month. The weather hasn't fully shifted to late spring early summer mode yet, which means who knows when it will rain. Plus more time with my leg tendons wouldn't be a bad idea.
Distance: 3.08 mi / 4.96 km
Duration: 55 min
Steps: 5,935
Power HIIT - Day 28. Shoulders and Biceps. I started with the 10 lb weights, expecting to only do Level 2 or switch the weights. Instead, I finished all 7 sets with the 10s! The shoulder presses were getting pretty slow by the end, but I made it. Completed at Level 3.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 28. Shoulder Taps and Holds. Completed.
Calories Out: 3143
Calories In: 2425
Deficit: -718. Yay!
Sunday. I made it out today to water my little tree I have hidden away. I tossed on some expired outmeal to compost into the ground, then watered away, but I noticed that the leaves that had opened up on the top of the tree have up and vanished. I'm guessing they were torn off in the wind and hoping they aren't being eaten by a passing animal. The eating option means my tree is probably going to get gobbled up instead of growing tall and proud. The lower leaves are still present, so the plant will still get some photosynthesis action going, just maybe not as much as I had been hoping.
Walk. I want dinner, and that means extra calorie burn on a weekend. Or display more restraint earlier in the day, but where's the fun in that? My walking path was a little oddball, but I now know that the walking track a quarter mile away from my house is a quarter of a mile long. So 10 loops, plus the walk there and home creates my 3 mile walk. But not today. I wanted to stay closer to home, just in case the rain kicked off. Still no jogging, and I'm starting to rethink the 8 week program next month. The weather hasn't fully shifted to late spring early summer mode yet, which means who knows when it will rain. Plus more time with my leg tendons wouldn't be a bad idea.
Distance: 3.08 mi / 4.96 km
Duration: 55 min
Steps: 5,935
Power HIIT - Day 28. Shoulders and Biceps. I started with the 10 lb weights, expecting to only do Level 2 or switch the weights. Instead, I finished all 7 sets with the 10s! The shoulder presses were getting pretty slow by the end, but I made it. Completed at Level 3.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 28. Shoulder Taps and Holds. Completed.
Calories Out: 3143
Calories In: 2425
Deficit: -718. Yay!
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
April 29th, 2024
Monday. Hey, I get the day off work! Too bad I had to go to the dentist on it. Otherwise, it's a Youtube watching/napping kind of day.
Walk. A workday normally results in more calories burned, but no work means less walking which means not enough calories for dinner. So, full Around-the-Park-Walk time. No following cars this time, but there were a couple of people coming the opposite way out of the park. For some reason, I jumped to a scene from the show Fallout where the main characters have to walk across a bridge with two people who turn out to be cannibals coming the other way. But here I am, not chopped up and made into a stew, so... yay!
Distance: 3.31 mi / 5.33 km
Duration: 1 hr 4 min
Steps: 6,699
Calories: 610
Power HIIT - Day 28. Full Body. The single leg deadlifts were a bit tough, as my balance was a bit off. Probably a combination of the fatigue from the walk and the weights throwing me off. Otherwise, no problems. Two 10 lb weights, completed at Level 3.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 28. Bicep Extensions. I think I did 6 sets instead of 5, so it's all good! Completed.
Lowerbody Tendon Strength Workout - Difficulty three workout, with motion in knees, so this seems like a good choice. Completed.
Calories Out: 3210
Calories In: 2484
Deficit: -726
Monday. Hey, I get the day off work! Too bad I had to go to the dentist on it. Otherwise, it's a Youtube watching/napping kind of day.
Walk. A workday normally results in more calories burned, but no work means less walking which means not enough calories for dinner. So, full Around-the-Park-Walk time. No following cars this time, but there were a couple of people coming the opposite way out of the park. For some reason, I jumped to a scene from the show Fallout where the main characters have to walk across a bridge with two people who turn out to be cannibals coming the other way. But here I am, not chopped up and made into a stew, so... yay!
Distance: 3.31 mi / 5.33 km
Duration: 1 hr 4 min
Steps: 6,699
Calories: 610
Power HIIT - Day 28. Full Body. The single leg deadlifts were a bit tough, as my balance was a bit off. Probably a combination of the fatigue from the walk and the weights throwing me off. Otherwise, no problems. Two 10 lb weights, completed at Level 3.
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 28. Bicep Extensions. I think I did 6 sets instead of 5, so it's all good! Completed.
Lowerbody Tendon Strength Workout - Difficulty three workout, with motion in knees, so this seems like a good choice. Completed.
Calories Out: 3210
Calories In: 2484
Deficit: -726
MadamMeow
Well-known member
Fae
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
"I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but Im too young to worry..."
Love the Fallout scenario. I'll have to try that in a similar situation
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
April 30th, 2024
Ah, Tuesday. Back to work, which means picking up trash in the parking lot and wrapping up some fire extinguisher details, which means I got things done Today was great, though it leaves me with dread for tomorrow, as I have to watch other people do things. Probably means another low calorie day, now that I think about it.
Power HIIT - Day 30. Upper body with 10 lb weights. Managed to finish up strong with Level 3, even on the lateral raises. Yay! Program down!
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 30. Shoulder taps and holds. Completed-ish. My left wrist decided it was done with this whole "Plank Position" thing, I fell over, and made this less than No Rest. Completed it with one hand as a fist instead of flat, though, so I figure that counts. And that's April!
Part 2 Workout. I did the tendon workout yesterday, and regretted it walking downhill today, so today is the stretching. Completed.
No Sweat Cardio Workout. I was dirt close to coming in under my calorie target for the day, so I burned a few extra calories at the end with this one. Then I ruined that goal by having ice cream. Anyway, completed at Level 3 with EC.
Calories Out: 3299
Calories In: 2738. Darn ice cream...
Deficit: -561. That's not bad.
Now I have to figure out the next program. But first...
Ah, Tuesday. Back to work, which means picking up trash in the parking lot and wrapping up some fire extinguisher details, which means I got things done Today was great, though it leaves me with dread for tomorrow, as I have to watch other people do things. Probably means another low calorie day, now that I think about it.
Power HIIT - Day 30. Upper body with 10 lb weights. Managed to finish up strong with Level 3, even on the lateral raises. Yay! Program down!
Upper Body Blast Challenge - Day 30. Shoulder taps and holds. Completed-ish. My left wrist decided it was done with this whole "Plank Position" thing, I fell over, and made this less than No Rest. Completed it with one hand as a fist instead of flat, though, so I figure that counts. And that's April!
Part 2 Workout. I did the tendon workout yesterday, and regretted it walking downhill today, so today is the stretching. Completed.
No Sweat Cardio Workout. I was dirt close to coming in under my calorie target for the day, so I burned a few extra calories at the end with this one. Then I ruined that goal by having ice cream. Anyway, completed at Level 3 with EC.
Calories Out: 3299
Calories In: 2738. Darn ice cream...
Deficit: -561. That's not bad.
Now I have to figure out the next program. But first...
Mamatigerj
Well-known member
Happy Double Badges!!
MadamMeow
Well-known member
Fae
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
"I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but Im too young to worry..."
Congrats for your challenges! 
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thank you @Fremen , @Mamatigerj , and @MadamMeow !
New Programs! Ironheart for the strength and tendon training, with Unbound as an addon for extra flexibility. I'm hoping to get into shape enough to start 8 Weeks to 5K after about midway through June. May's Challenge is Abs & Core. Ready?
May 1st, 2024
Urrggg... Early start for work, as I had to be in place to provide access to a secure building for a contractor. So, naturally, I'm there at the site on time and the contractor gets there an hour and a half late. Then the contractor fails the security check and is not allowed inside the building, so the whole trip was a wasted effort. Well... that's a half hour overtime pay for me, so huzzah! Down shot is, though, that my low sleep has been building up so I spent the rest of the day just dragging my heels and living off of caffeine. At least that's done.
Ironheart - Day 1: Upper Body, 15 lb weights. Made it through! Feels like I could go 20 or even 25 on the upright rows and tricep extensions, but 15 was about the limit for the biceps and lateral raises. Completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 1: Knees to Elbows. Nice workout! My flexibility was definitely wearing thin by the end. Completed
Unbound - Day 1: The warmup on this is pretty brutal. The #5 stretch seems a little unclear to me, and how it really differs from #4, but I pushed through. Completed.
Calories In: 2851
Calories Out: 3264
Deficit: 413
May 2nd, 2024
Another early start since they didn't get everything done. At least the new guy arrived more on time and could go into the secured location. A couple of cat naps, though still with plenty of caffeine made the day go past more or less fine. Man, I can't wait for the weekend...
Ironheart - Day 2: Lower Body, 15 lb weights. Probably could have used the 20s, though my lunges aren't quite up to snuff. Completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 2: Plank Rotations and Holds. Full twists are kinda tough, but I'll get there. Completed
Unbound - Day 2: Stretches #2 and #3 looked really similiar. I did them both twice using different methods to make sure I was covered. Completed.
Calories In: 3162
Calories Out: 3396
Deficit: -234
New Programs! Ironheart for the strength and tendon training, with Unbound as an addon for extra flexibility. I'm hoping to get into shape enough to start 8 Weeks to 5K after about midway through June. May's Challenge is Abs & Core. Ready?
May 1st, 2024
Urrggg... Early start for work, as I had to be in place to provide access to a secure building for a contractor. So, naturally, I'm there at the site on time and the contractor gets there an hour and a half late. Then the contractor fails the security check and is not allowed inside the building, so the whole trip was a wasted effort. Well... that's a half hour overtime pay for me, so huzzah! Down shot is, though, that my low sleep has been building up so I spent the rest of the day just dragging my heels and living off of caffeine. At least that's done.
Ironheart - Day 1: Upper Body, 15 lb weights. Made it through! Feels like I could go 20 or even 25 on the upright rows and tricep extensions, but 15 was about the limit for the biceps and lateral raises. Completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 1: Knees to Elbows. Nice workout! My flexibility was definitely wearing thin by the end. Completed
Unbound - Day 1: The warmup on this is pretty brutal. The #5 stretch seems a little unclear to me, and how it really differs from #4, but I pushed through. Completed.
Calories In: 2851
Calories Out: 3264
Deficit: 413
May 2nd, 2024
Another early start since they didn't get everything done. At least the new guy arrived more on time and could go into the secured location. A couple of cat naps, though still with plenty of caffeine made the day go past more or less fine. Man, I can't wait for the weekend...
Ironheart - Day 2: Lower Body, 15 lb weights. Probably could have used the 20s, though my lunges aren't quite up to snuff. Completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 2: Plank Rotations and Holds. Full twists are kinda tough, but I'll get there. Completed
Unbound - Day 2: Stretches #2 and #3 looked really similiar. I did them both twice using different methods to make sure I was covered. Completed.
Calories In: 3162
Calories Out: 3396
Deficit: -234
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
May 3rd, 2024
Another day, another dollar. Apparently, when someone drops tempered glass, the stuff just explodes. It works a bit like asbestos: the "shards" are incredibly tiny and end up in every crevice and piece of office equipment in a thirty foot radius, causing tiny cuts any time someone tries to punch a number into a phone. The good news is that it wasn't me that broke it. The bad news is that it was me that wasn't able to clean it up because my vacuum cleaner is too loud for a phone-based office environment. At least the week is over.
Ironheart - Day 3: Tendon Strength. Two minutes of raised arms is a lot longer than it seems like it should be. Completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 3: Knees to Elbows. Same as before, getting tough near the end, but still doable. Completed.
Unbound - Day 3: I needed something to hold on to for the warm-up, just to keep my balance. Stretch 3 took a little bit of cheating, as my knees won't really let me crouch that low. Past that, not too bad. Completed.
Calories In: 2502
Calories Out: 3324
Deficit: -822. Nice! One of my dinner choices turns out ot be a lot lower calorie than I remember: pan-seared salmon with vegetables. Traded the corn for roasted carrots and dinner turned into about 260 calories. Much better than the 500+ I usually make.
May 4th, 2024
I was tired enough from last week that I slept with the lights on all night. Absolute crash and burn. The day was mostly spent lounging around, getting a few chores done and a couple of Tales of the Empire episodes watched for Star Wars Day. The rain has kicked in again, so no walking, jogging, or going out to water my tree in the fields. A side trip was made to The Most Dangerous Store in the World, IKEA, because I really, really want a teapot. No more covering a beer mug with a plate for me! So as you can tell, a really exciting day for me! At the end, though, I really should have burned more calories. Or made salmon again instead of making slow cooked pot roast.
Ironheart - Day 4. Upper body with 15 lb weights. I think I did five sets instead of four a couple of times. Not a problem, but I think I might bump up to the 20 lb weights next time. Completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 4. Plank Twists and Holds. Hey, my wrist is feeling better! Completed.
Unbound - Day 4. Legs and Core. Stretch 2 was a bit confusing, but I made do. Also this is making it clear how easy it is to lose back flexibility. Otherwise, easy enough. Completed.
Misc - I won a prize on a step count challenge at work and scored a $25 gift card to Amazon. So, naturally, I spent that on weights. Specifically, I got a replacement pair of 3 lb dumbbells that I've been playing with, but better, I got a pair of 20 lb adjustible ankle weights. Unboxed those yesterday and fiddled with them today. So I probably did maybe 100 reps of leg lifts with 12 lb. weight. Yay! It was probably about rep 75 before I was warmed up enough to lift to full extension without a twinge of pain, though.
Calories In: 2723.
Calories Out: 2775. I'm missing that walk.
Deficit: -52. Whoops.
Another day, another dollar. Apparently, when someone drops tempered glass, the stuff just explodes. It works a bit like asbestos: the "shards" are incredibly tiny and end up in every crevice and piece of office equipment in a thirty foot radius, causing tiny cuts any time someone tries to punch a number into a phone. The good news is that it wasn't me that broke it. The bad news is that it was me that wasn't able to clean it up because my vacuum cleaner is too loud for a phone-based office environment. At least the week is over.
Ironheart - Day 3: Tendon Strength. Two minutes of raised arms is a lot longer than it seems like it should be. Completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 3: Knees to Elbows. Same as before, getting tough near the end, but still doable. Completed.
Unbound - Day 3: I needed something to hold on to for the warm-up, just to keep my balance. Stretch 3 took a little bit of cheating, as my knees won't really let me crouch that low. Past that, not too bad. Completed.
Calories In: 2502
Calories Out: 3324
Deficit: -822. Nice! One of my dinner choices turns out ot be a lot lower calorie than I remember: pan-seared salmon with vegetables. Traded the corn for roasted carrots and dinner turned into about 260 calories. Much better than the 500+ I usually make.
May 4th, 2024
I was tired enough from last week that I slept with the lights on all night. Absolute crash and burn. The day was mostly spent lounging around, getting a few chores done and a couple of Tales of the Empire episodes watched for Star Wars Day. The rain has kicked in again, so no walking, jogging, or going out to water my tree in the fields. A side trip was made to The Most Dangerous Store in the World, IKEA, because I really, really want a teapot. No more covering a beer mug with a plate for me! So as you can tell, a really exciting day for me! At the end, though, I really should have burned more calories. Or made salmon again instead of making slow cooked pot roast.
Ironheart - Day 4. Upper body with 15 lb weights. I think I did five sets instead of four a couple of times. Not a problem, but I think I might bump up to the 20 lb weights next time. Completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 4. Plank Twists and Holds. Hey, my wrist is feeling better! Completed.
Unbound - Day 4. Legs and Core. Stretch 2 was a bit confusing, but I made do. Also this is making it clear how easy it is to lose back flexibility. Otherwise, easy enough. Completed.
Misc - I won a prize on a step count challenge at work and scored a $25 gift card to Amazon. So, naturally, I spent that on weights. Specifically, I got a replacement pair of 3 lb dumbbells that I've been playing with, but better, I got a pair of 20 lb adjustible ankle weights. Unboxed those yesterday and fiddled with them today. So I probably did maybe 100 reps of leg lifts with 12 lb. weight. Yay! It was probably about rep 75 before I was warmed up enough to lift to full extension without a twinge of pain, though.
Calories In: 2723.
Calories Out: 2775. I'm missing that walk.
Deficit: -52. Whoops.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
May 5th, 2024
I got out of the house! For something other than walking and work! I went out and saw The Fall Guy. Besides just being nice to do something other than the grind, the movie had both all the excitement of an action film and all the heart of a romance. Based on a 1970's TV show, the plot is pretty much given away in the teaser trailer: a stuntman has to track down a wayward actor, while at the same time working on at least talking to the girl from his past. The twists aren't twisty enough to make them the focus of the story, which is nice for me since I consider that kind of thing a bit gimmicky, and the main characters are well acted and surprising well written. The film was also directed by a former stuntman and was done as a love letter to all of the people you think are the actor getting blown up, but aren't. Getting hit hurts. Getting blown up hurts. Getting set on fire hurts. Stuntpeople really are the unsung heroes of the movies. Good movie, I recommend.
Walk: Calorie burn needed! Also, I decided a trip to the corner store was in order, along with investigating new places to rent, so my GPS map is a bit all over the place.
Distance: 3.25 miles
Duration: 1 hr 1 min
Steps: 6361
Ironheart - Day 5: Lower body, with 20 lb weights. Bumped up the weights, and the lunges didn't like that. So with some shallow lunges, still completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 5: Knees to Elbows. Completed.
Unbound - Day 5: Mostly core. The switch from 3 to 4 didn't go very smoothly for me, but otherwise, this was pretty straightforward. Completed.
Calories In: 2412
Calories Out: 3208
Deficit: -796. Yay!
May 6th, 2024
Well, the people who were supposed to vacuum up my broken glass didn't do it, so I got put back on that. And it took a Safety person to insist it get done, even though it would disrupt their call center. Could have been worse. Otherwise, the day ran fairly smoothly. So I messed up the calorie intake, of course.
Walk: Calorie burn needed! Also, I decided a trip to the grocery store and the corner store was in order, minus any rental investigation. Now, with my restored pile of carrots, potatoes, and brussell sprouts (first time cooking with those!), and a small supply of chips for tomorrow, my calories... are still not low enough to allow dinner. Oh well, I'm blowing my totals for the day.
Distance: 2.47 miles
Duration: 1 hr 11 min
Steps: 5397
Ironheart - Day 6: Reset \ Yoga. Well that's not going to help my calorie count. But it will help my flexibility, so yay! Completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 6: Plank Twists and holds. Yeah, I'm not going to match the holds like I did last time. The twists take it out of me. Completed.
Unbound - Day 6: Upper Body. Just realized I missed the warm ups. Oh well, the stretches are done at least. Completed.
Calories In: 3452
Calories Out: 3433
Deficit: +19. Hey! That could have gone a lot worse!
I got out of the house! For something other than walking and work! I went out and saw The Fall Guy. Besides just being nice to do something other than the grind, the movie had both all the excitement of an action film and all the heart of a romance. Based on a 1970's TV show, the plot is pretty much given away in the teaser trailer: a stuntman has to track down a wayward actor, while at the same time working on at least talking to the girl from his past. The twists aren't twisty enough to make them the focus of the story, which is nice for me since I consider that kind of thing a bit gimmicky, and the main characters are well acted and surprising well written. The film was also directed by a former stuntman and was done as a love letter to all of the people you think are the actor getting blown up, but aren't. Getting hit hurts. Getting blown up hurts. Getting set on fire hurts. Stuntpeople really are the unsung heroes of the movies. Good movie, I recommend.
Walk: Calorie burn needed! Also, I decided a trip to the corner store was in order, along with investigating new places to rent, so my GPS map is a bit all over the place.
Distance: 3.25 miles
Duration: 1 hr 1 min
Steps: 6361
Ironheart - Day 5: Lower body, with 20 lb weights. Bumped up the weights, and the lunges didn't like that. So with some shallow lunges, still completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 5: Knees to Elbows. Completed.
Unbound - Day 5: Mostly core. The switch from 3 to 4 didn't go very smoothly for me, but otherwise, this was pretty straightforward. Completed.
Calories In: 2412
Calories Out: 3208
Deficit: -796. Yay!
May 6th, 2024
Well, the people who were supposed to vacuum up my broken glass didn't do it, so I got put back on that. And it took a Safety person to insist it get done, even though it would disrupt their call center. Could have been worse. Otherwise, the day ran fairly smoothly. So I messed up the calorie intake, of course.
Walk: Calorie burn needed! Also, I decided a trip to the grocery store and the corner store was in order, minus any rental investigation. Now, with my restored pile of carrots, potatoes, and brussell sprouts (first time cooking with those!), and a small supply of chips for tomorrow, my calories... are still not low enough to allow dinner. Oh well, I'm blowing my totals for the day.
Distance: 2.47 miles
Duration: 1 hr 11 min
Steps: 5397
Ironheart - Day 6: Reset \ Yoga. Well that's not going to help my calorie count. But it will help my flexibility, so yay! Completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 6: Plank Twists and holds. Yeah, I'm not going to match the holds like I did last time. The twists take it out of me. Completed.
Unbound - Day 6: Upper Body. Just realized I missed the warm ups. Oh well, the stretches are done at least. Completed.
Calories In: 3452
Calories Out: 3433
Deficit: +19. Hey! That could have gone a lot worse!
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Tuesday - May 7th, 2024
Went and saw The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare after work today. It was... fine. Not historically accurate apparently, but based on an actual event. Good for wartime action without being too massively over-the-top, plus Henry Cavill's Glorious Beard. Otherwise, all went according to plan. I even managed to hit my diet target without an extra walk! For clarity's sake, the target is -750 calories. I'm working on losing weight and body fat percentage more than gaining strength, though managing both would be great. Once my weight is down, I can flip the script and try to gain strength, but the scale isn't budging much.
Ironheart - Day 7: Upper Body. I tried to start with 20 lb weights, but that very quickly proved to be too much. Dropped down to 15s and proceeded through. Complete.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 7: Knees-to-elbows. Still going great! Complete.
Unbound - Day 7: Lower body. Honestly, the warm up was probably the hardest part. I had trouble keeping my balance doing front leg raises without something to lean on. Complete.
Calories In: 2895
Calories Out: 3694
Deficit: -799. Yay!
Wednesday - May 8th, 2024
A lovely day spent mostly cleaning carpets, moving tables, and building a hose for an air compressor. I thought I'd accidentally bleached the heck out of that carpet, with giant white spots that weren't there before, but it turned out to be the dried dust from the cleaning chemical I used. A hard brush and vacuum got it all tidied up. Now I just have to clean the office chair and that room will be finished! No after work movie, but I did get to take a nap, which is also great.
Ironheart - Day 8: Lower Body, with 20 lb weights. The split lunges are still tough, but one of my legs is getting better. I did 24 reps each set for the Calf Raises, then added about 10-15 quick bounces after the first two sets. Not sure about the single leg deadlifts if it's really important to only use one weight for balance purposes, but I used two. I just feel the balance is easier that way.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 8: Plank Twists and Holds. Progressing on. The Twists start getting sloppy near the end, so hopefully I'm improving.
Unbound - Day 8: Core and Balance. I dug up an insstructional video on Hip Rotations, specfically for Karate, that said one should keep their shoulders in place and only move the hips. Not sure if that's right, but it's what I went with. Everything else was pretty straight forward except for the single leg stand, which my balance wasn't liking much.
Calories In: 2812
Calories Out: 3568
Deficit: -756. Yay!
Went and saw The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare after work today. It was... fine. Not historically accurate apparently, but based on an actual event. Good for wartime action without being too massively over-the-top, plus Henry Cavill's Glorious Beard. Otherwise, all went according to plan. I even managed to hit my diet target without an extra walk! For clarity's sake, the target is -750 calories. I'm working on losing weight and body fat percentage more than gaining strength, though managing both would be great. Once my weight is down, I can flip the script and try to gain strength, but the scale isn't budging much.
Ironheart - Day 7: Upper Body. I tried to start with 20 lb weights, but that very quickly proved to be too much. Dropped down to 15s and proceeded through. Complete.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 7: Knees-to-elbows. Still going great! Complete.
Unbound - Day 7: Lower body. Honestly, the warm up was probably the hardest part. I had trouble keeping my balance doing front leg raises without something to lean on. Complete.
Calories In: 2895
Calories Out: 3694
Deficit: -799. Yay!
Wednesday - May 8th, 2024
A lovely day spent mostly cleaning carpets, moving tables, and building a hose for an air compressor. I thought I'd accidentally bleached the heck out of that carpet, with giant white spots that weren't there before, but it turned out to be the dried dust from the cleaning chemical I used. A hard brush and vacuum got it all tidied up. Now I just have to clean the office chair and that room will be finished! No after work movie, but I did get to take a nap, which is also great.
Ironheart - Day 8: Lower Body, with 20 lb weights. The split lunges are still tough, but one of my legs is getting better. I did 24 reps each set for the Calf Raises, then added about 10-15 quick bounces after the first two sets. Not sure about the single leg deadlifts if it's really important to only use one weight for balance purposes, but I used two. I just feel the balance is easier that way.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 8: Plank Twists and Holds. Progressing on. The Twists start getting sloppy near the end, so hopefully I'm improving.
Unbound - Day 8: Core and Balance. I dug up an insstructional video on Hip Rotations, specfically for Karate, that said one should keep their shoulders in place and only move the hips. Not sure if that's right, but it's what I went with. Everything else was pretty straight forward except for the single leg stand, which my balance wasn't liking much.
Calories In: 2812
Calories Out: 3568
Deficit: -756. Yay!
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thursday through Saturday - 9th to 11th, 2024
Thursday and Friday went by as mostly a blur. I remember working all day on Friday trying to build a hose for an air compressor. I just tried typing out some of the things that happened while building it, but I'm going to focus on the good instead. I got the hose together and now have the ability to clean out fire extinguishers again. Task completed! Saturday has been a glorious day of over 10 hours of sleep, plus staying up late to try taking pictures of the aurora (results mixed, still checking them). Bit of a walk, but not much else. Just sleep. Lots of sleep. Which is great, because the heat spiked up to the high 80s ( 30+ degrees C ) today.
Walk - Saturday: I need a few things for dinner on the 12th, plus to pick up a box from the local Amazon Locker, so a walk it is.
Distance: 2.47 miles
Time: 1 hr 2 min
Steps: 5158
Ironheart - Days 9, 10, 11: Tendons, Upperbody, and Lowerbody. When weights were used, I stuck with 15 lbs, except for the lateral raises where I used 10s. The main change is that I recalled that strength training works better with slow, full movements. Normally I go at speed, but the slower movements hopefully improve the strength gains. Three days complete.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 9, 10, 11: Everything's great! Three days complete.
Unbound - Day 9, 10, 11: Lower body, upper body, and core. I'll need to look closer at the shoulder shrug stretches, as I'm not exactly sure what the action should feel like. Pushing my shoulders clear up against my neck doesn't feel quite right. Otherwise, three days complete.
Calories In: 7599
Calories Out: 9488
Deficit: -1889. Divide by 3 gives me -629 per day. Not quite to target, but still well into the weight loss range.
Thursday and Friday went by as mostly a blur. I remember working all day on Friday trying to build a hose for an air compressor. I just tried typing out some of the things that happened while building it, but I'm going to focus on the good instead. I got the hose together and now have the ability to clean out fire extinguishers again. Task completed! Saturday has been a glorious day of over 10 hours of sleep, plus staying up late to try taking pictures of the aurora (results mixed, still checking them). Bit of a walk, but not much else. Just sleep. Lots of sleep. Which is great, because the heat spiked up to the high 80s ( 30+ degrees C ) today.
Walk - Saturday: I need a few things for dinner on the 12th, plus to pick up a box from the local Amazon Locker, so a walk it is.
Distance: 2.47 miles
Time: 1 hr 2 min
Steps: 5158
Ironheart - Days 9, 10, 11: Tendons, Upperbody, and Lowerbody. When weights were used, I stuck with 15 lbs, except for the lateral raises where I used 10s. The main change is that I recalled that strength training works better with slow, full movements. Normally I go at speed, but the slower movements hopefully improve the strength gains. Three days complete.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 9, 10, 11: Everything's great! Three days complete.
Unbound - Day 9, 10, 11: Lower body, upper body, and core. I'll need to look closer at the shoulder shrug stretches, as I'm not exactly sure what the action should feel like. Pushing my shoulders clear up against my neck doesn't feel quite right. Otherwise, three days complete.
Calories In: 7599
Calories Out: 9488
Deficit: -1889. Divide by 3 gives me -629 per day. Not quite to target, but still well into the weight loss range.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
May 12th, 2024
Yesterday's nap foiled my plans of going to bed earlier, so that meant I got up later. I've managed to avoid more than a 15 minute nap today, so hopefully, I can get to sleep a bit earlier than four in the morning. Aside from calling my mom for Mother's Day, I finally threw together the ingredients I picked up last weekend in order to make...
Yawning Portal Buttermilk Bisuits from the Official D&D Cookbook!
That... was really tasty! Light on the inside, crunchy on the outside, and a brushing of butter on the top at the end. Yummy! And really easy to eat more than I should. Well, I'm probably gonna need some calorie burn after this. In addition to that Tumblr recipie, preheat the oven to 450 F / 230 C, bake for 30 minutes, and rotate the pan 180 degrees at the 15 minute mark. Pull the pan, put the biscuits on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes, and you're good to go!
Walk. Finally got the math done on those biscuits (about 325 calories a piece and I ate 5 of them...) and realize that yep, calorie burn is needed! The route was my full walk around the park. High clouds were rolling in, plus I'm deep inside city limits. As a result, none of the aurora was visible to the naked eye from where I was. It's hard to even make out very many stars. I kept my pace fairly quick, which meant that I had time at the end to do an additional lap around the neighborhood and back up the nasty hill just south of me.
Distance: 3.86 miles
Duration: 1 hr 12 min
Steps: 7329
Calories Out: 683
On a month with 31 days, I get one skip day on the programs and challenges, and it looks like this is it. No good reason, I'm just taking my time making biscuits and going out to water my tree. Back at it tomorrow.
Calories In: 3411
Calories Out: 3437
Deficit: -26. Is that a win? I don't think that's a win. But on the other hand... biscuits.
Yesterday's nap foiled my plans of going to bed earlier, so that meant I got up later. I've managed to avoid more than a 15 minute nap today, so hopefully, I can get to sleep a bit earlier than four in the morning. Aside from calling my mom for Mother's Day, I finally threw together the ingredients I picked up last weekend in order to make...
Yawning Portal Buttermilk Bisuits from the Official D&D Cookbook!
That... was really tasty! Light on the inside, crunchy on the outside, and a brushing of butter on the top at the end. Yummy! And really easy to eat more than I should. Well, I'm probably gonna need some calorie burn after this. In addition to that Tumblr recipie, preheat the oven to 450 F / 230 C, bake for 30 minutes, and rotate the pan 180 degrees at the 15 minute mark. Pull the pan, put the biscuits on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes, and you're good to go!
Walk. Finally got the math done on those biscuits (about 325 calories a piece and I ate 5 of them...) and realize that yep, calorie burn is needed! The route was my full walk around the park. High clouds were rolling in, plus I'm deep inside city limits. As a result, none of the aurora was visible to the naked eye from where I was. It's hard to even make out very many stars. I kept my pace fairly quick, which meant that I had time at the end to do an additional lap around the neighborhood and back up the nasty hill just south of me.
Distance: 3.86 miles
Duration: 1 hr 12 min
Steps: 7329
Calories Out: 683
On a month with 31 days, I get one skip day on the programs and challenges, and it looks like this is it. No good reason, I'm just taking my time making biscuits and going out to water my tree. Back at it tomorrow.
Calories In: 3411
Calories Out: 3437
Deficit: -26. Is that a win? I don't think that's a win. But on the other hand... biscuits.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thanks, @Fremen ! I wiped them out on Monday, so I'm safe from the extra calories... for now.
Monday - May 13th, 2024
A day of fire extinguisher checking, followed by home and a nap. The end of the day was, as always, a good time for a workout, though!
Ironheart - Day 12: Reset. Poo. I should have done this yesterday. Maybe I'll double up on the next reset day to catch up for the month. Yoga positions are good. I'm finding that my flexibility for the knees to chest isn't as good as it should be. I feel like I should add a set of knee stretches for when I first get up in the morning. Complete.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 12: Plank Twists and Holds. Complete.
Unbound - Day 12: Lower Body. Once again, knees to chest flexibility isn't quite where I feel like it should be. Complete.
Calories In: 2984
Calories Out: 3390
Deficit: -406. Not perfect, but still well to the good. Yay!
Tuesday - May 14th, 2024
Emergency at work!!! Oh, I'm just cleaning a wet carpet. This building had some problems with the hot water heaters a few months ago, resulting in them getting replaced. I suspected that those were the source of the leak and... they were not. Someone just kicked a pipe and it wasn't draining correctly. Ah well. I also learned that the only floor fan we had was massive overkill for a small office. And I learned that that particular office really needed a thorough dusting as every dust bunny in the world went flying into the air. Lucky we had a box fan to replace that with, but the room definitely needs a dusting.
Ironheart - Day 12: Upper Body, with fifteen pound weights. Started the first set of bicep curls quick, then remembered to slow it down. Took my time with the rest of the sets and hopefully I'll be feeling it some tomorrow. Complete.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 12: Knees-to-elbows. I think my flexibility in the waist twist for the elbows is improving! Complete.
Unbound - Day 12: Lower body. Complete, but some of those poses are really difficult for me. I'll just keep working on it.
Calories In: 2710
Calories Out: 3451
Deficit: -741. Yay!
Monday - May 13th, 2024
A day of fire extinguisher checking, followed by home and a nap. The end of the day was, as always, a good time for a workout, though!
Ironheart - Day 12: Reset. Poo. I should have done this yesterday. Maybe I'll double up on the next reset day to catch up for the month. Yoga positions are good. I'm finding that my flexibility for the knees to chest isn't as good as it should be. I feel like I should add a set of knee stretches for when I first get up in the morning. Complete.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 12: Plank Twists and Holds. Complete.
Unbound - Day 12: Lower Body. Once again, knees to chest flexibility isn't quite where I feel like it should be. Complete.
Calories In: 2984
Calories Out: 3390
Deficit: -406. Not perfect, but still well to the good. Yay!
Tuesday - May 14th, 2024
Emergency at work!!! Oh, I'm just cleaning a wet carpet. This building had some problems with the hot water heaters a few months ago, resulting in them getting replaced. I suspected that those were the source of the leak and... they were not. Someone just kicked a pipe and it wasn't draining correctly. Ah well. I also learned that the only floor fan we had was massive overkill for a small office. And I learned that that particular office really needed a thorough dusting as every dust bunny in the world went flying into the air. Lucky we had a box fan to replace that with, but the room definitely needs a dusting.
Ironheart - Day 12: Upper Body, with fifteen pound weights. Started the first set of bicep curls quick, then remembered to slow it down. Took my time with the rest of the sets and hopefully I'll be feeling it some tomorrow. Complete.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 12: Knees-to-elbows. I think my flexibility in the waist twist for the elbows is improving! Complete.
Unbound - Day 12: Lower body. Complete, but some of those poses are really difficult for me. I'll just keep working on it.
Calories In: 2710
Calories Out: 3451
Deficit: -741. Yay!
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
May 15th through 19th, 2024
The road has been long, farther than you have travelled before. In addition, the road has led you up into the forested mountains that bisect the land. A portion, higher than the rest, that you have just come through dusted you with a hint of snow that failed to stick to the harsh ground around you. But while the distance was greater and higher, the roads of the Imperium were well-made. The travel by cart was smooth and lacking the heavy bumps you are used to on average wagon trails. You take a brief rest alongside the road in order to take in the sights of valleys far below you and mountains beyond.
The sight is... less impressive than you'd hoped. The mixed rain and snow that had unexpectedly moved in as you traveled into the mountains eventually took the form of clouds, a constant mist that would surround the rest of your path to the distant temple.
An hour later, you arrive at your first stop on your planned journey, a center of knowledge and learning. There you gain much in the way of information on the surrounding lands and it's inhabitants.
It is there that the winds finally begin to clear your view into the lake and lands of the valley, a place you must journey to reach your next destination.
But then, you realize the truth. You slept too late and will not be able to reach that point and complete your ultimate goal before the dark of night falls around you. Plus, it's really wet out and your waterskin leaked all over your packback and gear. Gosh darn it... At least you got an adorable opossum from the gift shop.
So that trip didn't go as planned. I live fairly close to Mount Saint Helens in Washington State, USA, and went up to the mountain to go hiking on the anniversary of the mountain's eruption (May 18th, 1980). A combination of a late start (I thought I was doing okay), my water bladder soaking my pack, and heavy clouds in the mountains brought my trip to an end. I would have gotten to the trailhead at about 3:30 pm, but it's a 9 mile round trip to make the route I wanted to hit. It would have been really close to sunset by the time I got back to the car, plus it would have been in the cloudstrewn mountains and would have gotten dark earlier than that. Now, I'm annoyed with myself a bit, but I think I'm going to go back and try the trail again next weekend. I'll have three days to get it done (Memorial Day Weekend here in the US), so hopefully one of those days will be clear and I can get out of the house before 1 in the afternoon.
Walk. On the 17th and 18th, I took walks, mostly in order to boost my calorie burn. It wasn't overly helpful, as I found I had enough buttermilk left over to make another batch of biscuits. Tasty... but as they say, you can't outrun a bad diet.
Average per walk
Distance: 2.81 miles
Duration: 51 and a half minutes
Steps: 5650 steps
Calories Out: 537 cal
Ironheart - Days 14 through 19: Completed each day, plus today was a yoga reset day and I picked up the next one to catch me up to where I should be in the month. Now, to do the same for the Unbound and the challenge...
Abs & Core Challenge - Days 14 through 18: But not today. All days completed.
Unbound - Days 14 through 18. Completed. I'm stretching a bit at work when I'm stuck in an elevator or just getting out of the car, trying to loosen up my knees. Results are mixed so far, but possibly helping.
(Today only)
Calories In: 2145
Calories Out: 3335
Deficit: -1190. A bit of a cheat here. My clock includes the workout that should have been on the 18th, since I did it after midnight. That made a bit of a higher calorie burn than would have otherwise been there. I feel like I kept my diet a bit more under control, though, and certainly better than the last few days. But that just makes it the first day of the new habit, so now I just have to follow through and improve!
The road has been long, farther than you have travelled before. In addition, the road has led you up into the forested mountains that bisect the land. A portion, higher than the rest, that you have just come through dusted you with a hint of snow that failed to stick to the harsh ground around you. But while the distance was greater and higher, the roads of the Imperium were well-made. The travel by cart was smooth and lacking the heavy bumps you are used to on average wagon trails. You take a brief rest alongside the road in order to take in the sights of valleys far below you and mountains beyond.
The sight is... less impressive than you'd hoped. The mixed rain and snow that had unexpectedly moved in as you traveled into the mountains eventually took the form of clouds, a constant mist that would surround the rest of your path to the distant temple.
An hour later, you arrive at your first stop on your planned journey, a center of knowledge and learning. There you gain much in the way of information on the surrounding lands and it's inhabitants.
It is there that the winds finally begin to clear your view into the lake and lands of the valley, a place you must journey to reach your next destination.
But then, you realize the truth. You slept too late and will not be able to reach that point and complete your ultimate goal before the dark of night falls around you. Plus, it's really wet out and your waterskin leaked all over your packback and gear. Gosh darn it... At least you got an adorable opossum from the gift shop.
So that trip didn't go as planned. I live fairly close to Mount Saint Helens in Washington State, USA, and went up to the mountain to go hiking on the anniversary of the mountain's eruption (May 18th, 1980). A combination of a late start (I thought I was doing okay), my water bladder soaking my pack, and heavy clouds in the mountains brought my trip to an end. I would have gotten to the trailhead at about 3:30 pm, but it's a 9 mile round trip to make the route I wanted to hit. It would have been really close to sunset by the time I got back to the car, plus it would have been in the cloudstrewn mountains and would have gotten dark earlier than that. Now, I'm annoyed with myself a bit, but I think I'm going to go back and try the trail again next weekend. I'll have three days to get it done (Memorial Day Weekend here in the US), so hopefully one of those days will be clear and I can get out of the house before 1 in the afternoon.
Walk. On the 17th and 18th, I took walks, mostly in order to boost my calorie burn. It wasn't overly helpful, as I found I had enough buttermilk left over to make another batch of biscuits. Tasty... but as they say, you can't outrun a bad diet.
Average per walk
Distance: 2.81 miles
Duration: 51 and a half minutes
Steps: 5650 steps
Calories Out: 537 cal
Ironheart - Days 14 through 19: Completed each day, plus today was a yoga reset day and I picked up the next one to catch me up to where I should be in the month. Now, to do the same for the Unbound and the challenge...
Abs & Core Challenge - Days 14 through 18: But not today. All days completed.
Unbound - Days 14 through 18. Completed. I'm stretching a bit at work when I'm stuck in an elevator or just getting out of the car, trying to loosen up my knees. Results are mixed so far, but possibly helping.
(Today only)
Calories In: 2145
Calories Out: 3335
Deficit: -1190. A bit of a cheat here. My clock includes the workout that should have been on the 18th, since I did it after midnight. That made a bit of a higher calorie burn than would have otherwise been there. I feel like I kept my diet a bit more under control, though, and certainly better than the last few days. But that just makes it the first day of the new habit, so now I just have to follow through and improve!
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Monday - May 20th, 2024
Today was a nice day! Lots of sunshine that I didn't have to work too much in (no warm weather work appropriate hat, otherwise it would be great), nothing to heavy to do. Also, my neighbor finally got their front door fixed! I've been looking at a bend in the door so big you can see interior lights through it for months, wondering if the landlord was going to do anything about it. Well, they did!
Ironheart - Day 20. Lower body, with 15 lbs on the first set and 20 lbs on the rest of them. Calf raises are easy, as always. The hip thrists, I feel like I could have upped it to 25s, but the Squats were about right. I'll try to remember to hit the 25s next time. Complete.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 19. Knees to Elbows. Complete, no problems.
Unbound - Day 20. I looked at day 19 and felt that I just did it yesterday. I could have used the exact thing I did in my check in this time. Anyway, I skipped to Day 20. Upper body, arms and chest. The shrugs are still weird, but got it all done. Complete.
Calories In: 2620
Calories Out: 3416
Deficit: -796. Yay!
Today was a nice day! Lots of sunshine that I didn't have to work too much in (no warm weather work appropriate hat, otherwise it would be great), nothing to heavy to do. Also, my neighbor finally got their front door fixed! I've been looking at a bend in the door so big you can see interior lights through it for months, wondering if the landlord was going to do anything about it. Well, they did!
Ironheart - Day 20. Lower body, with 15 lbs on the first set and 20 lbs on the rest of them. Calf raises are easy, as always. The hip thrists, I feel like I could have upped it to 25s, but the Squats were about right. I'll try to remember to hit the 25s next time. Complete.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 19. Knees to Elbows. Complete, no problems.
Unbound - Day 20. I looked at day 19 and felt that I just did it yesterday. I could have used the exact thing I did in my check in this time. Anyway, I skipped to Day 20. Upper body, arms and chest. The shrugs are still weird, but got it all done. Complete.
Calories In: 2620
Calories Out: 3416
Deficit: -796. Yay!
Last edited:
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Everything's run pretty much fine the last week. About the only thing significant was that a work deal required that I go back in to work at 10 in the evening because the task couldn't be handled in the morning. But between that, the work I did during the day, and the upper body workout for Ironheart, I couldn't do my challenge workout for Wednesday. It was the Plank Twists and my arms "noped" out. At least I can be pretty sure my arms got their workout that day!
I also had my blood pressure checked at the doctor today, due to my history of high BP. I came in... well below the target range! Given that I have a nasty habit of forgetting my meds, I'm gonna say it's cardio for the win! Thanks, Darebee!
Tuesday through Thursday - May 21st - 23rd, 2024
Ironheart - Days 21, 22, and 23. Tuesday - Tendons. Wednesday - Upper Body with 15s. Thursday - Lower Body with 15s. The tendon stretches for this program remain a little unclear, but they're doable. All three days completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Days 20 and 21 on Tuesday, skip Wednesday, 22 and 23 on Thursday. Lots of Knees to Elbows and Plank Twists. Complete, with the aforementioned issues.
Unbound - Days 21, 22, and 23. Lower body, lower body 2.0, and upper body. Figuring out which muscles are supposed to be stretched by given leg poses has been a struggle for me ever since circuit fitness and weightlighting classes in college. I stand in a pose and it's still a question mark wether I'm supposed to trigger the calves, the hamstrings, the quads, or the tendon on the front of the leg, And it seems to change every time I try. Completed (?).
Calories In:
I also had my blood pressure checked at the doctor today, due to my history of high BP. I came in... well below the target range! Given that I have a nasty habit of forgetting my meds, I'm gonna say it's cardio for the win! Thanks, Darebee!
Tuesday through Thursday - May 21st - 23rd, 2024
Ironheart - Days 21, 22, and 23. Tuesday - Tendons. Wednesday - Upper Body with 15s. Thursday - Lower Body with 15s. The tendon stretches for this program remain a little unclear, but they're doable. All three days completed.
Abs & Core Challenge - Days 20 and 21 on Tuesday, skip Wednesday, 22 and 23 on Thursday. Lots of Knees to Elbows and Plank Twists. Complete, with the aforementioned issues.
Unbound - Days 21, 22, and 23. Lower body, lower body 2.0, and upper body. Figuring out which muscles are supposed to be stretched by given leg poses has been a struggle for me ever since circuit fitness and weightlighting classes in college. I stand in a pose and it's still a question mark wether I'm supposed to trigger the calves, the hamstrings, the quads, or the tendon on the front of the leg, And it seems to change every time I try. Completed (?).
Calories In:
- Tuesday - 2292
- Wednesday - 3648 (bought saltine crackers, ate half a pound)
- Thursday - 3256 (ate the other half a pound, the nurse who took my BP today said I shouldn't do that)
- Tuesday - 3083
- Wednesday - 3822
- Thursday - 3400
- Tuesday: -791
- Wednesday: -174 (and I've been doing so well...)
- Thursday: -144 (at least the saltines are gone!)
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Friday through Sunday - May 24th - 26th, 2024
REI and Garmin have a pretty decent sale going on right now (through June 16th), so I finally took the plunge and started switching over from Fitbit to Garmin. Since Fitbit's take over by Google, things have been slowly going downhill, at least with the functionality of their app and website. Rumor is their hardware is slowly falling apart as well, but I haven't noticed it yet. So now, I have to figure out how the new tech works in order to properly track my calorie intake.
Ironheart - Days 24, 25, and 26. Reset, Upper Body with 15s, Lower body with 15 lbs. Upper Body can be a bit of a pain, as I really should change weights throughout the workout. Shrugs, it was 20 for the basic slow shrugs, plus 16 quick shrugs per set. Everything else was fine, though lunges remain uncomfortable.
Abs & Core Challenge - Days 24, 25, and 26. Complete, no problems.
Unbound - Days 24, 25, and 26. No easy way to split these up, they all seem to be lower body and core, with a smattering of arm work. All days complete.
Calorie Counts: As I said, undone. I'm splitting my record here, because Monday was... a day. I also think I've got partially down how the calorie system works with Garmin's and MyFitnessPal's apps and websites. Fully tracking workouts might take a bit of time.
REI and Garmin have a pretty decent sale going on right now (through June 16th), so I finally took the plunge and started switching over from Fitbit to Garmin. Since Fitbit's take over by Google, things have been slowly going downhill, at least with the functionality of their app and website. Rumor is their hardware is slowly falling apart as well, but I haven't noticed it yet. So now, I have to figure out how the new tech works in order to properly track my calorie intake.
Ironheart - Days 24, 25, and 26. Reset, Upper Body with 15s, Lower body with 15 lbs. Upper Body can be a bit of a pain, as I really should change weights throughout the workout. Shrugs, it was 20 for the basic slow shrugs, plus 16 quick shrugs per set. Everything else was fine, though lunges remain uncomfortable.
Abs & Core Challenge - Days 24, 25, and 26. Complete, no problems.
Unbound - Days 24, 25, and 26. No easy way to split these up, they all seem to be lower body and core, with a smattering of arm work. All days complete.
Calorie Counts: As I said, undone. I'm splitting my record here, because Monday was... a day. I also think I've got partially down how the calorie system works with Garmin's and MyFitnessPal's apps and websites. Fully tracking workouts might take a bit of time.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Monday - May 27th, 2024
Okay, here it is! Finally, the rarest of things has happened! At least for where I live in mid-spring, that is. I have a day off (it's Memorial Day in the USA), it's mostly sunny, and I have a day off to recover (work gives me a floating holiday). So... I get to go on my hike!
For reference, the last time I went for this hike, things looked one way. Today, they look a little clearer:
In 1980, the mountain that's now visable went boom. This had a somewhat dramatic effect on the landscape.
But give it time and nature will rebuild what it remove.
Not sure if I've mentioned it, but I've been wanting to get up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, a vistor's center and research facility fairly close to the mountain, for a number of years now. I just never seem to find the time or motivation to get out there. Well, in May of last year an early warm snap caused an unusual snow melt. The melt mixed with the loose pumice that makes up large amounts of the mineral soil in the area, which turned into a major landslide that shot down a creek canyon. That landslide took out a bridge, a piece of the highway, and the power lines that ran to the Observatory. Fortune favored them all, because the vistor's center portion of the facility was not open yet. The plan had been to open it up to the public on May 15th, and the slide occured on the 14th. No one was on the road and no general public was trapped on the other side. The research staff were evacuated with a lot fewer problems then they might have had. Since then, they built a temporary fix to the road and got everything they needed out of the site, but the fix didn't hold. So it's been decided that they will go for the full repair and keep the road closed until at least 2026. That means I have no way to get to the Observatory.
Unless I want to do it the hard way.
My hike ran along two trails that lead along Johnston Ridge just north of the mountain itself. The Hummocks Trail head sits just before the Road Closed barriers are set up, so no trouble getting access. You park and go onto Hummucks Trail for half a mile. It's pretty easy going, nice and doable for a day hike. That trail continues on for another 2 miles or so, but I turn off at the start of Boundary Trail. Boundary Trail is noticibly narrower, one person wide instead of two like Hummocks was. It's not too harsh for a while, though, but it's not that far before the climb starts. About 3.5 miles (5.6 km) and 2.25 hours later, you've ascended about 1800 feet (550 meters) along a path that is usually flat and solid, but occasionally turned to an uncomfortable angle by landslides. As noted, pumice does not make for solid foundations. More than once, I considered turning back, since my tendons aren't fully ready for this sort of work, but how embarrassing would that be? This brought me to the Loowit Viewpoint. My legs, and my clock since I got another late start, told me okay, this is good enough. But there's the Observatory, only another .75 miles (1.2 km) and 300 feet (100 meters) up to go. I mean I can see the thing from here...
Well, it's not the first time I've had to use a flashlight to get off a mountain. Hustle, hustle, hustle... and...
I made it! And the views...
100% worth it! I actually didn't need my flashlight by the end, though I felt like I needed crutches as I Old Man Hobbled my way back to my car just before sunset at 9 pm. Now I only have to drive out of a mountain valley in the dark.
Distance: 9.74 miles (15.67 km) round trip
Elevation Gain: 1,981 ft (604 meters), ending at 4,202 ft (1281 meters) above sea level. I live at 185 ft (56 meters), incidentally. Ahh, sweet oxygen!
Time: 5 hrs, 35 minutes
Calories Burned: 2,785
As can be expected... No other workouts today. My hamstrings and associated tendons are saying no thank you, so I think I've had enough.
I'll leave the stretching and the DOMS for tomorrow.
If I've got this right...
Calories In: 3298
Calories Out: 4726
Deficit: -1428. Yay!
Tuesday - May 28th, 2024
Hey! Not quite as sore as I thought I'd be! I'm still kind tender just above the knees, but not as bad as I thought I'd be. Time for some light housework, a bit of shopping and then, if I can pull it off, workouts!
Ironheart - Day 27. Tendon Strength. Great! It's kind of like stretching! ... Ouch, no it's not. I did better with the arm raises, but still had to shake my arms out twice in the process. Complete.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 27. Knees to Elbows. Complete, no problems.
Unbound - Day 27. Okay, this is more like stretching, and its lower body too. Great! Complete.
Stretching for Runners Workout. I'm going to add this one in for a few days, just to make sure everything's on the up and up. Garmin told me that I needed 72 hours of recovery after that hike, but we'll see about that! Did 30 second stretches with an indeterminate rest time between sets. Complete.
Calories In: 1969
Calories Out: 2413
Deficit: -444. Not quite to target, but yesterday makes up for it. Also I'm a little unclear how the goals work in these new apps. In the words of my college science classes, more research is needed.
Okay, here it is! Finally, the rarest of things has happened! At least for where I live in mid-spring, that is. I have a day off (it's Memorial Day in the USA), it's mostly sunny, and I have a day off to recover (work gives me a floating holiday). So... I get to go on my hike!
For reference, the last time I went for this hike, things looked one way. Today, they look a little clearer:
In 1980, the mountain that's now visable went boom. This had a somewhat dramatic effect on the landscape.
But give it time and nature will rebuild what it remove.
Not sure if I've mentioned it, but I've been wanting to get up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, a vistor's center and research facility fairly close to the mountain, for a number of years now. I just never seem to find the time or motivation to get out there. Well, in May of last year an early warm snap caused an unusual snow melt. The melt mixed with the loose pumice that makes up large amounts of the mineral soil in the area, which turned into a major landslide that shot down a creek canyon. That landslide took out a bridge, a piece of the highway, and the power lines that ran to the Observatory. Fortune favored them all, because the vistor's center portion of the facility was not open yet. The plan had been to open it up to the public on May 15th, and the slide occured on the 14th. No one was on the road and no general public was trapped on the other side. The research staff were evacuated with a lot fewer problems then they might have had. Since then, they built a temporary fix to the road and got everything they needed out of the site, but the fix didn't hold. So it's been decided that they will go for the full repair and keep the road closed until at least 2026. That means I have no way to get to the Observatory.
Unless I want to do it the hard way.
My hike ran along two trails that lead along Johnston Ridge just north of the mountain itself. The Hummocks Trail head sits just before the Road Closed barriers are set up, so no trouble getting access. You park and go onto Hummucks Trail for half a mile. It's pretty easy going, nice and doable for a day hike. That trail continues on for another 2 miles or so, but I turn off at the start of Boundary Trail. Boundary Trail is noticibly narrower, one person wide instead of two like Hummocks was. It's not too harsh for a while, though, but it's not that far before the climb starts. About 3.5 miles (5.6 km) and 2.25 hours later, you've ascended about 1800 feet (550 meters) along a path that is usually flat and solid, but occasionally turned to an uncomfortable angle by landslides. As noted, pumice does not make for solid foundations. More than once, I considered turning back, since my tendons aren't fully ready for this sort of work, but how embarrassing would that be? This brought me to the Loowit Viewpoint. My legs, and my clock since I got another late start, told me okay, this is good enough. But there's the Observatory, only another .75 miles (1.2 km) and 300 feet (100 meters) up to go. I mean I can see the thing from here...
Well, it's not the first time I've had to use a flashlight to get off a mountain. Hustle, hustle, hustle... and...
I made it! And the views...
100% worth it! I actually didn't need my flashlight by the end, though I felt like I needed crutches as I Old Man Hobbled my way back to my car just before sunset at 9 pm. Now I only have to drive out of a mountain valley in the dark.
Distance: 9.74 miles (15.67 km) round trip
Elevation Gain: 1,981 ft (604 meters), ending at 4,202 ft (1281 meters) above sea level. I live at 185 ft (56 meters), incidentally. Ahh, sweet oxygen!
Time: 5 hrs, 35 minutes
Calories Burned: 2,785
As can be expected... No other workouts today. My hamstrings and associated tendons are saying no thank you, so I think I've had enough.
I'll leave the stretching and the DOMS for tomorrow.If I've got this right...
Calories In: 3298
Calories Out: 4726
Deficit: -1428. Yay!
Tuesday - May 28th, 2024
Hey! Not quite as sore as I thought I'd be! I'm still kind tender just above the knees, but not as bad as I thought I'd be. Time for some light housework, a bit of shopping and then, if I can pull it off, workouts!
Ironheart - Day 27. Tendon Strength. Great! It's kind of like stretching! ... Ouch, no it's not. I did better with the arm raises, but still had to shake my arms out twice in the process. Complete.
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 27. Knees to Elbows. Complete, no problems.
Unbound - Day 27. Okay, this is more like stretching, and its lower body too. Great! Complete.
Stretching for Runners Workout. I'm going to add this one in for a few days, just to make sure everything's on the up and up. Garmin told me that I needed 72 hours of recovery after that hike, but we'll see about that! Did 30 second stretches with an indeterminate rest time between sets. Complete.
Calories In: 1969
Calories Out: 2413
Deficit: -444. Not quite to target, but yesterday makes up for it. Also I'm a little unclear how the goals work in these new apps. In the words of my college science classes, more research is needed.
MadamMeow
Well-known member
Fae
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
"I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but Im too young to worry..."
Thank you for the background on all of this and all of the amazing pictures!
That is pretty epic how you how you got there!
That is pretty epic how you how you got there!
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thank you, @Fremen and @MadamMeow! It was a great trip, and yeah, felt pretty epic by the time I drug my legs back into the car.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - May 29th through 31st, 2024
Month's over! So far, I'm kind of likeing the way Fitbit tracks calories burned more than Garmin does, but I may just not have the settings fiddled right. Or they may just both calculate the same way and I'm only seeing a different interface. It looks like Garmin calculates based on time and a base metabolic rate defined by how active I self report as. I always thought Fitbit tracked by estimating calories burned based on skin temperature, giving a more real time look at how much fat your burning. Either way, I'm not sure how accurate the Garmin is on giving me a target for calories in vs calories out. It's also being kind of rude about my training status, just because I don't sleep.
Ironheart - Days 28, 29, and 30. Upper body with 15 lb weights, lower body with 15 lb weights (really should have been 20s), and tendons. Everything went swimmingly, except single leg deadlifts which were difficult to keep my balance on. Complete, and Program Complete!
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 28, 29, and 30. Complete! It still feels like my Plank Twists are a little sloppy, but I think they're okay. Just okay, though.
Unbound - Day 28, 29, and 30. Everything looks good, except Day 30 - Exercise 2. There's no way I can keep my balance and knees bent like that. I ended up just on that one knee instead of sitting low and making do. Clearly, my balance and stretching still need work. Beyond that, complete!
Stretching for Runners Workout. Continued doing this every day. Complete.
For 31st only:
Calories In: 2680
Calories Out: 2535
Deficit: +145. Looks like the problems were a bag of chips in the morning and a bag of M&Ms in the early evening. Bad willpower.
Saturday - June 1st, 2024
It's a new month, but I'm not starting a new program just yet. I have a surgery scheduled early in the month. Nothing serious, but serious enough that they perscribed the really strong painkillers for afterwards. No sense starting a full program if I end up having to take a week off to heal up. As is, it's Ninja Time! And the good news is, I've learned what Casual Training actually means this time.
Walk. Problems coming up with the calorie counts, and I spent most of the day sleeping. So I went out for a weekend walk, especially considering it's supposed to rain tomorrow and I might not get the chance then. Basic trip around the park. I know the distance and how my stats usually come out, so this will make a good test of the Garmin equipment.
Distance: 3.12 miles
Duration: 58 minutes
Calories Burned: 442. Yeah, Fitbit might have been overestimating my burn. That, or I need to pick up the pace.
No Burpees (Trust Me) Workout. Lower Body and Core cardio workout for first day of the training plan. I don't have to jump, so that's great for the neighbors in my apartment building. And no lunges which is nice for my knees. Completed at Level 3 with EC. I, and Garmin, might be low-balling my cardio capacity.
Epic Legs Challenge. Sumo Squats and Holds. Almost forgot! Finished 3 minutes before sunrise, so... done?
Calories In: 2868
Calories Out: 2682
Deficit: +186. Today's problem: saltines again. The Calories In is handled by MyFitnessPal, though, and they seem to think I'm still going to lose weight over the weeks. There may be something weird going on with the numbers.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - May 29th through 31st, 2024
Month's over! So far, I'm kind of likeing the way Fitbit tracks calories burned more than Garmin does, but I may just not have the settings fiddled right. Or they may just both calculate the same way and I'm only seeing a different interface. It looks like Garmin calculates based on time and a base metabolic rate defined by how active I self report as. I always thought Fitbit tracked by estimating calories burned based on skin temperature, giving a more real time look at how much fat your burning. Either way, I'm not sure how accurate the Garmin is on giving me a target for calories in vs calories out. It's also being kind of rude about my training status, just because I don't sleep.
Ironheart - Days 28, 29, and 30. Upper body with 15 lb weights, lower body with 15 lb weights (really should have been 20s), and tendons. Everything went swimmingly, except single leg deadlifts which were difficult to keep my balance on. Complete, and Program Complete!
Abs & Core Challenge - Day 28, 29, and 30. Complete! It still feels like my Plank Twists are a little sloppy, but I think they're okay. Just okay, though.
Unbound - Day 28, 29, and 30. Everything looks good, except Day 30 - Exercise 2. There's no way I can keep my balance and knees bent like that. I ended up just on that one knee instead of sitting low and making do. Clearly, my balance and stretching still need work. Beyond that, complete!
Stretching for Runners Workout. Continued doing this every day. Complete.
For 31st only:
Calories In: 2680
Calories Out: 2535
Deficit: +145. Looks like the problems were a bag of chips in the morning and a bag of M&Ms in the early evening. Bad willpower.
Saturday - June 1st, 2024
It's a new month, but I'm not starting a new program just yet. I have a surgery scheduled early in the month. Nothing serious, but serious enough that they perscribed the really strong painkillers for afterwards. No sense starting a full program if I end up having to take a week off to heal up. As is, it's Ninja Time! And the good news is, I've learned what Casual Training actually means this time.
Walk. Problems coming up with the calorie counts, and I spent most of the day sleeping. So I went out for a weekend walk, especially considering it's supposed to rain tomorrow and I might not get the chance then. Basic trip around the park. I know the distance and how my stats usually come out, so this will make a good test of the Garmin equipment.
Distance: 3.12 miles
Duration: 58 minutes
Calories Burned: 442. Yeah, Fitbit might have been overestimating my burn. That, or I need to pick up the pace.
No Burpees (Trust Me) Workout. Lower Body and Core cardio workout for first day of the training plan. I don't have to jump, so that's great for the neighbors in my apartment building. And no lunges which is nice for my knees. Completed at Level 3 with EC. I, and Garmin, might be low-balling my cardio capacity.
Epic Legs Challenge. Sumo Squats and Holds. Almost forgot! Finished 3 minutes before sunrise, so... done?
Calories In: 2868
Calories Out: 2682
Deficit: +186. Today's problem: saltines again. The Calories In is handled by MyFitnessPal, though, and they seem to think I'm still going to lose weight over the weeks. There may be something weird going on with the numbers.
MadamMeow
Well-known member
Fae
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
"I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but Im too young to worry..."
Congrats for all those challenges! 
And really hope your surgery goes well and you can heal up fast.
And really hope your surgery goes well and you can heal up fast.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thank you, @MadamMeow and @Fremen!
Sunday - June 2nd, 2024
Helios Workout. Casual Training Mode. I did all 7 sets seperated by about an hour, give or take. I didn't do the workout's recommend EC, keeping my arms up the whole time, but I did my own EC by adding 3 lb / 1.3 kg weights. I discovered that there's a pretty severe difference between holding the weights for a minute vertically versus holding them horizontally, as in I managed to do a full minute vertically on the last set where horizontally I could barely hold them 30 seconds. Complete!
Epic Legs Challenge. Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises, 40 count per side. Complete.
Calories In: 2154
Calories Out: 2547
Deficit: -393. Not bad!
Monday - June 3rd, 2024
Oh, I need some extra calories to get started. I guess I'll get a bag of chips... Oh look! The job site I'm at has donuts! Not bad if I have one... Well, I probably shouldn't buy that chocolate chip cookie... Oh. Look at my calorie count now. Good thing it's a cardio day.
Web Workout. I picked this one because I was looking for a cardio workout I could do indoors. It was functional, mostly climbers, plank stuff, and shoulder taps, but I don't think it really brought my heart rate up enough to get the cardio effect I was hoping for.
Walk. I needed the extra calorie burn, even with my cardio workout above. I tried adding in a couple of running segments, but only finished two of them, mostly because of leg issues. In response, I added a litle extra distance on the last lap, which led me up a pretty nasty hill. Not too bad, but Garmin data is saying my VO2 Max is pretty pathetic. I'll need to start boosting that run time.
Distance: 2.3 miles
Duration: 40 minutes
Calories Burned: 283
Epic Legs Challenge. Sumo Squats and Holds. Complete!
Exercise of the Day: Sumo Squats. Well, I just did a whole bunch, why not a whole bunch more? Complete!
Calories In: 2849
Calories Out: 2699
Deficit: +355. That's about the calorie count of that cookie. It was a good cookie, though.
Tuesday - June 4th, 2024
Another casual training day. Tough to work this in with my job, but I'll do what I can.
Fitness Drills. I remember this one! Took some doing to find it, but here it is. Jumping Jacks, raised arm circles, and 2 sets of side leg raises. I wasn't super willing to do the lunges and a couple other things that popped up under my conditions, but this worked okay.
Walk. I was going to do more Fitness Drills, but then I fell asleep. Better grab some cardio! An extended lap around the neighborhood, which leads me up a nice constant hill, then to a walking path in a park that I could jog through.
Distance: 2.08 miles
Duration: 35.75 minutes
Calories Burned: 262. For half an hour, still seems a bit low, but it's hard to say.
Epic Legs Challenge. Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises, 40 count per side. Complete.
Calories In: 2577
Calories Out: 2542
Deficit: +35. I'm pretty sure 0 is the proper target for weight loss, so this seems okay.
Sunday - June 2nd, 2024
Helios Workout. Casual Training Mode. I did all 7 sets seperated by about an hour, give or take. I didn't do the workout's recommend EC, keeping my arms up the whole time, but I did my own EC by adding 3 lb / 1.3 kg weights. I discovered that there's a pretty severe difference between holding the weights for a minute vertically versus holding them horizontally, as in I managed to do a full minute vertically on the last set where horizontally I could barely hold them 30 seconds. Complete!
Epic Legs Challenge. Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises, 40 count per side. Complete.
Calories In: 2154
Calories Out: 2547
Deficit: -393. Not bad!
Monday - June 3rd, 2024
Oh, I need some extra calories to get started. I guess I'll get a bag of chips... Oh look! The job site I'm at has donuts! Not bad if I have one... Well, I probably shouldn't buy that chocolate chip cookie... Oh. Look at my calorie count now. Good thing it's a cardio day.
Web Workout. I picked this one because I was looking for a cardio workout I could do indoors. It was functional, mostly climbers, plank stuff, and shoulder taps, but I don't think it really brought my heart rate up enough to get the cardio effect I was hoping for.
Walk. I needed the extra calorie burn, even with my cardio workout above. I tried adding in a couple of running segments, but only finished two of them, mostly because of leg issues. In response, I added a litle extra distance on the last lap, which led me up a pretty nasty hill. Not too bad, but Garmin data is saying my VO2 Max is pretty pathetic. I'll need to start boosting that run time.
Distance: 2.3 miles
Duration: 40 minutes
Calories Burned: 283
Epic Legs Challenge. Sumo Squats and Holds. Complete!
Exercise of the Day: Sumo Squats. Well, I just did a whole bunch, why not a whole bunch more? Complete!
Calories In: 2849
Calories Out: 2699
Deficit: +355. That's about the calorie count of that cookie. It was a good cookie, though.
Tuesday - June 4th, 2024
Another casual training day. Tough to work this in with my job, but I'll do what I can.
Fitness Drills. I remember this one! Took some doing to find it, but here it is. Jumping Jacks, raised arm circles, and 2 sets of side leg raises. I wasn't super willing to do the lunges and a couple other things that popped up under my conditions, but this worked okay.
Walk. I was going to do more Fitness Drills, but then I fell asleep. Better grab some cardio! An extended lap around the neighborhood, which leads me up a nice constant hill, then to a walking path in a park that I could jog through.
Distance: 2.08 miles
Duration: 35.75 minutes
Calories Burned: 262. For half an hour, still seems a bit low, but it's hard to say.
Epic Legs Challenge. Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises, 40 count per side. Complete.
Calories In: 2577
Calories Out: 2542
Deficit: +35. I'm pretty sure 0 is the proper target for weight loss, so this seems okay.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Wednesday - June 5th, 2024
Okay... surgery day. It's dental surgery, so it's not that bad. But I was warned that I'm gonna be in pain afterwards. So, best thing is to get my workouts out of the way first. Then, the torture experts can carve my jaw up like it's a Saw movie. The upside, of course, is that it will be a while before I can run my calorie counts up with Starbucks cookies.
I Was Promised Cookies Workout. Difficulty 3 cardio workout, but that's a bit reduced as I did it indoors. That means step jacks instead of jumping jacks and my butt kicks were a little slow. Otherwise, it actually felt pretty brutal on the upper arms. Completed at Level 2, time's running out.
Epic Legs Challenge. Sumo Squats and Holds. Complete!
Calories: I'm pretty much skipping the calorie tracking this week. I'm on a weird diet and that's going to throw everything off.
Thursday - June 6th, 2024
Wow, they really oversold how much pain I was going to be in. The surgery hurt, sure, but two naproxen after I got home and everything's been fine. I've got the next four days off, but I'm supposed to take it easy. If I get my heart rate up, my blood pressure goes up. If the blood pressure goes up, the bleeding can restart. So... skip day!
Friday - June 7th, 2024
Yep, this still doesn't hurt. Can't believe they expected me to need codeine for this. The plan is to keep taking it easy, but at least I can get the Challenge caught back up.
Epic Legs Challenge. Days 6 and 7. Leg Raises, Side Leg Raises, Sumo Squats, and Holds. Complete!
Exercise of the Day. Balance Holds. The second leg was a little unbalanced. Done, but not very well.
Saturday - June 8th, 2024
Yet another chill day. Everything is proceeding as planned, so time to up the work a bit.
Outdoor Work. I'm only including this, because there was a bit of work involved. I planted a tree!
There were actually two trees, but I suspect that the other one isn't going to make it. Still, it involved hauling five gallons of water, a 5 (and a third) gallon bucket full of compost, bark mulch, a shovel, and a watering can across 60 yards / meters of open field, covered in dense grass, wildflowers, invasive weeds, and the remains of unexpected old offroading wheel ruts. Then I got eaten by moquitos and other assorted flying bugs while I dug two small holes and planted the trees. There was a side trip to water the other tree I planted out there some time ago, which is doing fairly well (top leaves keep getting blown off, but the lower trunk ones are fine). I probably should have done a calorie count while I did it, but oh well. Suck up some carbon, little tree!
Epic Legs Challenge. Day 8. Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises. Complete!
Exercise of the Day. Plank Step Outs. Complete!
Done! Still no calorie counts. Maybe tomorrow, but I'm planning on adding a walk in to make sure I'm good to go for work on Monday.
Okay... surgery day. It's dental surgery, so it's not that bad. But I was warned that I'm gonna be in pain afterwards. So, best thing is to get my workouts out of the way first. Then, the torture experts can carve my jaw up like it's a Saw movie. The upside, of course, is that it will be a while before I can run my calorie counts up with Starbucks cookies.
I Was Promised Cookies Workout. Difficulty 3 cardio workout, but that's a bit reduced as I did it indoors. That means step jacks instead of jumping jacks and my butt kicks were a little slow. Otherwise, it actually felt pretty brutal on the upper arms. Completed at Level 2, time's running out.
Epic Legs Challenge. Sumo Squats and Holds. Complete!
Calories: I'm pretty much skipping the calorie tracking this week. I'm on a weird diet and that's going to throw everything off.
Thursday - June 6th, 2024
Wow, they really oversold how much pain I was going to be in. The surgery hurt, sure, but two naproxen after I got home and everything's been fine. I've got the next four days off, but I'm supposed to take it easy. If I get my heart rate up, my blood pressure goes up. If the blood pressure goes up, the bleeding can restart. So... skip day!
Friday - June 7th, 2024
Yep, this still doesn't hurt. Can't believe they expected me to need codeine for this. The plan is to keep taking it easy, but at least I can get the Challenge caught back up.
Epic Legs Challenge. Days 6 and 7. Leg Raises, Side Leg Raises, Sumo Squats, and Holds. Complete!
Exercise of the Day. Balance Holds. The second leg was a little unbalanced. Done, but not very well.
Saturday - June 8th, 2024
Yet another chill day. Everything is proceeding as planned, so time to up the work a bit.
Outdoor Work. I'm only including this, because there was a bit of work involved. I planted a tree!
There were actually two trees, but I suspect that the other one isn't going to make it. Still, it involved hauling five gallons of water, a 5 (and a third) gallon bucket full of compost, bark mulch, a shovel, and a watering can across 60 yards / meters of open field, covered in dense grass, wildflowers, invasive weeds, and the remains of unexpected old offroading wheel ruts. Then I got eaten by moquitos and other assorted flying bugs while I dug two small holes and planted the trees. There was a side trip to water the other tree I planted out there some time ago, which is doing fairly well (top leaves keep getting blown off, but the lower trunk ones are fine). I probably should have done a calorie count while I did it, but oh well. Suck up some carbon, little tree!
Epic Legs Challenge. Day 8. Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises. Complete!
Exercise of the Day. Plank Step Outs. Complete!
Done! Still no calorie counts. Maybe tomorrow, but I'm planning on adding a walk in to make sure I'm good to go for work on Monday.
MadamMeow
Well-known member
Fae
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
"I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but Im too young to worry..."
Very glad your surgery went well and is not affecting you with too much aftermath!
And really hope your tree grows healthy and strong.
And really hope your tree grows healthy and strong.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
I and my tree thank you, @Fremen and @MadamMeow! I got out on Friday and watered it again. Both trees are still alive so far! 
Just 500 years more to go.
Last Week - June 9th - 14th, 2024
Things were done. I don't remember them all, but I kept track of Epic Legs Challenge. A few days needed to be doubled up, but I'm still on track. I'm also more or less back in fighting shape for working out. At least until Tuesday when I go back to the dentist and find out how things are going with the surgery healing. I'm also getting pretty good with the new Garmin gear. Between the new tracking methods and the changes to my diet, my weight is dropping... a little too fast. And it shows that I'm losing muscle mass more than fat. I'll switch my Ninja plan out starting on Sunday for the Knight plan, full body strength and tone workouts, with weights, to keep the muscle from falling back. Hopefully, as well, I can up my protein count in my food
Saturday - June 15th, 2024
Things happened. I don't remember what, but it was a Saturday, so it probably wasn't important. Except for those hot dogs I ate. Probably shouldn't have done that.
No Burpees Workout. Cardio! Difficulty 3. I've done this one before, as it's nice to be able to do this one in an apartment. Nothing too tough, completed at Level 3
Epic Legs Challenge. Day 14. Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises. Sharp jump in reps from the last day, and the counts are not the same for the two exercises. Odd, but fine. I'm also behind a day. I'll have to make that up somewhere down the road. Completed
Calories: Didn't count. Cheat weekend.
Sunday - June 16th, 2024
First day of strength training! Fortunately, I have a group of workouts saved from the last time I did this plan.
Classic Warmup. Thought I'd give this a try. Quick, but it didn't feel super effective as a warm up. Maybe trading out the side arm raises and hops for differnt styles of jacks?
Armory Plus Workout. It's been a while, so here we go. 5 lb weights on the punches, 20 pounds on everything else. Set 1, full length push ups. Sets 2 and 3, settled for knee push ups, it was just a bit much stacked with the curls to do full lengths. Kinda shaky on the side planks as well. Completed at Level 1. Yep, this hits right where I'm at!
Exercise of the Day - 30 Seconds Knees-to-Elbows. I could use the core work.
Epic Legs Challenge. Day 15. Sumo Squats and Holds. Completed. No catch up.
Monday - June 17th, 2024
Rest Day! Training by numbers hasn't worked out well so far, but my job keeps me on my feet, so work really could count as an active rest day. I'll tack a few things on at the end, though, just to help with the calorie count.
Walk. I needed a little extra calories burned after eating mishaps. Plus, the Amazon locker is half a mile away. Still, it's a rest day, so I'll take it slow.
Distance: 1.28 miles
Duration: 26 minutes
Calories Burned: 147
Epic Legs Challenge. Day 16. Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises. Completed.
Calories In: 2448
Calorie Goal: 2225
Deficit: +223. Maybe I should have had 1 burger at McDs, not 2... Or just not gone.
Just 500 years more to go. Last Week - June 9th - 14th, 2024
Things were done. I don't remember them all, but I kept track of Epic Legs Challenge. A few days needed to be doubled up, but I'm still on track. I'm also more or less back in fighting shape for working out. At least until Tuesday when I go back to the dentist and find out how things are going with the surgery healing. I'm also getting pretty good with the new Garmin gear. Between the new tracking methods and the changes to my diet, my weight is dropping... a little too fast. And it shows that I'm losing muscle mass more than fat. I'll switch my Ninja plan out starting on Sunday for the Knight plan, full body strength and tone workouts, with weights, to keep the muscle from falling back. Hopefully, as well, I can up my protein count in my food
Saturday - June 15th, 2024
Things happened. I don't remember what, but it was a Saturday, so it probably wasn't important. Except for those hot dogs I ate. Probably shouldn't have done that.
No Burpees Workout. Cardio! Difficulty 3. I've done this one before, as it's nice to be able to do this one in an apartment. Nothing too tough, completed at Level 3
Epic Legs Challenge. Day 14. Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises. Sharp jump in reps from the last day, and the counts are not the same for the two exercises. Odd, but fine. I'm also behind a day. I'll have to make that up somewhere down the road. Completed
Calories: Didn't count. Cheat weekend.
Sunday - June 16th, 2024
First day of strength training! Fortunately, I have a group of workouts saved from the last time I did this plan.
Classic Warmup. Thought I'd give this a try. Quick, but it didn't feel super effective as a warm up. Maybe trading out the side arm raises and hops for differnt styles of jacks?
Armory Plus Workout. It's been a while, so here we go. 5 lb weights on the punches, 20 pounds on everything else. Set 1, full length push ups. Sets 2 and 3, settled for knee push ups, it was just a bit much stacked with the curls to do full lengths. Kinda shaky on the side planks as well. Completed at Level 1. Yep, this hits right where I'm at!
Exercise of the Day - 30 Seconds Knees-to-Elbows. I could use the core work.
Epic Legs Challenge. Day 15. Sumo Squats and Holds. Completed. No catch up.
Monday - June 17th, 2024
Rest Day! Training by numbers hasn't worked out well so far, but my job keeps me on my feet, so work really could count as an active rest day. I'll tack a few things on at the end, though, just to help with the calorie count.
Walk. I needed a little extra calories burned after eating mishaps. Plus, the Amazon locker is half a mile away. Still, it's a rest day, so I'll take it slow.
Distance: 1.28 miles
Duration: 26 minutes
Calories Burned: 147
Epic Legs Challenge. Day 16. Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises. Completed.
Calories In: 2448
Calorie Goal: 2225
Deficit: +223. Maybe I should have had 1 burger at McDs, not 2... Or just not gone.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Tuesday - June 18th, 2024
Strength training! Also... more dental work! This process is going to be a lot longer than I thought, but at least today was just suture removal and a bit of cleaning. No pain killers needed.
Everyday Stretching. Still looking for a good warmup that doesn't drag me into cardio territory. This worked pretty well.
Hunter Workout. Between the dental work and kind of crashing to a nap late in the day, I decided against weights today. Plus there were Lunges and Archer Lunges, which aren't my strong suit. So I went Hunter instead of Hunter Plus. Switched from full length pushups to knee pushups on the second and third sets. Completed at Level 2. I probably could have gone harder, but I didn't.
Epic Legs Challenge. Day 17. Sumo Squats and Holds. Completed. Still no catch up.
Calories: Made a bad move with food purchases. Now I have a bunch of unhealthy food to go through, and it just feels a little terrible to throw it out.
Wednesday - June 19th, 2024
Rest Day! And it's more or less a proper rest day, as I don't even have work today. It's Juneteenth, the celebration day for slavery being abolished in the United States. If you're wondering about the weird name, it turns out that the last holdout of slavery was Texas. The state surrendered to the Union forces in the Civil War on one day, but it took a week for word to stretch across a very large state (add the surface area of France and Greece together and you roughly get Texas). So there wasn't really a single day that the slaves were freed, which is the reason for the strange name.
Walk. It's supposed to be active rest, so let's get a little burn.
Distance: 1.6 miles
Duration: 28 minutes
Calories Burned: 174
Epic Legs Challenge. Days 18 and 19. Sumo Squats and Holds, plus Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises. All caught up! Completed.
Thursday - June 20th, 2024
Third Day of Strength Training. Plenty of steps logged in during work, but no specific "walk" done. And once again, I crashed after getting home and took a three hour nap. I should consider going to bed earlier.
Full Stretch Workout. Still working on the warmup. Completed with EC.
Endgame Plus Workout. 15 pound weights, even on the punches. It occurs to me I should have used EC or 20 lb weights, but that was then. Plenty of sweat, though not much in the way of muscle ache. Definitely need to go harder on this one next time. Completed at Level 2.
Epic Legs Challenge. Day 20. Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises. Completed.
Time for bed...
Strength training! Also... more dental work! This process is going to be a lot longer than I thought, but at least today was just suture removal and a bit of cleaning. No pain killers needed.
Everyday Stretching. Still looking for a good warmup that doesn't drag me into cardio territory. This worked pretty well.
Hunter Workout. Between the dental work and kind of crashing to a nap late in the day, I decided against weights today. Plus there were Lunges and Archer Lunges, which aren't my strong suit. So I went Hunter instead of Hunter Plus. Switched from full length pushups to knee pushups on the second and third sets. Completed at Level 2. I probably could have gone harder, but I didn't.
Epic Legs Challenge. Day 17. Sumo Squats and Holds. Completed. Still no catch up.
Calories: Made a bad move with food purchases. Now I have a bunch of unhealthy food to go through, and it just feels a little terrible to throw it out.
Wednesday - June 19th, 2024
Rest Day! And it's more or less a proper rest day, as I don't even have work today. It's Juneteenth, the celebration day for slavery being abolished in the United States. If you're wondering about the weird name, it turns out that the last holdout of slavery was Texas. The state surrendered to the Union forces in the Civil War on one day, but it took a week for word to stretch across a very large state (add the surface area of France and Greece together and you roughly get Texas). So there wasn't really a single day that the slaves were freed, which is the reason for the strange name.
Walk. It's supposed to be active rest, so let's get a little burn.
Distance: 1.6 miles
Duration: 28 minutes
Calories Burned: 174
Epic Legs Challenge. Days 18 and 19. Sumo Squats and Holds, plus Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises. All caught up! Completed.
Thursday - June 20th, 2024
Third Day of Strength Training. Plenty of steps logged in during work, but no specific "walk" done. And once again, I crashed after getting home and took a three hour nap. I should consider going to bed earlier.
Full Stretch Workout. Still working on the warmup. Completed with EC.
Endgame Plus Workout. 15 pound weights, even on the punches. It occurs to me I should have used EC or 20 lb weights, but that was then. Plenty of sweat, though not much in the way of muscle ache. Definitely need to go harder on this one next time. Completed at Level 2.
Epic Legs Challenge. Day 20. Leg Raises and Side Leg Raises. Completed.
Time for bed...
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Sunday - June 30th, 2024
Hey! Okay, things were done over the last ten days, but not consistant enough or memorable enough to write about. So, I'll lead with today. Today... I changed the oil in my car. Hooray!
Walk. As exciting as changing the oil was, it didn't exactly burn calories. So, off I go. Mostly, a basic around the park walk, though I did a bit of an add-on. The route leads me through a high school sports field, complete with a baseball field that someone spent money on. So, I went up and down the bleachers to get a bit more climb in. Only ran into one shady character while doing it, too, so that was a bonus. Otherwise, it's a nice night. Not sure what the phase of the moon is, but it wasn't up at 10 pm, so I'm going to guess somewhere around the new moon. <checking...> Waning crescent, 32% illumination, closer to new than half! Nice!
Distance: 3.23 miles
Duration: 1 hr
Calories Burned: 394. The new Garmin equipment is definitely reading lower on calories burned than the Fitbit did. Probably a good thing for weight loss, I guess.
Epic Legs Challenge. Days 29 and 30. Sumo Squats, Holds, Leg Raises, and Side Leg Raises. I've been missing days and having to double up, but I finished up the last two today. Challenge kinda complete!
Calories In: 2668
Calorie Goal: 2352
Deficit: -316. Not really on target, but it's still on the good side.
Tomorrow, a new program. The training plan didn't work super well for me, I guess I just need more structure. I've got a vacation right in the middle of the month and I need a program that works with where I'm going, so I'm redoing 60 Days of Walking. It seems to help with my weight loss goals anyway. The monthly challenge is the Better Core Challenge, so that's on the docket. I'm also stacking in the 50 Push-Ups in One Go Challenge, with an eye toward doing them when I first wake up, where the walking is usually a night time thing. I was going to do the 50 Push-Ups Challenge, but that takes starting out at doig three sets of 10, which I found over the last month that I'm not able to do any more. Maybe next month.
Hey! Okay, things were done over the last ten days, but not consistant enough or memorable enough to write about. So, I'll lead with today. Today... I changed the oil in my car. Hooray!
Walk. As exciting as changing the oil was, it didn't exactly burn calories. So, off I go. Mostly, a basic around the park walk, though I did a bit of an add-on. The route leads me through a high school sports field, complete with a baseball field that someone spent money on. So, I went up and down the bleachers to get a bit more climb in. Only ran into one shady character while doing it, too, so that was a bonus. Otherwise, it's a nice night. Not sure what the phase of the moon is, but it wasn't up at 10 pm, so I'm going to guess somewhere around the new moon. <checking...> Waning crescent, 32% illumination, closer to new than half! Nice!
Distance: 3.23 miles
Duration: 1 hr
Calories Burned: 394. The new Garmin equipment is definitely reading lower on calories burned than the Fitbit did. Probably a good thing for weight loss, I guess.
Epic Legs Challenge. Days 29 and 30. Sumo Squats, Holds, Leg Raises, and Side Leg Raises. I've been missing days and having to double up, but I finished up the last two today. Challenge kinda complete!
Calories In: 2668
Calorie Goal: 2352
Deficit: -316. Not really on target, but it's still on the good side.
Tomorrow, a new program. The training plan didn't work super well for me, I guess I just need more structure. I've got a vacation right in the middle of the month and I need a program that works with where I'm going, so I'm redoing 60 Days of Walking. It seems to help with my weight loss goals anyway. The monthly challenge is the Better Core Challenge, so that's on the docket. I'm also stacking in the 50 Push-Ups in One Go Challenge, with an eye toward doing them when I first wake up, where the walking is usually a night time thing. I was going to do the 50 Push-Ups Challenge, but that takes starting out at doig three sets of 10, which I found over the last month that I'm not able to do any more. Maybe next month.
Congratulations
MadamMeow
Well-known member
Fae
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
from
Central NJ
Posts: 1,374
"I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but Im too young to worry..."
Congrats for Epic Legs! If you did it, you did it. It counts.
LongSlowBurn
Well-known member
Pirate
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
from
Washington State, USA
Posts: 119
"My most important classes in college were Kung Fu, Judo, and Beginning Gym Tumbling: those are the classes that taught me how to fly through the air and land on my head without dying."
Thank you, @MadamMeow, @HellYeah, @Fremen, and @graoumia!
Temperatures are rising here in the Pacific Northwest. Stay shaded and hydrated everyone! Unless you're in the southern hemisphere, in which case bundle up for the winter!
Monday - July 1st, 2024
50 Push-Ups in One Go Challenge. Day 1. Morning push-ups for the... win? Completed.
60 Days of Walking Program. Day 1. Almost changed my mind on this one. I expected to have to do a 90 minute walk and just was not feeling that right off the bat. But, turns out it's only a 60 minute go. I did that yesterday, so this shouldn't be a problem. Complete.
Distance: 3.35 miles
Duration: 1 hr
Calories Burned: 383
Better Core Challenge. Day 1. Balance Swings. Kind of awkward, but doable. Completed
Calories In: 2,778
Calories Burned: 2,585
Deficit: +193. Oops. Don't even remember how that happened.
Tuesday - July 2nd, 2024
50 Push-Ups in One Go Challenge. Day 2. Push-Ups, no problem. Yet. Complete.
60 Days of Walking Program. Day 2. 45 minute walk, plus upper body work. Easy peasey!
Distance: 2.61 miles
Duration: 45.5 minutes
Calories Burned: 292
Better Core Challenge. Day 2. Side Bridges. Oblique training was something that was always skipped in my circuit and weight training classes. No idea why. Complete.
Calories In: 3224
Calorie Burned: 2685
Deficit: +539
Wednesday - July 3rd, 2024
50 Push-Ups in One Go Challenge. Day 3. Push-up planks. Man, that burns. Complete.
60 Days of Walking Program. Day 3. 45 minute walk, followed by lower body workout. Complete.
Distance: 2.57 miles
Duration: 45 minutes
Calories Burned: 292. Weird that its the exact same as yesterday, but confirmed. Still weird.
Better Core Challenge. Day 3. Balance Swings. Still awkward, but complete.
Calories In: 2718
Calorie Burned: 2878
Deficit: -160. Well, we're headed in the right direction!
Thursday - July 4rd, 2024
Hopefully, nothing gets in the way of my workouts and calorie counting today...
Oops. Never mind.
50 Push-Ups in One Go Challenge. Day 4. Push-ups and done when I woke up, so no interference here. Complete.
60 Days of Walking Program. Skip day! It's too late at night, there are too many nutjobs firing off explosives, and I am definitely more ready for bed at this point.
Better Core Challenge. Day 4. Side bridges. This was quick enough to hit just before bed, so no issues there. Complete.
Calories In: Haha! There were dinner rolls and chips and burgers and ice cream!
Calorie Goal: Less than the Calories In.
Deficit: Not good.
Friday - July 5rd, 2024
50 Push-Ups in One Go Challenge. Day 5. Push-ups. Already getting tough, but still doable. We'll see when I reach 16 per set. Complete.
60 Days of Walking Program. Day 4. 60 minute walk. Good lord it's hot. Not compared to other places, maybe, not here in the Pacific Northwest, but its still pretty warm. Siesta really should be a thing in the USA. But another night walk done.
Distance: 3.45 miles
Duration: 1 hr 1 minute
Calories Burned: 407
Better Core Challenge. Day 4. Balance swings. Complete, plus a bit of weird knee pain. Its possible I have a bit of tendon inflammation. Complete.
Calories In: 2046
Calorie Burned: 2371
Deficit: -325. This seems low for a deficit, but various programs seem to think its good. Oh well.
Temperatures are rising here in the Pacific Northwest. Stay shaded and hydrated everyone! Unless you're in the southern hemisphere, in which case bundle up for the winter!
Monday - July 1st, 2024
50 Push-Ups in One Go Challenge. Day 1. Morning push-ups for the... win? Completed.
60 Days of Walking Program. Day 1. Almost changed my mind on this one. I expected to have to do a 90 minute walk and just was not feeling that right off the bat. But, turns out it's only a 60 minute go. I did that yesterday, so this shouldn't be a problem. Complete.
Distance: 3.35 miles
Duration: 1 hr
Calories Burned: 383
Better Core Challenge. Day 1. Balance Swings. Kind of awkward, but doable. Completed
Calories In: 2,778
Calories Burned: 2,585
Deficit: +193. Oops. Don't even remember how that happened.
Tuesday - July 2nd, 2024
50 Push-Ups in One Go Challenge. Day 2. Push-Ups, no problem. Yet. Complete.
60 Days of Walking Program. Day 2. 45 minute walk, plus upper body work. Easy peasey!
Distance: 2.61 miles
Duration: 45.5 minutes
Calories Burned: 292
Better Core Challenge. Day 2. Side Bridges. Oblique training was something that was always skipped in my circuit and weight training classes. No idea why. Complete.
Calories In: 3224
Calorie Burned: 2685
Deficit: +539
Wednesday - July 3rd, 2024
50 Push-Ups in One Go Challenge. Day 3. Push-up planks. Man, that burns. Complete.
60 Days of Walking Program. Day 3. 45 minute walk, followed by lower body workout. Complete.
Distance: 2.57 miles
Duration: 45 minutes
Calories Burned: 292. Weird that its the exact same as yesterday, but confirmed. Still weird.
Better Core Challenge. Day 3. Balance Swings. Still awkward, but complete.
Calories In: 2718
Calorie Burned: 2878
Deficit: -160. Well, we're headed in the right direction!
Thursday - July 4rd, 2024
Hopefully, nothing gets in the way of my workouts and calorie counting today...
Oops. Never mind.
50 Push-Ups in One Go Challenge. Day 4. Push-ups and done when I woke up, so no interference here. Complete.
60 Days of Walking Program. Skip day! It's too late at night, there are too many nutjobs firing off explosives, and I am definitely more ready for bed at this point.
Better Core Challenge. Day 4. Side bridges. This was quick enough to hit just before bed, so no issues there. Complete.
Calories In: Haha! There were dinner rolls and chips and burgers and ice cream!
Calorie Goal: Less than the Calories In.
Deficit: Not good.
Friday - July 5rd, 2024
50 Push-Ups in One Go Challenge. Day 5. Push-ups. Already getting tough, but still doable. We'll see when I reach 16 per set. Complete.
60 Days of Walking Program. Day 4. 60 minute walk. Good lord it's hot. Not compared to other places, maybe, not here in the Pacific Northwest, but its still pretty warm. Siesta really should be a thing in the USA. But another night walk done.
Distance: 3.45 miles
Duration: 1 hr 1 minute
Calories Burned: 407
Better Core Challenge. Day 4. Balance swings. Complete, plus a bit of weird knee pain. Its possible I have a bit of tendon inflammation. Complete.
Calories In: 2046
Calorie Burned: 2371
Deficit: -325. This seems low for a deficit, but various programs seem to think its good. Oh well.