Type R when you’re ready!

So now it is time for a new challenge! This one is inspired by some recent self-discovery which I will get into in a bit.

From Today Sunday August 23^rd until September 24^th the challenge is to exercise for 30 min. every day. The intensity and what you do is dealers choice, and if you already work out daily, add an extra 30 min.

Many of you might be thinking that it is impossible/impractical for you to exercise EVERY day for 30 min, but I guarantee you it is not. Exercising is more than just hitting the gym or jogging for 5 miles! It can be playing with your kids, walking around the mall, building a life size replica of the Star Ship Enterprise (letter of your choosing) out of Popsicle sticks! Ok maybe not that last one, but you get the point. Though, when will you find the time? Do I really need to say it? Do I? As a character on the big bang theory might say “if you have time to lean, you have time to exercise!”, it’s about prioritizing our time. The other thing is, if you can’t do 30 min at once, can you do two 15 min or three 10 min? It’s ok to do it that way too! I know when I first started 30min wouldn’t have been do able, and if that’s the case, break it up to what ever amount you need to in order to get through the 30.

Here is my before picture(Taken after my first 30 min work out):

Take your own and if you want to share it feel free to post on my Facebook!

What brought this about? As I wrote before I was doing really well, empowered and on top of the world. I quickly found myself laying face first in the mud (cake?) and struggling again. Why did I do so well the previous weeks, and do so poorly now? There is ONE thing that stood out to me, and it’s something I have been dealing with along time. I am a computer gaming addict.

I have been getting on my computer the moment my kids are in bed, sometimes even before, and I won’t get up (outside needing to take a Bio break for bathroom/food/drink) till 12-1am. 7:00ish-1am I am on the computer. That is a part time job. If it’s the weekend and we aren’t busy, I’ll be on it all day as well. I can easily put in 40 hours a week of gaming, and when I am not gaming, all I think about is gaming. Building a new design in Space Engineers, or what quest should I run next in Guild War and so on. If left to my own devices I would, and have, game non-stop. It is effecting my health and my relationships, as I don’t want to do things with others when it might take up gaming time. I worry/freak out if I won’t be able to log on to get my “daily” reward on GW2. There is an upcoming trip to Raleigh NC for the National At-Home Dad Network annual convention, and I almost wasn’t going to go. Reason being? I won’t be able to log in for my daily reward. A trip I have been looking forward to since last year, missed, all over a stupid game. About a month or so ago, I felt the game was taking up to much of my time and I deleted it. I said goodbye to my guild mates, and in less than 24 hours I was back on again. It is addicting being someone else, in a world that you “control”.

What does this have to do with my challenge? For about 2 weeks I wasn’t playing my game very much, just logged on and got my daily, putzed around, and done. Not only did I feel focused, I felt happy and alive. I was wanting to do things, and be with people! I started playing again, and the more I played the more those happy thoughts disappeared. Spending time with my wife or working out on my bike seemed less enjoyable than slaying centaur or mining some ore on a distant asteroid. My hope is to try and find a balance between the different areas of my life. I made my personal goal to workout after the kids go down for the night and before I do any gaming. 30 min on my trainer and perhaps add in some running during the week when my oldest is in preschool.

I am focusing on my after picture, how amazing I will feel when I get to take it and say that I accomplished this small goal!

Big Boned Biker

PS
Sorry if this post seems scattered brained, I am starting to come down with a cold, but that won’t stop me 🙂

Day 15/30

What a cluster duck of a day! The other issue is I’m addicted to a new game: Space engineers! Up till 2am playing it every night, and I don’t think that is helping. Going to focus on getting more sleep and see if it helps.

Day 14/30

This is how my “week” began, and it wasn’t pretty. I don’t know why but I’m very depressed right now, but pretty sure it is the Christmas blues. Christmas was always s big deal for my mom, and with the boys getting older it hits me more that she is gone. I did get in a small workout at least.

Day 12/30

Short today as my phone is dying! Was a decent day, felt in control. Week is planned out and groceries are bought!

Day 11/30

I made poor choices, I made more poor choices, I made the most poor choices. Good news is I am home for the week, with no big out of town traveling for a while. Yet, why did I make the poor choices? I let my situation dictate my eating. On the road? Need snacks and fast food! We had planned a nice time to get home where I could make a quick dinner, but due to a traffic jam( Man was threatening to jump off a bridge) it was to late. We fed the boys, my oldest picked subway, which I promptly decided to go with…well i should have atleast. Instead, one the boys go to bed I ordered pizza, and am really feelking sick from it right now. I am bloated and feel like someone is squzzing my face. Water tomorrow, and a bike ride for sure!

So here it is Day 11

Day 11/30

Day 8/30

Today was a tough one, dealt with some cranky kids and really just wanted to snack! I did well though, I stayed within my points. I had a doctor’s appoitment tonight and on the way home stopped for a soda. While I was there I remembered I had some poitns left over from dinner..CANDY TIME! I spent some time going through and finally settled on some sour gummy worms. As I walked up to pay for my prize, I thought “Am I hungry, and if so will this help”? Yes, I was hungry, but no gummy worms wouldn’t help. I put down the gummy worms, with reverence I hung them back on their shelf. Instead, I ate some leftovers from dinner for the same amount of points.

Overall I would call that a good day!

Day 8/30

Day 7/30

I have been on weight watchers for a long time now, yet sometimes I still find little “surprises” in my tracker. Here is how I thought my day would be today :

What I thought it was…

Nice and sensible, I even talked my wife into getting one! I must say I love the Egg White Veggie Wrap, and for 4 points I usually get two of them. A few hours later my wife texts me, turns out I was ordering the FLATBREAD not the wrap. CRAP! UGH! ARGH!  How could I be so idiotic? I have been eating this for 6 months now and never made sure I was tracking the right freaking thing. My wife told me to not worry, learn from it and move on. I DON’T WANT TO JUST MOVE ON! I wanna go cry in my pillow and scream out my frustration. I have been saying “track it and move on” to much lately and the scale is showing me. After a bit though I calmed down, looked at my tracker, and started to learn.

The reason this had me so pissed off though, is because  I had  my day worked out already! I had even earned about 6 activity points. My goal for the week is to use no weeklies/Activity points, but that was becoming a bust on day one. You see, I am a creature of habit, every Wednesday I order the same meal, I order it the same way, and even tend to sit in the same spot. However, I had to change it today and drop the chips, and still digging 3 points into my weeklies. *argh* I will not let this get me down though, and will just keep pushing forward! I won’t be weighing in officially for the rest of this year due to schedule but will still be doing it at home. Based on that I was down #3.4!

So here is how my day ended up:

…what it really was!

Day 6/30

Ugh, stress hit me bad yesterday. I ended up eating those feelings, and it turns out that the feelings didn’t go away.
Here is day 6/30

Day 5/30

What a rebound! I put on the gloves and stepped back into the ring. Pork chops in the left corner(thin this times) and me the heavyweight champ in the right! That’s about all the boxing no know. The chops came out great, made some garlic, onion and broccoli steamed, with a bit of rosemary. Sadly I’m the only one who liked it but more for me.

Well here it is….

Day 4/30

Burn baby burn….had a great workout tonight, though I wish I knew how far/fast I was going. I have a bike computer on my bike but it runs off the front wheel sadly. Today was pretty good, went and visited a friends church, lazed around the house, just a nice chill-axing Sunday. We had dinner planned out, baked bbq pork chops, mashed potatoes, fresh broccoli(for steaming). When I went to cook it though is when it all flew down hill. The pork chops were thicker than I had thought they were, so they did cook right. This lead us to order out for dinner…and the tracker will tell the rest of the story.

 

I wasn’t going to post this, I realized how easy it would be for me to fake it, none of you would ever know! I honestly feel ashamed to post this, which despite how it may seem, isn’t want this is about. I am not looking for sympathy, I am looking for change in myself. Right now, this moment, will stay etched in my mind. I don’t like this feeling, the food wasn’t that good, it wasn’t amazing, it is NOT worth feeling this shame, regret, and tummy ache(can you tell I have kids?).

 

 

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Day 4/30