Tag: adult

Welcome to my diary

It’s amazing how quickly you can fall into a bad habit. It’s day 19 of my daily blogging and I’ve already caught myself only writing blogs that give advice or have a clear defined point to them.

But the thing is,

this is my personal website and essentially my daily journal. I’m not selling anything, I’m not marketing myself as some sort of guru, I’m just out here living my life. My intention for this blog is to document my life so years from now I can go back and read about… myself… oh wow, how narcissistic, Emily.

That’s why I initially started by documenting “something I couldn’t stop thinking about from yesterday” on my first couple blogs. That didn’t really work because all of my days run together as one long existence. But nonetheless, I would still like to daily blog.

That all being said, sometimes my blogs will be short and sweet and uninteresting.

Future readers:

I wanted to inform all of you that when you come across a post like this it’s most likely because I’m half asleep sitting on my recliner at 6am writing my stream of (semi)conscience thoughts.

Future Emily:

You’re welcome girl, this is for you. Hang in there.

 

Hey future me, have you figured out what this contraption is yet?

11 Day Progress

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Good morning, internet.

Alright, so I skipped a daily blog for yesterday. I’ve had some weird adult life stuff happen recently and it has sent my anxiety so far through the roof that it is on the moon. I also have to go to the dentist today, so yeah, I’m super excited. But that’s beside the point.

I said I’d update my numbers on day 10, so here’s my day 11 numbers update!

(I’m a dependable adult, yes, hi.)

Weight: 188.8 lbs (down 3 lbs)
Body Fat Percentage: 36.2% (The goal is 25%)
Neck: 35.5 cm
L Arm: 31 cm (up 1 cm)
R Arm: 31 cm (up 1 cm)
Chest: 109.5 cm (down 1.5 cm)
Waist: 100 cm (down 3 cm)
Hips: 113 cm
L Thigh: 59 cm
R Thigh: 59 cm

Everything seems to be going in the right direction! WooHoo!

But listen

Since the autumn solstice I’ve been slacking I’ve been sleeping. It’s so dark in the morning now and contrary to popular belief being a morning workout person does NOT commensurate being a morning person. They’re very different personality traits.

However, here I go… off to the gym… turning over a new leaf… in the dark.

Pick your Goal

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I don’t have a whole lot to say this morning. Maybe it’s my commitment to this 90 days or maybe it’s a detrimental personality trait that I want to get a blog up today anyway, regardless of the length or quality. Hmm. But this is actually something that’s on my mind a lot…

…So I listen to a lot of podcasts. I really hopped on that pod-trend. And one podcast in particular that I like to listen to while I’m at the gym is the “Let’s Run” Podcast by Pahla B Fitness. (She recently changed the name, so now it’s “Fitness Matters” if you’re looking for it.) Now I feel like her YouTube channel and her podcast is geared more towards the older crowd, 40 years and above, but she is one of the most inspiring podcasters that I’ve found.

The reason I bring her up though is because she has the sweetest voice I’ve ever heard but she is perilously realistic with the advice she chooses to give. One thing that I heard from her at the very beginning of my initial weight loss odyssey was essentially:

If you want many different things, such as to lose weight and gain muscle and run a 5K, you have to pick one at a time or you won’t be able to efficiently or fully accomplish any of them.

(Disclaimer: I know that is in a cool little quote box, but that is not a direct quote from her, it’s just my paraphrasing.)

You can see how alarming this would be to a dabbler such as myself. When she was talking about this she used those three specific goal examples and I happen to actually want all three of those things! At that time in my life I was

  • doing tons of cardio to drop the pounds,
  • weightlifting for an hour 5 days a week to gain those muscles,
  • and incorporating interval running a couple evenings a week to teach myself how to properly run any distance at all.

I’m not saying I took her word as gospel, but I was a teensy bit crushed.

Make no mistake I was definitely seeing results but I was also exhausted. Not just physically but emotionally, too. I knew deep down in my multitasker’s heart that it wasn’t sustainable. So I decided that Pahla was the excuse I would give myself to focus on weight loss instead of a bunch of different things.

I don’t know if I’m seeing better results yet but I do feel like I can sustain this lifestyle now for as long as it takes to be completely satisfied. I don’t feel like all my goals are a race to the finish line anymore (haha, pun!).

And that’s the thing about goals, health goals in particular: I enjoy working towards something! I’ve found that the times my anxiety flares up the most is when I lose my intention for things. (To be fair that’s a chicken and egg situation because I don’t know which of those causes the other.) So why do I feel like all of my fitness goals need to be finished immediately?

Full honesty here:

To wrap up this blog all nice and neatly I was trying to think of other examples of non-health goals that I have that I don’t feel like need to accomplish as quickly as possible and apparently I don’t have any. My brain has informed me that all of my ambitions on a very tight schedule. Cool. No wonder I’m a collection of procrastination and nervous energy wrapped in skin. Love that.

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We’re all works in progress anyway. No one really knows what they’re doing.

A Week of (mostly) Health

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Fun Fact: Did you know that 5:10pm in Abu Dhabi is 8:10am in Kentucky? Does that mean that I can drink while I watch this live F1 race? It’s 5 o’clock somewhere, amirite?

It’s been a whole week! (Yeah, I stopped doing the day numbers in the titles so I had to count. That’s going to get really confusing.)

A week in review:

  • I have acquired a Body Fat percentage scale (thanks Black Friday Amazon deals) so I will update all my numeric data next week sometime. Maybe on day 10, that’s a nice round number.
  • I think my body is now used to waking up early. It’s certainly not happy about it, but it’s used to it for the most part. I woke up naturally at 7am the other day. I mean, I went back to bed because I didn’t have to work that day, but I did wake up for a few minutes! I’d count that.
  • I’m in the routine of blogging every day! Woo!

I’ve worked out 4 of the past 6 days, eaten healthy 3 of the past 6 days (it was Thanksgiving, I have no regrets), and blogged every day! I think that’s a pretty good start.

*brushes off shoulder dramatically*

I’m feeling good about this. I’m feeling strong and committed.

Also, just so you all know, this website / blog won’t be entirely about health and weight loss. Fitness and health happens to be what I’m dabbling in right now and I can’t think about anything else.

This is what I’m talking about when I say I jump into the deep end with things; heath has consumed my life for the past couple months.

That novel I am writing? Nah, I gotta go to the gym.

Getting back to charcoal drawing? Nope, need to scour pinterest for healthy recipes.

Picking up my violin? I’ll do it later.

Gaming? Back burner.

I’m not proud of this quality. I’m trying to get better, which is part of the reason I started this blog. It wasn’t really intended for an audience (though I greatly appreciate anyone who gives a hoot about my daily ramblings), but it was a quick and dirty way to get my brain to do something besides obsess over my current obsession. I think it’s working! Finger’s crossed.

Okay, I’m going to watch this race now. Does anyone else watch Formula 1? Go Ricciardo! Woo!

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Lola’s body is far from used to waking up early. 

Thanksgiving Grocery Trip

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Good morning, internet! Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, so I’m stuck in this weird in-between head space where I’m still the youngest in all of my circles but I’m independent to a fault, so I have a hard time deciding what level of adult I want to be on the daily.

Example:

I demanded that my mom and mother-in-law both asked me to bring something for each Thanksgiving dinner today, because “I’m a month away from being 26 years old! I can handle bringing a side dish for Thanksgiving!”

And yet here I sit… two hours before I need to leave the house… staring at store-bought boxes of pasta salad that’s only ingredient needed is mayonnaise… but that I cannot make because I don’t have mayonnaise.

Do you see what I mean?

See, this would be fine if I was normally a hot mess. But I teeter anywhere between the situation above and then making four different pies from scratch (including the crust) from apples and blueberries that I took special trips to an orchard to pick specifically for my pies. Yeah, I don’t know what to say either. 

Anyway, I will make a more coherent post tomorrow because I need to go to Kroger.

*sigh*

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See? I did this. Pinterest who? How am I the same person right now as the person who did this.