Project Me Check in

Here were my goals for the month of January:


My plan for the month of January are as follows:

Fitness: Crossfit 4x a week for a total of 20 times. Yes, that is technically more than 4x a week but I can squeeze in an extra workout during the entire month. Also, walking the dogs 4x a week for a total of 20 times. Success will be measured if I meet those goals.

I went to Crossfit 14 times in the month of January. A little bit short of my goal. I walked the dogs about 10 times this month, far short of my goal of 20.

Health: Prepping my food for the week every Sunday this month, that is 5x. Taking my breakfast and lunch every day this month except January 5th. That will be a total of 17 breakfasts and lunches due to a couple of holidays. Success will be measured by meeting these numbers.

I prepped food almost every Sunday. The problem with this is that I did not always prep breakfast and lunch. Some Sundays I prepped only lunch or only breakfast.

Work: Have a plan when I return on the 6th for each class. Enter zeros for work not turned in the same day the assignment is due. Enter grades for work turned in no later than the next day and all grades for the week entered in by Friday. Success will be measured by not having any ungraded papers when I leave school on Friday.

This has been about 90% successful. The homework thing has been working pretty well and I think this week was the only week I left with ungraded papers.

School: This is the hardest one. I will work on my prospectus every morning for 15-30 minutes. I will work on classwork every night for at least one hour. Success for my prospectus will be measured by having the prospectus completed and submitted by the end of January. Success in my classwork will be measured by not having to sit for hours on Saturday and Sunday completing assignments at the last minute.

This one I failed completely on. I did not work on my prospectus every morning and I only worked on it once or twice. I did not work on my classwork every night and in fact fell completely behind and messed up my deadlines. I now have to sit this weekend and work my butt off.

Finances: Moratorium on all but necessary spending for the month of January. Check the accounts every day for the balances. Keep track of all spending.

This was fairly successful. For the most part I did not spend any money this month. I did spend some tonight, but that was the first time all month.

Now that January is over, it is time to move on to February:

Fitness: Again, Crossfit 20 times a month and dog walking 20 times a month. This month is a short month so the Crossfit goal will mean not missing one workout. I can do it, I just need to stay focused. As for the dog walking, this month allows for 24 dog walks, but I'm cutting myself a little slack for weather and unforeseen circumstances.

Health: Prep, prep, prep. Every Sunday I will prep breakfast and lunch for the week. Success will be taking breakfast and lunch 19 times this month.

Work: Work on being organized and keeping up on my grading. Success will again be measured by having no grading left when I leave on Friday afternoon.

School: Classes end in 2 weeks and new ones don't start until March. Since I did not complete my prospectus as planned this month, I will spend February focused on that. I will devote one hour every night to working on it. I will work on getting organized and figuring out exactly how I want to do this. I will then have the prospectus ready to turn in when new classes start.

Finances: There will continue to be a moratorium on spending. I have a couple of things to do this month to work on getting finances in order. I will take care of those things and continue not spending.

January was a slow start, but I feel like I'm gaining momentum. I think February will be better. At least I'm going to work on February being better.

Quick note before Crossfit

Just read a great article about why people don't lose weight. The author had a number of valid points, but what it really all boils down to is being honest with yourself and being responsible for your own actions. Truth be told, I have some problems with these things. It is easy to forget that I had a treat for breakfast and have a treat for dinner. I can blame others/my schedule/insert anything here for why I didn't eat right/workout/insert anything here, but it all boils down to choices I make. Yesterday I came home and laid down on the couch. I fell asleep and did not get up for the 4pm Crossfit class. When I did get up I decided that I was too tired for the 5pm class. Choices. By 5:15 I was wide awake, so I blatantly lied to myself. Choices. Choices I made. So here's some brutal honesty. Tracking my food everyday is the only way to be absolutely positive that I'm not 'treating' myself too much. Also, I need to be brutally honest with my tracking. There have been times when I've not been sure and so erred on the low side. Weighing, measuring, and tracking are the only ways to be truly accountable. And the workouts. Not only did I fall asleep yesterday - which I knew would happen when I laid down - but I allowed myself to skip the dog walk on Thursday because I was so tired. Why was I so tired? Because I had not been using my planning and organization skills to the best of my ability and so I was more stressed out at work then necessary. So brutal honesty and no excuses, that's the way it has to be.

Let's review

Tomorrow is the last day of January and the end of my first month of Project Me. I will create a month in review post, but right now I want to talk about this past week. This week was a mixture of successes and not so successful. I did learn a couple of things though.

I know that reviewing my day the night before works for me. If I take 10 minutes before I got to bed and review my schedule and plans for the next day, I am much more productive the next day. It is like my mind stores these things overnight and by the next morning it is a fact. I like that.

I know that by writing things down I am much less stressed. By making to-do lists or even just notes about what I want to do, I am much less stressed. Not only do I not worry about what I have to do, I don't worry that I'm forgetting anything. It makes life much easier.

Getting things ready the night before works for me. I don't stress in the morning trying to get things ready. I don't have to think or cook in the morning. Plus, I am more likely to make good choices when prepping my food the night before. Too often, when prep is left for the morning, I will decide to buy and that is not good.

I did not do these things every night. Towards the end of the week things started to fall apart. Yesterday I was completely exhausted when I got home and I started the day with breakfast at Starbuck's. Today I had breakfast at Burger King and I missed Crossfit because I fell asleep when I got home. And, just to make things even worse, I am behind on my school assignments and that is stressing me out completely.

So, this week was not awesome, but the problems are easy to fix. Tonight I'm going to do a little planning and then over the weekend I will write a monthly recap.

Project Me Update

I have not done an update since the 9th, so I thought it was about time. Things have been going pretty darn well. Not perfect, but then I'm not perfect.

This week has been good. I only missed 2 of my scheduled 5 Crossfit visits and 2 of my scheduled dog walks. Though in my defense, it has been raining for two days and that was why there was no dog walk. Eating has been good also. I have had sugar more than I wanted to, but it has not been out of control. The best thing that I did this week was switch my thinking. On Tuesday I got this:

And I have really gotten into it. I absolutely love planners and this one is awesome. I have scheduled all my Crossfit and dog walks in it and there is just something about having it scheduled. It becomes a given. If it's in my book it must be so. And that just makes life so much easier. I sit down every night and go over the next day, make any changes that I need to, or add anything that has come up. That information and plan for the day gets put into my head and it becomes fact. I love it. I am going to use this as a way to get my Crossfit habit back and to make sure the dogs get walked more often than not.

Tonight will be spent prepping for next week and making sure my plan is good. I am on the right track and making progress.

Energy, redux

Yesterday I never got to the point of the post, it was related to the title and picture. So I'm going to try again today.

Last week was pretty good, not perfect but acceptable. One of the things I noticed was my energy levels change. On Tuesday I had a ton of energy during the day and into the evening. Wednesday my energy levels were also pretty good. I had open house that night and was at school until almost 8:30pm. I felt pretty good though, tired but not exhausted. Thursday I also felt good. A little tired by not excessively so. I did not go to Crossfit, but I came home and walked the dogs even though I really didn't feel like it. Friday I was exhausted. I struggled to get through the day. The last half of the day I was yawning and yawning. I did not want to go to Crossfit, but I did. Then went out to dinner at the racquet club. The point, and what I noticed, is that when I do Crossfit and walk the dogs (or one or the other) I have more energy the next day. Eating right definitely helps too, but the working out and walking the dogs is huge. Energy creates energy. I can feel my energy levels increase when I workout and so that right there is enough to keep it up.

Yesterday I woke feeling pretty good and went to the partner throwdown, I'll talk more about that in a minute. I came home and was hungry. Hubby made breakfast and I showered and got dressed. It was rainy and cold so I put on some warm clothes. After breakfast I got sleepy. Really. Really. Sleepy. I ended up laying on the couch for a large part of the day watching TV and snoozing. It was so nice. Sometimes you just need a down day to rest, relax, and recharge. I did that yesterday. Last night we went out to dinner, chinese food, and then home and in to bed shortly thereafter. I really relaxing day.

The partner throw down was fun. I did not have a partner, so I paired up with another member who was also partnerless.

WOD #1:
15 min EMOM
Partner 1: 5 KB push presses then hang from bar while
Partner #2 does max jumping lunges
Every minute switch. Score is total number of jumping lunges.

REPS:  272          

WOD #2
Weight ladder
For each bar:  Deadlift 1pt; Clean 2pts; Front Squat 3pts; Thruster 4pts.
Weights started at 45# and went to 115# in 10 lb increments.
I managed to thrust the first 4 - woo hoo

SCORE: 43

WOD #3:
6 rounds for time, 10 minute time cap
10 deadlift - 115#
10 KB swings - 35#
10 burpees
Partners alternate rounds

TIME: 7:58

It was a fun time. I really enjoy these kind of things because it is the closest I will ever get to the games. It is fun to compete because that is when you really push yourself. I like it and had a really good time.

Energy

This week I have been working my way back into healthy habits. These things don't happen immediately, but I have developed a plan and determined to follow through. So I have been eating good, whole food and trying to stay under 1500 calories a day. For the most part I have been successful. I have also realized that I need to get back into the Crossfit habit. When I started Crossfit I really felt great and lost weight. Then I stopped losing weight. Then I stopped feeling great. I couldn't understand why, I was still doing Crossfit. Then I realized that I had lost the consistency. In the beginning, I loved it so much, I never missed a workout. Then I got to where I didn't love it as much and I started missing workouts. Then I started missing weeks. Once I missed almost a month. So getting back into the habit of Crossfit is part of my goal. I'm working on this by having a plan. My plan for this week played out as follows:

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday - Crossfit
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday - dog walk

I ended up not doing much at all on Monday. Tuesday was good, I did Crossfit and walked the dogs. Wednesday was open house so nothing happened. Thursday I walked the dogs but decided against Crossfit as I want to get back into my routine of 3 days on 1 off, 2 on 1 off. That not only worked well for me before, but creates specific days that I go and I like that. So I skipped Thursday and went last night. I'm going today for the partner throwdown and I will go tomorrow. Then it's Monday off, and so on.

The most important thing that has happened this week is that I'm changing my mind set. Instead of thinking how tired I am after school, I'm just thinking that Crossfit is on my schedule and I have to go. That is a much better attitude. At least until I get to the point where I am excited about going every time...yeah, not there yet.... Also, I have passed up a number of sweet treats this week and I am very proud of myself. I have decided that sugar is non-negotiable. I will not be eating it and that has helped me keep away from it. I did have a piece of cake last night and it was terrible. I just don't think it's worth it. Or better yet, I will save my treats for something that is worth it and not something store bought.

Okay, have to go get ready for the partner throw down, this should be fun.

Time for a change

I have a terrible habit of getting stuck in ruts. Now don't get me wrong, I like routine, but ruts are a different story. Ruts can be harmful if you are not careful. I realized that I am in a rut and I need to shake things up. As I eluded to yesterday, last week was a train wreck. I hardly worked out, I ate like crap, I didn't walk the dogs, a complete and total train wreck. A large part of it has to do with my thought processes. I am always looking to the next thing. I can never see to focus on the present and I am looking to the future. As a result I lose sight of what's important. Also, my knee is acting and when I walk my back hurts. I know this is due to my weight. If I have any plans of not being in pain, I have to lose weight. So, in light of the train wreck that was last week and the fact that I am tired of being in pain, I am instituting a few changes.

1. Crossfit and dog walking are non-negotiable. No matter how tired/hungry/lazy/whatever I am I will do both. 
2. Eating right is non-negotiable. I will only eat good, whole foods and I will not, under any conditions, eat sugar. Sugar is completely verboten. 
3. When at work I will focus solely on work. No Facebook, no Walden, no nothing, only work. 
4. I will not beat myself up for not working on Walden work. I will work on it when I can and when I'm motivated to. If I'm not motivated to do it, I won't and I will not beat myself up about it. I will get it done. 
5. Water, water, water...I will drown in it.......

Okay, I need to start viewing things in this way and not as if I'm trying. Do or do not, there is no try. That is how I will view things. Okay, now my schedule for this week: 

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday - Crossfit 

Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday - dog walk

Wednesday I have an open house so I will not have time to walk the dogs but I may be able to squeeze in Crossfit. 

Okay, I'm changing the way I think and I'm going to change my world. Yes!!!!

Lost my focus

I cannot focus on more than one thing at a time. For some reason, I just cannot maintain focus on different things. I try very hard to compartmentalize so that I can focus on one thing at a time, but that doesn't always work. This week it did not work at all. Let me lay out my sins:

• I only went to Crossfit twice
• I did not walk the dogs at all
• I did zero school work
• I did not pack my food two days
• I ate sweets three days (I think)
• and water was as scare as in the dessert

Now, you might ask what I did instead. What was so important that I could lose focus on the things that I have deemed IMPORTANT (in all caps)?  And I would respond nothing. I did not do anything with the time that should have been spent doing these things. I took naps, watched TV, and played games. 

LAST NIGHT'S DINNER WAS POT PIE AND NUTTER BUTTERS!!!!! Yes, I'm shouting at myself. 

Okay, time to shake it off and refocus. This week is going to be tough as we have visitors form the mainland for the week. Since it is Hubby's son, I am expecting to spend a lot of time alone. He is going to want to go out and spend as much time with him as possible. I don't blame him at all, but I can't do that. He has the week off work, I don't. So this will be a tough week in that I will be presented with a lot of situations that are not optimal. But I need to face them and deal with them. 

My focus this week is going to me moving and eating. I need to get these under control and I need to do it now. I feel like a fat, bloated whale. 

On that note, I will probably not get to Crossfit today as I need to clean house and wait for the Terminix guy. So I will use this time to my advantage and move. Once that is done I will do some school work. I have three assignments due tomorrow so I need to get working on them. Tomorrow I will go to Crossfit, finish any assignments not done, and prep food for the week. I do not expect to be perfect every time, but I do expect to try my best and I haven't been. 

Saturday to-do list

I can feel that if I do not plan accordingly today will be a very lazy day. The first week of school took it out of me and I slept for 9 hours and 25 minutes. When Hubby left for work this morning, I actually thought I would get up. Then I fell back to sleep for another hour. I woke too late to make the first Crossfit class so that means I'm going at 9 am. I can already feel that I will want to be lazy today so I need to create a to-do list to help me get at least a few things done. So, here goes:

1. Crossfit
2. Breakfast/Shower
3. Read and annotate at least 4 articles
4. Work on outline for prospectus
5. Enter grades
6. Find theoretical framework for prospectus
7. Walk dogs


That should be a good day. Not too taxing. There will be times for naps in there. Okay. I'll be back later or tomorrow to outline exactly what next week will look like. I have some plans for it.