Day 25

Holy crap, Week 4 is almost done.  I really feel like time is rushing by, this is crazy. Time flies when you're having fun incredibly focused on what you're doing and not just farting through life.

Today is a rest day, though I'll probably do a bit of yoga and stretching here in a minute. Made sure I updated my website today. Most importantly, I booked my head shot photographer to do a reshoot in early mid October; right around when I wrap filming on the feature. This is perfect; I planned on continuing the diet and work out regime for a full eight weeks, so this is the final goal post at the end. I will be getting new head shots obviously, but I also told him I want some full body shots in athletic wear (sports bra, gym shorts) and possibly a bikini or something, so there's no backing down now. COMMITMENT HOLY CRAP. *hides*

Really starting to see the changes in my body, these last few days without sugar of any kind.  That is so definitely a huge factor.  I also swear my cellulite is vanishing (TMI? TOO BAD), though that's the kind of thing probably only I would notice.  And holy shit, is sugar hard to avoid.  It is literally in almost everything we consume.  That's kind of scary. 

Alrighty, time to get productive; more room cleaning and organizing today.

Day 24: CatsCatsCats

I'm officially adopting a new cat, which means I am upgrading from Cat Owner to Cat Person.  If I get a third cat of my own(the roommate's cat doesn't count) then I will officially be a Cat Lady.  Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Anyhow, I went to Target and miraculously managed to buy only one thing I didn't go there to get (colorful shoelaces!).  I got a litterbox, catfood, a large plastic bin to store all cat-related things in as well as two smaller plastic organizers/bins for my papers/notebooks and bills/office supplies.  Tomorrow the organization shall commence, as I have to go waitress in an hour or so.

Finished a GREAT workout; I feel really awesome about it; I pushed myself to my limit but not beyond and sweated my butt off.  I started up a warm up of 25 jumping jacks, 5 push ups (which I cranked out with relative ease compared to yesterday; progress!) and some moves to open up my hips and get my legs warmed up.  Then I did 4 circuits of

-20 body weight squats
-30 second Superman
-30 second static wall sit
-10 one armed dumbell rows (8lbs/my gallon Tropicana bottle)

Finished the fourth circuit around 14:25.  I really liked this combination of exercises, I may stick with it for a while.  I get bored easily so I've been changing the workouts a lot; maybe too frequently.

Diet is going well; currently trying to scale back the amount of artificial sweetener I use in my coffee.  I went out and bought some less cheap coffee, hoping this will taste better than Folgers (it was disgusting with nothing in it.).....after some intense assessment, yes, this stuff does taste better.  A brand I picked up at Target called like 8 O'Clock or something, their French roast.  I put maybe a teaspoon of splenda substitute in it.  Not bad!

I don't mind shelling out for coffee, so this may be the start of a beautiful adventure into gourmet coffee land. Away!

Day 23: The End of Running (for now)

Just finished today's workout, though more on that in a second.

I woke up at 9 am, unassisted! I even tried to go back to sleep but to no avail. Kind of awesome, actually.  I made coffee, ate five eggs (as I was out of bacon I upped the quantity), did about 30 minutes or less of internet nonesense.  Then I spent at least 20 minutes working on acting stuff (so far so good!) which included beginning to create an index of everyone I have ever worked with, been cast by or been taught by. This was a suggestion of my dad's, and a pretty good one.  I'm putting EVERYbody on it.  Even if I only met you once, if we exchanged emails or info of any kind, you're going in it.  It will help me keep track of useful contacts, resources, cool people I might want to reach out to work with in the future, etc.

Oh, and I wrote myself a new bio last night for my website, and I think it's pretty solid and professional sounding. Feel great about that. Check it:

So, my workout.  The plan was to do four circuits of .08 mile Sprint /5Burpees /20Lunges/30 second Plank.  I took my time warming up and stretching.  The new running shoes feel AMAZING, so I was pumped and confident.  But the moment my left foot hit the ground in my first sprint, I could tell something was off.  I pushed through it anyway, though I readjusted my weight distribution and didn't strain very hard, but it was clear something was off.  So I walked around for a little, then did the 5 burpees, 20 lunges and 30 sec plank.

My left knee would, uh, twinge, I guess.  There was no one particular movement that did it, it was almost random seeming.  I could walk and feel nothing, do burpees and nothing and then maybe on one lunge it would feel weird.  That's a really vague description, but alas that's what it was.  So, I abandoned the sprints then did:

25 Jumping Jacks x 2
20 lunges x 2
5 more burpees x 2
30 sec plank x 2

After the last lunge set the knee twinged again, so I decided to finish off the workout by just doing upper body/abs.  So I did:

5 Push Up x 3 (REALLY stoked about that, progress!)
30 Sec Plank x 3

Then again, took my time stretching and cooling down.  Bout to take a hot shower, then I'm going to ice and elevate later tonight after I'm done cooking my food for the week.

Being super productive today, though I have more to do and it's already 5 pm, so I better get crackin'.  I still need to head to Target for some plastic bins and maybe a tool kit, as well as organize some shit in my room.

For the 6 Week Challenge one of my goals was to run 3k without stopping.


It seems to me that the wisest thing to do would be to abandon the Run 3k goal for the remainder of this challenge.  With how physically intense my job can be I really cannot afford a blown out knee, and running might be really dangerous (as my near-panic attack of last week showed us).  So, while I am disappointed about that, it seems the only option.

That goal, goal #3, will now officially be to continue the remaining two and a half weeks of the challenge , AND the two weeks after that before filming, sugar free.  I already committed to doing that for this week's homework and I was kinda sorta trying it before, but now it is official.  No. MOAR. SUGAR. At all.  This is so hard for me because I have a sweet tooth like nobody's business.  But then, I also love salty shit, so maybe I can substitute? Like, instead of getting a sugary beverage/snack I can eat...something salty? I dunno. Anyway.  I'll think of something.


-C

Week Four Homework from NF

This is this week's Challenge from NF:

This is another thinking man's challenge. It's meant to build on the challenge put forth to you last week. Ask yourself a question: what's stopping you from being the best you you can be?

Those goals that you considered last week, why haven't you accomplished them yet? Your health goals, your fitness goals, what's holding you back from doing what you want? Are you not getting enough sleep? Are you not prioritizing exercise, or eating right? Are you not studying enough? Are you watching so much Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood that you can barely function in life (can't say I don't know how that one goes)?
What's going on in your life that you can change, just for one week, to improve your quality of life?
Find that weakness, pinpoint it, and destroy it - just for one week. One week of 8 hour rests, one week of consistent training, one week of financial management.

For example, I don't sleep enough, at all. My mission this week is to get 7.5 - 9 hours of sleep every night (that's my sweet spot).
Your reward for accomplishing this mission will be +1 WIS and +1 STA.
Your deadline is Monday, September 3rd, at 11:59PM.

Serendipitous, as two things became clear to me today. I don't spend enough time on my real career because I'm usually wiped out from the day job. And I haven't totally cut out sugar from diet and I think that's what's impeding weight-loss progress. So I'm going to make this a double goal, and I will only award myself a half point for each (if I complete the first goal I will get  +.5 WIS +.5 STA, so that only in completing both goals will I get the full point for each category.

Okay, here goes (deep breath of commitment):
1)For this week I will not consume ANY sugar. Nada, nothing, not even fruit. I kinda tried this last week and failed miserably.  This will make me super vigilant about what I put in my body, because sugar is everywhere and I will probably save money because I will be eating out on the town less. Werq!
2) I will spend AT LEAST 20 minutes, every day, working on acting related stuff.  That can be working a monologue, writing cover letters, combing audition listings, creating my industry contacts list, whatever.

Okay, now I really am going to bed.

-C

Mind Over Matter

I was typing up an update to my NF Challenge Thread and thought I'd post it here too:

RE: Sugar Cravings, I just read Joel's article on said topic! Could not have arrived at a better time.
It reminds that yes, while cravings are inevitable and understandable, there are ways to cope without totally destroying the work you've done. Made me think again that this whole challenge is really you versus yourself. No one is force-feeding you that tub of chocolate icecream (that's what I was craving today, heh). Next time I get that craving, I'm going to go grab some dark chocolate. Yut.
One interesting aspect of this diet/challenge is my relationship with food. I have had various relationships with it. Some really unhealthy, though I was fortunate enough to never develop an actual disorder and endanger my health (I might add that i saw more than a few friends do this, sadly). Because of seeing my friends struggle and harm themselves, I've always sworn to myself to make sure my pursuit of health is just that, a pursuit of HEALTH.
Now, I would be lying if I said that my current regime is totally about health. Yes, I want to be in the Badass Shape of Badasses. But I also want to look amazing naked. There. This is totally about my ego. And that's okay, because it turns out that the path to actually getting in really awesome shape for the first time in my life is down Ego Trail. I want to look good, therefore I have to work out and put good, healthful things into my body. Luckily, I have learned that starving myself and taking ephedrine will just fuck you up, possibly for life.

So, on this whole "Deny your cravings" subject, it's tough, because I want to treat myself well and not feel in a perpetual state of deprivation or denial, because then it seems a slippery slope to anorexia, body dysmorphia, etc (for me, not everyone). I'm just super aware of it, I guess. Anyhow, I figure the main way to avoid this is focus on treating my body with love and attention, as well as setting more goals.
A) LOADING UP on protein etc during the day. I upped my egg intake to 4 this morning and felt great all morning. So guess what? Four eggs it is!
B) Figuring out more yummy ways to cook. I have been pretty lazy with this, and cooking the same shit over and over again, because I'm too lazy to do anything differently than throw it in a pan and sautee it with olive oil. I just need more variety.

C)I've discovered that I am really enjoying the feeling of doing difficult shit. When I complete a longer set or go another day with no sugar, it's kind of like proof that it really, truly is mind over matter. I think the root of this entire experiment is Control. This whole thing is something that is under MY control. No one else has any influence of any kind. The outcome is truly up to me, and me alone. And that is pretty damn empowering.

That's pretty much it.  Obviously, the eating guidelines I follow are tough when you realize how saturated with processed sugar and crap our food is.   When you think about how much sugar and god-knows-what-else is in our food, it's really no wonder people get sick so much and suffer so many health problems.  I would be very interested to see a long term study on people who eat strict paleo etc and what their health looks like in the long run.  I know it would be really hard to pull off and control for different factors, but you know.  ANYWAY.

When it comes down to it for me, this is about control.  This is about being utterly and totally responsible for and to myself.  No one else can force me to eat crap, no one can trick me into giving up or thinking "it's just too hard."  I believe in the power of the human mind to Get. Shit. Ton. And this is the ultimate test of that for me.  How badly do I want this? How much do I want to prove that I can do WHATEVER I set my mind to?

The answer? Very.

And I mean to.

On that note, time to dick around on tumblr and watch some Supernatural.

-C

Day 22: Week Four Underway

Today is Day 2 of Week 4.  At the end of this week, I will have been doing this for ONE WHOLE MONTH, YOU GUYS. A MONTH.

So I have not been totally happy with my progress in week 3, and so I did some evaluating to see what I need to shake up. 

The little big thing I realized is that the vinaigrette dressing I had been using on my salads at work has sugar in it.  This should have been a no-brainer, but I guess I didn't -want- to know, because the thought of eating salad plain was not particularly appetizing.  What I may start doing is bringing a little tupperware with a tiny mix of oil and vinegar and just use that.  Or suck it up. We'll see. 

I was still eating fruit and drinking a Naked juice in the morning.  This week I am definitely going to cut out that sugar and see what happens.

I think last Thursday's Drink-a-thon 2012 REALLY set me back more than I thought it would.  Sure, it was just one night and hungover morning, but when I think about how many different things I consumed over that 10 hour period, I wince a bit.  Lots of gluten based stuff.  Lots of sugar.  And beer, and beer just doesn't usually sit well with me and causes major bloatage.  So...I do want to go out at least one night a week with my friends, so I need to figure out an alternative. One, is drink less.  This actually won't be that hard.  I think I just got carried away last week because it had been a WHILE since going out. Probably JUST stick to tequila + water.  Sure that means I won't get in on whatever drink specials, but that's actually okay because I'll drink slower and end up saving money.

I also got new running shoes and work shoes, and my legs feel better already. Another no-brainer, but never having been super athletic before, shit like "Oh maybe these shoes I've been running around in every day for six months are worn out" isn't my first thought.  Now it is.

Today was a rest day, but yesterday my work circuit out consisted of:

Wall Sit: 4 Sets of 30 Seconds

Push up: 4 sets of 3

Superman: 4 sets of 30 seconds

Jumping Jacks: 4 sets of 20

Seated Dips: 4 sets of 10

I haven't done any burpees for a while, so tomorrow I'm going to take my new kicks for a spin with burpees and sprints in the park.

Also, I started up with my food journal again. Write it down during the day, Google Docs type it up at night. Gonna go do that now.

-LION ROAR-

-yawn-

Out!

-C

Day 20: THREE WEEKS IN.

Hey! Three weeks! BAM. I can't believe the challenge is half over.  I'm keeping the regime up for two weeks past the actual challenge, as two weeks after it ends is when filming begins, so I want those last two weeks to be the final push.

But. Taking a second here.  I've been doing this for three weeks.  I don't think I've ever been this disciplined about something, ever. I know I've said that before, but holy shit, it's really sinking in.  I'm killing it.  And I feel absolutely confident that this will, as it has been doing, continue to sharpen the other aspects of my life.  I get shit done.  Very little dillydallying going on anymore.

Just finished morning workout; 3 and 1/2 circuits of 20 Squats, 3 Push Ups (CORRECT FORM!), 30 Sec Plank, and 10 Bent Over Dumbbell Row.

Grand total of 60 Squats, 9 Push Ups, 3 Planks and 20 Rows.

Because my legs get worked out virtually all day when I'm working, I took particular care to pay attention to how my knees were feelings etc, being careful to listen to how my muscles were feeling, and where I was focusing my weight.  Helped a lot.  Today should be an easy work day, so hopefully tonight I'll have enough energy to get some acting stuff done, as well as tidy up a bit.

FOR THE REBELLION!

-C