Oh! So you want to know more?

In our last post, the Jedi Council asked for suggestions on our plan and goals. Our lovely (and recently departed to the wilds of the Yukon) friend Jenn thought maybe more frequent posts (once a week) might be a better way to keep accountable. 

And we agreed. So here we are, our first, "Let's be accountable" post.

Andrea: 

This morning as I was getting my morning coffee, a co-worker asked me, "Andrea, are you losing weight?" To which I answered, "I sure hope so." She then asked if I was 'working out or eating better?' My immediate answer was "Both." While the scale's been pretty kind, and my clothes have been fitting better, it's certainly gives me the warm feels to know that my efforts are paying off enough for people to take a little bit of notice.

Also this week was a fun, food adventure for me. With my experimenting with Paleo comes a whole new world of recipes. This week I tried two that I really want share, both from the site Multiply Delicious. The chicken, sweet potato patties and the slow cooker chicken, sweet potato, and kale stew. Yes, you see a theme there, but it cut down on the number of groceries I had to buy! Other than that I've been really conscious about what I'm eating. Or at least I try to be. These are new habits that are being built, and while slip-ups have been rare, they're bound to happen.

On the exercise front, I've also been successful. Walking all over the place, racking up the steps like crazy. I've also begun to wake up earlier to workout. I'm a fan of the 'bodyweight' workouts, 'cause I can do them at home and I don't need any equipment. After starting with one I got from nerdfitness.com, I've branched out, searching for more, leading me to neilarey.com. I've picked a couple of workouts, but I've decided, since I'm already sharing the experience with you all, why not give you a say? Have look though the visual workouts and pick one for me to try! I like variety, and they're all pretty tricky, so it'll give me something to strive to complete! 

Let's keeeeeep goooooing!!!!

Sam: 

The Cake is a lie. One of the ladies at work brought in a beautiful cake that she decorated at a class she attended. Need I say more?

I read an article over at nerdfitness.com (Andrea's note: this site is my favourite). Most the articles they write I just sort of glance over, picking out a bit here and there, but this one had a Star Wars theme so I paid a little more attention. It spoke of the lizard brain, "As cavemen and cavewomen, our brains were rewarded with pleasure any time we found things that kept us alive (food!), did things that allowed us to reproduce (sex!), or took part in activities that kept us alive (running from predators!). When our body encountered anything that was biologically helpful to our survival as a species, dopamine would be released in our brain that encouraged us to continue searching out those things."

Ah yes, the dear lizard brain, how I hate you. It also talked about the things we can't stop doing. If I have just one potato chip, one bite of chocolate, one piece of candy I can't seem to stop myself from eating more of it, every morsel that's within my grasp. It's my lizard brain taking over. I found it helpful reading this article and knowing that I'm not the only one who experiences the need to polish off an entire bag of chips in one sitting, even though I know it will make me feel like crap for four days afterwards. I have been told by people that it isn't good have the all or nothing mentality, and while that may be true in some ways, for the moment I'm going to stick with what works for me. Oh, that piece of cake I mentioned? I didn't have a bite.

Kate:

I'm actually really glad we're doing this weekly update, but not for the reasons I'd expected. I'd thought it would be a good way to put me back on track when I'd strayed, and to keep me accountable to my goals, but it's done something even better, it's reminded me that I'm actually doing okay.

The past week has been a rough one for me, for reasons unrelated to the over-arching quest, and I've been feeling like an utter failure. My scale still says exactly what it did at the beginning of the month, my clothes still feel tight, and I've been feeling like it's just all too hard. So when I went to write my weekly update I was composing this whole things about how failure is just part of the process, and blah blah blah. And then I looked back at my goals so I could elaborate on my failures. 

Except I haven't failed.

Walk more? Well...it's not been drastic, but yes, I have actually been walking more. My pedometer confirms that.

Meal planning? Oh yeah...we now have a little weekly schedule up on our fridge for who is cooking dinner. And aside from the occasional night out with friends, we've stuck to it.

Healthy snacks in the house? Um...yup. there's a giant thing of pre-cut Costco veggies in the fridge and I'm currently drinking a green smoothie.

So, all that woe is me, I suck, I'm bad at this crap? That's just my brain being a jerk.

Shut up, jerk.

We're on a Quest! (or goal-setting for nerd-types)

In our first post, we, the Jedi Council let you know why we were doing what we're doing, now comes the all-important how. It's great to have lofty ideas of what you'd like to do, but without setting out specific goals, you're doomed to fail...AND WE REFUSE TO FAIL!

I've been spending a lot of time over at nerdfitness.com lately, and amongst the many articles, I've gleaned some tips for goal-setting, specifically goal-setting for nerds. It's much easier for our nerd-brains to make and stick to our goals if we turn them into a game. I explained this to the Council, and Kate came back with the perfect analogy:

"As good nerds, the Jedi Council decided that any sort of project like this is actually just a game. Think of it this way - My end goal is to weigh 180lbs by July 1st. That's my final boss. In order to get to my final boss, I need to spend the next six months doing side quests to earn XP, which will help me defeat mini bosses, which will prepare me for that scary final boss. If this all works according to plan, that boss won't actually be so badass by the time I get there, cause I'll have levelled up into an equivalent badass. You following so far?"

Thanks Kate! So, we all have our final bosses that we want to kick the crap out of, but we can't do it right away, we'd get clobbered! We need to tackle some smaller bosses, pick up some shiny new armor, get some new weapons, arm ourselves with some potions, all of which will make defeating that final boss, when we get there a piece of cake!

We all sat down and figured out what we want our main goals (quest) to be, and the side quests that will help us reach that main quest.

Sam:

Goals are an interesting thing, they are fluid and ever changing. You may start out with one goal and by the end it may have completely evolved into something else. My ultimate end goal is to lose 40-50lbs. However to achieve that goal I have to make mini-goals so my ultimate goal is not quite as overwhelming. For January I will be starting three mini-goals.

Bring my lunch to work Get up early enough to eat breakfast Utilize my step counter more

These may seem like very simple goals to start with so let me elaborate the difficulty.

Bringing my own lunch is something I have struggled with since I was around 12, when my lunch for school was no longer prepared for me. Even then I didn’t make great food choices, most of the time I would just bring an apple and a chocolate milk. Quick, easy, no thinking, no planning. As I got into highschool, the fries at the cafeteria or a bag of chip and a pop were my go to's for lunch. As an adult, I’ve always worked close by restaurants or fast-food places. Now I need to plan ahead and make sure I bring my lunch. Not only will this be healthier for my body, but also on my pocket book.

I've never done mornings

I don’t do mornings. Never have. I was told that would change as I got older, LIES! My normal morning routine usually consists of pressing the snooze button 4 or 5 times then rolling out of bed 15 mins before I have to leave. Now I have started to set my alarm earlier and press snooze only 2 or 3 times. Getting up with enough time to eat breakfast my mornings sure do seem less stressful now. Although, I battle with my alarm clock every day, however it is winning the war.

I have a vivofit. I love it. Now I have to utilize it more. Instead of just seeing how much I walked every day, I will make sure that it’s at least of the 10, 000 recommended daily steps. Walks at lunch will help. Taking the stairs at work will also help. If by the end of the day I haven’t reached 10, 000 steps, well then I will just have to chase my cats around the apartment. Give both them and myself some exercise.

Andrea:

Main quest for 2015: Lose 75lbs, (which may be slightly aggressive, but we'll see, it can always be revised) 

Quest for first 6 weeks of the year: lose 15lbs

Sub-quests for this first 6 weeks

1) Cleaning up my diet. I think I finally understand that I can't outrun my fork. No matter how much I exercise I need to eat better. I've been trying to eat Paleo, which emphasizes eating real food, cutting out sugar and processed foods. There are other 'rules' as well, but I'm not going to bore you with them. So far, I find myself eating Paleo 80% of the time, and it's not that hard. Planning ahead, shopping, cooking, are all important parts of keeping on track with this quest. And let me tell you, the new recipes I'm finding! YUM!

2) Working out 3x a week. I started working out more a year and a bit ago, so while I'm not nearly as weak as I used to be, I would still like to pick this up a bit.This quest will definitely require some time management to ensure the workouts happen, getting up earlier is going to have to happen. I will also endeavour to try new moves/workouts to keep things interesting, 'cause my brain gets bored of repetition. 

Maybe someday, if I work reeeeeeaaaaally hard, I can be as awesome as Natasha Romanov. It could happen right?

3) Increasing my cardio. I've been tracking my steps via my Jawbone UP! for almost two years now, and I love it. I know that I can easily get the recommended 10,000 steps a day without much extra effort, so I'm going to increase my daily goal of steps to 10,500 (and perhaps keep going up to 12,000 by the summer) and do my best to make sure that I get those steps in everyday. UPDATE on this side-quest! My best buddy Craig (you can find him and his fitness goals for 2015, here) and I have been going for walks during lunch instead of playing on our phones and I haven't been below 11,000 steps all week.

Kate:

My end goal is to weigh 180lbs by July 1st.

Kate at 17...when she thought she was 'fat'. Teenaged minds are terrible.

Here are my side quests for the month:

1) Move. Just move. Get off the bus 2 stops early and walk. Walk around the block before bed. Walk to the store, even if you only need 1-2 things. If you see a trailhead marker, go explore it. If there's a chance to get up and move around, take it. Try to do at least one big walk per week (big being over 45 mins. That definition will increase as the weeks go on!)

2) Meal planning. Sit down with that-guy-I-live-with every weekend and plan out our dinners for the week. Go shopping so we have the ingredients we need, and then stick to our plan so we don't wind up making poor food choices cause we're starving. Mac and Cheese is not a valid meal plan.

3) Cupboard Stocking. On a similar note to #2, make sure the kitchen is always stocked with healthy foods that take little to no time to prepare. This may mean spending a little extra money to buy the pre-made hummus instead of making your own. Yes, you know how, but we all know you won't do it when you're hungry. You'll grab a cookie instead.

If I can handle these side quests, I should have enough XP to level up and defeat this month's mini boss, which is to lose 5lbs. Next month I'll have some new side quests to work on, and a new mini-boss. Course, as any good gamer knows, sometimes you keep doing the same quest over and over to grind out XP. I will keep killing kobolds for their candles for as long as I need to, damnit!

So, those are our quests, and sub-quests, at least for the next couple of weeks, then who knows! They might need to be updated. What do you think?

Also, while I have the next couple of posts floating in my brain already, is there anything you'd like to hear about the Jedi Council and A New Hope? Is once every two weeks enough, should we try and update every week? Drop us a comment below!

A New Year, A New Hope

Ahhhh, the New Year. Everytime the first of January comes around, I get excited with what all my big plans are for the coming year. This year, I have MANY plans, and you'll see a lot of them show up here on everydayoptimist.net. However, the big over-arching plan is to be less, well, big. And this year, I'm not going it alone. I've teamed up with two of the coolest ladies I know, Sam and Kate, to support, encourage, and hold each other accountable. Accountability is also the reason for this new area on everydayoptimist.net. We figure (or maybe just hope) that having to share how things are going with the whole wide world once every two weeks will help keep ourselves accountable and on track. We have varying reasons for doing what we're doing, (and the other two will introduce themselves and lay out those reasons below) but Sam, Kate and I have a wedding to attend in July, and we want to look extra awesome, so that's a nice goal post to aim for. Sam is a bridesmaid, and I'll be doing the emceeing, Kate, well, she'll be the one in white walking down the aisle.

Ladies?

Kate:

When I was 18, I was 5'7 and weighed 120lbs. I'd spent my entire life eating whatever I wanted, exercising only when forced, and generally not giving a second thought to weight gain or body image. I figured I'd made it through puberty with no boobs, hips or butt to speak of, and while I sometimes wished I had a little more "curve", I was pretty content with myself.

Then, hormones happened.

In the space of 6 months I gained 30lbs, most of it in the aforementioned boobs, hips and butt, and then spent the next 12 years yoyo-ing up and down the weight scale (mostly up) while fighting those ubiquitous enemies of good intentions: Motivation and Accountability. I've had to deal with some pretty major self image issues, trying to reconcile the image I formed of myself when I was a teenager with the image I see in the mirror today. I'm never going to be that 120lb girl again, and I've finally reached a point where I don't want to be, but neither am I going to allow myself to keep getting bigger and bigger, and less healthy. It's time for a change!

Course, I've said this exact same thing many times over the years. So what's different now? Well, for starters, motivation. In 7 months, I need to fit into my wedding dress. And instead of just relying on the magic of corset backs and clever photography angles, I actually want to look good. To feel good.

Then there's accountability. That's where Sam and Andrea come in. The three of us are going to work together on this, to keep each other accountable, to keep eachother motivated, and more than anything, to support eachother and make this all feel just a teensy bit easier.

In short, we're gonna rockstar the crap out of this.

Sam:

I’ve struggled with weight most of my life. When I was a teen it was the same mental struggle that most teens go through. I thought I was fat and overweight, even if the scale thought otherwise. When I was in my twenties I made that thought become reality tipping the scales at over 260 lbs at one point. I would go through various diets and exercise plans, nothing stuck. Then I hit my thirties and there was this one moment, this one point in time when everything changed. It just clicked. I lost 90lbs. It took about 2 years but I did it. The moment that scale fell below 200 lbs I said to myself NEVER AGAIN. I didn’t exercise any more than I had been, but I did change what I was eating. I stopped eating at fast-food restaurants every day for breakfast and lunch. I stopped getting the fancy coffee drinks from Starbucks and I stopped eating out for dinner 6 nights a week. Slowly as the weight dropped, I started to feel better about myself and started to become more confident and started to do things I never thought I would.

The last year however, I started to make bad food choices again, gaining weight that I promised myself I would never do again. While I haven’t gotten a handle on losing the weight I’ve gained, I have managed to stay at my current weight for the past 2 months, and that it a feat in itself during December.

I have to buy a bridesmaid dress for a July wedding and I refuse to purchase the dress at the weight I am at now. I would also love for my clothes to fit better again, everything is just too tight, and I’m not even able to wear some of my clothes. I’m also cheap when it comes to clothes; I have better things to spend money on so I really don’t want to get an entirely new wardrobe. So with the help of my friends, we are going to diet, exercise and blog together and all work towards getting healthy and comfortable in our own skins, starting on January 1, 2015 with the Polar Bear swim. It’s going to be a rollercoaster of a ride, with many ups and downs.

Andrea:

I've always been a big girl, and despite being fairly comfortable in my own skin, my weight has always been the thing that has made me the most uncomfortable with myself. For a long time, I've let it define me as 'the chubby, funny sidekick' type and I think it's about damn time to become the superhero in my own life! 

My motivation to stick with this is that I truly want to experience the world to its fullest, and get the most out of life, and while my enthusiasm knows no bounds, sometimes my size prevents me from doing this. I want to be stronger, faster, healthier... I would say happier, but I've got that covered I mean, I'm already the Purveyor of Sunshine and Rainbows.

While I do have said enthusiasm, I sometimes lack willpower and follow-through, and that's where my 'Jedi council' comes in. With Kate, Sam, and I all working towards a similar goal, coming from a similar place, we can call on each other to be that willpower and follow-through. And with the looming deadline of letting you (yes, Interwebs, I'm talking about you!) know how we're doing once every two weeks, there's a little bit of extra motivation to keep on track. It's going to be tricky, but more than that it's going to be interesting, and most importantly, with these ladies by my side, it's going to be fun!

So, that's us! And to be honest, this post was supposed to go up January 1st, to be all 'New Years-y'. But we decided to jump into to Pacific Ocean in 8 degree weather to ring in the New Year and start our quest off on a fun (and freezing) note! So here we are, cold, excited and rearing to go!