September Self-Care Challenge

The past week and a half or so I have not been sleeping well either, averaging about five and half hours a night. The last couple days my workouts have not been great because of this.

Normally, on Tuesdays and Thursdays I run 35ish minutes, bike 30 minutes to an hour, and have krav for an hour. Saturdays I run for 35ish minutes, have boxing for an hour, and have krav for an hour. This Tuesday I cut biking. Yesterday I cut running and kept my ride to just over half an hour. I knew is want going to be seeing any PRs but still wanted to make sure I got out there. This is a reminder fold self care. I cut myself a break. However, I know there are going to be days where I don't feel like doing it for no good reason. Those are the days where I may have to tell myself, "just ten minutes. All you will have lost is ten minutes and a couple extra calories." I know on those days the exercise will actually hello my miss, but I need to set the habits now.

However I don't want to continue this cycle of being exhausted all the time, and I certainly don't want to keep exercising in that state. That leads to diminishing returns, hating the sports, and possibly injury. Luckily I know what's causing the issue. I was on a one time use medication that had a possible side effect of insomnia. It didn't hit me too bad and while on it I was averaging 7 hours a night. I'm someone who runs well on 7-8 hours. I also just restarted a recurring medication with the same side effect. In the past I didn't really notice too much of a change of at all, but this time I think both medications compounded. Under doctor supervision, I am stopping the one time use medication 5 days early. I'm also making my Saturday workouts contingent on getting enough sleep and I'm taking a chill day today.

Is it too late to join? I recently retired and have moved. I am focusing on self care. Eating better. a little exercise. Vitamins.

Saw a friend from out of state who called at 9:30 AM “I’m in the area!” Met her halfway,12:15-4:45!! Brought pads & art materials, and we sketched & chatted & shared two warm hugs!
So. Great! ❤️

Sketched faces for awhile before bed...fun
Just playing )))

More sketching! Faces & figures! Taking it slowly & enjoying...

A warm bath tomorrow night ~with candles & some music 🎶

Being retired sounds wonderful!! I've made a few small deposits to my retirement fund since I started posting in this challenge.

Today I went for a 7.5 km walk, then I was doing errands down the street, and I decided I'd treat myself to a visit to a new café.

I had a large almond milk coffee and a pear and blueberry slice with cream. It was delicious!

donimfp wrote: »

@Orphia, that sounds wonderful! You’re in Australia, right? So pears are in season? I never cared about pears until I went to Washington state one September and pears were offered at breakfast. I’d never imagined fruit could taste that divine. They are just now coming to our markets. One sweet pear can do so much!

@donimfp Yes, pears and blueberries are in season. I've been eating them both fresh too.

Pears are an investment. You buy them green, then need to wait at least a week before they're ripe enough to eat. Sooo worth the wait, though!

I've been having blueberries with my morning plain Greek yoghurt.

A weird thing is that I didn't eat enough fruit when I was overweight. Now my body craves lots of fruit and veg.

Still get my daily intake of chocolate though!

TerriRichardson112 wrote: »

@Orphia I buy pears green, but then I sometimes let them sit too long, and they go mushy, which I do not like. Lol! Love fresh blueberries with my morning porridge. I'm with you on the chocolate. Especially dark chocolate. Mmmmmm....

Hahaha, yes, like avocados, pears can go from too green to over-ripe seemingly in moments.

@Orphia, the art sounds wonderful.

On the pears, I’ve learned that once they “give” at all up by the stem, it’s time to go for it, even if the rest feels pretty firm. Otherwise they’re quickly past the point of no return. Same with avocados. To my shame I had to toss an overripe one today. I hate wasting food.

Same here with fruit. After I read French Women Don’t Get Fat I purposely started eating much, much more of it. And it seems the more I eat the faster the weight drops off. And now I’m addicted! I recently froze s ton of peaches to see me through the winter.

This week had been really rough. I have been having a hard time this month and there has been a lot of negative self talk. I have been trying to do little things to slowly crawl my way out. I made a doctor's appointment that I've needed so that's a positive thing o have a big stack of new recipes to try. The weather finally changed over and it coincided with the first day of fall (dang mother nature, you're awesome).

I am dog sitting right now for someone who had a lot of land so this afternoon I'm going to find two good trees and practice putting up my camping hammock. I need to perfect my angles. Tomorrow my husband and I are going apple picking. I'm hoping to make at least two apple pies in the near future. I'm also looking forward to a baby shower coming that I get to go to in Ohio. I get to see a good friend again as well as travel a little.

donimfp wrote: »

I'm starting a new job Tuesday. I'm beyond excited. One thing is that it will be the first time I've "gone to work" since 1999! I've been a telecommuter all those years. Since I'm older and wiser than I was in 1999, I've been researching delicious lunch options and reading about prepping on the weekends. I'm going out of town tomorrow and Monday, so today I'm going to prep all my veggies and make the quinoa and dressing for an Asian quinoa salad to take for lunches next week. Meal prep is my happy place!

Congrats on the new job and cudos for getting organized with food prep!

I am baking bread today. I don't think I'm too bad as a baker but I definitely need a recipe. I'm better at coming because it's more free form. Baking requires science, had yes. I'm determined to become a better basket and I'm going to do it by the end of the year via baking for the holidays and because it's what you do in cool weather! I'm starting with this past bread recipe a friend had made. It sounds good and send like a great dessert bread.

dkabambe wrote: »

Hi all - this group seems like a wonderful resource, and self-care is definitely something I should do more of especially with a few stresses in my life at the moment.

Bought myself two new cookbooks recently, so going to make some time today to flick through those, (though I rarely if ever follow recipes I love reading cookbooks for inspiration!).

As you might gather I like a bit of spice in my life

Spices Yay!!!