Sunday:

Good habit - I agree with Mica that tracking is the #1 thing that helps me. I've been on vacation this past week, and over the past 3 months there have been 1-2 weeks I haven't tracked each month. My goal is to track every BLT every day (including the actual BLT I ate for dinner last night 😂)

Bad habit - I hate wasting food. I tend to eat everything so it doesn't go in the garbage. It's worse when others pay. Last night at dinner, in addition to my dinner, I ate some chicken nuggets one niece didn't eat and some mac and cheese another niece didn't eat, even though I wasn't hungry. My goal is to leave at least 1 bite of food left on my plate to throw away.

Sorry for the lengthy post. 😂

Sun - Nutrition Habits

• Yes, I agree, tracking food is the #1 habit to have, and I have it, although I sometimes fail to log everything. 🤫
• Good Habit: Getting enough protein can be challenging — this is the habit I'm working on.
  How much protein do you need? Recommendations vary, often specifying grams per pound or kilogram of body weight. I weigh roughly 250 pounds with ~160 pounds lean body mass.
  • recommended allowance for sedentary adult: RDA = 0.8 grams per kg of body weight
    — 0.8 g x 250 pounds / 2.2 lbs/kg ~= 90 grams protein/day (this is what I used to aim for)
  • for gaining muscle, many recommend 1.2 - 2.0 grams per kg body weight
    — ~114 kg x 1.2 - 2.0 g/kg = 136 - 226 grams protein/day!!
  • One recommendation I've read considers lean body mass instead of total body weight:
    0.8 - 1.2 grams per pound lean body mass. This one makes the most sense to me — why would you need/want protein to support additional body fat? But it's still a shocker:
    — 160 lbs x 0.8 - 1.2 g/lb = 128 - 192 grams protein/day!
  • So I've set my daily protein goal as 150 grams. Yikes!
  • To reach that, I consume not just chicken, tuna, legumes, etc. but protein bars and drinks.
    Two recent finds (one good one for coffee drinkers) is Chike protein coffee. I've had the mocha flavor and I just had the cinnamon flavor which I quite like. Also good is Nurri protein drinks available at Costco.
• Bad Habit: Enjoying too many snacks/treats — this is one I'm trying to break.
  I've been eating way too much Haagen Dazs ice cream! I can't give it up (more truthfully I don't want to give it up), but I am cutting way back, treating it as a reward rather than a daily thing.

Mon - Self-Care Habits

It happens that I'm doing some self-care today (I don't plan on doing much), so I'll post this a day ahead. I have a tendency to be a little too obsessive about Garmin challenges. For example, in addition to the 300,000 steps monthly challenges, there is also a repeatable challenge requiring a minimum of 10,000 steps per day for 30 consecutive days (independent of month). Always having to hit 10,000 steps a day can be tough, especially if you start biking more and walking less. I always do the monthly challenge, and I try to do the 30-day challenge taking a few low step days as a break between challenges.

These Garmin challenges are good in that they can help motivate us. But we shouldn't get obsessive about them. My body (and my watch) are currently telling me to "Cool it!"

So for physical self-care, I'm taking a break today, breaking the 30-day step challenge.
And for mental self-care, I'm accepting that I don't have to earn every badge possible. I can in fact, choose to skip a few, or even drop out of a few when it is the more prudent thing to do, given my physical condition.

This brings me to the catalyst for this moment of personal "realization":

I've been pursuing some Garmin badges for biking and hiking, but I've bitten off more than I can handle. Here are some challenges I eagerly joined for July (one going into August). Rather than grind myself into the ground, I'm making a choice:

▪ July Ride to 100 - Do 100 km of cycling July 6 - 12 -- dropped out
▪ July Ride to 200 - Do 200 km of cycling July 13- 26 -- on track
▪ July Weekend 40K - Do a 40 km cycling activity July 25-27 -- planned
▪ July Time to Ride - Do 20 hours of cycling in July -- planned
▪ Beat Yesterday Expert Ride 2025 - Do cycling activities on 5 of 7 consecutive days,
increasing each ride by at least 10 minutes -- finished it!
▪ Beat Yesterday Pro Ride 2025 - Do cycling activities on 10 of 14 consecutive days,
increasing each ride by at least 10 minutes -- 60% done
▪ Gregory Hiking Challenge - Do 4 hiking activities of at least 3 miles each -- 50% done
▪ July Epic Hikes - Do 1,000 m. of total ascent during hiking activities -- 62% done
▪ USA Summer Hiking - Do 50 hours of hiking in the USA 6/20-8/14 -- dropping out

Note that there is a lot of overlap here:

• July Weekend 40K will be the last 40K of July Ride to 200.
• The time spent on both the above counts toward July Time to Ride, though more is needed.
• Beat Yesterday Expert Ride was the first 5 rides of Beat Yesterday Pro Ride's 10 rides.

Anyway, my obsession with challenges is not all bad: I think all the cycling I've been doing is why I'm finally dropping some weight (knock on wood). But I don't get any steps while cycling, so my step count suffers. For this reason, I might even lower my step goal starting next month.

Which good NUTRITION Habit will I start?

After I finish a meal, I will take one vitamin, and then I will celebrate (dance move).

(I am using The Tiny Habits recipe.)

Monday Self-care

I have some good self-care habits in place: phone is on DND between 8:00pm and 6:00am, I maintain consistent bed times and wake up times, I journal daily, and I meditate daily. My good habit for this month is to address each of the following items in my daily journal

1. Gratitudes of the day (up to 5)
2. Success of the day
3. Challenge of the day
4. People I interacted with
5. Best thing that happened today
6. What I want to remember about today

My bad self-care issue is letting the cat sleep on the bed. But I won't be changing that, even though it impacts my sleep sometimes.

Tuesday - Stress Management Habits

I think I have good stress management habits. Self-care = Stress Management. Get enough sleep, meditation, journaling, and exercise. My number one stress management habit is to go for a walk if I'm stressed. Get outdoors. Listen to the birds. Breathe. Burn off some adrenaline.

Bad habit is losing my temper.

Some people cry when stressed. And they gets lots of sympathy. They are handled with care because they are "sensitive". I'm one of those people whose temper flares when I'm stressed. Those of us with tempers are deemed "b**chy".

I am a bit behind on the challenge this week but nonetheless, I've been working on these things:

Sun - Nutrition Habits

In my tracking have been overeating in fat and carbs and not enough protein. So this week I'm making an effort to add more protein and fiber to help me feel full and satisfied while also lowering calorie intake. Goal is to be within ~100 calories of target, and +/- 10g on macros.

Along with this I'm reducing my consumption of highly processed foods and sweets, because it's a bad habit for me to just have those things because they are there and convenient.

Mon - Self-Care Habits

I used to bite my nails for a long time (embarrassing) and I've successfully stopped, but I have been neglecting my nail care lately (like cuticles, moisturizing, etc.) and they are looking ragged. That's a trigger for me, so I will be adding in the habit of taking care of cuticles, using cuticle oil and filing rough edges at least once a week or as needed. I will also moisturize my dry skin more often. 😅

I'm also planning to cut back on social media and other phone use. I don't use it that much but still, I could be using that time better. Goal is less than 1 hour a day of non-productive phone use. Yesterday I was on Reddit for 1 hour and 4 minutes. 😬 Whoops.

Tue - Stress Management Habits

Over the weekend I did a big declutter and I realized that having too much clutter around is a significant source of stress and frustration. So even though it's not a normal stress management thing it's helping me to declutter things I no longer need around my house and get them out of my way. It also feels like an accomplishment I guess? So working on breaking the habit of accumulating so much clutter in the first place seems like a good step. Basically trying to avoid buying/adding stuff and also putting things away when done using them, not letting things pile up. Maybe that's an ADHD thing.

I have also been journaling on an almost daily basis to help me deal with negative emotions or stress. I journal about my goals as well to help me break them down. My goal is to be flexible about journaling and just do it even if I don't have anything particularly to write, just to clear out the cobwebs.

Mon - Self-Care Habits

Good Habit to incorporate: I am also going to work on making my finger nails healthier, polish and stop picking at them!

Bad Habit to reduce: Like others, I do too much screen time after going to bed. I'm going to put my phone down, and pickup a book that I have been trying to get through. "Care and Feeding: A Memoir
Book by Laurie Woolever"

Stress

Good habit — exercise in the morning, or exercise in the evening. It's different for different people. Some people find exercise in the evening helps them relax before bedtime. Others find they need too much time to unwind after exercise. One kind of exercise that's a great stress reliever — good in the morning or the evening — is meditation, as long as you don't stress about whether you're doing it right. Just relax and enjoy a moment of calm.

Bad habit — feeling anxious about anything can lead me to eat… but I'm resisting the white cheddar popcorn I have, and instead I'm going for an evening bike ride.

TUESDAY:

"Which good STRESS-MANAGEMENT habit will I start (or increase)?"

I will endeavor to have sex with someone more often (if only in my dreams) !!!😆

"Which bad STRESS MANAGEMENT habit will I stop (or decrease) in some way?"

I will try to cut-down on biting, chewing and picking at my fingernails !!!😕

Fitness

Good habit - plan my exercise for the week on Sunday

Bad habit - not getting my step goal on rest days. I will aim to hit my goal of 7,000 steps every day.