Melbourne

Something that's always good to see is people that were at the venue last week for one reason or another become punters at trivia the next week. It's happened twice so far and I saw the new group there tonight

Good night everyone

sweet dreams 😘

Please let it be known that today's squat challenge was completed while wearing a dress and cooking dinner. Blows the whole "I have no time" argument...

Also.

Beeeeech swim

all the UnKAOS done, fish tank clean, telly watched, some LPs listened to, food for 2 dinners cooked and a little garden work too

I'm so glad I managed to get my Autism diagnosis a few years ago, and have learnt so many things about myself in the process. It made it so much easier to handle a work situation today with the office building incorrectly cranking the heating despite an already warm day, and armed with the knowledge that my neurodiversity includes not being able to regulate temperature well, I was able to self-advocate and used sick leave to travel home before I was feeling too unwell. I may still have a migraine depending on how I bounce back, but it will hopefully be less severe than if I had remained in the office the full day.

So strange to me that several managers, executives, and a health and safety officer all commented about the high temps in the office, and no one did anything about it. Similar thing on the tram home; air conditioned, but all the windows were open and people just looked at me strangely when I closed the ones at my seat. I just don't understand people sometimes.

lips and tongue burning

I just licked the spoon after making banana coconut ice treats

ingredients were coconut cream, bananas, vanilla essence and sugar

I think it's sulphites in the coconut

Ok guys, I'm about to tell you a story. Maybe a bit of tmi but I don't care because I'm an open book and I'm honest. During my 20s I was working, always on my feet, fit healthy 54 kgs.

Then while I was pregnant at 29 I weighed in at over 80 kgs plus. I say plus because I couldn't see the scales because of my stomach. I was continually hungry. There was no off button.

Anyway, I had my baby. She was 2.7 kgs so the fat was all me. Then during my 30s I got down to 70 kgs just from ordinary living. Then last year things changed.

I stepped on the scale and I'm at my heaviest (apart from pregnancy) at 78 kgs. Shit how did I get to this? I'm not lazy nor sluggish. Well 2 things really. 1. I stopped walking my daughter to school once she started high school. That's 30 minutes a day that I no longer do. 2. I fucking loved snacking while watching the telly when everyone went to bed.

My turning point was if I don't do something soon perimenopause is gonna kick my arse. I refuse to do that. What am I gonna do?

1. Stop snacking at night. If I'm hungry I'll eat the cucumbers, celery or fruit. I'll go to bed before the hungry happens.

2. Walk to the shops with my backpack and pick up and carry my dinner home or take my dog for more walks with weights in my backpack.

3. Start strength training. This was suggested to me by my husband who pointed out just a few reps encourages weightloss when I'm at rest.

4. Continue to eat what I want just a little less of the occasional foods.

5. Buy a walking pad and actually use it. If I don't feel like it I still get on and see where it goes. Once I'm on I usually do 30 minutes anyway.

6. I try to aim for half my plate being veg, a quarter of protein and a quarter of carbs with some fat sprinkled in there.

7. If I'm gonna have something unhealthy then I make sure to eat healthy the rest of the day. I DO NOT DENY MYSELF ANYTHING.

I'm down to 72 kgs. My aim is 60 kgs by the time I'm 50 (June next year). It's slow but I've barely changed anything. My weight is going down, my strength is going up, my stamina is going up, my smoking is going down.

I wrote this not for congratulations. I wrote this to show you are not alone. I wrote this to show you do not need to go hard. I especially wrote this for anyone who is struggling, don't know where to start or thinks it's too hard. I have family and friends who are really encouraging. Not everyone has that so I want to be your person who encourages and celebrates the wins. AMA.

I think I just wrote an essay.

Gremlin.

Yes fuck yes it works.

And yes found mario kart. Was in the thing the whole time. Now if anyone challenges me on rainbow road I will take the shortcut but it won't work.

I just need to find the hand thingies.

Fiddlesticks, my glands have puffed up and are all scratchy. I hope I recover for the meetup, and my Sunday event with my immuno-comprimised friend.

my goal today is basic UnKAOS and watch some telly

The IT guy must be on leave and there are still programs I need on my work computer. Things can wait I guess, it's not like people were chasing up the leads I create anyway

I've finished downloading the most urgent iCloud photos and videos for now. Saving your stuff locally to have a backup outside the cloud seems to have deliberately been made to suck.

I'm genuinely considering returning to a digital camera with SD cards and physical storage but fear dropping, loss, or moisture/electrical damage. Or head failure.

I just got back from my morning stroll, the fog burned off while I was out and it very quickly went from pleasant to a bit too hot in the sun. I need a cool down break before I can tackle bringing in yesterday's washing from the line.

I've been thinking overnight about how to plan and track my exercise goals, and think I've come up with a system that should work without triggering demand avoidance or all-or-nothing thinking that has led to failure in the past. It's based on a system that's been working well for me in budgeting, cleaning and gardening, areas I've also had similar issues keeping to a plan long term.

The basic system is to have two levels of goals, with overall success tracked weekly (well, every 8 days because that's my work cycle, but week is easier to say!). The lowest 'pass' level is basically a participation trophy. It will have a steps goal each day that is fairly easily achievable, plus making an attempt at the strength training routine three times a week - but even if I just do one set and then stop it will be a pass. The higher 'distinction' level will be to do the strength routines fully and to reach a higher level of steps/cardio on three days.

The way I'm going to track the progress is using a program called Beeminder which tracks ongoing goals. Basically I will start with one week's buffer, which is maintained every week I 'pass' or another week's grace can be added if I get a 'distinction', with a maximum of two weeks buffer allowed. Which means there is a lot of room for failure as long as it is not consistent, and not too much pressure to achieve the higher level constantly - I need it to feel like an achievement I want to work towards, not something I have to achieve.

I think I'll also do some sort of ongoing chart with stickers too, so I can see progress. Gold and silver stars each week or something like that.