Life Style Challenge

For our health insurance at work, each year we have to fill out a health survey and participate in one of a pretty long list of different health-related events/activities to qualify for a reduced deductible.  This past week, I had a bit of time one morning at work and decided to knock that out.  In completing the survey, I was reminded of how much this extended packing-moving-unpacking-settling-in process has almost completely undermined my normal practices around eating and exercise.  And as of today, our house is DONE.  All boxes are unpacked, all books are on the shelves, all electronics are set up, all art is on the walls (we put up the last items in the main hallway this morning--note that we had already put up our old stuff but I bought a bunch of new things when I realized we have more wall space in our new, bigger apartment, and Robert was just thrilled, absolutely thrilled by that on so many levels--I'm lucky Robert's such an easy-going guy who has developed an amazing expertise at hanging shit on walls).  There is no reason not to resume my normal life....except that I am completely out of the habit.

The activity I chose to do was to watch 3 videos (on food, exercise, and weight loss/management)--these are actually the same ones I watched last year, so I didn't expect to get much out of them.  But oddly, because I was watching them at exactly the right time--when I was thinking that it's time to get my act together again--they proved somewhat useful.  (Well, the weight loss one was kind of ludicrous in that way of all weight loss advice, in that it was based on the premise that long-term weight loss is possible for anything more than a fraction of dieters, but I didn't really bother processing the messages from that one, which I watched last.)

In particular, the exercise one had a concrete suggestion that basically blew my mind when I thought about it.  Assuming that you are starting from a sedentary baseline (which is basically true of me right now), it recommended that a person start with 10 minutes of activity, 3 days a week, and over time to increase the time (slowly) until you are exercising for 2.5 hours per week.  That's right--10 minutes, 3 days a week.  Whoa.  It never occurred to me to start an exercise plan at a level that is below what I am capable of doing, but it actually is kind of genius...because one of the biggest problems with exercise is how hard it is to establish a firm exercise habit that holds in the face of the very normal, daily distractions and barriers that exist, like not having/wanting to spend that much time doing it.  Thinking of this exercise plan as primarily a habit builder that forms the foundation for future exercise, rather than a full-on exercise plan in itself, I realized that this was perfect for me.  Exercising a short amount of time for 3 days a week will be easy--physically, psychologically, and pragmatically.  I think about doing that and I'm like, Yep, I've got this.  Because I know from experience that the hard part of exercise for me is not doing it, but getting my ass out of my comfy chair, changing clothes, and getting on the damn machine.  If I can rebuild a habit of exercising, the rest will follow.

So I decided that I'm going to start this week with the habit-building program of 15 minutes, 3 days a week--10 minutes of cardio and 5 minutes of strength training on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  And Robert's going to join me!

The other big aha moment watching the videos was realizing that it's not only OK, it's totally recommended that you set short-term goals and reward yourself.  This is not really how I've operated (other than the mini-rewards of my rabbit stickers on the calendar).  But this time, I feel far enough removed from my normal habits (and the rabbit sticker has not been a sufficient carrot, ahem, to tempt me to engage in the vague positive health behaviors I've been thinking about the last couple months) that I am going to actually do the thing they say to do: set goals and reward myself (in an appreciable way) for meeting them.  And because I'm not an idiot, I'm setting goals around practices and behaviors (not outcomes).  And because I can afford it, I'm going kind of big with my rewards.

With all this in mind, I was like, Well, maybe it's time to supplement my Style Challenges with Life Style Challenges!  (I don't know why, but that conceptualization feels much cooler and much more interesting.)

How I'm trying this out (because I recognize that there may need to be tweaking along the way) is this:  I will have a Life Style Challenge every week (Monday-Sunday).  This Challenge will almost always have multiple parts, but not too many parts (because changing too many things at once is not very effective).  The way I'm thinking about it now is a tripartite challenge: one eating challenge, one movement challenge, one "other" activity challenge.  On Sunday, if I've completed all parts of the Challenge, I get my $25-30 reward.  (I'm thinking of it as a range because that's an amount that would cover one relatively inexpensive reward, like a new scarf, or is a nice down payment on a later reward.  I don't want to say $25 and then find the absolute perfect navy/yellow scarf next week for $26 and be like, nope, I haven't earned that yet.)  Then for the following week, I will set a new Challenge (but I can keep any or all parts of the previous Challenge, and for things like the eating one and the exercise one, this consistency might be key to successfully building the habit).

Here's this week's Life Style Challenge:

(1)  No bread, no pasta, no rice
(2)  Exercise for 15 minutes, 3 days a week (T, Th, Sat)--10 min cardio, 5 min strength
(3)  Make 1 new paleo vegetable recipe

Sounds kind of easy, doesn't it?  I hope that it is.  I mean, that is the idea.  I would really rather err on the side of easy challenge, big reward, especially here at the beginning.

The rationale for (2) I discussed earlier.  The rationale for (1) is that I know I do better when I stay away from too many grains in my diet but the combination of moving and, for the last couple weeks, being sick, has really done a number on that.  (When I am nauseated from having a cold, grains is pretty much all I want to eat.)  Those 3 foods are the ones that I find myself eating the most that I'd be better off not eating, so I'm starting there so I can break the habit of eating them and regain that happy mental place in which I do not really think of those items when I'm thinking of food.  Meanwhile, I am giving myself the option to eat a few Triscuits (the only likely grain product in our apartment that's not one of the verboten 3) if I need/want to because that's not a food I tend to eat to excess or find particularly desirable.

As for (3), I have discovered in the last couple of months that there are a LOT of vegetables and methods of vegetable preparation that my system really can't handle.  Indeed, that's a lot of the reason I started eating rice and bread again--I found that I was doing better having eaten a couple pieces of buttered toast than I was eating steamed broccoli, for example.  But I need to eat vegetables, and I'm better off staying away from grains.  Thus, it's time to experiment with some new vegetables and/or new preparations and find some new standbys to replace the veg I can no longer eat.  I've had to ditch basically all raw vegetables (except baby carrot in extremely small quantities, an amount that would have a 4 lb rabbit scoffing at its inadequacy), including my very favorite thing, my dad's broccoli slaw recipe, and my second favorite thing, regular cole slaw, and my third favorite thing, green salad.  No longer can I take a bag of frozen veg, pop it in the microwave, and enjoy the speed and convenience of steamed vegetables either.  I can still eat roasted veg (except for onion) but that takes a long time to prepare and is not at its best when made ahead of time and reheated.  I will continue with the roasted veg (lately I've been all about the red peppers) but I really need to add some other options to my repertoire.  Luckily, I already know what I'm going to try as a new recipe, and I even already have the ingredients from a previous grocery shopping trip.  Game on!

Have you ever tried a similar strategy in your own life?  How did it work for you?  What would you pick for your own Life Style Challenge?  Seriously, no challenge is too trivial--the Life Style Challenge isn't about pushing yourself to the limit (as I see it), it's about getting started on building habits / getting some things off your mental to-do list and accomplished out here in the world. What would you like as a reward?  I'm really thinking navy/yellow scarf might be what I'm picking out for myself next weekend.

Oh, and just so you are not worried, I'm still wearing clothes around here...and enjoying the warmer weather!  We're supposed to have highs in the low 50s all this coming week!

Navy/lime striped sweater (thrifted, Izod)
Straight leg jeans (Kohls)
Chunky silver necklace (JNY)
Navy ankle boots by Seychelles

Skinnies for the Non-Skinny

WWWSC Day 22: Skinnies and a sweater--Friday, 3/6/15

This is more of a challenge for me than most people because I have not owned skinny jeans in a while (I gave my one pair to my mom when she visited me at the tail end of a long vacation, ran out of clean jeans, borrowed mine, and looked like a million bucks in them)......until now, that is.

On my trip to the JCP website in my ill-fated attempt to purchase that light grey blazer with the black edging, I saw a ridiculous thing--high waisted, easy fit denim leggings.  I mean, what the...?  How can that even be a thing?  When I told Robert about them, he was like, So, they're mom jeggings?  It was so strange, and the reviews were so positive (from women in my age 30+ group), and the price was so enticing, that I had to try them.  I went up a size on general principles and waited without much enthusiasm for them to arrive.  And when they did, Behold!  They looked like skinny jeans (including, thankfully, a normal button and zipper at the front) only they did not crush the life out of my thighs-of-the-Colossus (imagine his after he'd been putting in a lot of time on the leg press but also eating generous quantities of dark chocolate).  And there was much rejoicing.

So despite my irritation around the now-you-see-it-now-you-don't tipped blazer, JCP came through for me on the skinny jeans front.  This meant I clearly had to skip down all the way to Day 22 of this style challenge to try them out!  I was sick last Friday, when I'd first planned to wear them, but finally I recovered sufficiently that I was able to make this happen.

I went with this inspiration photo because it would give me the opportunity/excuse to wear a new cardigan with my new skinny jeans as well as the tall cognac boots that I've been wearing a lot lately now that I've weatherproofed them.

From stacyhacker.com

I also pulled out this paisley scarf that I don't wear as much as I'd like.  I somehow managed to amass 3 blue paisley scarves, and the one with green in it is such a workhorse that the others don't get a lot of attention.

*Teal cardigan (thrifted, Banana Republic)
*Black/white polka dot T (Kohls)
Light blue paisley scarf (Target)
*Skinny jeans (JCP)
Tall cognac boots by Sam Edelman

I couldn't resist the pull to wear another of my polka dot knit tops either.  They (and their stripey brothers) are just nicely shaped, thick, and comfy.  And polka dots + paisley = pattern pleasure.

Verdict:  Skinny jeans for women with thighs of size are out there, lurking in places you might not expect.  Now as you can see from the photos, these skinny jeans are not the mega-tight, can't tell that they aren't tights from a distance type skinny jeans, and that's OK with me.  I can totally live with a small amount of denim bunching around the knees if it means I can flex my quads without worrying that my thigh is going to rip the pant leg open, Hulk style.  That's really not the look I'm going for, particularly at work, and although these jeans were a reasonable price, I'm not interested in buying a new pair after each wearing.  Price per wear of $23 for a pair of jeans is just not on.

And now the weekend.  Hurrah!

All Red

WWWSC Day 15:  Monochrome in a bright color--Thursday, 3/5/15

This one was one of the more challenging of the challenges because I tend to mix up my colors a lot or just go neutral.  It was hard to think of a bright color I wanted to wear top and bottom that wasn't just wearing a dress (that feels like cheating and anyway, a dress on its own isn't warm enough) and that doesn't present a lot of matching difficulties (e.g., the 50 shades of teal problem).  So I settled on red and got to work on Pinterest, where I was rewarded with this pin.

From refinery29.com (J. Crew catalog article)

Look familiar?  Yep.  Red cable knit pullover sweater with red bubble necklace--been there, done that.

But I could go there and do that again, only without the vest and with a red skirt!

Red wool pullover sweater (thrifted, Lands End)
Red T (Lands End)
Red corduroy skirt (thrifted, H&M)
*Brown sweater tights (Target)
Tall brown boots by Fitzwell
Red bubble necklace (Outfit Additions)

The sweater tights have a chevron pattern in them, which helps add more texture to this rather plain outfit.

Verdict:  That is a lot of red to wear at one time.  I'm glad it's not too close to Christmas because it definitely has a potentially Christmas-y vibe going.  Or wait, maybe wearing a Christmas-y outfit close to Christmas is better than wearing one during Lent.  In any event, this was a warm, comfortable outfit that despite its overload of red did not appear to cause instantaneous blindness in any of my co-workers.  Of course I spent most of the afternoon in a darkened room for a computer training, so the effects of this much red in normal daylight conditions for extended periods of time are still unclear.

That's Very Important

I just got an email that the dentist's office is going to be closed tomorrow.  The dentist's office in Austin, where I have not been a patient for...what, five years?  Thanks guys, good to know.

Skyrim Cardigan

WWWSC Day 20: Dress down your favorite LBD--Wednesday, 3/4/15

So it isn't my favorite LBD necessarily...in fact, it's one I bought and haven't even worn!  Bad Sally!  But I really love its red counterpart that I wore back in late April (man, either winter truly is amazingly long here or I lag the seasons even more than I thought or both--that's a pretty bundled up outfit) and that's close enough for me.

So when I saw "dress down," all I could think was, OK, it's time to wear the Skyrim office cardigan to work while it's still insanely chilly in Coldville because this sweater is a bundle of seriously warm casualness.  I still haven't gotten back to playing Oblivion since we started preparing for our move a couple months ago (!!) but even thinking about pulling on the Skyrim office cardigan puts me in a happy place.  It's time to contaminate this sucker with frustration and drudgery by wearing it at work while dealing with annoying data issues and attending continuous, lunchless meetings from 10-2, obviously!

Shockingly, my source photo does not feature a huge cream acrylic cardigan--a cardigan so oversized that "grandfather" or "boyfriend" cardigan does not begin to describe it.  Perhaps "cardigan of the giants who once walked the earth" is more like it.  But I was intrigued by the black dress with cognac accessories, which would be mostly obscured by the "cardigan that I once lay down and caused an eclipse over multiple continents."  It really comes down to black dress and cognac boots.

Found on Pinterest but source not noted

And a white/brown/black leopard print scarf!  I really want a very normal brown leopard scarf, but I haven't found one yet that doesn't have some kind of other thing going on--metallic contrasting threads, a 3 foot long fringe, etc.  But until then, I'll be using this brown leopard scarf with the white/cream color that makes the "cardigan knit from the fur of 2 dozen full-grown yeti" look reasonably on point.  Or at least as on point as such a garment can be.

*Black long-sleeved knit dress (Kohls)
*Brown/cream leopard scarf (Kohls)
Skyrim office cream cardigan (thrifted)
Black sweater tights (Target)
Tall cognac boots by Sam Edelman

The buttons dangle dangerously, reminding me that they could fall off and add the Skyrim office cardigan to my growing pile of minor sewing jobs.  Nooooooo!!!!  Would this seem more fun if I re-imagined it as the real-life equivalent of repairing armor in Oblivion?  Um....nope.

Verdict:  Wearing the Skyrim office cardigan does not magically transport me to an Elder Scrolls-esque job, which is probably a good thing.  I'm much more suited to analyzing data than hunting dragons or closing hellmouths, though to be fair, I've not actually tried either of the two latter activities.  It would be my luck that in the Elder Scrolls universe, I'd find myself working a torturous food service job with 20+ hour work days.  No thanks!

Oh Boy

WWWSC Day 4: Boyish look--Tuesday, 3/3/15

When I was looking for ideas for other ways to wear my brown pinstripe pants, I pinned a couple of photos of men wearing pinstripes.  What better inspiration for a "boyish look" can you get?  Well, I didn't want to go this route...

From etsy.com

...of, you know, baby boyish-ness, so I decided a manly look was a reasonable approach for a work outfit.

From overstock.com

Oh yeah, a light blue shirt with brown pinstripe pants...why didn't I think of that?

Brown pinstripe pants (thrifted, Chaps)
Light blue button up shirt (thrifted, Kohls)
*Brown/black microcheck blazer (thrifted, Ann Taylor)
Black suede oxfords (thrifted, Munro American)
*Gold/tortoiseshell necklace (Macy's)

I didn't have the appropriately mannish brown shoes, so I went with my black suede Oxfords, hoping the brown/black jacket would be enough to tie it all together.

And if not, fuck it.  I finally got this new necklace into the mix!  And with that I declare victory.

Verdict:  Men are the experts in how to wear pinstripes.  I bow to their sartorial acumen.

In other news, I was finally back at work today, and it wasn't as dire as I thought it would be (a cup of caffeinated tea when I arrived might have helped with that).  That said, I was really happy when it was time to come home.

Blanket Scarf

Trying This Out--Friday, 2/27/15

My cold was so very bad that I stayed home from work.  But I did not let this daunt me from making an effort with my outfit--I decided being home sick was the perfect opportunity to wear a blanket scarf.

Of course, I don't own a blanket scarf.  But I do own a blanket.

It's even an animal print blanket (that I stole from RB--sorry not sorry).

Is it just me or does he look very sad at the folly of humankind?

After taking these photos, I took off the blanket, put on my pink puffy vest, then sat back in my comfy chair with the tiger blanket worn like, you know, a blanket.  This was much, much, much better.

Verdict:  Blanket scarves--inferior to actual blankets even when they are blankets.