Month: May 2019

22May2019

| Charlie Alford
St Andrews in Landford, Wiltshire, UK.

Good Morning Ancestors! Does you phone like to tell you about your memories? Mine does. And today’s memory is of a picture I took about six years ago, when I was on one of my adventures across southern England. This church can be found nestled in the New Forest. And right there at the front of those ancient looking headstones are my ancestors (Alford-Tucker branch). Oh if my ancestors were here today… they would not be happy with my inability to keep to my schedule.

Daily (yeah, right! Sure, Charlie) Log

Food:

Breakfast was the lovely fruit salad and yoghurt you see adjacent. I tried to make it all pretty by sitting the Australia-themed apron behind it. I think I failed in that mission. Lunch was my left over burrito bowl from yesterday and dinner, well, it’s 9pm and I haven’t had dinner but there is an empty bowl of Alpen that could have been consumed around 4pm this afternoon.

Activity:

Forgot to work out, no excuses.

I am a procrastinator. Steps only achieved because I decided to clean my bedroom and change my linen.

Sleep:

““Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.” 

Who said that? Ghandi, of course. He was the wisest owl.

I succeeded expectations with my sleep. It’s amazing how well a girl can sleep when she’s been reading, writing, coding for weeks on end and it just doesn’t end.

Any whoooo… sleep is being aided by the alarm schedule I set up on my iPhone weeks ago. And from today will be assisted by my recently acquired Google Home Mini. So far I’ve asked about the weather and got her to play Triple M Country. My life is not very interesting o_O

21May2019

| Charlie Alford
The road is long, and their are mountains puppies in our way, but we climb a step over every day (or something like that)

Wow! Have I been slacking off lately. I’d like to insert the following excuse. Ahem. I’ve been busy Mastering my Thesis. Not buying it? Yeah me either.

My descent from motivation started with visiting my young Master. Attention, he must have. Healthy lifestyles, he does not tolerate. Cuddles in front of TV will be accepted providing it isn’t loud.

So to recap the last week:

  • Sleep Schedule = Nil point.
  • Workout Schedule = Nil point.
  • Walking Schedule = Nil point. (With a hint of meh, because I did do 7k today)
  • Food Schedule = Could be better. I retained my schedule of fruit salads for breakfast and balanced meals for lunch and dinner*

*Monday night Macca’s had to happen. If you are GOT fan, you’ll understand.

Today I managed to whip up a couple boxes of burrito bowls to get me past Hump Day.

I taste tested before uni and it was impeccable if I do say so myself.

Jazzles has no idea what’s going on but he’s excited. Can’t you tell???

I solemnly swear I’ll try again tomorrow.

13May2019

| Charlie Alford

So I fell off the wagon the last few days. I’ve been in intense Master-ry mode plus there was the whole Mothers Day gotta-see-the-parents-for-the-weekend thing. Without saying a word I still got in trouble. It’s a can’t win situation so I just roll with the punches. Any whoo… yeah… goals…

Sleep Log

I have been doing a great job of getting eight hours plus, and sometimes a cheeky nap during the day (not today). Not so good at not hitting the snooze button though. Apparently I didn’t move my phone far away enough. Today I’m trying the end of the bed, if that doesn’t work, I may need to relocate the charger.

Food Log

Started the day well with two boiled eggs and a cup of tea. Lunch saw a large latte and southern fried burger emerge on the door step by friends at UberEats . Dinner was a cheeky Nando’s instead of the food I have in the fridge ready to be cooked. To be fair, it’s Monday night, Game of Thrones and oh the anxiety.

Active Log

We have a winner!!!

I tried to make a video of my workout… it didn’t work… camera angles are my enemy when I live in a box.

Today was NF BodyWeight 1A…

  • Squats
  • Push Ups
  • BodyWeight Row
  • Farmer Walk (4kg per hand)

To finish my morning dalliance into activeness, I took a stroll around the creek and smashed 5,000 steps!

Tomorrow I’ll do better with sleep and food.

8May2019

| Charlie Alford
Roald Dahl

Activity Log

Began the day with NF Workout 1A… while I warmed up so was my computer. Really felt the burn after neglecting my workout goals for a few days.

Walked the 8km tram line to the city making my steps for the day 12,638 with 103 active minutes.

According to the FitBit App I entered 13 min cardio and 3 min peak, the rest was fat burn.

Food Log

Alpen for breakfast.

Was so hungry by 11am I tipped my dinner portion of my Jambalaya into my lunch portion and ate the whole thing.

By 1.30pm I was hungry again and ended up cheating. 10 nugget meal with a coffee oops.

At 8pm I ate a cookie.

Suffice to say #foodfail

Sleep Log

Went to sleep as advised by my phone at 10pm. Unfortunately by dawn my blankets had accepted me as one of their own and I didn’t wander out my bedroom door until 8.30am. Total sleep time a little over eight hours.

6May2019

| Charlie Alford

Ever have one of those days you wish you could start all over again? I call it Monday. First day on annual leave and all my goals failed to launch.

Food Log = Alpen & Tea, Coffee, Chicken Stir Fry, half a Herb & Garlic Pizza*.

*The pizza can be directly attributed to the anxiety created by watching Game of Thrones tonight.

Activity Log = Horizontal meditation (most of the day).

Sleep Log = I stayed up till 1am. Turned off the ‘Bedtime’ App, and woke up shortly after 7am so very tired and not in the mood for anything.

Masters Log = Some cursory glances at notes and development of slides, that are due in three hours (midnight).

Tomorrow, we start again.

5May2019

| Charlie Alford

Activity Log

#fail. I didn’t leave the house and I didn’t do a workout. The only movement seen from this sloth was to go downstairs for food.

Food Log

Tea and Alpen for breakfast. Breakfast Burger and Latte from Cheshire Cafe. Dinner, at 8pm I haven’t eaten yet, although I am starting to get hungry. I might go seek out the chicken and sweet potato sitting in the fridge.

Sleep Log

Woke up somewhere around 7.30am today and got up relatively straight away. It was a cold morning so tea and breakfast was a high priority. Went ice skating late on Saturday so didn’t watch television when I returned, it was straight to Bedfordshire albeit way after my “bed time”.

Masters Log

Spent dawn to dusk reading about qualitative content analysis. Need to gather my thoughts and draft another version of the Methodology and Methods section. Also need to put together slides for presentation and complete data analysis #mondaygoals.

4May2019

| Charlie Alford

Daily Log

This is the part where I hold myself accountable in all areas I am tracking as part of my NF Journey. I’ve also added in another section today, called ‘Masters’. I am currently in my final semester, final project and so far behind it’s not funny. Therefore, I need to hold myself accountable and will note every day what I have achieved, and then feel guilty if I have nothing to write about. So here goes…

Food

Winter is the time for comfort, and the source of that comfort for me is food. Unfortunately, I wasn’t on my best form today. Left over Nachos for breakfast, a Youfoodz meal for lunch, and Macca’s for dinner. I justify the Macca’s because I got the grilled chicken without the sauce. It wasn’t a great idea, because it tasted bad. The coffee helped though. Tomorrow, I have no excuse. I need to keep to my schedule.

Active

Today’s fitness activity was at Homer Simpson. I forfeited my morning work out because I was too cold to get out of bed, and when I was ready to go for my walk, it was pouring down with rain. It was a day of excuses. Most of activity was walking up and down the stairs between washing loads.

At 7.50pm all might be saved. Ice skating will be the extent of today’s exercise.

Sleep

Yesterday I was up before the alarm and asleep before the alarm. I didn’t hit snooze but did engage in a lot of unapproved television watching. They added Nashville onto Stan, and I’ve always been hooked. It’s an addiction, one episode isn’t enough! I didn’t fall asleep with tv on though. I managed the conscious albeit very hard decision of when to shut it down.

Masters

I started to make a plan of how I am going to achieve this and I have all the readings open, ready to be conquered tomorrow. By night fall I will be a master of content analysis.

3May2019

| Charlie Alford

Food Log

It’s nacho your problem, but that’s what I had for dinner. Sometimes you just crave the crispy crisps and hot melted cheese amongst the jalepeno’s and salsa. I feel like it was deserved having had coffee for breakfast and Boost juice for lunch.

Sleep Log

Sleep = 7 hours

This morning I woke up by myself at 4.30am and then snoozed until the alarm went off at 4.50am. It was at that point I shut off the alarm, and reset for 5.20am. Blissfully sleeping through my workout time. I’d spent most of the evening watching television but had pulled the lid down when my iPhone app reminded me it was time to sleep. I’m pretty sure I was out like a light.

This was aided by installing f.lux on my Macbook. It’s a software program that adjusts the lighting of the screen according to the location and time of day. I’ve also started using the BedTime App on my iPhone, this way I can ensure I get enough sleep by adjusting my ‘bed time’ according to when I need to wake up. For example, tomorrow is the weekend and beginning of four weeks annual leave, so I have adjusted my wake up time to 7.30am.

Activity Log

As mentioned before I skipped the morning work out. But made up for it in the walk to work. I’m thinking I might need to reevaluate where I disembark the tram as the morning stroll along Collins is getting easier each day. Step count is at 8,254 today.

Tomorrow Goals

In addition to the plethora of work I have to do for my thesis, I intend to complete a full work out and go for a walk up to the lake and back.

2May2019

| Charlie Alford

Activity Log

Between 5am and 5.20am I did Body Workout 1A: Assisted Body Weight Squat, Elevated Push Up, Door Bodyweight Row and Farmers Walk with 6kg weight. Today I achieved two sets but was pushed for time.

Despite the rain and missed tram, I managed to get to Parliament by 7am which meant I could walk the line along Collins Street. There’s nothing more satisfying than reaching half the daily step goal before I reached work. Unfortunately, I left work with the threat of storms so trammed all the way home. Step goal for the day not quite met.

Food Log

Breakfast was at 7.30am. Vanilla Chia Pod and Latte.

Lunch was at 12pm. Weekend Warrior.

Dinner was 7pm. YouFoodz MacDaddy.

Calorie count met but, it’s 8pm and OMG I’m hungry today.

Sleep Log

Last night I turned on the BedTime App of my iPhone. I was awoken at 4.50am. After turning off the alarm I closed my eyes for a few minutes and listened to the rain outside. By 4.55am I turned to the MacBook sleeping next to me and began writing this. So no official snoozing. I was dreaming that I was searching for my keys on my front porch, while an old friend was watching television down on the street… random.

I have a terrible television habit. From work, I came home face planted on the bed. Literally out like a light. When woke up at 7pm, on went Stan, and played in the background until pulled the MacBook lid down around 9.30pm. I think I lay in the dark quiet for about 10min before I was out like a light again. The next sound I remember was that of my alarm.