Adam's Self-Improvement Log

The main purpose of this forum; tell us what goals you're working on.
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Crisis_Overcomer
Posts: 1017 | Thanks: 720
Joined: Sat Jul 25, 2020 7:25 pm
Goal: Earn $5,000/month
Age: 33
Motto: Motion beats meditation

Tue Nov 16, 2021 7:45 pm

Adam wrote:
Tue Nov 16, 2021 2:12 am
The book didn't post. Andy obviously only approves of gay books. My meal structure is usually a small lunch between noon and 1, some fruit after work, then a bigger dinner around 7. Closer to 9 on BJJ nights. My normal food is chicken, beef, vegetables that I cook myself. When I binge on junk, it's almost always in the late evening and usually on a Friday or Saturday when I'm inside with nothing social scheduled for the night. I think boredom is the main trigger, and at the time food seems a more appealing way to alleviate the boredom than pushing myself to exercise or call someone.
Gaaaaay

Never Binge Again, the Kindle version is free.

If you're not gonna schedule anything social those days, eat breakfast. Don't skip it. Some carbs and protein. You'll see that cravings go down.

You're right on the boredom part. I was a binge eater for years. I'd eat to the point my heart would hurt. Eventually I stopped because I decided to make my life more interesting. Plus, after becoming 33, I realized that time is running out. So, if I'm going to be in a brain fog after bingeing, I'm just robbing myself from doing the things that are important to me. Kinda lame I had to make those realizations at 33, but better late than never.
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Adam
Posts: 393 | Thanks: 255
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:53 pm
Name: Adam
Goal: Lose Fat
Age: 34
Motto: Become someone you admire

Tue Nov 16, 2021 9:10 pm

Just downloaded it. Thanks.
2022 Goals:
(1) Get Abs
(2) Get to 15 lifetime lays (currently at 10)
(3) Move to a new city with lots of single girls - DONE 6/12
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Adam
Posts: 393 | Thanks: 255
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:53 pm
Name: Adam
Goal: Lose Fat
Age: 34
Motto: Become someone you admire

Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:26 am

What's up lads. I found an online counselor for binge eating. Going to give her program a shot. Binging has been a recurring issue that's derailed my diet effort in the past, so if I can get this taken care of that'll be a big step.
2022 Goals:
(1) Get Abs
(2) Get to 15 lifetime lays (currently at 10)
(3) Move to a new city with lots of single girls - DONE 6/12
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Adam
Posts: 393 | Thanks: 255
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:53 pm
Name: Adam
Goal: Lose Fat
Age: 34
Motto: Become someone you admire

Mon Dec 20, 2021 1:53 am

Weekly Check-In

This Week's Starting Weight: 170.2
This Week's Ending Weight: 169.0
This Week's Average Weight: 168.0
Average Calories/day: 1990
Days since last binge: 25

Hit the gym three times this week and got to bed before midnight 6/7 nights this week. Only stayed up late on Saturday night. I stayed under my calorie goal 5/7 days this week. Got stressed on Thursday and did some stress eating. Nowhere near a binge though. Saturday was a family Christmas party. I didn’t count calories but didn’t pig out either. Mostly ate meat and vegetables during dinner and then had a cookie for dessert. The binge-eating program I’ve been doing really helps with those big family gatherings.

I read Atomic Habits this week. Very insightful book. There isn’t much there that I haven’t heard somewhere before, but it’s structured to give actionable tips. I took notes and this week I plan to use them to add some rules to make snacking between meals less attractive.

No luck with Tinder/Bumble this week. I'll keep grinding away.
2022 Goals:
(1) Get Abs
(2) Get to 15 lifetime lays (currently at 10)
(3) Move to a new city with lots of single girls - DONE 6/12
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MakingAComeback
Posts: 4130 | Thanks: 4864
Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:17 pm
Goal: 3k Per Month Post Tax
Age: 32
Motto: POSITIVE SELF TALK

Mon Dec 20, 2021 5:35 pm

Adam wrote:
Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:26 am
What's up lads. I found an online counselor for binge eating. Going to give her program a shot. Binging has been a recurring issue that's derailed my diet effort in the past, so if I can get this taken care of that'll be a big step.
DAS IT MANE!!!!!!

Adam, PROUD OF YOU BRO

This is a MAJOR WIN

You will unlock this piece of the puzzle for yourself and hammer onwards from there.

This is how you do it man, you make it a focus, you put structure around it, you get help, expertise, guidance, and you attack it.

If you've struggled with it for a while, get help and get this piece of the puzzle sorted. Otherwise it slows EVERYTHING down.

In my personal life, when I had extreme anxiety disorders and was housebound for years in my early 20s, I got help. I paid a good amount of money to go to a residential retreat for a week and it changed my life. I still had to execute what they taught me for 4 god damn years to get my life together, but I got the help I needed and now I am living life free from extreme fear, living with my roommate in a fucking awesome place, in Central London one of the coolest places on planet earth, coming back from being a fucking destroyed human being who was so severely anxious and phobic he couldn't even work for 4 years and had to rely on the angels that are my parents.

I am together as a person, work my ass off and am solid as a man. I still pay for wellness and health consultants to this day bro, I am working with a brilliant guy right now in achieving my body goals.

Over and over again, I have gotten the help I needed, paid for it, and then put in the often extreme work to make things work for me.

When I get rich, I will still pay for help and support.

Totally totally proud of you for getting the help you need to be the best man you can be.

Trying to be a lone wolf is loser shit. Everyone who is serious has the network around them to succeed.

MAC
-Your friend, Ravi

Consistent Performance Coach, Admin of WinnerWithin, and Seeker of Human Potential

My FB Group for Consistent Performance & Goal Achievement
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ironwilltribe
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Adam
Posts: 393 | Thanks: 255
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:53 pm
Name: Adam
Goal: Lose Fat
Age: 34
Motto: Become someone you admire

Tue Dec 21, 2021 1:08 am

MakingAComeback wrote:
Mon Dec 20, 2021 5:35 pm
Trying to be a lone wolf is loser shit. Everyone who is serious has the network around them to succeed
This is true and a lesson I've needed to relearn more than once. Everything I've ever gotten good at, I did it with friends or teammates and not by myself.
2022 Goals:
(1) Get Abs
(2) Get to 15 lifetime lays (currently at 10)
(3) Move to a new city with lots of single girls - DONE 6/12
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Adam
Posts: 393 | Thanks: 255
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:53 pm
Name: Adam
Goal: Lose Fat
Age: 34
Motto: Become someone you admire

Fri Dec 24, 2021 5:28 pm

Mid-Week Update

I decided this week to quit video games for at least 90 days. Maybe the whole year, but at least 90 days. This wasn’t spurred on by a binge session, but a growing conviction that my gaming is holding back my progress. Gaming is what I default to when I don’t have anything planned and I think that getting rid of that option will help me to be more consistent with my goals. And spur me to be more proactive in filling those Friday and Saturday nights with social events since gaming won’t be an option.
I reformatted my PS4 and put it up for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Also uninstalled Steam from my laptop and will download some website-blocker software to block the steam download page in my browser. I also bought the gamequitters.com program and will go through the modules.

In other news: I booked an AirBnB in Nashville for the first week of the new year. I’ve wanted to move into a city for a while. I currently live near Philadelphia and could move into Center City pretty easily, but I want to check out some other places. I’m kind of tired of cold Pennsylvania winters and the Covid restrictions in Philly are kind of a pain. I’ll contact one or two local BJJ gyms to see if I can stop by for a lesson or two to try out the gyms there.

Caught a mild cold early this week so I’ve skipped gym and BJJ this week. I’m pretty sure it’s just a common cold but my sister is bringing me a Covid test kit for my family’s peace of mind during Christmas. My grandma will be coming over for Christmas so I want to be extra careful.
2022 Goals:
(1) Get Abs
(2) Get to 15 lifetime lays (currently at 10)
(3) Move to a new city with lots of single girls - DONE 6/12
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Zug
Posts: 661 | Thanks: 354
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2021 5:43 pm
Goal: Find a wife
Age: 41
Motto: Strength before weakness

Sat Dec 25, 2021 1:42 am

Just my 2c, but I've never seen the quit gaming strategy implemented that way ever work. Especially for people who do it a lot, use it as an escape, and need it as an emotional outlet. You can't take *anything* you do for long periods of time repeatedly and replace it with nothing. You have to combine the cold turkey strategy simultaneously with a new pursuit, and the new pursuit has to have *a lot* of meaning to it. You need to be able to channel the pent up desire into something. Willpower is finite, you can use it to cross a gap, but its way better to setup systems that can still work in the absence of willpower. Anything that can only be kept up via consistent willpower is unsustainable. Find a worthwhile hobby or pursuit to put in its place.
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Adam
Posts: 393 | Thanks: 255
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:53 pm
Name: Adam
Goal: Lose Fat
Age: 34
Motto: Become someone you admire

Sun Dec 26, 2021 1:30 am

Zug wrote:
Sat Dec 25, 2021 1:42 am
You can't take *anything* you do for long periods of time repeatedly and replace it with nothing. You have to combine the cold turkey strategy simultaneously with a new pursuit, and the new pursuit has to have *a lot* of meaning to it.
Thanks Zug. I agree and know I'll need to add some things to fill that time.
2022 Goals:
(1) Get Abs
(2) Get to 15 lifetime lays (currently at 10)
(3) Move to a new city with lots of single girls - DONE 6/12
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Adam
Posts: 393 | Thanks: 255
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:53 pm
Name: Adam
Goal: Lose Fat
Age: 34
Motto: Become someone you admire

Mon Dec 27, 2021 7:42 pm

Christmas with the family was lots of fun. I enjoyed the food and didn't worry about tracking just for one day. Unfortunately I got a bad stomach bug the day after Christmas which had me lying in bed all day. Didn't eat anything all day - just Tums and Pepto Bismol. I'm like 80% back to normal today. I won't do any strenuous exercise but I'll do some walking, then hopefully be back to normal tomorrow.
2022 Goals:
(1) Get Abs
(2) Get to 15 lifetime lays (currently at 10)
(3) Move to a new city with lots of single girls - DONE 6/12
User avatar
MakingAComeback
Posts: 4130 | Thanks: 4864
Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:17 pm
Goal: 3k Per Month Post Tax
Age: 32
Motto: POSITIVE SELF TALK

Mon Dec 27, 2021 7:44 pm

Rest up feel better and lets see you crush in 2022

MAC
-Your friend, Ravi

Consistent Performance Coach, Admin of WinnerWithin, and Seeker of Human Potential

My FB Group for Consistent Performance & Goal Achievement
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ironwilltribe
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Adam
Posts: 393 | Thanks: 255
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:53 pm
Name: Adam
Goal: Lose Fat
Age: 34
Motto: Become someone you admire

Fri Dec 31, 2021 5:18 pm

Happy New Year's Eve to all you winners

I'm going to try to do daily posts moving forward. Andy and SpiderJerusalem talked on their podcast about how daily posting was helpful for Spider. I think I'll find it helpful too.

I'm still slightly sick. Whatever I had is hanging on pretty doggedly. No more stomach issues but I'm still getting bad night sweats that dampen my sheets every night and have lower energy than normal during the day. I'm taking Vitamin D and C and getting extra sleep, but I'm not sure what else to do to recover more quickly. I've got a yearly physical scheduled with my doctor mid-January where he'll take some bloodwork to make sure I have no hidden long-term issues.

Still Video-Game-Free and Binge-Free. I downloaded a website-blocker and set a 90-day block on the Steam website so I have no way to re-download my games. Earlier this week I did an exercise from gamequitters.com and wrote down alternate activities for when I'm bored/tired/have free time since I'll need to fill that old gaming time with something. As an extra exercise for myself, I wrote down everything I could think of that would help me achieve my fitness and dating goals. And there was quite a lot I could do. More than I've been doing, certainly. Today I'm going to slot those new activities into my calendar.

What I've been doing this week toward my goals:

Fat-Loss:
A quick 10-minute workout first thing in the morning to start the day off right.
Strength-training workout every other day (At-Home since I'm not going to the gym while sick)
Daily 10K Steps
Daily stretching - This is a new habit. I'm focusing mostly on my hips right now since I sit a lot and because hip mobility is so important for BJJ.

Dating: Just listening to KYIL podcasts. I haven't done any swiping this week since I'm too sick to go see girls right now.

Moving: I've got a flight and AirBnB booked for Nashville from Sunday to Next Saturday to check out the city.
2022 Goals:
(1) Get Abs
(2) Get to 15 lifetime lays (currently at 10)
(3) Move to a new city with lots of single girls - DONE 6/12
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Adam
Posts: 393 | Thanks: 255
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:53 pm
Name: Adam
Goal: Lose Fat
Age: 34
Motto: Become someone you admire

Sat Jan 01, 2022 9:33 pm

12/31/2021 Recap

Yesterday was the first NYE I've spent without doing something with my friends. Past years we've all gotten together to hang out on New Years' Eve. Even last year when the pandemic panic was in full-swing, we at least all got on a Zoom call for a digital hangout. This year almost everyone was busy with kids. I don't begrudge my friends for moving forward in their lives and having kids, but it's a wakeup call for me that I need to make some new friends. Those guys will always be important to me, but we're at different places in our lives right now. Once I move, making new friends in the area will be a major priority. I don't intend to spend next New Year's Eve alone.

Despite spending the night alone, it was a good day. I got my 10K steps, stretched, prepped for the Nashville trip, and spent the later part of the night watching some Hunter x Hunter. I texted my family happy new year and got a happy new year text from a girl I used to date casually which was a nice surprise. She's a sweet girl.

I had a major junk food craving late last night, probably due to spending NYE alone. I had some and went about 1K over my daily calories. It was controlled though. Waaaaay short of my old binges where I'd eat till I felt sick. I stopped far short of that so I do not count it as a binge. And my weight this morning was the same as yesterday morning.

I'll spend the night at my parents tonight and then fly out to Nashville tomorrow morning. I'll bring my work laptop and work remotely during the day, then check out the city in the evening.

I've also started reading the Daily Stoic in the morning. I got a nice daily journal to go along with it as a Christmas present. Today's entry: Understanding the difference between that which is under my control and that which is not. One thing that stuck out to me: The past is not under my control. "They cannot undo the choices they have made or the hurt they have caused. But they can change the future - through the power they have in the present moment. As Epictetus said, they can control the choices they make right now"
2022 Goals:
(1) Get Abs
(2) Get to 15 lifetime lays (currently at 10)
(3) Move to a new city with lots of single girls - DONE 6/12
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Adam
Posts: 393 | Thanks: 255
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:53 pm
Name: Adam
Goal: Lose Fat
Age: 34
Motto: Become someone you admire

Mon Jan 03, 2022 3:33 pm

1/1/2022 Recap
Fat-Loss Actions:
8.5K steps
Strength Workout at home with dumbbells and doorframe pullup bar
Stretch

I visited my parents and had dinner there, so I’m not 100% sure of my calorie count, but my lunch was small so I think I was under 1800 calories for the day.

Nothing else too notable about yesterday. I think I’m finally over whatever sickness I had after Christmas. I didn’t sweat last night and had no sore throat this morning. Fingers crossed that it’s done now.

Traveling to Nashville today. Once I get checked into the AirBnB I’ll explore the city and see if it’s someplace I want to move.

Read Daily Stoic again this morning. A reminder that the point of all the reading that I do – whether it be a self improvement book or an article – is to live a better life.

1/2/2022 Recap
Fat-Loss Actions:
9K Steps
Stretch

Flew into Nashville yesterday and checked into the AirBnB. I explored the city a little bit but wasn’t prepared for the cold and sleet. Apparently the weather was in the 70s all week yesterday but I brought winter along with me. There’s snow on the ground today. I’ll explore after work today. It’s still cold but it’s also bright and sunny instead of overcast and raining.

Today’s Daily Stoic is on saying no to things that don’t matter. The first thing that popped into my head was Video Games. I’m happy that I’m currently saying “no” to them so that I can focus on things that are more important to me. The other thing that came to mind was browsing political stuff on Twitter. It’s a distraction, but also riles up useless anger that further eats up my attention and energy. I want to do less of that.
2022 Goals:
(1) Get Abs
(2) Get to 15 lifetime lays (currently at 10)
(3) Move to a new city with lots of single girls - DONE 6/12
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Adam
Posts: 393 | Thanks: 255
Joined: Tue Jan 05, 2021 3:53 pm
Name: Adam
Goal: Lose Fat
Age: 34
Motto: Become someone you admire

Tue Jan 04, 2022 2:58 pm

1/3/2022 Recap
Fat-Loss Actions:
11K Steps
Stretch

Still in Nashville for the week. I switched AirBnBs so that I could be closer to the downtown area. My previous one was within driving distance but this new one is a 10 minute walk from Broadway.

I walked down to Broadway last night. Wow, this is a hell of a downtown center. Way more impressive than anything I saw in Philly. Having so many bars and restaurants crowded together on one street with live music everywhere. I see why people love this place. I stopped and had some tacos at the Food Court. Freaking delicious.

Pretty much everything I saw last night was positive. LOTS of hot 20-something girls walking around. Nobody wearing masks outside and very few wearing them inside. And from what I've seen, apartment prices aren't too ridiculous. I will walk around more tonight and also do an at-home workout since I'm situated in my AirBnB now.
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