Tag Archives: fear

Day 280: Take good care of yourself

Day 280 - front

  • Weight: 138.2 lbs.
  • Workout C: 31 minutes, 32 seconds; next: Workout C, June 10
  • Total inches: 125.4
  • Protein: 137g (7g over target)
  • Calories: 2,191

I’m exercising. I’m eating consistently. But I’m not fully taking care of myself.

Stress is a killer. It could be from poor health, financial woes, family problems, terrible work situation or mental anxiety. I’m certainly dealing with a full plate of stress in getting my conference together to launch in 6 weeks.

And while I can still function and be fairly productive, it’s not a lot of fun. Stress is eating me up.

It’s affecting my sleep. It’s affecting my outlook. It’s making me feel depressed.

I’ve been told to take care of myself, but I haven’t listened very well. (Which, of course, compounds the stress.)

I can do a few simple things to take better care of myself …

1. Write down my fears and my solutions. Believe it or not, I had already done this months ago. Today, I printed them out so I could see my fears on paper. They’re much less scary than banging around my head over and over.

2. Breathe deeply for 5 minutes. I have set a daily reminder on my phone.

3. Do alternate exercise breaks. I am lazy, and Project Bulk embraces that willingness to do as little as possible. However, getting out for a walk or stopping to do 25 minutes of yoga isn’t just a mental break. It will help me with the rest of my day and ease my overall stress.

4. Write. Writing is one of the most relaxing things I do. But it takes time, so I often put it aside when I’m in heavy work mode. I’ll just have to snag some time here and there to write a few blog posts, even if work related (see this post, for example).

My calm exterior often belies the stress simmering underneath. I don’t have to let it fester. I can choose to take care of myself.

How do you deal with your stress? Have at it in the comments.

Day 280 - side

Day 17: Visioning is believing

day 17

  • Weight: 125.4 lbs.
  • No workout today
  • Total inches: 118.3
  • Protein: 156 g (38 g over target)
  • Calories: 2,345

A fear seems a little less intimidating when said aloud. I’ve already named a primary fear of this project: getting fat. The daily weight pendulum has suddenly begun to swing in the correct direction.

weight Sept. 17, 2012

Hooray for excess calories. The real trick is adding more pounds of muscle than fat.

Why focus on fear when I can focus on what I want? I can illustrate it much better than trying to describe it …

Charles Atlas ad

The beach bully, the original one, not the new one.
Who wouldn’t want to be the villain in a comic book ad?

Rosie the Riveter, We can do it

Rosie says I can do it.
I can do it! (Look at that bicep!)
If I had been running the riveting factories …
we’d all be speaking German now. 

Tough cat eats pain for breakfast

All I want to know is how much protein is in pain.

Mike Tyson

Tyson, the early years. Note the lack of tribal facial tattoo.
Also, how much protein in a human ear? Asking for a friend. 

Homer eats Powersauce Bars, which unleash
the energy of six different types of apples.

I’ll be a brick …

 

 

 

 

house.

Cue the montage.

Fading out …