Vibrantella

This challenge ended with some success: I went to the gym as many times as I planned (plus one extra, which I had to abandon shortly after warm-up due to a hypoglycemic episode); I studied and meditated; but I also ate too, too much, and enough wrong things ("treats") to achieve a fully ketotic state. Ah well, 75% altogether! Onwards and upwards! (I just wish I can recover my motivation...)

Honestly? No, it wouldn't help me. For some (many?) people, sugar addiction is real - and it's not just the dopamine hit in the brain, but the complex hormonal cascade of insulin, leptin and ghrelin (and other hormones and enzymes). For me, it's better not to touch it at all. I cannot mindfully eat high-carb foods. There are some people, though, who can - Mr V. has a sweet tooth which he can satisfy with 2 squares of chocolate or a single biscuit/cookie after a meal. He's never had a weight problem, and his blood sugar and lipids have always been fine (unlike me on all 3 counts). Ultimately, I think that mindfulness cannot fight biology - except for mindfully avoiding things that are detrimental!

Uh-oh, I'm still here! Sorry for being AWOL, but that's mostly due to doing lots of work for my course. The weather here in London has been mostly terrible, which does not help with being energetic! Today, however, there is sunshine - spring may actually be here, hooray! My second challenge week went like this: 1. Food - 60% (I had a serious chocolate mini-eggs accident (!) - I don't remember the last time I was even attracted to sickly sweet milk chocolate, but I suppose once the sugar was in my veins, I couldn't stop even though I wasn't really enjoying it. Luckily, I didn't eat all of them, and the rest were taken away by Mr V. to his work.) 2. Fitness - 100% (I walked and I gymmed ) 3. Meditation (and Reiki DH) - 100% 4. Research and write - a lot! I got a cute little chromebook to carry around cafes and libraries - my laptop is too heavy to be really portable, especially when carrying books and/or gym kit. I've finally admitted to myself and Mr V. that it's much easier to study outside the house - at home, distractions are inevitable and numerous! This week I have a lot of family and community obligations, but I already went to the gym once, which is nominally enough. Food, though, might be a bit more difficult to manage, what with catering for other people and traditional (non-keto) specialities. Eh, I would like to drop the extra winter weight, but at the moment that is not a priority. Balance is, and that includes being relaxed with family and friends.

Thanks for your support, @Plazmotic, @campbellmc22, @Snarkyfishguts, @Bookish Badger and @MaD MaLKaV. The first week went well. My visit to the gym, not that much! I have lost a lot of my strength, and my left knee was giving me trouble with even the empty barbell squat. I will have to find other ways of training my legs (leg press, for example) and also improve my joint mobility. The really disappointing thing, though, was that the water was turned almost completely off - the gym is in a big shopping mall, and they were waiting for the maintenance team, so it was not their fault really - but it's still not nice to be without a water fountain and trying to shower in a trickle. Especially as it's not the first time it happened! I also broke the Insight Timer streak, on the day which was so full that I only managed to switch it on at a minute after midnight. I was a bit deflated at first, but now I don't care - it's about my meditating, not about the software! I love keto! I use it to control my T2 diabetes without drugs, and it helped me reduce my BMI from 40 (morbidly obese) to 27 (just overweight). I abandoned it for a while during the winter of doom, and put back on 10 kg in 2.5 months of comfort eating. I'm hoping that I'll get back to where I was, and further down, if I keep to keto and IF seriously. It helps that I love the taste of fatty meat Since being on the LC / keto, I developed an appetite for fresh veg too, which I didn't use to like when I was eating huge quantities of pasta. Week 1 Recap: 1. Food - keto and IF - 90% (we were invited to a friends' house for dinner, and I could not completely avoid some higher carb foods) 2. Fitness - record walking & go to gym - 100% 3. Meditation - 100% (even though nominally I broke the streak, I actually meditated before going to bed) 4. Research for the MA - is happening, difficult to score except as a binary yes/no, so YES Week 2, here we come!

I like that concept, except mornings don't work for me. But the acronym SAVERS does Good luck with your challenge!

I am so sorry for your loss. This is a good plan. Take care.

Sadly, there is no such thing for me any more... (Except high-fibre green leafy veg.) So I'll get my kicks by looking at your pasta pics!

After a time of healing, I'm back with a new challenge. It's fairly basic, but I'm quite proud that I managed some successes already: a return to regular meditation (33 day streak on Insight Timer), low carb eating and intermittent fasting. I'm also back to walking, as at my lowest I did not leave the house for a couple of weekends, and used public transport otherwise. The one thing I still haven't gone back to is the gym - and I'm both excited and afraid to do so. I'm also thinking about getting another Personal Trainer for a couple of months (my old one has left the country). Finally, I'm working hard towards my MA in Classical Studies. Without further ado, here are my goals for this challenge: 1. Food - ketogenic (record on Fitday and/or Cronometer) and regular IF 2. Fitness - record walking (from Mordor) and go to the gym at least once a week 3. Keep the meditation (and Reiki DH) streak 4. Research and write Good luck everyone, and let's DO it!

This!

That is what matters! Though, do take enough time for resting, that's important too.

Well done, congrats! BTW, your hair looks great I took a break from NF, but I plan to be back next challenge. Hope to see you then!

Thank you for thinking of me I was healing from the therapy injuries, and then got flattened by a bad cold. I'm back on my feet now, but not yet back to normal, so have decided to hibernate until the next challenge. Slowly working on recovering my physical energy and a desire for healthy eating. I dare not step on the scale!

Thank you so much!

Hey, I'm back! Sort of. This challenge was not so much of a fail, as a physical impossibility. I did not realise how something as innocuously sounding as x-rays could be so debilitating for the body and mind. However, radiotherapy proved to be much, much worse than actual surgery. As Mr V. pointed out, I really did have a sick note, for the whole month (actually, probably two months - the side effects are supposed to get worse for a couple of weeks before they get better). Still, the radiotherapy is now finished. Yay! Hormonal therapy will continue for 5 years, but I will find ways to ameliorate the side effects. The spark has returned to the world, though, after a very bleak few weeks when I lost my joy. So glad it came back! Oh, and I did get a full PASS in Academia and Path classes, and in Spirit too, if only for turning inward for a while (and for a change!)

Yeah, I think I reached that realisation myself too! FWIW, I had 2 MCs from IVFs. We didn't continue after that. Gave it the old college try, didn't work, life goes on. We have a huge extended family, so some of my genes will be perpetuated for another generation or two...