Wren

Time for the next challenge. I know that for most people summer is a slower time; a time to relax, take vacations, and unwind. In my job, summer is a time of chaos, busyness, and lots of stress. So I have decided that I will use this challenge to get me through the crazy summer season. Fitness Goals: Meditate daily. Meditation is great for stress and also good for my health. I have done a little bit with meditation, but I want to really focus on it this challenge. This will help me to be mentally and emotionally ready for whatever happens. Grade: A- Meditate 42 days; B- Meditate 35-41 days; C-Meditate 28-34 days; Meditate 21-27 days; F-Meditate 20 or fewer days. Do strength training 3 days a week. I plan to start the Bodyweight Brigade workout on level 1. I think it is important to fit in good exercise during this time. It will help me stay physically healthy during this stressful time. Grade: A- Exercise 18 times; B- Exercise 15-17 times; C- Exercise 12-14 times; D: Exercise 9-11 times; F- Exercise 8 or fewer times. Take a hike at least once a week. This actually will help on a lot of levels. It keeps me active, which helps my physical health, but it also helps my mental and emotional health as well. Getting outdoors always relaxes me. Just sitting outside on my porch helps, but I love being in the woods. I may replace a hike or two with kayaking, another outdoor activity that I love. I need to remember during all of the busyness to make time for myself, and this will help. Grade: A- Go on 6 hikes; B- Go on 5 hikes; C- Go on 4 hikes; D- Go on 3 hikes; F- Go on 2 or fewer hikes. Life Goal: Clean for an average of two hours each week. I have started a massive effort to declutter and simplify my life and I don't want to lose my momentum due to my busy schedule. I am going to use an average because some weeks I may not have time to clean for two hours, even breaking it up into smaller portions of time. Using an average will allow me to catch up when I have time so that I don't stress out too much on the weeks when I just do not have the time or energy to get it done. Grade: A- Clean for 12 hours; B- Clean for 10-11 hours; C- Clean for 8-9 hours; D- Clean for 6-7 hours; F- Clean for 5 or fewer hours.

Woohoo! Despite some challenges and setbacks you did good. As someone who is not a runner (I just don't enjoy it) I am always impressed by those who run.

Congratulations on a great challenge. It looks like you did really well. I certainly feel your pain on the chest measurements, that's usually one of the places I lose too.

The challenge has ended so it is time for the final summary. At times this seemed like the worst time to start a six week challenge. I had very little time to post or stay active on the forums, so it felt like I wasn't getting everything out of the challenge that I might could have. Other times I was reminded that this was a great time to start a challenge. Even though I was busy, the fact that I knew I would have to post my progress (or lack of progress) kept me exercising even when I was tired or felt like I didn't have time. This has helped me get back in the habit of exercising and taking care of myself. Fitness Goals: Practice yoga at least five times a week. I did very well on this goal. I subscribed to a couple of Gaiam TV yoga guides and managed to practice yoga almost every day of the challenge. I didn't count one day because the video they had for the guide that day was meditation instead of yoga. Still, I am sleeping better, in much less pain, and starting to regain my flexibility. I hadn't noticed how stiff I was getting until I started practicing yoga again. Final total: Practiced yoga 41 days during this challenge. Grade: A+ Eliminate dairy from my diet. This has been very difficult. I have been tempted by bbq nachos, homemade brownies, and Mexican food covered in cheese. I had to constantly remind myself that I would feel better by not eating all of that stuff. So far I have been dairy-free for four weeks. Grade: A Practice handstands at least five times each week. At the end of this challenge, I have only managed to hold a handstand for five seconds, but that is still a lot better than where I was when I started. I can feel the difference in my upper body strength. Final total: Practiced handstands 35 days during this challenge. Grade: A+ Life Goal: Complete the Kamana One study. This is the one goal that I didn't fully accomplish. I still have 2.5 chapters left in the study. As life got more and more busy, this was one of the things that I just never quite seemed to get to. I still plan to finish it, it will just take a little longer than originally planned. Grade: B- Overall, I think I did well on this challenge. It really helped me stay motivated as I worked to get back in the habit of healthy exercise and diet. I am glad that I participated in this challenge even though it was one more thing to do in a long list of things that I needed to get done. Ending Stats: Height: 5'2" Weight: 122 lbs. (down 5 lbs.) Waist: 28" (down .5") Body fat %: 28% (didn't change)

I have enjoyed getting to see what everyone else is doing for their challenge. Having the other members means that I feel guilty if I don't post, so even when I am tired and don't feel like dealing with it, I still try to post at least once a week. In the past, one of my problems is that I stop posting at about week 3 and then I disappear from the challenge. This has helped me stay on track.

Wow! I'm impressed with the push ups. It sounds like you had a few setbacks, but you are trying to move past them and keep improving.

You are doing great. The amount of inches you have lost shows that you are definitely doing something right, even if the numbers on the scale aren't going down as much as you want them to.

This past week has been chaotic. I am keeping up with my goals, but didn't get on the forums at all. So here is my progress for this week. Practice yoga 5 days a week. I have finished my first 21-day yoga guide on GaiamTV and have started my second one. Because it is set up to be done daily, I am well ahead of my goal. The only day that I am not counting is May 2. Although I completed that day's video, it was actually a guided meditation rather than a yoga practice. Still, I have completed 26 of 30 practices. Eliminate dairy. I messed up with this one a bit by not reading a label when I should have. I had some flavored instant oatmeal. The flavors were banana bread and maple brown sugar. I never thought about them containing milk, but apparently they added whey isolate so that it would have more protein. Aside from two bowls of oatmeal, I have been dairy free for two weeks. I have turned down some really good food, but it is worth it if I can feel better. Practice handstands 5 days a week. I am not making a lot of progress with this one. I can consistently kick up and hold a 2-3 second handstand, but I can't seem to move past that stage. The lack of progress makes me want to practice more so that I can get past this plateau. So far I have completed 22 of 30 practices. I have four chapters (of eight) in section three of my Kamana One study. Although each chapter takes longer to complete than the chapters in part two, I am doing okay. If I can keep my schedule of two chapters per week, I will still finish by the end of this challenge.

AresPandora - Right now I am not planning to do the whole thing, but that may change in the future. I do want to complete the first two at least. Today I had a real challenge for my diary free goal. Lunch was from a concession stand and one of the options was BBQ nachos, which I love, but of course they are covered in cheese. Most of the other people were getting them and they looked great. I am proud to say that although I was tempted, in the end I got the chicken sandwich instead. So I am still on track.

Subbed for the A&S mini challenge (yes I know I'm weeks behind on getting that done). You have some great goals. I am curious, what is a hash? I have seen it on your thread and on Salambander's thread, but I'm not sure what it is.

How has it been going? Are you learning to make it without your normal spices?

I'm doing pretty good so far. Now I just have to keep reminding myself that just because I want to put cheese on everything, doesn't mean that I should put cheese on everything (or anything, for that matter).

Your doing great! I hadn't heard of Plant Nanny, so I looked it up. And immediately downloaded it. I made sure that I did not try to immediately drink all the glasses of water that it told me I needed.

Salambander - The full name is Kamana Naturalist Training. It is a home study course from the Wilderness Awareness School. IT is supposed to help yo gain a deeper connection with and understanding of nature. It is also helpful for those who want to help others for these connections. I work in the environmental education field as an interpretive naturalist, so I felt that this would be very beneficial for my work. The Kamana training has four levels. I am working on the first one. I have been doing pretty good this week despite major allergy problems. Practice yoga 5 days a week. I have kept up my yoga practice. Progress so far: 17 of 30 practices completed. This puts me slightly above where I need to be to complete this my needed total by the end of week six. Eliminate dairy. So far I have not had any dairy this week. I have been tempted a time or two, but I keep reminding myself that the moment of enjoyment is not worth what it will do to my body. Practice handstands 5 days a week. I continue to progress. I can now kick up and hold a 2-3 second handstand fairly regularly. Even if I don't hold a handstand for 15 seconds by the end of this challenge, I can already feel a difference in my upper body strength, so it has been worth it. So far I have completed 14 of 30 practices. I have completed the second part (of three) for my Kamana One study. I am not starting on the third part. This one takes more time per lesson, so my progress has slowed down a little. I still think I can finish it by the end of the six week challenge.

I have not been updating like I planned. A few unexpected things have kept me from being as active on the boards as I had planned to be this challenge. Still I am getting things done; I'm just not writing about them. So here is the week in review. Practice yoga 5 days a week. I have continued to practice yoga everyday as part of the Gaiam guide. I am really enjoying it. I also am starting to notice improved flexibility and less pain. Yoga has always been my go-to exercise for pain management and it certainly hasn't let me down during this challenge. I am also sleeping better, which helps a lot. Progress so far: 14 of 30 practices completed. Eliminate dairy. I have found a few more things that I eat regularly that have milk or dairy products. I am having to rethink a few of my normal food choices, but that is good. I really think that I will feel better at the end of this. This week, as planned, I did not have any cheese or yogurt. Next week I plan to go completely dairy-free. Practice handstands 5 days a week. I am doing okay with this. I have been practicing regularly and I am seeing some improvement. A few times I have been able to kickup and hold a two second handstand without needing the wall at all. It's not great, but it has only been two weeks, so I think it is decent progress. I am still hopeful that I will be able to hold a handstand by the end of this challenge. I have almost completed the second part (of three) for my Kamana One study. I realized that I am better at some things than I realized, but also that there are some things that I am worse than expected. This has been an interesting experience so far. One that has taught me not just how to be more aware of the natural world around me, but also has made me more aware of who I am. I was not expecting to learn so much about myself during this process.