Eilyd

I am so stinkin' proud of you.

Your weights look good It's hard to know why we have off days or don't--the important part is to move past them and have a great day the next day! My thought is that perhaps the sugar from the extra piece of cake messed with your energy levels (along with the knowledge of eating what you knew was bad for you), so it was all "Rawr, this is hard. Discouragement." inside your head. You're doing really good, though. Please don't be discouraged.

Oops. I totally forgot to post a summary of Week 3. It was something like week 2, I can recall. Week 4 (that is what we're on, right?) My Main Quest: Lose 3 inches off my waist (29in to 26in) (currently 28in) 1. EAT a natural, vegetarian diet with about 1800 cal/day, with 100g of protein and 50-80g of carbs (CON +1, WIS +1, STR +1) This was better, I think about a B-C. I tracked about half of the days and at least made calorie goals most of the days, if not carb/protein ratios. 2. LIFT Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday for 30 min+. Pursue 25% weight increase over course of the challenge. (STR +3, CON +1) B. Worked out at home once and went to gym once. 3. RUN Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday using Tabata method. Achieve 8.0 mph sprint speed. (STA +2, DEX +2) F. No running, because legs hurt from working active job. Can I count it as a default C if I work 3 days that week? Diet Sidequest: Gunning for Sugar (CON +1, WIS +1) Did pretty good! Life Side Quest: Schedule Management (WIS +1, CHA +1) Maintain schedule that I adopted last challenge: D. It was recoup-from-people week. Apply to 8 jobs a week. F, did not. Post blog things 2x a week. F, did not. Yoga and pray/study daily. C, somewhat Week 3: (with some forecasting) My Main Quest: Lose 3 inches off my waist (29in to 26in) (currently 28in) 1. EAT a natural, vegetarian diet with about 1800 cal/day, with 100g of protein and 50-80g of carbs (CON +1, WIS +1, STR +1) B. Sorta forgot to track anything ever. It was pretty good, though--had a little extra meat on Sunday because it was literally the only protein available and I hadn't had a chance to eat since breakfast. 2. LIFT Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday for 30 min+. Pursue 25% weight increase over course of the challenge. (STR +3, CON +1) B. I am not going to be making any weight increases, though. I am not adjusting well to this physical job + lifting. 3. RUN Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday using Tabata method. Achieve 8.0 mph sprint speed. (STA +2, DEX +2) B. mmmmnope. Diet Sidequest: Gunning for Sugar (CON +1, WIS +1) None. Did not. Not even with St. Patrick's day everything running around at work on the day I forgot lunch. Life Side Quest: Schedule Management (WIS +1, CHA +1) Maintain schedule that I adopted last challenge: This is really sort of not-applicable now that I am working many days of the week. Life is hard to balance now. Apply to 8 jobs a week. I applied for 2! Post blog things 2x a week.Why did I even make this a goal? I am totally ignoring it. Yoga and pray/study daily. B, most days. I am kind of getting frustrated with doing the 6-week challenges. I always lose interest around week 4, have lots of enthusiasm for the next one, but have difficulty not doing the same thing again. I'm wondering if maybe I should just switch to doing a Daily Battle Log instead, and aim for consistency rather than challenge points?

I like your method of addressing the deadlift grip! I think I shall adopt this, as I'm going to approach a similar point soon.

Week 2, because I forgot: My Main Quest: Lose 3 inches off my waist (29in to 26in) (currently 28in) 1. EAT a natural, vegetarian diet with about 1800 cal/day, with 100g of protein and 50-80g of carbs (CON +1, WIS +1, STR +1) This was better, I think about a B-C. I tracked about half of the days and at least made calorie goals most of the days, if not carb/protein ratios. 2. LIFT Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday for 30 min+. Pursue 25% weight increase over course of the challenge. (STR +3, CON +1) B. Worked out at home once and went to gym once. 3. RUN Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday using Tabata method. Achieve 8.0 mph sprint speed. (STA +2, DEX +2) F. No running, because legs hurt from working active job. Can I count it as a default C if I work 3 days that week? Diet Sidequest: Gunning for Sugar (CON +1, WIS +1) Did pretty good! Life Side Quest: Schedule Management (WIS +1, CHA +1) Maintain schedule that I adopted last challenge: D. It was recoup-from-people week. Apply to 8 jobs a week. F, did not. Post blog things 2x a week. F, did not. Yoga and pray/study daily. C, somewhat Week 3: (with some forecasting) My Main Quest: Lose 3 inches off my waist (29in to 26in) (currently 28in) 1. EAT a natural, vegetarian diet with about 1800 cal/day, with 100g of protein and 50-80g of carbs (CON +1, WIS +1, STR +1) A. I have tracked things and on the days I tracked (to be honest, not all of them), I have averaged >1500 cal, >80g protein, and 80g of carbs. I am satisfied with this, because it is a huge improvement. It is SO FREAKING HARD to get over 1500 calories on a vegetarian, non-bread diet. SO HARD. 2. LIFT Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday for 30 min+. Pursue 25% weight increase over course of the challenge. (STR +3, CON +1) A. (fudged) Home exercise on Thursday, gym (LEGS) on Friday, will go to gym Sunday 3. RUN Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday using Tabata method. Achieve 8.0 mph sprint speed. (STA +2, DEX +2) B. Ran today and will run Sunday Diet Sidequest: Gunning for Sugar (CON +1, WIS +1) None. Take THAT. Life Side Quest: Schedule Management (WIS +1, CHA +1) Maintain schedule that I adopted last challenge: B. Did things in general Apply to 8 jobs a week. C, applied for some Post blog things 2x a week. F, did not. Yoga and pray/study daily. B, most days.

Ooh, gotcha. Well, nothing wrong with shaking it up, right?

I second sheltiechick on the three pounds. It's natural fluctuation, but possibly more noticeable because of the recent hormonal changes. The thing is, if you normally get the shot every 3 months, then you wouldn't have been due for one until December 2013. So your body wouldn't have "noticed" that you weren't taking it anymore until December. I know for oral contraceptives, the going rule is that it takes 3 months after stopping for things to get all the way back to normal. If that's similar for Depo, then it would put you at right about now for your body to return to its natural hormonal levels. This could explain why your weight is behaving in unexpected ways--mine was all kinds of wonky after I stopped taking the pill. I would advise paying extra attention to what you're eating and making sure that, while your calories are fine, you aren't getting a disproportionate amount of them from sugar and starch and grains.

My biggest frustration with this comes from my mom. She's one of those discouraged people who has dieted many times but never with sustainable results, and genetics in our family are the unhelpful, fat-comes-easy kind (as opposed to my husband, who has a metabolism fueled by the fires of hell). So she's both concerned that I don't follow the family trend and get fat, but motherly-concerned that I don't have an eating disorder or distorted body image, combined with frustration at her own inability to make fat stay off her. I love her and we're very close, so she's one of the few people to whom I wouldn't say "my body is none of your business". But between her concern that I might get fat (from eating butter and bacon), her generation's ingrained "women shouldn't lift, that's dangerous", and her concern that I might be too worried about my weight (which isn't helped by her fat warnings either!), it's just terribly frustrating. The random coworkers and whatnot who say "You don't have anything to lose! Why won't you eat this cake?" are minor bothers, but when it's my own mother it's not easily dismissable or ignorable.

Thank you for trusting us with your frustrations enough to vent! I am so glad that you feel better and more hopeful. You will do this, and you will own it.

Good for you! That's pretty good strength.

Haha. Bathroom remodels are fun! (though that's mostly the tearing-down-old-tile part) Good progress on the iPhone challenge! Question: what are you doing instead of messing around on your phone?

The way I think of "engaging my core" is when you get your knees and elbows touching, don't think of tipping forward and balancing so much as using your back to lift up your butt. This way your core is what's holding you up, and your hands and head are just providing the contact with the ground. Does this make sense? Tipping and "just getting up there" rely on momentum and moving into the position, but lifting your butt with your back (or abs, whichever is the technical group) is a steady, even muscle contraction that you can hold longer the stronger you get.

Agree on the pull-ups. I can do 3, and I am nowhere near in combat-ready shape. How could you be prepared for such a vigorous lifestyle but not be able to (literally) pull your own weight? LostOne I am so excited for you! Excellent job on getting out. It's very sad that your mother gave you an ultimatum; it seems rather like any ruining-of-relationship is being done by her stance on this.

Nice going. My advice on planks: do them like knuckle push-ups instead of with your hands flat. It's better for circulation through your wrists and builds wrist strength too.

No, it doesn't involve macaroni. It does involve spaghetti squash and deliciousness. And cheese. If you're a non-dairy person, then sorry, you're out of luck with this recipe. 1. Cook spaghetti squash. Steve already told you how to do it. Having a pre-cooked half of this sitting in your fridge is what makes this superfast. 2. Scrape out a bit into a bowl, however much you want to eat. I like 1.5-2 cups. 3. Stir in some basil, garlic, whatever else strikes your fancy. 4. Shred cheese into it. Soft, melty cheeses are better. I really like cheese, so I like at least 1/4 cup. 5. Pour in a bit of half & half or heavy cream. Heavy cream tastes better. Maybe 2 tbsp? 6. Microwave for a minute, stir, microwave for another minute 7. OMNOMNOMNOM. I stumbled upon this while scavenging last night. It is now one of my new favorite fast meals. I'm sure you could scale this up and adapt it to a full dish.

Ooh, how many pull-ups, and how much weight?

What you need: Paleo Scotch Eggs. They are one of the most delicious things going and it's got SO MUCH PROTEIN in one pre-cooked, easy to grab handful of amazingness.

YOUR LIFE IS SO EXCITING. I'm pretty sure you can nail that promotion. You've got the discipline to pull off a totally new eating style, a new way of looking at yourself and being healthy--this new position would take half of that amount of effort, because you'll be able to apply all of your motivation and discipline lessons, just in a new way, rather than having to start from scratch. Also, it's AMAZING how having a job that is better than "just a paycheck" can give you more energy to use toward it and the rest of your life.

I approve of everything going on in this thread! I'm all twisted up between envy of Topanga's boobs and envy of Wheelchair Pull-up Man's ridiculous traps.

I'm usually one to advocate putting one's best foot (or face) forward, but never to the extent of pretending to be someone you're not. I'm sure you have a lovely face, so there's no need to put on a pretend one!

I'm doing attempted pistols, hence the quotation marks. Right now it's "trying to keep the other leg straight out while squatting to near-parallel and holding onto the doorframe".

No longer have house-guest! I was happy to have her, but it's nice to have my space back. Working out tonight at home, because I have to go to bed early and it takes long to go to the gym. Regular squats: 4 sets, 10 reps "Pistol" squats: 4 sets, 5 reps per leg Pull-ups: 4 sets, 3 reps Push-ups: 4 sets, 5 reps

Heading tomorrow (Wednesday), Friday, and Sunday. None of those are days I'm working, so I don't have "I'm tired and got up at 4" as an excuse. And after Thursday, I probably won't be able to use "I have a house guest in a one-bedroom apartment" either.

What they said. I am entirely in favor of this addiction breaking! Go you!