AvatarAbe

You've just got to keep chugging on through and focusing on the big picture. If over the course of the challenge you do well with your diet overall, that fettuccine alfredo won't seem like such a big deal, and certainly not worth beating yourself up about. And see, you're already doing better today. Just keep that momentum up! As you said, the more small successes you have, the better you'll feel.

For those wondering how the lasagna came out....it was awesome! I added full-fat cheese to the recipe, so it's technically not paleo, but still counts as Primal (which is technically what I'm following anyway). It falls apart much more easily without the large, flat noodles to hold it together, but it was absolutely delicious! I tried to upload a picture but am having problems....oh well. First weekly new recipe in the bag! And definitely one I'll come back to in the future. I think for the next one, I want to try something with fish, as I've never actually cooked seafood besides shrimp.

I watched both. Loved 'em both. I picked Tenzin as my avatar because his personality reminds me of me--always trying to be the serious, leader-like, and mature one, but secretly enjoys having fun. Plus airbending is my favorite of the bending arts...and its acrobatic grace combined with the fact that it's a martial art I think well represents my interest in the assassin and monk skill sets...but that's a couple of challenges down the line at least lol...need to work on the basic foundation! Thanks for all the tips! I definitely want to master the pull-up. It's intimidated me for my entire life....time to conquer it and put it in its place. And once I get a solid handle on pull-ups, if I'm really daring, maybe I'll attempt the infamous muscle-up. But that's definitely outside the scope of this 6-week challenge hehe. But hey, one step at a time!

Pretty good guess. Depending on the pants, I'm either a 32 or a 34. I wouldn't say that women have a "worse fate"....women just need more body fat to be healthy. And a relatively higher percentage of body fat definitely looks much better on a woman than a man And yes, Avatar is awesome!

Wow, that's impressive. When I get home I'll try to do some more, but it's kind of difficult to do at work. Thought about going to the park and doing some on lunch break but it's been rainy here all day.

Hehe Tiff TC, I'll definitely report on the lasagna tonight. Just did some burpees upon waking up. Twenty-five to be exact....fell short of my goal of 30 but it took me kind of a while and then I realized "wait a minute...it's 8:00 am and I have a creaky floor and a downstairs neighbor....I'm a jerk." Also I'm dead now lol. *hobbles off to take a shower*

Yep, I'm there, as you've already found out But it'll be cool to add some more NF people.

Nice goals. Curious...how many consecutive chin-ups can you do now? I can't even do one pull-up, so that's one of my goals for this challenge.

I only managed to do 12 today, because I had already worked out. Tomorrow I will hopefully do around 30 before work and 30 after work....maybe head to the park and do some during lunch, but that I'm not so sure of lol.

Great bonus goal! And having lived in Minnesota for a couple of years, I know that a snow-covered Halloween is a distinct possibility--happened when I was there--so you go enjoy that weather!

Sounds like you're making great progress with the fitness! Diet is hard. I tried to go Paleo two times before it finally stuck on the third time. And even then, the first couple of weeks were difficult. But after you push yourself through that and the habit starts to form, it gets a lot better and you'll feel so much better, promise. You can do it!

Yeah, that was the impression I got as well. EDIT: This is the direct link to the tracking spreadsheet, by the way.

You can most certainly have a link! There is a lot of great stuff on that website if you're into Paleo/Primal. Sadly, I didn't get to make the lasagna tonight, as poor planning led to my errands for the day taking too long. Oh well....I know what's for dinner tomorrow after work! Anybody here been doing the mini-challenge? I'm incredibly terrible at burpees, eesh....

Update: The pull-ups were....a challenge. I had to use 90 pounds of assistance, and even then, it was a struggle. Clearly have a very long way to go on this one. The other two main exercises I did, deadlifts and dumbbell rows, were less of an issue. I probably could have done more weight on the deadlift, but I was concerned about form, so I was conservative with it. Tonight's pre-class dinner: zucchini lasagna!

Hey dude, nothing wrong with penguin pajama pants. Penguins rock. And I admire your courage in putting up pictures. It's something I feel like I should do, but haven't gotten up the guts to do so. But by all accounts it's a great way to be accountable, and see how far you've come at the end of the six weeks. So great going!

One more voice chiming in about debt sucking hehe. In my case it's mostly student loans as opposed to credit card debt, but still....it's not pretty.

Dunno if an "official" thread will be posted but I haven't seen one, so.... In case you guys haven't seen, the first mini-challenge is up...burpees! It's a guild-vs-guild competition, and whatever guild wins gets a bye in the next round of the guild-vs-guild tournament that is apparently in the works. Assassins and Rangers are currently dominating. Here's the link: http://www.nerdfitness.com/community/showthread.php?18690-Challenge-FALL-FRENZY-MINI-CHALLENGES-FOR-ALL-GUILDS

Hey, a fellow engineer! Well, I'm in grad school, but I'm with you in the job search at the moment. I'm civil. I took a couple of environmental classes in undergrad though. Not quite my thing, but good information to know. Also, did you know your city is hosting this year's American Society of Civil Engineers conference next month? (hooray random trivia) Sounds like you're making great progress so far. Awesome!

Welcome aboard! I'm often one of those people who turns things in at the last possible moment, so no judgement here

Thanks! The 10% thing is probably a Memorial Day 2013 goal. I'll probably make it an official challenge goal a couple more challenges down the line, whichever one ends closest to Memorial Day. I'm loving the community here already, so I definitely plan to stick around past the end of this current challenge.

Wow, firefighting. Intense! Also, I absolutely love your headline. "The first step can only be forward." Brilliant.

Hey, we both have the same pull-up goal! *high-five* And best of luck on the job thing. That's something I'm hoping to get worked out in the near future, though I didn't have the guts to make it an official goal. Awesome that you have a lead....that's not something that I can say, though there's a career fair at my graduate school next week, so hopefully something can come out of that. But anyway, this thread is about you, not me lol. Rock on!

Well, thankfully, it was an almost drop of the dumbbells My arms got really wobbly and unstable but I returned them to the ground without any casualties. Thanks for the concern though My bodybuilding-obsessed friend says that 17% sounds reasonable for me, as he would've ballparked me in the 17-20 percent range. More important than the actual number to me right now is watching the change, to make sure that my weight loss is fat, not muscle (applying the lessons learned from the Nerd Fitness post about Steve's friend Saint). Getting to 10% or below, for visible abs, is an eventual aspiration of mine, but almost certainly outside the scope of this six-week challenge...well, unless some sort of crazy magic happens

Minor update / shameless thread necromancy: Bought the ingredients for my new recipe of the week tomorrow, which I'll cook for lunch after the gym. Zucchini lasagna! I've been in the mood for something Italian lately, so I'm looking forward to it. Speaking of the gym, tomorrow will be pulling day, meaning deadlifts and my first direct attempt at progressing towards the pull-up goal. Going to go to the gym nice and early so I don't have to deal with the obnoxious bros, who are by far the worst thing about working out at a commercial gym in my opinion.

Wow, I'm really impressed by the early waking up and running. Talk about motivation. I know all too well about that food issue though. Lots of times I'd eat food just because it was there, regardless of how hungry I actually was. Bad decisions heh. It takes a lot of effort to break the habit, but my experience is that once you do, you'll be surprised how easy it is to maintain and not snack when you know you shouldn't.