Watermelon

First challenge, kind of scared. Goal #1: Do back strengthening exercises and mobilizations 3x a week - will take from 30 minutes to probably an hour. The exercises keep adding on to the program as you get more proficient with them, at the start you are only doing 6 and by the end you are doing about 30 of them. I want to do this so that I don't have the constant nagging fear that I am going to hurt my back again, my lower back and abdominal muscles are by far the weakest on my body and the often the first to start giving out when I am exercising. STR: 4 Goal #2: Meditate/Conscious Presence for 20 minutes every day. By far this is going to be the hardest one for me, but I am leaving myself room to try different ways of achiveing this, as long as I am not thinking of the past or future and am in the present moment it will be good. So walking, repetitive chores, gardening, sitting outside, they all can count. This will be one of the most helpful of my goals, I have a lot of things rattling in my head right now and to have that moment in my day of clear thought will be welcomed. CON: 4 Goal #3: Drink 320 oz of water a week. And my beloved fruit juice/seltzer mix does not count. It comes out to about 45 oz a day. I considered going with the full 64 oz a day but remembered what it was like drinking that much on days I didn't exercise Drinking more water will help with my thinking and hopefully eating habits too. STA: 2 Goal #4: Life Goal Save a $1,000 cushion. Lately I have been so focused on paying off my bills that I let my bank account get low enough that I am juggling when to pay bills and purchase necessities so I don't dip too low. The cushion will be a peace of mind to know that I can just pay whenever and there will be enough in there. WIS: 4 The rewards will be peace of mind. Those are my goals, any input is appreciated. - Watermelon

Hello All, I've been following the NerdFitness blog for about 6 months now and was instantly hooked (mostly because of the video links - who thought baby goats jumping around would be so mesmerizing) and just started to lurk around these forums last week. Well, I told myself that the next challenge coming up I would join in, so here I am joining in. Quick mini bio: Just now I am starting to come out of a quarter-life crisis of sorts. About five years ago I quite my good-at-it-but-not-my-love job to go to school full time so that I could work in the field I loved. I got that job, but didn't end up loving it, in fact I got very depressed thinking that I had made the wrong choice. I gave up things I loved like reading and walking everywhere and gained almost 50lbs. This goes on for about 3 years. Until we come to now, where like a lightbulb crashing down on my head I realize that you make your own situation - good or bad - out of every day. Nothing will ever change unless it changes in your mind first. So in last year I have come out of my pupa stage and started to do stuff - I joined a boot camp and couldn't walk for the first two weeks, ran in a Spartan race and finished it (mostly because of the boot camp), started to promote my personal mission on earth, and am getting back in touch with people I fell out of touch with. I count Egon Spengler and Carl Sagan as my heros (ok, so one is a fictional character, but come on - "don't cross the streams".) And spend most of my time staring at plants, collecting rocks, and eating watermelon, either singly or in combination Glad to be joining, bit scared of the challenge, and excited to get to know new people. -Watermelon