Nanook

I got a very generous offer today to start working at a large civil engineering firm in downtown Dallas!! Let me preface this by saying I am still attending college and have one more semester of school. The actual job description said the position was for applicants who have graduated college and have two years of experience. I have neither of those and decided to apply anyway. So when I got an interview, I never considered for a second they would actually hire me. Then I got offered the job at the interview!! It is just like in the movies. I am going from eating raman noodles to save money with a dead end job to having a salary while working in a skyscraper downtown. I am soooo excited. I will have to work full-time while taking night classes, so I know it will be a challenge. But, rebels are prepared for anything!

Hey! I just found this thread, and since I live in Arlington, I totally want to meet the local nerd rebels. I have never been to top golf, but I looked it up and it sounds awesome. And I did go to Dinosaur Valley State Park once when I was little and it was pretty great. I would love to go back.

Day 16 Today I ran 1.5 miles again, but this time it was basically up and down one hill. I seemed to be out of breath way more than usual, but I was also running much faster and running up a hill for the first mile. I ended up running the time in 16:20 so I didn't beat my previous time. My diet on the other hand has been a complete disaster.

Day 13 I didn't get anything accomplished last week. I had exams and other projects due all week long so I spent most of my free time studying. Thankfully, the week finally ended and I have officially started spring break. This week will be tough because I am hanging out with friends and family and there will be a lot of eating and drinking. My main goal is to get used to saying no to all of the sweets laying around my dad's house and only eat when I am hungry. My family eats a lot and they are almost all overweight, so I really need to practice not eating every time they eat and have fun without relying on food. Yesterday got off to a rough start and I already feel like I have eaten too much. I promise I will not gain all of the weight back that I have lost. I seem to do that every time I am on vacation. But, I PROMISE myself I will not do it again!

I have been listening to the soundtrack for Les Miserables all day long and I can't get a few of the songs out of my head.

Speaking of sugar cravings, today I had a huge chocolate craving hit me. There is a jar full of individually wrapped almond joys that my roommate keeps around. I don't like eating coconut so I never eat them. But today, I stared at the wrappers for 20 minutes and finally just ate a couple. It's funny because the coconut didn't bother me since I was enjoying the chocolate too much. I usually have apples or dried banana chips laying around to snack on, but I ran out a few days ago. I guess I need to go shopping before I discover more snacks around the house.

Day 7 Goal #4: Weigh 145 pounds I weighed in at 156.6 pounds today. I am going in the right direction, but I know I had quite a few cheat meals this week.

Day 5 Goal #2: Complete one chin-up from a dead hang I worked on my chin-ups today but didn't really progress at all. I could not complete a chin-up with the resistance bands and only did negatives. Goal #3: Completed 50 push-ups in 2 minutes I increased my push-ups by 7 today. The last ten or so were kinda weak and my arms got tired around 30 push-ups I need to do more push-ups during the week to build up my strength and not tire so easily. Eventually, I want to be able to do 77 without leaving the push-up position, while now I sit and catch my breath for 10 seconds between sets.

Day 4 Goal #2: Completed 1 mile run in 10:06 / 1.5 miles in 16:07 I don't know why, but I had it in my head that I needed to get a time in the 15 minute range to beat my previous run. So, when I finished my run at 16:07 I was disappointed that I didn't beat my previous time. Then I got home and looked at my run times, and thought there was an error because it said I had beat my previous time by 35 seconds. So yay for being stupid! I only stopped running once this time and I decided that I need to wait a little longer after lunch before I run.

Day 2 Goal #1: Complete 1 chinup from a dead hang Today I strung my resistance band from the pullup bar and was able to complete one chinup from the dead hang with one knee in the band. It was very difficult and after I completed it my arms could not do complete any other form of chin-up. I don't know if others have had this problem, but I feel like every time I make progress, the next week my arms go back to square one and I can barely hang from the bar. Goal #2: Completed 1 mile run in 10:11 / Didn't finish 1.5 mile run Today I went running on the trail again. It didn't start out that great and I seemed to be out of breath much quicker than usual. I was running a bit faster than before and beat my 1 mile time by 30 seconds. I ran the first mile in 10:11, and got about 15 minutes into the run when I got a very painful stomach cramp. I ran another 30 seconds with the cramp but finally stopped running. I was probably only a tenth of a mile from the finish line, but I just couldn't finish. I hope this cramp thing doesn't come back and I'm not sure what exactly causes it, but it was not pleasant.

Day 1 Goal #2: Completed a 1.5 mile run in 16:43 So I beat my fastest time today by over 15 seconds! I have been running on the hiking trail at a local park, which is mostly flat and has just a few small hills. I actually didn't run the entire time and had to take two short breaks, but I was able to sprint the last few minutes which helped me beat my previous time. I was able to finish the first mile in 10:45 which was also better than my previous time. My goal is to run an 8 minute mile, which was my fastest time in high school.

Hi! I'm Nanook and this will be my third challenge. The main goal of this challenge is to lose some weight for swimsuit season and work on my strength and endurance. Some of my goals are based off of the Navy PT standards. I am not in the Navy and do not plan on joining, but I thought they had some good fitness benchmarks. Goal #1: Complete one full chin-up from a dead hang [+4 STR] I am currently able to do a chin-up if I jump up to the bar first. However, I can not do one from a dead hang and I probably need to lose some weight to help with this. I bought a pull-up bar in December and have been training since then to be able to do one chin-up. I have never completed one in my life and right now is the closest to completing one I have ever been. Goal #2: Run 1.5 miles in 11 minutes [+4 STA] This is the ultimate goal I have for myself and realize it will take a couple of challenges to reach. Right now my fastest time is 17:02 for 1.5 miles. I hope for this challenge to improve on this time every week and aim for around a time of 14 minutes. Goal #3: Do 77 pushups in two minutes [+4 CON] Right now I can do 42 pushups in two minutes and that includes a lot of stopping. Goal #4: Weigh 145 pounds [+1 WIS +2 CHA] Right now I weigh 158 pounds. I hope to eat a diet of less than 100 carbs a day to help with losing the weight. Around 150 pounds is where I usually plateau so this will probably be harder than I think it will be.

Nanook's 6 Week Challenge Final Report Goal #1: Eat paleo five days a week This goal was a hit or miss. Some weeks I completely followed paleo and other weeks (usually when visiting family) I completely fell off the wagon. I do feel that I had more control over what I ate than the previous 6 week challenge and I was able to go back to eating healthy after a slip-up much faster than when I was counting calories. The biggest thing I noticed was that I ate much less in general when following paleo and that eating sugar made me want more sugar and usually made me feel like crap. Grade: C (+1 CON, +1 WIS) Goal #2: Exercise 4 days a week for 30 minutes I completed 17 out of 24 total exercises for this 6 week challenge. I could exercise 3 days a week easily but had trouble getting the 4th exercise done. I also did not exercise at all for Week 6 because I was sick the entire week. I did start doing a yoga DVD for the first time and I continued to mostly exercise via mountain biking and roller skating. Grade: C (+1 DEX, +1 STA) Goal #3: Complete 50 pushups in a row This goal was mostly a failure. I did do pushups at least once a week, but the most I could do in one sitting was 25. I then started doing five sets of around 10-25 pushups for more volume and less at one time. Around Week 5, I purchased a pull-up bar and started trying to hold myself up daily. I am getting somewhat closer to doing a pull-up but the pushups have fallen by the wayside. Grade: D (+1 STR) Goal #4: Save money for a summer vacation with the roommate So, instead of saving money, I found a cheap cruise in January that I booked with a friend. Zero saving occurred and now I have less money for a summer vacation than I originally had. While I failed the goal, I feel so excited for the cruise that I have zero regrets and hope to save for a summer vacation later. Grade: F

Nanook's 6 Week Challenge Final Report Goal #1: Eat paleo five days a week This goal was a hit or miss. Some weeks I completely followed paleo and other weeks (usually when visiting family) I completely fell off the wagon. I do feel that I had more control over what I ate than the previous 6 week challenge and I was able to go back to eating healthy after a slip-up much faster than when I was counting calories. The biggest thing I noticed was that I ate much less in general when following paleo and that eating sugar made me want more sugar and usually made me feel like crap. Grade: C (+1 CON, +1 WIS) Goal #2: Exercise 4 days a week for 30 minutes I completed 17 out of 24 total exercises for this 6 week challenge. I could exercise 3 days a week easily but had trouble getting the 4th exercise done. I also did not exercise at all for Week 6 because I was sick the entire week. I did start doing a yoga DVD for the first time and I continued to mostly exercise via mountain biking and roller skating. Grade: C (+1 DEX, +1 STA) Goal #3: Complete 50 pushups in a row This goal was mostly a failure. I did do pushups at least once a week, but the most I could do in one sitting was 25. I then started doing five sets of around 10-25 pushups for more volume and less at one time. Around Week 5, I purchased a pull-up bar and started trying to hold myself up daily. I am getting somewhat closer to doing a pull-up but the pushups have fallen by the wayside. Grade: D (+1 STR) Goal #4: Save money for a summer vacation with the roommate So, instead of saving money, I found a cheap cruise in January that I booked with a friend. Zero saving occurred and now I have less money for a summer vacation than I originally had. While I failed the goal, I feel so excited for the cruise that I have zero regrets and hope to save for a summer vacation later. Grade: F

Day 39 This week has been a bust. I got sick on Tuesday and still am not over it so I have not exercised or anything. I lost a few pounds but I know I am much weaker so I might have to start over on the whole pullup thing.

Day 36 Goal #1: Eat paleo five days a week This goal is still going strong. I have had a few cheat days but no more than two each week and I have been eating paleo during the week. Today was a cheat day because someone brought a lot of christmas snacks to work and I went overboard. But, I know that I get two cheat days so I have to be good the rest of the week and I will be fine. I also weighed myself yesterday and I am almost back to the 150's which I have not weighed since last summer. Goal #2: Exercised 3 out of 4 days for Week 5 Over the weekend I played baseball and football for some exercise. Goal #3: Complete 50 pushups The pushup goal never really got very far and last week I finally bought a pullup bar for my doorway. I have been using it for the last three days and I plan to keep trying to hold myself for longer periods of time each day. I am starting at a level zero and have never done a pullup before so it is going to take a while to get once completed. But, I have never had a pullup bar so I finally feel like I am going to get this completed once and for all. Goal #4: Save money for a summer vacation So, change of plans. I switched the summer vacation to an early January cruise that cost less money and so required less saving. I love to travel and I finally got a break from school so I decided to dive right in and booked a carribean cruise with a friend. It is going to be awesome!

Day 29 Goal #1: Eat Paleo five days a week I was eating paleo very well until this weekend where I ate paleo at my mom's house on Saturday and then had a complete cheat day on Sunday as I was trying to finish my project from hell. Then I had a bad morning yesterday when my friends gave me a christmas present which consisted of all candy. I had successfully kept all sugar out of my apartment until this gift basket showed up and of course I ate way too many twizlers and a milky way. I ended up eating paleo for dinner, but I still feel bad for the candy. And of course today I was going to eat out with friends before they all went home for the holidays and they chose CiCi's pizza. For the first time, I might actually go to CiCi's and eat the salad (its going to be really hard with the cinnamon rolls next door). Goal #2: Exercised 1 out of 4 days for Week 5 After missing out on yoga last week, I decided to pop in my yoga DVD and get 30 minutes in today.

Day 27 Goal #2: Exercised 3 out of 4 days for Week 4 I went mountain biking again and had trouble getting up any and all hills because my bike chain kept like skipping. If I put any considerable weight on the pedals to go up a hill, the chain would skip and I would have to walk up the hill. I know nothing about bikes, so I don't know if I am doing something wrong, or my cheap Walmart bike is not made for it seems any hills.

Day 26 Goal #2: Exercised 2 of 4 days for Week 4 I went mountain biking again and took a little spill, but everything is okay. I adjusted my seat to be higher and noticed a big difference in riding, so yay for that. Another news update, one of my goals for the last 6 week challenge was to study for and take the fundamentals of engineering exam. I found out today that I passed!!

Day 25 Goal #3: Complete 50 pushups in a row I completed one set of 10, 15, 20, and two sets of 25 pushups.

Day 24 Goal #1: Eat Paleo five days a week I have been following the paleo diet since Thanksgiving and I have had a couple of cheat meals but nothing like complete cheat Weekends or anything. I feel proud of myself for following the diet and I have lost about 5 pounds since Thanksgiving. Tonight will be a cheat dinner because my school has a cheap breakfast buffet right before finals that I go to every year. Don't worry, I will be back on track tomorrow. Goal #2: Exercised 1 out of 4 days for Week 4 I went roller skating at the park with my roommate for about an hour today.

Day 20 Goal #2: Exercised 3 out of 4 days for Week 3 I spent 25 minutes working out to a pilates DVD. Goal #3: Complete 50 pushups in a row I completed 3 sets of 10, and 2 sets of 15 pushups.

Day 18 Goal #2: Exercised 2 out of 4 days for Week 3 I went back to the mountain biking trail and thankfully the shocks on my bike were working again. It must have just been a cold weather thing! So I spent about 45 minutes on the trail and got a good workout in. Goal #3: Complete 50 pushups in a row So, after all of the badgering from you guys, I completed five sets of 10 pushups. It started out really hard and actually got easier by the fifth set. I can't really complete more than 10 pushups at a time right now, but I can try to get 50 done a couple times a week.

Day 17 Goal #1: Eat Paleo Five Days a Week Well, after the Thanksgiving fiasco, I have eaten paleo the last three days. I usually have one big meal each day and then I can go the rest of the day without getting hungry or just eat a snack or two. I am trying to focus more on only eating when I am hungry. I did notice that if I have something that is not paleo and usually contains sugar, then I get hungry much more quickly and I daydream about eating more sugar. Goal #2: Exercised 1 out of 4 days for Week 3 I went roller skating at the park with my roommate for an hour. We went at a pretty slow pace and talked, but it was still exercise! The important thing is I had fun and got to enjoy the beautiful 70 degree November weather. Goal #3: Complete 50 pushups This goal has fallen by the wayside. My finals start next week so I am going to probably put this goal off for a while. Goal #4: Put money aside for vacation My goal is to put $100 dollars of each paycheck in a savings account.

Hey Brian d, Thanks for the encouragement. Trust me, it is really hard to stick to paleo when I can get free pizza at school three days a week. Regarding the pushups, I tried to do as many pushups as I could three days a week. I usually only think about the pushups when I am posting on this forum or when I finished one of my cardio exercises. The main thing I noticed in the first challenge was that it was much easier to do just one more pushup every time I tried than try to just aim for 30 pushups.