Devyn

Oh, I stretch every day anyway. I used to dance and I've been doing yoga for years. Stretching is my favorite part of exercise, so there's no worry about that. Thanks so much for checking in on me, guys! I am very sore despite the sleep, stretching and eating well...ah well...c'est la vie!

PitBull_Liz, now I HAVE to do it if you're watching me. I didn't know you could subscribe to threads. Going to have to go back and do that now. Kishi, please tell me more about this. I feel I've eaten well and I do get 7-8 hours of sleep most nights and I usually still feel pretty sore the next day.

Going now!

drsloomis, I know what you mean. I wish I had taken some 30lbs ago so I could see how far I've come already. Right now I'm settling for that great feeling when I put my hands on my waist and my hands are several inches closer together than they were a few months back. I love your avatar btw. I feel like that so often.

Considering I'm done with my diet challenge for the week, I've nailed day 2 too! And thanks so much!

I love your goals and your title is so perfect...I admit I laughed. Good luck with everything!

The fact that you've started this challenge at all is a great step! You don't need to go any further if you're not ready to, but just by participating you've already got a leg up. I'm rooting for you!

I love how you already have a good start! Keep it up! I will keep an eye on you.

That's amazing! And I love your progression! Thank you for sharing this with us. I want to help motivate you but you're motivating me!

Thank you, everyone for your kind words of motivation! I've decided I'm going to update every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday...unless I do something particularly awesome. Yesterday I completed my workout challenge and I did great not eating refined carbs (no flour or processed sugar). I did help myself to extra dinner (spaghetti squash with lentils and vegetables) but I skipped dessert, so I feel good about it. Today I kicked total butt! Sprints were a lot harder than I thought they would be, but I finished them. Toward the end, my body just said "no more" but I pushed through even though I was going super slow. The push ups were easier than I thought. I went from being able to do 1 last time to doing a total of 19 (7 in a row at one point!) I also did all of my bodyweight exercises and I am exhausted and I feel like a noodle. I made myself a high protein strawberry/banana/fage smoothie for recovery. I am so going to feel this tomorrow. If I can keep up this strength and motivation, I will kick this challenge in the face!

You are not doing poorly at all! Hey, I can't even do a back bridge and I've been doing yoga for 12 years! Keep it up and you will have these in no time!

Okay, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to post these here, but I'm going to anyway because it seems fitting. I have no fear but I do like to see change so I'm putting up some photos of me. No, sadly that avatar is not me. But that's my level 50... And these photos are my level 1 before. I had to make do with doing it in my dirty mirror so ... [ATTACH=CONFIG]6228[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]6229[/ATTACH] Today I have already completed my workout (C25K 4.1) and so far, no slips into the world of refined carbs!

I'm doing bodyweight exercises and cardio so I am not sure if it matters which comes first. Anyone care to educate me on this? Thanks!

I love your goals and I love the way you present them! I love the food one especially because it's not so rigid that it can't be done! Good luck!

Great goals! We have very similar ones, so I'll be cheering for you. The Phoenix rises from the ashes of its previous self. You will come back even stronger than before! And remember that you are beautiful right now...you just get to be a healthier, stronger version of beautiful you!

You can do it! I feel like you've got some good, achievable goals there so I know 3rd time will be a charm! I'm rooting for you!

Wow! Great goals. I am well versed in Tao readings so I'd love to chat about Taoism if you want. As for everything else, you are an inspiration! I will be cheering for you!

Great job on the goals! I think it's great that you're giving up measuring yourself with your belt. Through making progress, weight loss and toning is the reward of your goals and obsessing over it can take the fun away! For direction, maybe try taking some classes in things you like? Or reading books on it? Or looking for a new job? I'm not all that certain where you need your direction to go...

Nuala! I'm so glad you've come up with some goals in the end. And I know you will do very well! I'm cheering for you! Bonne chance, mon amie!

Thanks everyone for the words of kindness and support! I can't wait to get started. I already have my fitness clothes on for my run today. Thank you to Kishi! I look forward to your mentorship through my first challenge. RealBrickWall - Watch it! I'm a kender ASSASSIN! Yeah, I get that reaction a lot though. I'm a kenderphile and have been for 17 years. I've never been a big bread eater, so this won't be a problem. I included flour in the refined carbs so if the bread has flour, I won't eat it on those days I selected. My biggest issue is usually with pasta and sweets.

I'm Devyn the Kender Assassin....I chose assassin because I get bored very easily doing regular exercises (no thank you CrossFit) and I'd rather be jumping off of walls and tumbling and all that wicked cool fast stuff. I chose kender because I'm small (though overweight), I get bored easily and I can be super annoying. I came here because I love RPGs and I want to get fit. I was thinking a few months ago that life should be like a game where you can level up but I couldn't really figure it out well enough. Then I find this place and it's like online D&D except I eat fewer Cheetos! I am super excited about this and the articles at NF are so very inspiring. I always wanted to do Parkour but I never thought I could do that kind of thing. But damn it, I can if I just remember that I have to start by killing rats. My focus right now will be on strength and speed because I lack those very essential things for parkour. So here are my goals: 1. Finish the Couch to 5k program I'm doing. I'm on week 4 so it fits in perfectly with the 6 week challenge. (STA +2, STR +1) 2. Do the 100 Push Up challenge. I can only do 1 right now, but by the end of the 6 weeks I should be up to about 20. (STR +4) 3. Do sprints and increase my time/speed each week. I will start with a set distance and then increase my time to reach that distance over the course of the 6 weeks. (DEX +4, STA +1) 4. Substitute boring, refined carbs (sugar, flour) for fun, natural carbs (vegetables, fruit, whole grains). I will start by doing this 1 day a week and then increasing 1 day each week until I am up to 6 days a week. (WIS +1, CHA +2) I'm hoping this will give me STR +5, Dex, +4, STA +3, WIS +1, CHA +2 On top of this, I will be doing bodyweight exercises 3X per week. I didn't add those to goals since it's something I have been doing for months now. I cannot wait for this! I'm so excited to have the focus I have needed for so long and a goal that I have clearly in my mind! Let the games begin!

I mean in general. Parkour is my goal but I'm starting from absolutely nothing. I read the article on parkour and a few others to find out where I need to improve on a basic strength level before attempting anything else. As it is, I'm starting with body weight exercises based on the parkour movements and on increasing my speed by doing sprints. I also need weight management so I'm cutting out refined carbs. I'm doing this by starting at a basic level and working up my intensity each week. Hopefully by the time the challenge is over, I'll be at a level where I can start adding plyometrics and harder strength conditioning such as pull ups.

that makes sense, I guess I associated wisdom with the inherent ability to make good choices....fair enough! Thanks.

I'm doing the same thing! I'm starting from 0, so I'm starting with basic exercises to build up strength. Do you think maybe this is too many goals? I'm unsure, it could just be me who needs baby baby steps. Do you think you could do exercise regularly and eat primal straight off might be too much too quickly? The weight loss will come with the diet and exercise so I wouldn't bother about it too much unless you need it to motivate you.

I don't know if this should go here or who I would talk to about this. For the challenges, we have str and dex and all of those ability stats, but I think if we're going to include life in this we should put intelligence. Some of us might want to learn a new skill such as learning a language or some of us want to go back to school or read more or that kind of thing. I think it would be fun to add this part too.