Buliaros

Another update on how my challenge is going: 1. Book is going fine, hard work and a lot to do still but i remain confident in getting it finished 2. I had one chocolate a couple of days ago, and my flatmate proceeded to punch me fairly hard in the arm as punishment. Generally speaking everything is going ok and since i'm not gorging myself on anything I'm not going to beat myself up over it. Especially since my friend is doing that for me. 3. BBW training is going well, already seing some vast improvements to my general health. Didn't manage to start the cardio training on the grounds that it's unbelievably cold still, but I'm going to stick with what i'm doing so far and then just start the cardio at some point in the near future. 4. Pay wasn't great this month, but I stuck away £70 from last month's pay so I'll probably still be able to hit the £100 goal for this challenge All in all, not bad, I'm staying positive about the whole situation, and now my heating is finally fixed I have one less thing to worry about.

I'm not too worried about my progress at this stage, it's only been a week, but yeah, I definitely need to make sure I don't relapse, this illness has taken a lot out of me, coupled with the other stress related problems at the moment, could be a death knell. Ah well, more sleep and caring less about things at work will probably sort me out right

Hi guys, it's been a week, so here's an update on my goals. Some good stuff, some bad stuff. 1. I'm sure I can stick to my Feb 18th goal of finishing this draft of my book, I've hit a bit of a wall with one chapter but i'm slowly chiseling through it. Sex and romance can be hard to write sometimes, especially when you're experiencing neither! Regardless, I suspect there will be a four week period where I slug through the three chapters that need the most work, then once I've gotten past that barrier it'll be full throttle to the finish line. So I'm staying positive. 2. One week, no chocolate. So far so good. I've been watching my diet in other ways on top of this (carb intake, alcohol etc) so I'm generally positive I can stick to this. No cravings so far, not sure about mood swings as I've had a lot of other things trying my patience this week (A dispute with my landlord and issues at work mainly), but I think I'll be fine. I gave up before, I can do it again and hopefully stick to it this time 3. This one's been a bit difficult, I started the challenge coming out of a nasty viral chest infection, which I'm only just now recovered from. I've started the first part of the BBW training, doing two sets instead of three, but I've not started the cardio training yet. I'm hoping this week to go up to three sets, stick to the training and start cardio by the end of next week. Staying positive on this one. 4. This is going to be a tough one to break. I will be moving house within the month, so I'm anticipating a lot of extra expenses before the end of this challenge. Having said that, I started the year with a blank slate on my credit card and I still have some savings left so I will be factoring in only my normal monthly expenses and working out how i've done from there. Plus I have payday coming up on Friday, so that's something to look forward to. There are a few 'issues' in my life at the moment that need resolving ASAP but I'm confident that they won't affect my progress with this challenge. If anyone has any tips to help me I'd be extremely grateful Next update Sunday 20/01/2013

Hi guys, I'm really stoked to be joining you in my first ever six week challenge, here are my goals: 1. After three years of mucking about, I will finally complete a readable draft of my first novel: 'Atlas Laughed' (working title), with the intention of being able to start sending it to publishers for scrutiny and scores of 'ur book sux n00b' rejection letters by the 18th of February 2. Having done this before for a month and knowing full well that I don't need it nor do i miss it i'm just easily dragged back into bad habits; I will not eat chocolate for the period aforementioned. This means no yorkie bars, no mochas, no coco pops, no chocolate pastries (I don't particularly like pastry anyway), just generally nothing sickly sweet in my diet at all. 3. Start and maintain the Beginners Bodyweight training regime. Ideally so I can stick with it permanently in order to maintain a non-grotesque physique, after years of bad habits and apathy have left me a little troll like 4. At the beginning of 2012 I had an unexpected negative employment situation that ultimately meant that here in 2013, I have half the monthly income that I once had, and that has made staying out of the red very tough. So my fourth and final goal will be to assess my monthly expenses and see if I can spend six weeks in the black, with a goal to saving £100 overall. This will probably be the hardest challenge for me, as I seem to haemorrhage cash and will most likely be having some extra expenses this month due to things happening I can't really talk about. But wish me luck on this one, I want to move past just scraping by and not having fun. I wish you all the best for the new year, and good luck on the challenge, I'll keep you posted on my progress

Another resident of Suffolk, here: the British deep south, our fair land of farmers and casual racism . Great if you like peace and quiet, but not a lot happening here otherwise

I work in a Pharmacy, so it's basically a game of Russian roulette whether or not you have a pleasant shift. Work's fine, we get paid for all the hours we do work, but the company is incredibly stingey about authorising overtime. The main problems with the job are that i'm basically a glorified clerical worker and the general public don't seem to understand that, so if I can't do something for legal reasons (like sell someone medication without a prescription) they think i'm just being an a-hole; and that 90% of the problems I face are due to someone else who works for an entirely different organisation not doing their job properly. It's frustrating and I'm scraping by on just enough to pay all my household bills, but on the other hand my manager and I get along great, I get to work with one of my closest friends who's a pharmacist, I have a lot of downtime that allows me to work on my potentially viable writing career and other projects as well as muck about on videogames and generally spend time with my friends, and because I'm single and have no children I'm basically free to an extent. If i had a choice, for now i'd probably stick with this job, the last one I had was in the same industry but full time and working for a poorly managed company and I was miserable. So It's an improvement, and staying positive is a good thing

That's really useful to know, I'll make sure i recommend that to my younger patients. Lord knows android apps seem to help cure anything these days!

Thanks for the advice, I'll get right on that. I've worked out a reasonable weight loss schedule, and I do have one massive benefit that others don't: A small gym in my garage. Cleaning up my diet is going to be my start off point though, I eat a lot of crap and for no real reason a lot of the time. Will be glad to see it go

The Pharmacy pov: There isn't really anything, short of expensive hair transplants, that will solve the problem of thinning hair/alopecia. There is a product called Regaine, which is a pharmaceutical foam that reduces the rate of hair loss and stimulates the follicles, but from personal experience of having used it for over a year, the results aren't exactly miraculous. Yes, there had been some hair growth, but not enough really to justify the price point (looking at 50-70 quid a box). I started thinning at 16, it sucks, I know. But I recently shaved my head and it's...well, it's stopped bothering me. I've accepted it, and baldspiration goes a long way. Look up China Mieville for one sexy ass bald dude. He's a little closer to our age than willis/stewart/harris. Most importantly, don't worry so much about it. Thinning hair at a young age is surprisingly common, I've found EDIT: Oh, and my profile picture was taken today, so you can see what I mean

Adding to this, I've found that ASMR excercise videos on youtube really help calm you down and keep you level headed. I tend to use them for sleep loss mainly, but I find them strangely comforting and they make me forget my troubles if only for a while. The most useful thing I've found, and this is going to sound really stupid, Is to make sure there is nothing delicious in the house, if you can. I often find myself gunning for some unhealthy snack, but then i only tend to have a fridge full of veg, butter, milk etc, and cupboards with boring stuff like cup soups, tins of beans, and dry pasta. So when I see those I tend to go to plan B which is to have a cup of tea (reasonably long brew time, splash of milk, two sweetners), and in most cases that's more than enough to get me over that obstacle. Of course, my big downfall is living next door to a tesco, but that's going to be a matter of willpower at the end of the day

I'm not the biggest authority on healthy living, and i'm certainly not the poster child, but I've spent the last two years working in a pharmacy and have undergone a fair amount of training based around treating smoking addiction. So here's a few pointers anyone wanting to give up cigarettes may find useful. Smoking addiction occurs because the dopamine receptors in your brain multiply when stimulated by nicotine. Not just by a couple at a time, hundreds and thousands of receptors end up dormant in your brain if you smoke regularly. When you go for an extended period of time without smoking, they end up screaming for nicotine, which is why you feel awful if you go cold turkey. The bad news: These receptors don't go away when you give up smoking, which is why you find a lot of cases of ex-smokers taking up smoking again after 6-12 months of abstinence. The Good News: The initial withdrawal effects do go away eventually and so long as you take measures to avoid cigarette smoke and social situations where you were prone to smoking before, you can protect yourself a great deal from relapsing. Giving up smoking for 28 days makes you five times more likely to give up for good. The British National Health Service fund a project called the Smoking Cessation service, which is a twelve week one to one support network that operates through pharmacies across the country. It has a really good success rate, and the cost/benefit ratio is the best out of all current departments within the NHS. If you're a UK resident and want more information go speak to your local pharmacist, or go on the livewell website, which has a ton of useful tips for not only smoking cessation but healthy living in general. Giving up smoking with a friend or family member drastically increases your odds of success Not everyone gets on with the same forms of Nicotine Replacement Therapy. Some people like patches, other prefer gum, or nasal sprays. The electronic cigarettes that are currently doing the rounds have a lot of positive feedback from customers, but I would be hesitant to recommend them, especially if you have a problem with the habit forming side of smoking, as they replicate the routine of smoking rather than being a habitual alternative. Give something a try for a week or two to see what you get on with. You don't necessarily need any kind of NRT product, some people have found that just going and seeing someone once a week, and getting breathalyzed is enough to keep them on the straight and narrow I hope this is useful to some people, I know my patients have benefited greatly from it. If you have any questions, let me know or as i said, speak to a pharmacist. I can only speak for Albion, i'm not sure how things are done stateside, but I imagine there are services available there if that's where you live. Good luck!

Hi guys, my name is Tom, I'm from Suffolk, England Basically since September 2006 I've been slowly developing some really bad habits and the results, whilst not grotesque as such, are far from ideal. Since I graduated from University in 2009 my life hasn't exactly gone to plan. I live in a fairly rural area with little to no job prospects, my current job is alright but not very well paid, my social life has all but collapsed in the wake of leaving University. So I sit here as an overweight, balding 25 year old man with bizzarely selective social anxiety, mild depression most likely related to my poor diet and lack of exercise, and a lack of motivation to make my life better. It's not all bad, but it's not ideal either. So why did I sign up here? For three goals: 1. Lose weight, be healthier, be more attractive 2. Overcome anxiety and improve my social life 3. Grab life by the throat and don't let go until it gives me what I want (figuratively speaking) Whilst I have a lot of ambition, namely to become a published author, my lack of motivation is keeping me from achieving that. I hope that through joining the rebellion I will be able to achieve my goals and in turn, help others to achieve their goals too. Anyway, pleased to meet you all, wish me luck! Tom