QengpuBenal

I love your goals post! You make me want to be more creative next challenge! Also, excellent work on the first week! That's some awesome weight loss!

I love your goals post! You make me want to be more creative next challenge! Also, excellent work on the first week! That's some awesome weight loss!

I loved Berlin the one time I visited. Although, I must admit I was only there for 3 days and I spent one day attending lectures. It wasn't planned, either. I dropped by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development for a tour (I had heard Gerd Gigerenzer lecture earlier that year and he invited me to stop in when I was in town), and I was invited to stay for the last day of their Summer Institue on Bounded Rationality. Still, I did get to some of the bigger tourist-y sites! And, I have alovely picture of Imperial Stormtroopers at the Brandenburg Gate!

Week One Update! Zombies: I managed to get all 3 workouts in! Yay! On Sunday, I was doing Week 1, Day 3. Doc comes on the com and says I at the drop point and I need to look in the tall grass for the rifle. I glance to my right, and there is a lovely field of tall grass. Despite being allergic, I had to run through it. It was too perfect a moment not to! Water: I drank 2 cups of water every day! Sweets: No sweets. I had an M&M because my husband insisted I had to try one (he brought home a huge boxs of like 45 party-sized bags of them). I'm not goign to count it because I did not then stuff my face with them, and I made him take them to the birthday party yesterday and leave them there! Writing: Epic Fail! I did not write at all. However, I am not going to beat myself up. I have my portfolio defense in a couple hours, and I spent all week working on that and finishing reprots at work. For my program, the portfolio defense is the equivalent of a dissertation defense, so it's pretty major! I'm going to pick back up with this goal now that I've finished these major projects, and I will rock the next 5 weeks of this goal!

Hey! I'm doing the Zombies!5K thing this challenge. I did the first run on Monday, but then work got insane. I plan on doing the 2nd one tomorrow, and the 3rd on Sunday to get me back on track. Then I'll do week 2 on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday. I ran my first 5K back in October, but haven't run at all since then. Also, I say "ran", but my 9 year old daughter was keeping up with me by 'fast walking'!

Thanks, everyone! It's great to be back! This past year has been insane, and if I manage to find a job for the next school year that will probably be even more insane! I'm hoping to use the summer to at least get some good routines started! A quick update on my goals so far: Zombies: I did one workout Monday. Then the last few days of work sort of blew up. I plan on doing one tomorrow and one Sunday to catch up. Water: I have had 2 cups of water every day so far! Sweets: No sweets eaten so far! I forgot about my niece's birthday party on Sunday, but I'm going to bring some grapes and hopefully that will help me stave off the temptation. If I'm lucky, they'll have bought an ice cream cake and I won't be tempted I the first place! Novel: I have done no writing at all (on my novel, that is, I wrote several reports for work though)!. I'm going to jump back on this goal tomorrow, though!

Name: QengpuBenal Race: High Elf Class: Scout Attributes: Strength (STR): 3 Dexterity (DEX): 2 Stamina (STA): 4 Constitution (CON): 3 Wisdom (WIS): 7 Charisma (CHA): 4 Total: 23 Level 2 QengpuBenal's Main Quest: End 2014 feeling healthy and confident in my body! (June 9th - July 20th) Missions: 1. Running. At one point, I was actually running consistently. Somehow, I let life overwhelm me and decided the first thing to cut would be running. Clearly, my brain was not functioning at it's optimum level! I want to get back into running, but I know that I need to work into it very slowly. So, I am going to start the Zombie!5K app again. 17-18 days: A 14-16 days: B 11-13 days: C 8-10 days: D <8 days: F 6 days completed Reward: (+2 STR +2 CON) 2. Hydration! This is very important as I do feel better when I am well hydrated. So, my goal is to drink 8 cups of water every day. However, I am going to ramp up to that. Week 1: 2 glasses a day 7 days Week 2: 3 glasses a day 2 days Week 3: 4 glasses a day Week 4: 6 glasses a day Week 5: 7 glasses a day Week 6: 8 glasses a day 40-42 days Completed: A 35-39 days Completed: B 30-34 days Completed: C 25-29 days Completed: D <25 days Completed: F 9 days completed Reward: (+1 WIS +1 CHA) 3. Sweets. In the past, I have tried limiting the amounts or number of sweets or desserts I can have and I have found that it never works out. Occasionally, I have been able to go several weeks without any sweets and have found that when I do eat sweets again it takes a bit before I am back to craving them and eating them all the time. So, I think going cold turkey is the way to go with this. I am going to post reminders in the kitchen and enlist the help of my husband and kids. This is a good time to start this as we don't have any birthdays or special occasions coming up in the next six weeks. So, no more sweets/desserts for me! 0 sweets/desserts = A 1 sweets/desserts = B 2 sweets/desserts = C 3 sweets/desserts = D >3 desserts = F 5 days - failed this challenge, but still going to finish the last four weeks with no sweets Reward: (+1 WIS +1 CON) Life Quest: 4. Novel: I started writing a novel about a year and a half ago. I actually have quite a substantial amount written, but I know the story still has a long way to go. My goal is to write at least 500 words every day. If I should end up finishing the book before the challenge is over I still have to write at least 500 words a day on something, even if it's just journalling. 40-42 days Completed: A 35-39 days Completed: B 30-34 days Completed: C 25-29 days Completed: D <25 days Completed: F 1 day completed

So, I have the worst time with these challenges. I always end up with too many goals and I forget half of them. Then I've screwed up a whole week and it all goes downhill from there. For this challenge, I'm doing a baby step. One goal. That way there's only one thing to remember. My goal for this challenge is two drink 8 glasses of water every day. 40 or more is an A 35-39 is a B 30-34 is a C 25-29 is a D less than 25 is an F

Wow! Life really threw me some curve balls and I was all too ready to use them as excuses for not doing any sort of exercise at all! We moved, my husband's ex moved out suddenly and took my stepson before we could get the courts to stop her, my husband quit his job and went back to school, my internship went from working at one school to working at 5-10 schools on any given week, I started teaching a class at the local community college, and I'm having to look for another job so we can make ends meet! Still, that's really no reason to let my workouts stop. The plan for this week: go running three days.

Name: QengpuBenal Race: High Elf Class: Scout Attributes: Strength (STR): 3 Dexterity (DEX): 2 Stamina (STA): 4 Constitution (CON): 3 Wisdom (WIS): 7 Charisma (CHA): 4 Total: 23 Level 2 QengpuBenal's Main Quest: End 2014 feeling healthy and confident in my body! (February 24th - April 6th) Missions: 1. Yoga: A couple years back I was really getting into yoga. I did it 5 times a week or more. I didn't see a lot of results in terms of weight loss, but my flexibility improved. When I stopped doing it my whole body ended up stiff and tight more often than not. I definitely want to get back into running as soon as the roads in my neighbourhood are no longer covered in a thick sheet of ice. However, I want to be sure I'm not going to hurt myself. I think that getting back into yoga and regaining some of that flexibility will help prevent injuries when I begin running again. I also don't want to throw too much at myself, so I'm going to start this challenge with doing yoga 3 days a week. To help with my tendency to forget to do things, I am going to set my morning alarms to remind me to do yoga. 17-18 Completed: A 15-16 Completed: B 12-14 Completed: C 9-11 Completed: D <9 Completed: F Reward: (+2 STR +2 DEX) 2. Hydration! This is very important as I do feel better when I am well hydrated. So, my goal is to drink 8 cups of water every day. I am horrible at remembering to drink my water when I am at work, so I am going to set reminders up around the house, on my work computer, and have reminders go off on my phone every so often. 40-42 days Completed: A 35-39 days Completed: B 30-34 days Completed: C 25-29 days Completed: D <25 days Completed: F Reward: (+1 WIS +1 CHA) 3. Sweets. In the past, I have tried limiting the amounts or number of sweets or desserts I can have and I have found that it never works out. Occasionally, I have been able to go several weeks without any sweets and have found that when I do eat sweets again it takes a bit before I am back to craving them and eating them all the time. So, I think going cold turkey is the way to go with this. I am going to post reminders in the kitchen and enlist the help of my husband and kids. This is a good time to start this as we don't have any birthdays or special occasions coming up in the next six weeks. So, no more sweets/desserts for me! 0 sweets/desserts = A 1 sweets/desserts = B 2 sweets/desserts = C 3 sweets/desserts = D >3 desserts = F Reward: (+1 WIS +1 CON) Life Quest: 4. Portfolio and Homework: I have a lot on my plate right now. I am working full time as a school psychologist intern. I have one college class (Biopsychology). I have a portfolio I have to assemble to present to my departmental panel to be allowed to graduate. And...I just accepted a job as an adjunct professor at a local community college. I start teaching my first class the third week of March. In order to keep myself from being immensely overwhelmed, I want to have all of my homework for my class done and my portfolio assembled and ready for defense. I am going to grade this a little differently. Instead of a letter grade, I am going to go with skill points being awarded for completion of specific tasks or portions of tasks. Homework: Assignments 1 and 2: 1 STA Assignments 3, 4, and 5: 1 STA Paper: 1 STA, 2 WIS Portfolio (for each section, 3 artifacts must be present, and I have to do a well written reflection on that area): Introduction and Section 1: 1 WIS Sections 2, 3, and 4: 1 WIS Sections 5, 6, and 7: 1 WIS Sections 8, 9, and 10: 1 WIS Defense of Portfolio: 3 CHA

Ugh! Between work, kids, and my husband quitting his job and going back to school...I completely forgot about this challenge! I'm going to jump in to the next challenge, though, and I'm going to try and figure out some ways of giving myself daily reminders about the challenge!

If you feel that strongly about the birds can you just tell him that it's fine if he doesn't want them anymore they can be your birds? Sent from my phone. All typos are the fault of the small keyboard and unintuitive autocorrect!

Doing good! Keep up the awesome work! Sent from my phone. All typos are the fault of the small keyboard and unintuitive autocorrect!

Clearly this daily updatinhg has not been going well planning to get back into it today. Sent from my phone. All typos are the fault of the small keyboard and unintuitive autocorrect!

Keep up the good work! Sent from my phone. All typos are the fault of the small keyboard and unintuitive autocorrect!

I still fin it amusing reading about you going to the pool and how it's so hot where you live when it's doing the below 0 thing where I am at! Sent from my phone. All typos are the fault of the small keyboard and unintuitive autocorrect!

Mmmmm, that looks so good! Sent from my phone. All typos are the fault of the small keyboard and unintuitive autocorrect!

Ugh! Week 1 was a wash. We started the week with teperatures below 0 and three unexpected snow days, conbined with my husband's job ending (so no more income plus he is home every day now), added responsibility at my (non-paying) internship, starting my Biopsychology class, and getting an eviction notice from our landlord. All that translated into nothing good with my challenge. Going to jump back in for week 2 and hopefully everything will get better! Sent from my phone. All typos are the fault of the small keyboard and unintuitive autocorrect!

Looks like you have some great goals here! I don't have a ton of experience in an endurance sport, but I'd love to be one of the people who follows you and pushes you. Although, in all fairness I must tell you that I'm the opposite of you when it comes to eating. I'm slowly working on transitioning to paleo! Looking at your profile, we do have some stuff in common, though. I love gaming. Also, I see that you work with people with autism. I am a school psychologist, so I work with some kids with autism (plus, my husband, stepson, and biological son are all on the spectrum)!

I've never heard of endomondo. It sounds interesting, though. I would love the link!

Lol! My oldest consistently chooses raw veggies over sweets...it's a parent's dream! Day 9: Food: Breakfast - 4 pieces of cinnamon-sugar toast Lunch - Wendy's chicken sandwich with tomato and half a medium french fry (I split it with my son, Remington) Dinner - haystacks! (i.e. chips, taco meat, rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, olives, and lettuce all mixed together) Exercise: 5 minutes of cardio...I forgot to change into my workout clothes which resulted in waaaaaay too much bouncing going on! Never going to forget my sports bra again!

Yeah, when people call that early (or really late) Iget very annoyed! Unless I have a pressing need to discuss with them, I usually tell them that they will have to call me back at a decent time if they want to talk with me! Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk

Day 8: Food: Breakfast - 2 pieces of bacon, 2 eggs scrambled with spinach Lunch - Dairy Queen cheeseburger and fries (I gave the sundae to my daughter, though and was so proud of her when she ate about a third of her first sundae and then told me she was done because she had "had enough sugar for the day") Dinner - scalloped potatoes Exercise: Week 1, Day 1 of the 100 pushups challenge

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm going to try and remember to get a water bottle when I'm out and about tomorrow! The app is for Android (I don't know if they have an app for iPhone) and is called Daily Workouts Free. I also use a strength training app for iPhone called Gorilla Workouts that usually takes me (a novice) about 15 minutes to complete.

Day 7: Food: Breakfast - package of Top Ramen Lunch - French dip with fries, small dish of coleslaw, and a small bowl of potato chowder Dinner - macaroni and cheese with ground beef Exercise: I did a 5 minute routine from my Android workout app. Not much, but at least it was something. The walking to Mordor has been suffering since the weather gods decided to dump massive quantities of snow shepherded in by gusts of wind on my area.