Shaylavan

Alright, I'm still working on the challenge, but not going quite as strong as before. Suffering from a bit of a motivation issue, where my goals just seem so puny and like they won't get me anywhere...generally in a funk I guess. Keeping on plugging though; may need to more tightly focus my goals for next challenge.

Yes, definitely stronger on the language than last time. Rounding out the week, Sunday hit all my daily targets. Yes! Getting in 3 workouts this week will be difficult because I am out of town this weekend, but I did one today (running 1 mile, then sprint/walk alternating for another mile). But, assuming I didn't totally wreck my calves today (which is possible) I'll try for a bodyweight workout tomorrow and then another running workout Wednesday.

Good luck with the language learning! I also was not aware that Italian martial arts were a thing, but that seminar looks super cool - enjoy!

Alright, first week going pretty well so far. 1. Stretchies - 6/6 (not counting today yet). Good work self! 2. Workout - 3/3, including one BJJ session yesterday (f yeah, I missed that!) 3. No Sugar - 5/6 - in my defense the one slip was a gorgeous modernist chocolate mousse dessert at a dinner I wasn't paying for...other than that I have been v. good on this 4. Mandarin - 4/6 - better than last time, still trying to improve on this though. Pretty strong start!

Sounds like exciting times! Good call making sure you have de-stress time - self care is important! You got this :-).

Adding in a week over week tracker for ease of calculating at the end. Starting Weight: 196.8 lbs Week 1: Stretching - 7/7 Workout - 3/3 No Sugar - 6/7 Mandarin practice - 5/7 Week 2: Stretching - x/7 Workout - x/3 No Sugar - x/7 Mandarin practice - x/7 Week 3: Stretching - x/7 Workout - x/3 No Sugar - x/7 Mandarin practice - x/7 Week 4: Stretching - x/7 Workout - x/3 No Sugar - x/7 Mandarin practice - x/7 Ending Challenge Weight:

I love this theme, and reading all of those quotes is making me want to go reread all the Discworld novels. Good luck with all of your challenges!

Last challenge actually went pretty well! Well, compared to the previous three which I bailed on. I'm planning to now chain this plus the next three challenges as part of an overarching, semester long challenge. I have several semester long goals, as well as specific ones I'll try to achieve in February. I'm also making my challenge run Feb 1 - Feb 28, so it's a solid 4 weeks rather than 26 days. Semester Goals: 1. Maintain my weight all semester (196.8 lbs on Feb 1). 2. Workout 3x/week all semester 3. Work with a personal trainer at least 1 session to fix my lifting form (so I don't mess up my back trying to deadlift again) 4. Work on my flexibility this term, goal to be able to finally touch my toes by the end of May. 5. Crack a 9:30 mile this term. The next four challenges will be building to/supporting these goals (also up on my EQ page linked in sig). Feb Challenge Goals: Many of these are recycled goals from last time that are either habits I'm still trying to build, or things I didn't do that need more grinding. 1. Stretch daily. Aiming for perfect completion this time since I'm trying to make this an automatic, unconscious habit. 28 possible, graded straight percentage. 2. Workout 3x/week. No day restrictions. What counts: running at least 1.5 mile, bodyweight circuits (pushups/squats/planks) from last challenge, lifting (once I work with a trainer), or any BJJ/Muay Thai training group work. Like the stretching, this one is about grinding on the habit formation more so than any specific performance goal (though the mile runs will be working towards cracking that mile time goal ultimately) 12 possible, graded straight percentage. 3. Cut out sugar and desserts (building in a single exception for a pre-planned event on Valentine's Day - otherwise, no sugar). 28 possible, graded straight percentage. 4. [edited goal] Work on Mandarin EdX course every day. Realized that the goal of "finish this lesson" was too big, so I'm bite-sizing it. Besides with language learning you can't grind it, have to consistently practice. So "working on" Mandarin course means doing any of the following: watching one of the lesson videos, completing a worksheet, flipping through my flashcards, completing the lesson quiz, completing any other specified assignment. I may not finish the whole course in this challenge, but hopefully will actually make progress as opposed to last time. 28 possible.

Final wrap up: End of the day, I'm happy I stuck with it the whole challenge - definitely proud of myself for that. How'd I actually stack up though? GOALS 1. Daily Stretching: 21/26 = 80% = B- Did better than the last time I tried a daily stretch goal though, so there's that. 2. Bodyweight Exercises. 9/12, 8/12 on the correct day. So that's 73% by the weighting = C Again though, a technically passing grade! And I did up my pushup progression to 5-4-3-2-1 real pushups 3. Food Logging.26/26 = 100% = A+ That was easy because it required no willpower...and I discovered I have started eating sweets literally every day again. Bummer. But, that'll inform my next challenge's goal! 4. Life Goal - Complete EdX Mandarin Course. 0/6 = F Oops. Well, going to try to kickstart that this weekend and recycle this goal for Feb. Thanks for reading!

Thank you guys for checking in! My progress fell off a little bit, but been mostly tracking. Progress so far: Stretching, I am at 18 of 23 possible so far (missed quite a few while traveling for interviews). Not bad though, this is a better record than I have managed to maintain when trying to stretch daily so far. Workouts: Week 1: 3/3 on right days Week 2: 2/3 (missed Friday b/c interview) Week 3: 2/3 (missed Friday b/c no good reason) Week 4: 1 so far, on Tuesday (and should get one more in on Thursday, since I've got all day commitments wed and fri that I don't believe I'll get workouts around...maybe Friday night though). I've gotten the squats up to starting ladder from 17. Still doing pushups full down from 5 to 1. Today also added extra sets of planks at 40s and 20s to do a 10 set ladder rather than a 6 set ladder, and cuz I was feeling it. Logging food: Yes! Some of them were reconstructed after the fact, but still got all the food recorded every day. Mandarin: A hahaha that goal fell off a cliff. I'll try to finish lesson 1 this weekend (slash, refresh myself on it), but o/w punting this goal to next challenge. In other awesome life news, I've locked down my summer internship! In my first choice industry! So now I don't have to do any recruiting, applying, or interviewing all spring, leaving much more time for the important things like working out :-) Overall actually pretty happy with how this challenge has gone down, since last time I tried I I fell off completely. I like this 4 week cadence...easier to stick it out. Will do a final wrap up update on Friday to tabulate final results.

OMG that video is hilarious. And good luck with the injury :-( Hopefully it will heal quickly with rehab!

Posting frequency fell off, but despite this week being jam-packed w/interviews for summer internships (meep!) still more or less on track! Stretching: Still hitting every day. And I think I'm getting incrementally closer to touching my toes....:-D Food logging: Yep, still logging every day (or, writing dinner the next morning...but it's completely accurate so counting it). Workouts: Giving myself credit for this, although on Monday I was a little sick and on very little sleep (see prev source of stress this week), so I couldn't finish the workout. But killed it today, upped the squats ladder to start at 16 AND got 5-4-3-2-1 as full pushups! Although my form may not be the best there, so I'm going to work on getting perfect form on those sets before trying to do the whole ladder as full. Mandarin...not on track with that >.< But, interviews are tapering off so that may be a back half of January project. Perusing the project list for that class today though, so let's see if that motivates me to at least flip through the flashcards. @BoutThatActionBoss, I've tried 100 pushups challenge before, and the 200 squats challenge, but have such trouble sticking with the regular workout schedule. If I ingrain that 3x/week workout habit with this challenge though, mb I'll take another crack at one of them :-)

So ladders are generally exactly that, start at 15, then go down to 14 in the next set, then 13, etc down to 6. Then next week trying to scale it up by starting at 16, then 15, etc down to 7 (chose to do a max of ten sets for time's sake). For efficiency's sake I've started doing it in rounds so 15 squats, 10 knee pushups, 60 s plank, rest, then 14 squats, 9 k pushups, 50 s plank, so forth (my plank ladders are shorter). On pushup progression I'm doing knee pushups atm, but have managed to work in full pushups at the tail ends of the sets (so I'll do 10-5 knee pushups, then 4-1 full pushups). Which is faster progress than I expected - guess I'm just really rusty, but still have that strength in me somewhere :-) Progress update, got all 3 workouts in this week, and 5 days of stretching and logging so far. Woo! On the Mandarin front, still in the first lesson, but rewatched the lessons on numbers and general pronunciation and made flashcards. This weekend the plan for that is to rewatch the other two vocab lectures, do the worksheets, and take the quiz. Good first week!

Nice progress so far! Also, *joins you in complaining about the MBTA* For veggies I like stir fries since they're so customizable, cook fast, and you can make a ton and then eat leftovers for a few days. My go to is a Thai-style one: - saute minced garlic and diced onions in ~1-2 T of canola oil until soft - add any meats (diced chicken, ground pork, wev) or tofu and saute until cooked over med-high - add vegetables of choice (I usually go w/broccoli, peppers, carrots, and snow peas, but most things'll work), and while that's cooking add 1 T sugar, 1 T soy sauce, 1 T fish sauce (can turn it into 2 T soy sauce in total if you don't like fish sauce...acquired taste), and the juice of one lime, and hot sauce to taste. Cook over high heat until the veggies are cooked - serve over rice Another veggie heavy recipe I found last year was for Russian cabbage stew, which is better than I expected something with cabbage in it to be... http://www.food.com/recipe/shchi-russian-cabbage-soup-309210, not a crockpot version but could probably be adapted. Good luck!

Thanks 'BoutThatActionBoss! Update time: Stretching: did yesterday and today, 3/3 so far. Journalling, same Workout, did today as scheduled, and even managed the 3-2-1 of the pushups ladder as regular pushups. Woo!