angeftw

Argh! Sorry guys, I totally fell off the wagon and was too embarrassed to come back for a while there. BUT instead of deleting or just forgetting about my account here I thought I'd jump in and post some reasons (not excuses! excuses are lame) for my disappearance. Half of my second week got eaten up by a few days interstate and more focused on catching up with people than going to the gym or getting some running in. I found out while I was away that I had to move blocks on base (not as extreme as moving house, but still essentially the same thing) so packing and moving stuff wiped out much of my third week due to lack of time/energy and internet access to boot. Does moving a bunch of boxes and furniture in 40 degree heat count as a PT session?! About the only thing I was still managing was getting the vegetarian days in! Then the kicker - I went to medical to get my foot checked out because the heel felt funny while I was running and it was putting me off my stride. They think that it might be plantar fasciitis which means I can walk and do low impact exercise but not run until I can shake the heel pain. So that put the running goal on the backburner, which I wanted to try and replace with walking or even dancing indoors with shoes on... And this week I found out at super short notice that I'm about to go on an intermediate cook course interstate. Good news is that it's six weeks so I can almost take that as a sign to restart the six week challenge! The bad news is that I'll have limited internet access so I'm going to be a useless team member here. Hope everyone's challenges have gone better than mine, and I look forward to maybe seeing y'all for the next one.

Week 1 Eek, bit of a rough start to the challenge! I'm back to normalish hours at work, which means I have fallen prey to the vicious circle of stay up too late at night > get up super early for work and squeeze through the shift on too much sugar and caffeine > come home and crash for a 'nap' which refreshes me just enough to make me stay up later at night again... I got my vegetarian day in! That was probably the easiest part - had a day off, designated it as vego only, and it was fine. I went to the gym once and did a weights workout for the first time in at least a year. I forgot how good it feels to work muscles and have that moment of thinking yeah this hurts a little but it's slowly making me stronger! Although the pain lasted a couple of days afterwards (what's with that delay?!) so I wasn't as motivated to go back before the week got away from me... I didn't get a run in. I set my alarm early for a couple of days so I could go for morning runs (it's the coolest time of day here, even if it's still humid most of the time) but because of my disrupted sleeping patterns I would hit the snooze and opt to stay in bed instead. So all in all, I've got a busy week to catch up on the missing gym session and being three runs down. The one good thing about this week is that even when I haven't felt like or been up early enough to run, I've managed to get a couple of evening sessions of Dance Central 3 going on. It wasn't on my original list of goals to dance a certain number of times a week, but in the game there is a fitness mode where you can set goals to do this and I'm trying to get three sessions in each week. Depending on the dances there can be a fair bit of cardio going on - I've worn my fitbit for sessions before and can get to 10,000 steps in about an hour! I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm establishing a routine, and have to keep practicing in order to stick to that routine, and not to give up because of minor slip ups. Just get back on it the next day, or the next week!

Love the intro! And hooray, I have an army for the apocalypse! I'm a pretty good ninja for making up stuff that suits dietary requirements, Jeloc (or anyone else) so let me know what you like/don't like and I can probably come up with something for you to try. My usual trick for making foods seem different is to try different spices. At the moment I'm addicted to Moroccan mixes, and in the past I've used Indian curry paste bases to roast/cook vegies in to make them more awesome. Run: I can highly recommend the Zombies, Run! original game and the 5K version if you're just starting out running and want something more fun than Couch to 5K programs out there. When your runs suddenly go from chorelike things to tick of your to-do-list to MISSIONS, it's much easier to get motivated, I find. More iPhone apps that can be handy (not sure if they're available on android but worth checking?) - RunAnywhere, which lets you use a treadmill to track various fun runs and marathons all over the world using Google maps images I think? Also lets you add your workouts to RunKeeper. If you don't have RunKeeper, this is definitely worth getting for indoor or outdoor runners! It's free and can be used to track all sorts of activities like rowing, skating, walking, elliptical etc. and you can also link this to Facebag so your friends can cheer you on. Play: My guilty not-so-secret play thing du jour is Dance Central 3. I got an Xbox for Christmas and when I get a chance and my housemate is either in her room studying or out at work, I fire up the telly and look like an idiot in front of it for about an hour or so. I should probably get one of those fitness games for kinect, but dancing is more fun than fitness for me. Move: Something I'm going to struggle with is getting back into roller derby once my local league starts up training again. I've been off skates for so long and got so heavy/unfit that it's hard to go back to something that I used to be much better at. How do you guys trick yourself into picking up that thing that you used to do but haven't for a while?

Heya Jeloc, good luck to you too! I wish Zombies, Run! existed when I first started running... I'm so much better at it when a) I feel like I'm being chased and I'm having fun listening to the story and levelling up my base instead of thinking about how much I'm dying from the cardio. Just catching up on all my replies and boards... see you around!

Thank you! Good luck to you as well )

Hi Sam! I'm new here as well, and I think I've just signed up to the same accountability team as you. Your goals sound amazing yet achievable, and I'm sure the wedding is probably the best motivator for any girl to get fit and look trim. I tried joining a crossfit gym once, but was so sore for about a week after my first session that I was too chicken to go back! Good luck and I look forward to hearing from you over the next few weeks.

Hi everyone, My name is Ange and I'm an adventurer with some inklings to be a warrior, but as I'm an overweight and unfit full time cook who hasn't lifted weights in months if not years, I have a long way to go. I also want to be a regular runner and even have the goal of the Great Wall of China half-marathon in May to work towards, but I still need the kick in the butt that I'm hoping this six week challenge will bring. My three goals are meant to be easy as one-two-three: Eat only vegetarian stuff for one day a week. Go to the gym (either a group fitness class or a weights session) two times a week. Go for a run (either on a treadmill or outdoors) three times a week.Of course, any more than this will be awesome. If I don't keep up with my goals in a given week, I will try to make up for them in the following week. The plan to achieve these goals is pretty straightforward: I'm a cook by trade, so if I make myself a vegetarian meal whilst on shift I can eat it then and there or take the leftovers home. I will be shopping for mostly vegetarian foods and snacks to fill my pantry/fridge at home. It should be easy enough to designate one of my days off as a vegetarian-only day. My housemate regularly attends an outdoor boot camp, a work colleague is a member of a civilian gym that runs group fitness classes, and I have access to a free gym. I will be designing my own basic weights program to follow if I can't make it to the aforementioned classes within a given week. I want to get used to running outdoors and in relatively hot/humid conditions, but if the going gets tough I will use a treadmill instead. I have signed up to a half-marathon training program on RunKeeper so that three runs a week are scheduled in my iPhone. I am also using the Zombies, Run! 5K and regular game for additional motivation to run outdoors.I'll be blogging at stuficionado.net and you can follow me at @angeftw on twitter if you're feeling so inclined. I look forward to updating you on my progress, hearing about yours, and generally cheering you guys on! -- Ange (forthewin )