Rincewind

I love the challenge. I'm totally in. Just bought "Guards! Guards!" as a gift for a friend from France to introduce him to Discworld novels. I read the book three times. Maybe I'll try the French edition too and improve my language skills. - Double win. O:-)

[While I was tempted to push the play button again, this was going on in my head] "Nom nom metabolism ... hmm psychic health ... bla bla testosterone levels ... ALRIGHT Steve, I'm NOT watching another episode of Gotham. I'll go to sleep RIGHT NOW." One of the first wins at/in/with (I hate those tiny English words) reprogramming my brain.

Short recap of week 2: "I love veggies" - 100% successful. - Again. Meal plan was only 50%. Planned half of the week. Evening routine: - I completed it three times. Felt really good. And everything was in place when I woke up in the morning. Mindfulness.- Once this week. - Baby steps... Exercise. - I worked out once this week. - Finally! - But it took four days to finally get started again, after the flu was gone.

Thanks, just added them to my [emoji33] [emoji27] [emoji24] [emoji35] library.

Hey, I would definitely join a meetup in Cologne.

I also wondered when it will come back. Thanks for the update.

Hey, I just wondered, if any rebels will be playing the game (on PC). - I will. I already liked the multiplayer in the first game and it seems part 2 will be even better. - Looking forward to coop-mode! So, who is up for some hacking?

This was week 1: "I love veggies" - Went great! - 100% successful. - That makes 21 meals with at least 50g of vegetables or at least 1 kg of veggies this week. I made a meal plan this week, but didn't stick to it the entire time. Sometimes I was so exhausted in the evening (still a bit sick), that I was too tired to cook. Or my family and I came home late and I had no time to cook, because the kids had to go to bed. - So I will start to schedule cooking in week 2 as well. Evening routine: - I did it once. - And it improved the next day by about 200%. The other days weren't that good. Some things I already do, others I don't. Maybe next wekk I make it to 3 evenings a week. That's enough for me to see progress. Mindfulness. - Starting tomorrow. Exercise. - I was still sick this week. But tomorrow is gonna be the first workout day after a long time. - And I'm so looking forward to it! OK, I'm also afraid that I can't do as many reps as before. But I know, that I will get back to the level I have been on three weeks ago.

In addition to that, I will look for a way to write a journal - digitally, on paper, whatever. But actually writing the journal will be part of another 4-week-challenge.

Challenge update: I will discontinue my quest to log my food. That was to promote mindful eating. But I want to practice mindfulness on a broader scale. That's why I decided to start re-establishing my prayer&meditation routine. --> Edit in post No. 1

Yeah I agree, keep going. This time of the year challenges you too seek new ways of doing things that were easy when it was warm. But these challenges always teach me something. For example this time I got the flu for a very long time and I learned to eat more means with iron and vitamin c on a regular basis. You got this, looking forward to seeing your progress. [emoji106]

Today, I realized, that I am procrastinating on improving my mental health - again. So, I am going to add a goal for that to my challenge - and maybe remove another. I am going to think about what to do during the day, and post my new goal as soon as I return home.

I was really overwhelmed when I found this thread. I have been batteling my large lazy ugly black dog for quite a while, mostly on my own. And reading your stories and daily struggles helped me to not feel as isolated as I felt recently - again. - Thank you for that! Some things that I turn to, when I hit a low, or when my senses get overwhelmed with impressions/emotions: Games - my favourite is coop multiplayer, but any action/adventure game will do. TV shows - the more action & SciFi the better Reading - blog posts and books Meditation - I did a MBSR course some months ago. - I liked it and it made me feel much better for some time, but I am still struggling to meditate on a regular basis. Exercise - a big one. I get grumpy when I miss a workout. And luckily my wife started to realize that, and some times now, when I hit a low, she kicks my butt and tells me to go out and exercise. Music - I learned that from Brené Browns "The Gifts of imperfection" - I have a collection of playlist for "black dog days" - Favourite songs to sing along or to dance. System of a Down - In my car Playing the guitar and sing sing sing - Great way to relieve stress and re-organize my emotions. Playing with my kids. - Every time I convince myself to do it, I feel much better afterwards. Massive amounts of cookies and chocolate Talking to my wife Practicing parkour moves and doing "stupid things" outside, like climbing trees and balancing on walls etc. Woodworking I'm not saying these are all healthy choices. Some turned into real addictions over time - creating just more problems. - But in a moderate way, I accept them all as ways to deal with stress/depression/anxiety/sensitivity.

I know that wolf all too well and imagining it to become a ninja - I can only imagine how tough that must be for you. But, I wanted to thank you for your in depth respawn post. It made me realize, how much I procrastinate on improving my mental health. There are so many excuses and distractions you can use to not confront yourself with your emotional struggle. - So thank you for respawning and sharing your struggles - and goals!

I want to learn to use the bow someday, too. It seems to be a great way of training your mind and body. - Besides, I love "Arrow". And (cross)bows and arrows seem to be a better choice than firearms when preparing for the zombie-apocalypse.

The BATCAVE approach really helps me with my habits. I use HabitBull to track my habits. And I put a widget on the home screen of my phone, which shows all the habits I'm currently developing. That way, the first thing I see, when I unlock my phone, are my habits. That definietly helped with YouFood in the past. @ctfranklin28 Just came up with an idea. I can create a task with Tasker (android). I'll program it to make a sound every hour or so - as long as I'm connected to my home wifi - to make sure, I have my phone nearby to document my food intake. For my evening routine, I use Trello. But I will post some more info on that later this week.

@lucky fire dragonYeah, I agree. I should start counting my push ups, too. But I guess, I won't reach 1000 until the end of the month. @ctfranklin28 I really like your challenge. It's a great inspiration. And you are very consistent with the documentation!

OK, short BATCAVE update: I downloaded an awesome recipe database for MS Access. Now, I can enter my smoothie (and other) recipes and print cards in a size that fit on my meal planning board. I'm going to make this a "clean" database. No junk food, sugar, grains are allowed in there. This will be a major upgrade to my BATCAVE. Here's the link: http://indelibleedibles.blogspot.de/2010/11/recipe-database-files.html

OK, meal planning is done. I discovered one hurdle when it comes to smoothie recipes. I have been drinking green smoothies for a while now. And I enjoy drinking them. But the preparation has it's difficulties. Many of the recipes require ingredients, that are considered "exotic" in my country - and therefore expensive and bad for the environment. And many vegetables that are grown here aren't even mentioned - even by local authors. That makes the process of planning and preparing very tedious. So I decided, in addition to my meal-planning challenge, that I will find 3-4 recipes for every season of the year, that are tasty, affordable and with ingredients, that can be bought from local farmers. I'll post some, here, I guess.

Thanks for your support and advice. I'm using YouFood to log what I eat. - The app lets you take photos and shows you a daily/weekly overview of what you ate. Pretty helpful. It worked quite well for a month and I had better awareness of what I was eating. It even helped to avoid snacking, because I wanted to publish EVERYTHING. But after some time, I slipped very often, like you said. I faced two problems: 1 - I was afraid of the reactions of others when I took photos during meals. - I've gotten better with that. I even had some interesting conversations about food and nutrition. 2 - I didn't have my phone on me. Especially when at home, I would have to run to my desk or some other place and search for my phone to take those photos. But I think, I'll master it this time.

Last month, I started to develop some great new habits, like eating more vegetables and stretching more often. But I realized, that some of my not-so-new habits weren't as solid as I thought. I got sloppy with my food log and didn't log other habits that I had established the month before. So, the next four weeks are mainly about consistency. I only added one new goal, the rest are old goals. Nutrition: I log everything I eat/drink. I practice mindfulness. That means: I pray 2 minutes every day, thanking for positive things that happened - and the many times I am already achieving small goals every day. I meditate 5 minutes afterwards. Any way I like - sitting, body scan, lying on the bed, guided. - just meditate in some way. The "I love veggies" quest: I eat a vegetable (50g) with every meal I eat. Every Sunday, I make a meal plan for the entire week. - Focusing on dinner. Fitness: I do three strength workouts and at least one light balance and flexibilty workout per week. Level Up Your Life I do an evening routine, 5 days per week. That routine includes the preparation of veggies and breakfast for the next day (supporting my nutrition goal...).

So, that was my first 4-week challenge. And here is the short evaluation: Nutrition: I eat a vegetable (50g) with every meal I eat. 60% Not so great, but it starts to become a habit. Planning ahead an preparing veggies for breakfast helped. Every Sunday, I make a meal plan for at least 5 days of the week. 90% I didn't plan my meals every Sunday, but I made a meal plan for EVERY week. And I ate a lot of healthy meals during the last 4 weeks. That's a big win. Fitness: I add one workout for balance and flexibility per week to my training plan. 50% - That didn't go so well, but I had the flu, so no workouts at all. Level Up Your Life I Play the guitar for 5 minutes every day. 5% - Just once in the past 4 weeks. I guess there are other things more important in my life right now. That makes 51,25% = C My inner perfectionist tells me, that it's not enough. But my inner nerd says: "Come on, you have been playing on expert difficulty. You have a 8 week old child and you had the flu the past two weeks. You're doing great!"

Supernatural is really great, they always come up with new ideas. And just when I start to think it's getting old, the next episode they introduce something surprising and creative. Got two kids, 4 years and 8 weeks old. :-)

Thank you for the reminder. Ok, here's this week's meal plan. I'd say that I kept to it 60℅ of the time. Breakfast is a bit tricky. Lunch and dinner are almost at 85℅ It's really helping to feel full and I have less cravings. I overeat on cashews but that's OK, they are too expensive here to keep lots in the house. [emoji16] Exercise is good, but my scheduling is a mess, that will be a goal for next month's challenge. The problem is mainly not enough sleep due to our kids and late night binge watching (damn you, Sam and Dean Winchester!). So sleep is another big issue. Being tired is the worst thing that can happen while trying to establish new habits. But I keep going. This week is going to be better!

Hey, I like your goals. I have been struggling with grip strength too. I noticed that improving wrist stability and mobility (also elbows and shoulders, I guessed) helped me a lot. - And just grabbing a pull up bar and hang... :-P Cat hang progressions are also another fun way to improve grip strength and coordination. Check out Ryan Ford's YouTube channel for that. You got this!