magpie

Some great advice (the reddit link especially) and as someone who lost 4 inches in her chest over the past few months, I can relate to bra fit problems. If you're still in somewhat mainstream (aka E cup or lower) territory adoreme.com has a wide selection of sets (matching bras and panties) for $40 (aka with free "VIP membership") regularly, or $20 on sale. I don't agree with their sizing method (I'm 33" in the rib cage and a 34F is too big of a band) and since I'm in F/G/H realm right now the selection is somewhat limited, but for the price I'm willing to work with it.

Wow, that sounds like a rough situation. Looking forward to hear how this challenge treats ya

Sounds like a good start to the challenge. It's a tough situation, but you're turning it into a great opportunity. Props.

Glad to hear you and yours survived the chaos. Love the gradual progression of your goals; smart way to make good changes . Also, we need to PVP articles .

That sounds like a such career-affirming experience. Also, 2 months in Uganda doing field work . Good luck with the submission!

That is ALMOST as amazing as your challenge goals. If you're getting bored with the pre-made meals you might try making a "base" for the week then tweaking it for each meal for the week. It would take a bit more time but I found a bit of conscious variety really helps me e.g. different spices with tofu/chicken, slicing up pre-cooked chicken sausage to add to stirfry you ate the previous night, different veggies, playing around with cheeses (my current go-to is goat!).

Love sweet potato wedges with olive oil and rosemary. My upstairs neighbors have some gluten and diary issues so they eat near-paleo for health reasons. They like to julienne zucchini as a pasta substitute, basically like this blog post Also, challenge looks great. I want to focus on getting through finals, but after I'll probably be joining you on low carb fat reduction. I did it accidentally last challenge while I was trying to up my protein and everything really seemed to suck in and firm up when my carb intake moved solidly below 100g/day. There's nothing wrong with a little vanity for a good cause

I was delayed; but I'm crawling in under the wire! Excited for my challenge goals and looking forward to catching up with everyone else's...once I've gotten a decent night's sleep. This week of 5 hours or less per night has been less-than-enjoyable.

First week checkin: 1) Eating efficiently: technically I made masses of chicken Saturday, but I was eating it all week (at home and at work) so I'll count it. A 2) Kickin' Katas: Dojo Sunday and Monday this week, and so long as I run through them tonight I'll be at 3 this week. I spent a lot of time at the dojo at the start of the week and attended an out of state conference Friday, so I'm alright with the low grade this week given the circumstances. B 3) Rev up Resistance: My new PT requested no upper-body work until my appointment Thursday, but I managed twice this week. AB since there were doctor's orders involved. 4) Something Sciency: 3 articles for the 3 conference presentations. A

Much later than I'd meant to get posted (I've been monitoring!) but below is the plan for this challenge: 1) Eating Efficiently Last challenge there was a food-themed thread, and I got a bit inspired. I've fallen off the wagon on making a large meal that I use throughout the week, so the point here is to re-establish that habit. This goal is about making meals that are healthy, and I can bring into the office all week. a) Actual prep time must be under an hour (cooking in crock pot doesn't count, but oven/stove does) Must be usable for 6 meals per week (at least 3 meals per recipe), with veggie (and tofu/seitan sausage) additions allowed during reheat. c) At least 20g of protein per serving Full Credit: Cook (non-reheating) once or twice to reach 6 meals Half Credit: Only 3 meals +2 Stam +2 Con 2) Kicking it with Katas Enjoying my dojo, but I want to make sure I am working at home as well. Full credit: Dojo twice per week, kata 4x per week (or 6x per week if out of town/can't attend dojo) Lose one letter grade each time at-home is missed, two for each dojo missed (and not made up at home). +2 Dex +2 Stamina 3) Rev up Resistance I'm in PT for a shoulder injury, and have lost a lot of upper-body muscle since a lot of my usual exercises aren't allowed. I've got a membership at a weight-training gym, and a personal trainer to help me improve my form and try new things. Resistance training has done wonders in past month so I want to kick it up a notch ;-) Grading: Weight-training/PT exercises and upper-body work 3x per week (gym) - at home can substitute 2 for 1. Lose one letter grade for each missed. + 3 Con +1 Cha 4) Something Sciencey Inspired by Rising Phoenix, one of my goal's this challenge is to become a less shitty scientist. This one is a bit of a two-parter to account for finals. Before summer, I need to go through 2 articles per week that are not assigned in class. After finals, 4 per week. I can listen or read, but there needs to be some notes taken regardless. Grading: Half credit if 1 article is missed, none for 2. +3 Wisdom

Great job on the challenge and good luck on the exam!

Probably silly question, but where's the monk wrap-up thread?

Excellent *Mr Burns fingers*

It seems like an inefficient use of time to equivocate over a point on goal 4. There was a lot of progress on the underlying goal, and I shouldn't punish myself for getting extra sleep when I need to heal. I've decided to take it as a sign I need non-physical goals that focus more explicitly on my professional life; this next challenge will involve reading academic articles and the one after will involve programming or computer science. So...ding. I'll try to figure out how I want to get to level three...after I'm done preparing for my belt test on Saturday.

How else am I supposed to be inspired by amazing workout routines and goats