arianrose

I'm activating a challenge mode! After documenting yesterday, I think I've spied a spot where I can cut a few cigarettes from my day. For the next week (and beyond, of course): I will only take one evening walk (cuts out 1-2 cigarettes a night)I will take my camera on my evening walk and capture my beautiful city (makes it harder to smoke AND it's something I like to do)It's partly a matter of reframing, for me. Not: I have to make these changes so I don't smoke! But: My partner deserves more of my time and attention, which I can't give to her if I spend, on average, 40-60 minutes a night outside smoking. I like taking pictures, and it's something I'd like to do more of, so I'll take my camera on one walk - maximizing the time I spend with both my loved ones and things I love to do. I'll be honest - I'm terrified I'm going to fail at this (again). I've tried so many times that I'm almost too scared to try again. Except ... one day I WILL beat this.

I like trying to combine things. That way, it's not a new thing, it's part of an old thing. So ..... if I wanted to drink more non-sweetened beverages, for example, my day goes FROM: I arrange my folders and paperwork for projects in the morning while reviewing my task list TO: I arrange my folders and paperwork for projects in the morning while reviewing my task list while having a cup of tea. So, for meditating, for example, is there anything else you do for 30min to an hour? If you haven't decided on the exercise you'll be doing yet, maybe you could do something "meditative" like yoga, qi gong, or tai chi? And for food ... could you assemble everything and place it all in the same spot of the fridge/your bag/your car, whatever? Then it becomes automatic: Oh, I get my lunch every day from this shelf. No thinking required. (I like "no thinking required" early in my day. A morning person I am not!)

Jolyn, I'm glad to see that you dropped that specific weight loss goal. While you can take charge of some things, you can't control all every variable. Sometimes, you hit a plateau, or you're losing fat but gaining muscle, or you have an injury that throws your efforts off track ... Anyway, I really like your new goals. I have a question for your third goal, though. What is "a regular basis" for you? Twice a week? More days than not? Don't skip more than one day at a time? Remember, if you can't track it, how will you know if you succeed? (Same thing for 1 and 2, too: how will you determine if you've succeeded?) I think they're awesome goals, I just don't want you to feel like you've failed! ETA: I'm now following this topic, so I'll be here, rooting for you!

I do all (or nearly all) of my cooking for the week on Sundays, so I don't have to cook breakfast in the morning when I'm all bleary-eyed. Some of our favorites (I don't know what kind of diet you usually eat, so feel free to disregard) Oatmeal with protein and fruit: We keep dried fruit, coconut, various crushed nuts, granola, etc to put in our oatmeal to actually make it a meal. You can cook oatmeal ahead of time, then microwave it with a little extra water or milk in it.Breakfast bakes: usually strata, which are vegetables, meat, and cubes of bread mixed in a baking pan with an egg and milk mixture poured on top. It needs to sit for several hours to let the eggs soak into the bread, but it reheats marvellously.Breakfast hash: Usually turkey smoked sausage, eggs, whatever vegetables I have on hand (onions, celery, asparagus, whatever), and hash browns or some other kind of starch. Cook it all up separately, then dump it all together in a tupperware.Breakfast sandwhiches: Fry up a bunch of eggs in individual rounds and put them in the fridge. In the morning, toast some bread or english muffins, add an egg round, cheese, and meat, then microwave until it's all hot.Obviously, I'm not a paleo eater! But if you're open to eating bread and dairy, these are all easy to make ahead of time, require only a it of prep in the morning, and are really filling. (I usually don't eat again for about 4-5 hours.)

Stephanie, I'm terrible about "oh, I'll write it down later." If I don't make it easy to do all the time, I crash and burn. Lesson learned the hard way. Might as well leverage tech for something useful for once. Stats for 2/25: Tutorial Quest #1: Consume With Intent (+2 WIS, +1 STA) Okay, but not great. I tracked everything except the fit of snacking I had from 2-4PM - which is, of course, what I really need to track most. Still, for my first day of the challenge, I think I did pretty good. Tutorial Quest #2: Rehab (Stretch & Strengthen Feet x2/week) (+5 STR) 0/2 Tutorial Quest #3: Practice with your weapons (Beginner's Bodyweight Workout X2/week) (+3 STA) 1/2 - Warmup, circuit, stretching - 11 minutes I only managed to do one circuit, and had to cut the lunges in half. Even at that, it felt like it darn near killed me. I also had trouble doing belly dancing warmups for an entire song. Definitely room for improvement, but I did it. Tutorial Quest #4: Preview the End Boss (+4 WIS) 12 - I tracked every single cigarette. Seeing the data in black and white is really emphasizing where I struggle the most. And I already have ideas about how to make changes. Easier said than done, but I'm starting to actually see a glimmer of hope that I'll actually be able to quit. A reasonably successful first day, overall. I already have my tracking sheet open and work and I'm ready for day 2! Today's score (out of 5) :star: :star:

Pookie, when I registered to get my marriage license (um, 17 years ago good god), I was presented with a "new bride" present that included a pink broom and dustpan, I kid you not. Way to go on getting everything set up! And I second Fonzico ... if you're going to feel it tomorrow (or tonight) then it counts! Packing, frantic housecleaning, wrestling a toddler at the grocery store....well, I don't know about that last one, but it sure looks hard.

So here we are ... I've pressed start, I've created my character, I've read the game manual ... Time to get started! What's this? A tutorial level?! But I want to start NOW. Tutorial Quest #1: Consume With Intent (+2 WIS, +1 STA) My bag slots are not limitless, and I must consider carefully before eating and drinking. I'm tracking my reasons for eating (irrespective of the calorie count). To determine why I eat and when I eat, I'm asking myself the following questions. At the end, I'll have a comprehensive log of when and why I'm consuming my resources. Am I hungry?Is this a scheduled meal/snack time? (I do best when I eat regularly at the same time every day)Am I eating for pleasure?Am I self-medicating? (Also known as "emotional eating," but I dislike the negative connotation of the term)Am I having a craving?Tutorial Quest #2: Rehab (Stretch & Strengthen Feet x2/week) (+5 STR) I'm usually a dancer, but I've recently had problems with both tendonitis and plantar fascitis that's taken me off my feet. I desperately want to return to dancing, so I need to work on both stretching and strengthening the muscles, tendons, and tissue in my feet. Tutorial Quest #3: Practice with your weapons (Beginner's Bodyweight Workout X2/week) (+3 STA) Bodyweight training is not my specialty. In fact, I kind of dislike it. But since I can't currently do any of the things I do like, I'm going to do this. Hopefully, I'll be a stronger and better balanced dancer when I go back. I'm modifying it slightly by doing "stepping jumping jacks," since jumping is definitely something my body doesn't like. Tutorial Quest #4: Preview the End Boss (+4 WIS) Some day, and it will be a "soon" someday, I will quit smoking. I've tried numerous ways, and none have been successful in the long-term. After evaluating everything I've done, I think it's because basic level programs ignore my personal challenges. But to actually take those into account, I need to figure out what those are. A simple brainstorming list of triggers isn't cutting it for me - need moar dataz! I'll be tracking the following things: Date and time I smokeWhy I think I'm smoking that timeHow I'm feelingStrategies to defeat that particular urgeMy Secret Weapons Have It Everywhere: I've got my super tracking sheet in Google Drive. I can update my tracking on my PC, at work, on my phone, on my tablet ... there's no way I'm more than 3 feet from being able to track. Excuse busted!Track Proactively, Not Reactively: In the past, I've often "forgotten" to track things. I think "oh, I'll track that later," and when I get to the end of the day, I've forgotten so much of it that I feel discouraged. This time, I track first. Lunch time? Take 2 minutes to update while leftovers are heating. Having a cigarette craving? Write it down and then go outside. Not only will it help me track, it will make me actually think about what I'm doing.YOU! Yes, you're my secret weapon. I have to come back here and report, right? I see how well everyone is doing on their goals, and I'd hate to be the lone spot of blackness and having to come in here and report "uh, um, I didn't track." Worse yet, I don't want to disappear. So y'all have my permission - nay, my encouragement, to poke me if you don't see me on here for a few days. True to form, I already have a detailed spreadsheet set up to track all of this. It makes me all warm and fuzzy to make lists and spreadsheets, and it ensures that my goals are actually measurable. If I can't put in on a spreadsheet, it might not actually be a quantifiable goal. I'm feeling pretty good about these, even though it's frustrating resisting the urge to start by doing too much. Yeah, I know my weakness.

I'm still babying my third PS2, because I've got so many beloved games I'd hate to give up. And I only got rid of my GBA when I got an iPhone. (Yeah, I had all the handhelds, too.)

Hey all! I'm new to the forum, and I honestly never thought I'd find myself here. You see, my deep dark secret is ... I really hate bodyweight exercises. I really, really do. That doesn't mean I don't plan to do them. I'm usually a dancer (Middle Eastern, "belly," if you prefer), but a recent bout of tendonitis and plantar fascitis has taken me off my feet for a few months. I mostly need to heal and strengthen before I can start dancing. And just because my feet aren't working right, that doesn't mean I can't keep strengthening and toning* the rest of me, right? By day, I'm a software tester/business analyst/project manager, so I have a nicely geeky job. Actually, I describe my job alternately as "geek-adjacent" and "geek translator," since I'm frequently the one translating developer-speak into something non-developers can understand. By night, I'm usually either playing WoW**, knitting, or reading sff. I'm old enough to remember playing games on the original NES with my dad, and I remained faithful to Nintendo consoles through the N64 (Ocarina of Time is still one of my favorite games). With the Gamecube, I jumped ship to the PS2, and spent many, many hours playing JRPGs. Right now, I don't have a current gen console (too pricey when they first came out), but I'm looking at picking up an XBox, so I can borrow games from all my friends. I also harbor a grudge against Playstation for not making the PS3 backward compatible. *I'm not using "toning" to describe looks here, which is silly. I mean "toning," like you would tune a piano, or an engine. Getting max DPS out of my body. That kind of toning. **My main is currently a Gnome Shadow Priest, but I played a Prot Pally for years. Just didn't like the prot changes in Mists.