LadyInRed

Bad Ass for the win! I wish I could summon mine from somewhere deep inside. Apparently she stepped back after the last fight. Anyways, keep being your inspirational self. I'm cheering for you.

Weekly report (Belated) Goal 1: I worked out just once last week, and it was on Saturday. I may need to take things slower because it feels like my brain and body are rejecting the good habits. What to do to reset? Goal 2: This continued, but having leftover ice cream and food that I did not prepare has not helped. I slipped back into the habit of eating right before bed, and eating waay past when I was full. Not good. I'm working to remedy this now. Goal 3: I did not do the angry birds workout at all. I think it's too much for me now esp. as I'm trying to use brain power to force myself to study. I also changed projects at work, and my boss dropped 4 new projects in my lap that I had no clue how to go about so I'm a little scared of messing up. (I actually kind of did mess up, and I think my boss saw the tears in my eyes - I couldn't get away from her fast enough so I had no cover-up scenario to blame it on. ) Goal 4: Even this has not been going well. I haven't been going to bed on time, so I haven't been waking up on time. A thought on a solution came to me - "If I have time for netflix then I have time to study." The last time I took a test I don't remember if I did not watch any netflix for those six weeks. I do know that I wasn't going out or watching as much as before. Anyway so I've been trying to find my motivation to do this. Trying not to be a big flop. Anyway, that's my report. Now let me go add some fat to my breakfast. Y'all have a good week!

Thanks terosx. I don't know if I'm actually tired or lazy. The truth is that it's been difficult to even try and study for this test, and now having the workouts is just making me into a grumpy old bear. I kind of stopped working out - only worked out on Saturday. So, yes, you may be right. I'll reduce the work outs - maybe do the beginners body weight workout instead of the angry birds workout during this challenge.

Soo... Week 1 was interesting. Here's the breakdown: 1. Work out at the gym 3x a week - I worked out twice... So a B. 2. Eat paleo - I've continued eating paleo, even in the face of lots of cake and all. Today is my birthday and I still haven't had the ice cream I was planning on gorging myself on. I'm kinda happy, but I know that I really struggled with not picking up a box of buttery wafers at the grocery store yesterday. The fam came to visit and they didn't take all the non-paleo food with them, so I guess the office is going to be sharing in my birthday tomorrow. 3. Modified Angry Birds workout 2x a week - I guess this'll be an F. I only did it once, but I had the opportunity for a second workout and I didn't do it. Not good LadyInRed, not good! 4. Study for and take the LEED AP exam - I only studied once, and listened to the audio study guide once. Ahhh.... This can't keep dragging on. Well, I'm dusting off the meh-ness of last week, and I'm stepping into this week with all the gung-ho I can muster. By God's grace, I'll make it a great week. PS... Sorry for not visiting your threads guys... I promise I'll do better.

I hope so. It hasn't proven to be easier though. Old habits are really kicking my shins for attention.

Are you doing the Tough Mudder training once a week?

Heh heh... I like this gif! *Stealing it for my phoenix collection* It just about hit you in the face right? Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnn!

Hello fellow members of the Rebellion... So I'm back at it again. Cycle 1 was a pretty good challenge (and many members of the Rebellion helped that happen), and now I'm aiming to dig deeper. The theme for this challenge is "BURN ". Why "Burn"? Well I consider myself a phoenix - a mythical creature who burns itself up and rises re-born from the ashes while flying into the sun...; yada yada yada.. No really. In more ways than one in my lifetime I've been re-born and have come to see/experience life in a new way. So I've come to see myself as a phoenix. In spite of things that I experienced that could have burned me out completely, I still rose and am flying higher than ever before. God is great! So... Like a farmer uses hot iron to burn his mark on his cattle (branding), I'm also working to use this challenge to brand myself with these new habits of leveling up in life - eating paleo, working out regularly; and burning off residual fat in areas where I've procrastinated for far too long. So here are the goals. 1. Work out at the gym 3x a week. +2 STR +1 DEX - No big deal here. Last challenge I had what now seems like 2 goals in one with both a body weight workout and, so I'm splitting it to be more effective. 2. Eat paleo +4 CON +1WIS - Continuing from the previous challenge with weekly cook-ups and visits to the farmer's market. 3. Modified Angry Birds workout 2x a week +2 STR - Also continuing from the previous challenge. (I want to get to level 2 in all the movements. Right now I'm at Level 5 for squats, Level 2 for incline push ups, Level 4 for arm rows, Level 1 for planks, and Level 5 for lunges.) 4. Study for and take the LEED AP exam +4 WIS +1 CHA - I've put off this test for about 3 years.Now it's time to do it. End of story. The plan for accomplishment is sleep really early (8:30pm), and wake up really early (4:00am) to study until it's time to get ready for work. I've done this before for a previous test I took in October - which I took one month to study for. This exam is longer, so I think the time period is all right. So there it is. I'm building up from the previous challenge. I hope to someday look back and really marvel at all I've accomplished. Here's to another great challenge!

Hi guys, So here's my report Challenge thread here 1. Form a solid, three workout days a week schedule. This includes doing 10 minutes of yoga 3 times a week ( 7.5 minutes for flexibility, 2.5 minutes for abs); Angry Birds workout twice a week, and going to the gym three times a week. Results: I've been averaging 2 days for the Modified Angry birds, and 2 days for the Curves workouts. I missed one week when I worked 18 hour days and the weekends around it. I didn't do the 7.5 minutes of flexibility at all other than the 1st day. Other than that I'm going to call it a C+. I'll carry over this goal to the next challenge. 2. Eating - I've gone paleo, not full paleo, but I cut out grains, breads, sugar, and most processed foods. The processed "foods" I use are powdered chai tea, unsweetened almond milk, kefir - plain and strawberry, kettle corn[these were a pretty easy stretch, since I've decided that it's my time to lose weight], spices, etc. I'm not sure if I can list them all. Now to keep that up for the next six weeks. In order to keep up with this, and increase my veggie intake, I'm thinking of the following schedule: - Saturdays - Buy meat, veggies and fruit from farmers market & grocery store - Chop up veggies for the week, and make veggie & fruit smoothies. Not sustainable, and I'm not passionate about them, so I'm crossing those out. Results: I've settled into the eating habits of paleo. Even though bread has certainly called my name more than once I haven't settled for it. But I've probably overdosed on plantain. That needs to change in challenge 2. I've also gotten quite used to going to the farmer's market to get my grass-fed meats and any veggies I need. My local kroger has also seen a bit more of me, but it feels good to mostly be shopping in the perimeter of the store. The more I eat this way the more I see that I have Options!!!! . I also didn't buy any strawberry kefir. Berries, mangos and bananas are good enough sweeteners for my smoothies. I had some ice cream one day after craving it for over a week. I made it a small one, but I think I felt the effects over the next few days. I felt like a had the flu but without any sneezing. It wasn't bad enough to take a day off work, but it certainly wasn't a good shape to be in. Ugh... Grade-wise I'll call it an A-. This goal will also carry over to my next challenge. 3. Start and maintain a food journal. I also started this this week. Results: This one came to a dead stop in the middle of the challenge. I've never been the type to journal. But I need to find a way to develop this skill because I need it in other aspects of my life - e.g. maintaining my blogs (They've laid dusty for almost a year). Maybe that might be a writing challenge I'll take up. We'll see. Grade - A solid D. 4. Life goal: Focus on enjoying the new changes in my life. Rather than wallowing in guilt for not being able to bound up the mountain, I'll revel in making progress in small steps up that mountain. I may not have studied like I want to, but I'm expending willpower saying no to foods I should not eat, and working out even when I don't want to. So I'll take +1 WIS and Fireflower now. Start studying for an exam I've been putting off. I'm not sure if this won't be too much for me, because studying takes so much time. So it's either studying, or cleaning up my apartment. I already have a plan for this, so that might be the most appropriate goal, at least until I'm settled in my new eating and working out habits. [Well I've taken care of cleaning my apartment, and lately I've been feeling like I don't have any willpower left for studying, but it's still gnawing at me. Any advice here?] Results: I did pretty good on this one. I allowed myself to enjoy what I was doing and tried not to agonize if I ate too much, or too late. B for this one. It's not an A because even though I got my apartment cleaned, I did not maintain it. The studying portion is now the next challenge. Thank God I did not attempt it in this past one. It would have been a woeful fail. If I'm understanding this correctly, we have 15 points to distribute in the attributes right? So I'll distribute mine as follows: 1. +1 STR +1 DEX +2 STA C+ - +0.75 STR 0 DEX +1 STA 2. +3 CON +2 STA A- - +3 CON +1 STA 3. +1 CON + 2 WIS D - 0 CON +0.5 WIS 4. +1 STR +1 WIS +1 CHA B - +1 STR 0 WIS +1CHA All this PLUS the win from the Mini Challenge #1 - +1 WIS and one FireFlower I also did the unplug from teh matrix challenge, but I didn't report in. I think I'll let that point slide for now. Now on to Challenge 2 goals: 1. Curves 3x a week, Modified Angry Birds workout 2x a week (I want to get to level 2 in all the movements. Right now I'm at Level 5 for squats, Level 2 for incline push ups, Level 4 for arm rows, Level 1 for planks, and Level 5 for lunges.) 2. Eat paleo - Continuing from the previous challenge 3. No clue here yet. Smile more maybe? I'm not really a smiley person in public. I also need to get up the nerve to talk with people and socialize. I need to make more guy friends - different life perspective 4. Study for and take the LEED AP exam. This next challenge period presents a great opportunity for me to do this. The plan for accomplishment is sleep really early (8:30pm), and wake up really early (4:30am). I've done this before for a previous test I took - which I took one month to study for. This exam is longer, so I think the time period is all right. My theme for this next challenge is BURN. I'll be burning new habits into my person, psyche, everything, and I'll be burning off the fat of other things. I hope this goes well. And thanks to everyone who was an encourager. Devyn, Lostone, megan, Porkchop, terosx, TankGrrl, and all the mods. I really appreciate it.

Yay!!!!!! Challenge #2 is on... I should probably rate my challenge #1 first, yes?

Indeed! Making it a game, having a great forum like this one, and attacking it in bite-sized chunks of 6 weeks makes it all the more doable. To the next challenge!

LOL... I waft between feeling old and young a lot! Sometimes, within one day! Maybe I should say "1 up" instead? Ha ha ha... And thank you Porkchop... That reminds me, I've got some pork chops ready for the slow-cooker.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you. I like the way I feel now - all accomplished and all... It's worth chasing for an extra life.

Thanks TankGrrl! I did kick ass diet wise this past week (celery has become my new best friend), but I didn't exercise as much as I intended. I did my modified Angry birds workout once, and worked out at the gym twice. Indeed the weekly cook-ups do help keep things under control. It takes the guess work out of it, and when you're in a pinch you can always microwave some kale and ground beef. Overall though, this first go around was a pretty good experience. Tracking my bodyweight exercises online really helped motivate me to strive for higher numbers, which resulted in more inches lost. I will take pictures this evening and see how things have changed. It may not be much, or very obvious, but I can feel it, see it, and even other people are beginning to notice it too. All in all I'll say this was a successful first effort.