27angel

Day 2 of this challenge has been a failure so far! I am having HUGE stress at work which is causing me a lot of anxiety. This stress has made my willpower against the sweets that people keep bringing to work null and void. I just have no energy to pull away and say no today. Plus today I was asked to work through my normal lunch break and take a much later break. Basically they want me to take my break from 2-3 when it is normally 12-1. Since my normal time to leave is 4 I have opted to skip my lunch break altogether and leave an hour early. I quickly ate my lunch during my morning break. Hopefully, I will be able to make up my walk for today when I get home.

I am #14 on the accountabilibuddies goggle doc. Does that mean I am in the group? I don't want to get anyone in trouble.

I signed up as #14 but it seems like there are many more that 13 other people in this group. If there aren't then I'd love to be #14. I've been in other groups during my first 3 challenges but they all fizzled out during the challenge. So did I during my 3rd (last) challenge. I've been side-tracked by life for the last several months and my exercise discipline has gone by the way-side. Then on Halloween I found out that my dad was in the hospital because of heart issues and I completely jumped off the primal bandwagon and into a carton of ice cream. My dad is better and out of the hospital and it is time for me to hit reboot and reset my diet and exercise regimen. Since I started this journey in April I have been eating a primal diet so now I am going to add Primal Blueprint Fitness to make my life more well rounded and break through this plateau that I've been sitting on since September. BTW from April 15th to the end of September I lost 51 pounds. I plan on things continuing on again like that until I reach a body size that I am happy with. I really hope that happens by my 39th birthday at the end of February.

My main quest is to lose weight and fit into size 10 clothing by my 39th birthday on February 27th. Currently I weigh 201 and wear sizes 16/18 clothing. The missions for this 6 week challenge that will help me achieve success in my main quest are as follows: I will be disciplined about eating a 100% primal diet. I also plan to follow the Primal Blueprint Fitness plan. Since I am not regularly exercising right now I will ease into this plan. I will walk every day during my lunch break (even if I am not feeling like it) unless it is raining. If it is raining I will need to make-up the walking on the treadmill when I get home from work. The only rainy day exception will be Thursdays when I don't get home until 9:30pm. I will also do some form of cardio one of the weekend days. The other day will be a rest day. Total weekly cardio will be a minimum of 3 hours. During the 6 weeks, after my body has adjusted to the daily cardio I will add bodyweight strength training two days a week for 30 minutes each. By the end of the challenge I will have added one sprint session of 15 minutes per week. (I am not sure if this counts as 2 large missions or 1 large and 3 smaller missions.) I plan on keeping track of my progress on the fitness missions on an excel spreadsheet. My goals for this 6 week challenge will be to break through the plateau that I have been on since September and to increase my strength and endurance. Since I will be performing in a small chamber orchestra (the first time since high school) for a Christmas Cantata in mid-December my life quest during the next six-weeks is to practice my violin for 30 minutes every day. The motivation for my main quest is to be happy with my body and be an inspiration for my children. The motivation for my life quest is not to be embarrassed during the Christmas performance.

I've been eating primal since the beginning of May. Today I reached a terrific milestone, I have lost 51 pounds...GONE forever!!! My next goal is to stick with regular exercise. I've been having a lot of problems with migraines and they have kept me from sticking with the exercise. I went to the doctor yesterday and I am trying some new medicine so hopefully this goal will be a reality soon!

I really appreciate the comments and suggestions. I have been extra vigilant in keeping snacks with me all the time. Something kind of cute happened today at work. Someone brought a homemade cake for the teachers. My co-teacher got herself a slice and picked off two of the strawberries that were decorating the top of the cake and brought them to me. I really appreciated that she had thought about me.

Does nobody else have this problem?

I quit sugar 5 months ago (except for a small amount of fruit and dairy each day) as my first step to going completely primal. I have allowed myself homemade desserts when I have been with family/friends 4 times during this time. I found that I don't react well to the sugar anymore. It makes me feel ill. I should probably mention that before quitting sugar I was basically a sugar addict. If it was sweet not only would I eat it but I wouldn't stop at just one. Since quitting I really don't have cravings during the normal course of a day. The problem I am having is that it seems that anytime people get together for any reason they bring sweet "goodies" to share with their friends. On many occasions they don't bring a healthy alternative also for anyone who may not want to eat the sugary foods. If it is an event that I know in advance where people are bringing food I will bring something healthy. Many times people just bring the sweets to surprise others and show their love. I may not have cravings normally but when things that I know would taste wonderful are continually being placed before me I am getting more and more frustrated with my need for an iron will. For example, this morning at church in my small group, brownies, cheesecake bites, and doughnuts were brought to share with the group. Since we were there in the middle of the morning, I hadn't even packed my usual stand-by baggie of nuts. So, I left the room, got some water, and strolled around a bit until I thought they would be finished eating and socializing (which seem to always go together) and then returned. Of course by doing this I missed the socializing part. So what do others who follow a paleo/primal lifestyle do about this?

I agree that it is easier to abstain than to try some and then stop when it is still all around you.

Very nice superjenni!

I have been eating a strict, low-glycemic primal diet for the past 4 months. Last weekend I went to Dragon Con for 4 days. I packed paleo food and snacks that would cover me through the weekend. Most of the first day I did fine, until evening time when I was hanging out in a friend's hotel room while we all got ready to go out in costume and roam. Every one of my group of friends had decided to bring some sort of homemade baked good to the con. I decided that since it was a vacation weekend I wouldn't be so hard on myself to stay primal. I indulged (quite a bit) and became sick a while later, unable to finish roaming with friends for the rest of the night. Day two, I made a similar mistake when we got my kids ice cream. I got a butterfinger blizzard. About 20 minutes later I felt terrible and had to lie down. The rest of the weekend I avoided all sugar having no more digestive problems, just the exhaustion that is normal during a con where you get very little sleep. So, I have learned that once the body stops burning glucose for fuel I can't just go back to consuming large amounts of it without upsetting the natural balance of the body.

This challenge seems to have been a failure from the beginning. First I was sick and now I am having migraines every couple of days. My diet hasn't changed since the beginning of May, so at least I know that the food is not the trigger.

Stryder, I don't think this is the kind of pain you should push through. I agree with what j_addict says. I am for the most part a beginner to exercise but if something causes you so much pain that you can't continue to exercise then you need to stop doing that and change.

I climbed back on the horse (err. treadmill) and just competed week 3, workout 3 but it is actually week 3, workout 1 because I had a week off and needed to restart week 3. I don't feel ready to progress to week 4.

I hope so as well. This will be my 8th Dragon Con and it really has gotten crazy.

I have the same problems with the crowds. I don't go wandering unless I am surrounded by my group of friends who know that I don't like crowds. I plan to spend quite a lot of my day time in the gaming hall playing Pathfinder. Evenings/Nights will be hotel hopping to see costumes and be seen in costume. I don't usually stay out as long as the rest of my friends though (once again because of the crowds.)

Done! Here it is... http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/35350-the-countdown-to-dragon-con-has-begun/

I've seen several people on the forums talk about this year's Dragon Con. I know that I am excited about it and thought others might be also. So, I am starting this thread for people who are attending Dragon Con to talk amongst themselves. I'd love to hear what everyone is planning on doing while at the con.

How many net calories are you consuming a day? I try to at least get 1200/day.

I will also be part of an X-Men group at Dragon Con. I will be (curvy) Dark Phoenix. I'm actually using part of a costume I made a few years ago but I have lost weight so I need to get new pants and take in the top. (Yay, what an exciting problem to have!) We also have a Magneto (from the movies), Beast, and Wolverine. We might have an Emma Frost but she hasn't decided of she wants to wear that costume or something else. I wish we were doing it on Saturday night so that we could meet up with you and get a large group picture but the rest of my group has already decided to do another theme on Saturday and X-Men on Sunday.

I have had a truly crazy, exhausting week at work. I have been so worn out when I got home in the evenings that the only day I exercised was Monday. Tonight and tomorrow night I won't be getting home until around 9:30. So, this really has been a bad week toward my goal. The good thing is that I have kept to my "diet" very rigidly (it is good to have control over something when everything else is out of control.) I plan on exercising again on Saturday and getting back on track. I'm trying not to be down on myself about the lack of exercise. As long as I don't completely stop I'll be o.k., right?

I'm very new to running. Actually, I'm on week 3 of C25K. The shoes I am using are Acics running shoes that are almost a year old. I wear them everyday to work. They are the only sneakers I have. I've been wondering about the need for new shoes to exercise in but have a very fixed budget. That being said should I get new running shoes, stick with the old ones, or try minimalist shoes?

Thanks. I do need to check the salt. I don't add it to much of what I cook. As for probiotics, I eat a serving of Greek yogurt as my afternoon snack everyday but I think I may be low on pre-biotics.

I'm hoping my Oster will hold out until Christmas because I plan on asking for a good blender, perhaps Ninja, as my big gift. The problem is that I use it every day for my morning breakfasts smoothie. I do use the special order of ingredients that Dominic suggested and do believe it helps but it is starting to make a strange noise.