Naaria

Keep it up I remember giving up chocolate for lent when I was like, 7.. That must be the biggest accomplishment of my life so far!

What specifically did you injure? What happened? If your knee is still bugging you, it might be best to let it rest.. else you risk having a bunk knee for the rest of your days!

Yes, please eat more if you've only had 800 calories. Everyone here as already given great advice. I have come to reinforce the idea that crunches won't burn fat. You won't get abs while the rest remains flabby. You need cardio to burn fat. I've been doing fasted, low-moderate cardio and after three weeks, I've already noticed a change. It's slight (I'm 5'2" as well), but the only thing that matters to me at this moment is getting rid of my extra fat. Basically you walk rather slowly on an empty stomach. You want to keep about 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. (220-[age]) = max heart rate. Then mhr x 0.6 and 0.7 = target heart rates for fasted cardio. The point of this is to have your body burn your fat stores instead of the food that you have recently put into your belly. Good luck

Thanks Obi. For some reason, no matter how many times I read through that site.. it feels like it's going over my head. I feel as if I'm not understanding what's they're trying to put across.

I agree!! My day doesn't feel complete unless I get up and walk on the treadmill for at least half an hour in the morning! I'm bad at keeping up a pace so the treadmill reeeaally helps with that. I find I'm calmer, dare I say even happier throughout the day.

Are you fitting in any cardio? I don't think two months is enough time to reverse six months of (presumably) unhealthy habits.

Wow!! That'd be really awesome actually.. Thanks for that!

I use coconut oil! It was initially kinda bleh feeling but I'm on my 6th day and I am addicted. I look forward to it every morning. Seriously. The first thing I noticed was that my breath didn't smell/feel like hell at the end of the day. My teeth still felt clean. You know how you can start to kinda feel the plaque buildup? Yeah.. It was VERY minimal. I also noticed the same thing the next morning what with the breath/plaque buildup and whatnot. As the days go by, my mouth feels cleaner and cleaner. I wish I took a before shot of my teeth because now I'm not sure if my teeth are any whiter than when I first started. I think they are, but I have no proof. Now, here comes the kind of gross part. I have always had hard stools, unless I was sick or ate something bad.. or a lot of corn/fibre/whatever. For the past 2-3 days, my stools have been very soft. Now, I DON'T KNOW if that's from eating steel cut oats as opposed to normal shitty oats. I don't know if that's TMI (and I apologize if it is, but hey, everybody poops), but it's something that I noticed that has made me really, really happy. Poop is a great indicator to a person's health. I read about an instance where a woman's psoriasis on her scalp went away.. and I'm hoping that that'll happen with me. I will report back if/when I see results! I would strongly encourage you to try it. If you don't like it, you don't have to do it. If you love it, well, then I'm sure you'll experience some cool things! Feel free to ask me any questions and I'll answer them as best as I can!

I will definitely walk once I have to leave for work, however the reason for the treadmill walking is for a consistent speed for fasted cardio. I know that walking otherwise will still help but I suppose I'm just getting attached to the workout! And yeah, I could/should do yoga in my room. I'm just a little bummed that I now have a membership for a studio and haven't had time to go.. However, you're right. There's no reason I can't just do yoga in my room on days I can't make it to the studio! As for eating late, it's usually because my family tends to eat very late. 7-8PM is usually when the food gets brought home.. and yes, it's always take out. They never cook anymore. Luckily, now that I'm working I'll be able to buy my own food and have more control with when/what I want to eat. Thanks for the encouragement Waanie. You are amazing. <3

Day 15 (Mon) Damn it. Mom's not going to work so I can't walk! She's still asleeeeeep! Boooooooooo ;___; I suppose I'll do a round of HIIT but we'll see. I hate doing anything strength related in the morning.. my muscles just don't work. Will definitely do something later tonight, after work. Still a little bloated, but I did eat dinner pretty late last night. Gotta be honest though, bad start to my morning. I'm a little grumpy with myself because I haven't been as strict about eating within the IF timeframe and it's showing. I need to cut off ALL eating after 9pm. If I absolutely need to eat, it'll be a tiny, tiny, snack sized thing just to keep my body somewhat satisfied.. but I will aim for 8PM-the-latest-dinners. It doesn't help that I didn't do yoga at all because of the timing of trainings for work. Will hopefully have more time this week. Grumble grumble. Here are my stats for the week. I've stayed about the same with more (slight) gains than I'd like. Poop. 146.2lb(=), waist 29.5"(+), hips 38.5"(-), thighs 24.75(+), calves 15.5(+)

Wow!! The difference between this picture and your first picture is AMAZING! Keep it up!

I was thinking of getting into Paleo. I may attempt that either after this challenge, or when I move out and have more of a say for what I have for my meals. I had to move back home after a breakup and I'm piss broke (though I just started a job, yay me!) since I just got out of school and wasn't working while I was in it.. So needless to say, the fact that I need to buy guides/books for the Whole30 and 21 Day Sugar thing isn't looking that attractive, to be completely honest. I don't think that I could give Whole30 an honest shot with where I am in life right now, either. I'll give her a shout when I'm ready to start Paleo. Thanks!

Ouch!! The easier you take it the faster you'll heal! I hope you feel better real quick!

Thanks a lot! I managed to fight off the cold, just had to deal with a few coughs for a few days. Thanks for the advice! And yeah, it's crazy.. I hope the next one starts up really soon after cuz I've never been able to stick to something for so long.. and being part of a big group like this is probably a huge reason why I've been able to! So thank to all of you for your support <3 Day 12/13 (Fri/Sat) I had a really bad day Friday. I felt shitty the whole morning because of that fight I had with my boyfriend. We made up rather quickly, but when I get low, I get really low. I ended up not doing anything that day except for walk and take a test at work to determine if I was ready to hit the floor.. and I was! I passed!! I really wasn't confident at all about my skills but I apparently did quite well. Yay me. They wanted me to start on Monday but.. as life goes.. Someone called in sick and they had me take their place I was SO ready to wake up real early and get my walk in and all that but the treadmill is in my mom's room and she was still asleep by the time I got up to get ready to walk. Oh well. I definitely got my workout in at work. 8 hours, 6 clients. My thumbs are sore. I'm gonna get really strong with this job though, so that's exciting. Day 14 (Sun) Snowboarding today!! I'm oil pulling as I type this message and then I'll be walking, then hopefully snowboarding if we can figure out the whole ride situation. I met up with a friend after the test on Friday and ate a huge bowl of ramen. I took in twice the amount of my daily sodium intake and I've been bloated ever since. Totally not worth it. I need to keep eating healthy. I've been really addicted to quinoa and steel cut oats and all that. I don't really mind, cuz I feel better when I don't feel flabby. I've had a really interesting relationship with food up til now ("if I got fat from eating a billion cheesecakes in one sitting, I'd be happy!" kind of deal .., nope! Not anymore! Although I still love cheesecake.. ) and it's really interesting and refreshing to experience a change in that mindset. Week 3 begins my friends! Let's do this!

Thanks ladywildross! I have measured myself and I'm looking forward to watching those numbers go down as well as my weight! Unfortunately, I have had a history of hypothyroidism so, despite my age, my metabolism is a little bit sensitive. I've never heard of the 30 elimination diet! Care to share?

LIFE SIDE QUEST COMPLETE!! Does this mean I level up? Hah! We all level up on Monday, right? The beginning of week 3?!

Day 9/10 (Tues/Wed) I've been training at my new job today so I haven't had time for yoga, but I've made sure to walk every morning. I hit 144.6lb yesterday. Mini milestone! I might just make it to 135lb before I meet my boyfriend for the first time! It's making me feel pumped! On my way home from work (I was sent to a branch an hour and a half transit ride away), I saw that the bus was coming.. so I booked it. Ran my ass off to catch it. I made it to the door, where the driver promptly shut the door in my face, made eye contact with me, turned away, then drove off. I am not one for flipping the bird, but I did.. with both hands!! SO hardcore. I was pretty mad. ... But then! I realized I wasn't out of breath. Not at all. Not even a little bit. And then I wasn't mad anymore. I began something called oil-pulling yesterday. It's supposed to help with oral health, and I honestly have nothing to lose trying it.. If it works, awesome! If it doesn't, my mouth will still be the same. So far though, day one was a success. My teeth felt clean and smooth all day. This morning, my morning breath doesn't feel like death. Day 11 (Thurs) My boyfriend and I had a small argument last night. So it's quite safe to say that I'm in a shitty mood this morning. I'm going to do oil pulling, then walk.. then.. I'm considering not going to work today. It was only going to be a very short training session, just to get me ready for a test on Friday. I know it's bad. But.. fuck. I have a hard time keeping myself up when I don't feel happy. I don't know. We'll see how it goes. I'd like to go to yoga if I can. I also feel a cough/cold coming on. I am not a happy camper. No siree. edit: Happy update!! 143.8!! >___<!!!!!

Waanie, keep it up! I think you're making great decisions for yourself given the circumstances!

Dead in a good way, I'm sure!

Take baby steps! Go for 45min for a week then bump 'er up!

I'm a typical Taurus!! And I've looked into my natal chart and, honestly, it's so accurate for me ALL of it!! And yes, astrology goes so much deeper than just your Sun sign. It goes much deeper than the bullshit horoscopes you see in the paper (bullshit because the people who write it are probably not believers or students in astrology). The degrees in which the planets lie, the conjuctions, oppositions, trines, houses, etc.. all of that play a huge role. It's pretty interesting stuff. If we can open our minds to the possibility I think, at the very least, we'd get some insights into our own lives and why we do what we do.

Day 6/7 (Sat/Sun) My rest days. I felt like a big, fat, lazy slob. I think I'm going to start doing BBWW this weekend. I can't not exercise! That in and of itself is huge progress for myself.. so there's that, at least. Day 8 (Mon) Got my hands on some steel cut oats! I LOVE THEM! Sooo good. I kept them a little al dente and it's so satisfying. I bought bunch of chicken breasts and am going to get into cooking my own food whenever possible. For today's lunch/dinner, I've got a chicken breast marinating with 4tsp dijon mustard, ~1tsp of 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe's, 1/2tsp garlic, bit of pepper, lemon juice and stuck it in the fridge. I'll be eating it with vegetable quinoa and some steamed broccoli/cauliflower/carrots. Good lord I'm excited. Took progress pictures and measurements this morning. I look mostly the same as the last pics (as expected), but I noticed my posture is looking a little better already! I'm going to weigh in/measure every Monday. As of today, my measurements are: 146.2lb, waist 29", hips 39", thigh 24.5", calves 15" Today, I start training at my new job. Yay!!!!!!!!!! Happy second week everyone!! Good luck!

Yep!! Great reminder for me as well. Keep it up Newenham! You look fantastic!