livingfortheblue

I don't give a crap about this challenge anymore. Between summer school and my cat getting sick, I don't have the inclination to eat healthy food. No one is paying attention to me anyway, so why bother continuing?

Current progress (completed days only): Diet: 80% paleo Exercise: 7/42 Declutter: 0/42 (Red = not on track, green = on track) My cat is really really sick. I'm so upset I have no appetite, which for someone who stress-eats means it's really really bad. I'll probably have a 100% paleo day by accident.

Current progress (completed days only): Diet: 80% paleo Exercise: 6/42 Declutter: 0/42 (Red = not on track, green = on track) I was still feeling bad emotionally today so I ate the rest of the pizza and played a game on my phone for six hours. On the bright side I did go to my golf lesson and to the gym afterward (for the couch to 5k workout) and then just now finished my bodyweight workout. In other news, I'm considering changing the title of my thread to "livingfortheblue screams into the abyss" since no one except me has posted to this thread. I should have expected it, though; if no one in my real life can be bothered to ask how I am or support me, why should I expect internet strangers to cheer me on? Nevertheless, onward and upward.

Current progress (completed days only): Diet: 80% paleo Exercise: 4/42 Declutter: 0/42 (Red = not on track, green = on track) I got some news that upset me (not because it was bad news but because of the manner in which it was relayed to me [third or fourth hand instead of first hand as would have been courteous]) so I ate pizza and didn't work out last night. I also didn't do any decluttering.

Current progress (completed days only): Diet: 85% paleo Exercise: 4/42 Declutter: 0/42 (Red = not on track, green = on track) I had a great clean eating day yesterday, although according to my calorie tracker I didn't eat enough. Also, my cousin got me to sign up at 24 Hour Fitness, so in addition to my couch-to-5k workout I also went to a spin class. I didn't really enjoy it; it seemed to be aggravating an old injury. I'll probably try it again in a month or so after I get into better shape, just to see if that makes a difference. Today after work I'm going to Starbucks to work on an online class, and then I'll go home, do my body by you workout, then do as many declutter sessions as I feel like doing. I have $2 toward yarn so far

Current progress (completed days only): Diet: 80% paleo Exercise: 3/42 Declutter: 0/42 (Red = not on track, green = on track) Yeah, test tomorrow = stress eating tonight. Stupid pepperoni rolls are so tempting and soothing. Day 2 of body by you went well although I'm fully expecting another middle-of-the-night cramp.

Current progress (completed days only): Diet: 80% paleo Exercise: 2/42 Declutter: 0/42 (Red = not on track, green = on track) I'm probably going to have to save the decluttering efforts for the weekend. I have a test tomorrow in summer school so that's going to be my main focus today. Yesterday I did week 1 day 1 of the body by you program and it felt pretty good. I then went and did the first day of C25k, which felt less good--I woke up around 2 am with a charley horse, so that was fun. Today I'm going to do day 2 of the bby program (I'm not really sore at all from the strength training and only a little from the running) and I will eat 100% paleo again. I might try to get in a declutter sesh if I have time/the inclination.

My prizes for this challenge are: Every day that I don't eat out (this is to get me off pizza), I get $1 toward yarn. For accomplishing the entire challenge (averaging 90% paleo, 42 declutter sessions, 42 workouts), I get to buy my registration for the Mensa Mind Games in Chicago next year. Current progress (completed days only): Diet: 60% paleo Exercise: 0/42 Declutter: 0/42 (Red = not on track, green = on track)

Already messed up! Ate croutons for a morning snack yesterday and then since the garlic flavor stayed in my mouth all day (yuck) I ate Italian cheesy bread for dinner. Also didn't work out, or declutter, or study despite having a test on Thursday. Today is a new day, though. I'm going to aim for 100% paleo, two workouts (bodyweight and C25K), two declutter sessions, and studying my tuchis off for the upcoming test.

Yello! I haven't been in a challenge in probably over a year. Unfortunately I also got fat. (I've gained almost 20 pounds in the last year.) This is gonna be short and sweet because I'm at work, but here are my challenge goals: Main quest: Depudgify (lose those 20 lbs and then some) Challenge goals: (1) 90% paleo I've had good luck with this in the past and I want to do 90 instead of 80 so maybe I'll lose a little faster (2) Bodyweight strength training I'm joining a gym on Wednesday but I mostly want to work on the progression from Mark Lauren's Body By You (3x/week) (3) Cardio I want to do the Couch to 5K program again (3x/week) Life side quest: Declutter five minutes a day. Holy crap you guys my house is a disaster.

This is NOT my first challenge but I need to reboot. I stripped my attribute points and levels, so I'm back at level 1. Main Quest: Lose fat and get strong I have been really very stressed lately. I'm at my heaviest weight ever, and even though it's not much into the Overweight range for BMIs, it's too much for me. Plus my pants are getting snug and I hate going shopping, particularly when I'm feeling chunky. I'll need to go new clothes shopping too since the company I work for has been sold, so I need some slightly nicer clothes than the t-shirts and jeans I've been wearing. I'll be starting a new workout program next Monday, so I'm not going to focus on workouts in this quest. Besides, as Steve says, diet is 80% of the battle! And let's be real, I'm not getting fat because I'm not exercising—I'm getting fat because I'm eating compulsively. Goal #1: No breakfast supplied by work! My work has been providing breakfast. For a while there were fruits available, but these days, it's all pastries, all the time. Particularly insidious are the chocolate-frosted donuts, my favorite. A: 1 pastry (I didn't realize this challenge had started until after I had the damn donut this morning. It had a terrible texture.) B: 2–4 pastries C: 5–7 pastries F: 8+ pastries ^This is for over the course of the challenge. Goal #2: 7 fruits/vegetables a day I generally try to eat 5 fruits/veggies a day, and am greatly helped by my morning smoothie (3 fruit/veggie servings). I'm going to push it a little harder this challenge. A: 7+ fruits/veggies per day B: 6 fruits/veggies per day C: 5 fruits/veggies per day F: ≤4 fruits/veggies per day Goal #3: Stay within my calorie goal each day I'm usually not too unhappy/hungry when I restrict my calories to what LiveStrong's MyPlate suggests for my weight/height and weight loss goals. If I eat good quality food, 1500 calories is fine (for days when I'm sedentary - I'll recalculate for training days). A: 7 days/week within calorie goal B: 6 days/week within calorie goal C: 5 days/week within calorie goal F: ≤4 days/week within calorie goal Life Quest: Study 15 minutes a day for accounting class I'm taking an accounting class through the local community college as a prereq for grad school (which I'll hopefully get into!). I'm really enjoying the class, so I don't think this will be too hard to do. I may need to set a reminder on my phone though just so I don't forget! A: 7 days/week B: 6 days/week C: 4–5 days/week D: >4 days/week *** I'm going to have a mini-challenge week when I'm traveling June 28 to July 6. I'm going to do my best to adhere to the above goals, but I may need to modify them slightly (e.g., I won't have work-supplied breakfasts to tempt me, but I will have to do my best with continental breakfasts and dining out).

Yay my professor wrote back to me last night and sent me the syllabus! I'm going to get started on my assignments tonight! I lifted on Monday and it was good; I'm also ready to lift tonight when I get home from work. (Lifting first, then writing.) Had a good two days of eating so far; 80% on Monday, 100% yesterday. 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - No weigh-ins 3/3 - 2/3 - 1/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 6/18 - Lifting 80% - 80% - 26% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 31% - Paleo 0/7- Creative writing assignments

I did not end up lifting today because, well, I forgot until about ten minutes ago (9 pm) and I AM EXHAUSTED. I don't even know why; I slept for 11 hours last night. I've had bad sleep during the week so I probably still didn't caught up last night (and Friday). In my head, if I work out MWFSu this upcoming week, that'll make up for this week and I'm going for an overall score with bonus points for weekly consistency. Kept off the scale though I've been sorely tempted (like Saturday morning -- Friday I went very bad on my diet). I made up for my bad diet by going full paleo all weekend. Hated it. Have been craving carbs all weekend. I just want some popcorn! Haven't heard back from my prof yet. I'll be sending her another email as soon as I'm done posting this update. 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - No weigh-ins 3/3 - 2/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 5/18 - Lifting 80% - 80% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 27% - Paleo 0/7- Creative writing assignments

If you want an exercise that will leave you crying from soreness for 2+ days, this is it: Skater Squat: Lean & Lovely Program My legs are killing me, and oddly, it's my uninjured quad (I have a lingering overuse injury in my right hip that extends to my quad) that is most painful.

The Lean & Lovely program day 3 always leaves me SO sore that I have to wait two days before I can do day 4, so that's on my agenda for tonight (that'll give me Weds, Fri, Sun for lifting this week). I'm doing pretty good with food. I did give in on Sunday night and had a(n entire medium) pizza, but since I still felt pretty good the next day (and didn't weigh myself to beat myself up with the number!) I'm okay with that. I know I need better emotional coping mechanisms than food, but it's going to be a long row to hoe. I did finally email my writing prof for the syllabus and the other online stuff I could no longer access (it makes no sense that an online class is inaccessible after the semester's over!) 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - No weigh-ins 3/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 3/18 - Lifting 80% - 23% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 17% - Paleo 0/7- Creative writing assignments So a good first week, and on track for a good second week! ETA: Was checking my email after I posted this and Fitbie sent out an email about The Surprising Way to Stop Emotional Eating. Too bad carry-out pizza boxes don't come with labels

I hate weekends. All I want to do is sit on the couch and eat junk food. This weekend has been particularly stressful since everyone in my family seems set on being inconsiderate jackasses toward me, and when I'm stressed, I eat. A lot. I want pizza.

This article from Fitocracy is neat and sort of reinforces the idea not to track the calories burned during exercise: http://www.fitocracy.com/knowledge/does-exercise-alone-lead-to-weight-loss/ (Of course, it also says to not cling to your beliefs, lol)

My chocolate consumption is still a little more than I'd want, but according to MyPlate I'm still in my calorie goals for weight loss (ish, I've been going a few over the last couple of days, although I'm not tracking any exercise as calories burned), so I'm not too stressed about it. I may try to aim for just one serving of chocolate per day instead of the two+ I've been indulging in 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - No weigh-ins 2/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 2/18 - Lifting 57% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 10% - Paleo 0/7- Creative writing assignments

I feel awesome today. That is all.

Today's inspirational post: http://www.fitocracy.com/knowledge/if-everyone-knew-this-no-one-would-be-fat-2/ The hard part is getting there. 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - No weigh-ins 2/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 2/18 - Lifting 43% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 7% - Paleo 0/7- Creative writing assignments I think I'm gonna get started on the creative writing assignments Saturday morning. I also think I need to follow up with my teacher about the syllabus, which I don't know that I have any more. I'm really very sore from Tuesday's workout but I'm glad I worked out today. I also stretched ferociously, which helped with the soreness.

I had a bagel for breakfast at work today at about 10. I had been kind of hungry but not really. Just a few minutes ago (~12:15), I realized I was ravenously hungry, even though the bagel+cream cheese had been about 400 calories and only a couple hours before. When I have my usual breakfast of a smoothie + a hardboiled egg at about the same time, I'm usually not hungry til 2 or so! Basically I'm writing this post so my future self can look back and be reminded to leave the f***ing bagels alone on Wednesdays.

My scale is safely stored away in my bathroom closet. It's an interesting habit to break, weighing in every morning. I keep going to kick my scale out after I get up and use the restroom and being slightly surprised it's not there Today's weightlifting was a kettlebell workout at home. Got my heart rate up and I will have trouble walking tomorrow, so I will count it towards gym attendance--AND I got to watch Arrow while I was lifting. I've done good so far - 2 days of 80% paleo. Yesterday I had popcorn, and today I had a kolache. I'm pretty okay with those. I do need to get my dark chocolate consumption under control though! 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - 0/0 - No weigh-ins 1/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 0/3 - 1/18 - Lifting 23% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 0% - 4% - Paleo 0/7- Creative writing assignments