L'irlandaise

Hey there, awesome woman! Well done on the Colour Run. that's fantastic and yes, I'd like to see photos so get on those computer skills. On the meditation note, how about scheduling an alarm for 10pm. That way you have to turn away from the pc to do your meditation and you'll be able to make a break between work and down-time. Just a thought! Hope you're having a great weekend!

Haven't tried geocaching although there are a few around Metz and a colleague has used them as an activity with students. I WILL look at Mark's Daily Apple as I do need a shot of playfuness at the moment. It's true that this was a showing-up-and-doing-it challenge rather than an inspired one but waiting for a higher mental investment was going to mean a long wait. I'm glad I have a week to figure out where I go from here. Yes we need a PM session!

Saw this and thought of you. Here's to chasing mastery. http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_lewis_embrace_the_near_win

Excellent challenge report card, Prime! Way to go! I look forward to cheering you on in the next one. Personally the fact that it's a while away gives me time to plan for it properly. Hmmmmmm, what to do, what to do....

1. Yes 2. Again yes. Figuring out why you're choosing to eat it at each particular moment is a good route too. When is it hunger/boredom/anxiety/happiness/expected behaviour? 3. Me too. Like it said before, it was a challenge from a "grind" period. You finished it, however, and you're plotting how to move on from here. That is self-starting. Keep swinging that sledgehammer, sir.

And the final round-up: Main Quest : Get leaner while improving my energy levels. I need to be (more) strict with myself. Hence the screws I'm down another 2 kgs so it seems to be working Sub-quest 1 Get on the plate The current regime is 3-4 meals a day. The fourth meal is optional and depends on how hungry I am when I get in after work. I know I've got back into some old mindless habits again so I'll be sitting down at the kitchen table, focussing on what goes in to my gub, staying off bread, beer (except a little Belgian at the weekend) and processed sugar. There needs to be a little less (i.e. no ) chowing down on uncounted nuts while wandering about the house after work, decompressing. I'm also working on the quantity. A portion of protein, portion of veg,, portion of smart carbs, portion of fat at each meal. I don't like leaving food on my plate so I'll be working on being more careful about what goes on the plate in the first place. Six weeks' scoring : C/B/B/B/C/A = overall B = + 3 CON A: Portions observed serving food each 7 days ; B 6 days ; C, 5 days ; D, 4 days Sub quest 2 Get serious about HIIT. This was worth doing. I knew my weight sessions were sound wehn I started, I just needed to do something about the exerciseon the other days and motivating myself for HiiTs. The most important thing is to DO them, so a lot of the challenge was about deciding the best fit for each day. Bodyweight HIITS were the most fun but elliptic/running stuff was easier to do at the end of a weights session.With the latter , on my off weights days, I was looking for more "play" activity so I think I was more active as a result. Six weeks' scoring : A/B/A/B/A/B = overall B = +3 STA Sub quest 3 Get mental.This has been the revelation. I didn't end up practising it as I thought I would at the start. Lunchtime sessions tended to be just before I started work again although the evening sessions were before dinner. They just became really useful for re-calibrating between different parts of my day. Six weeks'scoring : A/B/C/A/A/A = overall A = + 4 wisdom LIFE Quest Stop bloody buying ebooks on Amazon 1 - Click. Worth doing cutting down from seven e- books to two in a six week period. Six weeks' scoring A/A/F/A/A/F = overall B = +3 CHA

I went home to Northern Ireland for a funeral at the beginning of the week. Now I'm back in France and life is just about back in focus. Here's the report for week 6. Sub-quest 1 Get on the plate A: Portions observed serving food each meal during 7 days Sub quest 2 Get serious about HIIT. B, two HIIT sessions given full focus. I just wanted them done so did them on the back of the weights workouts on the elliptic. This week, I went back to bodyweight HIIT on off days and I enjoy them a lot more. Horses for courses. Sub quest 3 Get mental. A: 10 – 14 five-minute meditations per week. LIFE Quest Stop bloody buying ebooks on Amazon 1 - Click. F: Bought one, laboriously typing in my cc details again. I apologise for NOTHING. The title was worth it though: "How to lose weight and alienate people"

Heh heh, the brownies huh? I haven't seen the film yet but thanks for reminding me. Crap on the social, supporting front. And yes. for Amazon. that has actually been the most challenging aspect of this ...er...challenge. We SHOULD talk about books: they're great. The Red House is slow going. I loved Curious Incident and A Spot of Bother but this one is a bit more ambitious. YOu're right about establishing habits that go beyond the 6 weeks. The mindfulness is here to stay. I'm going to tack the HIITs onto my weights workouts rather than try to do them on a different day - I think Iam actually more active on the days in between as a result. I'm off to an airport now and will be back online mid week to do week six and my challenge review.

Hello lovely woman. Just got caught up with your thread after neglecting the supporting bit of this challenge woefully. First of all, CONGRATULATIONS on getting out of a job that dampened your considerable zest.IT IS their loss. I'm sorry that you're feeling burned out in sales roles because feeling burn-out and self doubt is never comfortable. You do need a little time to recover and recalibrate but your attitude to your goals shows you're still moving forward and embracing change as you go. Big hugs, awesome woman.

Argh, Erick, so sorry for the multiple posts! I blame my trigger finger and inattention to incoming posts!

And do you remember the point when clinging to the bar for an extra minute was itself a distant dream? I'm currently obsessing about butt wink on squats... Just caught up on the thread too. Splendid effort, sir, splendid.

Sane New World by Ruby Wax. A quick and entertaining read about mindfulness. Thanks. I had a big crush on Sidney Carton as a teenager but later transferred my affections to Eugene Wrayburn. Update on week...eurhgghh;;;what week is this? Sub-quest 1 Get on the plate Scoring : C, 5 days Twas a bit of a blah week. By Friday I wanted to eat more and rather than sit down and work out why, I ate a little more than I should. Not catastrophic but I need to pull my metaphoricals up. Sub quest 2 Get serious about HIIT. Scoring : A, two different HIIT sessions, given full focus. I did this and also got over my blah as far the HIITS went by tacking them on to the end of the weights sessions, freeing up other days fro walks and cycles. Sub quest 3 Get mental. I've been playing with meditation but not really adopting it consistently . So I plan to do two 5 minute sessions a day. One at lunchtime. One when I get in from work before I open a kitchen cupboard. Can you see the thought process here? Scoring : A: 10 – 14 five-minute meditations per week LIFE Quest Stop bloody buying ebooks on Amazon 1 - Click. Scoring A: No books bought. And at the moment this is proving to be a challenge because I just want to read light stuff and the kindle range gives lots of scope for lite reading. Instead, I read one paperback, Alice B Toklas's cookbook/memoir, Murder in the Kitchen and I'm going to start Mark Haddon's The Red House tonight. I've been a crap nerd, not getting on nearly enough to cheer people on and push myself a little bit further. Will try harder. Tomorrow. I'm going to bed now.

Ah, the weekly review. Time flies, time flies. Sub-quest 1 Get on the plate Scoring : B: 6 days Sub quest 2 Get serious about HIIT.Three new weight workouts took up a lot of my time and muscle energy this week. And today my hot was different walking speeds as I tried not to aggravate a strange sciatic type pain in my legs that has been bugging me since Saturday morning. I'm giving myself a B, because I did them with focus even if they were a tad softer than I'd like. More a soft shoe shuffle than a burn, baby burn but turning up is what I'm counting on as a minimum. Scoring : B Two HIIT sessions, given full focus. Sub quest 3 Get mental. THIS worked this week, even on the weekend. . Scoring : A: 10 – 14 five-minute meditations per week. LIFE Quest Stop bloody buying ebooks on Amazon 1 - Click. FAIL I bought a book on Amazon. I blame crap tv, sore legs and but most of all, a weak will. So, to scrabble back I'm putting a pile of already purchased books beside my bed AND turning off 1 click NOW. I should have listened to you, Sulinar.

Starry pants, John Lennon and mention of Leif Erickson takes your thread into higher realms than others, dear woman. You're doing AWESOMELY. I thought of you while running to the sea last week! Keep going and done let ( the buggers at) work grind you down. xxx

I hear you. This morning two of my students started to talk about having dreams when they have conversations with relatives who've died. One of them said " When I wake up it takes me time to remember that (he's) gone and then I think about how good it was to talk to him and be with him again, even if it was just in a dream" . Appreciating people for what they are and/or were and appreciating them in the moment is where it's at. Just caught up with your thread after my travels. You're showing up and getting it done. And that's good.

Sub-quest 1 Get on the plate Scoring : I'm giving myself a B for the week. I relaxed a little bit because I was at home but there was no overeating. Mind you, even the fact that I was eating a little more bread than usual ( Irish wheaten bread, I say no more) means I want more now. The really shocking thing is that I had no beer at all. Sub quest 2 Get serious about HIIT. Scoring : A, two different HIIT sessions, given full focus. Really enjoyable body weight routine on Wednesday and running/ walking intervals on Sunday. It was first time I've run near my parent's home (they've lived there for 30 years) and 18 minutes took me down to the seashore. For a landlocked continental it was reward in itself. Sub quest 3 Get mental. Scoring : C 1- 4 five-minute meditations mindfulness exercises. Trains are good for this. Planes and airports are good for this. WAlking on a beach also good. But I did very little otherwise. LIFE Quest Stop bloody buying ebooks on Amazon 1 - Click. Scoring A: No books bought.

I am back! I got home yesterday evening and started work at the usual time this morning so I'm feeling a little doolally at present. It was a good rest. Erick, I'm a bit embarrassed and for two reasons. Firstly, I should say that I practise mindfulness rather than meditation. It's pretty free-form. I set a timer and then I focus on sensations (my ass on a chair,my feet on the floor, inside my socks and boots etc) or a view from a window or all the noises around me ( the noisier the better). Secondly. I gave myself the week off last week. Back onto it this week though. Hey there! 1 ordinary slice of an out of this world Victoria sponge filled with fresh strawberries, whipped cream and raspberry jam. One sliver (almost transparent) of the second one. One cappucino to avoid another slice. I'm pretty pleased with myself about that.

EXcellent week 2, Prime. What are you reading? And what advice (or website tips) would you give to a road runner who's considering trail running? I 've just noticed that there are trail races around here during the summer.

I AM seeing family, Prime: it's the first time seeing my parents , my brother and his family since the end of October last year so I'm looking forward to it. The HIIT failsafe for the next week will be the bodyweight stuff I've done this week, I'll rotate through the following for 6 sets of 2 minutes HI then a minute of recovery. Thanks for asking! Mountain climbers 15 Air squats 15 Push ups 10 Lateral lunges 10 each side I've been checking out the times of the local leisure centre too so I may do a session in the swimming pool or go runniing with my partner and brother. We'll see. For the longer strength training sessions I'm packing bands. Thanks for lots of ideas, Sulinar. I checked out Runtastic this morning: my, she IS chirpy. I'll go back and watch some vids but I'm suffering a little from information overload, having bought the Jen Sinkler "LIft Weights Faster" discovering the HIITs siggestions on Pinterest boards. . I'm just going to stay off the glutinous things on offer and stock up on the lovely meat and veg that will be going. I've already asked the major cake pusher, my mother, to not go to the bother of baking: she'll ignore that but the groundwork for my general refusal has been laid. I've all but given up milk in coffee and tea over the last couple of months so having a cappucino on its own is a big enough treat if we find ourselves having a stop for a sit down and a sticky bun. However, if I end up going to my friends' pottery/cafe and there's coconut lime cake on offer, I'm having some. Let's not be silly about things. Okay, update time for week 2 Sub-quest 1 Get on the plate Scoring : B 7 days really except for weekend breakfast: one croissant and some lovely hazelnut bread and butter. No protein or veg crossed the table. Sub quest 2 Get serious about HIIT. Scoring B, two HIIT sessions, given full focus. Did the bodyweight sessions mentioned above. I don't know how good an idea it is to do these on the off days in between longer strength training sessions but it feels fine. And i feel like I'm working hard during both. I am looking forward to a day off tomorrow tho. Sub quest 3 Get mental. I've been playing with meditation but not really adopting it consistently . So I plan to do two 5 minute sessions a day. One at lunchtime. One when I get in from work before I open a kitchen cupboard. Can you see the thought process here? Scoring : B. 5- 9 five- minute meditations per week. My work schedule is undergoing changes so Friday's sessions went for a burton as did the weekends. Given that I'm on holiday next week, I'm going to go for a mediation on waking and one before dinner as these are wehen I'm going to be tempeted by too much food! LIFE Quest Stop bloody buying ebooks on Amazon 1 - Click. Scoring A: No books bought. Sulinar's right. I should just disable the button. But so far so good. I'll check in tomorrow morning to see how everybody's done for week 2. I'm away off to eat a bacon omelette and salad. Nom nom nom.

REALLY good question. I think if the next weeks were to be normal working weeks, I wouldn't sweat about it, Prime, because when there's just two of us in the house there's not a lot of extra snacky treat food and I can avoid it. But I'm going back to Ireland next week to my childhood environment of tea and bread and jam and "go on, you do want another spud/ slice of cream cake/Club biscuit:packet of Tayto/pint" conversations So I need to come up with a strategy. I'll post the results of my cogitations here on Sunday evening before I go! So, mid-week update from this shambolic wench: Sub Quest 1 Get on the plate. 3/7 days. Fine. just gotta watch the bread. Sub Quest 2 Hiit session was a disaster this evening. I keep thinking that a short intense session will be easier to do than the hour long weights workouts. So I don't plan and I start it half assed and it stays half-assed. In the end I decided to declare it an active recovery day ( lots of walking today) and I'll move the HIITs sessions to Friday and Sunday to get in the quota. Now to plan for something fail-safe on both days! Sub Quest 3 Get mental. Only one meditation session on Monday, two yesterday and two today. Still pleased about the timings - especially the 5 minute adjustment to "homehead" when I get in. Still no ebooks bought. Hurrah for the small victories!

The big "yes" can go missing from time to time - sometimes it goes AWOL for years. The big"yes" may be taking its sweet time morphing into a different "yes" or it may be starved or tired into hiding by this messy business of living. Internal landscapes are just as open to change as external ones. When that "yes" disappears, we enter THE GRIND. I think everybody goes through spells there. Hopefully I won't sound too Pollyanna here but what keeps me from mourning the lack of a strong guiding " yes" is actively bearing witness to the small stuff. I don't carry all that many quotations around in my noggin but here's one I wrote down when I was 18 (ahem, not yesterday) It's from The Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht and Galileo says " I cherish the consolations of the flesh. I have no patience with cowards who call them weaknesses. I say there is a certain achievement in enjoying things." Now that could be read as a perfect invitation to crack open a cold one and break out the Krispy Kremes. But this last year has been the first time in my adult life that a "consolation of the flesh" has been more about a buzz in my glutes after doing deadlifts properly or that "clean" feeling after a good workout than the KK and a "oh crap, I've eaten another donut" feeling. In other words, I'm actively seeking out and noticing those small pleasures wherever I can find them and in the meantime trusting to something bigger than me that my "yes" will return.For now it feels like enough to keep me going. Good thoughts to you. xx

Excellent first week, dear woman.

Splendid effort, sirra. Carry on, carry on *waves *.

That last line sums it all up for me. Hummus has the lead so it's all good as Gwynnie would say.

I hear ya on this one! Everything complains a lot louder now when we do! Looking forward to keeping up with your challenge thread.