The Borg Queen

Just stopping in to say, great progress on your goals! I have a couple of things to contribute relating to your yoga goal (I'm a certified yoga instructor, an "expert") 1. My husband chants "Yoga! Yoga! Yoga!" everytime he sees someone around town carrying a yoga mat. It's hilarious. For this reason, I started laughing when I read Goal 3 title. 2. There are a lot of videos online, but do you have access to a library? My library has many great yoga videos, perhaps yours will too. 3. Studios or gyms are a great place to go for yoga without the distractions. You can just pick a class and show up every week at a certain time. Something like that might work well for you, and may help you develop a more seamless home practice. Maybe that's helpful, maybe it's not. Either way, very nice job sticking with it!

I'm so sorry to hear that you are sick. I hope you feel better soon! Sounds like you caught a doozie...Do you have bronchitis?

Happy birthday! Also, great job giving the axe to wheat. For most people, that is the most difficult one. Nice work.

Great job! How are the splits coming? Are you working on side to side, or front to back?

Awesome job sticking with your gym routine! As for tomorrow, maybe it will bring... waking up early! Do you like cats? Maybe what you need is a cat. Cats are good at waking me up early, especially since I feed them in the morning. I have three, and they want me to wake up as early as possible. I'm sure a cat would be happy to help you, too

Your chicken sounds mouth-wateringly delicious. I love me some chicken. Watch out, I might crash your house for dinner! Fascinating article! Perhaps the Novice Effect will take me by storm. Alls I need to do is start guzzling milk... j/k, that wouldn't be paleo. I do a combination of assisted bodyweight excercises (pull-ups, chest dips, pushups, squats, core stuff), along with some cable and "lever" style machines for fun. I have the exercises divided so I'm focusing on 1/2 body on each day. First the good half one day, and then the bad half the other day. Today, I think I was working with the bad half. I'm heeding your advice, CB3. Today when I was messing around with the weights, I carefully examined the weight I worked with last time, and measured it mentally against how I felt. Then, I went balls to the walls! Just in a careful way. I didn't do as many reps on some of the new weights that felt too hard. Maybe next time, I'll increase the reps.

Awesome job on increasing your squats and pushups!!! Overall, you da muscle man (?). Way to go.

I like fatty green shakes. Avocado, spinach, banana, and coconut with some nut butter if I have it. So good! I also like red shakes, featuring beets, orange juice, carrots, and cherries or rasberries. Are fermented foods on your diet?

I think that ignoring calories is ideal on a paleo diet, but everybody's different. I've noticed on some of the other forums that some people are ONLY successful toward their goals with severe calorie restriction (even on a paleo or LC diet). On the other hand, some people only see results if they significantly increase calories, which gets them through a weight loss stall. As far as it goes for cake banisher, it might take a little trial/error to figure out what your body needs as it relates to your fitness goals... increasing calories might be something to consider.

I love the grading system-francais, c'est hyper cool!

Here is some progress toward my goals: Goal 1: Lifting I modified the goal so I'm not increasing weight EVERY time. But I'll probably try to, anyway, because I'm like that. I went to the gym on Tuesday. I want to go again on Friday. Wow, that's tomorrow! Goal 2: Running I ran 5 miles yesterday! It felt pretty easy, especially since I was rocking out to Janis Joplin the whole way. It was a very soulful running experience. After the run, I did a 20 min yoga cool down with the Do Yoga With Me people, and ended the session feeling like a million bucks. I'm deciding on whether to have another running day today, or to put it off to Saturday. I'm having a day off work right now, so I have a little time dial it down and move slowly. A long walk with my dog sounds great, actually. I'll do that. Goal 3: Roasting My kitchen has been hot hot hot! I roasted a chicken last night that came out SO FRICKIN GOOD! First I brined it, then I seasoned with lemon, salt, and garlic. Stuffed the cavity with lemon rinds and baked 425 F for 1h, 45 min. My husband and I ate most of the bird in one sitting, which means I'm just about ready to debone and create chicken salad and chicken stock. The cost of the chicken: $1.99/lb. It's not the cheapest, but certainly not the most expensive. I'll be happy if I can squeeze 2-3 more meals out of it. I also made kale chips last night, which my man took to work with him for a meeting. "Building social capital," he says. Not to long ago, I remember when everyone's wife sent in cookies for meetings. It's a funny world.

Hello there! Very interesting discussion... I've been eating a TON of broccoli lately, so I want to weigh in on the broccoli issue: It's all in the preparation. If you're willing to saute it in oil, such as coconut, butter, or *gasp* bacon fat, that makes it mouth-wateringly delicious. Add a little chili, garlic, and lemon... mmmm mmmm mmm. If you want to steam it, I recommend putting the broccoli in a colander in a pot of hot water w/cover, or finding one of these thingies: _mkwid_IprHDH3A%7Cd%7Bdevice%7D_21061961485%7C-%7CIprHDH3A">http://www1.macys.com/shop/product/martha-stewart-collection-vegetable-steamer-11?ID=256779&cm_mmc=Google_DMA_Home_Dinnerware_PLA-_-PLA+Home+Brands+-+Dinnerware_PLA+-+Dinnerware+-+Martha+Stewart+Collection+-+2-_-21061961485__mkwid_IprHDH3A|d{device}_21061961485|-|IprHDH3A I found my steamer at a garage sale for $2, and I talked them down to $1. I love eating broccoli al dente. It's so delicious when it's soft on the outside, and still crispy on the inside. And then there's cream of broccoli soup and roasted broccoli... so yummy. I could eat it all day. Okay, I'm done.

You and I have a really similar workout schedule (I run 3 x a week and lift 2 x a week, too!). Also, it's 11:47 pm, and I'm still awake... so we have that in common, too.

You have created quite a dynamic thread here! Good job on increasing your pullups! I look forward to the day I can do one Have you seen the new stamps that have the paintings on them? I think you'd really like them, if you haven't seen them yet.

I was very intruiged by your raw quinoa snack. Was it delish?

Just stopping in to say hey! I love that one of your goals is to wake up early. This is something that I have to work on too, because I generally work nights and it's easy to let myself wake up later and later, which sucks because then I have less daylight in my life. Great work on your goals! Whenever I get sick of water (which is a lot), I switch to herbal tea. I make jars and jars of it, all the time. Actually, that reminds me... I'm about due for one now!

I need to floss! Doing it now. 10 sun salutation cool down, wow! I usually see those in people's warm-ups, because they get yer blood moving. If it works for you to cool down with that, more power to ya. Maybe I'll try it out some time. Like today, after my 5 mile run.

Thanks so much! Glad to have you on the thread Thanks, this is exactly the kind of constructive feedback I need I am starting at a very low level... not very strong, yet... I'll have to do more research and figure out a better way to do it. Do you have any other favorite references that you think might help me out? Thanks. Which same thing are you doing? I'll have to research your posts. I'm thankful for this accountability challenge because I'm not much of a pusher IRL. I'm actually kind of a big slacker. However, now that the goal's in writing, and you called me a hero, I probably HAVE to do it. Lol. Thanks for the blog reference. I'm currently looking into finding a crock pot. My last one broke when I dropped the ceramic thing on the kitchen floor. I might have to refine #3 a bit... there are plenty of meats to buy that are less than $3.50/lb. Chicken livers, for example, are not a roast, but are generally cheap cheap cheap, and I think they could count as a G3 meal.

good luck on the belt test! glad pb is going well. When you buy meat at the fm, i suggest purchasing a sample before you buy the whole cow. One time, i purchased 15 lbs meat from a farmer at an fm without trying it first, and ended up with a freezer full of barely edible meat. Don't make the same mistake!

Hey gang, I'm joining a little late, but I'm here. I was reluctant to join the challenge because I'm a very non-competitive person. Then, I started looking at it and reading the posts, and it kept needling at me. I couldn't stop thinking about it! So here I am. Current Metrics: Weight: 155.25 lbs Bodyfat: 31% Goal #1: Build upper body strength I've started a lifting regimen at the gym. My goal is to lift twice a week, increasing the weight (or adding a set with previous weight) on each exercise, each time. Day 1 will include exercises that focus on: Biceps, Shoulders, and Back. Day 2 will focus on Chest, triceps, and legs (light). My gym sessions will also include a 10 minute cardio warm-up at the beginning and a 10 minute Abs workout at the end. A Completed workouts as planned, 2 x a week B Completed workouts, 1 x a week F No lifting occurred Goal # 2: Born to Run I effing love to run. Also, I want to be able to run 6 miles without stopping. I can currently run 4.6 miles without stopping, at about 6 mi per hour (about 45 minutes). My goal will be to increase my running time, by 5 minutes a week, until I can comfortably run 6 miles in 60 minutes without stopping. I plan on running outside 3 times a week. A Ran 3 x/week, increasing 5 minutes to running time every week B Ran at least 1 x a week, increasing 5 minutes to run time F Did something else Goal # 3: Save money by roasting I've been eating paleo for 1.5 months, and it's starting to get pricey. I'm not interested in the "cheap" paleo foods anymore. The thought of sardines and hardboiled eggs make me gag. I love eating out, and I've been doing that a lot lately... too much. Also, I've been relying on expensive types of meat for meals, like steaks and "chop" style meat. Here's my plan for cooking paleo on the cheap: 1. Shop for roasts that are $3.50/lb or less. Cook twice a week and store in portions in the freezer. 2. Overall, reduce eating out to 1 x a week and eating expensive "convenience meats" (chops and steaks) to 1 x a week A Cooked roasts, ate out one time or less B Cooked roasts, ate out less than 3 x F Something else Okay, there's my start. Thanks for reading.

hi, i'm new, and i just wanted to say that i think your goals are awesome. wow. i love the formatting, and the way you've set up the grading. usually when im stalling to work out, i figure out a way to shake it up and make it seem fun... like finding new workout music, or wearing a weird shirt... something like that. it works.

Hi there, how's it going? One of my friends just joined this site and keeps talking about it. I finally checked it out a few days ago and have since been drawn back several times. I like the young, fresh feel of this website. I also like how the training and dieting aspects are open ended... you aren't a rigid bunch of fat-only eaters, or an exclusive runners group. There's a lot of information, and something for everybody. I've read some of the e-books, articles, and workout routines. This is my first attempt at interaction, and I'm nervous! Not sure why... I'm here because I have fitness goals. Specifically, I want to lose fat, gain lean muscle, and find myself at a healthy weight and BF%. Currently, I'm at 155 lbs and 29% bf. I want to reach 135-140 lbs and get to under 25% bf. Beyond the metrics, I don't care too much about specific numbers. I want to look good, feel healthy, and have a disease-free life. I have a strong background in Paleo dieting, and jumped back on the wagon recently (1.5 months ago). So far, I've seen some successes. I've lost about 10 lbs, and a cumulative 6.25 inches from my measurements. I'm trying to find the next thing that will kick my routine up a notch. I'm currently experimenting with some weight training and running. Additionally, I am a practiced yogini, and incorporate quiet yoga practice into my routines. I foresee to possibility of progressing in a couple of different directions, but need to incorporate more information and input. I'm open to change. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to seeing you around the forums!