Tia Elle

Thanks for the encouragement! And yes, doing the measuring tape too - but the best measure of progress is how you feel, that's how I can tell if I'm eating good for my body or not. If I eat bad, I feel bad Doing well on most of my goals except my weightlifting, I've got lots of good excuses (like the fact we are pretty much gutting and remodeling our home right now) but the fact of the matter is I'm not keeping it up. Going to keep working at it though. Diet is going really well, lost 5 pounds!

Sticking with my workouts! Also been working on more dolls and reading Good Calories, Bad Calories. And, today is my birthday so I got a glucometer from my parents as a gift, lol (best gift EVER). My blood sugar levels are a little off so I'm going to be researching and testing that. Just have to keep working at it.

^ This guy knows what he's talking about. Any veggie is good if you fry it up and add some garlic. Seriously, frying in bacon grease (or butter or coconut oil or what have you) makes them taste FANTASTIC. Or, if you eat dairy, try making a cheese or cream sauce and smother the veggies with it. Even if you don't like cooked veggies, give these a try, you might be surprised!

Hey Lawrence, looks like you're doing pretty good I suggest you get a glucometer and learn how to measure your blood sugar - that's really the only way to figure out what your personal carb tolerance is, and your tolerance will change depending on what you do for exercising, what your current weight is and where you are getting your carbs from (veggie carbs are not going to be as harmful as the equal carbs from a cookie). I come from a family of diabetics as well and my blood sugar spikes very easily. For me, I have to eat under 50 carbs a day just to maintain my weight (I eat high fat, moderate protein, low carb). Carb tolerance is a personal thing, and it's best you figure out now while you're young so you can avoid diabetes

Got 4 dolls done today, for a total of 29 done Also super tired today for some reason, I keep wanting to over eat to make up for it, need to keep myself on track :/ Looking forwards to dinner though, tuna salad, mmmmm.

You can do it Vain! I went off caffeine a year ago and the withdrawal was so bad I've been too terrified to drink it again LOL. Your meals sound delicious, you're off to a good start!

I did my first body weight workout! Little surprised at how weak I am, I haven't done weightlifting in nearly a year but I didn't think I'd have reverted so much lol. But I did it, and will keep doing it

Christian nerd here! Well actually I prefer to call myself a geek A Jedi knight of the New Testament lol. I can't tell you how excited I am to find this thread and know there are other Christian fitness nerds like me I'm still a pretty new Christian but God has been working powerfully in my life, and I'm starting a Bible college this August, one of the reasons I'm trying to get my health under control before I go

Welcome Abby I totally understand about the gluten, I can't eat it either. I wish you tons of luck, I'm sure you can up your activity! The challenges here would be a great motivator

Hey dpwdash! It sounds like you've already made good progress You said you're doing C25K, are you training for a specific run? I'm doing our local 4th of July 5K, it will be my first and I'm still pretty much a newbie to running. And I totally understand about the sweets! But the cravings do get better, I promise You have some great goals and a good attitude, you're going to do well!

Hi George, congratulations on your wedding I'm no where near a power lifter (just did my body weight workout and about killed myself trying to do a pull up lol) but I wish you tons of luck! You'll find lots of helpful people here to keep you motivated

Hello Will! It looks like you've already gotten a lot figured out! I can't help you much with the exercise but I can make some diet suggestions. 185 is a pretty good weight for a guy so I'm assuming you don't have too much weight to lose - probably about 10 - 30 pounds, depending on your height. That 'snack pack' you mentioned comes around from eating wheat and sugar more than anything else. If you haven't already, you need to cut out sodas, processed sugar and simple carbs (flour, white potatoes, pasta, rice, high-sugar fruits, etc)- I also highly recommended cutting out all wheat as well, but just cutting it down to start would work. If you've already been making those kind of diet adjustments and want to up your fat burning, there are several good diet choices: Paleo: lots of information on eating a paleo diet on this site, it's the typical 'eat like a cave man' diet. You eat meat, good fats, vegetables, some nuts and seeds and seasonal fruits. Anything processed or premade is avoided. As many people will tell you, this works great and you feel great on it. Primal: Popularized by Mark Sisson (marksdailyapple.com), primal is like paleo but a little more lenient; it allows some dairy and up to 20% of your diet can come from 'regular' foods. Also works really well for fat burning, and is a little bit more manageable for newbies than pure paleo. Low Carb/Atkins: Low carb is just that - you can pretty much eat anything, as long as it's within a certain carb range (50 carbs or under, with most people starting at 20 carbs per day, while on paleo and primal most people eat 100 carb or less per day). This is how I lost all of my weight. I can also personally testify that low carb will get the weight off fast. If you have insulin or blood sugar issues, or have a family history of those issues, watching your carbs is really the only way to lose weight. But beware: low carb has reached a great popularity which has made health food companies flood the market with tons of low carb, processed snack foods and bars - these are okay every once in a while, but try to avoid them when possible - anything processed with artificial sweeteners and other chemicals just aren't good for you. You can learn a lot more about low carb diets on lowcarbfriends.com Basically, everyone will agree that in order to lose weight you need to cut your carbs down (100 carbs or less, though for good weight loss you really need to stay under 50), eat meat, good fat (butter, olive oil, coconut oil, cream, hard cheese), green vegetables, seasonal fruit, and some nuts and seeds. I suggest you check out primal to start with, maybe starting out with 25 carbs per day, and seeing what works for you.

Hello everyone! This is my first challenge, so please bear with the newbie and feel free to offer advice and support My stats: Gender: female Class: Ranger Height: 5'11 Weight: about 165 Exercise plan: running and bodyweight lifting Way of Eating: Nutritional Ketosis (fat, meat, nuts, high-fat dairy, low GI fruits and veggies) Goal 1: Finish the local 4th of July 5k in 40 minutes or less [sTA 2, DEX 2, STR 1] My aim here is to do less than 14 minutes per mile. I'm actually doing around 13 minute miles right now, but due to various circumstances I won't be able to do much training before the 4th of July. So this is more of maintaining what I've already worked up to. I haven't been running very long, only about a month and a half. I was never the runner growing up, I got winded quickly and was very uncoordinated. Since I've lost my extra weight however I've found that I actually have a pretty good runner's build! This will be my first official run and I'm very excited but nervous as well, I haven't quite gotten over the mentality that "I'm not a runner and that's that". But seeing as I've also signed up for a 10 mile run this October, I don't have much choice but to become one at this point Goal 2: Stick to my diet and get down to 159 pounds [CON 2, WIS 1] I'm not sure exactly what my weight is right now, though I know it's probably a bit high from water retention - I've been on antibiotics for the past 2 weeks and those always make me hold a ton of water My best guess is that I'm in the high 160s right now, though my true weight is probably around 165. I just started my safest, standby 'get the water off' diet - low carbers know it as the fat fast/nutritional ketosis, paleos probably know it as fat adapting. It's a high fat, moderate protein, low carb diet that has always done wonders for me - I look and feel great while eating this way, and I really need to eat like this for maintenance and not just weight loss. The reason I often start eating more carbs is that eating this way can get boring, but this time I'm going to make it a priority to find good food and recipes that fit the diet and keep it interesting! Goal 3: Do 3 body-weight lifting workouts per week [sTR 3] I'm not such a newbie to weight lifting as I've done it before and gotten great results. I just have trouble doing it consistently. It's also difficult when doing weight bench exercises because you need a spotter and I don't enjoy spending an hour or so pumping iron. However, I've been meaning for a very long time to start doing the body weight exercises that Mark Sisson outlines in the Primal Blueprint - it's just four exercises, no weights required! So that's what I'm going to do - push ups, pull ups, plank and squats. Squats I've already more or less mastered, plank and push ups are decent, and pull ups laugh in my face as I strain to do anything that remotely resembles one. I'll probably be doing these workouts on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Goal 4: Finish sewing 25 more dolls for the children in Haiti [WIS 2, CHA 2] July 19th I am going to Haiti on a missions trip with a team of 8 others, where we will be working with two schools and an orphanage. The orphanage has about 50 children, and I decided to sew 50 dolls to bring for them. I have 25 done but need to finish the rest as soon as possible. Some of my dolls: Mini Goals: These are extra small goals I'd like to accomplish - no stat upgrades for these, just personal extra bonuses Finish reading Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary by Gary Taubes (just started it)Sew 5 extra dolls for a total of 55 dolls, just in caseDo 1 full pull up

Hi everyone! I'm Toto/Tiffany/Tia (whatever works) and I just recently found this site and couldn't join fast enough! I'm near the end of my weight loss battle (only 10 pounds left out of the 70+ I had to lose) but I've come to realize that just being 'thin' doesn't mean you're healthy, and I'm now on a journey of physical healing, fitness and being the best I can be. I've recently taken up running and have some Disney World runs I'm training for. For diet, the only thing that works for me is low carb/high fat (nutritional ketosis). It probably has something to do with the fact I come from a family of diabetics and my blood sugar spikes at the drop of a hat, lol. As far as geekdom goes, I am a major Star Wars fan, a big fan of the Harvest Moon video game series, love sewing, costuming, crochet, writing, etc. One of these days I really want to get into cosplaying Even though it's already started, I plan on joining the current fitness challenge, and am very excited about it! I don't have much experience with roleplaying but have been interested in it a long time, and combining it with health/fitness is simply awesome. My stats: Gender: female Height: 5'11 Weight: 165, goal is 155 Build: medium Exercise plan: I run and do some weight lifting - I believe my profession is probably a Ranger Way of Eating: Nutritional Ketosis (fat, meat, nuts, dairy, low GI fruits and veggies) Any suggestions on what my race might be would be awesome I think I'm probably just a plain old human, lol.