Wingfoot

I actually lived in a sublet on Staten Island for 6 weeks or so. There's fantastic cheap ethnic food (Sri Lankan, Mexican, etc) and I loved taking the ferry back and forth. Also, the minor league baseball stadium by the ferry is fantastic. That said, I had basically no social life while I was there because people are rarely, rarely going to agree to come out there. And I ruled out living there long-term because it made me nervous to have the ferry as my only option. If I'd had a car I might have felt differently. But in Brooklyn, if one subway fails you can take another. Not a lot of alternatives for getting to the island.

... Is it Staten Island???

Oh man, I'm so sorry about the job! Job hunting is the absolute worst. It sucks rotten eggs. But it will be over eventually!! I hope the yoga helped with the awfulness. Thanks for the crow pose progression! I usually just try to hop into it after a yoga session, so yeah... probably haven't been going about it in a very mindful manner.

I'm crossing everything I can in hopes you get that job! At my last job I had a private office, and now I'm looking at start-ups -- the switch over to communal spaces is going to be a great big challenge for me. Do people judge you if you wear earplugs at work?? I hit crow exactly once, at CNF. I've tried and tried to replicate it elsewhere, but there must be something about the magic of that place. Still, I'll keep trying, it'll happen eventually... right? Honestly, it's just that my face doesn't like the idea of smashing into the floor. I try to convince my face that I won't let that happen, but my face doesn't believe me.

Hiya! Sorry it took me a while to respond -- I've been traveling and living in the offline world this week My epic quest this summer was to ride my bicycle from Brooklyn, NY to Seattle, WA. It took me about 4 months, but I did it! Anyways, I hope the voice demo is going really well today!

Week 5 is in the books and I am feeling great!! I feel like I could do this forever, although I probably wouldn't feel that way if I didn't know there was an end date... Anyways, I didn't want Thanksgiving to mess with my week, so instead of stressing about it I just made a plan in advance for what I would do when, and it was easy as pumpkin pie Walking: Average of 5.12 miles a day, hitting my minimum each day. Bodyweight exercises: 6 out of 7 days, as promised! One of those days was a fantastic yoga class. I took Thanksgiving as my rest day. And on Sunday, since I went to a gym for cardio, I got to use dumbbells instead of just bodyweight! Interval/cardio exercises: Spin class on Tuesday. I meant to run a 5K on Thanksgiving, but I was meeting another rebel there and she met a new friend while she was waiting for me, and our new friend was rom out of town and planning on walking the 5K by herself, so we walked instead of running to keep her company. Since the running didn't happen, I went to a local gym on Sunday and paid a drop-in fee to run intervals on the treadmill. Water: I hit my target 6/7 days and was only 8 oz short on the seventh day. Diet: OK, so I ate light on Thanksgiving morning and then let loose for the rest of the day. So I ate way over my calorie limit that day, but I'm not mad. The other 6 days of the week were rock solid, and I did much better with protein this week too. Productivity: 7/7. Mostly Spanish lessons and preparing for my next move. Spanish is getting harder with the past tense and the program I'm using isn't into drills and structure, so I made myself a conjugation chart and have been doing "extra credit" work in addition to the program. I love that I'm finally sticking with Spanish, even if it's only because I don't want to do other productive things! I am rocking my goals! And when I was at the gym on Sunday, there was one of those big scales in the locker room like they have at doctors' offices, you know? Well, I'd been waffling between "my pants feel looser" and "what if I haven't lost any weight??" so I popped myself on the scale for a sneak preview. Different scales, different conditions, etc., so I can't be exact about it, but it looks like I've lost about 8 pounds! I know some people can lose weight faster than that, but 8 pounds in 5 weeks is lightning fast for my body and I'm super duper excited about it.

I found you! You thought you could run away and hide in this new thread but I found you! (ahem, using the link you supplied, you sneaky minx). I didn't realize there was a yoga challenge, I'm 100% in! Also, the fact that I didn't know about this makes me realize I can't remember the last time I got an NF email and I should probably look into that... Anyways. Hi!

Love the video. "Foam rolling is a way of inflicting sadistic pain into your legs so it's incredibly relaxing" LOLZ.

Hiya! CNF alum here, although I only know you from the FB page (I couldn't make it this year because I was chasing one of my epic quests). Glad to see you over here on the forums! It can take a long time to shout down the negative voices in our heads, but it helps a lot if we first build ourselves up with positive new things -- I love that you've found sources of strength for the you that you want to be, and that you've built those into your goals for the challenge. I'll be rooting you on!

Happy Thanksgiving!! That spread looks fantastic, and I can't wait to see the stuffing recipe!

Week 4! OK, @darkfoxx was right, the week 3 slump was just a slump. For week 4, I did the bare minimum on all of my goals (just out of stubborn refusal to do anything extra) but found it surprisingly easy to do the minimum -- it's almost as though habits are forming or something... I also had a conversation with my mom in which I introduced the idea that I am doing sort of a challenge with myself until Christmas. I tend to ease her into this sort of information, so for now I only mentioned the daily walks but I'll sneak the rest in later. I also proposed that she and I try zumba (which I love and I think she'll like as long as she doesn't have too hard a time with her bad leg) but she's used to me dragging her to the gym a couple of times a week when I'm home, so that won't be a problem. The real challenge will be nutrition, but I'll bring that up when I get there. Anyways. I'm feeling a lot better about things than I was last week! Here's the breakdown: Walking: I averaged 5.22 miles a day and always hit my minimum. The only day I walked under 5 (4.25) was one of my cardio days, so it was allowed (and also my hip was bothering me and I was intentionally kind of taking it easy). Bodyweight exercises: So I ended up taking my rest day on the first day of the week because of my hip pain (which thankfully resolved itself with rest and gentle stretching), which meant I had no option of a rest day for the remainder of the week. I was a little worried it would be a problem, but I felt a lot stronger this week than last week so it really wasn't a big deal. One of the days was a yoga class, the other 5 were at-home choose-your-own-adventure types. I also took a restorative yoga class, but it didn't count toward this because it was more recovery than exercise. Interval/cardio exercises: Two spin classes. Still not the funnest thing ever, but I'm getting better at keeping up with the sprint portions (I'm generally better at resistance and less good at speed). Water: I fell a little under my goal 2 days, but went way over on other days. Decided to start counting my green tea at a rate of 75% (so, count a 12-oz tea as an 8-oz water) for up to two cups of green tea per day. Not sure whether that's cheating, but I actually think it's kind of reasonable. Diet: I made my first attempt at fasting because I knew I was going to have a big dinner on Friday. Didn't eat until early afternoon and then kept that meal small, so I had plenty of calories left for dinner. It went better than I expected, but I'm probably not going to make a habit of it. I was close to my calorie limit every day, and over the 7 days it averaged out perfectly. Protein was a little low for a few days, so I'm going to keep a closer eye on that this week. Also, I just discovered vanilla steamers, so I'm going to have to keep on eye on that too and make sure it doesn't derail the rest of what I'm doing. Productivity: I did a Spanish lesson every day. Didn't do much else productivity-wise (unless calling my mom counts?) but hey, like I said, this week was all about doing the bare minimum. Oh, I forgot to mention it last week, but I did go try out that naked spa. There was an instant (when I was first walking toward other people while stark naked) when all my internal alarm systems went off, but I'm more of a fighter than a flighter, so I was basically like "oh yeah? you're scared? well ha! I'll show everyone how naked I can be! I'll be the nakedest nakeder ever!" and kept walking. Some moments were awkward (like the naked woman who planted herself standing directly in front of the steam room door and then acted offended when I asked her to let me out of the steam room) but mostly it was kind of nice. I even tried the cold plunge, which was SO COLD.

Week 3! I have to admit, I'm already tired of this cut. I'm looking forward to maintenance eating like a kid looks forward to Christmas (actually, maintenance is going to start right around Christmas, so that's basically my present this year.) It's not like the food I'm eating isn't satisfying or whatever, but I'm craving something and I have no idea what. I think salt is involved. Pizza? Unclear. Anyways. Since this is week 3, it was time to add in interval cardio stuff and increase the daily mileage to 5. Walking -- I averaged 5.25 miles this week, and only dropped under 5 miles one day (and, since that was a cardio day, that was allowed under my made-up rules). Bodyweight exercises -- Technically I did 6 out of 7 days, which is the goal, but two of those days were yoga and they were right next to my rest day so it kind of felt like I was cheating. I mean, the yoga classes were hard, so I'm not sure why it feels "wrong". Actually, I was rather displeased because the yoga classes were WAY harder than they should have been. I went to a vinyasa class and it was the most brutal power yoga class I've ever been too -- to the point where I think the teacher was endangering people (she kept bragging about how no one in the class could keep up with her, and people were frantically throwing themselves into poses in an attempt not to get left behind). And then, wanting to do something kind for my very sore body, I went to a restorative class for some deep stretching, and instead it was a typical vinyasa class. It's a weird studio, I won't be going back after my 2-week intro pass expires. Interval/cardio exercises -- So I had grand ideas of doing sprint intervals around a nearby running track, and maybe including some jump rope, but as it turns out this is Seattle and I'm having a hard time motivating myself to go run in the rain. I did spin classes instead. I hadn't attempted spin since, like, 2003 and it went very badly, but I'm a lot fitter now and I've done a lot of cycling this year so I'm able to keep up much better. I'm not spinning at the teacher's desired pace because it doesn't match the bpm of the the music she plays. Still, my heart rate's up, I'm sweating like crazy, and I'm varying the intensity throughout the class, so I'm totally counting it. Water -- I made my goal for 6 out of 7 days, and was only about 8 ounces short on the seventh day. It felt like a struggle, though. This is usually an easy goal for me, not sure why I'm having a harder time with it here. Diet -- With the election feelings, I also didn't make the healthiest choices for a couple of days. I stayed in my calorie allowance most days (except election night, which involved a lot of wine and ice cream), but that may have involved replacing meals with the same number of junk food calories for a day or two... Anyways, I gave myself a couple of days of comfort food and then put it away and got back on track. Still, 5 more weeks is sounding like a really long time at the moment. Productivity -- I had a job interview! (Well, a telephone interview, but it's a step in the right direction). Plus I did a bunch of Spanish lessons, located a place to volunteer when I'm in Denver next month, recruited friends and family to volunteer with me and signed up for shifts, advised some lawyer friends on pro bono options post-election, and started re-reading my blog from the bike trip in an attempt to process how far I came. So, I'm technically pretty on track. I'm a little worried that this is feeling like such a drag in week 3, because the hardest part of the 8 weeks will be when I'm staying with my sedentary, junk food family in December. I really wanted to use the first 5 weeks to cement these habits before I get there. Hopefully this is just some sort of slump and I'll feel more optimistic soon. I mean, this has been an emotional week and I also added in the cardio workouts and increased my daily walking mileage and took an insanely difficult power yoga class, so I may just be feeling the week 3 blues. And I'm really excited that I've set up those volunteer shifts in Denver, because at the very least they'll get me out of my mom's house a couple of times a week, and I can hopefully combine them with a bike ride or a long walk. And to be fair, my mom thinks it's great that I exercise, and I know she'll take me to the gym in her local community center a couple of times a week so I can use the dumbbells and treadmill. It's just that my whole family is so content to just sit on the sofa snacking and watching TV, and no matter how hard I fight it, I feel like I end up sitting there for hours every day. But that's why I'm planning ahead!! Anyways. It's still 2 weeks away. Time to stop fretting about that and go for my daily walk. Be well, friends!

Well, what I see is that you did a lot more of what you're wanting to do this week than last week, and that's progress! Hooray! Some progress is always better than no progress -- an object in motion remains in motion! For me, some habits take easing into and others can be a cold plunge. You may not have done any bodyweight this week, but you did bike to work extra times -- so you're moving your body, hooray! Maybe today is the day you'll do a bodyweight workout? And as for the mess, in my experience those little clean-up projects do add up, even if you can't see it at first. Maybe you just haven't reached critical mass yet -- maybe the next 10-minute project will be the one that tips the scales (or the one after that, or the one after that! don't give up!). TL;DR Rah rah rah you're doing the thing!

Oh geez, I barely managed to people yesterday, I can't imagine having to be at a job interview (on either side of the table!!). Sorry you had to endure that!!

P.S. Productivity is suddenly on FIRE today. I don't know what brought it on, exactly, but I am going to ride this productivity wave as far as it will take me!

Thanks @darkfoxx! I love tricking myself, it's incredibly effective. The naked spa sounds terrifying to me, too. I found it by accident -- I went there for a massage after the bike trip ended, and they gave me a little tour of the spa/sauna area in the back. Seeing women of all sizes and shapes just chillaxing in the hot tub and sauna was kind of wonderfully refreshing. I've been working on accepting my body for a long, long time, and it occurred to me what a big step it would be to walk calmly around this space, not hiding the parts of me that feel ugliest. And I figure the best time to be bold, to try scary new things, is when you're alone, far from home, in a completely new place. So I think I'm going to do it! Besides, a sauna sounds wonderful for my poor, tired body.

OK, week 2. I had a massive case of the do-not-want-tos all week long. I didn't want to eat my stupid healthy food, I did not want to go on my stupid walks, I did not want to move my body, I did not want to do anything productive. I'm sure I was an absolute delight to be around That said, I'm pretty pleased with myself that I met all of my goals for the week except water intake -- for some reason, I struggled to get past the 2.5 liter point every day. This happens sometimes when I'm bloated, so I'm not going to stress over it. Walking -- I averaged 4.75 miles a day and never fell under the 3 mile daily limit. Bodyweight exercises -- 6 days out of 7, as planned. I'm definitely finding that I have favorites among my bodyweight choices, but that's working to my favor. On days when I don't want to do anything, I can tell myself "that's ok, you can do wall sits instead of lunges" and it feels like I'm taking it easy when actually I'm still following the (self-imposed) rules. I added sit-ups to the list of core exercises, too, and I've weirdly been loving them. Water -- yeah, I tried, but I only hit 3 liters for 3 days this week. 2.5-2.75 liters all the other days. I know I feel best at around 3L, but if my body's saying no on a given day I'm not going to force it. Diet -- I did really well this week. One day I went to the movies and had a small popcorn for lunch, but I worked it into the calorie budget. I don't want to make a habit of it because I try to focus on nutrient-dense foods, but it was fun for a day. Productivity -- well, it's a good thing working on Spanish counts, because I did that six out of seven days. On the seventh day, I figured out how I'm going to continue to get my prescriptions after my doctor leaves the medical practice I used to go to. I'm treating productivity like the bodyweight exercises -- I have a menu to choose from, and all I have to do is choose SOMETHING. Hopefully I'll feel less lazy soon and start choosing things other than Spanish, but hey, if I come out of this speaking a new language that's not a terrible thing. I toyed with the idea of doing some more intense exercise a couple of times this week, but it's not required (under my self-designed program) until week 3, and since I was feeling grumpy I took great joy in deciding not to do any "extra credit". I did make my way up to Green Lake to meet another rebel and go for a walk, and then she and I made plans to run a turkey trot on Thanksgiving, so that was nice. I haven't run more than a mile at a time since, I don't know, 2014, so this may be interesting, but I figure worst case I end up walking some of it, which really isn't a big deal. I'm enjoying living in Capitol Hill. I'm glad I decided to sit still for a little while, although I've already started researching where to go next Most days I go hang out in the coffee shop in Elliott Bay Bookstore, and walk around the neighborhood exploring a little. I'm loving the local grocery stores and the chance to cook real meals in a real kitchen. And I found a local yoga/spin studio with a really good intro offer, so I'm going to check them out in week 3. There's also a really great women's spa that I've been wanting to go to (it'll be a big 20SOC moment for me, because it's a naked spa!) but I'm waiting until it's more hygienically appropriate for me to be naked in a hot tub, if ya get me. Anyways, today isn't such a great day out in the world, but I wanted to write this before I got too far into the next week. I hope everyone's holding up ok. Be well, friends.

*immediately googles fat bombs* mmmmmmm

@darkfoxx, I'm in Capitol Hill for the month. I predict embarrassing amounts of money will be spent on tea and books at Elliott Bay Bookstore. But since this is the neighborhood I ended up in most days, it makes sense to be here.

OK, I guess I'm just over a week into my 8 weeks -- still waiting for my overnight magical results LOL, but things are going well. I'm really enjoying having my tiny notebook to track everything in. Walking -- I averaged 3.9 miles a day, but the actual distances varied a lot from day to day. The first two days I was road tripping through the rain and didn't come anywhere near 3 miles, and then once I hit Seattle I had several 6-7 mile days. Halloween was the hardest because I did NOT want to do anything at ALL. The hostel where I was staying was having a scary movie marathon all day and I would have been perfectly content to sit there eating popcorn and candy all freaking day. But this battle log got me out the door walking, and I confess the walk actually improved my mood a fair bit. Bodyweight exercises -- 6 days out of 7, as promised. I really liked having the options to choose from each day, so I never felt like I "had" to do any particular movement that sounded annoying that day. I'm loving the core work (in a love the hating it kind of way) and it's becoming very obvious that my arms and shoulders are my weak point. Always good to get some feedback from your body, huh? Water -- sometimes it involved chugging half a liter right before bed, but I got my 3 liters a day (except on the road tripping days). Diet -- I've been within 150 calories of my goal in either direction every day. One day I went over when I ate out for dinner and one day I went over on the road trip. But I believe in averages and there were also days I was a little under. I'm good with this. I had some serious hunger and a little lightheadedness in the first few days (mostly when I was on long walks) but I seem to be adapting now. Productivity -- um, it's coming around? Yesterday I almost blew it off, but then did a Spanish lesson just before bed. One day I counted paying my rent as productivity, which is cheating a little... but having a place to live is important too! But one day I did some job hunting and one day I made this battle log. I think I need to have a list of things that need done so I can choose from the list each day. Will work on this. I found a sublet for the month of November in a cool part of Seattle, so I'm going to stop moving around for the next few weeks. I think it's going to help a lot with all of my goals -- the nomad life has been wearing on me a bit lately. I'm also feeling pretty worn down even though I'm sleeping 9 or 10 hours a night, so I think I need to get my thyroid levels checked again. Ooh, but my new sublet is near a track, so sprint intervals should be logistically easy! Very pleased about that. I'm also tempted to get a Class Pass so I can try some of the nearby gyms -- there's a boxing place and a boot camp place and a dance place, and I'm sure lots of other places I don't know about yet. I'm only here a month, so I doubt I'll get too involved with any new type of workout, but it doesn't hurt to sample a few new things and see if something clicks with me. Anyways. This coffee shop just finished baking some cookies and the smell is driving me nuts, so I'm going to log off and go walking. Be well, friends.

Ooh, love the idea of an essential oil to wake up!

I'm just here to cheer you on!

Thanks @darkfoxx! I am definitely up for including yoga, and would consider it a substitute for any given day's bodyweight workout. The reason I decided not to include it specifically was that I've been doing drop-in sessions at various studios while I'm traveling, and that's getting expensive at $22-35 a pop. It's also weird popping in to different studios and having no idea what teaching style I'm about to encounter -- although I'm sure the variety is probably good for my body. Anyways, hopefully I'll be sitting still somewhere for at least a few weeks sometime soon, so I might be able to get a punchcard or find some cheaper community classes. Thanks for this. I go back and forth on what to think about the thyroid thing. On the one hand, I know that I have to work harder to lose weight than some people do, and I wonder whether the thyroid problem is the reason for that. On the other hand, my doctor says I should be able to lose weight when my meds are at the right level, so then I worry that maybe I'm just making excuses if I point to the thyroid problem as a factor in all of this. It's nice to hear from someone else that this is a real challenge and not just some excuse I'm making. Anyways, whatever it is, I definitely have a hard time with any form of body recomp (muscle gain OR fat loss), but I'm also stubborn as hell and refuse to stop trying. And all that trying has resulted in a lot of fantastic changes in my life, so I'll just keep pushing even when the physical progress seems discouragingly slow.

I'm glad the interviews went well! I think two second-round interviews and a phone interview makes a very productive week! And as for the almond milk in the coffee, I totally hear ya. You don't hear me volunteering to drink coffee without milk (mostly because I'm sitting over here savoring my tea...). You do what you have to do to make the diet livable. Anyways, I'm super-impressed by someone that can stick to a keto diet. I didn't realize it meant you had to limit your protein, though! I feel like my life is one endless quest for more protein and I'm always just short of the goal.

Jenn-n, I found you, I found you, I found you! Love, Pigtails.