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Actually, I use alarms for a lot of things, so that would probably work well for me. Thanks for the idea!

Argh So I wasn't real good about monitoring the clock last night and looked up and saw that it was 10:58! Despite my rush to get to bed, I wasn't IN bed until 11:02. I'm not counting it as a success, but it wasn't really a failure either. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. I did my Pilates this morning. I am still very much doing basics. I did the Hundred with my feet on the ground, the Series of 5 (8 each), then I turned over and did back raises with my hands on my shoulders. I can't get very high yet. But still glad that I did it! I have my overnight oats (blueberry-banana) ready to go and my salad I packed yesterday. I'm hoping to have time to make my salad dressing, so off I go.

Good luck with the job! And the challenge too

Daily Report: 1. Sleep: In bed by 11 pm - N/A (will report tomorrow) [0/7 for the week] 2. Food: Overnight Oatmeal for Breakfast - Yes, delicious. Made it with old-fashioned oats, frozen blueberries, and almond milk [1/7 for the week] 3. Food: Salad for Lunch - Yes, though I ran out of time to make the Tahini salad dressing that I wanted to try. Basic Salad - Romaine, Garbanzos, Carrots, Celery, Tomato, Hemp Seed [1/7 for the week] 4. Exercise: Pilates - Not today [0/3 for the week] 5. Exercise: Yoga - Yes, it was nice but painful. Even 2 weeks off makes a huge difference at this point. [1/2 for the week] 6. Exercise: Foot/Ankle Exercises - Yes. I used my theraband (yellow to start) and did a) point/flex 10X, b. winged foot 10X, c) sickled foot 10X. Then I did a basic balance exercise to strengthen stabilizers (and core surprisingly) - stood on one foot for 30 seconds. Progression for this is to increase to 60 seconds, then start over with eyes closed, then to move to a balance disk. [1/7 for the week] Bonus: - Bed by 10 pm (nope) - 5 Dr. Appts (nope)

OK, so I spent some time fumbling around with the instructions Heidi linked me to and I think I have figured this out. I'm getting all crazy with the decimal points. I am currently a Level 2 Human Druid I started with 3 STR / 1 DEX / 0 STA / 0 CON / 3 WIS / 1 CHA After the challenge, I added: 0.375 STR / 0.375 DEX (split the point, well 0.75 anyway) / 2 CON / 0.75 WIS So now I have: 3.375 STR / 1.375 DEX / 0 STA / 2 CON / 3.75 WIS / 1 CHA And I really hope that I did that correctly.

Another dancer! I love seeing all these ballet dancers on the boards. One of my challenges is to do some ankle strengthening with therabands. My daughter recently went on pointe and we've been doing them together. It's stunningly hard at first, though she whips through very quickly. Which exercises are you planning on doing?

Hey there! Is the idea to increase +1 burpees a day? That's not a bad idea. I don't think I am capable of even one at this point. I'm intrigued by the idea of training yourself to only worry once a day. That's some pretty incredible mind control. Though I have used writing down my worries before bed with some success. Good luck with your challenge!

Very cool - morning cup of java When I first learned how to code, I knew that it was really sinking in when I started to dream in "if...then" statements. Good luck!

Hail to the mighty apron. I have also suffered many losses! Good goals - best of luck to you!

Ok, so the mere thought of so many goals made me panic this morning, so this challenge's goals have been decided! A loooong time ago, I undertook the recovery process for a long-standing eating disorder. I absolutely relied on a few critical tools that made all the other work towards recovery possible. I called it my 'three-legged stool' as it was the foundation of my recovery process. Without one of those things, my recovery fell apart rapidly. At the time, the three legs were sleep, medication, and nourishment. I no longer require my medication, so I'm going to replace that with Exercise for strength, flexibility, and stress relief. The Three-Legged Stool Leg 1: Sleep I don't require a whole lot of sleep (I can function decently well on 5 hours for short periods of time), but my ideal number of hours is 7. I also function best when I get at least 1-2 of those hours before midnight. I'm sure there is some scientific basis for this, but I don't know what it is. My goal for this challenge is to be in bed, with the lights out, by 11 pm every night. I'll earn bonus points if I am in bed, with the lights out, by 10 pm. Leg 2: Food I really do best when my meals are habitual, especially the meals before dinner, which I pack to work with me. I eat better when I pack things in advance. My dosha (if you follow Ayurveda) is mainly Pitta, so I prefer to eat cooling foods in the summer heat. I've been very curious about overnight oats, and tried an absolutely delicious recipe as part of the Happy Herbivore's meal plans a week or so ago. I think this could be customized to prevent boredom, and you can make several in advance. So my first food goal is to prepare overnight oatmeal to eat for breakfast every week day. I'll be more flexible on weekends. A few years ago, I participated in a month of salads challenge hosted by Angela Liddon (Oh she glows). I really enjoyed it. I'd like to pre-pack some salads to take to work. I also have about 50 different salad dressing recipes that I have pinned on my Pinterest boards that I'd like to try. So I'd like to try 2 a week (since most of the recipes are small batches). My second food goal is to prepare salads to eat for lunch every week day and to prepare 2 salad dressings/week for variation. Leg 3: Exercise I have been really struggling with a lot of muscle issues this year. I have an ankle injury that really needs to be treated (and which I keep putting off, because I can still walk). It's a result of ultra-loose ligaments that I've had since my days as a ballet dancer. I also struggle with a lot of lower back pain that I know can be alleviated with core strengthening exercises. And I struggle with imbalances caused by one side of my body (shoulder, hip, etc) being much looser than the other. I tend to get injuries to the less flexible side of my body. My exercise goals: - Pilates/core strengthening 3 times a week: The Hundred, Series of 5, and Superman/Swimming exercises for lower back - Yoga/Stretching at least 2 times a week to balance out my body and assist with stress relief - Foot/ankle strengthening exercises nightly before bed Bonus points for making an appointment and actually seeing a podiatrist. Outside Reinforcements: Medical Appointments I have 5 medical appointments that I've been putting off, since starting a new job with new medical insurance. I am transitioning doctors, so I don't actually have a doctor for any of these needs, which is part of why I keep putting things off. I'll earn extra bonus points for finding a doctor and making an appointment for any of these 5 needs. It might seem that a lot of my goals are similar to the previous challenge, and that is true. I had success with them, but when I got busy and when the challenge was over, they completely fell by the wayside. They are not yet routine. So I'll keep practicing and make them the foundation of my health again.

Welcome! I hope that you enjoy your first challenge.

I love this challenge. I'm also a ballet dancer, started when I was very young, stopped for a long time, and have recently gone back to class as an adult. My daughter is also a ballet dancer, so lots of core strengthening and theraband workouts going on in this house. Let me know if you need any ideas and enjoy!

More ideas for goals: - I really need to get my diet in order. I love the weekly meal plans that I had tried last challenge, but frankly I don't have time to spend 4 hours in the kitchen or the $$ that it ended up costing me in groceries. So perhaps I'll do bulk cooking on a smaller scale. I think a breakfast and a lunch sound manageable for this challenge. - One of my life-time goals is to get back to taking ballet class every week. I'm never happier than in a ballet class. But my body just isn't up to it in our current shape. So doing some strengthening exercises and stretches will be my focus this challenge. - One doctor phone call a week. I was without health insurance for nearly 4 years, and have not really had a steady doctor since I moved out to the boondocks 8 years ago. I'll make one doctor appointment a week for the duration of the challenge. - Meditation & Journaling. This will be part of my self-care, something I am incredibly bad at because I focus all my attention on others. I pledge to start out with 5 minutes of meditation a day and at least 1/2 page of journaling. I wish that I had the creativity to come up with themes like other people. I love everyone's enthusiasm and amazing ideas!

I love this idea - great way to focus your efforts!

I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with my goals! Rather, coming up with ideas isn't the problem. It's deciding which ones that I should focus on. My typical self-improvement pattern is to start with limited goals, perhaps experience success, then get all excited and take on way too many goals the 2nd or 3rd go-round. The truth is, I just have a lot that I want to improve about myself! Some ideas for goals: - Go to bed before 11 pm (I have a terrible time with this) - Wash face when I come home in the evening (Ditto) - Complete my massive checklist of To Dos that I keep putting off (Double Ditto, and some of these are doctor's appts) Going to take my kids to school, to be finished later.