Mighty_Mouse

WEEK THREE Hooray for making it half way through the challenge! I hear this means I go up a level...need to go do some reading about that after this post. Tuesday (since I posted about Monday last week) was my first day on the 2nd level of the RRG. I walked for a mile, ran for 1/2 a mile, and did the level 1 core workout. Wednesday was a whole gym day, and I 1UP-ed all my reps for the advanced bodyweight workout. Still kills me in the best possible way, and I love feeling my arms getting stronger! Thursday was a repeat of Tuesday. I've started watching the Japanese Ninja Warrior while I run, which is excellent motivation to keep going. Friday rest day. Signed up for the NF Academy Master Class. Checked email religiously for Academy updates. Saturday I ran a 15 minute mile! Instead of walking 1 mile and running 1/2 a mile, I ran a whole mile in 15 minutes! YAY FOR SMALL WINS! Followed up with a light bodyweight workout. Sunday (today) I got up early and got to the gym for advanced bodyweight workout. Followed up with a protein shake, and I'm currently running the last show of the week. After I'm done with work I'm going grocery shopping with manfriend--in addition to what I usually buy I'm looking for almond milk, almond flour, and arrow root. Trying to cut dairy out of my diet, and the arrow root is what I'm going to substitute for corn starch when I make pie. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So the beef jerky didn't turn out quite like I planned. I blame my oven,which cooks a little hotter than what you set it to. The marinade I used was a little thick, so I split my beef in half and used batch #1 as an experiment. It's really tasty, just a little tough. And my spice palette isn't a fan of the cayenne pepper the recipe suggests, so next time I think I'll add honey instead for a little more sweet and a little less heat. Hot damn, I'm clever.

Excellent Vian, thanks so much! I was having problems finding something to sub in for corn starch. I have a pie crust recipe that served me well in my pre-Paleo days, so I think I'm going to try using almond flour and see how it works. I'm just nervous because I hear it's a little difficult to work with.

Hey gang- I figured if anybody had a Paleo recipe for raspberry pie, the fine folk at Nerd Fitness would. I'm already planning on baking a Paleo apple pie next week from a recipe I found online, but my boyfriend is asking for raspberry pie and I can't seem to find anything. Does anyone have a recipe I could borrow for this? Or, barring an actual Paleo recipe, has anyone had any success substituting Paleo ingredients in a normal recipe? I'm specifically wondering about subbing in almond flour for regular flour. Thanks gang! ~Mighty_Mouse

WEEK TWO Since last week was wonky, I decided to repeat it instead of moving on to the next level of my RRG workout plan. I'm very excited about the launch of the Nerd Fitness Academy tomorrow, and I'm trying to see if paying for it will fit into my budget. Since I'm making more of an effort to put my health and what goes into my body a priority, I think the Academy stands a pretty good chance. Monday was a rest day for me--got my Tiefling Control Wizard to level 50 on Neverwinter. Tuesday I ran for a half hour and did the level 2 core workout. I'm getting better at planks; I can hold for 30 seconds no problem, and I can hold for a full minute if I breathe and shout the lyrics to whatever song I'm listening to. Wednesday I had a better time at the Advanced Bodyweight Workout after cutting the number of reps for everything in half. I also found out that if I rest for a minute or so in between sets I don't wear myself out so quickly. So now I'm going to start increasing my reps by 1 every week so I don't plateau at 5 of everything. I love the feeling of getting stronger. Thursday I had my last day of swimming--after reading ahead into the 2nd level of the RRG I saw that every day that's not a gym day is spent running. Wrapped up with the level 1 core workout. Friday was a rest day, and good thing too, because between an 8 hour rehearsal and an evening preview performance, I was in the theatre all day. Spent my down time looking up Paleo snacks that I can eat while I'm gaming so I don't go for all the manfriend's processed snacks. Saturday I ran for a full hour and followed with a light bodyweight workout after. I just figured out how to check my mileage on my treadmill, and I'm happy to see that I'm running close to 3 miles without dying (up until now my RRG calendar has had me track my running in terms of minutes and not mileage...this changes in the next level). Opening night for my show! Sunday I had an afternoon performance, and I was really struggling with going to the gym after for bodyweight stuff. I was quite happy to have manfriend be the one to push me to go, since he usually just teases me. I'm glad he can see I'm taking this seriously. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well I finally figured out what Pintrest is for. Instead of picking a bunch of Paleo recipes at random, I look them up when I'm craving something I know I can't have. 9 times out of 10, I can find a Paleo substitute, which is encouraging and giving me a bunch of excuses to cook at home instead of going out. Yay for killing multiple birds with one stone! I've currently got beef in a Paleo marinade in the fridge that will turn into beef jerky tomorrow. I also went apple picking with friends today, and while most of those apples will go right into my belly as is, some of them are going to turn into apple chips. Thanks to Mark's Daily Apple for both recipes! Other things I'm excited to make (all Paleo): --Cinnamon Rolls --Roasted Artichoke --Sweet Potato Hashbrowns

Week One Firstly, thanks for the birthday wishes and support! You guys are awesome Monday was a rest day in my workout schedule, but my manfriend treated me to a trip to Boston and I'd say we walked a good 5+ miles all told, so at least I was active. Tuesday was a running/core day. I went for a half hour jog into town and back--trying to run outside as much as possible before bad mountain weather forces me onto a treadmill--and did my first day of the RRG level 2 core workout. Planks (both normal and sides) have become my nemesis, but I shall defeat them soundly. Wednesday was bodyweight day. I change my nemesis from planks to the advanced bodyweight workout. Holy canoli, you guys. I have the scrawniest T-rex arms, and they really struggled with the pull ups and chin ups (I'm not quite up to real pull/chin up level yet, so I've been doing bodyweight rows and inverted bodyweight rows). I decide to halve the number of reps to keep myself from injury. Thursday I spent 16 hours in the theatre, so I had to move my swimming/core to Friday, which didn't throw my schedule off too much because Friday is usually a rest day. Because we didn't get as much done on Thursday as we had planned, I ended up spending most of my Friday in the theatre as well. Since I knew this was going to happen, I put on my hard hat (thanks Steve!) and made myself get up early before work. Since I'm supposed to swim for an hour and I'm paranoid about being late for work, I forego my trip to the community center and decide to bike for an hour on one of the machines on property instead (the company I work for houses me, and there's a free gym full of donated equipment in the basement of one of the buildings). Saturday I'm back on track and running for an hour with a lighter bodyweight workout after to keep my body from getting too stiff. Afterwards we have our first live audience for the show! Today (Sunday) we've got an afternoon performance and then I've got my second attempt at the (now slightly modified) advanced bodyweight workout. As far as taking care of my car goes, I've been doing a lot of research and talking to my housemates. We're all working on this show, so once it opens we'll be able to schedule a day to get my brakes taken care of. I've also asked them to show me how to change my oil and check my tire pressure! A final miscellaneous thought--despite much snark from the manfriend, I've started drinking whey protein shakes after my workouts. I've been making them 2 ways: protein, milk, handful of frozen strawberries, handful of frozen blueberries, banana OR protein, milk, and this wonderful thing that comes from Rhode Island called coffee syrup. I only put in a serving size, but that's enough to give me an amazing homemade mocha. Mmmmm. That's all for this week! If I can get to my car next week I'll make sure to get some photo documentation!

Thanks Jay87! I'm the most excited!

Awww yeah! Not only have I been DYING to start my first Nerd Fitness 6-week challenge, but the first day of my first challenge is also my 24th birthday! Talk about leveling up! Motivation My Family Specifically my family history. My grandmother died from breast cancer and heart problems, my mom had a liver cancer scare, and diet and exercise weren't really part of our vocabulary. Imma gonna change that. And hopefully I'll develop good diet/exercise habits before I actually need to when I get older. My Friends Suddenly, my social media is full of people running races and doing Insanity and all this crazy awesome stuff, and after months and months of just scrolling past it I want to participate in it! Obstacles My Job I work in the entertainment industry--theatre. This means that the weekends everybody else usually gets off, I'm working; sometimes 2 shows a day. Specifically, I'm a stage manager, which means that I'm in the theatre before everyone else is, and I don't leave until everyone else has. This in addition to union rules about number of rehearsal hours a week makes it really tricky for me to find time to get my workouts done. BUT, I get. them. done. Main Quest--Maeg's First 5K My mission, should I choose to accept it (spoiler: I do), is to compete in one of the 2014 Run For Your Your Lives races as both a runner and a zombie. Because it's just not as fun if you don't get to be a zombie. Goals (These are all based off of the Rebel Running Guide, which I've been using and will endorse for/to anyone!) --Swim 45+ minutes twice a week. --Finish the level 1 (Rookie) workout and start level 2 (Recruit) --Do 3 sets of the Advanced Body Weight workout twice a week without dying Life Quest--Car Tune Up I just moved to the great state of Massachusetts, and my car had to pass state inspection to be road-worthy. It didn't. So I'm going to fix it in the 60 days I have before it has to get inspected again. Goals --Replace my car's (Edwin's) brakes by myself! The director of facilities for the theatre I work for told me that he'd replace them if I bought the parts and got him a case of Corona. Well...that was back in June. Brakes are still broken. So I'm going to have one of my car savvy housemates supervise me, and I'm going to learn how to do this without going to a mechanic. --Replace my car's fuel gauge sensor. This is a little beyond my (or my housemate's) capabilities, so I'll have to take it to a dealer. So excited to finally start! Happy birthday to me!

My boyfriend and I are both trying to quit (me for health and financial reasons, him for strictly financial reasons, but any reason is good, eh?), and he got us these, which have been working really well: http://www.thevaporpro.com/joye-ego-c-black.html They're larger and heaver than real cigarettes and other e-cigs we've seen, but they're rechargeable and you control when they're on and off. We use juice from Wicked Vapor to fill them (http://www.thevaporpro.com/eliquid-smoke-juice.html). He's got Blue Raspberry, I've got Caramel Apple. Because we're adults The idea is that every time we have to buy a new bottle of juice, we dial the nicotine level down a notch until we're at 0%. After that it's just finding something to replace the oral fixation, haha!

Greetings from northern Indiana! Looks like you're making excellent progress so far, bravo!

Thanks Egret! So far I'm liking all the beginner stuff, now I just need to stick with it!

Greetings everybody! After a couple of days of poking around the website and devouring a bunch of the articles, I'm hoping to join this amazing community of supportive nerdfolk (possibly the Scouts?) in our group quest to make ourselves better. A little about myself: I'm a 5'3" stage manager a year out of college. Because of the crazy hours I keep working in theatre as a freelancer, my diet has started to suffer, and in the battle of exercise vs. bed, bed always wins. I've always struggled to keep to an exercise plan in the past because I enjoy things that engage my mental faculties as well--I used to dance, I love wall climbing, etc.--but if I'm working somewhere where those types of things aren't available (or insanely expensive), I just don't make the effort. Recently I've found that more and more of my friends and peers are runners, and something about that just appeals to me. Not the type of running that means spending hours a week on a treadmill staring at the same wall, but planning a trip from point A to point B, navigating the route, and enjoying the scenery along the way. After doing a little research, I figured out that the adventure/obstacle racing stuff is something that I'd really like to participate in. So what are my goals? By this time next year--and someone tell me if this is implausible--I want to complete the Run For Your Lives Zombie 5K. As a racer and a zombie. My end game material, as it were, is to finish the Spartan Race or one of the Ironman races. But I'm pretty far away from there. So hopefully being active in the NerdFitness community and doing the challenges and everything will help get me off my ass and keep me honest.