thepalv

That sounds like brilliant fun!! And you will have thighs like rocks after!! I have had a pretty bad week, challenge wise. In fact, my most off the chart week since I started this healthy kick in July. In fact, my only really off week. Had been doing yoga in the mornings and trying to fit the other strength work in around it, or catch up with what I hadnt done in the morning when I came home from work. This did not work at all, in hindsight. The goal stuff is measurable, i do more each day or each week. I was not getting time to do much in the morning after the yoga session, and was not very proactive in the evening - I never am, hence the morning workouts. So was doing yoga and maybe a 4m plank and some pushups. Started to lost focus on monday, had been home for the weekend in dublin and did not get any real rest that weekend so the week was off to a bad start. Tuesday I turned the alarm off at 6am and went back to sleep. Told myself I would do saturday instead. Wednesday only got up cos I didnt want to skip two in a row. did yoga and bare min strength, ditto thursday. Skipped friday, did no exercise yesterday and none today thus far. Went drinking last night and have been over on cals most days, by a significant amount. Have been thinking about it a lot yest and today and I think I know where I went wrong. 1. Didnt take a week off after the last challenge. 2. Started the challenge with way too many strength goals planned, without making a reasonable plan to achieve them. 3. started challenge doing insanity, then switched to yoga, then it fell apart. 4. Too lenient on food goals, so not much guilt when not adhered to. 5. Irregular, rare NF time. Lost focus too easy, didnt update here and become accountable. Result of above mistakes 1. no closer to original goals 2. feel pretty icky and unhealthy and not as full of energy as i had been (damn carb overloads) 3. still fit clothes fine but i dont look as lean in the mirror as i did, so I think ive probably put on a pound or two 4. guilty feeling for sliding plan of action 1. its not too late to turn this challenge around. We are only halfway through. I just have to get smart. 2. stop the messing and chopping and changing exercise routines. Habit works for me. 3. felt I got the most benefit from strength circuits monday wed and fri, and cardio tues and thurs, so going back to that for the last few weeks. yoga can be added in in the evenings, if i feel like it. This way I will be spending majority of my exercise time on the strength goals as outlined above, so have the most chances to achieve some of them. Cardio makes me feel good, I like to be sweating and feel the burn. Great for the endorphins. 4. Wont weigh in or measure until the end of the challenge, dont want to rock the boat 5. NO CONFECTIONERY MON TO FRIDAY 6. make more protein snacks that I can have to keep cravings at bay. It worked in the past. 7. In bed by ten sunday to thursday so i cannot tell myself at 6am that I need the sleep. 8. Spend more time on NF getting inspiration and checking in here to keep myself accountable. Lessons learned: 1. Make a reasonable, achievable plan and chart it as you go. 2. Be stricter with foods, and make tasty protein snacks so its easier to be wise. 3. Dont try to DO ALL THE THINGS 4. Take a week off between challenges, so you actually are excited to start the next one and have time to plan it carefully now, off to have a delicious meal out and home to bed early and plan the circuits for tomorrow

Yeah I think I'll have to do some number crunching. I worked out my TDEE over the summer was 1900, that was including average 300 cal burn six days a week doing insanity workouts. Burning way less than that doing strength circuits and yoga, based on hrm it's no more than 150 cals a day. I log my cals and weigh/log everything. That was over a six week period and took into account pounds lost so it was pretty accurate. I'm only 5" 4 and weigh about 124 at the moment. I'm about three or four pounds off what I would like to look like, but that doesn't take into account any muscle gain in the meantime. Maybe about two percent less body fat would be more accurate. I think I may go back to dropping breakfast just a few days a week, rather than everyday. Now I'm off caffeine my stomach should be able to handle it. I think maybe see where I am in another two weeks or so? I can readjust the numbers then if body fat has gone up.

so, week one day four - Have been up at six every morning and doing forty five mins of ashtanga yoga, then stretches and strength work as outlined above. The allotted fifteen mins isnt enough to do all of them so I am doing plank and pushups and then i mix it up until seven. I am coming around to the idea that if i want to achieve four out of seven goals minimum I will have to put in a lot more time in the evenings. Or get up earlier. I do a short walk when i get to work cos I leave early to not be sitting in traffic. Half hour walk if its not raining, then half hour again at lunchtime, cos I have a desk job. Today its raining hence I am writing this on my lunchbreak. Muscle definition coming along nicely on arms and abs, but I dont feel like im getting much stronger. I know that after this challenge it may be time to to take it up a notch and join a gym to do free weights, but i hate gyms. Maybe ill make a sandbag, i read that post again last night. I am also tempted by crossfit but equally i like to do my own training at my own pace. But equally that's why I cannot do a pullup yet, nobody shouting at me. I will see how I am feeling about it after christmas, at the moment I am spending enough time each day exercising. That said, I am considering looking for a bikram class for monday or tuesday evenings. OH works til nine mon tue and wed, and I already do circus school on a wed so would like something else to entertain me. Also would be good to make friends. Food wise I am doing fairly crap. I am not food wise at the moment. I am making my protein goal pretty much but am eating a lot more than i had been the last few months. So my carbs have been well over 100g per day this week. I have been increasing my cals over the last six weeks, through greed, but I am still losing weight. I am now averaging about 1800 per day, whereas it used to be about 1400 per day. But the majority of the cals are homecooked meals with lots of veg and protein and fats. It bumped up cos I am now eating breakfast again, to let my stomach recover. I will see how my weight reacts over the next three or four weeks and maybe look again at the numbers. Im going to worry about it too much yet. I have updated my original post to split the food goals so I can still get As for protein. Love circus school, am really happy I joined. Thing is, I have a fear of heights and I am learning trapeze! I joined to help me get over my fear of heights, cos I know it is all just in the mind. Am really bad sometimes, get dizzy on a stepladder, its ridiculous. Anyway, even though the learning trapezes are low, once you are hanging upside down it is very disconcerting. I am going to have to practice hanging from my pullup bar during the week so I am more prepared for each class. Also I need to seriously build up my arm strength cos we had to do the mermaid pose holding onto the bar with one hand, not easy. I knew one arm wouldnt hold me so i just went back to pike and came down. I don't like backing away from a challenge, but being at a height and upside down and holding the ropes with my feet and then being told to take one hand off the bar was just a bit much! Also, two people in the class fell off at that point so that kind of put me off! So some practise at home to get used to hanging off things. More time being a sloth really, but an actual sloth, not a lying on the couch feeding my face sloth. Anyway, I think i can get over my fear of heights. I was also irrationally afraid of spiders until about three weeks ago. I saw a huge one on the stairs, and initially i was like - aaahh! but only for a split second. Then i just said to myself, yep, thats a spider, so what? and then i saw a picture of a big blue hairy tarantula on facebook and it didnt scare me and i was able to look at the picture for ages and also touch the picture. Sounds mental but somehow I have just removed the fear. I wouldnt be getting one for a pet or anything but if I can just cut away the fear of heights in the same way I will be so happy. I think i can work on that at home on the pull up bar, cos its the fear of falling mostly.

Looking good, nice progressions. I am loving doing yoa everyday now, and my back and shoulders are thanking me for it too! Will have to try that legs up the wall pose, I'd say it feels lovely!

Yep, and the rest are shot here in Belfast in the studios in the Titanic Quarter. I know which hotel Jon snow is staying in, and my friend in work saw Tyrion and his wife on the street a while back so there are a lot of them here. There was an amazing exhibition of props in the titanic museum during the summer, got to see Longclaw and crowns and lots of costumes and a replica iron throne which I have a photo of me on. So cool to see it. If I get to be an extra I will probably piss myself with excitement. My friend did a days shooting last week from two am to 6 pm on a hill and he froze his ass off. He has a massive red beard so I'd say he was a thenn or something. The pay is pretty good too. If grrm dies before he finishes the books I don't think I will ever get over it. I like the series but it's like comparing facon to bacon.

I know, it is pretty amazeballs. I have applied to be an extra, so fingers crossed. Saw Jon and ygritte in a restaurant a few weeks back too, they were at a table behind us. Heis much less attractive in real life if that any consolation. Well, on that day he had his hair tied back in a ponytail and was wearing where's Waldo glasses and a big black polo neck. Kind of looked like a beatnik. I love his curly hair so it was a disappointment for me. He does have a nice ass though, cos he was wearing jeans the other day in the shopping centre. You don't get to see THAT when he is wearing his blacks. Mmmmm m....... Ps totally agree on video for form, I took some and it is great to see how far I can or cannot go in some moves. Now, back to work

Pretty sure it is Jon and ghost, I like to think the tree represents the Wall. Saw Jon snow, ygritte and Samwell last week, drinking coffee on an escalator. Very weird, like a dream. I live in belfast by the way, they are shooting at the mo.

best 20 quid ive ever spent, that pullup bar. can practise pike pose on it for trapeze lessons. Its one of the ones that braces the doorframe front to back so i dont panic that its going to come crashing down! hurrah for pushups and ergo, lovely shoulders. good luck batwoman, i am currently wearing a batgirl tshirt in support of your challenge. its so old it has big holes under both arms but i will never throw it out. NEVER!

excellent goals, you are inspiring me for future challenges! am only on second challenge but have a list as long as my arm of things i want to be able to do in the future, and just chipping away. good luck in the challenge!

loving the amount of people working on handstands!! good luck and great goals

great goals! I am with you on the plank goal, it does wonders for the abs even though its unpleasant! do your headaches start at the base of your skull, on one side or the other and do they go away when you lie down flat? I get cervicogenic headaches, which build up to behind my eye on one side. i have a hunch that many people actually suffer from them. i had them for years, particularly after sitting down a lot. yoga backbends and forward bends take the pressure off the area, if thats what you are suffering from. Dont want to butt in on it, just thought i could help if thats what you have. Doctors dont seem interested in finding out what causes the headaches, but my left hip is clicky, and causes an imbalance up my back that leads to the headaches if i dont do those exercises regularly. painfree when i do though. good luck in the challenge and cutting down on coffee is great either way, your stomach lining will thank you for it!

great goals jill. SImplicity is the best, and boring gets results. i know i have been too optimistic with my own goals but i am a little ocd and have to DO ALL THE THINGS. each to his own!! Good luck on this journey, can you believe it will be christmas when we finish this challenge? Santa may not recognize our new svelte figures and bendiness!

hurray for splits! i know its a long list but any improvements are good, im not going to beat myself up if i cant do something by christmas, i will eventually be able to all of the things on my list, and more. I will be a Human Pretzel.

Hello fellow assassins! First challenge completed last month, second starts tomorrow! Main quest: as in the title, no one specific goal but lots of smaller goals. Goals below followed by current status: One real unassisted pull-up - six assisted with foot on chair. One real unassisted chin-up - ditto. 90 degree pike on trapeze/pull-up bar - feet are currently about a foot off the ground. Do the splits properly, down to the ground - am about a foot off the ground with hips square. Complete a handstand - hate being upside down, can manage one minutes practise before arms shake. 20 push-ups in a row - at twelve currently. 6 minute plank - at four mins currently. Scoring: seven very high goals have been set. Complete four to get an A, three for a B, two for a C. More than four gets a plus for every extra goal. Path to achievement: 40 mins yoga each morning followed by twenty mins work on the above goals, Monday to Friday. Weekends are for catching up what I didn't get done during the week. Have started circus school last week, so continue that every Wednesday during the challenge. Need to build up some serious callouses on my hands cos they hurt like hell after last weeks class! **************************************************** Food goals - minimum 100g protein, max 100g carbs five days per week. I need something concrete for grading, my first challenge food goals were a bit all over the place. I eat more at weekends but don't worry too much cos am still getting leaner. Scoring: meet food goals five days a week, A grade for that week. Meet goals four days per week, get a B, meet three days get a C. ************************************************** Progress checks: Take photo for current position in pike and splits and take every two weeks. At the end of each week log progress here. Take weight check before and after, and caliper measurements and photos before and after to chart progress. Starting weight 8 st 10, Jackson pollock calipers 16.79% ************************************ Looking forward to meeting you all on this six week journey to awesomeness!! Thepalv EDIT Going to split up the food goals. A for protein, A for carbs. I would like to concentrate on the good efforts, and I rarely make it under 100g carbs, I like too many vegetables and am eating breakfast again, and a lot of fruit. May revise in a couple of weeks.

Main quest, lose 2% body fat - lost 2.43%!! Grade A Mini goal one ten inverted rows Grade A Mini goal two, ten proper push-ups Grade A Mini goal three, 3 min plank Grade A Dietary goal C. Didn't stay within my cals everyday, but seeing as I lost body fat I didn't do too badly. Grade C Four As, one C. Overall very happy, and am currently working on my next challenge!

So, main goal was 2% less body fat. Weighed in last Friday and is as follows Bf keito scale 20.8 Boots scale 15.6 Jackson pollock. 16.79% Average bf before is 20.16% Average after is 17.73%. Loss of 2.43%!!!! Not sure these numbers are accurate but I def seem more toned so I'll go with it! Grade A main quest Mini goal one, grade A, can do 11 proper push-ups, working on the twelfth! Mini goal two, grade A, am working on one proper pull-up on bar, very difficult! Mini goal three, grade A, am up to 3min 15 now. Dietary goal I am giving myself a grade C, not great but not awful. See previous posts for details. Very happy overall with the progress. Have now started insanity round two with extra strength and flexibility work each day. By Christmas I will have come on in leaps and bounds if I keep it up. I am adding in new things too, to keep it fresh. See you at the next challenge!

Only one day of circuits left and I am finished this challenge!! can't believe that's six weeks. Looking at my original post I will be getting an A for each of the mini goals, one two and three. Have to do caliper measurements and weigh in this weekend to see what weight / fat I lost for main quest. Diet goals I will be getting a B or C - reading back its kind of hard to decipher a way to grade it. I haven't been pure paleo but I have met my protein targets most days and have been cutting back on crap considerably. Also am ending the challenge off caffeine which is a major bonus. I have also been eating huge amounts of vegetables and regularly no potatoes at all for dinner. Have to be more accurate with diet goals next time, maybe just meeting macro targets within calorie limit 5 days a week and that's all. Next challenge is going to be to do Insanity again, but with OH. Also, want to do strength work three days a week - pullups, chinups, planks and pushups. Also, learn to jump over a wall, getting good at skipping and work on handstands and splits. Not sure how I am going to pull these all together into a schedule. It might take some planning. The first month of Insanity the workouts are short enough so can do the strength work straight after on Monday, wed and friday. I could do five mins skipping, five mins handstands, five mins splits each day monday - friday, in the evening. I'll have to see how the first month goes to plan before I see how to divide my time for workouts in the morning thereafter. Am going to also use wrist weights during insanity, I used them before so I'll just go slightly heavier this time. But i won't make that part of the challenge cos I may find it is too much. Can't wait to see my results this month - hurrah for sticking it out and being excited to do it anyway. I am now most excited about planning my rewards for the next challenge - am thinking a NF hoodie and circus school is in there......

Great going with keeping the blog, great to have a reference to look back on. Am tempted by the scotch eggs and the little egg muffins, i might have to try them at the weekend. I too am planning my next challenge to start next week - onwards and upwards!! Congrats on the job by the way

Its the last week!! AAgghhh!! How you getting on this week? Have you started the training with your friend yet?

Yeah its a shame we missed the ball on those dance classes, we were really enjoying it!! OH has had to work late all last week and a couple of days this week and he is wrecked so we didn't start insanity this week. Which is kind of good for me cos I get to finish this challenge before starting a new one. I want to be organised with the next one before I start. So we are starting this monday and leaving out the recovery week, cos we are badass.... Gabs, no closer to finding out the allergens. Every night when he came home from work he had a beer or two, and the sulphites in beer set him off cos he was still melting the next day. But I wasn't going to say anything, he needed to chill out after work, they are working him very hard at the mo. Anyway, it is something we can do at a later stage. I had a horrible weekend, was sick. I had been feeling queasy in the mornings for the last few weeks and had been getting a small ache in my stomach every so often - I ignored the warning signs and then I got really bad last weekend. It happens me when I drink too much coke or coffee, i think it is a stomach acid problem. I am usually okay to have a couple a day if it is with food, but during this challenge I was doing intermittent fasting, so only eating from 1pm to 9pm. So all my caffeine was taken on an empty stomach, as an appetite suppressant. So so stupid. And for the last week or two I was really aware that I was not being smart, but kept thinking it would be fine. Anyway, felt a bit ill on Friday - had a really bad backache on saturday and felt all aches and pains all over, then the stomach ache started. Horrible cramps and burning all day saturday and sunday. I pretty much was housebound at the weekend. Woke up monday morning and tried to do my circuit strength workout, but ten seconds into the warm up I had to stop, it was making my stomach cramp way worse. So I had a small breakfast, and picked up some stuff from the healthfood shop after work. Took it easy on Monday evening and was okay when i woke up yesterday so I managed my circuits (all of them!). Going to go back to having a small breakfast everyday and have quit caffeine since sunday. I am over the caffeine withdrawal now (couldn't take painkillers cos they affect my stomach too - caffeine withdrawal makes me feel like my brain is trying to escape violently from my skull). So no more fizzy drinks (even coke zero), no more coffee, or tea, and no more junk food. I have learned my lesson. Did cardio today, so will be keeping on track, just tuesday to saturday instead of monday to friday, but that's okay. hope you all have a great last few days on the challenge!!

Yeah, its really good. Sometimes i put in a teaspoon of cocoa to make it extra chocolatey. I get lots of recipes from proteinpow.com that use protein powder. I know its not strictly paleo but at least it's protein. If you do try it just be careful to add the whey to hot milk and then blend, rather than blending and sticking in microwave like I tried first time. The whey solidifies if you put in in the micro. Great for making mug muffins but not hot chocolates!

It was Lindy Hop! We have two left feet each so there was lots of kicking each other but it was so fun! Definitely going to get back to it, and the company that run the classes have do aerial swing workshops and also put on a social swing dance every few months, so it gives you a reason to practise. And it was mostly people in their 30's so would be great for meeting friends, cos we don't have many up here since moving.

good plan, you can hit the ground running then

Great work getting a handle on the night overeating! That's great progress. And I definitely agree that lack of protein doesn't help the munchies. I have started carrying around beef jerky in my bag, for just in case moments so i don't buy junk. There is a shop over here (M&S) that also sells wafer thin streaky bacon already cooked, its about 250 cals for the whole pack but its like bacon crisps. I think its for sandwiches. Totally satisfying AND portable!

I am the same on phones!! I used to write out a brief script if I had to ring someone about something important, like a job. Mental, but true! Are you starting a routine with her soon, or are you going to wait for the challenge to end and start something new with her for next challenge?