battlescars

YO WHADDUP? Battlescars here! Trying really hard to stick with this four week challenge. I'm terrible at posting, but I want to give it a shot this time around! Quick background: Working with a parkour company as a video editor, as well as a receptionist at their gym. I hurt my knee about four months ago, and we've yet to figure out EXACTLY what's wrong with it. All symptoms are consistent with a bucket handle meniscus tear, but my MRI came back clean. So I've been in limbo while we've been figuring that out. But I've been trying to do as much training as I can without injuring myself further. In the middle of an epic weight loss journey. October 2015: 250lbs August 15th, 2016: 200.4lbs Making progress, and hoping to continue moving forward! *Goals to come!*

Bahahaha This job was definitely the luckiest craigslist find of my life.

Been off to a slow start this challenge. School hasn't started back up yet, so my "go to the gym before work" goal has been kinda invalid. But that will change on Monday! I had parkour class on Monday, but I was really disappointed in my performance. My kongs and dash vaults were a mess, and I couldn't hold my cat hang. I felt comfortable with those skills before I went back to Boston for the holidays, but my lack of training over the past couple weeks definitely showed. However, I have used Duolingo every day this week! Woo! Hoping I can muster up some drive to work a little harder in the next few days.

I really like the band system they've worked out. That way everyone is your class is at a similar skill level, and you're really mastering the moves your working on before moving on to more difficult things. Plus, it's an excellent motivator and way to track progress And Duolingo has been really fun so far! Such an awesome program, and really easy to do with little down time!

Yaaaaay! Great start! I love the way you're breaking everything down. That hunger scale is such a good idea! You're gonna rock this challenge, for sure

New Year, New Challenge! Can't wait to kick some butt and start this year off right! Quick Background I work at a parkour gym (reception) & an elementary school (tutor), and I do a work study with an aerial studio. My background is in film production, and I'm hoping to somehow incorporate that into my new found love for parkour. Actively training in parkour, pole, and lyra. I'm an outdoors nut, obsessed with hiking and camping. Started my fitness journey at 250lbs. Fitness/ Food Goals 1. Level Up...Literally At my parkour gym, we have a band level system that is similar to karate. As you develop skills, you can test into the next level of classes and learn more advanced moves. I'm currently in the first level of parkour classes (white band) and would like to move up to the next level (green band). Also, I recently started taking pole classes, and I'm in their most basic class level. I would like to move up to the next level by the end of this month. 2. Gym Before Work 3 Days a Week I've been late for work a lot lately. My morning commute is awful, and I'm not very good at managing my time with all the traffic. My ideal alternative would be to go to the gym near my work early in the morning, before rush hour clogs up the freeways. 3. Drop The Holiday Weight I was the worst member of the Holiday Watch. I flew back to Boston for the holidays, and my big Italian family got the best of me. I ate more pasta, pizza, and pastries than I have in months, and barely worked out on top of it all. I gained about 7 lbs (bring me up to 229lbs) during the couple weeks I spent at home. It was fun and filled with amazing food, but now it's time to pay the reaper. I would like to drop back to 222lbs. by the end of this challenge. Life Goal 1. Duolingo Every Day Living in SoCal, I feel as though it would be really useful to learn a little bit of Spanish. So I want to devote at least 15 minutes each day to brushing up on my Spanish skills.

How is this challenge over already! Ahhhhh!!!! Time is weird. I wasn't as active on here as I would have liked to be, but I'm pretty proud with how everything turned out. Goals: #1. Attend at Least 1 Aerial & 1 Parkour Class a Week Almost got this one! I tried to double up on classes the following week, if I missed one. But I still ended up one parkour class short. #2. Post At Least Twice a Week (/Finish the Challenge) Not quiet. Lost it towards the end. But I made it to the end of the challenge, which is a first for me! Woo! #3. Prep At Least Two Meals A Week Made it 5/6 weeks! #4. Don’t Step on the Scale I stepped on the scale for the first time in 6 weeks today, and I weighed in at 222lbs! So I lost 15lbs this challenge! Crazy! *Bonus*: Climb the Silks/ Get in the Lyra/ Do a Pull-up Boom. So Proud. Thanks for a great challenge, everyone! Looking forward to many more

Hi I'm the worst at message boards. I may suck at posting, but I've still got the challenge on my mind every day! This week was pretty solid. I wasn't able to attend parkour this week because I was helping my new roommate move in. However, I did go to my lyra class, and it was great! My instructor is hell-bent on getting me to sit up in the hoop this week. I don't think I can pull myself up. She thinks I'm afraid. She's probably right. We'll see what happens. I got a lot of really intense workout time in this week. I've been trying to bring workouts we've done in parkour class into the gym, and it's been a lot of fun. I'm feeling really good. Last night I went out with some friends and ate/ drank a lot of things I haven't been eating lately. But while I decided to indulge, I didn't OVERindulge so I don't feel like crap today, which is nice. I went on a date the other night! First date I've been on in about a year. It was honestly awful. The guy was really boring and really racist, so that sucked. BUT I'm really glad I went. I'm feeling more confident than I have in years. Also, it was a really nice reminder that I don't mind being single right now (even though most of my friends are in relationships).

Week Four! 1. 1 Parkour & 1 Aerial Class Not quite. Had to skip aerials this week because of a schedule conflict/ the holiday weekend, but I took two parkour classes instead! 2.Post Twice A Week Not if you don't count last week's report. It's been a bit of a struggle to sit down and write things out lately. 3. Prep Two Meals Yes! Lots of leftovers to much on. 4.Don't check the scale Still cruisin'.

This week has been nice so far. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend silks and lyra on Monday. I had some funky stuff happen with my work schedule. But I did go to parkour last night! I even hung around for open gym after class and practiced some of the techniques we worked on! Also, I believe I'm going to class again tonight. My roommate really wants to give it a shot, and I told him I'd go with him so he could use my guest pass. My knee blew out again yesterday while working on safety vaults, but it doesn't hurt too bad this morning. I'm hoping it doesn't give me too much trouble tonight, and if worst comes to worst, I'll sit out during vaults in class tonight. They seem to be the only thing giving me a lot of trouble right now.

Week Three! 1. 1 Parkour & 1 Aerial Class Done and done! Hit up parkour, and two aerial classes this week! 2.Post Twice A Week Yep! Barely, haha. I haven't had a lot of down time to hop online, but I'm trying! 3. Prep Two Meals Yes! Made a lot of food in excess this week, so I had plenty of leftovers to munch on 4.Don't check the scale Still in the clear! I'm excited to see that number in a couple weeks. I feel like I'm going to like it, haha

Yessssss! I love it so much! So good! hahaha. And thanks! Thanks so much! I've been trying for a couple weeks, but I wasn't able to get my head off the ground until now

Did something new today! I've never been able to do a backbend before, so I guess the flexibility classes during my shifts at the aerial studio have been paying off. I'm super jazzed about it. Also, a client brought me some boba tea. Bless today.

I went to parkour class tonight! I didn't die! Woo! Definitely took that 20 seconds of courage to get in my car and go, but I'm so glad that I did. It was a blast. Worked on some precision jumps and rolls today. I've noticed I'm kind of terrified of jumping down from things, but the coach today was great. He talked a lot about mind over matter, and building up progressions to assure yourself that you are capable of doing whatever you're about to do. It was incredibly helpful. I'm excited to go back next week.

Week Two! 1. 1 Parkour & 1 Aerial Class Skipped parkour again because I'm all anxious and in my own head about it. But I still went to lyra and aerial yoga. Half credit this week. 2.Post Twice A Week Did it! Definitely lost track of the second half of the week though. Hoping to post more this week though. 3. Prep Two Meals Nope Unless you count saving my left over Chinese food as meal prep. To be far, I was able to go home and cook a bit more than usual this week, but there was certainly plenty of opportunities for me to cook food and take it to work with me. 4.Don't check the scale Going strong on this one. Woo!

Praying for you and Paris during this time of tragedy. I hope you and your friends are all safe <3

Yeah! I'm pretty stoked to have found it! You can check it out here!

I think I'm just letting my fear get in the way when it comes to parkour class. I'm afraid of hurting/ embarrassing myself. But I think I just need to muster up my 20 seconds of courage and show up to class. There's a girl who recently started taking classes on Wednesday night, and she always comes up to me and tells me how nervous she is. I told her that I was just starting with parkour too, and she was so excited. She wants me to update her on my progress every week when she come in. So I'm hoping she'll hold me accountable Today was pretty low key. I had the morning off from the school, so I slept a lot. It was much needed Got in a solid cardio workout, and now I'm at the parkour gym. Looking forward to kicking some ass at the gym tomorrow. Thursdays I get to spend a couple hours working out, and I'm excited to get to work.

It's already almost Wednesday? This week is flying! Yesterday was solid. I had my lyra class, which was fun! I can almost pull myself up to sit in the lyra. I'm sure I'll get it in the next week or so. Unfortunately, they moved the time of my silks class, and I can no longer attend Hopefully I'll be able to find another time that works with my schedule later down the road. I worked at the parkour gym yesterday, and had to call an ambulance for one of the members. He fell while doing strides and dislocated his shoulder. It was kinda scary, but everyone handled the situation really well. Today I only had to work at the elementary school, which is great. I went to the gym after work and busted out a killer cardio session, followed by some upper body strength training. I got home, had dinner, and worked on did a quick ab circuit. Now I'm gonna do laundry, clean my room, and settle down with a glass of wine and some iZombie I was going to go to parkour class tonight, but I've got a bit of a headache and a stuffy nose, and I'd much rather rest and feel up to par tomorrow than push too hard and feel like crap in the morning. Also, I might be a little anxious after last night's incident. I really want to get back to parkour, but I'm starting to wonder if focusing on that AND aerials is too much for this challenge. I feel like I'm pushing myself with aerials, so maybe I'll just keep putting the majority of my energy into that. We'll see.

Oh my gosh, Paris looks lovely. So glad to hear you're having fun exploring! And that's awesome that you're going to teach the other student about photography! That'll be a cool trade, photography lessons for parkour lessons

Let's look at this week- 1. 1 Parkour & 1 Aerial Class Well I skipped parkour, but this week I took: -Lyra -Silks -Aerial Yoga -Aerial Conditioning So I'm gonna give myself credit this week. 2.Post Twice A Week I posted a lot this week...at least for me. I'm not usually super connected to my computer, so I'm glad I was able to make the effort and get online. 3. Prep Two Meals I prepped exactly two meals. I brought a spinach and turkey omelet to work on Friday, and some roasted sweet potato with bacon yesterday. Woo! 4.Don't check the scale Haven't done it yet, but it's driving me crazy. I might just straight up hide the scale in my apartment.

The past couple days have been a little crazy with my work schedule/ trying to be social. I just got a quick cardio workout in on Friday, and opted to sleep in a little instead of going to the gym on Saturday. But Saturday was also my first shift working unsupervised at the parkour gym, and I was definitely feeling anxious about it. But all went well! No one died, and I didn't burn the building down. There was a birthday party at the end of the day, and they offered food and cake to myself and the two coaches that were working. It was super sweet, and I got the opportunity to talk to one of the coaches. I feel like I'm so separated from the coaches all the time, so it was nice to get to know one of my new coworkers a little bit. This morning, we had a weird scheduling error at the aerial studio. We somehow ended up with one person in a fitness class, and we usually cancel the class if there's less than two people. So the instructor asked if I would join, so the other woman wouldn't feel awkward. The class is called Stretch & Sculpt. It combines cardio, flexibility, and circuit training. This was the first time I felt my body start to force quit. I wasn't mentally prepped for the class, and I think that really through me off. I kinda feel like I'm going to die. But it was a good workout, for sure. I've decided to pass on flex class today, just because I haven't eaten anything yet, and I'm feeling a little nauseous. Looking forward to getting some lunch after my shift/ before church. I'm starting to mentally prep myself to go back to parkour class this week. I'm still nervous about my knee, but I think it's at a place where I can do basic movements. I asked a friend to go to class with me, so hopefully that helps. I think I've just gotten in my own head about it. I overheard one of the coaches talking to a kid who hurt himself on the trampoline, and he told him "You can't let it scare you. Learn from it, but don't be afraid of it." So I'm trying to adopt that.

Enjoy the downtime! Sounds like a lovely day

Oh my gosh! Hey neighbor! That's so cool!

Keeping on that aerial grind this week! Decided to go back and take aerial yoga again. This time was a bit easier, and a lot less terrifying. I'm feeling less anxious about hanging upside down, and it's a lot easier when I'm hesitating less. I also took a flexbility class today, which felt a little bit harder than it normally does. I think I was just tired. But my back bend is getting a lot better! I can almost lift my head off the ground. I'm so close! Hopefully I'll get there soon. Also, prepped a meal! (finally!) I've got a nice turkey and spinach omelet ready to bring to work tomorrow. Woo! Kind of a cool little inspiration moment- The billboard across the street from my church recently changed and I feel like it really reaffirms everything that I've been working towards lately. It just says "The moment is here, the time is now." It might be kinda cheesy, but that just feels really relevant right now. I spent so long putting off the person I want to be. I told myself over and over that better circumstances for change will come. But honestly, the moment really is here. There's no reason to wait. There never was.