elli_song

Dang, the sixth week already! It seems like this challenge went much faster than the others I’ve done... Anyway, time for analysis! Goal 1 (Plan meals): Acceptable. Planning is hard! Layering the flu and multiple family crises on top of this challenge made the planning that much less likely to happen, but I am satisfied with what I accomplished. Goal 2 (Morning workout): Dreadful. The morning workouts just fell by the wayside when I started staying up until midnight to study. I keep trying to make this work, but it might be time to admit that morning workouts just aren’t the best fit for me (at least not the 5:30 am ones). Maybe I could be more successful if I planned for later in the morning, or in the afternoon? Goal 3 (1 Hour of exercise): Outstanding. Although I just couldn’t drag myself out of bed in the mornings, I did get a bunch more exercise throughout the day. I started walking to class whenever possible, fitting in smaller workouts in the afternoons, and just being more active playing during my leisure time. This one worked out well for me. Side Quest (Drink water): Acceptable. If I carried a full water bottle with me, I drank it, if only so that I wouldn’t have to carry that weight. However, I left my waterbottle at home quite a bit, and that made the hydration much more challenging. I’m thinking I need to get a couple more water bottles and stash them everywhere – school locker, car, bed, living room, anywhere I might end up without one. Life Goal (Stay connected): Outstanding. I technically failed this one by not posting with any kind of regularity, but I’m giving myself an O anyway because I went above and beyond in meeting the underlying principle for this goal. I stayed in constant contact with my irl support system, I went out to social events that I would normally have skipped, I’ve been stretching outside my comfort zone to speak up in conversations when I would usually just listen, and I even posted pictures on Facebook (which was slightly terrifying and totally unlike me). Seriously, I kicked my social anxiety’s butt this challenge. I’m proud of myself. Added bonus: Although I didn’t specify a weight loss goal for this challenge (because, honestly, I was afraid I wouldn’t meet it), I have officially lost 6 pounds since the start of the challenge! That’s one whole pound per week. Seriously, I struggled this challenge, but I accomplished more than I expected. Go me!

Well, I have been terrifically sick with the flu, but I'm now back up and at 'em. I stayed out of the sugary junk food and soda while I was sick (high five!), but now my big challenge is going to be catching up on all my work. I still need to go grocery shopping, and the house is a wreck, but as I catch back up I think everything should settle back into the (new healthier) routine.

Unfortunately, I was right: I'm miserably sick. My exercise plan has been derailed, but I can opt for healthier comfort foods and pick up the exercise when I feel better. Send happy, healthy thoughts my way.

I feel like I'm coming down with something, but I got my exercise in today by walking around town running errands. It was a double win because I was able to finish off several small errands that have been haunting me. Overall, a pretty productive day and hopefully a healthy tomorrow.

My one mile run time is down from 16:00 to 15:30.

I have monopoly money taped to my fridge, cupboards, and mirrors to remind me that I'm making healthy choices now. And it's great having my family participating along with me. Even if I thought I was going to lose, it would be totally worth it. I've never seen my family this excited about getting healthy before!

I can officially hula hoop for 5 and a half minutes without dropping the hoop! Woot!

I've gotta say, this challenge has started rougher than expected. Only a few days in and already less exercise than planned and one emotional breakdown. But, breathe deep, start over, and I can do this! I am a Nerd Fitness Rebel, and today is the first day of the rest of my life.

I just started a weight loss competition against my other family members, Biggest Loser style, and we each put up a significant sum of money betting that we could lose the highest percentage of body weight to win the cash pool. I am rather poor at the moment, so I really don't want to lose my money. That is why I proposed it in the first place – now I’m not working out because I probably should, but because I can’t afford not to. Literally. Any excuse is invalid. So, now that I have motivation that can’t be denied, I need to define some goals to achieve my mission of keeping my money, and multiplying it by 5. (Note: A regular grading system just doesn’t inspire me, so I went with Harry Potter grades. E for exceeds expectations, O for outstanding, A for acceptable, P for poor, D for dreadful, T for troll.) 1. I will plan my meals for the week ahead of time. This doesn’t have to be too specific, but must be clear. For example, “a serving of fruit†or “a green vegetable†is close enough. E: planned, shopped, and prepared by Sunday, O: planned and shopped by Sunday, A: planned, but no shopping or prep by Sunday, P: planning and preparation for the week finished by Mon, D: planning and prep finished by Wed, T: a week with no planning at all 2. I will wake up early enough every morning to get at least 20 min of exercise. I’m going to leave the type open for creativity, but whatever I choose, it must happen every morning. No excuses. E: every day, O: miss 3, A: miss 6, P: miss 12, D: miss 18, T: miss more than 18 3. I will get a total of one hour of movement per day. That time includes my morning workout, so I can get my hour by extending it, by walking instead of driving, or by scheduling an extra workout later in the day. E: every day, O: miss 4, A: miss 9, P: miss 15, D: miss 20, T: miss more than 20 Side Quest: I will drink half a gallon of water per day. Dehydration will plague me no more. E: every day, O: miss 4, A: miss 9, P: miss 15, D: miss 20, T: miss more than 20 Life Goal: I will stay connected. I will not give in to the impulse to lock myself in my apartment and hide from the world. Bad things happen to those who travel alone. In accordance with this goal, I will commit to posting regularly here. The bare minimum will be every other day. Don’t miss a goal two days in a row! I have already written The Oath of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion on note cards and taped it to my wall. This will be my get up and kill it speech to myself every morning. I will fight for myself and for the Rebellion because I am a winner, and I cannot afford to lose.

Wow, I suddenly realized that this challenge is mostly over and I have failed to provide any update at all. I've been dealing with kind of a crisis situation, and focusing all my energy on reviewing handgun tactics and preparing to flee the country at a moment's notice. (Yes, literally. Am I over-reacting? I sure as hell hope so.) However, all is more-or-less well, and my family and I are currently safe. As far as the challenge goes, I have been pretty serious about meeting my goals. In light of recent circumstances, it is more important to me than ever to be in the best physical condition I can. I have struggled a bit with meeting my water quota because I have to think about it and plan for it constantly, but I started bringing a water bottle with me everywhere and it became much easier. My push ups and 10 minutes of exercise have been easier than anticipated to incorporate into my schedule. So overall, I am doing relatively well. Pray for me, and I will try to update MUCH more regularly for what's left of the challenge.

Her wavy hair showed around the corner first, then slowly, timidly, the rest of the girl came into view. She was small, and almost childlike, but her eyes showed age that contradicted her body. This was a woman who had seen and experienced sadness. Through her pain, however, she had discovered there was more to herself than she realized. In fact, she was magic. She thought everyone must be magic; they just hadn’t seen it yet. How does a thought come into being? How does it find its way through the mind to fuel an action? How do actions lead to thoughts, and thoughts to actions, until a pattern is born that will continue to heal or hurt until a new pattern takes its place? What is a feeling, and how does it work? How are these feelings communicated to others, whether by word, or color, or song? Most people didn’t see the magic in such things, but they were magical none the less. The trick was learning how to control it. In order to train the magic in her mind, Elli_song resolved to think new thoughts in order to create new actions. She resolved to replace the patterns in her mind with new patterns that would heal rather than hurt. The first pattern she hoped to build was one of strength. To do so, she would need to do one push up every day, rain or shine, tired or not. She knew she was a strong woman, and she would remind herself by reveling in her increasing strength on a daily basis. The next pattern she would train was that of persistence. Her soul desired actions that her body could not fulfill, and that had to change. So, she resolved to exercise for 10 minutes every day. It might not seem like much, but 10 minutes would train her mind, which was much more difficult than training her body. There was another pattern of hurt in Elli’s mind that had to be replaced: that of poor health. Elli had become accustomed to a life of unhealthy behavior because she didn’t feel she deserved any better. Now, she saw that she was an invaluable, magical being. She deserved to be happy and healthy, and the first action she chose to take was to drink 64 ounces of water every day. The summer months were fast approaching, and she remembered with a shudder her mortal enemy: heat. Elli missed her cool, moderate homeland by the sea, but she knew she could bring a part of her home with her everywhere: water. Water was the only way to finally defeat her archenemy, the sun. So, water bottle in hand, she would face the dawn unafraid. With these actions now resolved, Elli allowed her shoulders to relax. In the six weeks to come, she would retrain the patterns in her mind, shoving her thoughts out of the well-worn paths leading to destruction. She concluded that these new thoughts would need to be armed with machetes to tackle the jungle of her mind, but she would arm them. Elli had learned that she controlled her magic; it did not control her any more. She breathed deeply, knowing that tomorrow’s dawn would bring a whole new day. She would face the dawn and her heart would sing of its newfound freedom.

Challenge Conclusion: Morning Yoga - C I did my yoga often, but not daily, and almost never in the morning as I originally intended. Maybe from now on I should just plan on evening yoga; that seems much more doable for me. Vitamins - B I missed a few days here and there, but I did discover the underlying reasons for my hatred of vitamins, so overall this mission was a success. Writing - C Again, I did a lot more writing than ever before, but I didn't quite make it daily. I give myself a C for progress. Push ups - A+ I am very proud of my success with this goal. I worked out consistently, and it paid off with my FIRST PUSH UP EVER!! It has since been followed with my second push up ever, and third. It feels so awesome! I have done a push up every day since, and I think that's a trend I definitely want to continue.

Challenge Conclusion: Morning Yoga - C I did my yoga often, but not daily, and almost never in the morning as I originally intended. Maybe from now on I should just plan on evening yoga; that seems much more doable for me. Vitamins - B I missed a few days here and there, but I did discover the underlying reasons for my hatred of vitamins, so overall this mission was a success. Writing - C Again, I did a lot more writing than ever before, but I didn't quite make it daily. I give myself a C for progress. Push ups - A+ I am very proud of my success with this goal. I worked out consistently, and it paid off with my FIRST PUSH UP EVER!! It has since been followed with my second push up ever, and third. It feels so awesome! I have done a push up every day since, and I think that's a trend I definitely want to continue.

I was starting to think I might not get it this challenge, and trying not to be too disappointed, but today it finally happened. I CAN DO A PUSH UP! Only one, but seriously, first real push up ever! *wild applause*

I had a very productive spring break. I accomplished most of the things I set out to, like cleaning the apartment and stocking the cupboards with food. I also had a lot of work done on the car. I just wanted to say that I'm SUPER proud of myself today because I installed a new hood lift support (the piston that holds the hood open) on my car today. The old one was stuck, and I had finally given up and called a male friend with more upper body strength to help me. Then I decided to give it one last try with the pry bar, and it worked! I seriously love increases in functional body strength. That's where it's at!