Vasilis777

Did't go well this time around... I've had a chest cold that just will not quit... I finally could breath well without coughing this morning so got in a good 20 minute workout with Xbox Fitness. I have avoided soda for the most part this challenge but did not track my calories though I think I did pretty good I can't know for sure. The worst has been the sleep routine, I've been staying up way too late but recently I've been doing really good at getting up at 7 to get my son when he wakes up and then not going back to bed (which I used to always do)... But now I'm getting up bringing him to his mom to nurse etc. and then going and getting ready. I need to not use him as my alarm clock though because while he does wake up at 7 most mornings which gives me enough time to workout and get ready it's not a guarantee.. so I need to start getting up at 6:30 (which will be easier when I go to bed at a reasonable hour) and then my workout should be done right around when he wakes up and I can still help there. So I'm working on it, just haven't been consistent or healthy enough to post regularly. I feel like this cold is finally behind me so I can breath well and start exercising regularly.

Thanks! I'm excited that the weight loss seemed to move forward uninterrupted. I've still stuck with the eating healthy and tracking calories etc. Yeah it was a very rough January between him and me being sick. It was more sad to see him sick but we've both made a full recovery! Now I need to focus in and more than anything get back to the sleep schedule. The overview of this week so far has been the same pattern of staying up too late, sleeping in too late, and not exercising much.. However, on the bright side I did track calories and avoid soda so halfway. I'm aiming work on it this weekend so next week I come back in strong.

I posted a new topic in the new challenge to explain what happened to this challenge.. Sickness struck and so I jump out to get healthy again (which I now am)!

Ok so the last challenge I started off really well was working hard and seeing results. Then sickness struck. My 9 month old son came down with Pink Eye, then an ear infection and RSV he had a very hard week and I decided helping him heal was more important then staying on track. I still did my best but then I came down with Pink Eye and a bacterial cold in my lungs and throat which made it hard to see and breath. So I took the last two weeks and I rested so that I could get fully healthy and take on the next challenge full force rather then limp uselessly through the last one. So here we go! Goal #1 Keep track of calories daily on MyFitnessPal (2 points if I only keep track 4 points if I stay under) WIS + CHA Goal #2 No Soda (4 points if 50-100% 2 points if 0-50%) END+WIS Goal #3 Work Out with MOSSA Fight Tues, Thurs, Sat (or equivalent exercise) 2 points to END Work Out with MOSSA Power Mon, Fri (or equivalent exercise) 2 points to STR Goal #4 (Life Goal) Go to bed by 10:30 and Wake up at 6:30 on all days but Thursday into Friday (4 points if both done 75+% 2 points if one done 75+% or both 50+% or 0 points if 1 under 50%) WIS+CHA I did continue to eat as healthy as I could though I was sick so I actually have seen some good progress still. I started the last one weighing 220 I am now hanging around 212-214 So here goes a good forward progress month!

Sunday: Goal #1 I tracked calories today and stayed under pretty well. As an added bonus I now weigh in at 215 which is a good start of 5 pounds in the first 2 weeks! Goal #2 I did have soda this night with the youth group as we watch the Steelers game. I only had two cups which is still better than usual but still not perfect. Goal #3 I did not work out today as it was a day off of exercise (though I did meet my step goal on Google Fit for the first time in a while) Goal #4 I got up around 7:30 again then I went to bed Sunday night right around 10:30.

Saturday: Goal #1 I used this as my off day for the week so I did not track calories Goal #2 I actually did not have soda this day either despite the off day, Instead with our wings for dinner we had sparking flavored water. I know that's not perfect but it is better than soda. Goal #3 I did not work out as I was attempting to give my body rest to hopefully get over this cold. Goal #4 I unfortunately broke my good habit that I had built in the week and again got up around 7:30 and then went to bed late after watching the Packers loss in the playoffs

Friday: Goal#1 Tracked calories today even though it is usually my off day for that. I knew the Packers were going to play Saturday Night and I'd want to snack during that plus my church had a men's breakfast in the morning Saturday which I couldn't control so I chose to have Saturday be my free day instead. Goal #2 No soda today Goal #3 I was going to workout today but I've had a rough cold for a while and it actually got worse last week while working out because I think I used my energy to fight the cold on working out. So my wife encouraged me to rest this weekend to hopefully recover. Goal #4 I went to bed pretty late because today was my off day to wake up early so I woke up pretty late on Friday. I then went to bed around 11 on Friday night which was a little off also.. I've begun to learn something.

Ok here come the weekend updates: Thursday: Goal #1 I tracked calories all day and stayed under. It was a pretty good day in all. Goal#2 No soda today Goal #3 I woke up in the morning and did the MOSSA Fight that was the third day exercising that week. Goal #4 I woke up bright and early right at 6:29 with just enough time to stop my alarm so it didn't wake up my family and got right up. Looks like my body got used to the routine some. Friday was a day to sleep in (my day off) so I went to bed around 12 that night which is ok.

Ok Wednesday was a good day! Goal #1 Tracked Calories all day and ate a good amount this time. I figured out some healthy snacks I can eat which will give me a few extra calories to get me to the 1200 I have to eat to be deemed "healthy" but go nowhere near the 1750 I'm limited to. Goal #2 No soda once again Goal #3 I had a day off of working out today but I did lead worship for the Wed. night service at my church which is a lot of singing and playing guitar which is a good workout in itself. Goal #4 I went to bed right around 10:30-11:00 and slept less soundly as my son has a bit of a cold and didn't sleep well. However, I woke up right at 6:29 a minute before my alarm went off and got up and went downstairs and read! It seems my body is getting used to the new routine

Just curious, I come from the Rangers and they as well as a lot of the other Guilds have mini-quests for everyone to do that brings additional goals etc. Do we do that here in the Monastery?

Tuesday was a very good day I seem to have fallen into a pretty good routine at least morning and evening, my day time schedule keeps getting interrupted but I've still been relatively productive. Goal #1 I tracked calories once again all day and once again somehow didn't eat enough calories.. I decided that was better than just snacking on random things until I had enough so I stuck with not enough. Goal #2 No soda today it was good and has been easier than I thought it would be. Goal #3 I got myself out of bed in time to work out before heading into work. I did MOSSA Fight and it was very good to work out two days in a row but wow the soreness that comes from that! Goal #4 I went to bed Monday right around 10:30 and got up somewhere between 6:30 and 7:00. I'll have a better story of waking up tomorrow when I discuss today

Update for Monday: Monday was a pretty good day, it's the start to the week I wanted to have last week but messed up.. So anyway here we go. Goal #1 I tracked calories all day and unfortunately I forgot to pack my lunch so I ended up with too few calories at the end of the day which MyFitnessPal didn't like but which I was ok with because I didn't feel that hungry and had no headache from hunger. Goal #2 Had no soda again today which is very good I'm trying to stick to this as best I can. Goal #3 I got up Monday morning and did MOSSA Power getting lots of weight lifting in. It felt good to get a workout in that morning and started of my day well. Goal #4 I went to bed right around 10:30 on Sunday evening and got up bright and early at 6:45 which still kept me on track in the morning so it works well.

Finally Sunday: Goal #1 Unfortunately I did not track calories today either. Goal #2 My wife and I watched my Packers play in the Wild Card game and had some pizza and soda to go with that. Goal #3 No exercise today it's an off day Goal #4 I went to bed Saturday at 10:30 and got up by 7:00 waking up at 6:30.

Ok Saturday this was an interesting day. Goal #1 I did not track calories today I used it as my off day. Goal #2 My wife and I watched her Steelers play in the Wild Card game and so we ate some subs and had some root beer but today was my off day so it was counted in. Goal #3 I did no do MOSSA today however I went to help a friend who is doing construction on his house to get ready to sell it and so I did lifting and construction for 5 hours which is equivalent. Goal #4 I went to bed Friday night a little late and got up a little late.

Alright here comes a series of posts to cover the weekend... I generally don't get on a computer much over the weekend so I'll probably update Friday-Sunday on Monday's So here is Friday: Goal #1 I track my calories and was actually planning to use this day as a day to not follow the calorie goal to closely but at the end of the day I was pretty well under... So I moved my free day back one. Goal #2 No soda today so good once again. Goal #3 Today I did not do the MOSSA Power exercise because it never worked out for me to use the Kinect however I did do some weight lifting before I went to bed so it was about the equivalent. Goal #4 Thursday Night's my goal is to go to bed at midnight at the latest and be up 7:30 on my day off Friday. So that's basically what I did.

Well yesterday was a pretty good day. I didn't do the make up work out because I slept over a little bit again (don't worry that didn't happen again today but I'll get to that tomorrow) I also didn't want to workout in the evening then wake up and workout in the morning again for my first two workouts.. I figured lets just take the lose and get back on track. Anyway here we go with the goals Goal #1 Tracked calories and was under by over 100 this time. I wanted to snack the evening but chose not to and drank water instead. This has been going well and even the nutrients haven't been that bad. Goal #2 No Soda once again Goal # 3 As I said earlier this was supposed to be a day off and I decided instead of making it up this week I'd just get back on track today instead. Goal # 4 I over slept a bit this day... I woke up with my alarm at 6:30 but decided to "rest my eyes" and ended up waking up at 7:41 which meant it was time to head to shower and head to work. Last evening though I did go to bed at 10:15 read for a while and just as I rolled over and said goodnight to my wife our son cried. So I got up and rocked him back to sleep and finally laid down and slept sometime around 11:00. Though that's the case I was in the going to sleep process relaxing and laying in bed not looking at screens well before 10:30 so I'm counting it.

MOSSA does MMA style exercises on the Xbox One Xbox Fitness. The Fight one is the more MMA one and the power is more weightlifting but since it's all based on MMA I figured the Monks would be a good group to fit in with. Now yesterday. Goal #1 I tracked my calories all day and stayed under the goal by 99 cal. The nutrients were decent too. With watching what I eat for just 2 days I've already gone down 1 lb, I know that's probably water weight or something but it still feels good to see a little progress already. When I get the sleep schedule and workouts going strong it's going to get really good! Goal #2 No soda for me again. Just my morning coffee then nighttime milk and water all the way in between. Also staying hydrated fixed the headache I started yesterday with so good news there. Goal #3 Here's where it gets less good... I did not do the workout again unfortunately, the headache made waking up on time hard and then I didn't have much time the rest of the day after waking up late, however my plan is to do MOSSA Fight today even though it's supposed to be an off day because I've got to get this started. Goal #4 As mentioned I let my headache excuse me from getting up on time yesterday which is my fault. I also was up until 11 last night as well because I wasn't disciplined enough to stop the movie my wife and I were watching at 30 minutes left and go to bed... I'm really learning that I've got to be more disciplined and do the things my body doesn't necessarily want to do. The laziness of my body has controlled my schedule too much over the years and it's time to take back control.

Indeed those are powerful tools! I've realized that sleep schedule and getting up on time are essential to the rest of the day going on time. Yesterday was a slow start to the week. Goal #1 was fully accomplished. I tracked the calories and was 87 under with my other nutritional facts pretty close to what was needed. Goal #2 was a good one. I was very tempted because the refrigerator at work is suddenly stocked full with LBC glass bottle cream sodas which I loved in college... but I grabbed the water next to it and moved on Now I'm just focusing on refilling this water bottle so that I don't have to return to the fridge any time soon. Goal #3 was not so good.. I did not work out doing MOSSA Power. I did lift a few boxes full of books which was a small portion of what I would have done but not enough to be equivalent. I blame this on the failure of Goal #4 which I will get to and blame on something else in a minute... haha Goal #4 This one is tricky to talk about day to day because the quest hadn't started when the going to bed for the waking up happened which is very essential to the waking up. So the Packers were playing for the NFC North Championship and I'm a big Green Bay fan so I stayed up to watch them lose.... which got me to bed Sunday close to if not a little after midnight which made me not get the sleep I needed to wake up easily at 6:30 (of course I could have manned up and gotten up anyway... but I didn't..) However on the positive side I did go to sleep at 10:30 last night which is good. I'll discuss the waking up for today tomorrow as that will go on my overview of today, which I will post tomorrow... yeah.. haha So a 50% day but I'm just getting started so here we go 2016

Rising from the ashes of the Rangers Vasilis777 looks about for a place to live, a place to call home, even if it's a place for just a few weeks, maybe for. In the distance he sees a group of peaceful but ferocious looking people practicing battle, balancing and striking without weapons. As he runs up he finds a group of people that may be where he can stay. He steels himself, flexes his muscles and prepares to join the Monks. Here's my new set of goals and let's see how it goes! Goal #1 Keep track of calories daily on MyFitnessPal (2 points if I only keep track 4 points if I stay under) WIS + CHA Goal #2 No Soda (4 points if 50-100% 2 points if 0-50% Goal #3 Work Out with MOSSA Fight Tues, Thurs, Sat (or equivalent exercise) 2 points to END Work Out with MOSSA Power Mon, Fri (or equivalent exercise) 2 points to STR Goal #4 (Life Goal) Go to bed by 10:30 and Wake up at 6:30 on all days but Thursday into Friday (4 points if both done 75+% 2 points if one done 75+% or both 50+% or 0 points if 1 under 50%) I chose these goals because they are my general plan to be fit and healthy and the life one is what should set up the rest of my goals in life this year which is to follow a good schedule and be productive but it all starts with getting good sleep and getting up on time.

Sooo if the challenge starts on January 4th when exactly can we register for it and create this newfangled character page doohickey? I've ignored my fitness far too much in 2015 and I'm liking what I'm seeing here with the changes so far! So I'm back!

Oh one addition while I have been going to bed closer to midnight or 1AM I actually have been getting up around 7:30 so still doing good at getting up!

Good news, I still keep forgetting to keep track of food but over the past week I've done the equivalent of my exercises (been very active out in the snow [including pushing my car alone out of a stuck position :-/]) However I also have been going to sleep rather late (this is literally because the way we are heating right now (saving up to heat more efficiently by next winter (first winter with baby Nathanael ) is that we can only get our bedroom and living room warm and cozy so what has happened is that my wife gets very cozy on the couch but I haven't warmed up the bedroom yet so I usually wait downstairs with my wife while the bedroom heats up and the living room cools down but don't wanna sleep on the couch haha. So I play video games instead (or workout). This will definitely improve as the temp improves or I better remember to warm up the bedroom earlier. Anyway the good news I wanted to post was that I had my yearly physical and while being overweight (though the doctor did not say anything about that) I was told I am in perfect health as well as the comment that their first blood pressure reading was slightly high only because they used a normal size pad and because I have larger biceps than most they needed to use the bigger pad 8-) I don't see it but that sounds like somethings going good!

Well it hasn't been going super well on anything except for going to bed @ 11. I have done that consistently this whole time and this morning I woke up at 6:30 and got up but then came back to bed (because it was freezing in the house) to read and fell asleep again... So not exactly what I'm going for.. I think my main problem right now is the fact of how cold it is. That combined with having to move our coffee table and area rug in the living room in order to do my workouts makes it far to much I have to do in the cold to overcome with my desire to do it... So I feel as though I will be much better when it is warmer but at the same time I feel like I'm just making excuses and need to just do this thing. I remember how good it felt to be regularly working out and eating right and losing weight. Alright that's it. I'm just gonna set myself to do this thing from this point forward, no more excuses!

Alright so Wed is a day off of working out for me but not the other stuff. Good news first is that I tracked food all day which was great Nutrition posted below The not so half good news is that I got up around 7:45 better than the past but not as good as it has been and unfortunately I went to bed past midnight... So that's not a good go no credit for that today... Anyway back to on track today!!

Nice goals! Sounds like a great plan! It's good to see some familiar people still hanging around with the rangers after my long hiatus. Keep up the good work if you work at all this it sounds like you could have most aspects of life headed in a good direction! Plus it's great that your kids are involved in athletic stuff and you're working out with your husband! it's a whole family thing which is great!