TMedina

http://www.today.com/home/life-changing-magic-tidying-testing-marie-kondos-method-t21356?cid=sm_fbn Marie Kondo's "Art of Tidying" in under a minute three minutes (give or take).

No, an epic scar. This is a huge Scar.

Hey! Just checking in - how's it going?

RAWR! You got this!

Or this is why you're still alive. Romantic comedies and horror films often have similar beginnings. (That thinking might explain why I'm single. )

Nothing wrong with that at all. As the old expression goes, "sometimes your grand purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others." Good call on using the tape measure - that tends to be a more reliable measure - right up there with "how are the clothes fitting".

Welcome to Nerd Fitness!

Hi! Welcome to Nerd Fitness!

Welcome to Nerd Fitness!

Don't beat yourself up over food. Slates is absolutely right that you can't out-exercise a bad diet. In the same breath, nothing will change overnight. *And* you have a lot of real life stuff going on - a full shift, plus four tests? Yikes. You don't have the spare energy to stress about food and weight and exercise. Pick something you can do that's physical, and relaxing. Go for a walk, stretch, something that's physical that you don't have to put a lot of thought into - the more effort you have to put forth to learn something new is less effort you have for the rest of your life which is pretty freaking full right now. And if you can't concentrate on learning something new, you're going to be stressing over that as well - and you don't need more stress. Take baby steps on the diet. Decide to be mindful of your choices. Ask yourself why you're eating. Try a healthy alternative if there's one to be had. Forgive yourself for being human if you find yourself eating from boredom or stress. There is a difference between screaming at yourself for failing, and a gentle chiding and a reminder that this isn't what you want, and you can do better. Some people react well to the internal screaming and chastisement, others not so much.

The lack of schedule, as I'm sure you can attest to, makes it pure hell to try and schedule regular physical activity. Moreover, it's a stressor for your body, which impacts your food intake and cravings. We're programmed for a fairly regular routine of physical activity; the modern life makes a hash of that. Can you make an "inner" schedule of sorts? A sub-routine when you wake up, regardless of day shift or night shift? Or is everything too topsy-turvy?

Awesome. Good luck!

Woooot!

Eeeeek, hope you feel better soon. And that it isn't anything more serious.

You have never really failed until you stop trying. It's trite, but true. Every day, in some way, a little better than before. Does your schedule fluctuate a lot? Can you pencil in the same time every day to some stretching? Like right after brushing, but before a shower? (And welcome to Nerd Fitness. )

Brown rice and whole wheat bread aren't bad - those are complex carbs, rich in fiber and generally helpful for feeling "full". And it helps keep you regular, which is also a good thing. Carbs in general get a bad rap, in my opinion, because we use them incorrectly. They're also cheap - far cheaper, in a lot respects, than other options. So tend to eat more of the simple carbs than we should because our actual energy expenditure doesn't match what our stomach says (allowing for increased demands for calories from stress). Protein is also great for feeling fuller, longer. It also blunts the insulin spike from simple carbs like white rice or pasta. That said, it doesn't have to come from meat, as I'm sure you know. I just prefer feeling like a carnivore. For the type of strength lifting you're describing, I honestly think you aren't eating enough. If you haven't already, I suggest reading Spezzy's personal history blurb: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/ Also, Starsapart: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2015/04/16/maya-ss/ I find it helpful to read about real people and see what they've done, know that it worked for them, and occasionally find a tip or trick that will fit my needs.

Some suggestions for working on the shoulders and lower back - start stretching. Yoga is a popular approach, but even taking the time for doing basic stretches can help alleviate pain and soreness from both overuse or underuse. Weight loss - I hate these quests. Not that they aren't good quests, but we tend to fixate on scale numbers and get stressed when the numbers don't go down the way we think they should, and being stressed keeps us from losing weight, or eating more, and it becomes a vicious cycle. So be patient with yourself on this one - Galad didn't find the Grail in a day, neither did Indy. Side quests: giving up fizzy drinks is hard. No, really. Between the sugar, or substitute sugar, and caffeine, these things are dangerous. What is it about the fizzies that you like? The caffeine? The energy buzz? I think your goals look good, personally. Why did your last challenge fail?

Oy! Add in "be more forgiving of yourself" - there are no such things as "rubbish goals". And since there are no rubbish goals, you obviously can't suck at them.

1. Agree with the scale comments - stop looking. I know it's tough, but it's also a horrible, horrible frenemy to have. Mostly because it doesn't tell you about your body composition - a pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle, right? Obvious? But a pound of muscle is a wee, tiny, compact thing. A pound of fat, as I can personally attest to, is not so wee, nor tiny, nor small. 2. You haven't mentioned specifically what you're doing in terms of strength training or cardio, but even at a bare minimum, good grief, I don't know how your body can function on 1,200 calories a day. Part of the reason why your body hasn't changed much might be because you're into starvation mode, and then you're trying to coax it into burning precious stores of energy to fuel, and repair, the exercise. Don't focus on calorie restriction. You need to eat. This is an official thing. The better question is, what are you eating? 3. Figure out what healthy snacks you like. Keep those around the house. If you're going to stuff your face with fruits all day, awesome. Chips, ice cream, soda - not so much. The only way I can keep myself from eating chips and junk food at home is to not keep it in the house: this might not be an option for you, based on circumstances. The question was already asked - where do you eat out? And what kinds of things do you order? In all honesty, junk food x2 a week, fast food x3 a week, and the occasional beer is not bad. It's not flawless, but we're not aiming for flawless, we want realistic and attainable.

Or the best motivation possible.

I forgot to ask how you weathered the storms, but it looks like you did it pretty well.

The book is "The Shyness and Social Anxiety Workbook for teens: CBT and ACT Skills to help you build social confidence (instant help book for teens)" by Jennifer Shannon. I picked it up for a couple of reasons: 1) it was an ebook from the library and easy to put hands on (download) 2) written for teens, the material approach was simplified and streamlined 3) ACT is based on, or heavily-influenced by the idea of mindfulness and personal awareness, which I've been reading about before I found the book to be pretty helpful overall - it identified a number of the false stories we tell ourselves, the "worst case scenarios" we tend to jump to, and identified the sequence of events flowing from a trigger event and how to assess and respond to the chain. In a nutshell: event creates thought which creates emotion/physiological response which creates reaction. So then evaluate the thought that follows the event, consider the physiological response to the thought, and then the reaction (which, for us, tends to be avoidance - although it could be self-deprecating humor, or any of a number of defense mechanisms we invoke.) A related book to explore the idea of ACT is "The Happiness Trap" - the author has a couple of these books; "The Illustrated Happiness Trap: How to stop struggling and start living" by Russ Harris. To be clear, the book for teens isn't a pick-up manual, nor does it offer tips, tricks, and strategies for *how* to talk to people, or reading body language, or making small talk. It's focused purely on the reader's, well, social anxiety and how to stop reacting to it by avoiding social situations. That said, I see how the ACT concept manifests to other areas of self-evaluation and contemplation.

Welcome! Because we over-think the process and read way too much into it. And I might have been reading a teen's guide to social anxiety earlier in the week.

Ugh, that sucks. Glad to see you're making it work!

Another article on Minimalism. All that is old is new again. http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/01/do-something-decluttering