TourdeForce

sounds like you're in such a great mental space, and that can only help you achieve your goals! Glad you had a fantastic weekend, and enjoyed yourself and didn't overanalyse or feel guilty, but just got back to gym and good eating! Such awesomeness

argh sorry to hear the doctor troubles. Hopefully you can find a new one. In the meantime keep up with the swimming and the cardio and easting well! Hope the end of the challenge went ok!?

I didn't fall off the Earth I promise!! Things have been really busy finishing up at work, so so much going on. I also finished up my last month at the gym, so haven't been doing any BW workouts. BUt, I did go hiking the Ngong Hills, which were insanely hard! 6 hillls, VERY VERy steep, I would say we did maybe 10kms in total. It was great practice, and very beautiful. Also been keeping up with weekend walks in the forest, so not too bad. I did give up on the running though as it was hurting my knees. Maybe when I've lost more weight I can try again. Luckily Cape Town has beautiful hikes all over the place so when I get home I will continue with all the walking! We leave for Mt Kenya on Saturday morning....eeeeeek! But hopefully will be ok. Mostly packed, my folks arrive today- yippee! Tomorrow is my last day at work, and then that's it. Will post pictures when we get back. Thanks to everyone for coming along on this slightly wobbly journey! As I will be doing a lot of travelling/holidaying/moving I will be skipping the next challenge, but back in the new year and getting settled into new Nerdfitness life at home. Whoop!

Thank you all!!! The food poisoning has abated, leaving only large bruises on my hands where the nurse poked me with many injections...more war wounds. The party was pretty fun, not too much drinking and lots of dancing, which was pretty brave of me. It was a very late night early morning, so I slept in til almost noon on Sunday! But then I got up, and it was hot and sunny, and before I even thought about it I put my swimsuit on and dived into the pool to clear my head. Divine! Then called the taxi and went for my walk in the forest! Whoop! I made sure I had plenty of water to rehydrate myself. Think I shaved about 3 minutes off my previous hike, did the 10k in 1:54. Also finished the first series of the Hitchhiker's Guide radio program, really does make the walking enjoyable when you're laughing out loud at Douglas Adams' brilliance. I wore braces on both my knees and they seem to be ok this week, so that's good. I haven't been back to gym, but will go tomorrow and do a bodyweight workout. I also made a new friend and we're hopefully going to go for a hike in the Ngong Hills this weekend, which will be different from the forest, plus company. Then just 2 weeks to go....eeeeeek!

Do it Leothil! For the vegetables! It is hard though, when one person can eat whatever and one person is trying to eat more healthily. Good work choosing the veggies for yourself! Sorry about your hip, I hope you can try do some stretches to try ease the pain. And definitely give yourself some leeway on exercising, don't want to injure yourself too badly! Have a good weekend!!

*sigh* such a pity. But agreed, it's hard to keep up a relationship when only one of you is a bibliophile. Still, new friends are good! Hope things are getting a bit better with the stress and exhaustion. And your cake-baking friend sounds like the most amazingly good human on Earth, so glad you got to have cake! Hope you have a good weekend!

WHOOP!!! 3 fist pushups!!!! That's awesome! Sorry, also been away for a bit so catching up, but sounds like things are going well - at least what is noticeable is the change in attitude about food. My shopping list looks exactly like yours every week, I make chicken thighs, beef patties and boiled eggs (well I did, but I've somewhat gone off eggs ) and then green veg and fruit. It helps me to not have to make decisions beyond should I have chicken or beef today? And when I'm already having internal battles about going to gym or not drinking too much wine it does simplify things. It does also help in a way that your body reacts so strongly to a slice of bread, now it's just the process of reminding your brain that instant gratification (that delicious glass of wine in my case) equals delayed pain later (the throbbing headache and dull nausea of a mild hangover now that I'm no longer as young and strong of body as I once was). Anyway, glad you had a good weekend in Santa Monica and got out in lots of fresh air and sunshine! Keep up the awesomeness!

Caught up! (well not really, but I mean you're halfway to Moat Cailin, that's hardly my fault! ) Anyway squueeeeeeeee cos Aussie holidays and I'm sure it will be so much fun! Sorry about the stupid bikinis, I don't understand how hard it is for all the people that make clothes make them according to actual measurements, but there you go. However I do think you'll be able to find amazing stuff in Oz, so take what you have and then you get to do a quick shop there, with the added bonus that one day in the future someone will compliment your awesome swimsuit and you can casually say 'why thank you, I bought it in Australia this one time I went halfway around the world cos I'am awesome....' WIN!

omg ALL of the yumness! I will definitely be investing in some sort of device to make zoodles when I get back home, those look amazing, and my weakness is most definitely pasta. You look like things are getting back on track with Mr Kailer in the house and as long as you keep trying to make better choices you are awesome! Also, great idea to do weightloss/maintenance together to keep each other both motivated and sane. yay!

yeah, looks like things are going well! Plus all the reading!

Glad to hear things are on the mend! How's the running going?

Just caught up, so glad you're getting into the swim classes (altho the getting up early is HARD!) but if it's something you enjoy then that's awesome! Plus also less strenuous on the knee, which I for one am very supportive of!! Hope you have a good weekend, and watch the knee!

ooh just caught up and that was an awe-inspiring post. tingles in my toes! I think you would be brilliant at an inspirational/motivational blog thing...also yes with the volunteering, I also rage at the injustice but do nothing about it because excuse excuse excuse. I also want to get into doing something helpful, although I'm not sure how my excellent knowledge of wine and food pairing can help people. But I do have other talents, and most importantly time! Would be great to see how you manage all that. I'm also glad you took some time to readjust your goals and fit everything into life. It's tough to keep things up, but that will help! Finally, good job on the interview, hope everything turns out just the way you hope!! ps, I'm totally there like The Flash to NF Oktoberfest! Hell's yes! pps If you guys ever find yourselves in Southern Africa I have a couch and know all the best secret wine farms in the Cape...

aaaargh, so right when I was back on track I managed to give myself food poisoning. This is not something I would wish on my worst enemy...I think it was probably a lack of keeping track of how long the eggs had been in the fridge, and also how they were soft-boiled. Anyway, I spent part of the day at the local clinic in a freezing room with an IV drip after the nurse kept poking holes into my hands as she couldn't find a vein, and then thankfully they let me go home to sleep off the rest of it in my warm bed. That was Wednesday, and today I am mostly back to normal, although I have avoided eating too much besides fruit and yoghurt. I swear the amount of things I have experienced in this one year, both good and bad, is extraordinary. And this is before I've even got to climbing the mountain or going to the Maasai Mara! Anyway, so another thing to tick off the "life-lived" list in my head. I will try for a quick forest walk/run tomorrow, but will definitely go for a long one on Sunday. I'm having a small farewell party tomorrow, so I'll likely be a little hungover, but I desperately need to walk so will go anyway. Probably do me the world of good. This challenge is threatening to be derailed again but I will not let it! On the plus side I have drunk gallons of water since Wednesday...

gah, ok week 3 update: nope, nada, zero knees were not cooperative AT ALL, but I did get some braces and have been wearing them at work and I think the worst is over. I did have to laugh when I went to the pharmacy to get the knee braces and found them on the bottom shelf, requiring me to bend my creaky knees to get some. not smart people! Also made a crapton of bone broth so will have lots this week, and maybe that will help get some collagen into the knee caps. Anyway, so had to take a bit of a week off, BUT I'm feeling much better today. I will go to gym in the morning and do BWW and try do some knee-strengthening exercises as well. And try catch up with everyone on here -