erinbtroll

You are a wise woman for focusing your challenge on healing. As you k ow from being a Whole9er, you know sleep is the most important, so stay hyper-focused on that, kthx. Also, sorry I'm not coming to play today. Mostly bc of the snow, but also being a mama comes with all kinds of scheduling things one cannot always anticipate. Its very weird. Have a great weekend, sleep lots and kick this challenge's arse!!

So damn proud of you with your self talk success!!!!!!!!!!!

They're fine since I didnt run very far. Just have to wear the better shoes.

Day 1: Whole30 compliant 100% - 5xp constitution, 5xp intelligence. After 2 complete Whole 30's I'm pretty much a pro at the first few days, so this was easy peasy. But I'm all about free points. Day 2: Whole30 compliant 100% - 5xp constitution, 5 xp intelligence. C25K Week1, Day 1 complete - 10xp constitution. Again, Whole 30 is not tough for me at this point. Running however, is a huge challenge. While I was running,, my butt muscles hurt because of the large amount of fat that was putting stress on the tissues with all the jiggling. Can't wait for that to stop being the case. My instinct about running on a treadmill was correct, though: the treadmill pulls you along and I never once felt "I can't keep going." That was nice. I did notice that the bottom of my toes on my right foot felt numb. I tried to make sure I was putting weight on my foot evenly and I wasn't ever in pain or real discomfort, but there it is. I probably need new shoes to properly carry this overweight frame through the stresses of running, but I won't be making that investment until it's clear that I'm going to run on a regular basis. I did the walking portions of the workout at 2.5-ish mph. The running part was at 4 mph. When I realized that was a lousy 15 minute mile I was pretty disappointed but I know that faster times will come with work. Day 3: Whole30 compliant 100% - 5xp constitution, 5xp Intelligence. I planned to clean for 20 minutes in the evening while The Dimpled Wonder (DW) was in the shower or doing something else. When I picked him up at 5:30, we spent 20 minutes tracking down his winter coat and dinner took WAY longer to make than I'd planned and at this point the kitchen was such a mess, I could barely be in there to keep the food from burning. I read my book for a few minutes in an attempt to regain my motivation for the evening. When I put my book down and DW was in the shower, I had a fight with myself inside my head. "You have to get up. I don't want to, I hate cleaning. You have to get up, you want those 5 points, you want to be successful in this journey at least the _first_ week. I hate cleaning so much, I'm almost afraid of it, I don't know where to start and the house is going to be a mess even after 20 minutes." So I just laid on the couch and then snuggled DW until we both fell asleep. I woke up about 10 when DH got home from work and stumbled into bed. Day 4: Cleaned ~60 minutes - 15xp wisdom. The wheels came off, in a big way, Thursday morning. When I came out to the kitchen, I remembered something I was supposed to cook the night before for breakfast and without it, my breakfast wasn't going to be complete or yummy. I wouldn't have been able to cook anything anyway in the mess and so I was doubly upset with myself - for forgetting something I needed and failing to do what was necessary to make sure I could do it in the first place. So I gave up on Whole30 for the day and stopped at Kwik Star and got a breakfast sandwich, a coffee with creamer...and a banana. Baby Brother (BB) reminded me, later in the morning, that this journey is NOT about the accomplishments but about the work of retraining. So I was able to say to myself "I tried REALLLLLLLLY hard to get off the couch last night to clean" and I knew being afraid of cleaning was something to be addressed. So, even though I'd caved when things got rough and I felt like a total failure, as the day went on, I was able to see that these mis-steps (even when they happen after only 2 good days) are part of learning and retraining myself. When I got home that night, I was able to clean for about an hour while watching the news. Later in the evening when I was out of steam for cleaning, I found my self "afraid" of sitting down to update NF (ergo the insane update now) and of applying for any jobs...a new one is needed desperately. I don't know why I find myself in those headspaces. Hopefully a counselor of some sort can help me navigate and ultimately conquer my own weirdness. It wasn't a perfect day by any stretch, but I also I cooked dinner for DH and finished my book. The house wasn't clean, but it was more clean than it was 60 minutes before and so I'll take it. Day 5: Cleaned ~90 minutes - 20xp wisdom C25K Week 1, Day 2 complete - 10xp constitution I was whole 30 compliant all day until I found a stash of "cheesy garlic bread" chips hidden in the cupboard. I only ate about 1 actual serving, but Whole 30 is all or nothing. So I start over again tomorrow. I guess Whole 30 cannot be put on auto pilot. Dammit for having to put effort into everything. When I got home from work, I put my iPod in my ears with my next audio book and cleaned the entirety of the kitchen. The dishes are done, the counters are clean, the cook top is clean, the clean dishes are put away. It's going to make cooking this weekend a breeze! yay! After taking DW to a fun little event at school, I came home and trotted out my C25K workout. I pushed a little harder this time, running at 5 mph and walking at 3 and it was definitely work. I tried a different pair of shoes that are newer by not a very high quality. BAD idea. I could feel blisters forming on my heels, my big toe joints were screaming and my feet felt generally unsupported. I probably would have been better off to run with no shoes. I got much more winded this workout, but the treadmill still pulled me along and so I just focused on nice long strides and letting the treadmill do most of the work. I sure hope (if it ever warms up enough) that I can figure out how to run outside without having to basically start over with speed and skill. 2 inches of snow fell this evening, so I don't have to worry about that any time soon. There's my week. Some wins, some losses and a lot of learning. This weekend will be cooking and cleaning and MIT'ing and a run on Sunday. Bring it!

Good luck on your challenge - if it's okay with you, I'll be following along and cheering! I wish I had known about NF before my wedding last May - I know you're going to look stunning in whatever dress you choose!

I _just_ figured out that this is happening this Saturday and now I want to come! I'm going to talk to my hubby and see what we can swing (it's about a 2 hour drive) and if the Dimpled Wonder (my 9 yo son) will have to tag along. Both of my boys are huge nerds, so no doubt they will fall right in line with NF nerds

Good for you!!! Now get to feeling better so you can "nail it" again soon!

Live in Independence, Work in Cedar Falls, Family in Cedar Rapids

I'm new to NF and stumbled upon you (SnowWhite) through my brother's page (he is musasabi). My first favorite thing about you is you're from Iowa! As I poke around your world, I'm a fan of yours more and more. I hope your ultrasound went well yesterday, or at the very least you are getting some answers. Prayers _and_ good vibes are coming your way!

Thanks for the cheering! Being a hyper-extrovert (a lot like Musasabi), I know having a whole pile of people cheering me will help me stay motivated! Now it is time for bed so that I am not asleep tomorrow at 6 pm when parenting and XP-earning are before me!

Obviously you didn't post this at 4 am....so I will stop judging you by your posting times Thanks for the plug, baby brother. I think this is going to be a pretty exciting 6 weeks. Also, we are so weird. Haha.

My brother started his first NF challenge during the first-of-the-year surge. He and I are basically the same person. I was lamenting my lack of motivation to do the things I think I want to do toward the goals I think I want to achieve today and he said "you need a NF challenge, like, yesterday." So here I am. I am a nerd by proxy and am slowly learning about RPG's and XP. I will be following my brother's format and awarding myself XP on a daily/weekly basis. I need to see my progress little by little and I need to see that every day I do something is progress. Main Quest: More than anything in the world, I want to achieve a life-goal on purpose. I have a long list of things I want to accomplish in life - I always have. I don't think I have ever been successful in reaching a goal when it wasn't an accident of my circumstances and natural abilities. I have one BA and an MA - but so long as I am enrolled in a school and can borrow the money for tuition, I will earn that degree. I won't get great grades, but I will graduate. This 6 weeks is about measuring my success on goals that are important to me...it's about doing something every day, even if it's just a little - rather than doing nothing because a little bit feels useless in reaching big, scary goals. Goals: Running - I will run 3 days a week (preferably, Monday/Friday/Sunday based on my schedule) in pursuit of completing a C25K program over the next 9 weeks. I want to be able to run 5K's this summer without worrying about training. Ultimately, I would love to train my kiddo (9yo boy) to run 5Ks with me. For every C25K workout I complete, I will earn 10XP toward Constitution, for a total possible 180XP. I will deduct 1XP for each day I complete the workout after it's prescribed day. Diet - I have successfully completed 2 Whole30's in the last year but have always gone off plan 1,000% almost immediately after Day 30 (for wedding planning last spring and vacation earlier this month). This time I will complete another Whole30 and also 10 days of reintroduction. Each of those 40 days will earn me 10XP toward Constitution and Intelligence (400XP total possible). After those 40 days I will decide how many off plan foods/snacks/meals I can have in a week and still continue to reach my goals of maintaining healthy metabolism while burning fat. Housekeeping - Our house is often overrun with the messiness of daily life. It doesn't take long before my perfectionism, combined with natural laziness paralyzes me from doing the work to get things back in order. During this 6 weeks, I will clean 20 minutes on at least 2 weekdays (5XP per session) and I will clean at least one hour on the weekends (10XP per hour). These XP will be applied to Wisdom. This goal can earn me 120XP over the course of 6 weeks. Python - I am working to complete an introductory CS class through MIT's open source courses. This class will help me to discover if CS is something I want to pursue as a career change. I will complete 1 lecture and 1 assignment per week and earn XP toward Intelligence: 10 XP per 1-hour lecture and 20XP per assignment, leaving a possibility of 180XP. After six weeks of successful work, I will have earned 880XP. woot Life Side Quest: While this flurry of activity has taken over my life, I will also work to determine how and when I might enter nursing school. By the end of this six weeks, I hope to have a firm plan for my career and educational goals for the next 2-5 years. Motivation: This whole thing is about making my accomplishments feel more real so I learn to just plug along every day. I want to take pride in chopping down a tree and not just see how many trees there are still to chop down in the forest. I want to value my hard work, not just the "accomplishments" that I stumble upon. Thanks for being so smart, baby brother. Together we shall fix it all.