Nimdyd

This is what February looks like so far. 6.7mph was a tough one, but I leveled up on that one yesterday AND rocked out on 6.8 today. Woot! Wed, Feb 1 - 30 mins @6.5 Thurs, Feb 2 - 30 mins @ 6.6 Sun, Feb 4 -Elbow-in Pushup 5/5/5 -Negative Pull-up. 5/5/5 -Chair Pistols. 5/5/5 -Pike Pushup 5/5/5 2 mins b/w sets, light stretch after Total time: 20:00 Mon, Feb 6 -30 mins @6.7 -two 1min rests @17min, 27min Wednesday, Feb 8 -30 mins @6.7, 1 x 90sec rest @ 23.5 Friday, Feb 10 -30 mins @ 6.7, 2 x 60 sec rest, 1600 and 22:00 Monday, feb 13 - 30 mins @6.7, 2 x 60s rest: 14:35 and 25:00 Tues, Feb 14 - 30 mins @6.7 - NO REST! LEVEL UP! Wed, Feb 15 - 30 mins @6.8, NO REST! LEVEL UP!

Hey Rebels! I've been floating around here on the forums, mostly in the 6/5 Week Challenges Sections, for a couple of years. And now I'm facing my most important mission ever: MARRIAGE That's right! I have somehow managed to utterly bamboozle the greatest woman on the planet to actually spend the rest of her blessed, amazing life, with me. You can't possibly understand how awesome this woman is. So I have to lock this thing down, and I have to lock it down HARD. And that means, among other things, losing this gross middle-aged dude's belly I'm carting around. So I'm committing to exercising at least four times a week, and preferable 6 times, until July, when the Big Event Happens. I've got about 20 weeks left. So if I lose 1 pound per week, I'll be about where I'd like to be. Diet is always my struggle. But I'm not ready to daily log that beast yet. But I am going to lay it down with the exercise. My plan: every week day I run for 30 minutes on the treadmill. If I do it without stopping to rest, next day I up the speed one tick (1/10 mph in this case). If I have to rest, even a little, next day is the same speed. I also want to find a way to work in bodyweight circuits, but nothing's fit with my routines yet. So you might see some of those mixed in. This is what January looked like. Anything measured in time is a treadmill run. Anything measured in distance is a street run. Mon, Jan 2 -Run 25 min @6.0, 2 x 1min break Tues, Jan 3 -Run 10 min(?)@6.0 -pushup 5/8/8, negative pullup 4/4/4, squat 10/10/10, plank 30s Wed, Jan 4 -run 23 min@6.0, -3x1 min, -1x7min Thurs, Jan 5 -run 10 min@6.0 -elbow-in pushup 4/4/4, negative pull-up 4/4/4, chair pistol 4/4/4, pike 4/4/4, plank 35s Fri, Jan 6 -30:30, -2x1min @6.0 Sat, Jan 7 -2,6km -several walks. outdoor. cold. Sun, Jan 8 -5km, 32 mins, 5x100 step walks. outdoor. cold. mon jan 9 - 12min@6.0 -5/4/4 elbow in pushup, 5s/5s/5s pullup hang, 5/4/4 chair pistol, 5/4/4 pike, 40s plank Tues, Jan 10 - 12 min @6.0. Interrupted by personal call. Wed, Jan 11 - 30 mins @6.0, 1x1min rest Fri, Jan 13 -30 mins @6.0 Sat, Jan 14 -10km @ 1:01:45 Sun, jan 15 -walked 5.1 km Mon, Jan 16 -30 mins @6.1, 1x1 min rest Mon, Jan 16 -elbow-in p/u - 4/4/4 -pike - 4/4/4 ~5 min rest between Tues, Jan 17 - 11:45 + 19:00 @ 6.1 (involuntary break 2-3 mins) Tues, Jan 17 - chair pistols 5/5/5, half-pull-up, careful on form 2/2/2 ~10 min between set Wed, Jan 18 - 30 mins @ 6.1, no rest Tues, Jan 24 - 30 mins @ 6.1, no rest wed, jan 25 - 30 mins@6.2 thurs, jan26 - 30 mins @6.3 Mon, jan 30 - 30 mins @ 6.3 Tues, jan 31 - 30 mins @ 6.4

Final week and Final Results I struggled with diet this past week. I ate clean maybe two, three days. Exercise has been both good and bad. I've been doing a very good job of doing a quick circuit at work every hour, but when it comes to my runs I dropped the ball more often than I picked it up. The cold weather is bad for my breathing, so a couple of runs were just ruined even though I started out with all good intentions. All in all I give myself a C for this challenge. I'll probably sit the next one out and feel out my home routines on my own. And then see what's working and what's not and pop back in for the next challenge. Thanks for following along! The encouragement really helped!

Desire: I really want to run 5k every day. AND I really want to do bodyweight routines three or four times a week. Obstacle: I find that doing them back-to-back diminishes both the pleasure and the benefits I get from both. And I also find that managing two completely separate get-changed-work-out-cool-down-shower-get-changed sessions in a single day to be very challenging. What's a ginger to do? Proposed Solution: my place of business has a little exercise room. So, every hour or so, I figured I'd get up from my desk, go to the room, bust out a set of two exercises (pull-ups & push-ups / squats & leg lifts) and then go back to work. That way I get the reps in but I don't sweat enough to require changing clothes or showering. And while not warming up is less than ideal (especially at my age), the actual exercise I'm doing isn't intense enough to seriously risk injury, so long as I'm careful. Result: I'm finishing up week two of this plan and it's been working like gangbusters. I average five 'mini sessions' per day and I'm already getting a sense of what I can do and what I can't to just barely not break a sweat. And the in evening I do my more formal 5k. It's like getting a 'free' workout. Each individual piece is so small and easy it doesn't feel like anything at all, but over the course of a whole day, it's almost a full work-out. Woot!

Week Three Results! In a word... meh. I ate clean four days out of seven, which is one shy of my five day goal. And I got four work-out stickers (1 each for two 5k's, and 2 for as 10k). Which is also one shy of my five per week goal. I also keep forgetting that the week starts on Sunday, not Monday. So I'm already one day behind this week for both. But the Rebel Alliance didn't give up when Hoth was destroyed. And they didn't give up when Luke died. And they didn't give up when Han got captured by Bobba Fett. So I'm not going to give up now. And I think I found an interesting solution to my desire to do bodyweight workouts AND run, without either doing them back-to-back (which, I find, diminishes my enjoyment of each and makes it more likely I'll just play Terraria instead), or scheduling two separate work-outs into my day (which has proved challenging). At work, I'm going to set a 1 hour alarm. And every hour I'll pause what I'm doing, go to the workout room, bust out a pull-up and 5 push-ups. See how many hours I can keep it up without failing, or until I break a sweat and get gross. And every second day I'll do squats and planks (or maybe leg lifts) instead. And we'll see how that goes. If I can keep it up all day, every day, that's a lot of reps. And maybe I'll be able to increase reps as I go.

Yeah. she's pretty awesome. And it works. It's not so much the stickers as it is the accountability. I respect her more than just about anyone on the planet, so if there's one person I don't want to disappoint, it's her. Thanks for checking in, BTW, Manarelle. It's very much appreciated.

Week Two went better. Still not perfect, but better. I've done a switcheroo on the scoring system, and enlisted the help of my SO in my trials and tribulations. We're doing a sticker system (like in Grade School!) and she's set up a little calendar and everything. It's adorable. So now, the goal is thus: -every day I 'eat clean' (which is defined as no processed food and no heavy carbs, with the possible exception of a single snack) I get a sticker -every 5k or work-out is a sticker -I aim for five food stickers and five exercise stickers per week. If I get both, I get a 'Big Sticker' for that week. My 15 year old son, when he saw that, rolled his eyes and was all 'isn't that childish?' And I shrugged and said 'Who cares if it works.' And then I grounded him. So. Last week I did, indeed, eat clean for five out of seven days. And I got my five stickers for exercise. Woot! My other milestone last week was running a 10k in under 1:00. 58:53. I haven't done a 10k that fast in over a decade. I was pretty psyched. So far this week I'm totally on track. I gave up Thanksgiving as a lost cause, but every other day I've eaten clean and exercised. Onward and upward!

BATTLE LOG: WEEK ONE In a word: not great. I ran 25km this week. Which is actually reasonably badass, all things considered. I'm thinking making 35 my goal might have been unnecessarily ambitious. It doesn't give me a lot of wiggle room. I didn't do any bodyweight workouts. At all. I'm finding it hard to figure out where it's going to fit. Do I do the calisthenics and then run? or vice versa? Or have two separate work-out times? All of them have their challenges. Plus I got to Hardmode in Terraria in main world. So I had a lot of work to do. Aaaaaaaaaaaaand diet.... not wonderful, but not too too bad. I ate about 75% clean and 25% not-as-clean. Which is probably something like normal for me. Maybe a little better than normal. No take out though. Having the goal was enough to prevent even a single trip to the Wendy's drive-thru (Mmmmmm.... Baconator). So that's good. I think, moving forward, that my exercise goals should be built around the ideal of 100% compliance on weekdays and 0% on weekends. And then the reward for not missing a day is not having to do anything on the weekends unless I want to (when I'm running regularly, I tend to get antsy if I go more than two days without getting out). And if I do miss a day or two during the week, I have the weekend to catch up. And that pesky diet. I don't know. Again, I don't think I eat that badly all in all. The problem is this 20 pounds of belly fat. If I could get rid of it, I think my current regime would do a good job maintaining. But it's so much effort to get rid of. I'll keep plugging!

@mom2sjm I just checked out Darebee. That site is fantastic! I've been looking for a way to inject some fun and variety back into my routines and I think that's going to be it! I think my goal just changed from working out twice per week to every day!

Week one is going well. I'm totally on track for my 35k this week. I haven't done a bodyweight workout yet, but one tonight and one Saturday and I'm good. I'm not much of an easer-into-er. I know I can run 5k in 30 - 35 minutes, so when I decided it was time, I suited up and went for it. Day one was 34:00. I'm down to about 31:00 now. When my routine fell apart in July, I made it under 25 minutes (24:58!) for the first (and, sadly, only) time. So that's my background goal. Nutrition is, even at this early stage, shaky. I'm doing marginally better than normal, but I don't think I'll be hitting 90% this week, even pro-rated for the two days I missed by starting late. @Rincewind - it was a struggle. I love(d) smoking. Just freaking love(d) it. What got me through was getting a vape. Using the vape was instrumental in uncoupling the physical pleasures of smoking from the emotional. As in, I was getting my nicotine fix, but not participating in the "Smoking is what the cool kids did in High School' emotional payoff that's been my downfall since I started. So after a while, I found that the vape had no real emotional payoff, so I didn't need it for that, and then I found that the actual physical addiction was no big deal. So when I left my vape somewhere, by the time I got around to getting it back, I didn't need it anymore. I imagine it's a very (VERY VERY VERY) mild version of what heroin addicts go through when using methadone.

"Never gonna give you up..." So after three (count 'em!) spectacular failures, I'm back again. I might stumble, I might fall, I might descend into a self-hating orgy of inactivity and self-indulgence for a few days weeks months, but I'm never, never gonna give you up, Rebellion. I got a pocketful of green mushrooms and it's time for a respawn. "Never gonna let you down..." So my previously healthy routine got apocalyptically disrupted and I've been doing basically nothing for the past two months. No working out, no running, barely any attention paid to my diet. Nothing. And I just feel gross. So I want back in. I want another shot. I want one more change to prove that I won't let you down, Rebellion. "Never gonna run around and desert you..." Well, I do hope there'll be some running around, but this time there'll be no stopping mid-challenge. I'm signing up for 28 days of self-improvement, and 28 days is what I'm gonna give. So here's what we're doing. "Never gonna make you cry..." Not that I think I can make an entire internet forum cry, but all the same, first thing's first, we're getting back into the running. 5k each day, every day, with extra points for tossing in a 10k here and there. But I'm going to make the goal kilometers per week, instead of per day. That gives me the flexibility to play Terraria all night once in a while, so long as I make it up, which means no crying for this cat. 35 km per week, is Goal #1. "Never gonna say goodbye..." Bodyweight! I was working the bodyweight for almost a year before some asshats at work ruined the work-out room priveleges and totally messed up my routine. So I need to re-establish a new routine. I have two options, each less optimal than my previous, but both doable. I can do them at the park that's almost exactly 1km from my house, or I can do them in my house. Knowing me the way I do, this one is going to be really hard to get re-started, but I'm not saying goodbye to this awesome, healthy, and very satisfying part of my life. 2 work-outs per week is Goal #2 "Never gonna tell a lie..." Not gonna lie to you, Rebellion, the one thing that's really keeping from looking like a million bucks is my diet. I don't eat very poorly, but I don't eat well enough to lose the 20 - 30 pounds of belly fat I'm carting around. In the past few years, I've made a lot of very healthy decisions. Stopped smoking. Almost no sugary beverages. Way way way less take-out. I eat clean about 60% - 70% of the time. But I need eat clean AND restrict my calorie intake AND find fewer excuses for cheat days (and stop emotionally linking eating poorly with personal freedom, but that's another topic). I've tried a lot of ways to track this and none of them have worked. But I'm going to saddle up one more time. For the next 28 days I'm going to commit to eating well 90% of the time, and do calories next time. This is the truth, Rebellion: 90% Paleo Diet is Goal #3. "And hurt you..." So. Metrics. GOAL #1 - run 35 km per week. That means 5k per day, generally speaking. But it allows the possibility of missing a day and making it up. WEEKLY SCORING: 35k = 1pt. 20k = 0.5pt. Under 20k = 0pts. Over 35k = 3pts GOAL #2 - two bodyweight sessions per week. These are generally full-body circuits composed of five exercises (push-up, pull-up, pike push-up, squat, leg lifts). I'm really hoping to do three. But we'll set the bar at two and see how I do. WEEKLY SCORING: 2 sessions = 1 pt. 1 session = 0.5 pts. Over two sessions: 3pts GOAL #3 (a.k.a - the really hard one) - eating clean. That means pure paleo. Nothing but meat and veg. No carbs. No junk. No processed anything. I'm going to aim for roughly 90%, which should help keep me on track with the flexibility to indulge here and there. I generally eat 2.5 meals per weekday (2 full meals and a number of snacks). On weekends it's closer to 2.75 meals. That makes 18 'meals' per week, which we can round to 20. Which gives me two meals per week where I can eat whatever. Or a combination of meals and snacks. WEEKLY SCORING: 90% clean eating = 2pts. 80% clean = 1pt. 75% clean = 0.5pts. Over 90% = 3pts FINAL SCORING: At the end, every four points is 1 Gold Star. Each Gold Star can be cashed in with my family for one activity of my choosing. A movie, or a board game, or frisbee, or not doing a chore. We've been together for so long, Rebellion. Your heart's been aching. Inside we both know what's been going on. We both know the game. And we're gonna play it. GAME ON.

WEEK THREE, REPORT! Mostly the same as week two. Barreled through my exercise like it was nothing. Made some progress on my work projects. But didn't eat anything close to 100% clean. Again, I don't eat poorly, overall, but I don't eat as well as I'd like to be eating. So zero points for eating, one point for exercise (I took one evening off from running last week. I forget which one it was. But it was a good idea, bonus point or not). And and and... I finally broke 25:00 in my 5k! This has been a goal of mine for a long time. And last night I clocked 24:57. I'm paying for it today. But that's how we roll in Assassin-land. I'm very excited.

Been following along and I think it's great that you leaped into this, guns blazing, and that you're still with it despite some setbacks. I could tell you, most of us could tell you, that our journeys are mostly setbacks. Success is mostly a matter of getting up one more time than you fall down. But in response to your comment that eating paleo requires preparation, I do have some advice to make that easier. This little routine changed my life, diet-wise. 1. Get a Foreman Grill. Even a small one. 2. Buy a bunch of pork chops and some ziplock bags. My routine is, when I'm at the grocery store, I buy pretty much whatever they have on sale (usually because it expires soon). 3. While you're there, buy the cheapest pack of frozen veg you can find. California mix, oriental mix, julienne. Whichever. 4. Take the pork chops home and put two or three of them into each zip-lock bag. Make a neat stack of them in the freezer. So now, whenever you have to eat, and you haven't made other arrangements (no fresh veg, no fresh meat), you just plug in your foreman, thaw your pork chops enough to separate them (I find tossing the stack in the microwave for a minute, flipping them and doing it again usually does the trick), put them on the grill. Put a cup of veg in a bowl, cover with water, microwave for 5 minutes, check if they're warm, if not another couple of minutes. (I also liberally salt everything while cooking, and I also like allspice on my pork, but you can experiment to taste) And in twelve minutes you'll have a perfectly acceptable, perfectly paleo meal. It won't be fine cuisine. But it'll be tasty enough, 100% paleo, and super, super easy. If I'm in a rush, running late, whatever, I can come home, plop my kid down with his homework, and have dinner for three on the table in less than twenty minutes. Happy hunting!

As far as 'eating well' in the general sense, I did fine. But as far as 'eating clean 100% no exceptions' as per my goal, not so well. Everything else is moving right along, though. WEEK TWO REPORT! GOAL ONE: No junk -I didn't eat any JUNK, per se, but I did have a fair amount of carbs. My fiancee moved in on the weekend and there were carby snacks and such all around. So there was a lot of snacking on Saturday. And some cookies. REALLY really good cookies. Baked goods are my Achilles Heel. So, while I don't feel overly bad abou my actual performance, I still can't give myself the point. So I'm 0 for 2 on the eating. SCORING: So far I'm 0 for weeks 1 and 2. Boo urns me. 0 out of 4 GOAL TWO: Exercise -Kicked all the ass again last week. I skipped a lifting session on Friday due to being short-handed at work, but I still ran that evening. I did NOT run on Saturday (moving day) so I don't get the bonus point this week, but I still exercised six days out of seven. So point for me! (also, two nights ago I did 5k in 27:40. I'm closing in on the elusive 25:00 I've been chasing for some time. SCORING: I got two points in week 1, and 1 point for week two. 2 out 4 (+1 bonus!) GOAL THREE; Work Projects -Not too bad.I'll be putting the final touches on one of them today. And by the end of today I'll have a plan in place for the others. I fully expect to have two of the remaining three finished by next week. SCORING: If i count a couple of chickens before they're all the way hatched, I'm at about 1.5 out of 4. So, all in all, not too shabby. I wish I could do better, diet-wise. I still think I'm eating a caloric deficit, week-by-week. But I have that problem where, when I lapse, I say STUFF IT and just lapse like a boss. Maybe I need to go back to some kind of sliding scale where I'm rewarded for small changes. On the plus side, I was under 190lbs this morning for the first time. Just under. But that's totally progress. So maybe we're getting there.

It really is just all about routines. You build a routine with an act and a payoff and then it maintains itself. I've gotten so much better lately. And, like any addiction, the better you do, the better you do (as it were). Last night I did my 5k (5.2 actually) in 30:30. Best time I've run that distance in years. And 1 whole minute faster than Monday's run. Pretty excited.