RetroChemist

Your goals sound great and you sound like an AMAZING mom. I'm sure your kids absolutely love that you're willing to be silly and fun with them. I'm right there with you as a BIG planner who then hates to follow the plans that she makes for herself. I am also very, very behind on housework and I don't even have human children to wear me out like you do! Here is to hoping that we can get through this challenge and continue working on our plan-following discipline. I'm thinking my next 6KC will include daily cleaning as my Life Quest. Best of luck on your midterm!

Yesterday went pretty well. I did the BW1 workout and took the pup on a two mile walk (with some jogging to work on his jogging behavior). On Tuesday nights I volunteer on a crisis line until 1AM which means I usually don't get to sleep until 2AM or later. This leaves me pretty tired on Wednesdays, even though I will let myself sleep in an extra 1-2 hours (as long as my body will let me). I'm thinking I may plan on making Wednesdays my yoga days, which I had previously planned for Saturdays, to combat my crankiness. I can get really cranky. So today I think I'll try and take it easy, rest my sore legs, and do some yoga during lunch. I've already started planning ahead for the next challenge, where I'm going to try to maintain this level of activity and then focus on improving my eating habits. I've been looking into various food "lifestyles", so to speak. I am thinking about a lower carb IIFYM (probably progressively lowering the carbs) as my first real dietary change. I already eat more than my fair share of vegetables (I'm a greens fiend) but I need to work on lowering the amount of junk that I eat in addition to those veggies.... Please feel free to give me your opinions and thoughts. I hope everyone has had a successful first few days! If not, here is to looking forward to tomorrow's fresh start!

Oh wow, the only drinking when invited to is a GOOD idea. I might use that one in my next 6WC. Do you have a plan for quantifying what eating "less" bread/pasta/rice will look like? I've always wanted to visit Alaska, there are so many stunningly beautiful areas.

Completed the miniquest on day 2 of the challenge. They are definitely great questions to ask yourself when setting just about any goals...

Yeah, I actually can't even remember back to when I was first subscribed so that is saying something. The younger members of my boyfriend's extended family know some English, so I'm hoping that between my very limited Portuguese and their very limited English I'll at least be able to interact with them. It gets tiring to always wait for someone to translate for you. I've studied Spanish in the past and hope to pick it up again after my focus on Portuguese. They have a lot of similarities so hopefully it won't be too hard!

Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)? Is it reasonable? My overall quest is definitely very achievable. I gave myself a long deadline hoping to over-perform, or at least be able to get back on track if I have any setbacks. Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much? Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on? I am only focusing on my workout routines and habits in this 6WC. I think my next 6WC will probably continue to include workout goals but will focus on healthy and mindful eating. I saw a lot of BIG quests in the forums with tons of sub-quests and I felt a little down about mine yesterday, but I am trying to remind myself that I am not in competition with others here. This is about what is most important to my own success and how I develop habits. Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them? Are your goals able to be measured and tracked? What will you use to track them? I use RunKeeper to log all of my runs. My first "strength training" workout is today and I have been looking at a few different spread sheet trackers, I haven't settled on one yet. For now I may just write everything I do down in my planner. How are you grading your goals? Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)? Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€? Each goal is based on number of times a week. Aside from yoga, which is only once a week there is definitely a reward for effort each week. I have individual grading scales for each quest and then an overall grading scale for the challenge so at the end I can see if things went wrong, where they went wrong. What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? I'm definitely taking things slow to try and prevent injury and illness. I think that any day where I am injured or ill to the point where I can't do any sort of workout will still count as a workout to me. If I'm injured or ill to the point where I can only do some stretching/yoga I can substitute that for my run/strength training. I'm trying to stay accountable though, so it isn't just for when I don't feel like working out, I actually have to be ill. Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge? What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those? I did peak at a calendar while I was making them. I don't think I have any special occasions that are coming up during the actual challenge that will make things difficult. If I want more than 1 day off a week I can do a two-a-day another day that week (probably yoga and running on the same day). Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? I don't think so, I think they work together pretty well. Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set? If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them? This is a big one for me. I'm focusing on making these workouts a priority on par with work/cooking/veggie gardening/cleaning/taking care of my dogs. I don't get to do "other activities" that I love until after I've done my workout for the day. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? One habit at a time.

Hello! This will be my very first challenge. I'm big on educating myself but not so big on actually....doing the things I've educated myself on. I've been a member of Nerd Fitness for....a long, long time. I've spent that entire time reading and learning and not getting fit. I used to run very regularly and was "fit" in that I ran. I didn't watch what I ate but I'm a very irregular eater when left to my own devices (one meal a day is not uncommon). Then I went through a short episode of depression, stopped running, moved in with someone who is BIG on the three meals a day plus dessert, and gained 50 pounds. I went for my very first "run" in over two years today and it was disappointing. It is really a struggle for me to know where I was and how far I've fallen from there in regards to my running. My biggest struggle is going to revolve around keeping myself from getting discouraged about an activity that used to be really easy and fun for me. My "big" goal is to be able to run a 5k in less than 30 minutes by the end of the year. I know that I'll most likely be able to do it much sooner but I don't want to put too much pressure on myself due to the discouragement factor. Once I hit that, I'll see where I want to go. My three goals for the challenge are as follows: Run at least three times a weekDo strength training at least twice a weekDo flexibility/yoga training at least once a week (a dedicated workout, not just what is included in my other workouts and routines)I really have to focus on small steps as I get migraines if I exert myself too much or get dehydrated. Not even my normal nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, inability to form words type but the type where I lay on the cold floor of the bathroom and wish for death. My Life Side Quest is to practice my Portuguese at least 10 minutes every day to prepare for my vacation to Brazil to meet my boyfriend's family (which happens in....6 weeks). I'm hoping to update at least every week but I may try for every 2-3 days to keep me focused and motivated. Good luck!

Hi Ladies, I have been a solid lurker on the Nerd Fitness forums for...longer than I'd care to admit. This topic however has finally forced me to make an account because I have a huge interest in birth control. As a disclaimer I do have the Mirena IUD, I have had it since January of 2012. Before Mirena I was on a non-estrogen based pill as I have migraines with aura and estrogen-based pills are shown to cause stroke in women who have migraines with aura. If you're considering changing your birth control or starting a new birth control regimen please, please, please be sure to inform your doctor if you have ever had a headache you think may have been a migraine and talk to them about the symptoms of migraine with aura. Okay, back to Mirena. While Mirena does release progestogen into the uterus it does so at a rate of only 20 micrograms per day. The majority of this hormone remains in the uterus and does not circulate around the rest of your body. The amount of hormone found in the body of Mirena users is up to 1/10 of that found in those on hormonal birth control pills. Unlike the Paraguard (the non-hormonal IUD), which has been found to increase the length and severity of women's periods, Mirena usually decreases the length and severity. A large percentage of women on Mirena stop having their period, or only have a few days of light spotting each month. This was the big selling point for me as I had very severe, long, painful periods and now some months I have no sign of period activity and some months I'll have a bit of light spotting. I did suffer from bleeding and cramps for about the first two months that I had the Mirena. In addition for the next four months or so I continued to have my normal periods, irregular spotting and occasionally (very rarely) had severe cramping after intercourse. For the first 6 months I was not sold on the Mirena as birth control. I considered having it removed but decided to stick with it for half a year. After that I completely fell in love and am never going back to any other form. I hope this helps assuage your worries.