Ciara

I FOUND YOU! you sneaky little- you should still be in the assassins lol. No I'm joking, be wherever you want! Your challenge looks sick. Way to be a BAMF!

it's an internship if we want to get technical with it haha. It starts may 15th and goes until august 31. Well I might leave early actually depending on when the first day of school is. I've met the family running the farm and they're amazing. So kind! The goats are Nigerian dwarfs and they are much smaller than the Boer meat goats I'm used to working with. But that just means the kids are tiny and adorable! they told me most of the food they get is from their own farm or farmers markets so I'll be eating really well. Gonna try to go full paleo (except it's a dairy..so paleo minus dairy) over the summer to try it out. Very exciting!

You look amazing! Even more inspiration! Awesome job

Yeah farm work is hard but it's the path I choose considering my major haha. I enjoy it. Goats are way cool

Somehow I managed to delete half my post...hmmm...technology xD Here's the rest of what I tried to say: Don't feel ashamed. Be proud of your honesty and willingness to be held accountable for your actions. That takes a massive amount of courage so congratulations! That's a win in my book.

Woot! Well done! I have a debit card so I don't know what it feels like to have credit card debt but paying off any kind of debt sounds sooooo exciting!!! I don't know anything about money (odd considering my mother is a retired CPA) but if it were me I'd wait to finish paying one debt before gaining more. But I don't know much about it so maybe it's not the best way to go about it. Also, one thing my dentist told me is that drinking coffee with milk reduces staining. Not sure if you're a milk drinker but it might help? Sorry I'm not more helpful

Yeah definitely! Next semester I plan on bringing tupperware as well as having a car (finally) so I'll go shopping and cook more often, and rely on the dining hall less. But the spring semester ends in about two weeks...and then I'm off to Vermont to work on a goat farm so there will be abundant healthy food over the summer! So excited.....

I would totally have packed a meal but I live in a college dorm and rely on the dining hall for all my meals so it's pretty hard to pack food....next semester will hopefully go better food-wise.....

Way to go! Especially improving your plank time. That's so exciting. I did a plank recently for the first time in months and I could hold it for a lot longer than I thought I could. What a great feeling

Whew! I am exhausted. Been working all day...I volunteered at a local goat farm for their spring cleaning day. 4 hours of scooping manure from the shed where the goats sleep out to the small pen to raise the ground level. The area where the goats spend most of their time is at a high water table level...so it floods a lot. The manager wanted to raise the ground level with manure and sand to prevent future flooding. I left before they were done because I had to go to work but it was very hard work!! I feel accomplished. Unfortunately, the food they provided for lunch was decidedly not paleo. Pizza and lemonade. At least there was no soda, not that I'd drink it anyway. I considered skipping the pizza but knew that it was a while before I would be able to eat again and I'd worked up a massive sweat, so I decided keeping my paleo challenge wasn't worth hurting myself by working too hard with no fuel. I ate three slices and had two cups of lemonade and a cup of sweet tea. Actually today is an off food day. I wonder if being physically exhausted makes me less likely to make good food choices. I had a good dinner- beef brisket with sauteed collard greens and bok choy, as well as some roasted cauliflower. But an hour after dinner I'm eating a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. I think this counts as dessert...darn. I'm not going to beat myself up about it, and I'm also not going back for a second bowl because one slip up doesn't define me. I'm on my 5th cup of water today. I'll definitely meet my water goals for the day! Feeling good as far as the challenge goes.Wish I felt the same way about life...this one class I'm taking is such a drag and it's weighing my whole life down it feels like. Glad the semester is over soon! I did 30 squats today for the joust. I would have done more but my knees told me I had to stop. I'll try to do at least 20 more tonight.

Thanks guys! I had my friend act as a cheerleader so it was a bit easier to resist knowing she was there watching me. Just got back from 4 hours of farm work. Popped on to check on everyone but I'm about to go to my actual work in a few minutes so I can't update. Will be back to update tonight!

Cravings are awful. I had a really hard time today because there was cake temptation. It took a lot of willpower (and some friends encouraging me) to stay strong. It's a shame your coworkers aren't supportive of your decision to quit, support is definitely essential when it comes to quitting. But you have NF to keep you accountable and help you through it!

Hey Eve! I love your challenge! You have similar goals to me- try to eat more paleo meals, lose weight, finish the challenge..(I respawned recently too!) Definitely following to see how you do and learn from you!!

Hey Tixnleeches- You've been through a lot the past few weeks! I am very impressed that you're still trucking through all of it. Good on ya Your new work schedule sucks. I'm so sorry to hear that....but I guess it will all be worth it in the end when you pay your debts and go back to school. What do you want to study? Also...I'm in house Lannister too..it seems like we're all riding on you. 350 lunges already? You're a monster hahaha (in the best way possible). I want to do lunges but every time I go more than 45 degrees my knees stop me. I injured them both last October and never really got them looked at...that may have been a mistake. Subbed to watch your awesome progress! I love your goals- best of luck with quitting smoking! I am trying to cut out a lot of sugar and it's rough so I feel you on the cravings...power through!!!

I had a huge sugar craving today. I satisfied it by going for a walk (also good for the mini challenge- 2 wins!) drinking water, complaining to my friend, eating an orange, and drinking tea (it had sugar in it but not too much. they don't offer stevia at my dining hall and i refuse to eat artificial sweetener). I wanted cake sooo bad- there were two varieties today!!! Argghhhh...but I soldiered through and beat the craving. It lasted nearly two hours...

Welcome back!

The hoop class sounds like it was a blast! Congrats for being mega strong, that's a cool feeling. And CONGRATS for having increased self esteem, that's awesome! You're such a boss!~

Hey Mandrill! I finally made my way to your thread and wow you are a beast. Congratulations on getting that ring muscle up! That must have been freaking amazing. Boo your cousins being unhelpful. Hope your uncle's back gets better soon, both so he feels better and so you can focus on your challenge again.

Recap for yesterday: Drink 6-8 glasses of water: I drank 4. Barely made a B. Gotta get better at this! Avoid desserts: Another win! It's so hard but being strict with myself is helpful. A for me. Eat 2 paleo meals a day: I didn't achieve this goal. James and I went out to eat for dinner (I chose Vietnamese pho over pizza so that's gotta count for something) and then I had a snack of leftover chicken and quinoa salad. Healthy, but not paleo. I did have a paleo lunch of chicken stirfry with no soy sauce. B for the day. I wish my academic grades were as good as my NF grades. I am probably going to fail one of my classes....I have a D+ right now. I really need to ace the final.....sigh. Good thing the other class I thought I would fail I'm actually getting a C+! I picked it up almost a full grade point over the semester! And I still have a chance to increase that even more. Anyway, today is a workout day. I need to represent House Lannister so lunges are a go! Even though I hate them. I need to fit some walking into my schedule too. Does walking at work count I wonder? I'll be working from 10 - 5 tomorrow and walk a LOT.

So yesterday I forgot to mention, I did a modified version of the BBWW workout. I don't have space for walking lunges so I...didn't do lunges. I probably should have done standing ones. I plan on doing the whole BBWW minus the milk jug rows (because I don't have anything heavy enough in my dorm to lift) tomorrow so I'll do lunges then. Here's what I did yesterday: 30 second plank 10 knee pushups 20 squats I've lost a lot of my former strength. Good thing I also seem to have lost a lot of the judgement I normally place on myself. I am happy just knowing I am starting again

Just finished reading your featured blog post! I'm so thrilled for you, you've come so far! I can't say it enough how inspiring you are

Recap for day 3: Quest 1: Drink 6-8 glasses of water 3 glasses. I fell a bit short here but that's ok! Tomorrow's a new day! C for this one. Quest 2: Cut out desserts YES!! It was hard but I did it today! There was chocolate cake, marshmallow fluff, and banana's foster for dessert today....sooo tempting. I ate grapes and resisted. Go me! A for this one Quest 3: Eat 2 paleo meals I actually did this. For lunch I had 2 lamb kebabs and a bunch of veggies. For dinner I had curried shrimp and veggies, and a plate of kale with chicken. I'm not sure if the curry sauce on the shrimp was paleo but the chicken and kale were definitely so I am counting that. A for me

Your challenge is inspiring! Following for the ninja awesomeness!!!

Love your challenge. Love your doodles too, they're really sweet. Hope the start of your challenge went ok. I'm following you! That sounded creepy...

I just took my measurements (I just got home after an extended stay at my boyfriend's place and finally have my tape measure) and wow I have really let myself go. I need to take all future challenges seriously. I often live in the future, saying "oh it will be better when X happens" but I need to start living in the now. Every day is the beginning of the rest of my life. If I can get myself turned around now, I don't need to do it later. I've been totally inspired by starsapart and have decided to start taking aerial silk classes in the fall once I get back to school. I tried looking for places in VT where I'll be this summer but there's nothing that I could find. She recommended that I work on upper body and core strength over the summer so I am not totally frustrated when I start classes in the fall. That's gonna be the focus of my next challenge. I am going to start doing some things like planks and pushups now, but I don't want to get overwhelmed and forget about my current challenge. I'll let you know on days that I work out.