caolan

As a dad, I know how time consuming kids can be, especially little ones.  I assume you are busier at home with your son than I am at the office.  Good job getting started with your goals.  If you need more yoga videos, consider checking out doyogawithme.com.  They have a bunch of free videos.  Another NF member recommended them to me last year, and I have tried a bunch of their videos.  In fact, I have used their videos a couple of times already during this challenge!

Great goals and progress, Ed.  The stories are fun, too.  Keep up the great work!

Results from Week 1, Day 3:

1. Tracking: I tracked today, and finished 500 calories below target.  I need to make sure I don't go that far below too often.
2. Exercise: I did 30 minutes of yoga today.  My arms are sore from yesterday's YAYOG workout, but that is no surprise.
3. Weight Loss: My weigh-in day is Monday morning, so nothing to report here until the end of week 1.
4. Photography: After eliminating obvious duplicates, my real count is 47,897.  I need to sort through about 1,000 per week to hit my target of finishing by the end of the year.  This is going to be a tough one, but I will feel very accomplished when I am finally done.

@RadicalEd - For a number of years, I trained (and taught) Tang Soo Do.  I haven't been actively training for the last year or so, but hope to get back to it again before too long.  I tend more toward the rangers, which is why I picked that guild last year, but I do have some monk tendencies, too.  Good luck with your challenge.

Results from Week 1, Day 2:

1. Tracking: I tracked today, and finished right on target.
2. Exercise: I exercised for 51 minutes (23 minutes of yoga and 28 minutes of strength training).  I decided to try starting the YAYOG program over again today.  Boy, did that ever kick my butt!  The sad thing is that I finished the 10-week program a little over a year ago and felt great about it.  It seems much harder this time.  I'll just have to plow through it until it feels more normal.
3. Weight Loss: My weigh-in day is Monday morning, so nothing to report here until the end of week 1.
4. Photography: I took a quick inventory of the photos I need to corral this year.  I was way off in my initial estimate.  There are actually more than 50,000.  Ugh. There will be plenty of duplicates, but I have to go through them to find them. This will definitely take all year to finish in my spare time.

Results from Week 1, Day 1:

1. Tracking: I tracked today, and finished below my target by ~150 calories.
2. Exercise: I exercised for 30 minutes (15 minutes of yoga and 15 minutes of walking).  Bonus - my wife wants to start a 30-day plank challenge, so I did a plank with her today.  The challenge starts at 20 seconds (which I found easy), and finishes around 5 minutes (which sounds impossible).
3. Weight Loss: My weigh-in day is Monday morning, so nothing to report here until the end of week 1.
4. Photography: I got started today and processed about 30 photos.  I am a long way from being done with my goal here, but you have to start somewhere, right?

Good luck!. That sounds like a good first challenge.

I had a lot of fun here and made some great progress through a couple of challenges about a year ago, but I lost my way last year.  This is my moment to resume my march toward my goals.  My long-term goals are still about weight loss and fitness, and I am adding in a goal around photography.  So here we go:

Big Goals for 2016:

1. Lose 50 pounds

2. Participate in a triathlon

3. Rescue my photo library from chaos

What am I going to do during this 4-week challenge to help me reach my goals?

1. Get back in the habit of tracking all of my meals on MFP, and maintain a deficit of 500 calories per day on average throughout the challenge.

2. Exercise at least 30 minutes per day - every day.  The exercise can be intense (strength training, swimming, running, etc.) or it can be more gentle (walking my dog, yoga, etc.), but I will do SOMETHING every day.

3. Because of my tracking and exercise, I will lose at least 5 pounds during this challenge.

4. Develop a new catalog and workflow for my photography, then begin to add my old photos to the new catalog (I probably have more than 25k old photos that I need to add in, so the goal for this challenge is to get started).

How will I score myself for this challenge?

1. Tracking 5+ days per week is worth 2 points.   Tracking 7 days per week is worth 3 points.

2. Exercising 5+ days per week is worth 2 points.  Exercising all 7 days is worth 3 points.

3. Each pound I lose is worth 1 point.

4. Setting up my catalog and adding my first set of photos is worth 1 point.  If I get more than 1,000 photos processed before the challenge is over, that is worth another 1 point.

A perfect score for this challenge would be 31 points.  Anything 25+ is an "A", 21-24 is a "B", and 17-20 is a "C".

I am essentially even on my weight so far for this PVP.  I have been doing my planned strength training -- I am focusing on getting to 100 push-ups in a single set and increasing the duration of my planks.  I also did a good run today.  However, I have not been sticking to my eating plan, which is why I am not flat so far.  Time for a little auto-butt-kicking!  

I am not doing a very good job of posting here on NF.  Here is my Week 2 and Week 3 update.  I am doing well on 2 of my goals, but slacking on the other 3.  I guess that's why they call this a "challenge."

Goal #1: Complete the 100 push-up challenge.  I have been making good progress on my push-up workouts, and have finished the first 3 weeks of the 6-week program.  Getting to 100 in a single set is going to be tough, but I am now doing more than 100 in a workout - my last workout was 120 push-ups broken down into 5 sets.  My maximum single set is now 40 (up from 22 a few weeks ago).

Goal #2: Complete the 100 squat challenge.  I have not done much work toward this goal.  It is less daunting than the push-up challenge because of the YAYOG work I did with many of you late last year, but I am definitely behind schedule on this goal.

Goal #3: Plank every day, and reach at least 120 seconds.  I am planking about 5 days a week, and have maxed at 130 seconds.  I have, therefore, already met this goal.  This was a big, but very good surprise for me!  Since I have hit my goal, I am trying to push toward a 3-minute plank in the next few weeks.  At this point, any more time is a bonus.

Goal #4: Experiment with some creative lighting techniques with my photography.  I got my camera back this week.  I will try to make some progress on this goal in the remaining 3 weeks of the challenge.  

Goal #5: Finish each week under plan in MFP.  I have not been tracking regularly in this challenge.  I did kick myself in the butt earlier this week to eat better - I think I am running a deficit in MFP, but I am probably not hitting my planned deficit of 750 calories per day.

Here are my week 1 results:

Goal #1: Complete the 100 push-up challenge.  I am almost at the end of the week 2 workout for the push-up challenge.  Things are going well so far.  My last workout was about 65 pushups (broken down into 5 sets).

Goal #2: Complete the 100 squat challenge.  I did sets of 35 this week, so I am moving up a bit.

Goal #3: Plank every day, and reach at least 120 seconds.  I planked 6 days this week, doing a max of 93 seconds at the end of the week.  I am definitely on track for this goal so far.

Goal #4: Experiment with some creative lighting techniques with my photography.  I had to send my camera in for repairs this week, so I am going to have a hard time achieving this goal.  I may have to focus on reading and planning for creative lighting, rather than actually doing the lighting, because the camera won't be back for about 3 weeks.

Goal #5: Finish each week under plan in MFP.  I did not do so well on my calorie goal this week.  I only tracked completely on 4 days, and I was over on several of them.

What the heck.  I'll join in for another round.  I'll be pushing to hit 20 again, but it will be tough.  My focus will be on keeping in line with my MFP targets and with making big progress on a couple of exercises.  I am using the current 6-week challenge to try to complete the 100-pushup challenge, the 100-squat challenge, and to increase my planks to 120+ seconds.  If I am successful on these challenge goals, I think the weight loss will come.  

I will use 236.6 as my starting weight.  I am a little over that today, but that was my weight a week ago, and I want to base my progress on my "low water mark", not on where I am today.

Good luck to all.

I love the Rocky theme.  Strength sounds like a good theme for a challenge.  I am trying the same idea, but taking a different way to get there, at least for this 6-week period.    Good luck in round 4!

Sounds like a good way to start the year.  Your weight loss has been pretty incredible so far.  Good luck in this challenge!

I am back for my 4th challenge to start the new year.  My focus this time will be around some specific strength training goals.  This will leave me with 5 goals for the challenge, but I think they are doable if I push myself.

Goal #1: Complete the 100 push-up challenge.  Value: STR 2, STA 1.  My initial test for this goal was 22 push-ups.

Goal #2: Complete the 100 squat challenge.  Value: STR 2, STA 1.  I didn't do an initial test for this goal, but I know  I can do a set of about 30 body-weight squats before tiring too much to continue.

Goal #3: Plank every day, and reach at least 120 seconds.  Value: CON 2, STA 1.  My planks are around 65 seconds at the start of the challenge.

Goal #4: Experiment with some creative lighting techniques with my photography.  Value: WIS 3.

Goal #5: Finish each week under plan in MFP.  Value: 3 CHA.

I'll add my grading in the next day or two, but this should get me started.

Week 6 Results:

1. Exercise for at least 45 minutes every day.  I did about 55 minutes per day of exercise in week 6.
2. Track all of my meals in MFP every day and finish under my net calorie goal each week.  I tracked every day this week.  I finished about 600 calories over for the week.  This was not a good result for the last week of the challenge.
3. Complete at least 5 weeks of the YAYOG PVP challenge.  I finished my fifth week of YAYOG workouts.
4. Take an online continuing education course.  My business ethics course is finished, so this goal is complete.

Challenge Wrap-Up:

1. Exercise for at least 45 minutes every day.  I did really well on my overall exercise goal, averaging about 55 minutes of exercise per day over the 6 weeks of this challenge.  3/3 points.
2. Track all of my meals in MFP every day and finish under my net calorie goal each week.  I tracked every day throughout the challenge, though I felt like it was more of an after-thought - something I did because I had committed to doing it, not something that I was using to really help me move forward.  I need to do a lot better at this in the future (like I did in my previous challenges).  I can see the difference in my weight loss progress. I lost about 15 pounds in each of the last 2 challenges, but only lost about 5 this time (and all of that weight loss occurred in the first 2 weeks of this challenge, when I was doing better at this goal).  1/3 points.
3. Complete at least 5 weeks of the YAYOG PVP challenge.  I finished the full 5 weeks of YAYOG workouts.  I focused on better form and doing slightly more difficult variations of the exercises than I did on my last pass through the YAYOG program, instead of just trying to do more reps. 3/3 points.
4. Take an online continuing education course.  I finished an online business ethics course during the challenge, so goal accomplished. 3/3 points.
5. ​Overall, I am awarding myself 10 out of 12 possible points.  This is an "A", but just barely.  Despite the "A" grade, I need to do better next time.  

I have fallen off the wagon for checking and posting on NF, but my challenge is going pretty well.  I don't feel like I am pushing myself nearly as hard as I did in my first 2 challenges, but I am meeting my goals.  Here is my status from Weeks 4 and 5 of this challenge:

1. Exercise for at least 45 minutes every day.  I easily hit my exercise targets for both weeks, averaging closer to an hour per day of exercise.
2. Track all of my meals in MFP every day and finish under my net calorie goal each week.  I tracked every day both weeks.  I finished 50 calories under plan in Week 4, and 90 over plan in Week 5.  I consider this a success for both weeks.
3. Complete at least 5 weeks of the YAYOG PVP challenge.  I had finished 4 weeks of YAYOG workouts by the end of Week 5, so I am on track.
4. Take an online continuing education course.  My business ethics course is finished, so this goal is complete.

Status from Week 3:  I am doing great on 3 goals, but struggled this week with goal #2.

1. Exercise for at least 45 minutes every day.  I averaged 60 minutes of exercise each day.
2. Track all of my meals in MFP every day and finish under my net calorie goal each week.  I tracked every day but finished about 800 calories over for the week, despite all of the exercise.  I'm not too disappointed in this result given that it was Thanksgiving week, but I should have done better.  A few simple choices on seconds and desserts would have left me right on track for the week.
3. Complete at least 5 weeks of the YAYOG PVP challenge.  I completed 4 YAYOG workouts this week, so I was right on track.
4. Take an online continuing education course.  I completed the remaining 3 weeks of material for my business ethics course.

Darwin -- I would be interested in a body fat challenge, but 10% in 10 weeks doesn't sound possible to me.  I've lost almost 40 pounds in the past four months, reduced my waist size by 7 inches, and done a lot of strength training as part of my program, but I think I have **only** reduced my body fat by about 7 or 8 points.

I can't even imagine what it would take to reduce it by 10 points in 10 weeks.

Status from Week 2:  I am still on track with all 4 of my goals.

1. Exercise for at least 45 minutes every day.  I averaged 48 minutes of exercise each day.
2. Track all of my meals in MFP every day and finish under my net calorie goal each week.  I tracked every day and finished about 500 calories under plan for the week.
3. Complete at least 5 weeks of the YAYOG PVP challenge.  This was a partial rest week for me on YAYOG, so I only did 2 YAYOG workouts this week.  I plan to do roughly 4 per week for the rest of the challenge.
4. Take an online continuing education course.  I completed 3 weeks worth of the material for my business ethics course.

Even if I don't hit the 20, I am pretty satisfied with the weight loss.

Sorry to hear about the injury.  19 pounds in 10 weeks is still amazing.  congrats!

Throughout this challenge, I have been doing my weigh-ins on Saturday mornings.  I did mine a few minutes ago, and got some great news from my scale.  We don't always get along, but I like it this morning.  I am now down 21 pounds for this challenge!

Thanks to Darwins_Demon for organizing the PVP, and to the other participants for the encouragement along the way.

Congrats Dasein -- At the rate you have been going, I am sure you will lose the final pound to hit the target.

Adamant - how are things going this week?  Keep up the good work!

I ran another 1.56 miles today, which gets me to 8.01 miles for the week.  It was very dark out while I was running, so I did not see much to photograph.  I'll try for more pictures tomorrow.

I'm a bit behind posting on my progress.  I signed up for 10 miles for the week.  Here's where I have gone so far this week:
 
Monday: Swim 0.75 miles
Tuesday: Walk 0.75 miles, Run 2.1 miles
Wednesday: Walk 0.75 miles
Thursday:  Swim 0.6 miles, Walk 1.5 miles
Total so far this week: 6.45 miles
 
I was unable to smuggle an underwater camera into my local public pool, but here are some shots of the places I walked/ran.  The bridge might be useful for the quest.