SpiralGalaxy

Those are awesome degrees--I was going for an Astronomy program, then it dawned on me that I'd never be able to get a job in that field. (My husband has an MS in astrophysics, then had the same realization and got an MS in aerospace engineering, and is now working on finishing an MS in systems engineering through his work.) I worked for 6 years at Northrop Grumman in a moderately soul-killing job, then grabbed an opportunity to get my Masters, and then *totally* lucked into this job! I never planned it this way, but I've become one of the go-to people for EE and EMI information on NASA's pyrotechnic systems, and *that's* where I really have to pinch myself.

This post is just some notes-to-myself on things I'm noodling for the next challenge: -Alcohol: Stop having hard cider in the house. No alcohol except Friday and Saturday? Only 1 drink that must be wine except for Friday and Saturday? I really do think the cider is my weakness--since I gave up soda I've been drinking it way more, probably to satisfy my cool/sweet/carbonated cravings. -Not eating lunch out at work. I've cut out fast food, but there are some good restaurants around here where I still over-eat (a sandwich shop with great 6" tuna, a gyro place, a pho restaurant--YUM). Proposed rule: I shall bring lunch from home each day. In the event that lunch is not made at home, I am limited to eating at the on-site cafeteria, and I can only choose from their "real food" options: basically, a pathetic tuna sandwich, a sort-of-decent-with-enough-dressing ceasar salad wrap, a cup of grapes & cheese, or the "salad bar" (scare quotes applicable). Plus, the cafeterias require a 1.0 or 1.4 mile round-trip walk--pleasant in nice weather, annoying when it's too hot or cold, which is most of the time down here. That should motivate me to make sure to get lunch made at home! -Get back up to a 10 min mile on elliptical? -Start working through a parkour tutorial? -Be able to do a hand stand? -Write and send out at least one essay or review (substantial 1000+ words piece of writing) each week. -Buy the official ref books for the FE exam, plus one unofficial study guide, and begin working through them. Hmmm... so many options...

Yup, for reals! My BS is in Physics and my MS in electrical engineering, and I work on electromagnetic interference issues on the Orion program right now. On one level it's a job, and on another I have to pinch myself for how lucky I am. I also write and edit non-fiction about science fiction and fantasy literature, because I have to keep a left brain/right brain balance going or I go insane.

Whew, big steps! I can imagine what your stomach must feel like. Good luck, we're all rooting for you!

Croman--thanks! I think mutual aid & accountability would be an excellent thing. Keep in touch after the holidays! BTW--I'm even more convinced that I need to do it, since alcohol is the last source of empty liquid calories I need to eliminate (I'm totally off soda & other sugar drinks right now.) I think if I *seriously* cut down on those (and also eliminate getting lunch out on work days), I'll be able to finally get my waistline back in shape.

Size 18 to Size 10 in 6 months? YOU ROCK!!! BTW, here are two recipes that I started feeding to my kid (15 months old now) that I could eat all day myself: 1) Roast a sweet potato (400 deg oven for ~45 min), then mash it up with butter, all-natural applesauce, and cinnamon. 2) Peel and cut up 1 sweet potato, 2 parsnips, and 3 carrots. Steam them for 15 min, then mash them all up together with some butter. Healthy carbs with some interesting variety. Good luck!

I was listening to an article on Dave Brubeck, who just passed away last week, and he made it almost all the way through music school without learning to read music. He got caught during his final semester, and the headmaster wanted to kick him out, but his composition and piano teachers protested and he was allowed to graduate. Being able to perform at a high level w/o reading music takes (IMHO) a remarkable talent.

Ouch, vertigo is NO FUN. Congrats on rocking the workout!

Thanks Omnibard! I wasn't sure how realistic my goal was, but I can see it's in reach now! I had my worst food temptation of the challenge yesterday, when someone I really like at work gave me a goody bag filled with candy treats--including some of my favorites. I have resisted. I need to throw it away, but I hate wasting food... Argh. It's harder because I really like the person who gave it to me. Last night I pushed harder on my elliptical machine and went 2 miles in 25 minutes, getting up to 12.5 min/mile. I was surprised by how much my endurance has improved on that. I continued to add the sun salutation after, which felt great. Dinner was a stir fry with home-made sauce, a sort of thrown-together sweet and sour sauce (apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, pineapple juice, ginger, garlic, corn starch). We learned that the toddler is OK with steamed tofu and carrots, not a big fan of the bell pepper and onions. (He also likes apple but not bacon or egg, and pulls cheese off anything it's on.) This whole 6 week challenge hasn't quite been the magic bullet that I was hoping for: I'm not dropping body fat as quickly as I'd like, and my insomnia hasn't magically gone away. BUT I can see improvements in so many areas: stronger, more endurance, regaining some balance, regaining some focus and mental stamina, etc. BTW, for the Nerdy Claus Down challenge this week I'm going to work on getting 7+ hours of sleep (it will only count if the light goes off before 10:30 pm and I get solid non-insomnia sleep--last night wouldn't count: Light went off at 10:30, but toddler was up at 12:15 >_>); and on doing the isometric hanging off the pull-up bar.

It's weird how that introspection/consciously identifying your weaknesses thing works. Although I specifically said I wasn't planning on tackling these, when I hit the elliptical machine last night I pushed myself just a *little* bit harder, and ended up doing 2 miles in 25 min, getting up to 12.5 min/mile (Up from a 14 minute mile, on average). And I stuck to one alcoholic drink with dinner, instead of (as had become my habit), having another one before bed. That let me use my pre-bed time quite a bit more effectively, so it helped my productivity goal too. Woo hoo!

Good move getting health insurance--It's a PITA, but it's waaay better to attack problems when they're small instead of letting them grow big. And as GI Joe says: Knowing is half the battle!

Exactly! That's why I'm loving the Assassins Guild!

I'd be so there! (BTW, I'm in Houston as well, down on the SE side in Clear Lake). I'm 33, and I've been eyeing parkour for a couple challenges without committing. This challenge I'm working towards a pull-up, and I'm up to 6 negatives in one go, and I managed a pull-up with only minor kipping the other day. There's a park on Bay Area Blvd where I saw one of those young men you mentioned doing parkour moves--I'm loving that park since it has a great toddler area for my 15 month old, AND it has a great monkey bars/balance beam area that I've been playing with. http://www.yelp.com/biz/bay-area-park-webster

Steak fajitas, sans tortillas! Marinate a skirt steak (olive oil + lime juice + Worchestershire sauce + garlic + salt & pepper). Grill up on the grill, the slice into strips against the grain. Add onions & bell peppers sauteed in the left over marinade = Delicious!

Oh, and it's been four weeks since I hit the vending machine or had soda! Wow! I had a real craving for vending machine chips on Friday, but I convinced myself that I didn't have any change for the machine (it turned out I did have a dollar I could have used, but I managed to forget about it) and had trail mix instead. Saturday during the day I had a craving for soda but got OJ instead, and Saturday night I was really tempted by ice cream, but made popcorn instead. Air popped Popcorn = the best real-food snack for people who love salty snacks but shouldn't eat chips anymore. ;-) I've been remarkably craving-free so far this challenge, but I was really happy that when the cravings hit I was able to stay strong. Whew! Of course, focusing will power on that means that I've been over indulging in alcohol instead, esp. wine. I suspect that will be the focus of my next 6 week challenge.

I'm really proud of making it through this weekend without a food penalty: I was running my Mom around on errands and already feeling like I needed lunch when the battery went out on my car. The only food options in walking distance were: junk food at craft store counter, Panda Express, and McDonalds. I'm hypoglycemic, so the fact that I went 6 hours between a light breakfast and lunch, with only some OJ in between, isn't really a good thing. I was completely brain dead by the time I got everything worked out. BUT, when I get into a hypoglycemic mode, I get rather inflexible, and my brain wouldn't even contemplate breaking my "no junk food" rule. ;-) I made flour tortillas again, and they came out even better this time. Unfortunately I ruined a bunch when I experimented with warming them up on the grill instead of in the microwave--they were in there with the steak too long and got crispy. Lesson learned. Still, made grilled steak fajitas, and they were awesome! I think I'm narrowing in on my ideal steak fajitas recipe. Also a minor achievement: added a pinch of garlic powder to my scrambled eggs this morning (along with salt and fresh ground pepper). Delicious! On Saturday after all the excitement, exercising did not get done. I was worried I wouldn't even make my "get outside" goal, but Sunday afternoon I took my son down to a park. We were there for almost two hours. He was rocking the two-to-five playset, and I was rocking the monkey bars and balance beams. Fun! I even managed to do my body weight workout in the evening, although after playing at the park so long my numbers were down. Still, I think in terms of total fitness it was a Win for the day. On the productivity front, I remembered to make a list on Sunday, and that was a big help. I didn't get everything on it done, but I got a lot more done than I would have otherwise. Here's hoping I can get back on top of things like dishes and laundry tonight.

Go you for keeping with it--you're absolutely taking control of your story!

Cleaning up my diet is my #1 goal for this challenge, and I've been rocking it so far. I haven't had a soda or hit a vending machine in four weeks! I added a round of sun salutation to my post-workout stretching yesterday, which felt great. It really helped the transition between work-out and meditation, which I've been trying to add back into my evenings to clear my mind and mitigate some insomnia. Introspectively, there are two big things I need to work on, but I don't think I'm ready to tackle either of them yet. One is running--I can't run far and I hate running (one of my favorite things that Steve writes is that there are plenty of ways to get fit--if jogging's not fun for you, don't do it!). I'm also constantly worried about re-aggravating a really major hip problem from last year. The other thing I need to manage better on diet is alcohol consumption--I rarely drink to excess, but I do drink too much, esp. on weeknights. I think that will be a focus of my next 6 week challenge.

It turns out that home-made tortillas are *way* simpler than I thought. I use a recipe similar to this one: http://www.food.com/recipe/flour-tortilla-recipe-204109 and I made a dozen at once. It's a weekend project, not something to throw together on a weeknight, but it's definitely simple. I would have made them the traditional way with lard, but I couldn't find any lard for sale in my neighborhood for love nor money, not even from the carnecerias. :-( Tonight I hit a nice milestone: I did a pull-up with only a small jump (kipping, I guess they call it?) to get started! I'll work that into my routine starting to replace negatives. Progress! I also upped my squat thrusts from 22 in 2 minutes to 27. Yay! Downside: I picked up pork chops, mashed potatoes, and garlic bread from a local restaurant for dinner. It's all quite well cooked, but I over-indulged on the garlic bread. 3 slices was 2 too many, so I'm assessing a $0.50 penalty. Portion control still matters, even when it's all "real" food!

Happy belated birthday! Congrats on making so much progress this year--if there's one thing that helps when you realize that you're not where you want to be, it's looking around at how far you've come. Go you!

This is a super-simple recipe, great for throwing together on a weeknight. Doesn't use any spices, but winds up flavorful and delicious. 1 small onion Pre-washed, bagged spinach Olive oil Tortillas Grated cheddar cheese Cut the onion in half vertically, then slice into lots of semi-cricles. Heat oil in a skillet. Sautee the onions until they're fairly limp. Add two great big handfuls of spinach, and sautee it all until the spinach is wilted. Place 1 tortilla flat in a skillet over medium low heat. Cover 1/2 with cheese. Add some of the onion/spinach mix, top with a bit more cheese, and fold the tortilla over. Let the cheese melt, flipping a few times for even heating. Serve! This makes enough for 2 people.

OK, home-made tortillas are the best. I'll be making more this weekend. They freeze well too--I know because I thawed some out to make spinach/onion quesedillas last night. I've also been using them to stand-in for pita bread in my pita/hummus/carrot/cucumber lunches this week. Mmmm. I skipped exercise last night, but the night before I upped my elliptical time & distance to 25 min, 1.8 miles, and threw in some planks for the challenge. Between things being crazy at work and doing a lot more upper-body work, I've been having some upper back & shoulder aches, so I'm scheduling a massage for tomorrow morning (taking advantage of some unexpected flex time at work). On the productivity front, I've changed my routine a bit to check in with my boss when I come in each morning. I sit on the other end of the building from him, and sometimes things get a bit out-of-sight-out-of-mind with him. This has already paid dividends in terms of getting information that I need and getting him to review some things that I needed that had been sitting on his desk. Yay! In short, everything is nicely on track.

Keep up the good work! Glad to see that the stretching and warm-ups are paying off.

Elastigirl--thanks! I'm definitely getting into some good new habits, and I hope I can stick with them even after the challenge is done. Yesterday I got right back into my bodyweight workout. I did 4 planks instead of 2 (two extra for the mini-challenge). I upped my stairs run from 7 in 2 minutes to 8. I managed 6 negatives in one set (3 and 4 in the others), and I'm getting waaaay closer to being able to do a pull-up. If I stick with the program I think I've got a real shot at meeting my pull-up goal. Also, back to good eating. I picked up a whole stuffed chicken from the local butcher (stuffed with pecans and wild rice), threw it in the crockpot over some veggies (sweet potato, carrot, zucchini & yellow squash) and let the whole thing cook all day. It was delicious & super-tender when we got home, so I was able to feed us and the toddler with it, plus left-overs. Mmmmm mmm!

One of challenge goals is getting to do a pull-up (and I'm getting sooo much closer!) so I won't count my negatives here--they're not extra. My body weight workout today called for 2 planks, but I did 2 extra for 65 seconds. I'll throw in more each day this week. Yay cave-crawling! (or re-name it my favorite: dungeon crawling!)