SpiralGalaxy

No advice from me, since I'll be facing a similar problem soon. However, I wanted to second WP's HI THERE to a fellow LC Texan!

Thanks! Also, I totally love your name/avatar!

Thanks guys! I'm really excited about the sledgehammer workout, it's been fun so far. Also, good to see I'm not the only former Adventurer here!

I'm also starting out on the shovelglove! I've really been enjoying it so far, and I'll be looking forward to following your progress. No advice on the kettlebell--mine is a crappy 15# one with a too-small handle. It's good for bent-over row and shoulder press, but little else.

Hey, glad to see a fencer on here! I love the title of your challenge thread. Good luck prepping for the upcoming season! Are there any specific tournaments you're planning on competing in?

So I was really happy with the results of the last challenge. I was able to change some habits for the better. Now I want to improve on those gains. Also, I want to experiment with some things. So here are my goals 1) Eat 100% Primal one day each week. I'll start this tomorrow, since I'll be on travel all of next week, and I know it is difficult to find paleo/primal food on the road. I've found plenty of good recipes to try, and I think I'll make this work. Right now the hardest part will be eliminating hummus from my otherwise perfectly paleo lunch. [Con +3] 2) Eliminate soda altogether. This shouldn't be too hard, since last challenge I committed to drinking tea in the morning instead of Coke. I also switched to milk at dinner, and a glass of wine in the evening. At work I drink almost exclusively water. If I desperately need sugar water, I'll allow myself to cheat with Gatorade or something similar. But no Coke or Sprite! [Wis +2] 3) Do 10 real push-ups. This is why I switched from Adventurers to Rangers. I need to get my functional strength back. I'm still recovering from major physiological damage related to my pregnancy (my baby will turn 1 year old during this challenge) and I'm sick of feeling wimpy. I still need to be gentle on my hips, but there's no reason to still be doing knee push-ups. Right now I'm doing ~8 knee push-ups in sets of 3. I'll ramp that up, and start adding real push-ups in. When I can do 12 knee push-ups in a row, I'll add 2 real push-ups to the sequence. I'll keep mixing them in until I'm doing 10 real push-ups in a row. BTW, my other new toy is a 8lb sledgehammer, doing the shovelglove routine. I'm really enjoying it so far, and I think it will do great things for my overall core strength! I'd have made that part of my challenge, but I know I can't take it with me traveling, and I'll be out-of-town for 2 weeks out of the 6 of this challenge. But push-ups I can do anywhere! [str +3] Life Goal 4) Get outside more. Yes it's Houston. And Yes, it's hot. But I love getting outside, and there's a lot down here that I haven't explored yet. Once a week I will go for a walk of a mile minimum outside. Could be around our neighborhood, but it'd be better to explore different parks. It could be with the dog or with the baby (Sunday mornings are good for this). An acceptable alternative is kayaking on the lakes near us. I'll use RunKeeper to track my walks (or paddles). Also, this is another thing that is easy to do while I'm on travel--I love exploring new places! [sta +2] I think these are all achievable goals, and specifically that they are achievable while traveling. I travel a lot, and I know it's easy to beg off of goals and challenges when away from home. Looking forward to rocking this challenge!

Oh, and one thing wasn't on my list but I'm quite proud of: I cut out almost all the junk food at work. I used to keep a bag of starbursts in my desk drawer, and I switched to trail mix, then I switched to straight nuts (pistachios and cashews mostly). So that's a big win!

So here's what I was hoping for: 1) Exercise for at least 10 minutes every day. Str + 2, Sta + 2, Dex +1 2) Only one alcoholic drink per night Sundays - Thursdays. Wis +2, Con +1 3) Drink tea with breakfast each morning instead of soda. Con +2 4) Complete the second draft of my book. Wis +3, Cha +2 I'm definitely stronger than when I started out, and have more endurance too. I think I'll rate myself a B on (1) and (2), and (3) and an A+++ on (4), which I finished and finished early--Chapter 1 is already out with the copy editor. And I'm going to round down some things to match where I think I'm at. So that'll be Str +1, Sta + 1, Dex +0.5, Con +2, Wis +3, and Cha +2.

Yup, I fell off the wagon at the end, and even the boss fight didn't quite save me. I'd re-focused from work craziness (and I stayed strong on tea for breakfast!), but Friday and Saturday I was solo parenting, and Sunday I had a colleague over for dinner, and I failed to make sticking to my goals a priority--little exercise over the last week, and a few extra drinks on Sunday. Bleah.

Whoops, no more excuses! As part of the Boss Battle, I'm not going to accept the 'Life is stressful, I deserve a break' excuse! So after falling down on Monday and Tuesday, last night I made sure to get my exercise in, and even got back onto the meditation wagon. Today instead of falling back on Coke and power bars, I made sure to have tea before leaving the house and I grabbed water and cashews for grazing purposes. I know I've been beating the heck out of my legs & hips these last few days, so I worked on pushups and even broke out my kettle bell for some bent over rows. I'm really pleased with how I've been able to recommit each time I lose focus through these weeks!

Mostly been keeping up great. I even managed to exercise last night when I'd almost forgotten and was really tired. Today I think I'm going to break all three, though. It was a crazy day at work, and I ended up walking and standing around so much that I exceeded my current limits. By the end of the day I was limping and could barely walk after standing. So I'm giving myself the night off from exercise. Because of the same work crazy, I sipped on a bottle of Coke all morning instead of having a real breakfast. Actually, until I got home my whole meal plan was: 20 oz Coke, 2 power bars. I had a good dinner though--my favorite bean burrito. And again because of the work crazy, I think I'm going to allow myself a second drink tonight. All conscious choices, and I think they're the right choices today.

Awww man. Did we lose Julia? Drat! I keep wanting to see more electrical engineering women in my workplace and social spaces, because I'm usually the only one!

I exercised last night even though it was a Friday. Hah! I slightly violated the spirit of the 1-alcoholic-drink-Sun-Thurs rule, since I had to come into work today but had two drinks last night. But I'm OK with that. Soda with lunch today is my first since Sunday. With one week left to go, I'm feeling pretty darn good about this challenge.

Right back on the horse: I hit the elliptical when I got home last night (before diving into cooking) and did 1.8 miles in 25 minutes while catching up with a podcast. Yay! I also realized that there are some times that I get off work and realize I have a little extra time. I'm putting together a small bag to keep in the car with sneakers, bathing suit, shorts, & gym towel, so that when those occasions strike I can stop by the gym or a park on the way home without having to stop for anything or make an extra trip.

Ouch, fell down on exercise last night. I know the reason: got home, started cooking, played with baby. In evening free hours, spent 2 hours doing a podcast, then was really tired and went to bed. But I really shouldn't use that as an excuse, since I could have bench pressed the baby (he loves that!) or squeezed other exercise in somehow. I also need to get back to meditating. Will do better tomorrow! All other goals are right on track, and I've been tweaking my meals to cut down on snacking. I'm eating an egg/sausage/muffin sandwich each morning (home cooked, with cheese and spinach) instead of just yogurt, which makes me less likely to snack in the morning. And I've added a glass of milk with dinner, which gives me more calcium and encourages me to hold off on the alcohol until later in the evening. So things are going well.

Totally back on track. Wished I'd done more exercise yesterday, though. I went to take a walk in a new park, but it was really freakin' hot out so I looped back earlier than I had planned. When I do that sort of thing I need to do it either earlier or later--right after work it's still in the 90's here. Bleah.

Just checking in. How did week 4 go? What's the next step for enrolling in school in the fall? Hope you're doing well!

I'm back home, and right back on the horse. I have some orange tea & berry tea that's great in the morning, and last night I did 15 minutes worth of body weight exercise, and jumping jacks to warm up. 1 hard cider with dinner, and no other alcohol. I've even kept up with the habit from Mini-Challenge #1 about getting out of bed instead of lazing around in the morning. Go me! I'm already thinking about what I want to do for my next challenge. I think I'll work on getting my push-ups and squats back where I want them. Right now I feel really wimpy on those.

The best words of wisdom that I've come across here: "I'm not telling you that it's going to be easy; I'm telling you that it's going to be worth it." Good luck!

I won't lie, I haven't been as dedicate to my goals on vacation as I'd like. 1) 10 minutes of exercise a day: 3/8 2) No soda for breakfast: 4/8 3) 1 alcoholic drink on worknights: N/A 4) 2nd draft COMPLETE Still, the exercise I've gotten in has been great: 4 miles kayaking one day, 5 miles another, and a 1.1 mile hike with my husband, baby, and nephew. Also, I've been carrying the baby around the convention in a baby backpack, which he's liked quite a bit. So while this has been a bit of a set-back, it hasn't been *that* bad. We're headed home tomorrow, and I'll be right back on track. And most importantly, it's been a great vacation! I'm coming back totally motivated to push forward with some things that I'm looking forward to tackling.

Checking in from Vacationland: I finally had to cheat on no-soda-for-breakfast this morning, since my brother doesn't keep tea in the house and I was getting seriously caffeine deprived. And I didn't manage to get any real exercise in on Saturday or Sunday. BUT: 2 hours of kayaking yesterday! About 4 miles total. I wasn't going fast, but I paddled steadily. I'm hoping to go again on Wednesday, and the plan is to do a short hike with the baby today. So I haven't totally fallen off the wagon.

What a lovely picture! Amazing how motivational that sort of thing can be. Congrats on week #3 and keep up the good work!

Congrats on your test results--that must feel wonderful! And as you say, cramming in the exercise is WAY better than taking an excuse and not doing it at all. Keep walking your path of Awesome!

Thanks! I managed to get everything done except for revising Chapter 1--with luck I'll find a few moments to revise it while I'm away. But the house looks great! Now it's just crossing our fingers and hoping. Vacation is to New England! First to visit family in my old hometown, then to go to a small science fiction convention in Massachusetts called ReaderCon. This is going to be a lovely time--especially since the high temp in New England is lower than the low temp here in Texas. For the 9 days I'm on vacation, the only things I need to keep up with for my goals are 10 min exercise per day (should be easy with nephews, swimming, walking, etc.) and no soda for breakfast. Wish me luck, and I'll see y'all in a week or so! And good luck with your re-writes, weirdquark! Collaborating is a whole different skill set--but it can be extremely fruitful.

Thanks! I don't know quite what possessed us to say "Hey, you know what'd be great right now? Moving house!" But I think it will work out really well. And thanks for checking out Locus! It's a great organization to be part of. This is going to be the most vacation-y vacation we've had in a while. We won't be worried about our fencing club, there will be nothing more to do on the house, I'm not planning on working on the book, we're not organizing anything where we're going--just time to relax and hang out with friends and family. We're hoping to doing some walking/hiking with the kids, so there should be no problem getting our exercise in, either.