SpiralGalaxy

Awesome, go you! As for moving advice (I've moved waaaay more than I wanted to recently): start throwing out anything you don't want to move. I start this earlier every time and every time I'm still amazed and the junk I have to throw out at the last minute, or the junk I unpack in the new place and think "Why the hell did this end up in a box?"

Walkies! Turns out I can make a 1/3 mile loop around my building. And I know there's a mile loop inside one of the production facilities. Go Team Hobbit!

Woohoo! Although I was taking an extra walk yesterday at lunch (beautiful weather here right now!) and thinking: "Gosh, I wish there were a mini challenge right now that this would count towards!" Looks like it's time to take another one!

As per usual, Day 1 of the challenge: Nailed it! 1370 calories, no alcohol. +10 points!

I'd like to sign up for Team Hobbit! I'll fill out the sign-up sheet when I get home tonight (as so often, cursing the work firewall that blocks Google docs).

Hooray for beginning of challenge day! Here's my baseline. I weighed in at 126 this morning, and would love to be at 120 at the end of the challenge. Previous experience says this is doable if I stick to my calorie limits. Of the days I tracked calories last week I measured: 1660, 1405, 1695, 1934, and 1697. I think that not drinking alcohol and paying attention to choices will bring these down pretty easily. Other note: there will almost always be one-two days per week when I don't do this; my weekly writing night and occasional date night. This challenge includes my birthday, and I won't be dieting for that dinner! That's OK--if I hit my goals perfectly 5-6 days/week, I think I'll be making great progress.

OK, that chicken/beef square thing is totally wrong. And jrosto is totally right: should be wrapped in bacon. Happy start-of-challenge day!

Guys guys guys!!! I made the best grilled chicken breast over the weekend, and I can't believe how well it came out. I tried three things I'd never tried before: -Pounding out the chicken to make it more even thickness, so it would cook consistently -Brining: way easier than I thought! Mix 1/4 c. salt with 4 c. water, pour over the chicken and let it sit while you're doing the other prep work. -Spice rub. I mixed my own, but whatever you like would work. Next time I'm going to try a curry or Tandoori rub with some yogurt sauce on the side! After that I heated up the grill to a relatively low temp, cooked for 4 min on each side, and it came out amazing. Way better than I thought it would! Kind of bummed that I didn't do it in time for the Diplomat dinner challenge.

Yay books! MFP usually vastly underestimates my activity level (I don't take my phone everywhere I walk, and I do other exercises it doesn't track), so I figure it's probably fair to take the adjustment. But that wouldn't have helped yesterday! I go out once a week to get away from the kids and get some writing done. So I have dinner out and last night I treated myself. 1948 calories (1934 after MFP's "exercise" reading). If I had skipped dessert (which I usually do) that would have been right around 1500.

Wow, that's awesome! And more adventurous than I get with meat: I tend to stick (too) closely to the beef/chicken axis, sometimes with some bison thrown in.

No points yet, but just getting back into the food tracking habit to see where I'm at as I start. Tuesday: 1806 cal, 1697 if I take MFP's exercise adjustment (not sure if I'm going to do that). A very high day b/c of essentially an extra lunch at work. Would have been 1369, or more likely 1469, without the extra from that one meeting.

Awesome! Good luck on getting through the pre-job acceptance limbo. That's always the hardest part for me.

In my last challenge, I made some good progress on things but still managed to fail a couple goals--almost entirely because they were a) too scattershot, and constantly felt like penalizing myself. So this time I'm just going to focus on one big thing and knock it out of the park (I hope). FOOD! As our fearless leader says, food is 80% of the equation, and you can't outrun your fork. So while I hope to maintain good habits like cubicle exercising and meditation, here's the game for this challenge. -Tracking calories. Every day. If I stay under 1550 calories, +3 points for the day. If under 1400 calories, +5 points. If I avoid all alcohol, +5 points. For every 50 points, I get to purchase a new book from a particular group that I have my eye on. That's it! My simplest (but possibly hardest) challenge yet. I'm really just trying to lose the last 5-6 pounds of weight from my last pregnancy, 16 months ago... Ideally, I'll have bought at least 6 new books by the end of the challenge. That's 300 points for an A effort.

Challenge round up time! 1) Eat more veggies A = 6/week; B = 5/week; C = 4/week; D = 3/week. Sta + 1; Wis + 1 Bonus challenge! Get to a local Farmer's market and explore their offerings. Cha +1 Extra bonus! Make a big veggie-ful meal on weekends to have as leftovers for lunch or dinners. Con +1 I'm happy with how this went. I added veggies to lunch and usually to dinner as well. I was very good at making meals on weekends to have leftovers. However I didn't make it to a Farmer's Market: my area has a lot of them and a good website for guidance, but they were either on weekday afternoons (where it was hard to get to them between leaving work and picking up my kids) or on weekends when I had too much to do juggling the kids. But still: a win for this goal, +1 Sta, +1 Wis, +1 Con 2) Exercise changes The Firefly crew can kick ass equally on ship or planetside. I haven't been getting outdoors enough, and I haven't been getting enough cardio. So! Two-parter: a: At work: do a round of this exercise serieseach day. I found this during the last mini-challenge, and it's perfect for what I want. Potential pitfall--in a few weeks I'll be starting a lab test, and I'm not sure what my cubicle time will look like. But every day that it's possible, I want to do these. b: At home: each day that it's possible, get out for a walk, minimum 15 minutes. We've got some lovely walking paths near our house, and I want to explore more. I didn't manage it today because it was raining, but I was ready to do it! (I went downstairs and did a sledgehammer routine instead.) To be graded on a 90/80/70% scale. Str +2, Dex +2 Bonus: Start jogging! After doing some walking, start upping the difficulty with some interval jogging: 1 min walk/1 min run, that sort of thing. I have disliked running before, so it will be interesting to try it again. +1 Sta. Also happy with this one. I really like the cubicle exercises and only missed a few days. I also really like getting a walk in the morning--although dragging myself out of bed at 5am is still hard, and I probably only managed it 50% of the relevant days. But I did try the walk/run thing a couple of days--it was pretty good, although it'd be better if I could do it consistently. Still: overall win! +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 Sta 3) Meditation Book derives a lot of strength and character from his time in prayer. For me that's mindfulness meditation. Goal: *every day* do at least 5 min of meditation. Do 30 min when that's practical. A = 6/week, B = 5/week, etc. I'm adding on a goal to write down three things I'm grateful for every day. I need to get my head in a more positive mindset, and I know that can be a big help. Wis +1, Cha +1 Bonus challenge! Experiment with candle meditation. Wis +1 Hmmm. Meditation is still great for me, but the 5 minutes thing didn't work out. Either I got a full half hour in, or none at all. It's just the way my day is structured, and I hate meditating at work when I feel anyone can sneak up on me. No points there. But I did try candle meditation and I loved it, so I'll take my extra Wis point. +1 Wis. 4) Maintenance Kaylee has to keep the engines in good shape under non-ideal circumstances and within considerable budget constraints. I need to maintain the habits from other challenges that have paid off. I realized that last challenge I dropped some habits because they weren't "part of the challenge." So here's where I change that. This is a long list, but it's already stuff I know how to do. -Bring lunch to work. If not, stick with simple sandwiches and salads from the cafeteria -Go to bed no later than 10pm -Do not purchase alcohol to drink at home -Take all vitamins -Bring healthy snacks to work, no vending machines -Floss -Track calories with MyFitnessPal -Smoothies for breakfast A = no more than 10 lapses/week; B = 15 lapses; C = 20 lapses, etc. Con +2, Wis +1 Total fail! That's way too long a list of stuff and the negative incentives made it feel really de-motivating. No points here. Overall: Some things worked, and some things didn't--no surprise there! I've got a good idea about how to really focus my next challenge to avoid some of these problems. I'm happy at getting more veggies in, and happy at really making cubicle workouts work, so I'll take those positive developments moving forward.

Amazing--go Team Assassins! And, as always, thanks so much to Stars and Hazard for putting this all together. You guys rock!

I'm still here! I've given up on the long-list-of-maintenance-items, and my meditation is spotty. But I've still been getting more vegetables and sticking with my cubicle exercises. Today I even managed to get up and go walking out in the dark, dark morning. So far the only bonus goal I haven't hit is finding a farmer's market--I might be able to manage that this Thursday.

It's funny that you've gotten better about posting right when I've gotten worse. Good job on keeping up with your goals! And I'm glad you were able to enjoy some guilt-free champagne. ;-)

Re: Calorie tracking. I also find it both effective and annoying. Like annyshay I try to input full recipes of things I make from scratch, so that they'll be there when I make them again. That works really well with snacks I bring to work, lunches I have multiple times through the week, and dinners that I make fairly often. After that I do that thing of finding something *sorta* close in the app database and calling it good. I totally accept that this isn't a 100% accurate tracking method, but it gets me in the ballpark and helps me stay on the straight and narrow. Of course, I write all this and I fell off the tracking bandwagon two weeks ago. But NEXT challenge I'll be right back at it! ;-)

Grilled Cinnamon Apples: 2 apples, cored and cut into 1/4 inch slices1/2 cup/120 mL water1/4 cup/60 mL lemon juice2 tablespoons/30 mL brown sugar1 teaspoon/5 mL cinnamonPreheat grill for medium heat. Combine water and lemon juice in a large bowl. Add apple slices to mixture. In a small bowl combine cinnamon and sugar. Place apples on grill rack and allow to cook for 6-8 minutes on each side, turning once. Once cooked, place apples on a large dish and sprinkle with sugar mixture. >>These are super easy if you're already grilling something. I was especially happy that my rather lackadaisical grill cleaning methods (nothing more than taking a grill brush to the grill while it's still hot after each use) didn't contaminate the apples at all. I threw these on after I was done grilling some hot dogs for dinner. My review: Yummy! Try to sprinkle the cinnamon sugar more evenly next time. Husband's review: Yummy! It's like an apple-flavored snickerdoodle cookie. Kids: surprisingly, both kids refused them. Apparently apples are supposed to be raw and crunchy, and it kind of weirded them out when "apples" were cooked an floppy. Their loss! All the more for the rest of us. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OK, the whole check-list thing isn't working very well for me right now. At this point it's a disincentive more than an incentive, so I'm going to let it go. Last week was another messy one, and this weekend I only got about 4 hours of sleep a night for 3 nights. Bleah. Meditation hasn't happened. I had one good walk/jog day. Cubicle exercises are doing great, which I'm quite happy about. Food tracking has just about ceased, but I'm still doing well on getting more vegetables. Last night I made zucchini sticks to go with burgers, and today my lunch box includes baby carrots. So I haven't abandoned the challenge, but I'm definitely getting a better feel for what's working and what isn't. I'm also getting a good idea of how to shape my next challenge, which will be *much* more focused, taking into account limited will power, and have more positive rewards.

So we still need a side dish and a dessert? I don't usually do desserts, but let me see what I can do about a side dish.

Here's my zucchini sticks: Recipe: Cooking spray or oil mister4 medium zucchini (200g each), ends trimmed3 large egg whites1â„4 teaspoon kosher saltFreshly ground black pepper1 cup seasoned whole wheat bread crumbs2 tablespoons grated pecorino romano cheese1â„4 teaspoon garlic powderDirections Preheat the oven to 425°F. Spray 2 large baking sheets with oil. Cut each zucchini into 16 sticks about 4 inches long and about 1â„2-inch thick for a total of 64 sticks. Put them on paper towels to blot excess moisture. In a small bowl, season the egg whites with the salt and black pepper to taste; beat well. In a medium-sized shallow bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheese and garlic powder. Dip the zucchini sticks into the egg whites, and then into the bread crumbs, turning to coat well. Place the breaded zucchini sticks in a single layer on the prepared baking sheets and spray the tops with more oil. Bake until golden brown and tender in the center, 23 to 25 minutes. Note: For best results, bread the zucchini in two batches so the crumbs don’t clump up. Divide the bread crumbs in half. Bread the first two zucchinis, then dump the crumbs and use the remaining crumbs to finish breading the last two. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How awesome! I'm going to volunteer for appetizers--I've got a baked zucchini stick recipe that I was already planning to make for my kids this weekend.

Week 4, Day 1 & 2 This week started off somewhat derailed when I had to leave work early to grab the kids from their daycare where power surges had knocked out the air conditioning--in August near Wash DC. Yeep! That and a couple other things messed up the first two days, but now I'm getting back on a better track. I think that's 5 errors so far for the week. Challenge goals: [x x] One meal with solid vegetables [~ ~] A 15 min walk at home [~ ~] Cubicle exercise routine [~ ~] Meditation [~ ~ ] Gratitude writing Maintenance goals: [x ] Bring lunch to work. If not, stick with simple sandwiches and salads from the cafeteria [x x] Go to bed no later than 10pm [x x] Do not purchase alcohol to drink at home [~ ~] Take all vitamins [x ] Bring healthy snacks to work, no vending machines [x x] Floss [ ] Track calories with MyFitnessPal [x ] Smoothies for breakfast Bonus Quests: [ ] Get to a local Farmer's market and explore their offerings. [ ] Make a big veggie-ful meal on weekends to have as leftovers for lunch or dinners. [ ] Try interval jogging [ ] Try candle meditation

Week 3, Day 6 & 7 That was a pretty good run! If you look in the Galley mini-challenge thread you'll see my new experiments in cooking, both of which turned out well. I made enough stuff for dinner tonight and lunch for a few days. I got the kids out for a "hike" at a local park on Saturday--and I'm glad I did, because Sunday was way too hot & humid for a lot of outdoors stuff. Basically I nailed everything except one day of calorie tracking and any hope of going to bed on time--so that's 2 more errors for 13 total for the week. Still solidly in B territory for the overall challenge. And I'm especially proud because I was on my own with the kids all weekend (husband was on travel). Challenge goals: [x x ] One meal with solid vegetables [x ~] A 15 min walk at home [~ ~] Cubicle exercise routine [~ ~] Meditation [~ ~ ] Gratitude writing Maintenance goals: [~ ~] Bring lunch to work. If not, stick with simple sandwiches and salads from the cafeteria [ x] Go to bed no later than 10pm [x x] Do not purchase alcohol to drink at home [~ ~] Take all vitamins [~ ~] Bring healthy snacks to work, no vending machines [x x] Floss [x ] Track calories with MyFitnessPal [~ ~] Smoothies for breakfast Bonus Quests: [ ] Get to a local Farmer's market and explore their offerings. [x] Make a big veggie-ful meal on weekends to have as leftovers for lunch or dinners. [ ] Try interval jogging [ ] Try candle meditation