miss america

It's really interesting so far! Her methods are markedly different from a lot of other organizing stuff I've read in that she encourages you to do EVERYTHING ALL AT ONCE so that you are inspired to keep it clean. But I like her kind of spiritual approach of getting rid of stuff by considering whether each object "sparks joy" for you. So basically, turning a stressful activity into a positive one by deciding what you really want to KEEP rather than focusing on making rules for what you should get rid of. And it's a pretty fast read too—I think I might schedule a thorough "tidying" of my place during the next challenge as a side quest!

YEAHHHH, awesome work! I didn't really understand the stats either and probably did them wrong??? But I liked how they looked in the sig so I kept them, haha. If don't care/aren't motivated by the idea of them I don't think they're necessary though. Have fun in the Assassins!!

Wahoo!! I'm in awe of how great you did throughout this whole challenge! Really amazing work—and I love the visual statement of seeing all that GREEN! Did you decide what guild you're going to join for the next challenge?

DAILY UPDATE - 12/21 Mission 1: BBWW completed! Mission 2: tracked, went a bit over but nothing TOO crazy Mission 3: walk completed! **** I still have about nine days to go in my challenge, but here is my recap so far since everyone else is finishing up! Mission 1: My goal was 3 days of BBWW per week, and I'm about 4.5 weeks in (13.5 BBWWs estimated). I have 16 days of BBWW completed!!! A+! (I've just been doing them every other day instead of three set days per week, so that's why I've gained a few extra.) Mission 2: My goal was to track food 6-7 times per week ("A" grade would be 28 - 33 for the 33 days so far). I have tracked on 31 days! A! Mission 3: My goal was to take a 20 minute walk 6-7 times per week ("A" grade would be 28 - 33, "B" grade around 14 - 27). Out of 32 days so far, I have walked on 25.5 days! B+! Life goal: Finished applying to all my schools that had a fall deadline—I'm still chasing around the last of my recommendations to get them to actually submit their letters though :/ But I finished MY part of it! I have one more school whose deadline isn't until next March but required everything to be printed out, so I think I'll do that over the holidays and then I'll be all done! I'm feeling really good about finishing up this challenge STRONG! I definitely feel stronger and I'm happy to see that my weight is moving in a consistently downward direction. I decided to officially join the Monks for the next challenge, and I'm having fun coming up with some challenges for the next round!

DAILY UPDATE - 12/19 Mission 1: BBWW completed Mission 2: food tracked and under goals! Mission 3: walk completed! DAILY UPDATE - 12/20 Mission 1: no BBWW required Mission 2: food tracked and under goals! Mission 3: walk completed! Other stuff: - I accidentally woke up a little early on Friday, and when I went back to sleep I totally had a dream that I kept trying to do my BBWW but my house was full of people and I couldn't!! So I think that marks my first BBWW dream

I started a bit late so I'm going to continue with my challenge through the break, BUT I'm going to go ahead and declare that I will be doing my next one as a MONK!

You can be sure that I will! DAILY UPDATE - 12/18 Mission 1: no BBWW required Mission 2: tracked and stayed a hair under my goals—still counts! Mission 3: walk completed! Other stuff: - I just realized with my late start, my 6WC technically ends exactly on December 31. Take THAT New Year's Resolutions, I don't need you! - My scale had run out of batteries just before the challenge started and through the first few days—so I'm not exactly sure how much of this took place within the confines of the six weeks, but I'm down NEARLY TEN POUNDS from my highest recently recorded weight. We'll see how Christmas goes but I'm definitely feeling motivated to reach that goal marker!

I think that's a good call—we're all in it for the long haul here... better to keep your body happy in the long run than to make it unhappy now for the sake of "fitness"! And I'm so impressed with all those O's in your signature though... you've done such a great job! I love that your mom is going to join as well. Hope you have a great and well-deserved time in Florida!

DAILY UPDATE - 12/18 Mission 1: BBWW complete! I had to ease the transition from warm bed to cold house by working out in some cold-weather gear most likely designed to be worn, you know, outside. But it worked! Mission 2: Tracked, though I had to do a lot of estimating since I went to a beer tasting! I think most beers are around the same nutrient range, so hopefully I was close. Went out for burgers with friends afterwards and I did PRETTY well (just got a plain burger with no sauce or cheese or bacon and yes lettuce and tomato and onion). This place is notorious for its fatty foods so it could have been much, much worse I weighed in that evening just to see and there wasn't much change from the previous day, so hopefully I won't see a big jump as I've sometimes seen when eating out in the past. Mission 3: Walked, but it was short—only about 15 minutes. Other stuff: - Remember the Week 5 Mini-Challenge where we had to declutter? I just made 20 bucks selling some fandomy stuff I found during my cleaning on eBay! Whoo hoo! I also checked out Marie Kondo's new book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, from the library. She is a highly sought after organizer from Japan and she's been very inspirational so far. - Drove past one of the gyms I've been researching, and the boxing class must've been going on 'cause everyone was kicking butt on the bags! So cool. I'm not sure if I'll actually get to the classes for this next 6WC, but I think I'll try to do an at-home approximation to build my stamina and dedication to longer workouts.

Ha, you're right—it looks like it'd be a killer core workout, especially hanging off the bars like that! D'OH!

Oh nooooo!!!! I've never done that from actually... exercising so I don't have much advice sadly. I have used those little heating pad things from the drug store—they don't really solve the problem, but at least dull the pain for a few hours. Ack. I hope it goes away soon and you can get back to kicking butt (though I'm sure you will regardless of foolish mortal concerns)!

Wow, you're doing great! "More than I did yesterday" are words to live by It's really cool how much UF-ing my H made a difference for me mentally over the past few days—clearing my space really helps me clear my mind as well... it's like my cluttered room is literally the product of a cluttered mind! Hope you have a great final few days of the challenge!

DAILY UPDATE - 12/16 Mission 1: no BBWW required! And good thing too, 'cause it was freezing and raining and felt good to stay tucked in my little bedcave for a bit longer. Mission 2: food tracked, went a bit over. For future reference, I'm attributing this to the fact that I tried to starve myself between breakfast and lunch, so by the time lunch came around I felt SO hungry and ended up snacking in a... less controlled manner as soon as I got back to work in the afternoon. (I mean, much better than the "old days," but still.) So, just a reminder to myself that sometimes it's worth a little snack "investment" in the morning to keep myself on an even keel overall for the day. Mission 3: walk completed! Went out just before the rain started up again, PLUS anticipated evening plans so I did the walk ahead of time before it was too late. We're in the home stretch!

Heh, it's mostly that it's very curly and can get very BIG and intimidating if I so choose DAILY UPDATE - 12/15 Mission 1: BBWW completed! Mission 2: all food tracked and stayed within goals! +1 bonus Mission 3: walk completed!

Yay update!! Glad to hear you've been rocking it in the offline realm. Great work adapting and improving your workouts where you can... I'm really realizing how integral flexibility is to all of these challenges. I'm also amazed at how quickly these weeks have passed by! SO CLOSE!

Yes! My brain totally gets an accomplishment-high just looking at any before-and-after photos, so I figured it might work for cleaning too DAILY UPDATE - 12/11 Mission 1: BBWW completed! Mission 2: food tracked, though went over goals (Gotta say though, having "food tracking" as a goal is really helpful when I'm trying to catch up on entries! It's all right there!) Mission 3: no walk DAILY UPDATE - 12/12 Mission 1: no BBWW due Mission 2: food tracked! I went out for dinner but attempted to track what I could—I think I went over, but again, I'm rewarding myself for just keeping track instead of pretending it didn't happen. Way better in the long run. Mission 3: no walk again DAILY UPDATE - 12/13 Mission 1: BBWW completed! Mission 2: food tracked—after My Fitness Pal totally shamed me and encouraged me to keep on my streak! I went to a party and did pretty well... I had a few treats, but managed to keep those to just a few tastes and not go too crazy overall. But I was just going to forego tracking until MFP sent me the notification of shame. I had to estimate but it wasn't SO bad. Mission 3: NO WALK AGAIN DAILY UPDATE - 12/14 Mission 1: no BBWW due Mission 2: Back on the food track and stayed within my goals +1 bonus Mission 3: WALKED! Other stuff: - Completed Week 5 decluttering mini-challenge as pictured above. There are still a few areas of clutter throughout the house so ideally I'd like to tackle those sometime this week before the holiday rush. - For the next challenge, I'm definitely going to add another fitness goal (and not just track my daily walks)—as I discovered pretty early on in this challenge, I'm very good about doing my walks as long as I get home before a certain time. So I think I'll figure out some alternate cardio goal that I can do a few times a week while also continuing with my walks. The walks alone aren't strenuous enough to lower my weekly goals for those, so I think adding something a bit more challenging—that I don't do EVERY day—will be helpful in that regard! - I have decided on my character race: medusa! I really related to the part of the description that said: "Your snaky hair is a weapon." - Week 6 mini-challenge is picking classes already, eek! I am mostly trying to decide if I should go to Adventurers first, or move straight on to one of the specialized guilds (probably Monks)! I'm going to try reading through a few of the current members' challenges and see where I would best fit in based on what they're actually up to.

Week 5 - check! I chose to clear off my desk area, which ends up a magnet for random junk that I'm not quite prepared to get rid of, but don't have an actual purpose for. Lots of Comic-Con freebies, random office supplies, etc. I still have a bit to do (gift wrap and posters to the side, plus one more of the drawers and some junk hiding below) but the surface is actually usable now—which is a big step mentally! Thanks for making me/inspiring me to do this

YEAHH!! It's hard to update every day/week/whatever but I'm definitely imagining everyone off kicking butt on their own offline! I'll do my real update later, but just wanted to show off my work for the mini challenge: Still lots to do, but you can actually see the DESK now! I hear that makes it a little more useful? I also did two of the drawers and found some change and a $10 Target gift card. Whoo hoo!

Hmmm, it's getting kind of quiet around here, isn't it?... now I see why the Level 1s are sequestered away from the other groups for our first challenges But I hope everyone is doing well and will come back before the challenge is over! DAILY UPDATE 12/10 Mission 1: no BBWW required Mission 2: completed food log and stayed within goals! +1 point to my as-yet-to-be-determined bonus prize fund Mission 3: walk completed! I parked far away again from the office again, so I got some extra as well. Not quite as many as the previous day, since I used my normal spot at home and I didn't have as many daytime errands. Plus I was actually kind of TIRED—which felt good Other stuff: - officially back to pre-Thanksgiving weight... and actually a little bit below! I'm really happy that I did not get discouraged because of that fluctuation, and I know that my ability to come back was largely because I saw the progress I was making here before the break—I knew that I could easily get back on my program and start seeing positive results again. So, thanks for the perspective, Nerd Fitness!

DAILY UPDATE - 12/9 Mission 1: BBWW accomplished! I've also noticed that even though my "workouts" are pretty minimal, I have really started feeling like my form is getting better and that the movements are getting easier. I got really low on my squats, and I barely looked at the stopwatch during my plank (when for the first few weeks I would just stare at it mentally pleading for it to say "15"...). Mission 2: tracked food and stayed within my goals! Mission 3: did my daily 20 minute walk, plus parked as far as possible from both office and home, which added about 2000 steps to my average. If I can figure out somewhere else to get in another 2000 steps or so, I'll hit 10k easily! Other stuff: - This was the official end of MY first 3 weeks, so I added the rest of my points from the mini challenge to my signature.

Now THAT'S a gif!! Congrats on your PRs—you are awesome!

You know, I used to have a really nicely organized gif depository online, but eventually I stopped adding to it and now I can't properly express myself being limited to fandoms I was into in 2010! For these I literally just google a word I'm thinking of (this one was "walking") and then go from there I try to stick to images from imgur, tumblr, etc. which I figure are less likely to get taken down for hotlinking!

DAILY UPDATE - 12/8 Mission 1: no BBWW due Mission 2: tracked! I think I more or less stayed within my boundaries—a friend and I switch off wine and cheese nights, and this week was mine so I was able to portion everything discreetly according to serving size so I knew how much I was eating! Mission 3: walk completed!

Oh yes, these are definitely not replacing my goals—they would just be bonuses on top of the normal challenges! My missions were pretty basic and not really graded on quality, so I wanted to reward myself for when I do surpass my minimal goals, however occasionally... I'm going to keep a close eye on my progress though—what I DON'T want is to happen is for me to skip logging for a day because I know I'm going to go over budget. The original goals must always take precedence! DAILY UPDATE 12/5 Mission 1: BBWW completed Mission 2: tracked all food, went very slightly over but still within a decent range Mission 3: no walk DAILY UPDATE 12/6 Mission 1: no BBWW due Mission 2: tracked, though I went out to a non-chain-restaurant dinner so I had to make a lot of estimates! I ended up a little over, but I tried to overestimate my restaurant meal as much as I could, so maybe it was actually fine Mission 3: walk completed in bits and pieces, but completed DAILY UPDATE 12/7 Mission 1: BBWW completed Mission 2: food tracked and stayed on goal! Mission 3: walked, plus did a lot of errands during the day! Other stuff: - Assuming I complete my tracking today, that's a 10-day streak! (Thanks for the encouragement, MFP!) My post-Thanksgiving missteps seem so far away now... - I think I'm also almost back to my pre-Thanksgiving fighting weight! Was that burrito really worth it, self?? (Hmmmmm, actually kind of yes.) But it was encouraging - I only wake up about 15 minutes early to do my BBWWs in the morning, but now all the other days seems SO LUXURIOUS. I think I've mentioned that before but it's still true.

Yeah, there seem to be a fair number of options in my area, so I have to figure out which is going to vibe best with me/not put me in the poorhouse...! DAILY UPDATE 12/4 Mission 1: no BBWW due today! Mission 2: tracked food and stayed under budget! Mission 3: did normal walk, plus also parked my car on the farther end of the lot at work. It's only an extra 5 minutes of walking each way, but it definitely adds up since I have to do errands throughout the day, usually go home for lunch, etc. Had my best Fitbit day since I accidentally hit 10k last week! Other stuff: - A lot of the digital food scales were on sale on Amazon, so I replaced my analog one for cheap! (or maybe that's the normal price and they just suckered me in ) I'm not using it for everything yet, but it makes it really easy to portion stuff out when I don't necessarily feel like breaking out the measuring cups for each little thing in my meal. - I'm thinking about adding some "flex" goals to my missions to make things a little more challenging—maybe at the halfway point of my six weeks (Dec 10)? My ideas were: Current mission 1: BBWW three times a week, # of circuits unspecified --Flex mission 1: + at least 3 circuits per session Current mission 2: log all food daily on tracker --Flex mission 2: + come in under/on target Current mission 3: walk 20 minutes a day --Flex mission 3: + hit 10k steps at least (1? 2? 3?) days a week I would keep my official missions as they are 'cause I don't want to get overwhelmed, but I thought it might be fun to add some bonuses on. Also because I figured I could add a new reward for myself and I just discovered Look Human But we'll see! I may just start trying to do these unofficially, and then officially put them into action for the next challenge.