Nerine

Hi all! I'm Nerine, a 20-year-old university student from the Netherlands. I'm not entirely new here, and some of you might have seen me here for the last 6 week challenge, but that one didn't went entirely according to plan. I had exams and re-exams for the second half of that challenge, and I completely lost focus of my eating and training goals. I did lose the 6 pounds I had planned to lose, but I was well on my way to more during the first part, and I didn't stay on track with either my fitness/strength training or my running training. So here's to second chances. As you might have seen, I have a main quest for the year, so my "main quest" for the 6 week challenges will be a quest specific to those 6 weeks, and not an overall goal. Just so you all know. Anyway, here's to my quests and goals. Challenge Quest Lose 6 pounds Quest 1 Eat homemade dinners at least 5 times a week. I have a bit of a bad habit of grabbing fast food/take out for dinner because I'm either busy or lazy. Of course I know that most of those meals aren't exactly good for me, so let's see if I can stop eating so much crap. For this one, I'm counting the "put into the microwave/oven for x minutes" stuff as homemade, but I'm not allowed to do that more than twice a week, because most of those still aren't great choices. I'm allowing a maximum of two non-homemade meals a week for those times that I might be out with friends, or when I really can't manage a homemade dinner. For example, on Tuesdays I often have to go from uni straight to the station to catch a train for my dancing classes, which means I'm grabbing something to eat at the station. All in all, I think this should be doable. Quest 2 Run at least 2 times a week, following the Zombies! Run 5k training program, possibly moving on to the normal app once finished. I had never been a fan of running, but the Zombies! Run app turned it into a much more enjoyable experience. I have started with their 5k training program last year, and would like to see if I can finish the program by the end of this challenge. If I manage to finish it, I will move on to the normal Zombies! Run app for the rest of my runs. If I don't, well, at least I'm still running 2 times a week. I have done 3 times a week in the past, so I'm fairly confident I should be able to complete this one. Quest 3 Strength Training at least 2 times a week, following the Dumbbell Stopgap program, possibly moving onto the Starting Strength program after. I would love to get stronger, maybe even get some muscle definition. I don't really feel comfortable around barbells yet -- even though I do have access to them -- but dumbbells seem much less scary. So I will start with the Dumbbell Stopgap program (which can be found on Reddit), and see how far I can come with that. If I feel the need, I might start with the Starting Strength program somewhere during these six weeks, if not I can just try that for my next challenge. I have never really done a strength training program before, nor have I ever really consistently gone to a gym before, but 2 times a week doesn't sound that bad. Reasonably confident that I should be able to complete this one. Motivation I want to be confident and proud of my body, and not just feel like "I don't mind" the way I look. (Especially because that is kind of a lie anyway.) I want to be able to wear whatever I want, and feel good in it.

So, I put some weight on this week, instead of losing it. It was exam week though, meaning that my focus and mental energy went into making sure I studied as much as I could - there wasn't too much room left for keeping the willpower to say no to every 'bad' decision in terms of food.So it's not really a surprise, and it's not that bad of a gain, just under 2 lbs.Plenty of time to catch up again later.

I would assume the tags are either something of a joke, or maybe for google search stuff purposes? I'm doing quite good. I figured I would give myself something of a cheat day/day off, but oh my, did I know it.. Not an hour after my dinner of fries and fried snacks I started to feel bad, and needed to run to my bathroom. I guess even after just three weeks of eating good food - the 6-week challenges having started a week before this one - my body already knows that those fries and snacks were anything but what I really wanted/needed. So, no fries for me anymore for the duration of this challenge. (And maybe not even after.) What about you? How are you doing/feeling?

I was super hesitant to even weigh myself this morning, because I was sure I wouldn't have lost much, and might even have gained weight. After all, I had hung out with my LARP group the whole Saterday (we were turning our group into an official association, which meant spending the whole day making and approving things like rules and stuff) and had eaten quite a bit of cake and pretzels, and my grandfather had his birthday on Sunday, meaning I had more cake, and all kinds of traditional birthday foods. I was very proud of myself though for sticking with water and tea both days, and not having a single glass of my usual coke! (Which I would otherwise probably easily have drank about a liter of such a day.) After stepping on the scales I was pleasantly surprised however: not only had I not put on any weight, I had even lost a few pounds! I started out with 202 lbs last week, and this morning I was at 199, meaning a loss of 3 lbs. Plus getting back into the 100's I'm excited to see where I will be at the end of these 10 weeks.

So, quick update on my progress, now that we're halfway through the first week. My current period at university is kinda brutal in terms of being in classes and doing practicals, meaning I am inside pretty much from 10am to 6pm. This means I don't have the time to do my regular running workouts outside - seeing as it's dark, and I feel nervous about running when it's dark, especially as a 20-year-old female. It also means I won't really be able to do my strengt training before uni, because our university gym doesn't open that early (it opens at 9am, and I wouldn't be able to complete my program, get showered, dress, and move over to my first classroom), and if I would go in the evening it would be full of guys, and I'm really not comfortable enough to go when the entire strength part of the gym is crowded with guys. Luckily, this Friday I will have most of the day off, so I should be able to find a quiet time then to go to the gym, plus during the weekend I should be able to fit in another one. I should also manage at least one run during the weekend, and maybe I'll just go run on both days, whether or not I go to the gym. Doing both on the same day for once should probably not be too bad. As for Paleo dinners, I managed on Monday and Tuesday, but yesterday we had people coming over so I ate with them, meaning I had pasta. I'll probably not be going to my parents this weekend though, so I should be able to 'make up' during the weekend. I'm pretty confident I will have had four paleo dinners at the end of the week. That, and I have also tried doing Paleo breakfasts this week, which I had not been planning initially, so I guess that's kind of a bonus. Also, I went swimming yesterday, and somehow I probably did something wrong, because my knee is acting up a bit now. Hopefully it will be gone by tomorrow. If not, I'll see about maybe changing my goals or something, or at least for the rest of this week. In more happy news though, I weighed myself this morning, and the scale told me I'm currently 201 lbs. I started with 205 lbs, which would mean a loss of 4 lbs. That's really a lot though, so I'm wondering if maybe I was holding a lot of water/fluid or something when I weighed myself this weekend? Or maybe the 201 lbs number is the one that is 'off', and I will have a more 'normal' number at the end of the week. For now, I'll just be happy with the fact that at least it seems like whatever I'm doing is working (And damn, this turned out to be a really long update. I'll see if I can't shorten them a bit next time xD

I was already planning to do more running this year, so I figured "why not". Added myself to the team. We could aim for the "Ultimate Master Sergeant Major" as a team?

I like the idea of this! I am already going with a goal of an average loss of a pound a week, so I figured I might as well join in here and get some motivation from everyone else doing the same

You say you are a beginner, but that painting actually looks quite good!

I'm glad I finally went and officially joined the rebellion by making an account. Looking around though, I had a question -- hoping this is the right place to ask, or at least it's allowed to ask here. I see lots of you with these fancy progress bars in your signature, and I'm just wondering how to get one of those. Anyone here who can help?

Introduction Hi all! I am Nerine, and this is going to be my first NerdFitness challenge. I am a university student, which means I have access to our university's gym for cheap, and I'm hoping to finally put that gym membership to use with some strength training. I also started running towards the end of last year, so I'm hoping to get better with that as well. I joined the rebellion because i love the idea of having other nerds around who are working towards the same overall goals as I am: to get in better shape, to get stronger, to feel better about ourselves. Main Quest Lose 45 lbs by the end of 2015 Quest 1 Eat Paleo dinners at least 4 times a week. I have never actively tried Paleo before, and I don't want to go overboard by trying to get all my meals Paleo-approved, so for this first challenge I'm going to focus on dinners only. If I happen to get some breakfast and lunches paleo-approved as well, that's great, but not a goal. Also, because I tend to visit my parents for the weekends, I will not be able to eat Paleo dinners on those days, which is why I chose a goal of 4 dinners a week. As I have never done this before, I have no idea if I will be able to do this, but there are more than enough paleo recipes out there that at least I won't be stumped for ideas. I'm hopeful about my chances of completing this goal. Quest 2 Run at least 2 times a week, following the Zombies! Run 5k training program, possibly moving on to the normal app once finished. I had never been a fan of running, but the Zombies! Run app turned it into a much more enjoyable experience. I have started with their 5k training program last year, and would like to see if I can finish the program by the end of this challenge. If I manage to finish it, I will move on to the normal Zombies! Run app for the rest of my runs. If I don't, well, at least I'm still running 2 times a week. I have done 3 times a week in the past, so I'm fairly confident I should be able to complete this one. Quest 3 Strength Training at least 2 times a week, following the Dumbbell Stopgap program, possibly moving onto the Starting Strength program after. I would love to get stronger, maybe even get some muscle definition. I don't really feel comfortable around barbells yet -- even though I do have access to them -- but dumbbells seem much less scary. So I will start with the Dumbbell Stopgap program (which can be found on Reddit), and see how far I can come with that. If I feel the need, I might start with the Starting Strength program somewhere during these six weeks, if not I can just try that for my next challenge. I have never really done a strength training program before, nor have I ever really consistently gone to a gym before, but 2 times a week doesn't sound that bad. Reasonably confident that I should be able to complete this one. Life Quest Doing the Dishes at least every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I am horrible at staying on top of all my dirty dishes. They just keep piling up in my kitchen, making me less and less motivated to do them when they keep growing. If I do them at least every other day, the stacks shouldn't become too big, meaning it shouldn't take too long to do them. Motivation I want to be confident and proud of my body, and not just feel like "I don't mind" the way I look. (Especially because that is kind of a lie anyway.) I want to be able to wear whatever I want, and feel good in it.

I've looked around previous challenges, and I do plan on joining this one. I already had a new workout schedule figured out for this month anyway, so it wasn't too much trouble converting that to a challenge format. Going to be posting my Challenge Thread after this.

Hi Nerds! As you might have realised from the title, I'm kinda nervous here, even if I know it's not productive or useful at all.. xD I'm Nerine, a 20-year-old university student (BSc Molecular Life Sciences) from the Netherlands. I have this thing about not starting something without doing as much research as I can/knowing all the facts/feel confident and comfortable around it -- for example, as a small child I did not speak until I was able to speak in semi-properly formatted sentences -- meaning I have been reading through dozens of introduction posts before even hitting the "Make New Topic" button. What I found out though was that everyone is pretty much just doing whatever they want with theirs, so I guess I can't really go wrong here. I have had weight-issues since High School, and making an attempt to get back to a healthy weight every couple of months. I usually succeed, or at least lose a bit of weight, but then can't seem to care enough, or keep myself accountable enough, to keep going. As a result, I usually gain a bit more than I lose every single time, meaning I am now at my highest weight of around 200lbs/90 kg. (Yes, the Netherlands uses the kg system, not the lbs system, but I got used to calculating in lbs through the internet. I also tend to like lbs more for the simple fact that noting my losses in lbs make them seem bigger, which helps with motivation.) Emails from NerdFitness have been entering my inbox for months now, but I never could get myself to take the step to actually sign up for the forums, make an introduction, and actually participate. Seeing as we have now entered a new year -- and I have spend the past couple of days reading as many posts and topics on here as I can -- I finally feel ready, and even somewhat confident, in joining you all! In the past, I have tried maintaining a fitblr/healtblr (fitness/health related tumblr), but I never could really get into it. I have a couple of people I found on there that I stay connected to through things like Nike+ challenges, but mostly I feel like the people who tend to have such a blog are just too different from me. Here's hoping that NerdFitness, with all it's nerds in various forms, will be a better place for me. I think that's about it. If I forgot anything, or if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask them. I'd love to get to know you all!