SconeMaker

That IS major. Go you! Keep it up, you should be super proud of yourself.

*giant internet high five* Huzzah for progress! And for innovative use of bus stop as workout location.

Sorry to hear your eyes are getting in the way of your reading goal! Hopefully your new optometrist (whoever they may be...) can sort you out. Just wanted to say I think you're smashing it out of the park. You are doing such a good job at adapting to Paleo and I'm glad to hear you're starting to feel better. *giant high five*

Heya! Excellent questing so far. I will keenly follow for further updates.

Hey whitewineandcathair, I go to a studio at the moment to Pilates. But if I want to do some at home, and before I started there I used to use doyogawithme.com, which has both yoga and pilates videos (heavily weighted towards the yoga, as the name would suggest, but some great pilates stuff too.) I agree, it definitely compliments yoga really well and builds strength into places you need it for doing some asana. I want to go and do my pilates instructorship this year (need a new job, and I think it ticks all the boxes... particularly in regards to fun) so I want to build up the regularity of my practice over this challenge. Next challenge I think I'll focus on learning anatomy or something like that. And thank you for the welcome Sunmage! In regards to scones, I have not achieved an awesome paleo recipe as yet. I picked the name because last year, as I mastered the baking of traditional allofthegrain let'sputakiloofcreamontop scones, and my culinary skills increased drastically, my health and fitness went on the decrease. I am very proud of my scone making skills, but now I'm only allowed to make them for actual social events where I will be sharing them with a group (and therefore only have 1 myself), rather than just, you know, whenever I fancied. The next step will be to develop a healthier version, but I really can't decide what I'm going to replace the flour with just yet so it will require further investigation. And week 1 went awesome! Straight As for the first week and looking pretty good for this week too. My boyfriend has, by way of support, told me that if I get straight As for the whole challenge he's going to buy me a present. It's definitely nice to have him on side, for the last challenge he was like "what are all these charts on the wall???" Now that he's caught up with what it's about he's being really encouraging.

Hello to all, This shall be my third challenge, and my first being a Druid. It's about time I put two and two together, what with all the yoga and pilates and deep breathing and what now, and acknowledged that this is where I belong at present. My focus is on pilates at the moment because I am planning to go and do an instructorship in the near future. I need a new job, and the idea of doing something that keeps me fit, and helps others to get healthy greatly appeals to me. I am doing a modified version of the goals I set during the last challenge and continuing the trend of making my goals easier and more manageable than in the challenge before. (As I seem to have trouble taking into account the rest of my life when I make these goals.) So, without further ado, here be'st my goals. DIET - Healthy Paleo Breakfast (HPB), six days a week. Absolutely no change from the last challenge. This was the goal I did best with last challenge, but it still slipped massively towards the end and I could do better. (I started out on an A, finished with a D, scored B overall). Grading for this is as follows: A = 6 x HPB/week. B = 5 x HPB/week. C = 4 x HPB/week. D = 3 x HPB/week. F = 2 x HPB/week. FITNESS - Pilates classes (PC), 2 days per week. Again, no change from the last challenge. My overall grad for this last time was also a B, but easily could have been higher if I'd just been sure to plan ahead more and remember to make it a priority. With this in mind I have kept the same goal here and am planning to be more consistent with it. There's absolutely no reason why this one can't be a walk in the park. Grading: A = 2 PC/week. B= 1 PC/week. F = 0 PC/week. FOCUS - Pilates at Home (PH), 2 days per week. I had aimed to do it three times a week during the last challenge, and just did it three times over the whole challenge (resulting in an overall F for this goal). So I have revised it down to two, which means that combined with the classes I'll do pilates 4 days a week, and that certainly sounds sufficient to me. The challenge here is creating consistency so I continue to learn about pilates. Grading: A = 2 PH/week. B = 2 PH/week. F = 0 PH/week. SIDE QUEST - Brain Space (BS), 2 days/week. My side quest is to help my brain have more space by scheduling in two sessions of planning and preparation each week. These sessions will be for activities including: diary management, budgeting, important correspondence, housework, planning and goal setting. Most of the set backs last challenge were due to getting busy or stressed and not having enough planning in place to cope with that, so I'm hoping regular Brain Space sessions will have a flow on effect into the rest of the challenge and my life. Grading: A = 2 BS/week. B = 1 BS/week. F = 0 BS/week. SIDE QUEST + SideQuest+ is to make sure that I actually update things on here! I got busy towards the end of the last challenge and started to forgot to come on the forum and write about how things were gong and talk to other people about their challenges. I think it meant I missed out on the solidarity of NF and perhaps if I'd managed to do that more regularly throughout it I wouldn't have slipped so much during those last weeks. SideQuest+ is not graded per se, but if I update my progress once a week throughout the challenge I will reward myself by taking myself to cream tea at this amazing, super fancy, tea room I found recently. Days one and two have gone well with paleo breaky both days and one pilates class so far. Tonight I'm going to do some at home pilates and take time to plan my breakfasts for this week. So pumped for this challenge! - SconeMaker

Hey! That's awesome you signed up for a race. I imagine it will be nice to have something to work towards over the next few months. How do you feel now that the challenge is over?

Hey! So. Life got in the way with the rest of the challenge. Thanks for checking up on me, I really appreciate it. Things did start out quite well and the first three weeks were pretty good. Then life got busy and it wasn't so easy, with the last three weeks being not so excellent. I kept up with my record keeping at home, so I can still provide a final update which is: Week 2 = C Healthy Breakfast = A Pilates Classes = A Pilates at Home = F Writing = D Week 3 = C Healthy Breakfast = B Pilates Classes = B Pilates at Home = C Writing = C Week 4 = D Healthy Breakfast = B Pilates Classes = A Pilates at Home = F Writing = D Week 5 = F Healthy Breakfast = C Pilates Classes = F Pilates at Home = C Writing = F Week 6 = F Healthy Breakfast = D Pilates Classes = A Pilates at Home = F Writing = F So my overall challenge grade was a D. Which I'm not happy about, but I think I know where I went wrong. In amongst getting busy with some work commitments I was still trying to factor in my goals, but I wasn't really organised enough. Also, because I didn't make time to check in here I wasn't being reminded that there was a bunch of other people who were all doing it too. Because that sense of solidarity helps and I think my grades wouldn't have sloped off so much towards the end if I'd been making sure I was tapping into that too. So the lessons learned were: 1) I need to be stricter with my time management and prioritise my health goals -> making sure I set aside regular time to plan and prepare meals, and work out where I'm going to fit my exercise in my week will mean that I've already scheduled it in and make me more likely to follow through. 2) Embrace the solidarity -> making checking in here with my progress and talking to other rebels to lift my spirits and get excited about what I'm doing. I'm thinking I'm going to try and keep these goals for a little while, definitely over the break between challenges, and see if I can apply the above learning to get better results. I still think they're the right goals (though I may review the writing one and not put a time limit on it just yet, it might just be "Write 5 times a week.") I just need another crack at them and a better strategy.

Grades in for week 1. Nailed it in some areas, not so much in others. Healthy Breakfast = A Pilates Classes = A Pilates at Home = C Writing = C Aiming this week to maintain my A grades and focus on moving up a grade with my at home practice. I am presently waiting by my phone hoping work will ring to tell me I am working today and therefore yay money, but if there be no work I should have plenty of time to make an extra good start to the week with some at home practice, and some writing. In regards to the writing, in my brain I had decided that I would only work on my play in those 40 minute sessions. Week 1 has taught me this was a foolish endeavour. While I'm enjoying writing my play, I'm also finding it to be a logistical mindf*?!, so some days when I sit down to write I flake out just thinking about it. Yesterday I allowed myself to do 40 minutes of random writing, which was really enjoyable and of course still meant I was achieving my goal. So I'll be approaching that differently this week, perhaps doing some flow writing and things just to get words on paper and loosen up my mind. Hopefully this will make it easier when I do sit down to work on my play. I also think the pilates at home goal has been a little impeded by feeling like I haven't got a good space to do it in. So I gave my room a good tidy up and a vacuum yesterday in the hope that a cleaner looking and feeling carpet will be more enticing to work out upon. Time will tell. But I'm feeling much better about my approach to my goals this week as a result of these little changes.

SWEET. Have put name in column. What do we do now?

It's about a woman that's a human test subject for a technology conglomerate. She's part of the branch researching cybernetic enhancement. Anyway, in a nutshell, they've altered some of her memories and are planning to keep her in the programme instead of re-releasing her so her friends have to rescue her/she has to rescue herself. Or something like that. It's all subject to change. Any cyborg related reading/watching recommendations very welcome. Thanks for the support!

Hey Magnhild and Deftona, I have goals in the regular healthy meals and consistent exercise realm too, would love to team up? (I've not done this teaming up business before but am keen to have a go...)

*high five* It's hard to make goals that fit around something big and time-consuming that's going on in your life, but I reckon you've nailed it. Best of luck with your exams!

Hey, excellent goal-age and also your blog is awesome! The paintings on there are really lovely. I will have to check back in for the art...

Hello all, So... this will be my second time writing this out due to fail-y internet. WHY INTERNET WHY?! Sorry, needed to get that out. This is 6 week challenge number 2 for me, after not really at all completing my first one. The problem with my first one is I set myself some hefty goals at a time in my life when I didn't really have any extra available time for them. I'm still busy at the moment, so I've set myself goals this time around that are extending things I'm already doing (rather than adding in brand new stuff). My priorities at the moment and for at least the next few months are eating healthy, learning about pilates, and writing the second draft of my play. My goals are set up to reflect these. Goal the First: Healthy, Paleo, Filling Breakfast - 6 days a week I've been making a big effort with breakfast for a while now, but it's time to be structured about it and let it just be 'how I eat breakfast now', rather than 'I have to make myself special breakfast'. Grades A = 6 healthy brekkies/week B = 5 healthy brekkies/week C = 4 healthy brekkies/week D = 3 healthy brekkies/week FAIL = 2 healthy brekkies/week (or less) Goal the Second: Attend Pilates Class - 2 days a week I signed up with a yoga/pilates studio on a gnarly membership that means I can go nearly whenever I want. Yay! Trying to focus on taking the Level 1 pilates classes and build up some knowledge and strength, but this can help me build consistency in my attendance. Grades A = 2 classes/week B = 1 class/week FAIL = 0 classes/week Goal the Third: Pilates at Home - practice 3 times a week at home For days when my schedule doesn't allow me to attend class, and so that I'm being consistent (a 3 day no pilates gap will probably mean I lose whatever strength/knowledge I gained in the last class). Grades A = 3 sessions/week B = 2 sessions/week C = 1 session/week FAIL = 0 sessions/week SIDE QUEST: Writing my play - 40 minutes, 5 days a week I'm not very good at making sure I write regularly, so my stamina is pretty bad. This side quest will mean I build up my stamina while also working towards that second draft I mentioned earlier (and probably make the writing of that draft a much more pleasant experience because I won't be stressing a week out from deadline...) Grades A = 5 days/week B = 4 days/week C = 3 days/week D = 2 days/week FAIL = 1 day/week (or less) Ok. Well I better get on with it as now that I've written it down it's something I should do. I've made myself a little chart to put up on my wall and record my progress, and I'm aiming to update on here at the end of each week with my marks and any thoughts on how it's all been going. Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is up to and being a part of NF's excellent solidarity. Go team! - SconeMaker

I am also walking to Mordor! Set way too ambitious a daily walking target for my 6 week challenge (10km/day don't know what I was thinking) but it has definitely spurred me to walk to work when I can instead of catching a bus. I am inspired by the realistic nature of your walking goals to re-evaluate my own post-challenge into some that I can probably complete. Good luck on your trek!!

Good luck! Sounds like you've got a good plan to get you going.

Hello All. Setting out on my first challenge with the Nerd Fitness community. I'm really looking forward to it and am sure it's going to help me cement some of the changes I've started to make recently. I've decided to take the (somewhat longer than 6 week) challenge of Walking To Mordor and hope that this 6 week challenge will get me most of the way to the first stop, Rivendell, while I focus on some foodtype changes. Main Quest: Clean up my eating on the way to Rivendell. Goal 1: Swap cake and sweets for fruit. Goal 2: My lunch and dinner plates are at least 2 thirds vegetables. Goal 3 : Walk an average of 10km per day. Life quest: Create and stick to a budget. Motivation: Feeling healthier, having more energy, and regaining control of my day to day. I've been a bit grumpy with myself for having gone from being extremely fit and healthy at the start of 2014, to unfit and unhealthy at the start of 2015. Excited to get back on the path to happy. High five to all the other recruits setting out too. *high five* - SconeMaker