Arkarian

Best of luck! Don't worry you aren't the only late starter. Better late than never.

Good job! Looks like you're doing great! Keep up all the great work. =D

Thanks, i'll check that out. Should be a great place to start. I've also really been looking into yoga because it sounds really interesting. This past week I walked for 15 as a simple intro excecise because i wasnt sure where to begin. I should say though that because of the crap-tastic weather we've been having here, by walking i mean pacing back and fourth in my apartment like a mad man. lol.

That's awesome! Great work. what was the hardest part about making the switch? I've already "Paleo proofed" my apartment, but visiting friends/family has been a big struggle for me. At home I havent left myself with any real non-paleo options, so i can't cheat I even if i want to, but that metality goes out the window when out and about. Gotta train my willpower up a bit I guess.

Chapter 1: Building blocks. It all starts with a great foundation, right? I found NF about 2 weeks ago and couldn’t wait for the next challenge to start so I can join in on the fun. Seems like I lost track of time a little bit but I am ready to jump in now. (Better late than never, right?) I have started looking into Paleo eating, people here seem to be big proponents of it and I have to agree it makes sense to the intellectual part of me. Getting back to your roots and cutting out this manufactured gunk that we call “food†nowadays. So I want to start incorporating that into my diet as well and begin working out. I am going to ease into it as I have always lived a fairly sedentary life and I have always been resistant to change. Right now, I don’t know what type of exercise I want to incorporate into my life, so I plan on mixing it up from week to week. My last quest is going to incorporate rebuilding my self esteem and No exceptions for being late either, ill just have to pump it out in the time I have remaining this week! Let’s get started =D Main Quest: Be happy and feel good in the skin I’m in. Family and friends have always viewed me as being skinny, but in truth I have a horrible perception of my body. I have always felt overweight, weak, and overall unattractive. I hope to change this by putting in the time and effort to shift my perspective. I’m not entirely sure how I am going to quantify this, but this is my main motivation and the reason why I will pull this through. Quest 1: Begin eating Paleo. I don’t know if this is allowed, but I want to do a gradual introduction into the diet, especially since it is just a drastic change from my normal eating habits. Diet is probably the most important part of this, so that is why it is my 1st quest. I plan to schedule it out like below, with subsequent weeks being harder and worth more points. I have included a bonus adjective because I was recently diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and dairy wrecks me and makes me feel horribly bloated and unenergetic. Cutting that out should be a no brainer and improve my life greatly. Week 1-2: Eat at least 3 days of complete Paleo meals. 3pts each week Week 3-4: Eat at least 5 days of complete Paleo meals. 4pts each week Week 5-6: Eat at least 6 days of complete Paleo meals. 5pts each week **Bonus adjective: Remove dairy from your diet. 5pts Total points: 24 A:20-24 B:15-19 C:10-14 Fail: below 10 Quest 2: I dread exercising, but I know I have to start incorporating some kind of work outs into my schedule if all this dieting above is going to pay off. I have opted to go for a scale grading system like above because it seems like a good idea. Who knows, maybe I’m being naïve, but I’m allowed to be considering this is my first challenge, right? Subsequent weeks will be harder yet worth more points. I have also included a bonus adjective here too. I’m not sure what kind of exercise I want to do, so I plan on trying as many out as possible. Suggestions? Week 1-2: Work out for at least 15min 3x a week. 3pts each week Week 3-4: Work out for at least 15min 5x a week. 4pts each week Week 5-6: Work out for at least 20min 6x a week. 5pts each week **Bonus adjective: Try a different workout type each week. 1pt per week of unique workouts. Total points: 24 A:20-24 B:15-19 C:10-14 Fail: below 10 Quest 3: Learn to compliment yourself. I have frequently heard that giving yourself compliments in the mirror on a daily basis is supposed to be very cathartic and good for your self esteem. This will be my third and final quest. 2pt per week. A:10-12 B:8-10 C:6-8 Fail: below 6 Comments, suggestions, and constructive criticism are always welcome. Am I biting off more than I can chew? Are these goals too easy? I guess we’ll find out in the coming weeks. I plan to keep you all updated! (I hope i did this right)

Thank you. Yes I am allowing myself time to wallow now, but don't for a second done think im not getting right back up and back at it. I was just extremly dissapointed at myself. I have always had problems with keeping myself accountable.. "If no one knows i failed, did i even fail?" It was important to me to write this down and hopefully will help keep me on track in the future.

So here we are back at the beginning... I have to say, I really thought my first time here would go something along the lines of, "oops I didn’t mean to eat that and after I started I couldn’t stop." In reality... I knew exactly what I was doing and chose to fail. I’ve been thinking on it and i really don’t know why I did it? I was doing so well too. Perhaps I should roll this back and explain the situation. This was my first week of the Paleo diet. I had spent the previous week getting some recipes together and figuring out a game plan so the transition could hopefully be as smooth as possible. And it was for the most part. Sure there were cravings, but so long as I stuck to my meal plan and planned ahead it wasn’t too bad. There was only one day that I was running late and skipped breakfast which through my whole day off, but I survived and pressed on. Work was the hardest part but I had some almonds and dried apricots (w/ no added sugar) to snack on if I was ever tempted to hit the vending machines or order out as I was apt to do in the past. The only other hurdle I had was my family. Now you have to understand both me and my family in order to get my hesitation, but needless to say I dreaded telling them. I knew it was going to elicit all kinds of negative responses and I didn’t want to have to deal with it. Instead I chose to not tell them and let my diet fall apart for the day. I can’t even say I did my best considering I had cookies and sweet tea and I just let everything spiral out of control. So this is me owning up and admitting I chose to fail. I chose to fail, I chose to fail. God, I can be an idiot. Next week I promise I wont be here again, I won’t!

Hmm.. Okay, thanks for the feedback, I think i'll steer clear of them for now. ^-^

Is it due to added sugar? I was worried they were hiding it behind "concentrate" and "puree" labels. Thanks for the response!

Anyone know if this is considered Paleo? Doesn't look like it would be, but i'm fairly new to this. Ingredients Pineapple Juice from Concentrate (Water, Pineapple Juice Concentrate), Apple Juice from Concentrate (Water, Apple Juice Concentrate), Mango Puree from Concentrate (Water, Mango Puree Concentrate), Banana Puree, Kiwi Puree, Spirulina, Natural Flavor, Chlorella, Zinc Sulphate, Green Tea, Spinach, Broccoli, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Barley Grass, Wheat Grass, Echinacea, Garlic, Blue Green Algae, Jerusalem Artichoke, Lemon Bioflavonoid, Nova Scotia Dulse.

I have two that i would like too share. Both are about change and being in a constant state of improvement. The first is from my favorite poet ever Andrea Gibson. “I am living today as someone I had not yet become yesterday And tonight I'll only borrow pieces of who I am today To carry with me to tomorrow†and the second i cant remember where i picked this up i believe i overheard it somewhere. "What defines you? Nothing; A definition excludes the possibility for change."

That's a great suggestion and something that i plan on incorporating. I usually don't do well with 180 changes to anything. I am also trying to compile a list of easy and reliable meals so i can be prepared and don't have to rely on snacking and fast food to fill in meals. That never works out well.

Hello all, I've recently discovered Nerd Fitness and have absolutly fallen in love with the idea. I have always struggled with keeping up my motivation and keeping myself accountable. Always doing well for a week or 2 if im lucky and then losing steam and giving in to temptation. The idea of incorporating RPG elements to my workout and diet is absolutly genius and i cant wait to begin racking up some achievments. It looks like everyone is finishing up with a 6 week challange, but in the meantime i've decided to start getting things in order so i'm ready to start the next challange with a level head. I've given myself a 1 week deadline to get my appartment in order, including mopping and the whole 9 yards. And then i am going to start making small diet changes: eliminating liquid calories, limiting grain intake, incorporating more home cooked and more natural meals. I've been looking into the Paleo diet and so far it looks promising. You guys have really sold me on the idea. The philosphy really syncs up with the rational part of me, i just worry about all the restrictions. It sound intimidating. And suggestions? When does the next challenge start up? I cant wait!