Seikanz

Week 2 day 3: Carbs - 50,000,000g. Or similar. No idea, didn't track it, felt like crap, free pizza was available, I have no restraint. Also no exercise. Week 2 day 4: Carbs - just 50,000g today. Didn't eat pizza but bought lunch which was delish but not altogether healthy. Exercise - I did some! OMG! Holy mackerel. Yep went back to the crossfit intro today. I went lighter and slower in the WOD than normal, but it was harder than normal after a week of rest and the cold and whatever. So the week is shaping up to be a bit of a dud, but my cold is basically gone as evidenced by going to crossfit and not dying or having a coughing fit. So I'm actually feeling good about the rest of the week, and I reckon things are on the up and up!

No unfortunately I don't feel well yet, worse actually. I missed tonight's crossfit intro class cause my cold is just on the verge of going in to my chest. I'm fairly symptom-free by today but still really tired. Soo feeling like crap means I make less than stellar food choices too. Week 2 day 1: No exercise. Carbs @ 143g Week 2 day 2: No exercise. Carbs @ 140g. On the bright side, having to write my carbs in this forum did prevent me from eating biscuits when I truly wasn't hungry, even though I am miles over my limit. Fingers crossed I feel better tomorrow! -- woops didn't post this the other day, just wrote it! Posting now.. --

Thanks Phoenix. Nah I use MyNetDiary. I find its a bit more user friendly and the food list to be a bit more useful. Day 6: Carbs: 111 grams. Dang. No exercise, sick. Didn't really have the energy. Day 7: No idea how many carbs. We had people over, had a bbq so I wasn't measuring anything, and I had more than the planned one glass of wine. I probably should have been in bed really, but the bbq had been planned for ages and wine got me through. Week's summary: Carbs: 4/7 = 57% Exercise: 3/5 = 60% Handstand: not yet. Not exactly a rave of a week, but with sickness and socialising I guess it's not too bad. Bring on next week!

Love the gifs. The Winter Soldier is by far my favourite Marvel movie! Also amazing work on the weight loss, that's very impressive and must be so motivating for you seeing that progress! Great work Phoenix, keep it up. Blast that sugar enemy out of the park!

Maybe we should all become competitive internationally! SS if you wait two years or so, I'll be getting closer to your level! Yeah totally!!

Day 5: Carbs: 116g. I was tripped up by the sandwich at lunchtime, as suspected, but at least I didn't have sugar. And it had veges and stuff in it too. Then I thought I'd just eat less of the dinner I had planned, but got home from crossfit ravenous, so ate as much as I wanted. It was a mince/bean/veg thing so all healthy (unless you're on the paleo bandwagon). Crossfit was not bad, but man, this is not the best crossfit gym around (which I suspected anyway, but hey, it's a free two week trial). Here's what we did: Warm up (jogging + some mobility stuff) Weights / Skill Power clean 15kg, 25kg Push press 15kg, 25kg!!!! NOT happy with that push press. This is an intro class, we'd just covered the technique, and then got told to do a push press with 25kg. We all managed it, but it wasn't pretty for us girls. It seems very irresponsible to get intro people to go heavy straight away on a new movement. Especially given that for most people there, the heaviest they'd gone this week was 25kg for a deadlift. WOD 21-15-9, 9 min cap Push press 15kg Box jump Row 250m No handstand practice, as my shoulders were totally worn out from the crossfit. This crossfit stuff, even though it's an intro, is reminding me just how unfit I really am! I've been working consistently since the beginning of Feb, and while I've improved at a lot of things, I still find my cardio fitness to be poor. My weight lifting, while better than my cardio, still isn't great. I know I just need to keep working, but man it's a long road. Times like these I've just got to think about inspiring people and how hard they work to get where they are. Here's one of my heroes, Kara Webb: She's freaking amazing, and has such a great attitude too. I've also come down with a cold, so I don't know if I should work out today. Does lifting weights with a cold make it worse? Or is it just intense cardio that makes it worse?

Thanks ninjakitten, it's a photo of a my little pony baby I bought for my niece a while back. And you are a role model, you've been pushing through when you really don't feel like it, which is massive. I hope to do just that when the going gets tough during this challenge. Day 4: Carbs 92g. Took care to measure everything and ate a bit extra, got to 1940 calories. That seems about right. No handstand practice, but we did do tricep push ups in the crossfit intro class, so that should still be helping in a marginal sort of way. Crossfit intro was way better than Tuesday. This is what we did: Warm up: jogging and stuff. Mobility: face pulls (pulling some light bands towards the face) kettle bell arm bar (lying on the ground and rolling over with 8kg KB held straight above me) Strength/skill (it's an intro, so there's still a fair bit of talking here): Deadlifts - a bunch at 25kg, 2x8 @ 45kg Box jumps Push ups Kettle bell swings @ 8kg then 12kg. WOD: 3 x 3 min AMRAP, trying to match/beat previous 3min score each time. 3 push ups 6 box jumps 9 KB swings I still feel like I'm not doing enough strength stuff this week, those deadlifts were really the only thing, so I'll remedy that a bit in the weekend. Got some challenges coming up - today I'm going out for coffee/lunch with the family at a cafe, so that'll mean pressure to eat crap. Or at least eat a sandwich or something, which in the grand scheme of things is no biggy, but it stresses me out a bit when I've got goals. Also got people coming over for a bbq on Sunday. That means booze and more crap food. I just have to choose to not indulge, and then it's always that you're either pregnant or weird if you don't drink. My plan is to just stick to one wine and just eat the meat and salad.

Out of curiosity, what are some examples of good ways to teach lifts, and what were you being taught? I'm intrigued! Also please do stick around. I've only just found your battle log and I did wonder why you didn't have a transformation page like Spezzy does. Reading your stuff reminds me that really it's about the long game. Put in the work every day, and results will come. I get frustrated with still not being able to do a pull up. Just got to keep on working at it.. Have you found your battle log to help? Must be fun to look back on what you were doing this time last year?

At the end of day 3 now. I think my low calories must just be a miscalculation, otherwise I don't understand how I'm not ravenous. Like perhaps I'm putting more fat with my roast veges than I think, maybe that little piece of chicken wrap thing had a bunch of calories I didn't know about in it. So I'm not going to stress. If I get hungry, I'll eat. I've read blogs of women who trust their bodies to know best and they're fit, trim ladies, so maybe I should take a page out of their books! Just fingers crossed the carb calculations are right. Carbs - goal <= 100: 96g. No exercise today, so I've used up my two rest days this week already.. but I did more handstand practice. I did wall walks, and held a record 19 seconds in crane pose. I'm sure that's nothing for lots of people, but for me who's never done much supported on my hands, that's a lot.

Yeah I find a spot of slow stretching (like yin yoga) really helps to relax before bed. Also feels like it unkinks my body a bit, which is nice just before bed. This thread makes me want to play Monkey Island again! Haven't played that since the first version!

You're doing so well with your workouts! And impressive progress from your recruits thread too. Nice work. I'm slowly descending in my push ups too, not quite at the floor yet though. Soon, I hope! Also it's so neat that you're doing this with your husband. What a fit couple!

Day two went well too! Grand. Carbs - goal <= 100: 83g, yay! Train 5x per week: First intro session at this crossfit place. Lots of talking. It was ok.. still got a 6 min WOD, so I guess that was my workout. Hold a handstand: Did some more practice / attempts. Slight issue though - my calories are really low! Monday was 1541 calories, and Tuesday was 1327! I didn't even notice, I definitely wasn't hungry. Crazy! Seems unsustainable though.. especially if I want to work out lots (and ideally gain strength). Might be time for some peanut butter! Or more chicken. Or something.

Righto, day one went well. Carbs - goal <= 100: 99g carbs (phew, that was close!) Train 5x per week: no training.. that'll happen today. Hold a handstand: Did some handstand "practice" (is it still practice if you can't do it??). No success or visible progress, but hey, I put some time in at least.

Awesome work on the sugar! It sure is hiding everywhere, but sometimes when it's in plain sight it's the most tempting. Declining cupcakes? Hard, very hard. Kudos Phoenix!

Hi Special Sundae, Yeah from what I've read, and my own experience, some people are more susceptible to the effect of carbs than others. Like how much they drive up insulin and consequently the volume of carbs you can eat before you put on fat. It seems that I'm fairly sensitive, though naturally like you mention, alcohol makes it worse again. The only times I've ever successfully lost weight I've gone very light on carbs and alcohol. Always so many influencing factors though - like the fact that during those times I was monitoring my food and stuff, and not eating/drinking because of being bored/tired/dissatisfied/angry/whatever. One day it'd be great to be a healthy weight, and maintain it, without monitoring! Training schedule is a little different for the next two weeks - I've signed up for a free two week intro to crossfit, which involves training three times a week. So I won't be structuring my own stuff for those sessions. I'm not sure what's involved in those, but chances are I'll be keen to do some weight training separately. At a guess they'll cover intense cardio.

Wow Special Sundae this is such an impressive battle log! So much hard work and consistency for such a long time. And a very impressive transformation since Jan 2013 too!

Hi all, Didn't manage to finish the last challenge (managed just 2 weeks I think), so here's round 2. Main Goal: Long term, the goal is the same as last time, I want to get back to crossfit eventually, and maybe even participate in the crossfit open one day. Challenge Goals: Clean up my diet - 100g carbs or less each day Train 5 x per week (circuit training / weights / cardio) Manage to hold a handstand for 10 seconds. Currently can't do one, so this is definitely a stretch goal! My diet is currently pretty terrible, I'm a sucker for beer, wine, bread and anything sweet, so this'll be interesting. Unlike last time though, if I fall off the bandwagon, I'm going to just tell you all about it and get right back on. I WILL finish this challenge! Rarrr.

Hi Ilham, thanks for checking in. I ended up having something like three days in a row of having drinks, then a couple of days later attending a birthday dinner (more drinks, not much protein, cake). So it seemed like too much failure for a four week challenge! Plus my clothes were getting progressively tighter, which I think was mainly due to eating too much to try and meet my protein goals. I'd probably need to be training intensely every day for a couple of hours to cover that kind of food intake! So yeah, as a result of all that I dropped out of the challenge. I'll start again on June 8 and do the full six weeks in recruits, this time with different goals.

Today I had a minor success - I really wanted a glass of wine when I got home. It was a long day at work, it's not a workout day, I was hungry, and I just wanted to flop down with a ginormous goblet of lovely red wine. But I didn't! I focussed on solving my hunger first, then played games for a bit to relax.. and my urge for wine went away. Now I'm catching up on people's progress on this forum and there are so many inspiring stories! So glad I didn't give in to temptation. Stats week 2: Day 1 (May 5): 172g protein, no alcohol, challenging garage workout done! Day 2: 150g protein, no alcohol, rest day. There are so many sick people around me at the moment, heaps of people at work and on the bus. I think it's just a matter of time before I catch it, but I'm trying to wash my hands lots and not touch my face.. can't stop myself from breathing though! The change in seasons seems to get people every time.

Very inspiring! Eating well AND exercising at a conference is a totally stellar effort!

Awesome to hear you're all healed up! Fab work on the paleo! Choice work on the workouts! Amazing progress on the weight loss!! Just awesome all round - I'm running out of adjectives! Great job Ilham! Sounds like you're absolutely acing it. With all that hard work and consistency there's no doubt you'll get those last 6 reps.

Hi Blaidd, shame to hear you got sick. Hope you're feeling better now! Just wondering - do I still get points as per mini challenge #4 given that I started two weeks late? Since I've only completed one week it doesn't seem like I've really earned any points yet. Also, do I need to stay in Recruits until I've completed a full 6 week challenge? Or is completing a 4 week one enough to try out one of the guilds?

Celebration time for me - it's the end of my first week!! Woop woop! I hope you've all been celebrating the end of your week too! Day 5 (2nd): 141g protein, no alcohol, garage workout. Day 6 (3rd): 145g protein, 2 wines at a quiz night with friends (d'oh! ). No workout. Day 7 (May the 4th be with you): 160g protein, no alcohol, garage workout. So, in summary: Mini quest 1: Protein: 7 days out of 7 No alcohol: 5 days out of 7 Mini quest 2: 4 workouts out of 3! Mini quest 3: Squat: 3kg out of 10 Deadlift: 4kg out of 10 Pull ups (negative only): still at 3x4, but I am doing them and they're feeling better.. but nothing measurable yet. Challenges - I started late on this challenge, but I don't know what the rules are for completing mini challenges late, so I'll just do them anyway. WEEK 1 Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)? Is it reasonable? Yep I think so. Technically I could go back to crossfit now, it's just I'd be sore all the time and not go very often. And I'd be poor. Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much? Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on? Yep they do. I'm basically addressing two of my big weaknesses when it comes to seeing results in the gym - bad diet and lack of consistency. Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them? I think they goals are a reasonable size. Thinking of getting back to crossfit does motivate me, rather than being an airy fairy dream that sees like it'll never happen, so that probably means it's about right. Are your goals able to be measured and tracked? What will you use to track them? Sure are! I'm counting my protein intake every day using MyNetDiary; I'm recording every workout I do and weights I lift in Google Sheets; and keeping track of days met / not met on here. Once I get to the end of the challenge, I'll count up the days where I met the goals and divide that by total days to get a percentage. The weights is just a did / did not score. How are you grading your goals? Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)? Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€? Think I covered that above. What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? Keep trying, but for this place I'd probably just start again at the next challenge, seeing as I'm already short by 2 weeks. Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge? What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those? Er no, didn't think about it, but no special occasions. Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? I feel they're all rather complementary. Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set? If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them? Yup I've got time. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? I don't have any side life quest... I think improving on what I'm doing is enough for now. WEEK 2 Already got a sig, and am following people! Win! I think this Recruits forum is already holding me accountable with people of similar interests.. not sure I need an accounabilibuddy. WEEK 3 The library 1. I'm finding it a little tricky sticking to not ever drinking because I like beer and wine and I like drinking it with friends. I seem to have got rid of the habit of having it at home, which is a start at least. 2. I searched for wine and nothing came up. I searched for alcohol and Ilham's post appeared! Her idea was to have one but limit it on her mother's birthday. Also, thanks for your advice above Emerald Dragonfly! Will give that a go too. 3. I will try out the advice next time I'm in an awfully tempting situation. There! All caught up!

Love the gifs! Sounds like you're doing all the right things - resting and having lots of fluids, plus attacking it with an arsenal of remedies! Hope you feel way better soon and can get back to those very satisfying weights. Also good work on sticking with the sleep and the treats despite the stupid virus.

Ilham, thanks for your detailed answer! Makes perfect sense that it's 1g per pound of lean mass. I have no idea what my body fat % is, it would be over 25%, maybe 30% or more I guess. That gives me 124g of protein per day, which I'm definitely meeting, so that's reassuring. Wow I see what you mean, going from France to anywhere that isn't a prolific producer of high quality wine would be hard! Good idea to change the herbal tea flavour too. I'll stock up on some tasty ones in the weekend. Phoenix Riviera, I do a mixture of stuff. A pretty normal example from about a couple of weeks ago is: Warm up: 900m jog Skipping Hip raises Weights: Chin ups (-ve) Hang Wall walks Deadlift One arm row WOD: 3 ROUNDS - 21-15-9 Overhead squat Box jumps Rowing 40m sprint I try to mix it up to cover the whole body, get a range of movements and weights/reps in, and keep it interesting. Progress: Day 3 (30th) 155g protein, no alcohol. Rest day, bit of stretching. Day 4 (1st May) 141g protein, TWO BEERS! Damn I let myself and you guys down. Social pressure (have fun with the team, go out for lunch at the pub or sit by myself at the office.. hmm), gets me every time. I went home after work rather than joining them at the pub again though, so that's at least an improvement on the usual. Did weights in the garage. Beat some PBs!! Stoked. Increased back squat by 3kg - now 32kg, 3x5 reps. Increased deadlift by 4kg - now 50.5kg, 3x5 reps.