shaylahart

Hey folks, So I've just written all of this on my new blog BECAUSE, that's how I feel I want to be accountable this go around. Check it out http://paleoemotion.blogspot.ca/2016/01/day-1-new-year-new-me.html Here's the synopsis of my goals..... back and holding my Druid friends accountable. Attainable Goals for January 4-31: - Eat only Paleo - Alcohol free - Go to the gym to run the C210K program three times per week. If I am unable to make one, I must walk for 30 minutes outside - Will keep a detailed food and exercise log book If anyone has blog tips or tricks, please share - if this is how I'm going to be accountable I also want to be the best at it. Cheers S

I can relate more than I want to be able to. I find that working out actually makes me feel better. Something about the endorphins making you forget about the hormones. Push yourself to get out there and then snack if you still want to. As for Netflix, who doesn't love that shit - put it on while you're working out if possible. Bang, you get everything in one quick sitting. Good luck!

Way to go! I'm growing out for my third donation. Such a great thing to do - this just made me smile

What made me smile yesterday? I'm a fair and freckled ginger. As I walked into the lunchroom @ work a co-worker said I was TAN. Now, this may not seem important to some, but I'm 28 years old and TAN is RARELY an adjective used to describe me. Yay for being active and outdoors this summer.

"Success does not come in dramatic twirls and grand flourishes; it is born of daily, determined application. Even creative success. Genius is less about ‘a-ha’ breakthrough moments, and more a willingness to persevere, to put on the shoes and get out into the cold, or to sit before the keyboard and start pounding something out." -Haruki Murakami LOVE THIS - http://www.sunwords.com/2011/08/21/success-comes-from-daily-habits-not-natural-talent/

You've got your head on straight this time, lady. You go for it and if you fall, get back up again. There are a ton of people on here in your situation - myself included. You know what? We're still here and we're still trying. Screw the man if they judge - you're the only person who can judge yourself and that judgement cannot be influenced by what you believe others think of you.

OMG - this just made my day. So glad the office is almost empty because I was audibly laughing and I think there may have been some snort action. I think every one of those thoughts have gone through my head.

Hi Folks- I know you're all wondering how my vacation went --- well, fantastic. I didn't make good eating decisions but I walked that off. I gained 2lbs on a 10 day vacation where I'm fairly sure I didn't go more than 25 minutes without eating. To celebrate - enjoy this video that I found and think is more motivating than any other video I've watched recently - #THISGIRLCAN https://youtu.be/aN7lt0CYwHg Love you NF famjam

Well, I haven't taken on the physical meditation portion of the task BUT my friend is a yoga instructor and has been writing an e-book for yoga and weight loss, including sections on meditation and self-love and I've been proofing it for him. I think that's a win, educating myself about meditation. Yeah, I know, I need to step up and actually try it, but it hasn't happened. I did download Headspace, so that's another step - now just the JUMP! I'm down 2-4lbs so far - I'm waivering between 193-195. I head on vacation tomorrow so it will be a challenge to eat as well as I should, but it's all about moderation and wise choices. Thanks for following up spookyfoot, I love that you and other NF members remind me (Gently) to come back and be accountable <3 NF love.

Day three kicked my ass! I was craving sweets so I tried to make a better option with nutella, rice cakes, and banana. When I got home, I had a few beers - a few being five Those five beers exactly put me over my calories for the day. Alright, not horrible, but it's DAY THREE. Getting back on the horse this morning.

Thanks folks! Do either of you have any meditation tips?

You guys are so awesome to me! THIS PICTURE IS AMAZING... I'm a redhead, as you can see from my pic, so I love the redhead power I've yet to figure out how to add pics in my comments, it says I have to do it from my media but those pics are online somewhere.... I WANT TO HAVE PIC FUN lol

Hello my fellow Druids The first challenge came and went (how did that happen so fast?!) and I was somewhat happy with my results. I lost 7 of the 10lbs in my goal (although 2lbs may have trailed back on) and I met some great people that have been more than encouraging and supportive. In six weeks, for someone who isn't typically clumsy, I have had a lot of accidents/things happening to discourage me. Concussion, hormone treatments starting back up, mood swings, shame eating. You know what though? STICK IT (this GoDaddy.com commercial has really empowered me to stand up for myself, as corny as it sounds - https://youtu.be/VIBfctISM9M).I have had supportive family telling me that I can do this. I have had people on NF telling me that it's only a minor set back and to get back up and try again. You forget that the world isn't out to get you all of the time until you start trusting again. So, this challenge, I'm not going to go CRAZY with unrealistic goals because I'm already challenged and fighting other issues. If I set up to fail, I will. I would like to lose 10lbs again on this challenge by continuing to eat properly and adding workouts back in now that I've been cleared to do so with the concussion. I would like to begin training for the 10km race that I wanted to complete in June but couldn't because of the concussion (and other reasons that were just all really excuses). With the new house, I have been able to find so many excuses as to not take care of myself. Oh, the fence needs washed; the garden needs done; I need to put some more grass seed down. All of that to me was "exercise", and yes, in a way it is but it isn't going to get my ass in gear the way that I need it to. I would like to start meditating again. This is going to sound really weird and probably turn some of you off, but if you feel judged here, what is the purpose of being here and being honest? When I was younger, I had a lot of instances where I would sense things or see things. For those who want to chat through it at a deeper level, reach out - for now I will make it high level for all of those non-believers. Anyway, I went to see a psychic when I was 17, before heading to University, and she told me that if I wanted to encourage the visions and welcome the spirits/sensory experience that I needed to start slowing down, being alone and meditating. I did it for awhile and the visions/dreams started getting too powerful and I was scared. I mean, come on, I was 17 seeing things that happened weeks later while sleeping. Totally sidetracking, but that's actually how my boyfriend and I became so close 11 years ago when we first started dating. When we lost track and went our separate ways, I would dream every bad thing that he experienced. Not necessarily seeing the negative experience, but always feeling his pain. I kept in contact that way with him. Emailing him, understanding that we weren't' together, but that I wanted to make sure he was okay. He wasn't a believer either, until then. He truly believes that we are kindred spirits and 11 years later, on our third attempt, we have been happily together for almost two years. So, long winded reasoning, but that is why I started to want to meditate during this challenge. The secondary reason? Life is moving too fast. I get into my head too much and I can't get out. When I'm in there, I lock myself in a negative space. If I can learn to be within me, with silence, maybe I can learn to listen better and improve the other parts of my life. Side mission? I'm still not quite certain what I want to do with this. I know that I need to smarten the eff up and listen to my body, mind, and soul. I can do this. I can be beautiful. I can be powerful. I can be loved. LOVED - there, that's it. Man, I love writing here sometimes, I just spill my heart out and come to realizations that my subconscious hides away. I truly believe a lot of the time that I don't deserve to be cherished, loved, and honoured. How can I make that a side mission though? What can I do to make me feel better, make me feel at peace? I welcome any suggestions. Druids, this time around, I want to immerse myself in you. I want to feel your love, hope, and positivity around me. Round 2, here goes nothing. XO

Alright - it's almost the end of the challenge and so far I'm down 7lbs for the challenge (of the 10lbs I wanted to lose), BUT I'm down a total of 13lbs from January 1st, so who cares - I'M STILL WINNING, huzzah! I've also met a great group of encouraging people, so my side quest is kicking ass. How is it, one small thing can change your outlook on life? NF4L

Update folks, for those who are wondering Went and saw my new specialist 1.5 weeks ago and I'm back on the menopause treatment. Fighting being emotional while jacked on hormones and making sure I stay on top of the weight loss this time to at least maintain weight instead of gaining another 37lbs. I'm currently at a conference for 1.5 weeks and it's catered and eating out only. I'm concious of what is going in my mouth, protein instead of chocolate (although I still sneak a chocolate). I'm hitting my 10,000+ steps a day and I'm still feeling like my clothes are fitting better. Hydration has been KEY while moving around so much and making sure I'm taking care of myself from the concussion. So far, I think I'm managing the challenge fairly well - I just don't know physical weight loss. Side goal? Well, I'm aware of what I'm going through and I'm trying to manage my emotions but the gratitude journal has NOT happened AT ALL. I'm okay with that, I'm thinking about it and dealing with it naturally... support here is still great so I am grateful for that every day!

I do find purpose in being of service, maybe I am truly a Druid at heart. Now to work on the opportunity of not judging others. I find that I don't define judging as most people. I set extremely high standards because I believe others can reach them, but when they don't I am disappointed that they didn't strive as much as I have to get the end result. Part of my side quest is understanding perspective and grasping that just because I want to do something this way and achieve this goal, doesn't mean everyone has the same idea. Different ideas are what shape the world and I need to blow up my tunnel.... my tunnel vision that is

Hi All! Thanks for asking me about my progress, deepdarkgarden, I kind of had forgotten to post about it So so far, I'm down from 202lbs to 197lbs. YAY! Suprisingly, the hydration has been a problem. I have not wanted to drink water like I normally do so it has been forceful. For my workouts, with my concussion, I haven't been able to shove too many new things in. That being said, I played 36 holes of golf (18 walking and 18 cart) on Saturday (and no, it wasn't a beerfest lol). I also got my FitBit back out this week and am pushing myself to get my steps in. Side quest has been going swimmingly! Gratitude journal fell off the rails, and by fell of the rails- I mean never happened again. I have been finding success in the side quest by reading Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and being more self aware of my actions and how they make others feel. Finding what reactions you receive from other people really helps you identify who you do not want to be, or if you do want to be that person, how to better reflect yourself to your audience. Overall, so far so good - it's been a great push to get me started by having people like me (getting excited about getting healthy overall) surround me with words of encouragement.

Sports bra is a DEFINITE MUST! I am a 42D and have yet to find something that fits me properly because of that extra 2" around. I find that 40 and below is fairly easy, but apparently "big boobs don't run". Now on to the c25k note - do you have time? Yes, yes, yes! You are awesome for trying, even if you don't break any world records, you're doing the damn thing. I conditioned myself with the c25k program a few years back with my first 5k run. I was horrible. I have three screws in my ankle, I was 218lbs, my boobs were giving me black eyes because my bra was horrible and I just plain didn't want to be doing it. I took short cuts, I didn't follow the program, and I only ran 4.7kms total before the race, and that was only twice. Fast forward to race day. It was run for breast cancer and everyone was there for the same reason, dressed up in awesomely fun and ridiculous outfits and supporting each other. By the sounds of it, you've chosen the colour which has a similar tone to it. I was able to beat my 4.7k time in a 5k race, I ran 3/4 of the way without ever believing that I could do it and I felt amazing. That was a few years back and I envy the person that I was that day. Envy is the wrong word most days actually, I would more classify as respect and strive to be that person again. I'm going to start training for my 10k again soon and will be thinking of you every step of the way. Good luck my rebel friend - you can do it.

Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening my dear Druids, I have been steered to this group by a fellow member, who if I knew how to link into this post, I would.... so thank you Blaidd. I was actually kind of shocked and surprised when I was tagged as a Druid.... really? Nature? When I took a step back, I realized that Blaidd was able to pull out my goals and inner most desires better than I am doing right now. Maybe it was from my side quest, maybe it was from the way that I wrote about my six week challenge. Who knows, but more importantly, who cares? I am here. I am fighting. I am BREATHING! The real question I face, what does it mean to be a Druid and how can I fit in and be the best for each of you. How can I offer myself to help you all get to where I achieve to be. Woah.... I just realized how conceited that sounded. Problem #1 (okay, never a problem, just an opportunity)............ scratch that Opportunity #1 - Stop trying to solve all the problems in the world that aren't yours or don't directly relate to you. If you focused half of the energy on yourself, you would be able to conquer the world. Opportunity #2 - Don't close off the world and be afraid of what/who you are, because you're pretty awesome. Opportunity #3 - Believe in something. Set goals, set ambitions, and believe in yourself. Believe that you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to. Understand that although you believe, it may not happen immediately, and that is okay too. Opportunity #4 - Let it in. Following up to #3, you don't have to be good at everything THIS INSTANT. Some things are going to take work. Some things will be worth it, some things won't, but as you work through each situation you should be aware of your surroundings and absorb the energy. If you take it in, maybe you will start to understand what you really want out of life. I'm sure there are tons of "opportunities" that I need to work on, but for now I'm going to start small. Create a more focused collection of goals and strive to achieve those first. Maybe if I can work through one opportunity successfully, I'll begin to believe that I can work through the other ones successfully too. I also need to realize that some opportunities will never be "worked through". I have floating opportunities that will require constant attention for the rest of my life, and that's also okay. It's part of who I am. It's part of where I'm going. Mantra - I'm awesome, you're awesome, we're all awesome today... and yes, that was sung in my head to a child's tune which I believe was ring around the rosie. I'm sorry, that was typing diarrhea I think. That was not my intention as my introduction, butttttt I guess if that's what came out, it's what the universe wanted me to share. Take or leave it, I'm okay with either of your choice. Why? Because it's exactly that - your choice. Out of everything shared today, I have to believe in that.

Endometriosis is tough but I'm trying not to make it who I am, it's just something that I have. I can beat something that I have, I can't necessarily beat something that I am. I'm only a few days into this challenge and am in awe of the outreach, consideration, thought and feedback so many people are willing to give. Thank you all for your kind words and support, you make everything just a little bit better, and a little bit over a lot of days because habit!