MaybeAFirst

Ok so it's the end of my first 3 weeks, time to add up points and reset goals for the next 3 weeks! I will add all my points up at the end of the full 6 weeks though. I'm still feeling pretty drained emotionally but I'm hoping getting back into routine now term has started again will help me keep on track with my goals.

Start weight: 144.8lbs

End weight: 143lbs

Down 1.8lbs, yay! Hope to get to 141.5 by the end of the next 3 weeks.

Goal 1: Diet

Overall score: 17/21 - B - +0.8 CON +0.8CHA

Had a pretty bad day for food yesterday but I did okay overall and scored a B. It's still hard for me to not overeat when I'm stressed, but I think I'm just going to always try keeping a lettuce in the house as I don't always particularly care what I'm eating and a lettuce will do just as well as bread when I'm in one of those 'have to eat something' moods. Then I can munch away without sabotaging my goals, and lettuce is pretty filling so I'll be less likely to go crazy on other food.

Goal 2: Running

12/15 - B - +0.8 DEX +0.8 STA

The bad - I skipped my Sunday long run, I just was not feeling like it after this week.

The good - Went to parkrun on Saturday and ran it in 31:29, beating my own PB by 2 seconds, but beat my personal best on that course by 2 minutes! I think actually not running as much this week allowed my legs to rest up and get that PB. I'm super happy as it's an hilly trail course that I find quite difficult, so to beat my PB on it is awesome!

Goal 3: The little things

16/21 - C - +1.2CHA

Not too bad here, considering even the days I didn't achieve the goal I was still halfway and just missed flossing and mouthwash in the evening. It's definitely a habit now though and something I can do the majority of days.

Goal 4: Regular laundry

2 achieved - B - +1.2WIS

Got back on track this weekend and empied out the laundry, changed all the bedding and hung the washed clothes up prompty so they didn't crease.

Goals for the next 3 weeks

Will update this evening with stat allocations, but my new goals are outlined here:

Goal 1: Counting Calories...again

I've done a recalculation of my estimated TDEE and its probably only about 1950, which means I'm going to be dropping my calories 50 calories a week until I'm at 1450 from 1600. So week 1 is 1550, week 2 is 1500 and week 3 is 1450. I will then reevaluate at the end of the challenge. Dropping it this much should also help when there's inevitably a bad day or two.

Goal 2: Gym and Running

I've started back at the gym now, yay! I want to go 3 times a week on top of the 5 runs I am already doing. I've been doing this unofficially for the past 2 weeks and it's definitely been manageable so far. The gym is really nice too - 3 power racks, 3 areas to deadlift, a huge open area with mats for dynamic movement, plus plenty of machines as all gyms have. I'm following NROLFW and love it so far!

Goal 3: Routine and Schedule

Every day I'm going to write myself a schedule and I am going to stick to it as best I can. I work best when I have assigned times for certain activities and enjoy my free time a lot more as it's scheduled and I don't have to feel guilty about not working. I won't post the actual schedule here every day, but I will be updating as to if I'm following it!

Update: Panic over, the fluctuation has disappeared, phew!

Goal 1: Diet

Went over again yesterday. :-/ Had a bit of a terrible day emotionally dealing with medical issues of a loved one so I ended up going over from eating a sticky bun and too much toast. Fortunately everything is much more stable today so I'm back on track! 16/19

Goal 2: Running

Was feeling way too emotional to even contemplate my 7.2km run yesterday and decided to go for a walk with my garmin instead. Ended up walking 7.2km which although isn't quite the same, I'm still giving myself credit for it considering all I wanted to do was mope around the house. 10/12

Goal 3: The little things

I missed one evening doing my teeth, but have done everything fine apart from that. Even managed to complete all these tasks yesterday and didn't let my emotions get in the way. 16/19

Goal 4: Regular laundry

Completed the laundry last weekend but never got round to changing the pillows, oops. With only a couple of days until the weekend I'm just going to make it last until then. 1/2

You're doing a great job with your SH challenge, especially with the twice a day workouts! I don't have much advice on macros I'm afraid, my method is more about getting in enough protein and then the rest just being whatever I fancy. I think though that the key for a lot of these diets is the protein intake, so as long as that is up there then adjust your carb/fat ratio to whatever you feel best with. For the running cramps, I was having a similar problem a week or two ago with getting them about 1-2 miles in and realised it was because I had let myself get dehydrated. Drinking a glass of water 5-10 minutes before has really helped me preventing them, I don't know if it might work for you too.

Week 2 start weight: 142.4lbs

Week 3 start weight: 145lbs

Goal 1: Diet

Had a couple of bad days where I went about 500 over maintenance calories, I think the change in exercise routine maybe made me crave a bit more, I'm not sure. According to my logs, I had 5/7 good days. However, according to the scale, I've gone up three damn pounds. That's higher than when I started, within the space of a few days, it's not going down and it's not that time of the month either. At this point I'm just hoping that it's water weight from where I have started up lifting again, but it's pretty damn discouraging when I should have lost about 0.25-0.5lbs this week, not gained 3! I tend to fluctuate within 1lb, it's never been this much before. 12/14

Goal 2: Running

Had a bit of a niggle in my right knee on Saturday evening, so decided to postpone my long run until today just to give it some rest. It's feeling fine now so I probably just overworked it a bit with adding the gym and an extra running day to my routine. 7/9

Goal 3: The little things

Didn't get round to these on Saturday night as I was exhausted and basically just fell in bed when I got home from a day of running, gym and swimming. Still mostly good though 12/14

Goal 4: Regular laundry

Was waiting for my pillows to dry out after being washed, so I'm going to change them today instead.

Update so far this week:

Goal 1: Diet

Doing well again this week, I'm losing weight way quicker than when I was at home now as I can accurately calculate the calories in all my meals. Might even hit under 140 by the start of term in a week and a bit (here's hoping!). Down to 141.6 as of this morning, whoot! 4/4

Goal 2: Running

Added an extra 1km fast run today to make up for missing a run last week, so I'm ahead on my running goal for the week so far. I went to the gym again today too. Lifted and then went for a 20 minute swim. 3/2

Goal 3: The little things

This goal has definitely become a habit now, I don't have to think about it much any more unless I am feeling very tired or lazy. 4/4

Goal 4: Regular laundry

It's not been laundry day yet this week but I did remember to change my pillows yesterday.

Hi and welcome to the forums! Another university 3rd year video game nerd checking in here. If you want to put on weight, be sure you are eating enough - find some calorie dense high protein snacks if you find it hard to eat enough, I think peanut and nut spreads are quite a popular option. Also, I find joining in the 6 week challenges help to keep me accountable and have a measurable way to track my goals, you could still join in with this one if you wanted as it's only a week in. It definitely appeals to the RPG player within me! What sort of video games do you enjoy? At the moment I've just finished Mass Effect 1 and 2 for the first time, waiting to get 3 until I have some more money, but they were amazing games.

Good job on week 1! Even though you weren't completely paleo, at least it was only some dark chocolate blueberries and not a massive slice of cake or anything. Congrats on dropping a pound too, it's always a great feeling to see results on the scale.

Apologies for the lack of updates, I got Mass Effect 1 and 2 and was playing them for the first time, so I haven't really been thinking about updating!

Week 1 start weight: 144.8lbs

Week 2 start weight: 142.4lbs

Goal 1: Diet

Managed to stick to my calories every day so far, this is probably the longest streak of consistency I've had in terms of not going over even 100 calories. What's more I've had a bit of a "whoosh" this week and lost 2.4lbs, which feels great as it's the lightest I've been in ages!

Goal 2: Running

Skipped a couple of days so far, so only 4/6 possible runs completed. I'll probably do an extra one on Thursday to try and make up for it. On another note, our bus passes for the university term can be used from this week, which means I can get back to the gym. I went today and have started on NROLFW. Was a lot of fun, plus there were a couple of other women in the lifting area, so it wasn't too intimidating!

Goal 3: The little things

Completed every day so far, except for one night where I stayed up really late and felt too tired to do anything except brush my teeth. 8/9 so far isn't bad though!

Goal 4: Regular laundry

I did my laundry over the weekend and changed my sheets, even if it was only at 11pm on Sunday night! It's nice not feeling too overwhelmed with things to wash.

Wow sounds really like a fun way to work toward your goals, haven't heard of the superhero challenge before! Love your 10 minutes a day goal too, it always feels like you've achieved something that way, even if it's just a little. For me at least, it makes it much easier to stick with diet goals too, you almost don't want to "spoil" the activity you've done!

Phase 1 Week 1

Monday

Within my calorie limit for today and completed my flossing. Monday would usually be a run day but I'm going to be doing it tomorrow as I had a workshop today and had to be on a train to London at 6:15am, not getting home until 7pm, so doing it tomorrow will just be much more pleasant!

I'm ready to go for the next challenge after a semi successful last challenge! It's going to be a bit of an odd challenge in that university starts halfway through, so I think I will be having one set of goals for the first three weeks and then another set for the final three, with points split evenly over both halves. My second set of goals will be decided after the first three weeks so I can evaluate how everything is going.

Start Weight: 144.8lbs

Height: 5'2"

Goal 1: Diet

Same as last challenge I'm going to be sticking to 1600kcals a day. I have a basic yet flexible meal plan that should get me there while still feeling full.

A: 19+

B: 17+

C: 13+

Stats: +1 CON + 1 CHA

Goal 2: Running

Clever me left her running shoes at home when I moved...Luckily mum is going to post them up to me and they should hopefully arrive before next week otherwise I'll have to adapt this a bit. Anyway I want to start upping my running days to 5 a week, with the same routine as usually, just adding an extra short 1-1.5mile run to start with.

A: 14+

B: 12+

C: 9+

Stats: +1 DEX +1 STA

Goal 3: The little things

I'm trying to get into the habit of flossing and using mouthwash twice a day. Now I do it about once every other day but it's something I should be doing every time I brush my teeth. I also want to make sure I use my face exfoliation gel twice a day as I've just started using it and my skin is feeling so much better already!

A: 19+

B: 17+

C: 13+

Stats: +2 CHA

Goal 4: Regular laundry

I'm trying to get out of the habit of putting off the laundry until I have no clothes left, as well as never being sure when I'm due to change my pillow and duvet covers so I'm going to be following the laundry schedule I have set for myself of changing the pillows twice a week on Wednesday and Sunday, as well as changing the duvet and mattress cover on Saturday. Laundry to be done on Saturday and Sunday and put away, although if the Sunday wash isn't dry I can do that on Monday.

A: 3 weeks completed

B: 2 weeks completed

C: 1 week completed

Stats: +1.5 WIS

Great job this challenge, 35 minutes is definitely not bad at all, I'm sure you will have no trouble with beating your sister in November. Congrats on the weight loss too, 7lbs in 6 weeks is no small amount!

Haven't got my final weigh in yet but I think overall I have lost a pound or two over this challenge, which I'm pleased with as it was summer holidays and usually I put on weight over this part of summer. I've just moved back into my own house this weekend so now I have the groundwork of good habits and exercise I am definitely aiming to lose more next challenge!

Goal 1: Running

I ran 18 times this challenge, an average of 3 a week, scoring a B. I didn't run a couple of days this week due to feeling a bit drained from moving and on our week long holiday week, but apart from that it was pretty good. Scoring a B gets me 80% out of +2 DEX +3 STA, for a total of 1.6 DEX and 2.4 STA.

Goal 2 Diet

Scored 30 on this so just scraped a B. Would've liked to lose a little more weight but not bad considering I went on holiday and managed to completely undo the first few weeks of work. I get 80% of +1 WIS +2 CON +1 CHA, so 0.8 WIS 1.6 CON and 0.8 CHA

Goal 3: Water

Achieved an A+ on this one whoot! I need to think of a nice reward that doesn't really cost anything as I can barely afford to buy food within my weekly budget but I'm going to save this an an IOU to myself.  +2 CON +1 CHA

Goal 4: Giving up biscuits, crisps and chocolate

Failed this by 3 points, but I'm still pleased with how I managed to keep away from these foods for the majority of my time at home. This was more about getting out of the habit of eating them most days and on that ground I feel like I've succeeded somewhat.

Summary

Start weight: 147lbs

End weight: 145.8lbs

Positive habits gained:

• Frequently running, about 13 miles a week
• Eating less addictive junk
• Eating smaller portions
• Drinking more water

Total stats gained: 1.6 DEX 2.4 STA 0.8 WIS 3.6 CON 1.8 CHA

Week 6

Start Weight: 144.8lbs

End Weight:

Goal 1 Running: 2/4

Goal 2 Diet: 5/7

Goal 3 Water: 6/7

Goal 4 Crisps, biscuits, chocolate: 5/7

Overall:

Goal 1 Running: 18/24

Goal 2 Diet: 30/42

Goal 3 Water: 41/42

Goal 4 Crisps, biscuits, chocolate: 31/42

Monday

Goal 2: Diet -

Goal 3: Water -

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps -

Tuesday

Goal 1: Running - 

Goal 2: Diet -

Goal 3: Water -

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps -

Wednesday

Goal 1: Running - 

Goal 2: Diet - 

Goal 3: Water -

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - 

Thursday

Goal 2: Diet -

Goal 3: Water -

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps -

Friday

Goal 1: Running -

Goal 2: Diet -

Goal 3: Water -

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps -

Saturday

Goal 2: Diet -

Goal 3: Water -

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - 

Sunday

Goal 1: Running -

Goal 2: Diet -

Goal 3: Water -

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps -

You still have 2 weeks to go so don't worry about not meeting your goals just yet! Even if you don't hit them by the end of the challenge, you've definitely been putting the effort in so you should still be pleased with what you have achieved!

Week 5

Start Weight: 145.4lbs

End Weight: 144.8

Goal 1 Running:

Goal 2 Diet:

Goal 3 Water:

Goal 4 Crisps, biscuits, chocolate:

Overall:

Goal 1 Running: 16/20

Goal 2 Diet: 25/35

Goal 3 Water: 35/35

Goal 4 Crisps, biscuits, chocolate: 26/35

Monday

Goal 2: Diet - Went a bit over today.

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Tuesday

Goal 1: Running - Ran 5.5km and hit a new 5k PR within my run of 31:30, 50 seconds off my previous best, whoo!

Goal 2: Diet - All good today!

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Wednesday

Goal 1: Running - Done, took it slower than yesterday as a recovery to my PR yeaterday.

Goal 2: Diet -  Done

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps -  Done

Thursday

Goal 2: Diet - Within may calories and I went for a walk this afternoon as it's an off day from running today, just to try and burn off a bit more than just sitting around the house!

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Friday

Goal 1: Running - Done

Goal 2: Diet - Done. We were supposed to go out for lunch today then it got cancelled and I didn't get to eat lunch til late so I was super hungry, but still kept to my calories.

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Saturday

Goal 2: Diet - Went to a party and had a bit too much cake so not so good today.

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Ate some chocolate at the party so not quite on this one.

Sunday

Goal 1: Running - Done

Goal 2: Diet - Done

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Week 4

Start Weight: 147.8lbs

End Weight: 145.4lbs

Goal 1 Running: 4/4

Goal 2 Diet: 6/7

Goal 3 Water: 7/7

Goal 4 Crisps, biscuits, chocolate: 6/7

Overall:

Goal 1 Running: 12/16

Goal 2 Diet: 20/28

Goal 3 Water: 28/28

Goal 4 Crisps, biscuits, chocolate: 20/28

Monday

Goal 1: Running - .Done, first 5k run since my holiday and was a little rough but I got through it!

Goal 2: Diet - Back on track now!

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Tuesday

Goal 2: Diet - Some of the holiday weight has started coming off already at least! Still on track this week.

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Wednesday

Goal 1: Running - Done

Goal 2: Diet -  Done

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps -  Done

Thursday

Goal 1: Running - Fastest mile time within a 5k, ran a mile split in just under 10 minutes so pretty happy with that!

Goal 2: Diet - Ate at probably calories today as we went out to celebrate my brother's GSCE results (all As and A*s, super proud of him!) so we went to a pub. I did make sure to substitute the chips for a salad though to make sure I was only a bit over.

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Friday

Goal 2: Diet - Done. Went to a workshop today so had to find something to eat in London at lunchtime. Just got a sandwich, some nuts and a diet coke to keep within my goal.

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Saturday

Goal 2: Diet - Done

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Went out to the pub with a friend and we shared a chocolate cake dessert so didn't meet this one today.

Sunday

Goal 1: Running - Done

Goal 2: Diet - Done

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Wow what a terrible week. I went on holiday and got back this weekend. Now I'm back to where I started in terms of weight, but at least it should be partially water weight and come off again quickly. Time to start the second half of the challenge and put the last week behind me. We only have a summer holiday one week a year so I won't let it derail me completely.

Goal 1 Running: 8/12

Goal 2 Diet: 14/21

Goal 3 Water: 21/21

Goal 4 Crisps, biscuits, chocolate: 14/21

Congrats on all your progress this week, your hard work is totally paying off! I've never gotten past one or two full pushups so haven't tried it, but this site might have some ideas for you for your pushup progressions.

Week 2

Start Weight: 144.6lbs

End Weight:

Goal 1 Running:

Goal 2 Diet:

Goal 3 Water:

Goal 4 Crisps, biscuits, chocolate:

Monday

Goal 1: Running - .Done. Had a horribly slow run today, still pretty fatigued from the Parkrun on Saturday with those pesky hills doing a number on my legs!

Goal 2: Diet - Done, felt like I had plenty of food available to me today, looks like I'm getting used to eating less. Also because I've been eating less chocolate and other rubbish I've been eating a lot more fruit which is way more filling!

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Tuesday

Goal 2: Diet - Done. Ate at a pub for lunch (local, so no calories on the menu) and had to guesstimate the calories, but my weight is still dropping so I'm guessing I was pretty close.

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Wednesday

Goal 2: Diet -  Done

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Thursday

Goal 1: Running - Had a great 7km run today, the first 2.5-3km even felt pretty easy which is an achievement for me.

Goal 2: Diet - Had some extra garlic bread at dinner that I hadn't tried before, which set me about 200 calories over my limit today. Pleased though that despite going over I didn't then just eat all the foods because the day was "ruined" as I have done before. Nope, tried a new food and ate it guilt free, still in a deficit, even if it was smaller than planned.

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Friday

Goal 1: Running - Done

Goal 2: Diet - Done

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Saturday

Goal 2: Diet - Done

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Done

Sunday

Goal 1: Running - Nowhere to run where I'm staying, going to have to break for the next week and pick up again week 4

Goal 2: Diet - Went waaay over. Going to switch up my goal for next week and make it 2000 when I'm on this holiday. I'm probably going to end up putting on a bit of weight this next week coming, but I will just do my best once I get home on SAturday.

Goal 3: Water - Done

Goal 4: Giving up chocolate, biscuits and crisps - Caved and had some chocolate. :-/

From the UK here.

In my experience, not really, although it is obviously different on different families. Generally us Brits tend to not interfere with other people's lives or really care if they are religious or not, as long as they are a good person (even if some of our newspapers can be quite Islamophobic). For example, my grandparents go to church on Sundays and are very Christian whereas my parents brought my brother and I up not being told if they were even religous or not so we were compeltely free to decide what we believe. You tend to find the older generations are more religous but currently it's not usually even brought up in conversations. I personally am athiest, but I have friends who are Christian, Muslim and agnostic, it's not really a big deal for us!

Does your culture value independence?

Great work man, that's an amazing amount of weight lost already! Now just commit to eating well and you will be at your goal before you know it. If you wanted to try out rock climbing, you should see if there are any gyms nearby that offer starter/taster sessions, it's great fun! If you are in the UK, the BMC has a part on their site where you can look up local climbing walls and I'm sure there must be something similar in the US too.

That's awesome - you are now squatting the weight of a small adult woman, congrats!

One thing that's working really well for me this challenge is just cutting out the food I tend to overeat on. I did it before a few years ago to great success and am enjoying it now as it completely eliminates the thought train of "well I could have just one biscuit..." which turns into a few biscuits as soon as I open the tin. If I tell myself I am not eating those foods at all it stops my "what if I just ate..." thought patterns and has significantly reduced food cravings in general. It's not for everyone though, I know it can make some people binge even more on them, but if trying to eat things in moderation has failed, it can help to give them up completely for a short time.

Sooo I weighed myself yesterday and I actually weigh 180 lb which is a tad more than I had hoped. This means that my main goal is actually to lose 35 lbs not 30 lbs. My goal weight is 145 lbs so I've got me a ways to go!

 

Also, I ran today on the treadmill and only made it 1.5 miles sooo I've got a lot of work to do this challenge! It's definitely doable though! Strength training 3-4 days per week plus Cardio 1-2.

If I discover I'm not making the gains I need in the coming weeks, I might combine my cardio and strength training workouts into some type of HIIT workout to better commit to the two areas and also improve my strength and endurance. We'll see. . . for now I'm gonna keep them separate.

You're nearly halfway to your 5k goal already, you can totally nail it this challenge! We have the same weight loss goal of 35lbs too, except I'm a 5'2" shortie going from 145ish to 110ish, so I'll be following your challenge along. Sounds like you have everything planned out, it's just about putting it all into action now - good luck!