Cherry_Bomb

No clever intro again this time. Sorry. I’m giving myself 24 days (starting yesterday, because my laptop’s Wi-Fi card or whatnot is officially dog water now) to lose whatever I can because I have officially put on 16 pounds in six weeks, and I’m pretty much done with everything on this planet. (I’m suspecting it’s a side effect of this medication I’ve been taking for anger management – the IRONY – because it’s not like I’ve been eating double Big Macs every day to account for this nonsense). To make it more of a SMART goal, I’ll say...hmm, three pounds sounds like I’m really setting the bar low but anything higher than that and I know I’m doomed to fail...and in the face of gaining an average of half a pound every day since the end of June, I’d say that’s a relative win. 😒 My current plans (recycled from past challenges because again, I’m done with everything): 1) 1500 calories a day, emphasizing protein and avoiding anything with carbs and sugar as much as possible, I guess (because I know I’ve been fog eating but again, it’s not with massive burgers or anything that would make this weight gain make sense) - let's go with 4 out of 7 days at least 2) 30 minutes of “I hate this but I’m still alive”-level intensity exercise at least four times a week (summarized context: exercise-induced asthma for years, long story, no puffer, no family doctor to prescribe one) – back to hula hooping I suppose… 3) 1 tsp of cinnamon every day as recommended by my naturopath (I started doing this with my coffee for a while, but that 1 teaspoon is a LOT and I couldn’t keep up with it…I’ll figure out something else) - I'll probably start with 4 days a week here too 4) Ease into taking inositol (also recommended), starting with 1 tsp four days a week, working up to 2 tsp a day every day – hopefully this will encourage me to drink water more and, you know, not eat anything 😐 5) Come back and post some kind of an update every Monday, plus one final update by the 3rd. Good luck with that one, Future Cherry_Bomb Bonus: try to find something to make me laugh or at least smile for 20-30 minutes a day so I can feel like life isn’t all that bad…which hopefully it isn’t. I don't really know anymore, I'm guessing here. Total: ___ / 20 I don’t really know what I can reward myself with or look forward to if I actually hit this goal. My current plan is to just quit NF altogether if I fail because I’m really not disciplined in keeping up with it or maintaining accountability. Maybe just seeing the number on the scale going down will be rewarding enough. And if I never post again, thanks for reading and good luck with your respective challenges.

So course it's been a month since this challenge ended. Of course. Because that's how time works when you're up to your elbows in report-card-related work. Whatever. I reached one of my two ultimate goals: it fluctuates every couple of days but I made it back to the low- to mid-150s, which I never thought I'd be able to brag about. Still not sure what's happening with my hair or my low iron, but I have a blood test this week and an initial consultation with a naturopath (still no family doctor, natch), so I'm praaaaaaaaaaaaying someone, somewhere - somehow - can narrow down what's happening to me. I'm praying to see that day come soon too; I worry every day that I won't have any hair left and/or my body will just fall apart beyond repair by the time I finally do get that in-person dermatologist appointment. And of course that's when everyone will go "ooooh (grimace) if only you had come in sooner, we could have reversed this. OH WELL." And then laugh like I'd see the humour in this situation. Insert squinting Philip J. Fry forever. 😐 And since I didn't really keep track of anything I did (which let's be honest feels like I did nothing), I'll just do a scale from 1-5 to reflect on the ease of this challenge: 4️⃣ Buteyko breathing for 35m of exercise 3 times a week: Hmmm, I guess up until last Friday this was going well. So, 4? 3️⃣ Deprivation: Easter weekend was a whirlwind of "bad" decisions, but the past couple of weeks have been WAY better. 5️⃣ Biotin and Iron: okay I've actually been killing this. 2️⃣ Daily relaxation: I don't know if zoning out after work counts as "relaxation," but I did meditate for a few mornings. 🆘 8h of sleep: It feels like I'm cheating to give it a 1, but according to my Fitbit I haven't slept that long since the before times so adding any number here feels like a cheat. Guess I should come up with a new goal and some new advice for all my problem areas. All...five of them... XD But it's so late in the current challenge. Might as well wait. Catch y'all on Juneteenth. ✊🏾 (Ooooh and I promised I'd change my username for the next challenge. Hopefully no one's taken it yet!)

Aaaaaaall righty, coming back while I have the day (Easter Monday) to actually regroup and try to remember what I've been up to: Keep doing 35m of exercise 3 times a week, concentrating on Buteyko breathing ✅✅✅ No = chips, chocolate, or candy between Sunday and Thursday ☑️☑️☑️☑️☑️ Biotin gummy (AM) and iron pill (PM) – I think I just missed one iron pill ✅✅✅✅ Daily relaxation (esp. scalp massages) – ehhh I didn’t do this a whole lot…DEFINITELY skimped on these massages…so half points? ☑️☑️ At LEAST 8 hours of sleep ➡️ changing this to 7 to be more realistic 😐 ✅✅ Total: 16/20 (or 80%) - not bad, considering I wasn't feeling well the week before and I now perfectly well that I did not exercise in any shape, way, or form. And according to this morning's weigh-in, between today and Saturday I've re-gained that 2.8 pounds I thought I'd never be able to lose and then actually lost. But now they're back. I want to say I'm disappointed but it's happened so many times in the past year I'm feeling extremely apathetic. I'm also supposed to have pie later today, so that might also be adding to the lack of emotions. Right now I'm planning my workouts and potential meals for the week to see if they'll make any difference for by next Monday. Tonight I just want my pie. (FTR I added this gif because my pie plans involve binge-watching this show. I love it to death (no pun intended) and I haven't even finished the series yet)

Thank you. I've been scouring Google for ages trying to find decent “net positive healthy rewards” (my diabetes prevention coach suggested I look for ideas using that term) and I don't know if I'm just weird or there's something going on in the world and I just haven't caught on yet. A lot of the rewards suggested are things I already do, or at least try to do when I'm in a good enough mood, so it doesn't make sense to turn them into "rewards" for health goals. Or I've already done them, so what's the point in doing them again? Like, how many new water bottles and workout outfits do I need to keep buying? 😐 I guess COVID also nixes 85% of the rewards I could do under normal circumstances (e.g. "See a movie," "Take a road trip to your favorite local town and spend the night," "Go to a concert," "Attend the next Olympics" T______T ). But I've found tons of lists that just leave me asking...what do people normally do with themselves??? "Read your favourite book!" Listen to your favourite music!" "Take a bath!" Like...WHAT? Anyhoo, my current "up-and-coming" rewards are just going to be YouTuber merch (once it's back on sale) and a PS5 because I'm done trying to be creative.

Aw, thank you! ^__^

WELL. Shocking weigh-ins these past couple of days...I'm now 2.6 pounds away from my ultimate goal weight (the ultimate goal weight I've had for the past like five years) - the day before yesterday I was 0.8 pounds away... ... ...you know what, it's fine. I might gain it all overnight (again) so I'm just going to adjust my "10" to a lower number. Can't let my guard down just yet.

(Kudos if you got that reference by the way. I honestly didn’t know how to make this post interesting, but the phrase seems kinda fitting...also low-key this show is all I can think about these days. 😅) I don’t know how I’m going to keep track of all this, but I don’t care. XD I weighed myself the other day and after a year of gaining 4-5 pounds overnight after eating 80g of plantain chips, I’m almost the same weight as I was about five years ago (just before I skyrocketed to class I obese a few months later). So my ultimate goals are to weigh less than 155 and get my hair back (TL;DR it’s half gone and I’m praying it’s due to iron deficiency and not something more serious because I DO NOT have a doctor willing to investigate, let alone diagnose me with anything). Maybe I'll set a reminder on my phone or something to update every Friday to keep myself accountable. We'll see if it works. Keep doing 35m of exercise 3 times a week, concentrating on Buteyko breathing (might ease into 38m x 4 or 30m x 5 depending on my freaking time management) 🟩 🟩 🟩 Depriving myself of everything I enjoy no chips, chocolate, or candy between Sunday and Thursday until Easter; Friday and Saturday = "treat" days in the form of a small serving of chocolate (this probably won’t include Easter weekend, but I'm currently planning around that) 🟦 🟦 🟦 🟦 🟦 Biotin gummy (AM) and iron pill (PM) – both are required to get one point 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 Daily relaxation (esp. scalp massages because I need my hair back) 🟦 🟦 🟦 🟦 At LEAST 8 hours of sleep (I currently get like 4-5) 🟩 🟩 🟩 Total: 20 points a week (halfway through I might bump this up to 25 because I like percentage-friendly numbers) It'd also be nice to reward myself with something every week for getting an A- score on my points, but I'm so used to using food and monetary rewards it'll be hard to find things (and the net doesn't really help with COVID-friendly suggestions). To be continued, I guess.

I signed up - look at me being early for once! I might quit NF Prime next month, so this is more incentive to go hard AF for this next challenge. Bring on the Euro training!

Thanks, Alanna. Yeah, surprisingly the vitamins was the easiest one. I definitely need to increase my exercise and figure out a work-around for what I'm 95% sure is exercise-induced asthma. I think I'm also going to keep NF Prime for another three months and then I'll probably quit. I know strength training is super-important but I'm just not using the app at all - I'm getting a ton of nutrition and wellness info from a diabetes prevention program (and that goes until August) so I don't feel like I'm getting much out of it. I have like 50+ unopened crates. ಠ_ಠ And Lent will hopefully help me cut down on stress-eating my favourite snacks for a few weeks. We shall see.

Never mind, I sat down to figure it out now. I'm going to be late for this stressful job anyway so... 1) Go back on vitamins – wow I’ve actually been really good with this one: ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅ 2) Nerd Fitness app challenge – nope: 🟦 3) Meal plan – yeah this definitely didn’t happen: 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 4) “Before” photos and measurements – crap I forgot about that chart: ☑️☑️☑️🟦 Bonus/5) Finish For Health and Home with at LEAST three lives – wow I actually did this one: ✅ Total score = 12 / 20 Hmm. I guess I passed.

That's a great question 😅 As usual I fell off the wagon at some point and completely forgot to update ANY of this, so I'm going to go back later tonight and see how I did. To be honest, the days between January 30 and February...10th?...were such a clusterf--- that I don't even remember what I set out to do. Guess it's a good thing we're already ten days into the next challenge, eh? *laughs until she cries*

Yooo I didn't even THINK it could be iron-related! 😐 (I've been battling anemia on and off for years) Good suggestion though - I just Googled it and it looks like I can do a private blood test, it's just going to cost an arm and a leg. I'm in Canada so our healthcare covers a lot, but it doesn't look like these would fall under any coverage category. Oh well, good to know it's an option in the worst-case scenario. Thanks!

Looks like the December 2021 challenge didn’t go so badly thanks to these checkmarks I realized I can add to keep myself accountable…mostly…when I remember to actually post on here. 😐 So, let’s keep that up, shall we? (We shall). For this challenge, I’m going to: 1) Go back on vitamins – I bought some with biotin to see if they’ll help my spontaneous hair loss (because spoiler alert: my doctor doesn’t care that I’ve lost about 40% of my hair and outright refused to do a blood test to see if I have any deficiencies or an autoimmune disease…so I’m just going to pray it’s not the latter and tend to my hair in the meantime – don’t really know what else I can do at this point). I want to aim for every day, but I tend to be quite the lazy sod so let’s say 5 times a week for the next two weeks. On second thought, make that 4. I don’t trust myself. 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 2) I might not renew my Nerd Fitness app subscription because I’m really bad at keeping up with it. So just in case, I’m going to try and finish as many unfinished (or mildly enticing) quests as I can. If I can finish ONE by the end of this challenge, I’ll call that a win. 🟦 3) I’m 90% certain my wellness program coach is going to have me start this meal plan she asked me to get used to looking at very soon, so I’ll try it out and see if I can still do at least 3 days a week. 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 🟩 4) I lost a little bit of weight last year, so I think this is the year I’ll experiment with…before and after photos. I’m dreading every moment of this, but worst-case scenario I can always delete them. I’ll also take some to record my flexibility, particularly my bunion-ish feet. (Not that I plan on posting them ANYWHERE because update, the weight and hair pics are really horrible to look at.) 🟦 🟦 🟦 🟦 (for body measurements, hair, flexibility benchmark chart, and feet) Bonus…nah I’ll just call this 5) I want to finish For Health and Home with at LEAST three lives, so I’m going to try not to lose more than…two? 🟩 Total score = ___ / 20 Five things seem like a lot in writing, but this challenge is more like three because 2) and 4) are more like to-do items than ongoing tasks. Only time will tell. (I’m full of shrugs these days, so this felt appropriate) Good luck with your challenges, everyone.

Ah, that's true. It definitely affects my ability to do anything that involves getting dressed and made up and leaving the house - most times I do and I run super-late, and sometimes I go "nope, no point now" and make up an excuse not to go anywhere. It's...sad. 😐 I've brought it up with so many health professionals over the years and they all dismissed it, like it was a one-time thing I did so they'd say "well, don't do that", so I don't think I'll bother getting anything official. I'm just gonna take care of it. ^_^" As for my rehearsals, we have a giant spreadsheet of all our dance moves. I've been reviewing the steps and the cues, and watching our old practice videos to remember the moves I've forgotten about. Our troupe leader isn't very encouraging most of the time, so when we're back in the studio together I don't want to give her any excuse to call me sloppy, lazy, etc. I want to blow everyone's minds out of the water! ...but now my part of the world has like 10K COVID cases so that might not happen for at least a few more months. Oh well, no need to worry about leaving the house for a while.

Thank you! 😅

Oh my gosh it's so PRETTYYYYYYY (I'm so proud of myself 🤣) - hopefully I'll actually work towards achieving a fraction of the vibes it's giving off. FTR the "water symbol" is where I put the cover of my first novel, but I'm kinda shy about promoting in on here so I edited it out. I also edited out my "before" pictures on the righthand side (super self-conscious about those), so that's why it looks so unbalanced. Thanks for asking! 😄

Thank you. I haven't been officially diagnosed either, it's just painstakingly obvious that I have it. 😅 The therapy part is expensive AF but the free resources have been helping...kinda? (Well, more than the help and relief I was getting from doing nothing) Here's the website if you're curious.

Ooh, look at me - on time for once! (I would have said I was 8 minutes early, but this post actually took way longer than I thought it would...eh, whatever, I'm actually posting on the first day of a challenge so since this is ME we're talking about, it's a win.) Not much has happened (physical health wise) and yet, a LOT has happened (mental/social/emotional health wise). Maybe that’s why I lost and gained…or fluctuated…between 1 and 6 pounds in the last challenge…which I wrote in my notes on my phone, meant to post it, and then never did 😐 (so I'm not counting this as a respawn, hope that's okaaay) – and with a ton of mild adulthood stuff going on, I don’t really know where to go from here. What I DO know is that I now have a whole bunch of wellness programs going and I’m probably stretching myself out too thin…then I went and got a job after three months of unemployment and not leaving my house, so the anxiety should hit nice and strong this month. But, instead of quitting them all and then picking and choosing and wasting more time trying to figure out what the heck I’m doing, for the rest of 2021 I’m going to simplify as much as I can. So, here’s what I got this month: 1) Make a vision board for 2022 with my New Year resolutions. After the holidays I’ll make it my desktop wallpaper so I see it every day (we’ll see if that helps). (Steps = watch 1-2 Skillshare videos to help and plan / figure out resolutions / put inspirational pictures based on those resolutions together / make it your background at the end of this challenge) ☑️ ☑️ ☑️ ☑️ 2) I’ve had dermatillomania since I was a teenager, and with a milestone birthday coming up, I want to make this the last year of having it. I enrolled in a Habit Reversal Training program last month, then kinda fell off the wagon, so I want to finish it by Christmas (hopefully), and (again, hopefully), I’ll start to break this habit. (Steps = review Week 3 chapter / complete Week 3 / do Week 4 homework / complete Week 4 / put all notes together into one notebook to evaluate and reflect whenever I need to in the future) ✅ ✅ 🟩 🟩 🟩 3) To get ready for in-person dance rehearsals (which I’m PRAYING will be put off a bit longer because although our troupe leader reeeeeeally wants us to restart practicing in person, COVID is still running rampant ‘round these parts), I’m going to review moves at least 2 times a week for about 5-10 minutes and/or run through the length of one performance-length song (as of today, my benchmark is 3 minutes). ☑️ ☑️ ☑️ ☑️ ☑️ 🟦 Bonus: for my For Health and Home wellness program, I can’t lose more than four lives this month. It’ll be hell, but…it’ll be worth it? ❌ ❌❌ ✔️ (Total score = 12 / 15) Ooh, look at me making a tracking system this time. (I needed something to keep me coming back to this forum and actually update my progress, so...here it be.) Yay, I did it, I did a thing. Cue midnight snack time and paying for it tomorrooooow~ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- **Update (Dec. 5): kinda became obsessed with the vision board and probably spent way more time on it than I should have...but it's done 😅 **Update (Dec. 13): wow, almost halfway on my points. Good job, Past Me. The dance practice came slightly easier than I thought it would (yay) but due to big-@$$ life stuff I bailed on rehearsal last week...aaaaaand just got an email asking if I want to do a one-on-one thing this week (because the other two dancers in the group can't make it) or just extend my holiday. I gotta do what I gotta do. 😬 As for the program, I slacked off, but it turns out Week 4 is pretty much a repeat of Week 3 sooooo I hope that's not cheating! (Also the FH&H is getting hard as crap, so of course I lost a freaking life. Can't wait for it get impossible when my job starts.) **Update (intentional post date Dec. 26 🤣😞 I'm looking back on this challenge and feeling mildly impressed at how I did overall. Not bad, Future Cherry_Bomb, not bad)

(Sorry for the uncreative title, but I don't have it in me today.) It has been a whirlwind (I think I'm spelling that right) of mayhem since my last challenge, especially this month with the publishing of my first book 🤭 and mental health-related family situations 😭 . My goals for this challenge are simple: 1) Get through the next 3-4 weeks without harming myself. I'm doing a sleep routine starting today...hopefully (it's hard to say, I have a lot of anime to watch tonight)...and will reward myself if I get a certain number of points through my tracking system. Maybe a 3D puzzle. Or maybe a Lite Brite. I loved the one I had when I was a kid, and I miss it. 2) I have signed up for a diabetes prevention program. My blood sugar has been high for years, and even though I've cut out all juice and soda out of my life, my doctor keeps saying not to drink them and it'll be fine. Then I do a blood test and he tells me it's "still high" (without giving me the actual number) and that I should stop drinking juice and soda when I already don't drink either. My first interview with my coach is tomorrow. I'm basically just going to do whatever she tells me. Might create a point system for that too. 3) Stand up to my family doctor about the fact that I can't breathe after one minute of more-than-moderate exercise and figure out what is going on. I've had this issue since I was a teenager. I know he's going to say it's because I'm overweight and just need to push through it and build up stamina. I've lost twenty pounds over the past two years and this has been a problem throughout that time. It's not my f**king weight, Doc. If I can do at least two out of the three, I'm throwing myself a freaking party and whoever reads this, consider yourself invited. Sorry for all the ranting. I'm just done with feeling like crap and being told I deserve to feel like crap. Thank you for listening to my TED Talk.

Okaaaaay I think I’m done. Until I can figure out what the f*** I’m doing to gain EIGHT POUNDS IN THREE DAYS I’m giving up. I’m exercising, I’m drinking water, I’m intermittent fasting so I only eat two small meals a day; it’s not like I’m eating blocks of fried cheese or Good Morning burgers. I had one handful of tortilla chips yesterday and the day before. Apparently that was enough to add 2.5 pounds each time, because that’s the only “potentially unhealthy” thing I’ve done since Sunday afternoon. So I think I’m good. Taking another NF hiatus because I’m already dealing with a ton of BS and this was the last thing I needed. (Apology if you were looking for a happy or motivational post - I have four projects due between Friday and the next two weeks, so I am in a mood. 😒)

Lol here's hoping! It's funny because I track my health and fitness in a Mokeskine in addition to the forums, but it's only when I forget to post on the forums that I see any significant changes. Like this time. When did I make this post, three weeks ago? (I can't tell time anymore) And I somehow gained three pounds, then lost five pounds, and now I'm right back at my starting weight. I - don't - understaaaaaaand. 💢 Definitely going to look for this PvP challenge, though. I must level up! 😤 Thanks for suggesting it!

The past two months have been going pretty darn well, and of course I didn't post my challenges that whole time. 😬 Here's hoping I don't jinx my weight-loss streak by posting this one. 1) Lose another 3 pounds over the next three weeks by taking a break from my Easter candy stash, drinking green tea (saving the yummy coffee for the weekends), and doing more bodyweight exercises on top of my daily walk 2) Update my Nerd Fitness app every day for three weeks 3) Read every day to relax instead of bingeing on snacks Bonus: at some point before May 1, I want to get in on this spring cleaning challenge too, but this is the week where I have to catch up on a buttload of work, so commitment pending. Let's see how this one goes. Good luck on your challenges, everyone!

Awww, thanks Rhovaniel! 🥰 I do fusion belly dance. I'm part of a small student troupe, but due to the 'rona I've been doing most of my dancing through online classes. They're tons of fun, but I've been so busy with writing I kinda fell off the practice wagon.

😈 As long as I don't polish off whole bags of snacks, every day will be an accomplishment!

Ten days before Christmas to squeeze in some goals - eh, why not? (FTR I started the challenge on the 7th but completely forgot to post anything) And yes, I'm aware that I'm aiming low. Aiming so low, no one will even care if I succeed? Maybe. (I don't know, I just couldn't leave that last sentence hanging in the air without the proper Simpsons quote to follow it.) Main goal: to weigh as much on the morning of the 24th as I do today by doing the following: refraining from eating all the chocolate, chips, Christmas candy and everything else I enjoy (with the exception of the 18th, when I'm allowed one Christmas cupcake) finish 7 Datura or Blogilates cardio videos in 7 days (taking the 20th off, I might just do yoga that day) ✅ plan dance routine for dance troupe performance in January ⚠️"Treat Yo' Self Sunday" (I'm pampering myself and doing my nails for Christmas!) - due to the sudden arrival of "KRAMPUS" (😠), Treat Yo'Self Sunday will hereby be known as...I don't know...Wine it Up Wednesday? Good luck with your challenges, everyone!