Swatches

So, tracking for mid-month of Feb. 1. Exercise - first two weeks weren't so great, but I'm now booked in for my pole dance classes again (had my first one yesterday) and have a scheduled plan for the 3 BJJ days as well. The original schedule had to be changed because they changed theirs. MT probably isn't going to happen this month, just because I am actually technically not supposed to exercise/sweat for like 5 days of the week (told not to due to some skincare stuff I'm doing). I'm already pushing it doing 4 days a week. 2. Food - 3 day fast: Complete! Technically I did really well on this, in that I did it. Unfortunately, the fast itself was awful (felt very lethargic and sick, and threw up twice) and not an experience I'll be repeating if I can help it. - IF: Is now ongoing, and has been for the past 2 days without much issue, though if I just brush my teeth early I shouldn't have any issue (since the temptation to eat later is blocked somewhat). Not really into the protein shake, so not doing that. - Eat healthy & under 1000kcal/day: This has also been doing fine for the past week or so, mainly because I was getting those health-meals delivered to me. I will not be doing that going forward, because frankly most of them are very blah. But I have started preparing possible meal plans to go with instead. 3. Sleep - Not going as well as I'd like at all, in that I'm not sleeping before 12:30, but at least I typically am getting 8 hrs. Plan to fix this is a) get the heater set up to start early in the morning so I'm more likely to get out of bed b) start exercising in the morning so I have to get to bed at a decent time. Also, now that I've quit the reading so much, I don't have that much to do in the evenings/night anyway, so hoping it'll more naturally happen. One thing I do need to work on is keeping my phone away from me, so I don't play on it before sleeping or right when waking.

Alright, Chinese/Lunar New Year, and also the start of February and the first day back in Ireland! A good time to start, so here we go: So, my goals for Feb (assuming pole goes as planned): 1. Exercise: - Pole Dance on Mon and Muay Thai on Tues, which is the only day they have advanced class only in BJJ. - Start up with BJJ, 3x a week for 3 weeks - Already contacted the gym about renewing my membership. I'll keep it light this week to deal with the jetlag and getting back into the swing of things, just go in for 1-2 classes (probably Fri and/or Sat). But then for the 3 weeks after I shall do Weds, Thurs (no Gi), and Fri (and maybe Saturday, but unlikely). That'll cover my Pole, BJJ, and MT goals for the month. I literally did MT on the day I flew out, so I'm covered for that this week already. Can't do Pole this week because the class got postponed. Once weather starts getting better and days start getting longer, I'll pick up more Pole Dance classes (or an Aerial Hoop one) to help with the Pole level goal, and so then cut back on the BJJ. But that's still some months away, so gotta get in all the BJJ I can now. 2. Food: - Do a 3-day long fast - Going to do this on Feb 11 - Feb 13 (so last meal Thurs night and then first meal Mon breakfast), so essentially starting on a Fri and keeping it up over the weekend. Never done longer than 32 hr before, but will try and prepare myself by buying some pre-made Keto meals to lead up to and then break fast with. Plus got the homemade electrolyte stuff the internet tells me I should have. - Do IF 5x a week - This should not be hard, esp since if I'm exercising in the evening I'm not going to want to be eating around then anyway. So, IF by starting the morning with a protein drink (around 8-9 am), then eating a decent lunch (around 12-2 pm) and that'll give me a IF period of around 18-21 hrs. - Eat healthy and under 1000 kcal/day - Trying out some of those 'healthy food delivery' plans for this month, because I'm often too lazy to go shopping, never mind actually cook. So the delivery thing should handle that, in addition to the protein drink and some eggs with cheese, which I never tire of. 3. Sleep: - By midnight or 12:30 am latest - Throwing this goal in here because I really need to develop a decent sleep schedule. If I make it to bed by midnight, I can maybe do some lazy morning yoga, and if I only make 12:30 that'll at least give me enough time to get up and do some skincare or 5 min meditation or something self-care-ish before work. If I manage to establish the midnight goal, I'll eventually try my luck with sleeping earlier. I'm hoping to get it down to an 11 pm - 7 am schedule so that I can manage some exercise or stretches in the morning, but we'll see. Any earlier than 8 am mainly depends on the light; I just won't get up if it's dark outside still.

Right, been a while! Had a bit of a COVID issue, which threw off a lot of the plans. This week I'm more or less in isolation, but I have already bought myself ClassPass and sorted out the Pole Dance and MT classes that I will go to next week. The weight management is going well, partially because I have very little control over food anyway while isolating and also because the food here just isn't as heavy or large-sized as in Europe. I am also excited to try fasting once I get back. I already do IF up to 32 hours sometimes, so looking to see if I can push that further to 2-3 days. However, I'm pausing on doing the Jan challenge and will start again in Feb, so waiting for that. But to note for Feb: 1. Do fasting (for 3 days ideally) and then keep up with IF and calorie tracking (moving more towards a keto-style diet too hopefully) 2. Renew BJJ membership 3. Sign up for next month of pole dancing classes

Alright, final wrap-up. This finished a while ago, but I caught COVID and things were crazy for a bit. Still want to end it properly though, so gotta put in the final week notes. Goals: 1. Food/Nutrition - maintain max weight of 48kg by Dec 25 (if can get even lower, all the better) - Done! Thailand has smaller portions in general and also adheres to the principle of sharing food (e.g. everyone tries everyone else's food or orders food to share, with everyone just taking a portion of what dishes they want) so it was a lot easier than I thought actually. 2. Workout - exercise at least 5x a week. This can be BJJ, pole, MT, at home work, yoga, etc. but 30 min every day at least. - This did not happen, partly thanks to having caught COVID but also mainly because it was the holidays and I was lax. There was some hiking, a lot of walking, etc., but def not 5x a week. 3. Mental - get over FOMO, eat in moderation - Done! Again, the food sharing aspect helped a lot, I was able to taste and try everything without committing to dishes or having to finish it all. All in all I'm pretty happy with how this turned out, except I'm going to have to build my exercise level back up again but that's alright.

Thank you! Thanks, I'm pretty fortunate in that my usual BJJ training is all about the sparring. I just didn't realize quite how fortunate until I got this class where even the professionals weren't allowed to spar.. nor even do anything remotely strenuous. Now looking forward to my main class a lot more. On another note, Merry Christmas! Hope it's going well for everyone 😃

Holy hell, that is pretty awful, and right around the holiday time too! Glad your symptoms aren't too bad though, hope your recovery goes smoothly and quickly!

Ha, yeah, I'm pretty lucky - but I haven't been able to come back and see the family for over two years, so I have been saving and planning up for this for a long time too. As for the goals: 1. Exercise 5x a week: Done! Though calling that BJJ class actual exercise is a joke, but I did go and try at least. Then there was one pole class, one aerial yoga class, another very full day of walking, and sailing (really making use of this Class Pass, if I do say so myself). 2. Food: Not the best, but could've been worse. I started the week off strong, but then weekend rolled around and we had dad's bday dinner and two other family dinners, and I went out and bought myself extra meals too. I do keep forgetting to use LifeSum though, and need to be better on that. 3. FOMO: Alright-ish. Could've done a lot better on this honestly. I went all the way through the city today to buy a cake I remember as being really good. Did something similar two days ago for baked goods, which is contributing to my food goal setbacks too.

Weekly log time once more: 1. BJJ and pole dance for this week were done, and I got an extra aerial class too, first one ever. Good fun, thought not as much as pole. 2. Food - started off strong but then started eating more towards the end of the week. Still, haven't gained significant weight at least, which is all I can hope for during this holiday season To note that the BJJ class was so chill and un-demanding that I'd be ashamed to call it exercise, but that wasn't my fault, I was trying out a new class and they were focusing solely on techniques, no sparring or even mildly fast moves.

I know you didn't necessarily hit the goals, but sounds like it was a fantastic week anyway, what with the photoshoot, showcase, 4 stripes and all else. Congrats!

Ah okay, good to know it's not just me who's a little bit dreading the heading off to BJJ classes. I did a lot better on the food this week, mainly because I spent one day running around trying to get everything sorted for travelling, two days pretty much flying only (so had only airplane food as an option), and then I was in quarantine for one day and so the hotel-provided food wasn't thrilling either. I actually did Muay Thai long before BJJ, which I only started relatively recently, so I personally find it a lot more fun maybe just because I'm more experienced at it, so I don't have that beginner/know-nothing feeling like with BJJ. I'm sure I'll eventually feel better about BJJ, it's just the early stages that tend to be difficult, just gotta power through it.

Alright, goal tracking. It has been a WEEK, but mainly good so far. I haven't got a scale here to weight myself yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm still in my weight range and have been keeping my calories in range (two days of pure airline food probably helped, plus the following day of quarantine). Not so much happening with the workouts, but I've been lugging a 28kg bag around a good bit, so maybe that counts? Anyway, I'm a little less worried about the exercise now that I'm back in Thailand, which lends itself to exercise, what with the decent outdoor weather and the gyms and swimming pools set up in every apartment building. I did a 30 min yoga strength training routine this morning and have signed up for Class Pass, so that's at least 3 workouts I'll be having booked in for my pole and dancing. Plus I have plans with my siblings to go ice-skating, roller skating, rock climbing, and sailing at some point during the 10 days I'm here, so the whole exercise thing should take care of itself really, at least for the first part of this trip. Once I head back to the family town, my sister will probably take care of the BJJ side of things, as she tries to get everyone involved in it. Plus my brother there does triathlons and is a PE teacher, there's zero chance he won't try to make me run/walk up 'his' mountain. It's still the food that's going to be a problem, since my family pretty much expresses love through feeding people. That's the main one to watch out for, was a slight hiccup yesterday where I managed to finish off a whole medium sized pizza myself, but did a bit better today and even got in the 20 hr IF.

Ahh, sorry for the late response. Just got done with a cross-hemisphere flight that completely drained me (3 PCR tests! the devil). But I loved Budapest, intending to go back sometime on a weekday in summer/spring so I can take advantage of two buffets I missed and the baths. They've got great food, some nice architecture and places to visit, actual things to do with so many different bathhouses to try, and all fantastic! Plus, it was pretty cheap for Europe. Also, I was there for the Christmas markets, which I think just got voted as the best in Europe this year -- though to be fair, competition isn't great with half of Europe shut down -- so that helped, and it was very pretty with the snow. If you want more details, hit me up, I did make a whole plan of places for food and things to see.

Exploring Budapest! Was my first time there, so naturally had to go around and see everything 😂

Ate way over my kcal allowance but walked 21k steps on Dec 5, so I'm going to go ahead and count that for my daily exercise. Did 15k steps today too, and thankfully my kcal count for today is right on track. Edit: 22k steps today, the 15k was around 3 pm and apparently I've clocked up a lot more since then

Thanks! Yep, got started in Nerd Fitness 7 years ago and did a couple of challenges but then ended up moving county and college (but not job, so 3 hr commutes on weekends!)...but now I'm back 😈

Alright, weekly log time. Only started calculating calories on Dec 5th, and completely blew it that day because I was in Budapest and they have a dish called langos that's like pizza but even more unhealthy (tho delicious) since they deep-fry the dough and add sour cream with heaps of cheese and other toppings. That plus a chimney cake with ice cream put me almost 700 kcal over. Today however, I'm right on target calorie-wise, though I really need to up my protein intake. Had a small serving of Belgian fries and a Belgian waffle (because when in Belgium...) and then a very mini chicken wrap. Tomorrow I'm back home, where I have my protein powder and regular meals instead of trying out various countries' local specialities. This week I should therefore be fairly on track, it'll be the week after (when I'm in Thailand) when the temptation really starts. No pole or BJJ/MT yet since I'm traveling, but I walked 21k steps yesterday and 15k today and tomorrow I'll head to my MT class and knock that off the list.

Ahhh, that's so cool you're doing it too! How are you finding it? I absolutely love my pole classes, but have to give myself a pep talk to drag myself to BJJ reach time ... And then once I actually get there it's great. I notice you said you don't like cardio, does your BJJ not make you spar? If so, I'm hella jealous, that's the part that always has me debating if I'm actually going

Congrats on the handstand improvement, that sounds fantastic 😍

This is an amazing challenge, hope it's off to a great start!

Ha, let's see if I can actually implement them!

Thanks, will do! 😃

Right, so I'm taking a month-long holiday to go back home after over 2 years away (thanks Covid), and I just know I'll end up stuffing myself with all the good food, so I'm pre-emptively making this challenge to fight back and not lose the little bit of fitness I have! I'll let myself eat anything I want, but in moderation (which is where the calorie tracking comes in) and keep exercising so I don't completely let myself go. Goals: 1. Food/Nutrition - maintain max weight of 48kg by Dec 25 (if can get even lower, all the better) - Use lifesum to track calories and keep it down to 1000-1200 at least 5 days a week, preferably IF too (but won't be strict on that except when at home with mom, who does it herself) 2. Workout - exercise at least 5x a week. This can be BJJ, pole, MT, at home work, yoga, etc. but 30 min every day at least. 3. Mental - get over FOMO, eat in moderation What's likely going to be the main factor getting in the way is a) all the delicious food b) my own gluttony and lack of self-control in the face of said food. Best way I can think of to combat that is to try IF and track the calories and cut myself off once I hit it, and get over the FOMO by reminding myself that I can get it later (it might help if I make a plan to eat it some other day). Also, if I know there will be family or friends meeting up later in the day, wait on eating until that. For exercise, it's a lot easier - I'll get myself the free classpass for two weeks, and then get my sister to take me along to her BJJ classes or my brother to his gym, and for the days that's not on, I'll just do yoga in the morning at home.

Alright, starting this to track my fitness goals and progress. I am beginning with the small Dec 5-25, 2021 challenge, and then shall move on. By the end of the 2022 I shall be: 1. 42 kg or less 2. At pole level 2 or 3 (e.g. able to cleanly invert) 3. Have done at least one BJJ and MT class consistently every week (barring the occasional holiday or unforeseen incident) and skilled enough that I can start with MMA/Krav Maga To achieve these goals I shall: 1. Track my calories daily with LifeSum (and stay within an acceptable range and macros) 2. Do pole class at least once a week 3. Renew my BJJ membership and go to classes (both BJJ & MT regularly). I will track my progress here once a week.

Hi all, respawning after 7 years with this small challenge, so hopefully I don't get too carried away during the hols

Awesome, thanks!