chthonian

I completely fell off the wagon wrt reading/commenting to others' threads -- I'm so sorry! I'll try to check back in on everyone at some point during week 4. I've had like zero laptop time over the past week, so I'm stealing some time at the office to write this update. :x NOTES: Cook 4-6 times: B+. I technically managed four times, but I'm docking points for the half-assed Pop-Tarts/toast meal on Saturday. (At least it's still not takeout?)Work out 3x: B. I was lazy in the first half of the week, but it's getting easier so I think I'll be able to go up to 3x soon.Walk when not working out: D, missed three times.Duolingo: B, missed once.Medication: F. Ugh!!!Overall score: C+ ish.I've been good at working out & cooking, even when busy, but I still suck at bothering to go for a walk, and remembering my medication. Pill reminders on my phone don't work because I'll usually see it at an inopportune time, think "Ah, I should do that later," then it never happens. I'm supposed to take it with food, but I don't eat lunch at a regular time either. I'm going to start carrying them in my purse, though, so it'll hopefully be easier for me to stay on track even when I'm at a restaurant with friends. As for the walks... ugh I dunno, I'll just have to push myself harder to take the walk instead of automatically creeping home. (Willpower!) Skipping mini-challenge #3, might do mini-challenge #4 later.

Are Luna bars good for you? I SURE HOPE SO, because I munched on one of those things this afternoon when I got peckish, and that shit kept me running until I finally got my next meal like seven hours later -- I may need to resort to bars to give me an energy boost later in the day, otherwise I often end up buying a $1 hot dog from the street vendors. I still don't understand how people adult on the regular, man. I worked, came home, chatted to my roommate, did some dishes to clear the sink, did two circuits of a BBWW (started a third but then felt myself quailing during the first exercise, so I stopped -- my arms are aching a bit more than before, too, thanks to upgrading to the kettlebell), took a shower, cooked dinner, and now it is 10.40pm. Just enough time to wolf down my food and watch a sitcom before my 11.30 bedtime! So, a really good day that did indeed get me back on track (phew!), but seriously: how do people do this regularly?? (I think it'll be easier in August, once my usual roommate is back and we're cooking together -- splitting the duties works a lot better than hacking everything solo.)

Somehow I completely missed your comments on my post, I'm so sorry!! Totally following you now. Revising your goal to "home-cooked meal 4 times a week" definitely sounds like a good idea, since the original seems like it might've left the tempting opening to do it once, then skive off the rest of the week. I'm interested in hearing how your second week went.

You are awesome and I appreciate that we are both on the same level re: Mr. Johnson, omg. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH, plus he seems like one of the sweetest people ever. His instagram is a perpetual source of delight. :") --- Anyway, mid-week update: UGH it has not started off well. Monday I came home after midnight; Tuesday I went home sick (but still cooked to have dinner and leftovers for lunch!); Wednesday I accidentally left out aforementioned leftovers, which meant no proper lunch and a waste of a Blue Apron meal, so I was super hangry and ordered sushi takeout and curled up on the sofa with Brooklyn 99. Still, it was my first time ordering takeout since May 31st, so I think I'm allowed it once per month... I've had zero physical activity though (and missed a day of medication because I was, legit, too afraid to go into the kitchen to get a glass of water, it is cockroach territory after sunset). So to keep me accountable, my plan for the rest of the week to get back on track: THURSDAY: BBWW + cook a BA meal. FRIDAY: Long walk to/from my oral surgeon consultation, and on my way to dinner. SATURDAY MORNING: BBWW before I leave for the day. + Maybe cook brunch at my friend's place? SUNDAY: Long walk on my way to the flea market, or on my way back from park hangouts. + Cook BA in the morning or evening?

Oh, this is a good idea + actually really encouraging to hear! Since I'm so unaccustomed to this, part of me was like "Is this what it's ALWAYS LIKE???" (the actual thought running through my head during that first workout: "How does Dwayne Johnson do this sort of thing every single day?") But I'm already less sore after my second BBWW so I think I see what you mean. Thanks.

What RDNottingham said! I've been having the same glowering stare-off at my weight scale, but we shouldn't beat ourselves up about it -- I think it's the lifestyle changes & habits changing that matter more in the long-term, vs. short-term gains. Looks like you're doing well. :]

Thanks both! :> & just in time for the week two roundup -- NOTES: Cook 4-6 times weekly: Cooked 5 meals. A, since this is within my range.Work out 3x weekly by end of challenge: Twice! B. I'm on my way.Walk when not gymming: Missed it twice, so another C.Duolingo: Two misses. C.Medication: 4 misses. F.Total grade (using this calculator): B if we're just counting main quest. C if we're counting the sidequests...The reason behind p. much all of the failures was because I overdid my week, social plan-wise -- from Wednesday through Saturday, I was either out of the house &/or with friends -- but the big wins were still cooking despite that and getting two workouts in (MY FIRST IN YEARS). I was sore for quite literally 4 days, wearing off just in time for a second go, so my body's probably like "what the hell are you doing to me??". I enjoy the jumping jacks, so I've ordered a jump rope (I used to love those things and feel like it'd make workout fun). Plus a kettlebell for rows, because lifting my full laundry bag is hilarious but not a suitable long-term option, ha. Wednesday's fantastic walking stats were probably due to dancing for an hour and a half at a concert, which was so much fun though I felt like death when I finally made it home by 1am. Today (Sunday) was especially productive too: I hermited to recover from my week, woke up at 8.30, worked out, showered, made brunch, made dinner in the afternoon, lazed around. I cooked two of the Blue Apron meals this week (alas, the cod is sad and neglected in my freezer, because I literally was not home often enough to make it), and can report that they were freakin' delicious. Not all of my food photographs well, but good lord I need to share a picture of the hoisin-glazed chicken meatballs w/ zucchini & brown rice. I'm so excited to finish the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Oh shoot, hopefully the sunburn doesn't hurt too much! If it's still sore, maybe you could do a scaled-down version of the workout, or just one circuit? And I really love the shading in the drawing. :> What are your preferred mediums?

#2 complete! Signature was already done, I'm sorta in an off-board accountability group with gamechanger/direcalico/vicodemus, and additionally following ElemHH, Eskcanta, Miw_Sher, and snarkyfishguts.

Hi Autumn! Officially popping in and following you. I like the "step out of the hermit hole" goal -- I honestly considered something similar for mine, but might save that for another challenge instead. Audiobooks are also a great idea, since I find cardio workouts so boring -- will totally try this!

Quick update for Tuesday, June 16: I was really, really craving some sushi takeout in bed, but resisted. Yet instead of cracking into Blue Apron, I was so hungry that I just whipped up some ground beef for burritos -- then, since I had limitless ingredients, I ended up binging on FOUR LARGE BURRITOS until I was uncomfortably full. Uuughh. But I'd short-changed my walk on Monday, and knew that Wednesday's going to be a wash (trivia w/ coworkers, drinking, going to a late concert), and gamechanger is awesome at keeping us on task, so I pushed myself into doing my first intentional exercise in literal years (!!!!!). I did two circuits of the Beginner Body Weight Workout, as recommended. I was worried I would find a way to take it easy on myself, but by the end I was sweating and wheezing and, in the case of the push-ups, wailing/screaming/gnashing of teeth etc. Weirdly, I really liked planking, because hanging onto a particular posture is easier for me than pushing things with my measly spaghetti arms. Because push-ups, guys. JEEZ. Also, the squats & lunges were hard -- my knees aren't the best -- but I'll keep working on them. Some of my reluctance re: exercise over the years has been due to having flat feet, so I think I want to incorporate some foot exercses while at my office to strengthen them, because the crippling pain I experience after a certain amount of walking/running is annoying. That's one of the reasons I'm excited for the pools opening, since that means exercise without ground impact. Today, my arms and legs are really sore/tired, but at least that's a sign I actually did work out!

Hi there, and welcome back! I'm creeping in here from Campus Tours as part of the socialising mini-quest, following you now. :> I like that you actually revised your goals as a result of the mini-challenge -- it shows you're thinking about this critically & making the right sort of adjustments. Also, I totally feel you on the bread temptation front, ugh. I like the art sidequest too -- I tried doing the 30 Days Project once, but I don't like how it sorta-encourages rushing, and it was way too much output for my schedule. Your weekly 4hr thing sounds much more reasonably paced! Out of curiosity, what made you pick goblin? There's no definitive guide to races so I'm interested in how people made their choices.

I think it's far more likely that my memory failed me -- I trust the technology, whereas it's easy for me to forget whether or not I've done a small repetitive daily task... (hence why remembering Duolingo/meds is my sidequest, since I have such trouble with it!) But I'm taking your 'calendar' idea and doing something slightly related: always doing the language exercises on my lunchbreak, so it's at the same time-ish each day and so will hopefully turn into an automatic routine. (This worked for me the last time I got into a streak, so fingers crossed!) These days, waiting to practice Spanish until I'm home usually means spacing out and missing the day entirely. The 22 floors & painting-carrying were pretty half-heartedly green, though, so I've actually gone back and puce-ified them in my gdoc... The cooking went well, but I don't feel like the fitness did at all, hence the C+. But thank you regardless! :>

I haven't been able to see the pictures since I've been using email notifications, but I finally found time to go catch up on your thread and oh man I love them! They're definitely motivating me too, so thanks for posting them. Also, I like seeing seeing the different races people choose -- vampire seems a good out-of-the-box one (I just finished rereading Dracula for the nth time, I love it so much). Also also, congrats on making it through the session! Willpower is like the hardest part of all this, moreso than the physical strength itself.

I admire your commitment to the running, man. Between my cooking and your running, together we make one healthy human being. Now we just need to pick up the other person's strengths. <3

NOTES: Cook 4-6 times weekly: Cooked 7 meals. A+! Assembled a few small breakfasts too. This turned out to be the easiest habit to pick back up, probably because I used to be a pretty good cook back at uni. They weren’t the most complex meals nor the healthiest (it’s week 1, come on), but just plain disavowing takeout already feels really great.Work out 3x weekly: So that body weight workout did not happen. [insert excuses here] I did walk 22 floors on Saturday, some of them carrying a dog; and Sunday I lugged an enormous framed painting a few blocks and up to the fourth floor, and I thought that sheet of glass was going to kill me, so I’m going to call that one unit of exercise. C- for one especially physically strenuous thing.This is why I consciously chose “by end of challengeâ€, though, to work myself up and allow a gradual segue at the beginning.Walk when not gymming: I did so well the first three days (close to 5mi, over 10k steps daily)!. But there were 2 failures of zero extra physical activity, so a C. Duolingo: I could have sworn I did this on Thursday and Sunday, but the website tells me no. Here we go again! C.Medication: Ugh, I was doing so well but then completely forgot on the weekend. C.Total grade (using this calculator): C+.In the words of Fury Road’s Immortan Joe: MEDIOCRE. I burned myself out on Wednesday between the walk, cooking a decent meal after, cleaning out the cockroach graveyard under the kitchen sink, blasting the apartment with spray, and I was just so rattled by the end that I konked out by 9.30, my feet were throbbing, and I was too tired to even tap text messages on my phone. So the next day ended up being an utter wash: my body and mind just went “NO!!†on Thursday and I did nothing. But! I’ve registered for lap swimming (ty direcalico <3) and have a fitness studio in mind that I just need to schlep myself to, so here’s to week two...! My first Blue Apron delivery is arriving tonight, too, so I'm stoked to give that a try this week.

The way you were able to push yourself to go through with even a smaller workout is inspirational, man. I'm the type that listens to those excuse-making voices in her head very easily, so I need to harness more of that stubbornness and drive! Well done.

Done!

MINI-CHALLENGE: Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)? Is it reasonable? – I sure hope so! I looked up what was a reasonable weight loss goal for 6 weeks, and for the harder tasks, I gave myself a range so that they would still be achievable. 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? – Cooking feels like it may have sub-quests tbh, but I’ve taken some measures to help nudge me along in that regard (Blue Apron, see update below). 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’re realistic. Are your goals able to be measured and tracked? What will you use to track them? Yep, each of them has a number attached so I can clearly say whether or not I made it. I didn’t put a time goal on the workout, but I’m not actually worried about that, just getting started in the first place. 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€? – The range means I have a variety with which to grade myself (e.g. cooking 6 times a week is an A, 4 times is a C). I’m not using rewards, since incentives don’t usually work that well for me; losing the weight itself is the reward. What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? – Hm, no idea. The first thing to go would be the workouts, I think: I should be able to continue with walks/cooking if I take a hit, though. 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? – Welp, this is probably gonna be a problem in July: a friend is visiting from the 1st to the 6th, and then I'm out-of-state from the 10th to the 19th. On the bright side, the person I’m visiting eats super healthily & we might go biking, so it won't be total motionless pigging-out, so I think I should be able to keep up some of the goals. Again, I think the first thing to take a hit will be workouts, but I can try to do them in the days between visits... Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? – I don’t think so. 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? – Cooking 6 times a week sounds hard as hell and I don’t know if I have the time for it… But that’s exactly why I have the range: 4 sounds doable even if I go out the other nights. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? All of my goals feed pretty concretely into the weight loss, I think. SMALL UPDATE, JUNE 8: I’m probably not going to do daily updates, but since today is the First Day Ever, I felt like jotting down some thoughts. Tonight’s dinner: Kale carrot beet salad with lemon/soy dressing, a piece of bread (shhh I know, but I have all this delicious farmer’s market challah I have to use up), and coconut water (I should have gotten plain/unsweetened, this one was sugared to hell and back & so I suspect it was not that good for me). I busted out the nuts in case I was still peckish, but I wasn't. Making a stupid salad still took way too long and I'm too tired to do the dishes—I'll save them for the morning—but I have leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch, and had enough time to watch an episode of Sense8 before flopping in bed. So, I’d say today was a success! I took the subway an extra 30 blocks on my way home to get in my daily walk; my Fitbit says I walked 3.89 miles / 9879 steps (SOOOO CLOSE TO 10K), and 13 storeys. I also signed up for a month of Blue Apron, a meal kit service that delivers ingredients and recipe cards to you 3x weekly -- I don't consider this cheating, because I'll still be cooking and eating healthier, just grabbing some help for the meal planning/shopping portion (which is my least favourite). It's actually cheaper than what I was spending on takeout, and I'm not intending to use it forever, but it should be a useful segue to help me stay on the cooking ball, and kick the habit of takeout / just making myself endless PB&J sandwiches for dinner.

Following! :>

I love the walking-to-Mordor thing you've picked up! Have you heard of the app The Walk (made by the same people behind Zombies Run)? I might start using that again; it tracks your walking across the UK and unfolds a narrative at the same time.

Thank you so much! I'm hoping that's exactly what'll happen: small successes kicking off the snowball. So many that it's freakin' daunting! I have no idea even which guild appeals to me most... And ahh yay I'm glad to spread the gospel of Duolingo, it's a lot of fun. We can now gamify everything in life, even language-learning.

I will be your arm-flaily spazzing Robin.

Ye persuasive minxes. (Hi <3)

Hi everyone! Combined intro & challenge post: I'm totally brand-new to NerdFitness and, frankly, any fitness whatsoever, but I've been talked into giving this a try (and I know a few people who have had a lot of REALLY AWESOME SUCCESS with NF), so here's to hoping! I recently turned 27, am 5'0" & way overweight and have PCOS, so all of that extra poundage is really noticeable and has gone right to my belly. So with that in mind, weight loss & eating healthier is my main goal, but getting better cardio would be good too so I can run for the bus/subway without wheezing my lungs out... MAIN QUEST: Lose 10lbs (to start with!) SPECIFIC GOALS: Cook 4-6 times weekly -- gonna try to be more paleo, and also cut back on sugared drinks & up water intake, but just steering away from takeout will be a success tbhBy end of challenge, work out 3x weekly (swimming laps, body weight workout, gym, whatever)Walk 30min daily when not gymmingSIDEQUESTS: Do Duolingo every single day! I once had a 3-month streak going, so I know I can do this, just need to keep it up.Remember to take my Metformin 2x daily. *** My goals might sound super tame, but I'm starting from minus a gazillion so I'm trying to start small in the hopes of this actually succeeding. I have no idea what exercises even appeal to me, because I haven't done any: I tried running once, went to the gym once about a decade ago, and also haven't gone swimming in a decade. I miss my days of being a tiny fit thing playing sports in high school, man. The first step is the hardest, so maybe this six-week challenge can help give me that nudge to get going and figure out what I even like doing. I'm like a snail, motivation-wise, so the goal is to become more like this: