OnyxButterfly

Hello Luvs, Of course, I notice I completely skipped this Sunday's date for my first summary. I'm starting to think I have somewhat of a subconscious aversion to Father's Day. I'll spare you the psychology and such as to why. But whatever. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. Anyway, here's this past week's recap: Completed my food log for the full 7 days. May I just say, I eat terribly. lol. Better than I used to, but no where near I need to be if weight loss is the goal. No stress. I'm switching back to logging my food in My Fitness Pal so I'll know what my caloric intake is (roughly) so far. I'm doing so-so on keeping up with my daily deals (cook & eat in, walk 3Xs a day, study Portuguese, meditate, exercise 2Xs week, drink 48 OZs water minimum). I've made my language lessons for over 20 days now; I've gotten better at chugging down water. Overall, it's not looking good to make my desired 75% overall completion rate at this point. (there would have been a picture, but my laptop isn't cooperating) Oh well. Two weeks to go. There's still "hope" :-). Have a great week! I'll be back on the 26th with another scene from the ongoing saga. D

So..., joined the Academy last Friday. I've spent the past five days reading, plotting, planning, and doing the work on my Level 1 Nutrition Quest. I read ahead to the workouts and for some reason, started to panic. LOL. I'm really doing this. I'm really about to make some major, positive, health and life changes. After a LIFETIME so far of false starts, quitting before I got ahead, and watching time pass by, it feels a little scary to just think that this could be what gets me the confidence and self-esteem I've longed for. Oh well, enough of the poetic prose. Time to get cracking eh. I jumped into the Nerd Fitness Challenges with "The Force Awakens" - you can check it out in the Druid section. Not only was I overly optimistic with what I believed I'd be willing to accomplish, but I jumped ahead in the movies too. Sigh. Story of my life, leap before I look or better yet, doing things bass-ackwards. But after reading through the Academy stuff, I'm realizing I need to start a little slower, with fewer, yet more realistic goals. Enter "A New Hope". That's what I have as I begin to believe this just might work. Starting stats: Neck: 13.5" Chest: 41.75" Biceps: L - 15.5" R - 15" Waist: 40" (ACK!!) Hips: 47" (WTF?!!) Thigh: L - 27.5" R - 27" Calf: L - 16.25" R - 16.75" Weight: 207.3 lbs Body Fat: 36.7% (per the not so reliable Weight Watchers scale I bought a year or so ago) Age: almost 49 (Bday is in a week and some days) I won't post daily but instead will be back with weekly updates on Sundays. I've got a WordPress blog and a couple of novels I'm working on so adding yet one more thing to write is a bit of a stretch, but accountability is one of the keys to making this work, so I've got to report somewhere. I'm still learning how to use the forums so forgive me if I'm long in responding and or commenting. I'm sure as things go along, I'll get better. So, that's it. I turn my face into the future, and indeed, am beginning to feel a measure of hope I haven't had in a long time. What you should expect on this Sunday's Check-In (6/26): Week 1 of Level 1 Nutrition Quest Back on track with my daily plan (will have a picture for you of what it looks like) If you don't see those items, then you can fuss at me to get back on track ;-). Alright, that's enough sitting. Gotta get out and get some groceries. Until Sunday.

Hello loves. It's the end of my first ever Nerd Fitness challenge and good googly, I have learned SO much. But first, let me fill you in on how things went. I called my first challenge "The Force Awakens" (yeah, I thought it was cute at the time; definitely proved to be overly optimistic, not to mention wildly out of order). Anyway, about mid-way through, The Empire struck Back and I lost my momentum. I finished up with an overall completion rate of 47%. The individual activities look pretty bleak as well with the exception that I managed to complete all but two of my daily Portuguese lessons (loving Duolingo). As for the physical part of the challenge - I'd wanted to incorporate more walking, some yoga and some weight training into my daily routines. My exercise completion rate was 12%, my walk - and I consider walking separate from exercise in that it doesn't requite any real concentrated effort where as yoga and weight training do. Anyway, my walk rate was 43%. I had wanted to do three walks a day, no particular distance it was more about getting out of the seated position often throughout the day. My weekend retreat allows for some step work; I walk the three flights of stairs at each end of two of the apartment buildings in the complex. Takes me about five minutes or so but man, do I feel it when I'm done. More so than my leisurely jaunts around the buildings at work or the mile and change I manage walking through the neighborhood. The physical results: going to use the Weight Watchers scale numbers seeing as how it's the one I have access to the most consistently. Start: 208 lbs., 38.3% body fat. End: 206.6 lbs., 37.8% body fat. On the life side of the challenge, as I mentioned I practiced enough Portugues to now have a pre-K grasp of the language. I can read simple sentences and recognize a few words when I hear them. Going to stick with Duolingo through the next challenge, and perhaps throw in the Rosetta Stone program I got as a gift awhile back :-) so I may level up my speaking skill. I'd like to be able to carry on a limited conversation by the end of July. The other life skills I had on the list included meditating twice a day and playing word games to increase my vocabulary recognition. I managed to meditate most nights but couldn't get into a morning groove. I may look at moving the morning time from when I wake up to as soon as I get to my desk at work. We'll see. And while the word games were fun, I don't feel as if it was effective in helping me build my vocabulary. Might switch to reading the dictionary for so many minutes a day until I have read the whole thing. All in all, I was able to gather some valuable intel that I'll be applying to the next challenge. Friday thru Sunday - need to make these more flexible, perhaps not schedule so many tasks to complete because those days tend to be less structured, fewer things to attach triggers and reminders to that move me to get things done. Stress flips the auto pilot switch allowing me to revert to the "bad" habits more easily. Good idea to have pre-designed game plans on what to do when the poo hits the fan. Make meal planning / prepping a priority. Make sure breakfast includes adequate protein. Baby steps - no need to attempt changing EVERYTHING right off the bat. It's also not about perfection, but instead about being better today than I was yesterday. Incremental improvement is still improvement (yadda, yadda, yadda. :-) ) That's it. As the sun sets over this, my first challenge, I'm feeling optimistic. Perhaps I should name this next challenge "A New Hope". A little out of order, but then again, that's the way I do most things ;-). Until next challenge, May the Force Be With You!

You were ONE!!! Good grief, lol. Let's hear it for milestones and decades achieved. I'm already planning a 12 month celebration starting with this year's bday. Hope you have a similarly large celebration planned ;-).

Do I still qualify as young when my 49th bday is right around the corner? Impressionable yes, but young? ;-) lol...

Hey Starpuck!! *waves enthusiastically and almost cuts off nose - forgot to turn off the light saber before beginning to wave*, Soooo, I'll be back with the summary of my first ever NF Challenge later this evening. Meanwhile, I'm gong to add your Yoda-fied quote there to my journal as a much needed reminder as it is definitely a great way to sum up this first go 'round. Thank you so much for stopping back by and checking on me. I'll make checking in more regularly part of this next challenge so as not to let your notes go unanswered for so long. Alright, back to training :-). And just so you know, Return of the Jedi is the theme for my next challenge, lol. Chat at'cha soon!

Shakeel - OMG, where has this song been all my life? lol. Reminds me of Artful Dodger (UK). Will be looking to download this to the podling for sure. Thanks for the share. Meanwhile, at least we can chat here in the forums and you can perhaps drop a few more dance tunes :-).

Hey Drysdale :-). I'm in the Atlanta metro area.

Starpuck - "Stones before starships, stones before starships"...lol. Which is my round about way of saying only four days in and I'm sucking in a couple of areas. https://satinsheetdiva.wordpress.com/2016/05/12/ive-fallen-but-i-will-get-up/ Trying not to stress so I've been repeating the above mantra (courtesy of Dreamspin in the comments above) and remembering that Luke didn't learn EVERYTHING in a week, lol. I'll be back to do a more complete week one recap Saturday. Thanks so much for checking on me :-).

Starpuck - I bow down to your expertise, lol - what is that, 30 plus challenges?! I will be stalking... I mean following your current challenge to glean all the knowledge. :-).

Almost 50 yrs old and returning to fitness with some fear of injury (suffered a fracture two years ago and a sprain last year). Would love to find someone with some fitness knowledge who wouldn't mind me tagging along. I'd like to get back into weight lifting I think, maybe some Parkour. Always down for a spin on the dance floor (80's R&B, Hip Hop, House, Dub-Step). If you're of a certain age and looking to level up, let's do this!

Where in Georgia? I'm in the ATL metro area and could use someone to go with me as I venture into unknown territory (out door activity mostly like walking, hiking...all new to me). I'm a writer as well, and I read mostly paranormal, mystery, and horror (although I write women's contemporary fiction, go figure).

So, Day One kicks off with a five hour drive back home where I really needed to do laundry, some general house cleaning since I've been gone all weekend, dinner to cook (which leads to dishes to wash), and prep for tomorrow. In between all of that I have the rest of today's challenge activities...I probably should have counted today as a 'lite' day and just left myself with fewer challenge to-do's, but oh well. Best be getting to it, eh? Sending everyone wishes that their Day One has them off to a good start! Namaste :-).

Hey Taylara, I'm new to NF and participating in my first challenge as well. Will be following along and cheering you as you go :-).