fanpan

Nice lifting! Most people can deadlift heavier than they squat. Here's some strength standards. Do you lift alone or with someone? Have someone to check your form?

Day 10. Logged food. No activity. Day 11. Eschewed all goals in favor of laziness. Day 12. Ran. Showed up to work when not scheduled. Went to the gym. Logged food. Day 13. Ran. Logged food. Day 14. Just waking up. Will log food. No workout or run today, just work. Phone death has caused some problems in my regularly scheduled programming.

Good luck, sounds like you've got a good plan.

Yaayyy! Nice progress. High five.

Mini challenge #1 done in my log, which you can now get to in my signature. I'm also following several other logs. Mini challenge #2 done.

Day 8. Slept. Logged food, even though it wasn't so healthy. Day 9. Went to the gym. Warmup: Treadmill run - 0.5mi, 5:37, 5->6mph/3incline Yoga/stretching/mobility: Sun salutations x 3 Neck stretches (look to sides, neck roll) Shoulder dislocations Back foam roll, T-spine extension Back twist stretch Glute bridges x 20 Single leg glute bridge x 10 Cat-cow Bird dog x 20 High lunge twist Low lunges on elbows Pigeon pose Weights: Back Squat 45x5 65x5 85x5 105x5,5,5 Bench Press 45x5 65x5 80x5,5,5 Bent Row 40x5 50x5 60x5 70x5,5,5 Lat Pulldown 75x10 90x6,6 Leg press 90x10 wide stance 140x10,10 narrow stance Seated iso row 60x10,10,10 Alternate bicep curls 12x10,10,10 Tricep extension 20x10 25x8,8 Hyperextensions 25x10,10 Glute Bridge 15x10,10 Delt raises (front, side, back) 5x10,10 Sun salutations x 1 Pilates hip circles Boom. Oh yeah. And I logged my food.

How is lifting going?

A standard barbell weighs 45#, so bar + 60 would be 105. There are also some lighter bars that weigh 35# and curl bars can be 15 to 25#. If your gym has a scale, you can weigh yourself holding the bar. (If you are OCD you may be disappointed to find weights are not always accurate to their label.) Keep up the good work.

Have you tried keeping a food journal and figure out why you are eating sweets? Habit, low energy, tired,bored, self soothing.... a lot of research says that replacing a habit is easier than quitting. Knowing what sort of habit to replace it with helps. IE, low energy? Have a high protein snack instead. Bored? Try sipping tea or snacking on something lower calorie or chewing gum. Self soothing? Focus on negative emotions and let them pass. Alternately try going no sugar for a period of time. For me there is no happy medium with sugar. It is all or nothing. Its easier for me to eat no sugar than a little sugar. Anyway, good luck. You're on your way!

Happy rain run to you!

Day 7. Went for a run before work. 1.8 mi, 20 min. Did intervals on the way back. Last night I regretted not running before work. Logged food on MFP. 3/3 for this week.

Sounds kyu-l. No, really! Good luck with your goals. Doing a single pullup was one of the most satisfying moments of my life. Wish I still could. Write on! (Sorry for all the terrible wordplay).

Nice week! Congrats on you exercise and healthy eating choices.

Day 6. No workout, slept 8 hours between shifts. Logged food on MFP. Scale is starting to creep downwards.

Day 5 workout Treadmill run, 0.5 mi, 5:31, 5-6mph/ 3 incline Same stretches as workout 1. Back squats 45x5 65x5 85x5 95x5 105x5,5,5 Deadlift 95x5 115x5 135x3 Overhead Press 30x5 45x5,5,5 Glute machine 10x10,10 Hyperextensions 10x10,10 So far, still awake.

Day 5. Went to the gym. Now to sleep more before night shift. Hope I wont regret the decision to workout in terms of tiredness at work. Logged food on MFP. Thanks for the encouragement Hennahead. Still thinking about home workouts. We live in 2 small boxes, an 8'x12' box with a queen size bed and a woodstove, and a 10'x12' box with a bathroom, bench/bed, counter space and fridge. Altogether there's very little floor space. Also I don't really like bodyweight exercises. Because I'm not good at them. Silly. We'll see. Workout details later. Sleep now.

Day 4. Logged food on MFP. Thought I might go to the gym this evening,but after working last night, 4 hours of sleep and visitors I'm completely zonked. Maybe I will try to get a short workout in before work tomorrow. Maybe not. Eskcanta - thanks for the helpful ideas and link. Yes, I think having a more concrete plan would help.

Day 3. Ran 2 miles in 26 minutes before work. Slow bee. Logged food in MFP. Eskcanta - thanks for the post. traditionally I don't workout for 2 hours. I used to do a shorter hour or so 3 times a week back when I gad a different schedule. Lately I've only been getting to the gym once a month so I've been doing longer, fullbody workouts. Once I am at the gym, I thoroughly enjoy working out. My problem is getting there and starting. The idea of shorter, more mobile workouts is an excellent one. My biggest problem with them is motivation. It's hard to get motivated at home. I live in a tiny house so space is limited inside and its usually rainy outside. See all my excuses? I'll keep thinking about that idea and how to get motivated.

I find that workouts are easier after a Carb heavy meal and a moderate amount of caffeine. I also find that my body feels better in general when I don't eat sugar. It's interesting reading all your thoughts and research. keep up the good work.

Good luck with your goals! I quit coffee in January, tapered off and now I have one cup of black tea a day. I never had trouble sleeping, but waking up was torture. Now it's much easier. I even work night shift now and still survive without coffee. The grass is greener on the other side! Coffee still smells amazing though.

I have too many ideas for side quests, but I'm not sure what I'm ready to commit to. Ideas: reduce screen time, be more social, clean house, do life-enriching activities (like art?), stick to budget better, journal... Day 2: Logged food on MFP. Went for a mosey of a walk with hubs. Cooked a big pot of lentil stew, a veggie/sausage frittata, and kale for future meals. Cleaned out my entire car and vacuumed (it functions as a storage unit b/c I live in a tiny house, but having visitors this weekend). Cut my hair. Twice. Cut my ear. Once. Tomorrow is a work night, so I plan to sleep all day and go for a short run before work. Peas.

Good luck! We have similar goals. PS: your arms actiually are relatively stronger than your legs based on those lifts. I wouldn't be surprised if you go up quite fast on your squat and Deadlift!

Week 1 Mini-Challenge: Here are some questions to put your goals to the test: Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)? Is it reasonable? Achievable. Over any period of time. The goal is increased consistency. Seems reasonable. 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? All quests work on increasing consistent healthy habits, though they're in 3 different areas (strength, cardio, diet). 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 and pretty small steps. Are your goals able to be measured and tracked? What will you use to track them? Easy to measure/track. Did I lift weights? Yes/no. Did I run? Yes/no. Did I track my food? Yes/no. I track food with myfitnesspal. I will keep track of workouts here, on my calendar at home, in my gym notebook, probably like 3 other places because I'm OCD like that. 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€? Lifting and running goals are graded weekly. Increased consistency over the week challenge is graded higher. Tracking food can be graded daily and over time. The reward is feeling good about myself, meeting my goal and becoming more fit. What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? Heaven forbid. Take time off if needed, modify workouts as needed. Track food regardless. 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? The goal is to increase consistency regardless of circumstances. If I am out of town and can't get to a gym, a full effort bodyweight workout could count, or maybe I would trade additional running days. Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? No conflict. 2 days of gym and 2 days of running still means 3 day off a week. 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? Getting 2 gym workouts in has been a challenge for me with my night shift schedule. I work 3 nights and I am awake 3.5 days, but I'm usually exhausted on my days off. Especially the first two, and then the last two are next to each other which means not working out two days in a row. I don't always have 4 days off in between work periods either. Crappy schedule, ho. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? I'm trying to strengthen multiple habits. Right now I lift about once a month, run once or twice a week, and log my food a few days a week. I want to improve my consistency so I can be the most healthy, happy, awesome me. OCD Measurements: Neck: 12.5" Bust: 36" Chest: 32" Waist: 29" Navel: 32" Iliac: 38" Hips: 42" L/R Upper arm: 13"/12.5" Bicep: 12"/11.75" Forearm: 10"/9.75" Wrist: 6.13"/6.25" Thigh: 24"/24.5" Quad: 21"/21" Knee: 15"/14.5" Under knee: 13.25"/13.5" Calf: 15"/14.5" Ankle: 9"/9" Also 29yo, 5'9" and 159#. Yo.

Thanks! It's just a shoulder stretch, it's only as uncomfortable as you make it. Note to self, don't image search "shoulder dislocation weightlifting" , "shoulder dislocation stretch" is much more informative and less painful. Basically you hold onto a broomstick with a wide grip and go up and down in front and back of your torso. Like so:

I did my very first pullup at the age of 27 after lifting weights for a year and a half. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. 2 years later and I'm way out of doing a pullup range. I'd like to do a pull-up again. It probably won't happen in the next 6 weeks, so maybe I'll live vicariously through you. Bonne chance!