Fatal

Yeah. My problem was (and has been in the past) that I got too much sleep. Since I last posted, I have returned to a solid sleep schedule, getting not too little or too much. I did continue doing a minimum amount of working out, but slowly increased it back to what it had been earlier this year. My eating goal went alright for the month of June, better than the previous 2 months for sure. Thanks. I know this, as that is what brought me success in the first place, throughout my first few challenges.

My goals haven't been going well. I've been having some minor issues in my sleep schedule again lately after it had been amazing from March to early June. I should have taken full advantage of said great sleep schedule and not fallen off track in the first place.

This morning, I did another 5 mile bike ride. 13.5 mph avg speed, 21.6 mph top speed. 22 minutes total to complete the route.

Took the scenic route this morning and passed by the golf course on a 5 mile bike ride. Avg speed 13 mph, top speed 20 mph. 22 minutes total to complete the route.

On The Way To Hogwarts For The Second Time Last year, I started living a healthier lifestyle on June 22nd, and joined Nerd Fitness on July 12th. This challenge will pass through my 1 Year Healthy milestone, and end just before my 1 Year NF milestone. Main Goal: Be lean, strong, and agile. When I started here at NF, I incorrectly estimated that to achieve this, I would weigh roughly 150 lbs and have around 15% body fat. I am 5'4" and currently weigh 137 lbs, and I would estimate I currently have 16 or 17% body fat. I am now aiming for around 13% body fat, and not focusing on how much I weigh. Goal 1: Make my workouts challenging again. For whatever reason, I stopped doing the entirety of the BBWW, and just did some of it, while mixing in some exercises with dumbbells. I want to get back in the habit of doing the full workout, and then work towards doing the ABWW. I had planned on training for a triathlon, but I never swam much, and when I finally got a bicycle, it replaced running and became my only form of cardio. I want to start running again, and possibly even use a real running program this time, so that I can have an actual improvement in my endurance. I've always implemented stretching routines or yoga into my workout sessions, usually before and after them, but I never made a proper habit of doing full yoga sessions. This is something I want to start doing. Goal 2: Stop being lenient on what I choose to eat. This one is pretty self explanatory. "Cheat" meals or snacks have become more frequent and I need to get back on track. During this challenge, I did not have my goals laid out properly until 6/21, but that's okay. It was more about getting me back into the habit of doing challenges, than completing the challenge itself.

It seems both of us have gone through some of our first failures during our challenges as of late, as well as not being around on NF as much as we used to. Sucks to hear about your laptop, I hate being without a computer. I agree with Tank about simplicity not necessarily being easy, and also usually most effective.

May Summary: I have been taking it easy the past few months, and May was no different. Thus, I haven't really improved in any way. I guess I got content and/or complacent with my results. I realize now that even though my challenges were fairly simple to the point where they were easy for me to accomplish, they were still challenging me to stay on task and get things done. Dieting (I hate the term, but using it here for lack of a better one) and exercising without the challenge format has still been good to me, but it hasn't been great like the challenges were.

Rooting for you in your interviews!

Yesterday marked the 10th month that I've been living a fairly consistent healthy/active life. The story of Joe who you might have seen on the front page and in articles was one of my inspirations. I didn't quite achieve what he did (104 lbs vs 128 lbs) but I also didn't start as heavy as him and don't need to lose quite that much.

Yes it is. Apple with almond butter is a close second though.

I haven't done the BBWW in a little while, but I know it can be a struggle. Keep at it and the progress will come eventually. Also one thing I learned is that sometimes, after hitting PRs, you'll find that the next few workouts might be tough, despite the success you just had. It's like your athleticism peaks and then has to recharge a bit before it can peak again. I've never done any of the 5k programs out there, though my runs are loosely modeled after them. I might join you on that in the summer, it'd be good to challenge myself a little bit more that way.

I always slept in Spanish class so I never learned it, oops... I've been casually learning some vocab over the last month or so but haven't tried Duolingo yet, but I'll sign up today. Is your username on there also athousandwords?

Quick April update: I'm finally starting to recover from last month's less than ideal food. Since I've been sleeping better and waking up earlier, I have recently started getting back into a daily yoga routine (had stopped a couple months ago.)

Thank you! I wouldn't say I've been studying so much as I don't usually spend more than 30 minutes at a time on it, but at least the habit is there.

Came here from your other challenge thread using the "miracle mornings" link. I've been doing some similar stuff in my morning routine for about a month now. It really is helpful.