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Well, I've been doing pretty badly. I got up and walked the dogs some last week so I was moving at least and have been eating kind of generally not horribly...but I've not been doing my best. Going on a 15 minute walk twice a week and just kind of trying to stay under 2000 calories isn't really making much of a difference at all, especially when it's summer and I'm just sitting at home. Tried to do better tonight because I'm at a hotel with a fitness center and was on an elliptical all of 7 minutes before quitting. I just felt INSANELY out of shape. It was so hard to get going...and that's really unusual for me. Even the very first time I got on an elliptical or went on a run went better than this. I don't know what's wrong with me and I'm disappointed getting in the car wreck and hurting my knee (it was just bruised but was sore for over a week? So I didn't push it) threw me off track. I'm hoping maybe tonight was just PMS and general tiredness from driving a lot the past few days and just a mental block? Ugh. Lifewise, things are great. I've been doing better about reading the Bible, and I got a job and a place to live (a 2 bedroom house for only $550 a month!) and insurance gave me enough that I can definitely get a good replacement car. At least on this mission trip (I leave Friday) I'll be walking everywhere. And I love walking, I can do that forever as long as I can go at my own pace. Then I'll be moving and then I'll have nothing else to do in this new town after work is done of a day and gym memberships are cheap there so...yeah. At least I'm doing better than nothing at all, even if my something only makes me feel worse at this moment.

Thank you so much! i'm thrilled to be teaching at the high school level at all, since so often they make brand new teachers start out with junior high and work their way up. And the administration there has already been so sweet to me...even just leaving the interview, the lady who will be my principal prayed with me, which was so unbelievably awesome. Housing is very cheap in this entire state, so that's a relief (a duplex or a two bedroom apartment runs around $600-700, so that's what I'm looking at even though I'm on my own) but the problem is that this is a town of about 10,000 people, so there aren't a ton of places on the market! But again the principal helped me out by sending me the contact info for several realtors in the area. I think insurance will help some, but we aren't sure how much yet. Because my car was older it was automatically totaled (although I doubt it was fixable anyway!) and I'm not sure how much they'll say it was worth. Still, I don't need anything fancy to get around so I think I'll be fine! We're going to Vienna for a few days to meet a few missionaries in the area and help them do some organizing and stuff for their mission work with Syrian refugees, then in Hungary we're going to teach people English using the Bible and then help put on a church camp! And I know what you mean....John has always seemed like the most "spiritual" book to me, if that makes sense, and so it's great for reflection. Not sure how well that will translate literally and figuratively to the Hungarians, but I'm praying it will go well! And yes, I would love to do a group study! I have such a hard time keeping myself accountable about reading and praying, so I'd really appreciate that aspect of it as well as the chance to discuss and pray with others. That's awesome that you're so close to your goal! I would love to see pictures of the workout gear you get, because that sounds crazy cool! I love the ME series, but I never finished playing 3 and lost all my old saves, so I'm trying to replay with a new Shep and it's just not the same! The first time I played the end of 2, I didn't realize how much work you had to do to keep everyone alive, and so I think everyone but Garrus and Tali died....whoops. I definitely reloaded some saves there! And Miranda is amazing, what a great choice of motivation! Thank you so much! And no, I'm going to be fine! I'm already feeling like myself again, so that's a relief. And update time...not doing great on the eating well thing, but I'm not eating terribly either, so that's something! My dad had outpatient knee surgery yesterday so that has made things even crazier around here (he's doing great, just can't drive/walk much for about a week and then has to take it easy for a month). I walked around the mall yesterday and just got done mowing the lawn, so at least that's some physical activity, and I've been doing better about reading the Bible as well. And thank you guys for your encouragement and kindness, it really means a lot to me

Ok, so I have pretty much failed all of my challenge points this week. Hoping to start up again today. I was supposed to have 5 job interviews in one week. The closest place I was interviewing was about 90 minutes from my house. So I went there Monday, where I was still doing kind of okay. I hadn't worked out Sunday or Monday because I'd been busy and because I hit my head behind the ear on the corner of a car door, so it hurt to even move my neck. Tuesday I went to one job interview, and then on the way to the next I was in a car wreck that totaled my car (I was hit in an intersection and spun into a tree). That shook me up a lot, though thank goodness the other driver wasn't hurt and I only got a banged up knee. Wednesday I had two more interviews, where both places offered me a job, so that was stressful and I was sore still from the accident and then yesterday I accepted a job (YAY) and turned down the other and cancelled an interview and also had to get a filling fixed at the dentist and I was still sore and....yeah! Crazy week. I didn't even realize I had forgotten about this challenge until yesterday. I got up and tried to do some strength workout moves but I still feel kind of sore and stiff, so I'm just going to do yoga later. After this week, it's back to me not doing much except now I have some training sessions to go to (I'm going to teach 10th and 11th grade advanced English courses) and of course I have to prep to go to Europe! The job thing was my biggest stressor, so now even though I have to figure out getting a car and moving to a brand new place and getting my first apartment, I feel way more relaxed about postgrad life and hopefully will be able to put at least a little focus back on getting in shape.

Been slacking a bit because it's been crazy! i did walk a lot friday so i hit the 3 workouts a week goal. been slacking on the low-carb thing and the other life goals, but i have been eating healthier in general. i want to get out and work out more asap but i had a job interview 2 hours away this morning and I have three more interviews about 2 hours away from my house....all in different places...in the next two days, so this will get interesting!

Thank you! Yeah, I figure now is the best chance I've got to get started for who knows how long, and then it'll be easier to maintain the habits when I am busy working. I have a hard time remembering to read it, too, and I really need to be doing better about that! That would be awesome, thank you! I'm going to do a mission trip in Hungary and Austria in a few weeks, so the more I know the better. I'm only spending 5 days in German speaking areas, but I'm also flying in and out of Munich, so I'd at least like to able to get around without being totally terrified and lost.

Well, I tried to do week 2 day 1 of C25k and failed. I got a little over halfway through and just...stopped running. I couldn't bring my legs to do it any more. I don't even know why? I had done literally one circuit of the beginner bodyweight workout last night and that's all I can think of that would have made it so difficult. Still, I walked home so I got in my workout. I still feel pretty crummy, though, for not being able to do it. I really don't know if running is even the kind of workout I like to do, but I'm bad at everything else I've tried, too, so I'm not sure what to try next. I don't have money for classes or anything, and I love hiking but I have no one to do it with. In fact, if there's any kind of workout I enjoy it's hiking, but I'd have to spend the gas money to go out and hike and then I'm not sure I feel safe doing it alone. Maybe tonight I'll just catch up on my non-fitness goals, since I've been slacking on those. Just kind of a gloomy day today in general...it's literally cloudy outside, but also I was supposed to hear from two school districts today and yesterday about jobs, and I've heard nothing. I did get another call about interviewing today, but it's for a really lowpaying job in a rural area that I don't really want to have to take. One of the schools I should have heard from today was supposed to have gotten back to me a MONTH ago, but instead just didn't hire for the position. They called me a few weeks after that and said they were having another board meeting on the 17th (last night)...and again, nothing. So it's really frustrating, and my parents instead of being encouraging just keep trying to get me to apply for even more jobs or tell me what I need to do is write a thank you note because I'd forgotten to do one for an interview for one of these places a couple of weeks ago. :/ I keep telling them that I know I forgot and I won't again next time, but they keep bugging me about it and sending me jobs to apply for that I'm not even qualified for! It just sucks that they're acting like I'm a child who's too stupid to even get their first job at Burger King or something when I've already had more interviews and more applications out than anyone I graduated with. Rant over, I'm just frustrated with all of that stuff and I think maybe it's bleeding over to me working out :/ Edit: I heard back from the district that has been dragging this out so long, and I didn't get the job...not because of my own lack of qualifications, but for other reasons. So that's really disappointing, because that's the job I really wanted. Still have 18 open positions I've applied for, though.

It's so awesome how you're doing so well! I love how detailed and organized your goals and updates are. And I'm seriously impressed that you've been doing so well with keeping up with working out every day, that's always the hardest part for me.

I'm so sorry that you're not feeling well!! It can be hard to persevere through stuff like that, but it's awesome that you've still been making it to class and are making progress towards your (metaphorical ) thousand pushups! I'm impressed by your determination and dedication to this goal. Keep moving forward, and don't let the small slipups get you down.

I kind of took the weekend off and ate a lot of carby things, but I also walked around most of the day Saturday. Last night I went to a small group thing with a group from my church, where I knew literally nobody, so that was my big personal challenge of the weekend. Even though making new post-grad friends isn't one of my official challenge goals, it's definitely something that's been worrying me, so I was relieved that doing that went well and now I know some new people! Then I rewarded myself for being brave and doing that by eating a giant thing of curly fries, which I knew was not the healthiest decision, but dang was it delicious I have this mindset where whenever I have a small success, I want to reward myself with food, so I'm trying to break myself of that habit, but it's hard! In all honesty, though, I'm starting to realize that my goal in doing this challenge is to get healthy, not thin, because frankly I love food and have struggled with my self-image enough already. I'm technically a little overweight still (5'4 and around 160 pounds), but I'm also the thinnest I've been since middle school. So anyway! Rambling done, and I'm going to go run again this afternoon I'm behind on yoga and prepping for the trip to Europe, but I have kept up with being active and have definitely eaten healthier in the last week than I have in a long time. This week I also probably need to actually unpack all the stuff from my dorm as well... edit: I did c25k week 1 day 2 and managed to complete it, with my only little cheat being that at one point during a run segment, I had to slow down for 15 seconds because I was afraid I was going to throw up (note to self, don't eat Indian food on a run day...) but I made it up later!

The samba sounds like so much fun! Can I ask what kinds of things you're bringing to work for lunch? I always have the hardest time coming up with things to take so I end up copping out and just buying a sandwich from Walmart or something, lol.

Yesterday I had two low carb meals and started off the day by completing my first C25k workout I had to skip one of the jogs in the middle but other than that and a few other moments where I lost momentum I did it!

Today I did pretty much nothing but sit around and play Sims 3 all day. I just felt gross and kind of ill, not sure why, but I think the culprit is PMS :/ It also isn't helping that I went from waking up at 6:30 then teaching all day from 8-3:20 then doing projects/finals and constantly hanging out of friends to....sitting at home alone all day with only my dogs until my parents get home. Tomorrow, though, I have to get up and go to the dentist (which is going to be the highlight of my week, if that tells you how boring summer is for me :P) anyway so I think I'll get up early and try c25k again. Still hitting roadblocks with actually eating one low-carb meal a day purely because I can't really afford to buy my own groceries and definitely can't afford to get healthy food out, so I might modify that goal to just getting at least 3 servings of fruit/veg a day. I have already done active things twice this week and yoga once, so I'm on top of that, and I'll try and read some more of the Bible tonight. I finished And Then There Were None in pretty much one go earlier this week, so I was proud of that even though reading more isn't an official goal! Need to get back into the language learning and probably add more yoga. Here's hoping tomorrow is a more productive day

Wow! I'm so impressed by how well you're doing. Great work

I worked out last night doing Darebee's Foundation program on Level 1, and that was almost too easy, so today I tried to start C25K. I made it most of the way through the workout, but with a little more walking than you're supposed to do, before calling it quits with about 2 minutes of the actual workout and the cooldown left. I had only used one pump of my inhaler and then underestimated the humidity outside, so breathing was getting iffy. I think that's also because I forget to breathe when I'm focused on other things, whoops. Working on that stuff. I did a little yoga last night and read chapter 1 of John. Eating healthy hasn't quite gone to plan yet, as I already hit the road block of realizing that it's a little cost prohibitive for an unemployed recent graduate. Working on that, too! I had a job interview this morning at 9:30 (just a pre screening one), and I will hear back from 2 other school districts within the next 10 days about whether I get a job or not, so I am excited and nervous about all of that. It's also a little bit overwhelming to realize how much free time I have these days...my brother is going back to our hometown tomorrow for the summer to work, so it'll be just me and the dogs all day during the workweek until my parents are home at 5, and I can't afford to go see my friends (they're in my college town an hour away) just whenever I feel like it. But on the bright side, that means I have pretty much no excuse for failing the challenge this time!

Thank you so much!!! Yeah, I have kind of tried rock climbing before, but it turns out for whatever reason I have a phobia of climbing things?? Even ladders have given me trouble before, haha. But I'm trying to work through it, so I've been looking for chances to do that when I hike. I'm going to use Duolingo for German, and as for Hungarian...I had a friend giving me lessons, but I'm not sure if we have time for that any more, so who knows!! Thank you so much I really appreciate the encouragement.

I'm so in love with this challenge. I'm 100% obsessed with Dragon Age and so impressed by all the effort you've put into making this challenge. I'm rooting for you and looking forward to seeing how you progress

So, this is my third try at the whole challenge thing. (I have commitment issues when it comes to leveling up, whether it's working harder on homework, keeping up with workouts, or FINALLY finishing Mass Effect.) I still really want to be, well, in shape. I don't know what kind of "in shape" I want to be yet, or which class I want to join, but I know I'm definitely tired of just being a couch potato. I graduated from college yesterday with a B.A. in English and a pending teaching license, which means that my schedule is clear and free 'til I (hopefully) start teaching in August, apart from one month in midsummer when I am going to do mission work in Central Europe. The fact that I'm going with a bunch of athletes and will have to walk everywhere is a little nervewracking to me. I also have had a hard last several months. I got out of some bad relationships, lost some friends, had some family members pass away, and somehow survived the stress of student teaching, and I feel stronger for it, but I also don't really recognize my new self. I don't even know if I like that new self, so part of this month's challenge is going to be Finding Myself (tm). Keeping all of that in mind, I'm going to aim for a pretty varied fitness regime to figure out what I want to do and to deal with those different challenges. I also need to occupy myself considering I just graduated college and am living at home, broke, unemployed and won't even be able to start working til August (teaching ftw), with the nearest friends an hour away. So: Goal 1: Do something active at least three times a week. I can do workouts at home and also have access to a smallish gym at my church with some cardio machines and a bunch of strengthy stuff that I have no clue how to use. I also live 20 minutes away from a state park where I can hike a mountain or just walk around, and there's many similar things almost as close. Unfortunately I can't find my inhaler right now, though, so until I can do that heavy cardio isn't really an option. Goal 2: Do yoga specifically at least twice a week to chill out and focus on meditation. Goal 3: Read and study the Book of John (that's sort of our focus for the mission trip.) Goal 4: Pick up at least enough German and Hungarian to be able to travel without being terrified. Goal 5: Eat at least one low-carb meal a day. My BIG GOAL: I want to be fit enough to know that in the last mission of ME2, I would at least die after Mordin. (That's only kind of a joke. I don't know specifically what my big goal is, just that I want my life to be all-around improved.) Here we go!

Thank you! I've already gotten a head start on it; I worked out today (for longer than I had each day so far, yay ) and have been chugging water...well, chugging for me is drinking 2 or 3 cups instead of half of one, but still I'm getting back into the groove of enjoying exercise...I was disappointed tonight when I looked at the time and realized I probably needed to head back home lol.

Update on Week 1-- I was on track for being active and worked out on the elliptical for 20 minutes a couple times and ran once for about as long. I need to increase workout time, obviously, but last week was rough for various reasons. I haven't written in my journal yet :/ and I'm doing ok on the water, I think I've had a cup maybe 4 or 5 of 7 days? Last week was just draining for a lot of reasons, but I'm thinking this one will be better. I have pre-made lesson plans for this week (although I am being observed for the first time Thursday!), I made it through a stressful fundraising meeting, I got things back on track for my senior thesis, and I finally got things straightened out in my dating life. So a lot of things went down! And working out was a nice stress reliever, although I do admit I ate a lot of taco bell to get through the week. Hoping this week will be less stressful, and I'll be able to do better.

Hello all My first attempt at a challenge was last summer; I did really well for the first 3 weeks and then completely dropped the ball when I went back to college. I was super inactive all of last semester, although I did lose some weight due to stress and not eating enough :/ I was in a really bad relationship last semester, had to deal with a failing social club (what we have instead of sororities) as club president, and was trying to do a senior thesis I didn't understand, and my grandmother passed away suddenly over Thanksgiving. Now I'm still stressed, but it's the good kind, so I'm much happier and in a better place to try this challenge thing again. I'm a student teacher redoing the senior thesis-- now it's creative nonfiction and commentary on poetry, yay!-- and preparing to graduate and move out this summer. Money is tight because of that, as is time, and I've been overeating and not being super active at all because of stress-- so now that is starting to stress me out too!! (If you haven't guessed already, I'm a worrying sort of person ) I really just want to be able to do physical activities and enjoy them. I learned last semester, though, that I have a really horrible fear of climbing things, so that is a little bit frustrating, as most of what's available to do in my area is rock climbing on walls or on actual mountains. Still, I want to be able to do stuff outside with my friends without worrying that I'll be the one holding everyone else up. Last time my goal was to climb Pinnacle Mountain, about an hour from where I live. I think I'll stick to that same kind of idea, in part because I can't think of a specific big goal right now, and in part because right around when this challenge ends a dear friend of mine is coming back into town and wants us all to go caving with him, and I'd love to participate. So! My goals are: Diet: Drink at least 1 cup of water a day. It's not a lot, but I pretty much live off diet coke and coffee. Fitness: Do SOMETHING active at least 3 times a week. I need to figure out what I like enough to actually stick with it. Life: Actually write in my journal every day. Big Goal: Actually be able to participate in outdoor adventures. At the end of this month, my goal is to have a regular fitness regimen and to be overall just that little bit healthier. Looking forward to getting started In addition, I have exercise induced asthma. Running is not really working for me, even when I do run/walk things. Any suggestions for other activities I could try that wouldn't require spending money or traveling somewhere? I'm short on money, time, and physical fitness, lol. I have access to an elliptical and I own a yoga mat.

Day 25: Today's workout was cliff jumping and the swimming that entailed It was fun!

Day23: (I think??) Today and yesterday's workout is packing and moving into my new apartment Might not have time for updates but hopefully I can fit in yoga tomorrow.

I forgot we get to level up partway through the challenge! That was the motivation I needed to remind me that I'm about to fall behind on workouts. mini challenge 4 here.

Mid Challenge Level Up!: 1. Goal Allocation Workout 4x a week: +3 STR, +2 DEX Do 20 situps: +2 STA, +1 CHA Drink 16 oz. of water daily: +1 CON, +1 WIS 2. Mid Challenge Summary Goal 1: On target! 100% Goal 2: On target! 100% Goal 3: Off Target 25% 3. Challenge Allocation Goal 1: +3 STR, +2 DEX Goal 2: +2 STA +1 CHA Goal 3: +.5 CON

Day 20: Did a really quick workout today because after 2 days off (the dancing at the wedding was pretty much the first dance and the Cupid Shuffle...) I wasn't up for a huge one, and because I've got to start packing for school! I did manage to do 14 situps without stopping, so that's definitely good and means I'm on target for goal #3, and I did 30 table pushups. I did like 5 minutes of cardio on top of that...I know, not my strongest effort, but I've got stuff to do! I might do some low-key yoga later tonight after I get my clothes packed so I at least get some more minutes clocked. I am moving back in to my dorm/apartment on Thursday so I'm a little worried about how my workout schedule will look from here on out. I've got a looot of stuff to do even this weekend-- not only am I moving in, but I also have to have a meeting with the VP of my social club (I'm president), I have to come back home on Sunday for my brother's birthday, I have to write my proposal for my senior thesis, and I think I also have a first date with someone??? Lots of craziness, basically, but at least it's the good kind of crazy.