mgrif99

woot! thanks! my goal is to be under 200 by Jan 1.

Congratulations! That is such a huge step! KEEP GOING!

Just a note of good news: Sep 10, 2010 --> 233 lbs Nov 24, 2010 --> 215 lbs :mrgreen:

haha, story of my life!!! :shock: better friends make a HUGE difference!

Day 11 - Nov 25, 2010 1. Running Ran 0.6 miles & walked 0.4 miles, TWICE. That's 2.0 miles in all. And I brought the puppy. Not too shabby. 2. Diet Dude, it's Thanksgiving. Bkfst: 2 cups o' coffee Lunch: chicken breast & veggies Dinner: chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, and salad I enjoyed some "forbidden" foods but didn't participate in gluttony. Not too shabby. 3. Bodyweight Exercises Uh, I meant to but ended up working on & cleaning out my truck. And doing yardwork with my mom. Not too shabby. 4. Non-Fitness Class: nope Test: nada Move: zilch Today is Thanksgiving, time to spend with the family. (That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it!!) :shock: Overall assessment of today: Not too shabby. 8-) Happy Thanksgiving, for those you celebrating the genocide of the Native American people. Enjoy this image to take your mind off the REAL events that happened between the Pilgrims and the Indians:

hmmm... no team leader and no team name... maybe we are the Misfits. or the Motley Crue. or the Misfits Crue. 8-)

Thanks for the support, everybody! Warrior Dash was Saturday, Sunday was recovery day, and so today, MONDAY, I'm on for running and bodyweight exercises. Details to follow...

The result of my weekly bonus challenge (running a Warrior Dash): click HERE!

Funny you mention it, I first heard about the Spartan Race while at the Warrior Dash last weekend... it sounds very cool! PLUS, I went to junior high (and part of freshman year) in Smithville, TX, so it would be really cool to go back and see how the town has grown. I hear they have a pretty awesome bike trail there now, too. If we end up going, we should totally meet up while we're there!!

I'm back and survived the Warrior Dash! Check out the photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2 ... 43f9e1a0aa

Hello everybody! I, too, am not sure about being in a "running" group, but I am working on becoming a runner (again), so maybe it does fit. I am mgrif99 (or mcgriff99) ... you can call me mgrif or Melissa or just MEL. INTRO: I'm going to be gone for a few days, so I'll add my spiel now. I'm bad at intros, so I'm following spezzy's prompt: Where did you came from? The land of the unmotivated!! I was once an athlete, but years later I am horribly out of shape. I lost a bunch of weight about three years ago, and I have since put it all (plus some extra) back on. A few months ago, I was the biggest I have ever been in my life. It was pretty bad. I started getting back into shape, but it has been a painfully slow process. I have lost some poundage, and I am getting stronger. Where do you plan on going? I want be a runner again. I was in the Navy (forever ago!) and could run 2 miles pretty easily. Now, I can barely jog half a mile without feeling like I'm having a heart attack. I want to be able to run 5Ks on a regular basis. And I want to be able to tackle mud runs every once and a while, not because they are hard, but because they are fun! (Any event where you dress in costume and end up covered in mud must be a blast.) I also want to be able to DO things that I have difficulty doing, like walking up a few flights of stairs without getting winded. And be able to do a freakin' pullup! And be able to do REAL pushups, not the girly ones on my knees. How do you intend to get there? I'm running 2-3 times a week, slowly increasing my distance. I have been doing a run/walk program similar to the Couch-2-5K program. I ran a 5K on Nov 6, during which I walked at least 1 of the 3.1 miles. It sucked, but I finished. I plan to run a 5K every month, which is easy to do in my area. There is a local 5K almost every week. Being in South Texas, they are pretty much year-round events. This month (this weekend, actually!), I'm doing a 3.2 obstacle course race with my son, the Warrior Dash. I'm staying with my sister in Austin, and my son and I will be wearing matching outfits. We are super stoked. Photos will follow... As far as the conditioning, I'm doing bodyweight exercises, as described in my thread. What are your strengths/weaknesses? Strengths: 1. Being flexible (mentally, not physically!); being able to "change it up" when something isn't working. 2. Being supportive and cheering others on, no matter how crappy I've been doing. Weaknesses: 1. Being horribly out of practice in exercising! 2. Setting unrealistic goals and then getting disappointed when I don't achieve them. What are you planning on bringing to the table? Support. Encouragement. And hopefully some comic relief. My facebook page is here. Feel free to send a friend request with your NF name so I know who you are. I'm off to Austin tomorrow morning, so I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. I look forward to getting to know our team!

Yes!!!!! Already in the works: Running Warrior Dash in Austin this weekend. My first obstacle course race... Sweeeeeeet 8-)

Day 4 - Nov 18, 2010 1. Running no running today. really sore from yesterday. i think i should stick to my 3x/week plan. mama is sore!! 2. Diet Bkfst: * 4.5 oz ham * 2.5 oz mushrooms * 1 egg * ~1 cup mixed berries w/splenda * large McD's iced coffee with cream&splenda Dinner: * fish sticks * corn on the cob * broccoli Snack: * banana split from Sonic * hot chocolate doin' good until that snack attack... breakfast was so good (and big!) i wasn't hungry until the kiddo got home from school. 3. Bodyweight Exercises nope. wicked sore from yesterday. sticking to the 3x/week plan. 4. Non-Fitness Class: nada. zip. zilch. Test: (see "Class" above) Move: went through some more stuff; took an inventory of things at the new place (dishwasher, built-in microwave) that i don;t have here to know what to get rid of (e.g., crappy microwave, sink dish drainer, etc.) I'm going to Austin tomorrow morning and won't be back until Sunday night. So, no posts from me for a few days. BUT when I return, I should have some awesome photos to share! My son and I are doing the Warrior Dash, and I am super excited!!!!! Check it out: www.warriordash.com Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! :mrgreen:

Ditto! I haven't lived in an apartment for a couple years, been spoiled by living in houses. It's amazing how long we (as people) are willing to stay in one place to just not move again. :mrgreen:

ditto on the moleskin notebooks... love them! keep it up!! :mrgreen:

KW, I enjoyed following you the last challenge, and I must say that I am really looking forward to watching your progress in this one as well. Looks like you are off to a great start. 1) I am compelled to include "awesomeocity" in my list of frequently used words. L-O-V-E it. 2) Although I do not prescribe to Crossfit, I must thank you again for posting the video on your FB. Between the video and the rad song, I literally put on my shoes and went outside for a run afterwards. Not kidding. I'm so grateful to have an interaction with people on NF that I would ordinarily not interact with. And become inspired by. Good luck with the rest of your workday... hope it ends up not being too long.

I like that idea: a MONTHLY junk food day. That's something I might do on my next challenge... =) Keep up the good work!! :mrgreen:

I got to thinking... If the washer is 36" tall and I am 71" tall, then my incline was about... (remembering my trig functions) ... 27 degrees from the floor I LOVE MATH CORRECTION: the top of the washer is not at my head! it's at my chest, which is about 55" from my feet. new calculations indicate a 33 degree incline from the floor...

Day 3 - Nov 17, 2010 1. Running Mid-Day: Did a run/walk with the dog for a total of 1.7 miles. I walked one block, ran (jogged is probably more appropriate) one block, on repeat. That's about 0.8 miles walking and 0.8 mile jogging. Not bad for my first day. Running around the neighborhood is very different than treadmill action. I like that I can bring my dog with me -- one of my goals last challenge -- but the redneck drivers are a little scary. (I live in a small Texas town. It can be very interesting.) Evening: Jogged nonstop, sans dog, for 0.5 mile (according to MapMyRun). Feeling pretty freakin' awesome. That's 1/4th of my goal of running 2 miles nonstop. And it's only day three. Muwahahaha. Goal for tomorrow: run/walk the 1.7 mile route again with the dog & increase the solo run to 0.7 mile, which is about 10 blocks in my neighborhood. 2. Diet Bkfst: coffee with splenda & halfnhalf; 2 oz ham; 1 egg Snack: walnuts Lunch: 2 egg omelet with ricotta cheese and berries Dinner: grilled cheese; diet dr pepper; few bites of ice cream I was doing fantastic until dinner... but really, it's a matter two pieces of bread and a few bites of ice cream. Not too drastic of a deviation from the plan. Overall, the past two days have been pretty stellar in the food department. Not perfect, but pretty (nad-kickin') close. 3. Bodyweight Exercises pullup - 0 (still no apparatus for this) pushup - 5 inclined (did them on 3' tall washer since doing 1 proper pushup on the floor is not yet possible) squats - 20 lunges - 30 walking lunges (15 each leg) box jumps - 10 (11" height) ... this is an unusual height due to having two elevated heights at my disposal (i.e., my front and back porch) to jump onto; one is 11" high and the other is 24" high) plank - 16 sec 4. Non-Fitness Class: completed the additional chapter outline i meant to do last night. [ended up watching Stargate movie with the kiddo... he had NEVER seen it! needless to say, a movie-watching was in order.] emailed chapter 3&4 outlines to the prof today. goal for tomorrow: outline chapters 5-7 and email to prof. Test: nada. Moving: after my post last night, my son and i went through a lot of his stuff to figure out what is getting moved and what isn't. reslut (woops, Freudian typo!!) ... result: big pile of clothes and his guitar hero set going to goodwill; 12 movies, 6 xbox games, and two books to be sold (via ebay or half.com or local half-price book store). yes!! i can't believe he was so willing to let go of so much stuff, especially the movies and games. less stuff to move!! Found out today that we got the apartment I applied for, which is on the 3rd floor. It is going to be a bitch moving to the third floor. Goal for tomorrow: take photos of kiddo's super-duper, amazingly heavy, solid wood dresser and post on craigslist. We are not moving that thing up three flights of stairs!!! Feel like ending with a happy dance...

Day 2 - Nov 16, 2010 1. Running no running today. yet. still 6pm my time, so we'll see. there is also a spin class in less than hour... 2. Diet (copied from my food/exercise journal google doc) Bkfst: * coffee with splenda & halfnhalf Lunch: * small hamburger patty with fajita seasoning * mushrooms Dinner: * small salmon steak with butter, lemon, & dill * baby carrots glazed with butter & cinnamon not much of an appetite today. weird. no sugars or breads or processed foods! yay! [me:1, sugary shit:0] *right in the nads!!* 3. Bodyweight Exercises no exercises to day. two days in a row. yikes. i need to find a park close by to do pulls ups and such. 4. Non-Fitness Class: completed one chapter outline, and planning to knock out another one before bed tonight. Test: looked into books i will need for studying. my local library is small and very limited. i might have to spend some major dinero and buy books online (with super fast shipping, gulp) or at barns&noble (double gulp) in the bigger city down the road. Moving: as soon as i submit this, i'm going into the kiddo's room to make him figure out which of his plethora of t-shirts we are actually keeping and moving to the new place. the rest are going to goodwill.

Amen, sister! If you get a chance, read Dave Ramsey's book, Total Money Makeover. Not rocket science advice in there, but it helped me get my financial crap in order. And now I live much more comfortably on a whole lot less.

Day 1 - Nov 15, 2010 1. Running no running today 2. Diet Bkfst: ham & 1 egg Lunch: acorn squash & banana Dinner: hamburger patty, mushrooms, & tomatoes Late-night snack: bowl of cereal (so bad!!) 3. Bodyweight Exercises no exercises to day 4. Non-Fitness Class: did some reading while subbing today, which was quite a feat. high schoolers are crazy... Test: nada Moving: nada Technically speaking, I was not on the challenge since I just went online and saw the new challenge posted, but I did pretty well on diet (sans cereal) so I'm counting this as day one! Day two will be even better!!!! 8-)

This is challenge #2 for me... November Challenge Breakdown: Race: Ogre, dammit. (Amazon Woman wasn't an option.) I'm 5'11" and ~220 lbs. Haven't weighed myself in a while. Profession: Ranger. I like the term "functional strength"... Goals: 1. Running Run 2 miles without stopping. My plan is to implement a walk/run program to get back into running. I'm thinking 3x/week. I ran a 5K on Nov 6, and it still took me just over 40 minutes. Due to all the WALKING I was doing. I just don't run like I used to. Maybe it's the extra 60 lbs of lipid storage I'm carrying around... 2. Diet No refined sugars, "breads", or processed foods. I follow the Greysheeters Anonymous (a 12-step program) food plan, although I am not a member of the program. I just really like their food plan. Similar to Paleo but... different. If you want to know more, give me a shout. 3. Bodyweight Exercises a. 1 pullup b. 10 *real* pushups c. 40 squats d. 40 lunges e. 20 box jumps (24" high) f. 3 min plank I cannot do any of these right now, much less in a row. I want to do them back-to-back. I will need lots of practice. I'm thinking 3x/week. No more gym membership, so I'm doing all this around my house. 4. Non-Fitness a. Finish my last class for my graduate degree. I am behind and need to get caught up. So I can finish and freakin' graduate already. b. Study for my Teacher Certification test. No easy feat. Chemistry and physics. Pre-test will be the week of Dec 13. If I do well on the pre-test, I will take the real test on Jan 29. c. Get packed for the move! We are moving AGAIN at the end of December. I do not want to do last-minute, hurried packing and moving this time around. A little about me: I am a perpetual student. I've been a college student in some capacity since 1997. I have a BS in Chemistry, and I'm finishing up my MS in Secondary Education. I started a MS program in Chemistry this Fall, but I have since dropped out of that program. (Life intervened and made its own plans for me, including the ending of a relationship three months before planned nuptials. Why do I fall for tattooed musician guys?) I am in the process of moving back to my home town and going back to teaching high school. I have the coolest kid on the planet, hands down. I used to be quite athletic and now -- at the age of 35 -- have gone soft. And lazy. And slow. I have run 5Ks in the past, and I'm getting into them again. It's a s-l-o-w process, getting back into shape after so many years of neglect. I am running a Warrior Dash this weekend, which is exciting and terrifying at the same time. My goal is just to finish the damn thing. I am in a state of transition in life, so it will be a challenge to keep focused on my goals. I did so-so on the last challenge, so here's to kicking this one in the nads!! My facebook is here. Message me your Nerd Fitness name so I know who you are. Stalk away. =) LET'S DO THIS!!

NTU, thanks for being a super-duper-awesome team leader!

October Challenge Summary: 1. Spinning I did amazing well in this area. My goal was to be able to complete a standing climb by the end of the 28-day challenge, and I did it after about two weeks. I kept going to the classes, and the climbs kept getting easier. I am very satisfied with my progress. 2. Diet I did progress in this area, but not as much as I hoped. I have gotten much better at not eating sweets -- especially while on a 4-day cruise with endless sugar-laden options -- and processed foods. I did have the occasional junk food meal, which I found only happened when I was pressed for time and/or I didn't have healthy food at home. Cooking meals ahead of time is essential to me sticking to my quasi-Paleo diet. 3. Dog Walking I'd say I did better than I was doing before the challenge, but not fantastic. I do take her out more that I used to, but not 5x/week. It's the I-don't-have-time problem again. I'm trying to squeeze too much stuff into my schedule. 4. Blog One word: FAIL. Technically, I did create a blog, but it was a feeble attempt at best. I'm out of my comfort zone with this technology stuff, and I would have needed much more time to devote to it to make it what I hoped it would be. OVERALL, I did make progress. I have learned a lot about myself in the process. I tend to over-schedule my time, thinking I can do way more than I actually can. I also noticed that I get overwhelmed with "life" and need to sometimes just chill out. I'm interested in what the next challenge will be...