Sulinar

Sorry to hear the wrist is still a problem (though I'm impressed that you're planking on your hands like that!) Have you tried wearing a compression bandage on it? One of those ones with velcro to keep it in place? Always helps for mine, probably just because it keeps your wrist more rigid so you don't keep flopping it about and making the injury worse.

Not reporting in very often, but things are going pretty well. The no sugar, no alcohol thing is still going well (I had my first cup of coffee this year the other day, with one sugar in it, but I needed the oomph, so I'm happy with that). Feeling much better in terms of finishing off the flu, and actually managed a workout on the treadmill the other day with 2x2, 1x3 and 1x5 minutes of jogging! Felt *so* good! But my ankles have been complaining a little since so I'm wary of overdoing it. Hoping to get another one of those in later today, and I've already done a relatively gentle dance session. I've tried the writing the alphabet exercise, Aeshnidae, thanks - that was a good suggestion! And yoga... hmmmm. Tried it for a while once many years ago and quite enjoyed it, but I feel that I need to maximise my exercise sessions given how far I've got to go (which of course is precisely not the right attitude). Need to work on my head as well, clearly. I really do need some better wrist exercises, though - I've got one of those spring things for my hands but it's too strong a spring and I'm having to use both hands to control it. Managed to pull the one wrist the other day again *picking up a loaf of bread*! Mind you, it was a homemade and therefore very heavy one. I wish I knew exactly what was wrong with it, it seems to depend on the angle I use it at. Anyway. So this coming week I'm going to try to take my 10 minute walk in the morning and then come in to the gym in the cellar and do either a treadmill (jogging intervals) workout or weights. The weather is really against me in terms of cycling - it's either blowing a gale, freezing or both at present, so that may have to wait until the weather gets better (I was going to say "turns normal", but I think that's not going to happen this lifetime).

Sounds like you've got a good plan - the older I get in NF years, the more I'm seeing that successful people do realistic challenges. I'm doing a dry first 6 weeks of the year too, so I feel for you. I don't miss wine so much every evening, just when I'm stressed! Maybe there's another drink that you like that you could drink in the evening instead? (I'm thinking low calorie hot chocolate, mainly because I've also given up sugary stuff and I am currently craving one...) I also have the inability to get back to sleep if woken in the middle of the night, so if you manage to find a way to insert the link (or can describe what I need to type to find it) I'd be grateful! I'm sleeping OK at present, but you never know when it's going to hit you! Losing inches is very good. Who cares about the weight if you *look* slimmer?!

Hey Lou, I'm really pleased to hear that you've managed to achieve something this time (not so pleased to hear that you're apparently doing it naked, but whatever floats your boat). I've also lost momentum and I'm out looking for other people in a similar position so I can see what's working for them. So your story is really encouraging! Keep it up - I'm looking forward to the point where you're happy to post the pic of your Fat You because you know you're never going to be that person again!

What everyone else said. Also, next time you feel in a shite mood, get off your backside and go out for a walk. Or put on loud music and dance. Or sit on the couch and punch cushions. Something physical. I *guarantee* you will feel better. And if you don't, it's a few more calories used up. The key is not to think, not to listen to excuses, just go "la la la la la" really loudly so you can't think better of the idea while you remove your head from your navel, put on appropriate shoes etc. etc. and get out of the house.

Hey Eilyd, I came across your thread before Christmas when I felt unmotivated and fed up too - it was one of the things that made me determined to start this year with a better attitude. So how are things going for you?

Had a reasonable first five days, though I'm finding it very difficult not to feel guilty about not doing more exercise. But given that walking upstairs makes me out of breath I think I'm still a little way off cycling very far. At least the feeling of drowning in snot is finally wearing off (sorry). I'm also having to resist doing my ankle exercises every day as the Achilles tendonitis one is complaining about the days with exercise and I really really want to make sure it heals properly. And then never gets injured again. The no-sugar thing is going extremely well, although I did have a terrible yen for chocolate/alcohol the other day after a major stress event. But I refrained! Yay me! Although I'm already really sick of eating dates - my alternative to chocolate for eating with a cup of tea. Reading other people's threads is interesting. A lot of others are not setting themselves stat-related targets. And I'm not going to either, they just make me stressed. I'll just give myself however many points I feel like I've earned at the end of this.

Subbing because I'm trying to get over illness too (not to the extent of yours, thankfully). I empathise with the discovery that you can't do cardio in your normal way. I'm managing a 10 minute walk in the morning and - if I'm lucky - half an hour walking very slowly on the treadmill in the evening, and that's it. The key is a) do what you can and don't feel guilty because you're only doing that much. I reckon you're right and the sleep thing may just be your body still trying to recover after the pneumonia. It can take a while.

I'm starting 2015 in poor shape. I've got the flu - which will pass, and at least now I've learned that I really must always get a flu jab. But other than that, I injured both ankles training for and running a 5k in August, and I've not been able to run - or even do much walking - since then. As a result I've put on a good 3 kg. And I wasn't at my optimal weight to begin with! Plus I keep injuring one wrist - not doing anything in particular, just turning it awkwardly, or even not. So that needs strengthening too. Also, I'm 47 in May and I want to be able to hit that age much closer to the best shape I can possibly be in for my age. Plus I'm signed up for another 5k then! In fact, I wasn't signed up for it until I started writing this thread, but accountability is king. Or president or something. So, en route to my overall goal of achieving more respectable levels of fitness/fat, my goals for this challenge: 1) Carry on with the no-sugar challenge I'm already signed up for on another site. This - for me - involves not eating cake or chocolate, plus wine, until the end of January. And I'm going to run this through until the end of the challenge (with an exception for my sister's birthday in early February). 2) Work on building up ankle and wrist fitness (any favourite exercises for these would be gratefully received). I think these need to be exercises I do on a daily basis, every day. 3) Work on building up general fitness. To begin with this will have to be fairly gentle as I currently can't even walk fast with my flu. I've done a couple of half hour sessions on the treadmill over the last few days, taking a book with me to make sure I walk slowly enough! But by the third week of the challenge I ideally want to be doing a 30 minute bicycle ride a day for 5 days a week, providing that the snow doesn't finally arrive here. This will both build up my legs for running and also help me burn off some of the excess fat. I also want to be doing 3 lots of weight lifting a week, which can be bodyweight exercises if I feel like it. Oh, and in any case a 10 minute walk a day. Every day. This is how long it takes me to walk up and down the lane opposite my house, so that should be doable, ideally first thing in the morning before my body wakes up enough to make excuses. In addition, I want to try to end as many meals as I can through January feeling pleasantly empty. I'm fed up eating for my stomach. I want to eat for my whole body.

Finally getting round to finishing this thread - I was away for the last week of the challenge and things have been hectic ever since. I did pretty well overall with this, the main win being that I managed to get the habit of sleeping - or at least attempting to sleep - for 8 hours a day. When I go to bed now, I set my alarm depending on the time I'm going to bed, so that I ensure there are 8 hours - or as near as possible - to this before I *have* to get up. Insomnia doesn't help, but at least I'm doing my bit. I had rather too large amounts of cake, bread and so on while I was away at the wedding, and felt and looked much worse for it. So I think the eating habits are also coming along nicely. Overall scores: Exercise: B (+2 STR) Sleep: A (+3 WIS) Diet: B (+1 CON) Life: A (+3 CHA) Bonuses - a big fat 0. I didn't even try meditating once! And although I sprinted once, I then injured myself to the extent that I was scared to try again. I need to become antifragile. That's my next quest. Well, that and run the 5k I've enrolled for *in 2.5 weeks* with one of the people I met on the Color Run. I must be mad. I haven't run more than a few hundred metres for three weeks.

Still going - last week I did really well on workouts, and found the five days of Month 4 to be reasonably easy. However, I had the same problem that I did last time with the Friday cardio (one part of which is 5 minutes' tapping alternate feet on an object on the ground; I'm sure there's a name for this but I dunno what it is). It feels quite doable at the time, but the day after I am crippled with my calf muscles knotting up. I have problems with my calves anyway, but this exercise seems to be a complete killer. As a result - and because I did quite a lot of kayaking on the Sunday which involved sitting in a funny position - I've now partly triggered the *thigh* muscle injury I got in March. At the time I put this down to running sprints while not warmed up, but looking back I wonder whether I'd done this particular exercise the week before. Anyway, I'm having to take it easy this week for anything that involves my legs, so no more sprints - or even jogging, probably. But it's very warm so I'm going swimming in the sea as much as I can. Otherwise, my measurements have stayed the same but my weight has gone up 1kg (!). I'm pretty sure this is down to muscle. Once again, I'm finding it easy to put on muscle and impossible to cut down on food. So I'm effectively getting bigger all the time, but not all of it is fat. I just seem to be stuck in the same place the whole time. I've got good muscles but too much fat. Clearly, deprivation of some kind is going to be required. boo.

Still charging on here - measurements are all still much the same, although for some reason I've lost 1.5 cm from my upper arm since last week (pleased). Doing reasonably on everything, although I had one terrible night last week when I had only 4 hours in which I could sleep and spent 2 of them lying awake thinking "I need to sleep". Gah. Also did a sprint workout (running) on Monday this week and am not entirely crippled as a result! Last week because I was travelling I only did three days of the FLQ workout, at Month 4 level, and that was fine. This week it's going to be all five days, so it'll be interesting to see how I'm feeling by Friday.

Good idea about meditating at the end of my work time. If I can just fool the cat into thinking I'm still working that would be a good time. After I finish work is his playtime. He's the only USB cat in the world. I unplug my backup drive, he jumps off the sofa and is ready for play... at the age of 9! Still can't work out how to add photos, I know I've done it before but I can't find any way of doing it now. I've upped my workouts this week to Month 4 of the Fat Loss Quickie workout. It's quite tough, but fun. Diet is not going brilliantly, though, I've been feeling the need for bread. Literally in the case of suddenly starting to get leg cramp again (a sure sign that I'm short of salt!)

Thanks very much - it was a really fun day. I think a normal 5K might be rather dull after that!

Thanks - it was its own reward, really, such a great day! I like your tactic of carrying your groceries. Yes, it must tend to concentrate the mind somewhat!

Well the Color Run was absolutely wonderful, but I can't work out how to upload the photos. Grrr. Anyway, I ran for more than half of it (which with 10,000 other people also running was pretty good). And I spent a lot of time before and after bouncing up and down to very loud music (a bit slow for my taste, but I suppose you can't expect hardcore techno all the time) and getting even more covered in paint. Then I came home and went to bed at 9.15 and have spent the last few days feeling really tired! Otherwise, the challenge is going pretty well - I'm getting my exercise and workouts in well, the diet is OK (just as well I built in a bit of leeway for cake/bread/ice cream, though) and I'm definitely hitting the sleep target. Because just like the last time I tried to sleep more I'm finding that it's actually harder to get out of bed when I've been in bed for longer. I assume it's my body adapting or something? Anyway, I feel great, so I'm happy with it all so far even though the scale/tape measurements haven't changed noticeably.

Ha! I get to add my very first ever 5k (I ran more than half of it!) And it was a Color Run, which made it really fun.

And just to confirm to the world - tomorrow I'm going to run my first ever 5k race, in Copenhagen! It's a Color Run, so I'm going to get extremely messy, and I'm doing it with people from a Meetup group, none of whom I've ever met before!

So, the story is as follows: In February this year I was doing pretty well in terms of seeing fat loss and gains of lean muscle. I'd been running a fair bit (for me) and also doing some weight training, December-February, and it was starting to pay off. However, at the end of February I injured a thigh muscle (after sprinting in very cold temperatures without being properly warmed up) and by the time I'd recovered from that I'd lost the habit. I walked/ran 4 km most days in April, but my weight workouts disappeared, and with a rather wet spring even the walking tailed off. More to the point, I hadn't realised how successful I was being. I wasn't seriously measuring my weight or other measurements, and it's only now looking back that I can see the gains I'd made and have now lost. As a result I'm now feeling fat, weak and fed up. My mother is getting remarried at the end of July and I don't want to be on the wedding pics looking like I currently feel! So I need to do a summer sprint in terms of exercise and nutrition. Here's the plan: Main Quest - get leaner and burn fat to the point where I'm happy to wear a bikini. (A bit vague, I know, but I'm not interested in weight as such - I'll know it when I see it!) Believe that my efforts are making a difference and that when I stop making an effort it does affect me. I currently weigh 68 kg (by my admittedly rather inaccurate - but consistent - scales). I'd like to see that down to 64 kg or ideally less, but I know that's not realistic for one challenge, so I'll settle for retaining the weight but shifting the fat/muscle balance somewhat. Life Quest - get my work patterns back to something 1) a bit more normal and 2) more productive. EXERCISE 5 workouts a week - this will be Scott Tousignant's Fat Loss Quickie workout, which consists of 10 minutes' cardio and a 10 minute workout each weekday. 10 minutes doesn't sound like much, but by the time you get to month 4 these are pretty strenuous. I'm starting up on month 3 and hope to get to month 4 in a couple of weeks. I've never managed to progress beyond month 4 when I've tried this before! Plus a further 3 x either cycling or swimming, and ideally 2-3 lots of walking or geocaching a week. SLEEP 8 hours *in bed* a day. This can be split up if necessary so that I get an hour's nap at some point through the day if I've missed out on time in bed at night. DIET Cut down on wine and saturated fat (ie cheese and butter) - and try to be as close to Paleo as possible. This ought to be relatively easy if I just cut out the bread, because that's where the butter is going. I'm not really enjoying bread any more anyway, I just feel bloated after eating it and it tastes like cardboard. LIFE Stop work at 10 pm every working night (which is 6 out of 7 nights). I've been slipping on this, and it has an effect on my sleeping if I'm working later than 10 pm, so I just need to knock it off. Both this and the sleep will be a bit tricky as it's the World Cup, but that's no excuse. BONUSES See if I can squeeze meditation in there somewhere, because I'd like to be doing it but I can't quite work out when would be the best time of day to ensure that I always do it. Maybe experiment with different times of day? Get back to sprinting, this time without injuring myself! If I can get in 3 x sprint sessions (ideally running) during the challenge I'll be pleased with this. Scoring: Exercise: A: 5+3 workouts a week, each week (+3 STR). B: Missing no more than 5 workouts over the whole challenge (+2 STR). C: Missing no more than 3 workouts over the whole challenge (+1 STR). Sleep: A: 8 hours in bed 6 days a week (+3 WIS). B: 8 hours in bed 5 days a week (+2 WIS). Anything less is a fail. Diet: A: 80% compliance (+3 CON). B: 60-80% compliance (+1 CON). Anything less is a fail. I'm counting 80% compliance as meaning I can eat one or at most 2 pieces of bread per day, or have one piece of bread and a bit of cake (max. twice a week for cake!) Life: A: Stop work at 10 pm 6 out of 7 nights each week (+3 CHA). B: Ditto but only 5 out of 7 nights each week (+1 CHA). Anything less is a fail. Bonus: +1 WIS if I can see and implement somewhere in the day/week that I could regularly fit in a meditation session, 3 times a week. And +1 CON and +1 CHA (because sprinting makes me feel fabulous - when it's finished) if I can achieve the sprinting sessions.

Thanks Kitty! I'm doing quite well with the sleeping, it's the updating the thread that I'm struggling with. But it will be forthcoming soon.

Oops, double post, sorry!

I need something to motivate me to walk/run more, so I'm joining in on this one too, guys (I enjoyed the trip so much last time!)

This is a marker for my new thread, which will be about consolidating the stuff I've learned about fitness and making some of it a habit. I've slipped rather over the last few months, with the result that I've gained fat and feel fed up and tired. One of my major issues is lack of good quality sleep, and that's largely down to working until ridiculous hours. So part of the new me is going to be stopping work at 10pm. It's now 21.55, and I'm going to turn my computer off NOW and go to bed on time so I can get up early to exercise.... see how it goes? Back tomorrow with more details. In the meantime, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Congratulations - those are excellent results, considering that you were back in the old country for at least part of the challenge. Yeah, we must talk about books, especially your last purchase, which sounds intriguing (I'll PM you about that!) I hope the funeral went as well as these things can be expected to go. Overall, I'm really impressed that you've set targets and kept yourself on track, because I got the feeling - maybe wrongly? - that you weren't all that motivated either before or during the challenge, compared to previous challenges? About making the HIIT activities fun - have you read (I'm sure you have/do) Mark's Daily Apple? He's heavily into play activities on a daily basis, so maybe you can pick up some tips for more fun things there. Which reminds me - not a HIIT activity, unless you pick a really tough one, but a fun activity nonetheless - have you tried geocaching? Very rangery.

*You're* a crap nerd?! At least you've got a thread and you're getting results. Though nyer about the Amazon 1-Click thing. I told you so. Not heard of The Red House, but I loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. NO! Stop talking about books! I guess at this point of the challenge, the question is "How much of this is starting to feel normal?" The meditation, maybe? That would be something to consider for later challenges, perhaps - to give yourself an extra point if you're still keeping up, say, 2 out of 3 challenge behaviours 6 months later.