Sagequeen

I wish I could have finished this challenge with a big push, but that's not going to happen. I broke my butt. Sort of. In TKD on Tuesday, we were working on falling techniques and forward rolls, as well as throws. I noticed that my upper thigh/lower butt was hurting, but it just felt like a cramp. I figured it was because I hadn't moved my body in that way for a long time, so I stretched a bit and continued. Then the other side started hurting. Turns out, I strained both my high hamstrings. That's an injury I've never had, and one I hope to avoid again in the future. Any ideas on how I can prevent injury in this area? I was well-stretched and warmed up. Anywho, I'm OOC for this week so I can heal. Fortunately, it was minor, and it's gotten progressively better each day. Otherwise: 1. Drinks: YAY! Water FTW. 2. Food: No grains for breakfast, and all this week, Paleo for lunch. I made a bad-ass sweet potato and chicken hash. Yes, I know. Sweet potatoes in moderation and after workouts, but hey. I didn't eat bread or processed foods. 3. Exercise: I've been perfecting the penguin waddle. EPIC: Had to sleep on the couch because my bed is very tall. Not resting as well, but still getting up at 7-ish.

Updates and such: The work crunch has hit, and for me, that means being chained to my desk. Funny. I thought working from home would give me ample time to do other things. Boy was I wrong. It just means I'm always in the office in case of emergency. And there are always emergencies. But hey - who else besides yoga trainers get to wear yoga pants all day? Plus, I get to cook my lunch. That's a big deal! Also, I truly love my job, and might be getting a promotion. Yay! 1. Drinks: Soda consumption is down to 1-2 diet sodas a day. Water consumption is up dramatically, 3 liters a day. Holding steady on that. 2. Food: Still replacing my morning breakfast, working on lunch. Yesterday's lunch was chicken breast sautéed with baby kale and baby spinach, with slivers of bacon and a splash of raw honey to balance the bitterness of the greens. Salty, sweet, green, and protein - yummy! Dinner was leftover carne guisada and a carrot. Yeah - a whole, raw carrot, Bugs Bunny style. I skipped the rice last night but needed a side. Too lazy to cook again. 3. Exercise: Walked, which is better than nothing. It's activity and I hit my step goal yesterday. That said, I still have two strength training days planned for this week and 2 TKD classes. All good. I've lost about 4 pounds, so yay! More than I expected. EPIC: Consistently getting up at 7. I can live with that. Maybe next time I'll shoot for 6:30. Another related win is going to bed earlier - that's been consistent as well. Thinking of getting a treadmill desk...

Sending good vibes and positivity your way!

Thank you! You as well! It's a great experience.

Mmmmm.... I just made my first Paleo dish from a recipe -- Carne Guisada. The hubby and I had a blast in the kitchen together! This was the perfect recipe to introduce him to Paleo. We did way too much processed food and takeout last year, which means we lost doing something together we both love. We game together, we geek out over Avengers movies together, and once again, we're cooking together. Great unexpected EPIC quest completed: share awesome experience (and food) with husband! Otherwise: 1. Drinks: With the NF Academy quest, I'm consistently drinking 3 liters of water a day and one diet soda. Blew this quest out of the water. Literally. Picked up a Brita filter cup (to replace the awkward Bobble), so I can keep from polluting the earth with a ton of plastic bottles, while not sucking down the hyper-chlorinated tap water. 2. Eats: On track to replace my grain-based breakfast for a full 7 days. I'm also transitioning to remove more non-paleo things from my diet. I don't think I'm going to lose the 8 lbs I wanted to because of the transition, but I think I've hit on something much bigger and far-reaching than a few pounds right now. So I will probably not give myself credit for this quest, but I'll know how to pivot for the next challenge. 3. Exercising: Awesome. Did the recruit workout and a TKD workout in the same day, then realized why I shouldn't do that. LOL. So. Sore. Took the weekend off except for with a 15 minute walk with my son. While we walked, we talked about how you can make quests for yourself in real life - for REAL rewards. They accomplish so much more than killing X amount of [monster] and getting a chest piece with crappy stats. He seemed impressed. (Impressing 8 year olds is tougher than you think.) EPIC: Still getting up before 7, except the weekends. Not the 6:30 I wanted, but I'm doing better now than I did before the holidays. Then, I was barely waking up in time to take my son to school. All in all, a great few days. I've been budgeting as well, so I built a new category into my framework called 'Rewards.' Right now, I'm working on water intake, and for every day I hit my goal, I get a dollar. Next? I think something Paleo-related. By far, the best part was sharing my new life choices with my family, and having them so well-received. Thank you Nerd Fitness!

Time for an update, and some fun commentary below. Update: 1. Drinks: I have consumed 3 liters of water every day for the past three days, and am well into today. This puts me AHEAD of my original 4 week goal. WOOT! 2. Eating: So, it's kinda weird being strung between two diets as I progress through the NF Paleo diet levels. I'm not using the points system anymore but eating similarly, and I'm now replacing my breakfast with a paleo-friendly selection. I'm not sure where that puts me either way, but on the bright side, I've been keeping my food log on my Fitbit account, so I can see that I'm consistently burning more calories than I'm eating. I count that a transitional win. 3. Exercise: Did two TKD classes on Tuesday - that's two hours. AND, today I did the recruit workout. Gonna be sore, but that's good. No workout planned for tomorrow, as it's a recovery day. I might take my kiddo for a walk. EPIC: Chronomancy success! I moved my alarm clock. I'm also tracking sleep quality with my Fitbit. Last night was a surprisingly free of restlessness. I don't know what this means, but it could have something to do with the extra exercise and lack of caffeine... lol. Commentary: I was asked by NF to determine my 'Big Why.' Why am I doing this? What's going to keep me motivated? I went through all the rote responses: I'll feel better. I'll look better. I'll blah blah blah. Meh. That didn't keep me motivated in the past, so it's probably not going to work now. So I had to dig deeper. What is it I really want to get out of this? Then it hit me. It was silly, but when I thought about it, I stood up and did the Slow Clap. In my mind, anyway. Deep down... what I really want is to be a Badass. That's it. No fluff, no drivel, no shoulds or fuzzy feelings. I just want to be a Badass. So every time I'm tired of water, I ask "What would a badass do?" And I go beast mode and chug the water. When I feel like I'm going to pass out in TKD, I ask "Would a badass pass out?" (I've never actually passed out, btw.) And when I really don't feel like cooking something healthy, I ask "Would a badass eat processed shit that some money-hungry corporation shoved in a box with no regard for how it will affect the health of the person who consumes it?" Hell no! Badasses don't do that. And neither do I.

That's a great tip! I'm still very new to NF, so I wasn't sure how much crossover there would be. The 4 week challenges are so much fun -- can't wait to keep doing them.

I couldn't take it any longer. I've been looking lovingly at the Academy for several days. Weeks, if we're being honest. So I decided to reward two awesome weeks of (mostly) sticking with my goals with a membership! Yay! So I'm currently re-tooling my goals here and bringing them in line with what I'm learning and doing at the Academy. I'm going to keep the same basics (Drinks, Foods, Exercise, Time), so just a slight adjustment will be needed. First and foremost - I love what I've learned so far. I was hesitant about Paleo as a recovering Atkins. But after seeing all the things I CAN eat as opposed to what's off-limits... I can do this. So! I'll be reporting in with whether I held up my end of the quests or not here. Excited!

Heh. Video would be better.

Hey there! I'm in the same boat - I already study TKD locally, but I figured since it's my first time out, I should learn the ropes as a Rebel first. So how's it going?? Also, if you manage to meditate for 10 minute straight, what's your secret? I'm fidgety.

<3 You are awesome.

I had the option to add the duct tape when I purchased it online. But I'm already thinking about the family Christmas next year... I'm the worst gift picker/wrapper EVER. It's hard to mess up duct tape. Just put more duct tape on it. Hey! Maybe I'll go Inception and gift rolls of duct tape wrapped in duct tape wrapping paper.

This is a really simple, silly thing, but not being in the habit of having water in my home has tripped me up. So rather than saying 'oh well' and reaching for a diet soda, I can get in the car and go get water. (Our city water tastes like chlorine and chemicals.) The second thing that could easily trip me up is getting slammed at work - that makes it tough to exercise. To overcome it, I just have to be mindful of the time, and give myself 5 minutes for every hour sitting to do some quick resistance band reps. The Stand Up app is very helpful for this. I worked out during our last team meeting, which lasted like 2 hours. I love working from home.

I have a hard time being social, too. I work from home with people around the globe - there's no going out with work friends. So for me, going out to eat with my husband was a social event, lol! Good luck to you! Kick that 7am class in the teeth!

Hey there! Great work on budgeting - it's never easy. I use a sort of 'virtual envelope' mindset with my new software. Just started this month, so I'm right there with you! Here's to savings!