jowlypants

Yes, I am definitely feeling the changes in some ways - I am sleeping better, the strength training is getting easier, and I feel calmer. I feel like I'm making good life changes, and am slowly and steadily making progress Hooray!! Even though things are going pretty well I am finding it a struggle in a few ways: 1) in wanting instant results (in terms of inches lost or decrease body fat percentage), and I haven't noticed any weight changes yet, which is disheartening (even though it's only been 3 weeks) 2) in not feeling disappointed in myself/like a failure if I eat "badly" one meal, e.g. if I have a beer with friends (which I did this week). This is particularly challenging for me when out socially 3) in feeling a bit deprived? I've been essentially vegan for years, so am already not eating a bunch of food groups. Now I'm trying not to eat refined/processed carbs (no pasta/breads/desserts), and no drinking, and trying to cut down on the oil/avocado use to maintain my caloric deficit. It's doable, but if I ever slip up I feel angry at myself, which is going to make maintaining this long term challenging. Any strategies to deal with any of these struggles? Do people take days off? How do I know if I'm tracking things accurately? How do I treat myself nicely?

Week 2 Update! All right this week went way better than week 1: Diet Quests 1. Maintain a 500 caloric deficit daily (through diet and exercise) - I did this every day except Monday, where I was apparently ~100 calories over my intake. However, I didn't log my bodyweight/strength training, so was likely ok this day as well! The only day where my tracking was potentially less accurate was Sunday, where I had dinner at a friend's house. I tried to overestimate, and still came in under, but who knows... 2. Eat a high-quality protein source at each meal (ie 3x daily) - I achieved this every meal except for dinner Sunday night, where I didn't have control of the meal. Diet Quest win! Life Quests - Did the meditations 4x, which is not the goal, but still helpful. Working on maintaining/upping it this week Fitness Quests 1. Do a bodyweight strength workout at least 2x a week. Bonus: do some other form of exercise an additional 2x a week (not graded). I did 1 bodyweight workout, and 1 combo bodyweight/barbell workout = win! I also swam once, and hit my 10000 step goal most days. I'm not sure whether to log the steps on MFP? It seems like it might overestimate the calories? I have set my exercise level to "sedentary" and am currently using the "count steps" feature, but not sure if this is accurate. Anyone else have experience/thoughts?

Just joining in to say good luck with week 2! Looks like you're on a roll which is good inspiration for me!

All right, week 1 update (finally): Thanks everyone for the approval of the goals! They may have been too lofty (even though they are not lofty...) because the week didn't go as well as hoped. However I'm trying to see this week as a new week: Diet I did a great job of planning out meals that were high-protein but maintained a caloric deficit; however I did a bad job of tracking it in MFP, so while I think I was generally maintaining a caloric deficit, I can't be sure. However, I definitely ate a high-quality protein source at each meal, except for 1. Fitness quests: This was also bad as I only did 1 swimming workout. I can blame a bad week at work, but truthfully I didn't prioritize it and found it hard to do both the fitness and the meditation goals Life Quests: The meditation app I'm using has 45 min. meditations. I did them 4x last week, which is pretty good. Overall I'm a bit dissatistfied with my performance last week, but am trying to tell myself that it was the first week I needed to really get started. This week has been going much better - I've logged into MFP 4 days in a row, and done one of my strength workouts.

I've dabbled in NerdFitness for the past year, and have made some changes stick in the short term (e.g. doing challenges like no refined sugar for a month), but have always struggled maintaining goals in the long term. My hope is that posting here will help with accountability and support! Main Quests I have always carried some extra body fat. I'm getting older and want to finally do something about it by building strength and eating well. My goal is to lose 1" off my hips and thighs (we'll see where else it comes off - I know you can't spot reduce). In addition, I know my mental health and self-image improve when I exercise and eat well. I've never followed through on an exercise plan and I want to prove that I can. To that end, my second goal is to complete a meditation program. Diet Quests 1. Maintain a 500 caloric deficit daily (through diet and exercise). 2. Eat a high-quality protein source at each meal (ie 3x daily). I'll keep track of this goal using the myfitnesspalapp, and help ensure success by planning meals in advance. Fitness Quests 1. Do a bodyweight strength workout at least 2x a week. Bonus: do some other form of exercise an additional 2x a week (not graded). Life Quests 1. Meditate 6x/week. Grading: All challenges will use the following grading scale. 90-100%: A (e.g. missing only 2-3 days total in diet quest, missing 0 bodyweight workouts over 4 weeks, missing only 2 meditation days total) 80-89%: B (e.g. missing diet goals 1 day/week, missing 1 bodyweight workouts over 4 weeks, missing 1 day meditation/week) 70-79%: C (e.g. missing 1-2 days meditation/diet per week, missing 2 bodyweight workouts) 60-69%: D (e.g. missing 8-10 meditation/diet days total, missing 3-4 bodyweight workouts) < 60% : F (e.g. missing more than 10 days of meditation/diet, missing more than 2 weeks of bodyweight workouts) I have a tendency to set unreachable goals so that when I fail them, I am upset so please let me know if this is too much!