Rilla

Hi all, and thanks for the good wishes!! Soooo....I am recalibrating this particular challenge. I severely miscalculated my willpower on vacation. So..I'm giving myself permissions to 1) on vacation, count swimming/floating around in the bay as my exercise and 2) have one drink with calories per day. Because my family likes to cook amazing food, paired with great drinks. I'll still have veggies and still have to count my calories though. And I'm starting over today. I know myself well enough that if I don't, I won't put in as much effort since there is no chance to win (based on my performance in my early-start week). So...here's to understanding and cutting ourselves some slack.

My last challenge was pretty successful! Enough so, that's I'm going to post a new version of it here. In keeping with both the "level up" and the "small steps" mentalities, this challenge is a tiny bit harder than last time. 1) Exercise every day in some way: This was very successful last time - Run, Hike, Yoga, Lift - some sort of intentional exercise each day. To level this up, I'm breaking it into two pieces: a) At least 10 minutes: Last time, I let myself do a 6 minute NF yoga video if it was the end of the day to keep my streak. Which was fine, but I'm raising the bar a little, meaning that I need to do at least 10 minutes. Perhaps two NF yoga videos? b ) At least one NF Academy workout a week: I've been procrastinating (read; scared to try) on the NF academy workouts. They're so different from what I'm used to. So my challenge is to be sure at least one of my workouts is a NFA workout each week. 2) Track all my food: This is pretty easy for me, once it is actually a habit! To level this up, I need to have one intentional vegetable a day. So the tomato in my sandwich doesn't count for this purpose. 3) No liquid calories: I'm not sure how to level this up, so I'll just get back to basics! Each Category gets a Gold/Silver/Bronze/Kudos. And at the end of the challenge, I'll pick a reward. Gold: no skipping. Silver: skipping no more than twice, Bronze: skip no more than four times. Anything more, and I'll still give myself kudos for trying!!! So, I skipped the last 4 week challenge, and don't want to wait for the next one, so this challenge is effective on August 14. I may not post updates very often - I keep a list of what I've done (a battle log) on Evernote, and then I'll summarize here. But so far so good for August 14-16! Wish me luck! ~Rilla

And...the results are in (belatedly). 1) Exercise every day in some way: Running, Yoga, eventually lifting (running 3-4 times a week, others on the off days). Even if it is only for 15 minutes. Building a habit is the most important in this case. I've been doing this lately, so I think four weeks is in reach. We'll see! To get the Gold for this challenge, I won't skip. A silver skips no more than twice, bronze no more than four times. Anything more, and I'll still give myself kudos for trying!!! .....Gold! I didn't skip at all, even if it meant just doing a quick 6 minute NF Yoga video. 2) Track all my food: I'm doing this on myfitnesspal. I've noticed that when I give myself a pass on this, all my food standards go out the door... goodbye apples and hello icecream! So, myfitnesspal (and apples), here I come. Same standard as above for Gold/Silver/Bronze/Kudos. ....Gold! No skips. I even tracked everything while in Las Vegas at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Not that it stopped me from eating, but I wrote down every darn thing. 3) No liquid calories: I've cut the soda down to nothing in the past week - now I just need to keep it that way. This one is definitely possible if I can just keep at it - and as long as I have caffeinated peppermints to keep away the headache. Same standard for G/S/B/K as above. ....Silver! Just one skip. I had a drink of pineapple juice with my dad on Father's day. Pretty understandable and hard to say no because then he'd not order one for himself since I was paying for dinner. So technically silver, because rules, but am happy with my choice. And for loot - I bought myself an Instapot pressure cooker. Yay! Ok - I'm going to join the next challenge (since i missed the last one. Thanks all, for the encouragement along the way! ~Rilla

Me too! I can't make it this coming weekend (Zion National Park!) but the rest of the weekends in the month are free.

@Guzzi and @Bookish_badger Thanks for checking in! Things have been going pretty well, actually! I've logged all my food, even those on the days where I ate all of the things. Which happened. I've also been successful in saying no to calorie drinks, except on Father's day, when my dad asked to split some fresh squeezed pineapple juice. Not so bad. Although I think this rule is going to be broken - I'm about to go on a desert hiking trip, where they recommend drinking sportsdrinks to keep yourself from getting heat stroke. I probably won't try my luck and i'll just give myself a pass for that part of the challenge. More amazingly, at least to me, is that I have kept up with the exercise every day portion of my challenge. I've either gone running, hiking, or done yoga every day for the past three weeks. Even if that meant yoga was just a 6 minute mini-session. At least it was something! So - my apologies for not checking in - I have a hard time logging on to my computer at the end of the work day. But I'm off to Zion National Park in less than 48 hours! So far, so good! Thanks again for the support! ~Rilla

Good luck with the challenge! I totally agree that myfitnesspal is really helpful - I am also tracking my food as part of my challenge. And man, the McDonalds would be a killer for me - I had to stop cold turkey and I haven't gone back in 6+ years. It's really addicting... Good luck!

Thanks for all the support and the well wishes! Day one went very well - definitely got in my exercise! We went for a 9 mile hike and boy are my feet tired! But it's good practice, it was beautiful outside, and although pretty hot, was in the shade most of the time. It's not quite as long as the longest hike we'll take, so I'm definitely back to run/jog/walking, especially hills, but maybe I'll give myself a pass and do yoga tomorrow morning. No issues with points two and three. A minor victory on the eve of the challenge though - I ended up at an event with drinks, and I used my drink tickets for water. I was pretty proud of myself for not thinking "it's the last night before the challenge! hurry, drink some soda!" Anyway, I'm not sure if I'll end up checking in nightly - my job is pretty demanding during the week and sometimes I don't even log in to my computer at home. But I'll make a point to do so as often as I can! Good luck out there to my fellow Rebels!

Hello! I've been a long time lurker, but am going to take this opportunity to join in my first challenge. I've joined the NFA, and will be working through the missions there. To not overload myself (a key to success for me I think!) I'm doing the following for the next few weeks: 1) Exercise every day in some way: Running, Yoga, eventually lifting (running 3-4 times a week, others on the off days). Even if it is only for 15 minutes. Building a habit is the most important in this case. I've been doing this lately, so I think four weeks is in reach. We'll see! To get the Gold for this challenge, I won't skip. A silver skips no more than twice, bronze no more than four times. Anything more, and I'll still give myself kudos for trying!!! 2) Track all my food: I'm doing this on myfitnesspal. I've noticed that when I give myself a pass on this, all my food standards go out the door... goodbye apples and hello icecream! So, myfitnesspal (and apples), here I come. Same standard as above for Gold/Silver/Bronze/Kudos. 3) No liquid calories: I've cut the soda down to nothing in the past week - now I just need to keep it that way. This one is definitely possible if I can just keep at it - and as long as I have caffeinated peppermints to keep away the headache. Same standard for G/S/B/K as above. I'm starting with these three. I'm trying to get ready for a big hiking/camping trip with my family at the end of June, so I want to be sure I can keep up with my family! My father, uncles, sisters-in-law, and brothers are all really fit, so I don't want to be the one huffing and puffing when we're in the Narrows at Zion National Park! There are so many more things that I could work on, but I'm taking the NFA "small steps" motto to heart this time. Wish me luck!!!

OOC - I LOVE this. As someone new to Able township myself...I finished the Zombies5k separate app (without actually running a 5k yet, but that's ok) and am now on S1M6. Good luck, Rebel Five! All the other Runners Five are cheering for you.

Great! See you there at 9:30!

Hi All. I'm new to all of this but would love to join up with you guys on Sunday. I may only be able to join the monument crew - my parents are visiting, so I'm not sure if I'd make it to brunch. Does the Smithsonian metro have two exits? Oh - and I'm not in the facebook group (for your counting purposes). Looking forward to meeting you guys. ~Rilla

Do you still need readers? What's your timeframe for us to complete the book? I'm an avid reader, but don't have an abundance of free time these days. I've always wanted to be a test reader though.