shaolin_nerd542

So this week has been an interesting one. I crashed on my wants not to goalnd purchased a magic deck. Other than that, it's been good so far. I've maintained my plant based diet for about 3 days, and, apart from getting sick, I've been to all of my Kung Fu classes. Last week was a puss poor week all around, so I'm inclined to act like it never happened and move on. I just got back from a speed running session with a running club that I run with. I got to do is just keep up. Hang in there you guys, and keep rooting for me.

Well, guys, I made a concerted effort to write this post, and went on to screw up my first week. As of today (a Thursday), I am starting over anew. I'll just pick up where I fell down.

Great idea, man. I haven't thought of busking, but I bet that it would work in my town.

Cool. Thanks for the support. I had a rocky beginning to the goals, but my head has leveled. What do you do when your head game gets off kilter? Here's to the first day of it.

Hey lady, You have an awesome story to tell, and it's only just getting started. I can recommend you the Thug Kitchen books. They are foul-mouthed, vegan cookbooks. I swear by them (literally, I talk a lot of s***). I cooked exclusively out of them and lost five pounds, allowing for the odd cheat day. I believe in a plant-based, whole foods diet, and these cookbooks are the layman's way of getting started. Go forth and kick butt. B

Good morning everyone, I've been reading a lot of your posts and I am really impressed with what is happening here. I've decided to publicly take that next step and outline my set of goals for the next 4-6 weeks. I'll do my level best to update my progress as each week passes. That way, I can peeps who can keep me accountable. I view myself as a monk/druid type, and am very interested in martial arts and a plant-based, whole foods diet. My efforts towards these goals will begin in earnest on 5/2, but I have been trying to have some success this week. WIsh me luck. Kick me in the rear if you need to. Goal 1: Abstain from alcohol and smoking. I have a long and sordid history with this problem. I have made some serious headway, particularly with alcohol, towards ridding it from my life. Now, I'm making this goal public. I feel it has to be number one because I can't complete the others without doing this. Goal 2: Attend martial arts classes 3x/week. I take classes in Chen style Tai Chi and Hong Fist Kung Fu. This keeps my druid side and my monk side happy and gets me the exercise I need. I am using the body weight training ideas I got from a book called Convict Conditioning to supplement this training. Here is a typical schedule. Monday: Tai Chi & Kung Fu Tuesday: Push and pull body weight focus. Wednesday: Tai Chi & Kung Fu Thursday: Legs and abs body weight focus. Friday: Kung Fu Saturday: Handstand and bridge focus Sunday: Rest day, seriously. Goal 3: Maintain a plant-based, whole foods diet. No processed foods. The inspiration for this comes from the duo of viewing the documentary Forks over Knives and from the health problems that I have seen in my family. The cookbooks that I use (I love cookbooks) will be the Thug Kitchen books, the Southern Vegetarian (love me some Southern food), and the Veganomicon. I've been cooking for over fifteen years, so I'm not afraid to just dive right in. Goal 4: Pay off my banjo. I play bluegrass. It's fun. I love my banjo. Unfortunately, I still owe $300 on it, and my wife is not too thrilled with me. I've been slacking in paying it off. It's a goal that will take 12 weeks to do, but I'm putting it in my list. Goal 5: Create a pallet herb garden and a raised bed for vegetables. Dude, I live in a small town and people grow their own food. How come I never learned this? The time to remedy that is now. I will build my own pallet herb garden and raised bed this month. Hopefully, I can do it on the super cheap. That's where Pinterest comes in handy. Goal 6: Want not. Buy only what I need. With the exception of the banjo payments and the cost of the gardens, I will abstain from buying anything unnecessary. I spend way too much money on frivolities, such as Magic cards (I am a nerd, after all). I can just print proxies and save the money for the time being. Anyway, these are my monk/druid/personal goals for the month of May. Thanks for hearing me out. Please give me any words of encouragement, advice, or tips that you find have helped you in the past. Brian.