annyshay

*Peeks out of her hobbit hole and decides to close the door again* I've been quite the hermit hobbit this week, mostly because I've been working SO MUCH. Seven days straight, two 28 hour days... SO MUCH! Despite that, I'm rather proud of what I've managed to accomplish. 1) Yes. Yes. Yes. I stayed whole30 clean even when my good friends gave me chocolate, which is totally my Achilles heel. There was a lot of planning, a lot of packing food up, and a lot of explaining "no really, I don't want to eat that, thank you". Still, victory is mine. Now... only 22.5 days to go. Hehe. 2) I have drank all the water. My kidneys are happy. 3) Did my first sprint workout on the hill right near my apartment. I'm not going to fool you, I felt like an idiot. Still, I hope that these simple, silly workouts will make me that much faster and stronger. Hobbits need to get away from big baddies some times too! Managed to do two strength workouts and log some serious distance on the road to Mordor, also, so well done me! 4) I managed to not curse about half of the days this week. I'm still not really sure how I'm going to measure success on this part of the challenge. I did some of my research this week around it. Maybe I'll just keep a tally of how many times I swear in a week and see if it decreases over the course of the challenge? Simple records of my progress seem to work for me, so we'll go with that. I also signed up for a word a day email to start building my vocab up. I am such a word nerd that you don't even know. This will be the fun part of the challenge, lol.

So far so good. I brought all my food to work today and have been happily munching through the fruits of yesterday's labor. My house was sweltering all afternoon, but I have lots of frozen, Whole30-happy meals in my freezer for the weird shifts in my future. I've managed to drink water three times. Took a nice walk through the dawn this morning. I think I swore twice today, which is more than I expected. I might need to come up with a better way to quantify that last goal. Perhaps I'll think about it in my time tomorrow. Thanks for the encouragement, Alpha Bookworm! We hobbits need to stick together.

Hello Rebels! I’m Shannon! For years I have found my hobbit-y nature at odds with living a healthy life. I struggled through periods of being “good†and keeping perfectionistic track of everything that I did, but would eventually run out of steam and return to the joy of second breakfast, elevensies, and generally spending a lot of time hanging out in my hobbit hole (I live in a basement apartment… if only there were round windows). One day NerdFitness and a band of travelers knocked on my door, and I embarked on an adventure of leveling up. I rocked my first challenge, setting up consistent good life habits and reaping the rewards. One week off has shown me that my hobbit-y nature is still in full swing and needs another good quest to keep the leveling up in gear. Clean Challenge 1) Whole30 [+5 CON, +2 WIS] This hobbit needs to start eating real, clean food from plants and animals. This a HUGE step for me and a big shift in my thinking about health. I’ve been reading about primal and paleo for a while but was unwilling to change. I’m surrounded by easy access to truly horrible food-substitutes all day long. Not to mention, I couldn’t imagine a life without various processed foods. The 80% rule makes me think that it’s worth seeing if I can make the change. I want to start strict with the next 30 days and then experiment with what food works best with my body. I’ve been working this weekend on foraging, planning, and preparing. Tomorrow starts four weeks of a grueling schedule at work, which is all the more reason to focus and get my diet sorted out. 2) Water [+2 CON] It’s a simple goal but harder than one might think considering I work truly ridiculous hours in a hospital. 3) Sprints [+3 DEX] I’m going to start incorporating sprints into my work out roster. Once a week, I’m going to run for my life and clean out the old engine. This does not mean that I will slack off on my strength training (twice a week) and commitment to walk all over Middle Earth, obviously. 4) Clean up my mouth! [+3 CHA] Don’t get me wrong. I don’t swear that much, but I am sick of using a string of expletives as a way of coping. The time has come to clean up my language and find more creative invective to let people know how I really feel. So, that's my plan! I leave you with part of my favorite poem from Fellowship of the Ring, many thanks to JRR Tolkein, for everything… “Sing hey! For the bath at close of day that washes the weary mud away! A loon is he that will not sing: O! Water Hot is a noble thing!â€

I would just like to summarize my thoughts on this challenge… WOOOOOOHOOOOO! Goals 1) Track calories using myfitnesspal and be under goal 6 days per week. 75% = +2.25 CON, +1.5 WIS 32/36, which should be a B+ really. Sorry, my overachiever came out for a minute there. I am actually really proud of how I did here. Even on the days that I wasn’t under my calorie goal, I tracked everything. This is a really good habit to get into in terms of accountability with myself, especially since my schedule has been so wacky lately. Maybe as I clean up my eating, this will become less important. Diet has definitely been my biggest challenge in the weight loss battle thus far. 2) Beginner Body Weight Circuit two times per week. 100% = +3 STR Twelve work-outs of three simple sets, and my body can totally tell the difference! Over the six weeks I improved my form in squats and lunges (go loooooow), increased my time on planks (30s up to 90s), went from my knees to incline push-ups, and increased my weight on rows from 5lbs to 12lbs (would go higher but need more weights…). I say, these are strength points well earned! 3) Cardio three times per week. 100% = +2 STA, +2 DEX I’ve kept this a mix of running, some work out videos (kenpo, dance), a lot of walking, and hiking in the nearby mountains/hills of western Massachusetts. Rediscovering my love of hiking has been a major win for me. 4) Stick to my study plan - every week: 3 articles, 2 chapters, 1 page of notes for each. 100% = +3 WIS There has been much learning of everything from SIDS to heart attacks to leukemia. I’ve set a great precedent for how to tackle a bit each day and move forward. Mini-challenges These were great fun and a way to branch out on top of my goals above. I greatly looked forward to creative ways of applying these to my own situation. I think week 3 was my favorite, as it got me back out there roaming the wild. Week 1: Obstacle Annihilation +1 DEX Week 2: RAWRification +1 STR Week 3: Walk and Roll +1 WIS Week 4: Find Your Sidekick … big goose-egg. Week 5: Chef’s Duties +1 CON Week 6: The Boss Battle +1 CHA See my new RPG point spread in the new improved signature. So proud! Measurements, aka Bonus! Current weight = 182.6 lbs (-8.7lbs in 6 weeks) Total Inches - 5 I’m sure my pictures will show a lot of improvement too, but I’m a bit too shy to go posting my bathing suit shots yet. Sorry! All this success makes me hungry for the next 6 week challenge. This next one will be harder, as my schedule gets even more intense. Still, with this community full of motivation and accountability, I look forward to seeing what we can do in the next 6 weeks.

Hey guys! I'm in for the challenge starting on 8/6. Thanks for all the info Loren, it's super duper helpful!

I've been quiet, but I've been busy. :0) Here's how things are stacking up at the end(ish) of week 5... +1 CON from my deeeelicious attempt at Primal Chicken Tikka Masala, thanks to Mark's Daily Apple for the recipe! 1) 85% - 25/29 meals I've tracked and been under my goal. The thing that I'm really proud of is even on the days that I go over, I've been tracking everything and not over by that much. 2) Yup - I have been doing incline push-ups and planks on my forearms now to make it harrrrrder. 3) Yup - Although I'm mixing it up more - some loooong walks, some zombies, run!, and some hiking random mountains. 4) Yup - I just keep trucking along here. I can't really study and work out, so they're separate for me. Plus, it's good for me to just focus on thinking and remembering from time to time. *insert rebel yell*

Hey everybody and congrats! We’ve made it half way through the challenge. I’ve definitely been sticking to my plans much more just because of the accountability and motivation that I get from the forums, so a big thanks to all the adventurers. It’s funny because it hasn’t really been hard to keep to my goals, even though my schedule has been crazy. It’s more just a moment of indecision and laziness that seems to side-track me usually. The rebellion has been just enough to make me set those momentary excuses aside, so that I can get to work on my goals. 1) Track calories using myfitnesspal and be under goal 6 days per week. (+3 CON, +2 WIS) Partial success… So far I’m 16/18 on this one. I’ve been tracking every day too, which is definitely an improvement! I’ve learned some things from my tracking so far. I can definitely eat a TON of food if I don’t pay attention. Even when I slip up for a meal (for example, basically binging on carbs after working all day and all night), I can often balance things out during the rest of the day with lots of veggies, lean protein, sleep ☺ and exercise. One set of bad choices does not need to de-rail an entire day (or week, or whatever). Also, I love my CSA. Fresh, local, organic, summer veggies FTW. 2) Beginner Body Weight Circuit two times per week. (+3 STR) Success! It’s a simple work out, but super effective. I’ve been doing 3 sets. I’ve been able to move up to 1 minute planks, which has made me stick with knee push-ups a bit longer. Still, my back feels MUCH stronger. 3) Cardio three times per week. (+2 STA, +2 DEX) Success!! Mostly I’ve been using the zombies, run app. This is pretty impressive given how hot it’s been outside lately. Other workouts have involved some kenpo, some walking, and some jumping around. It’s time to get some new running shoes, so that I can keep it up. 4) Stick to my study plan - every week: 3 articles, 2 chapters, 1 page of notes for each (+3 WIS) Success!!! I’ve been kicking butt at this. It’s taking more time than I’d hoped, but all this learning and assembling of study materials will definitely pay off when I eventually study for the boards. Not to mention, I think it’s actually making me smarter for my patients in the here and now. Good stuff. Week 1: Side Step Challenge – poor, but completed. +1 DEX Week 2: RAWRification - 15 minutes. +1 STR Week 3: Walk and Roll! – 4.3 miles in a new part of town. ____? Is it too early to start thinking about the next 6 weeks? I’m playing around with ideas about where I want to go from here. Primal? Pull ups? Not sure… but I’m excited to keep leveling up with you all. I’m trying really hard to put my focus on good behavioral choices and general health, but I had a lovely side effect of my good choices… Current Weight = 188.5 lb ( - 2.8 lb) So, basically… w00t!

I went the other way on the bike path near my house and LOVED it. It's funny how habit sets in so that I just kept going the other direction. This way wrapped around the back of town with really interesting juxtapositions of nature and graffiti. Plus, I forgot how much I love seeing the light filtering through trees when I'm just wandering around. Yay!

Finished mini-challenge for week #2. Rawr. Perhaps it's time to update my attributes with my haul thus far.

Excellent! I've been meaning to find a new area to wander around lately. Maybe I'll go the *gasp* other way on the epic bike path that goes by my house. Or further a field for some hiking in the great outdoors. Only time will tell...

Week two check in, engage. I forgot to mention that I completed the side step test for the week 1 challenge, earning the easiest but possibly most embarassing +1 DEX (poor rating, indeed). This week, I managed to meet both of my exercise goals and make some serious headway on the week 2 strength challenge (9/15 minutes). Tracked and ate under calories 4 days this week, but tracked for 6. Also the study plan is going strong. Despite work being crazy, all you rebels are keeping me accountable. Thanks!

Keep up the good work, mist! FYI - the challenge goes until July 3rd, which gives you a bit more time.

Check in time... I met all of my goals my first week!!!! Managed to do cardio three times (running from zombies, spending a day walking around my hometown, and a circuit type cardio video on one of the really hot days). I got my butt into gear and completed three sets of the beginner bodyweight circuit twice. I tracked my calories 6 days meeting my calorie goal. As a result of all these healthy habits, I even managed to lose 2 pounds. Talk about a sweet reward for hard work! I got through my studying goals too, so I'm pretty stoked about how things have been going. This week is on a pretty good track too, although I have eaten over my calories once or twice, but still managed to track everything. Not too shabby, I'd say. I hope everybody else is having success and moving past any minor set-backs!

The sticker thing totally works for me. It's immediate feedback, and it's always in front of my face in the morning and evening, which makes it harder to avoid the accountability. I'm mostly studying medicine and pediatrics for my far off boards in a few years. It's going to be a studying marathon, but hopefully will be doable and make the crunch before those important tests less overwhelming ad brutal. I used to combine reading and exercise, but I also just couldn't focus on either one as much as I wanted to. Thanks for the support!!

I hope it's not too late to post my goals for the challenge. I've been working on it all week, but time has been quite short for posting. Annyshay Hobbit Adventurer STR 3, DEX 2, STA 2, CON 2, WIS 4, CHA 2 Starting Weight (6/16) - 191.3 The thing that I really need to work on is consistency. I know how to eat well, exercise, and lose weight. Instead, I make excuses, indulge, and give in to my laziness. When I get sick of sucking, I usually go way over board with huge goals and crazy plans that aren't sustainable. Not this time. This time we're making reasonable action-oriented goals and aiming for consistency. No more excuses. No more good days and bad days. Just consistent positive behavioral changes. How will I do this? First off, I've got a rough equivalent of a sticker chart on my fridge that keeps me honest about what I've done when. On it are exercise, nutrition, studying, and a few other things that I want to keep track of. For consistency/success in any of these domains, I have to accomplish the task 6 times per week. So, here's the details... Fitness/Nutrition 1) Track calories using myfitnesspal and be under goal 6 days per week. (+3 CON, +2 WIS) 2) Beginner Body Weight Circuit two times per week. (+3 STR) 3) Cardio three times per week. (+2 STA, +2 DEX) Life Goal 4) Stick to my study plan - every week: 3 articles, 2 chapters, 1 page of notes for each (+3 WIS) Here we go!

Hi everyone! Sorry... I'm actually on one of my very few vacations, so I may be a bit absent for a while. Doing well with the life goal... but the rest are sort of by the wayside. I totally approve of slayers or any of those names really. Can't help letting my Whedonverse love show. Just a quick shout out for now. Hi squad!

I'm in! Woot. http://nerdfitness.com/community/entry.php?4206-It-s-Challenge-Time!