jonfirestar

I seriously respect you for being able to not be lazy and go and workout! I used to work long hours (up to about 18 months ago)and I felt like all I was coming home to do was eat and sleep. Amazing stuff keep it up!

Dude, you are rocking the badassery! I am in awe of how much you have got done. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks, happy to have you along for the ride! BTW love your username! Yes they really do! Thanks for the encouragement. I'm feeling a little crappy at the moment and might need it this week.

Woot! It is easy to feel this way sometimes but it's all about making the right choices for your health and your body. The numbers will catch up. Congrats on having such a good week and for winning the weeknd step challenge!

Sorry to hear about your injury. It's great that you are getting it taken care of and fantastic that you are sticking with us! Keep up all the good work. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Looks like you just pipped me to the post I did put in the effort do do some walking yesterday but mostly just lounged around and read. Days 8 and 9: Start of the new week but it happens to start on what are my rest days. I also had a day off work today because it was a holiday so there wasn't a great deal of goal reaching to be done. I did go out today and got in a lot of movement and walking so that is good but otherwise things went to plan. Survival: No work to take lunches to but kept my food diary up to date. Score: 13 (+2) Training: Nothing to report, rest days and no work for cycling. I'm waiting on delivery of new brake pads for my bike and once those are fitted that'll be all finished. Score: 8 Mind and Spirit: I've managed to keep up with my meditation and study. As mentioned before its only a 20 minute commitment and honestly I find it very hard to find excuses not to just get on and get it done. Score: 17 (+4) Back to work and a gym day tomorrow so there should be a little more going on after that. I'm having a tough time sleeping thanks to a lingering ear infection and I'm going to make another appointment for the doctors this week to see what's up with it. Every time I think it's gone it comes back and the last few days it has been worse than ever. It doesn't hurt unlike when I first got it but it is really, really uncomfortable.

Day 7: End of the first week and I'm feeling pretty proud of myself. I only dropped two points altogether and those were more due to absent mindedness than willful self destruction. So thats a bonus. To end out the week, I've managed to lose 3lbs! So I'm pretty stoked about that. I've now lost 30 lbs since the beginning of the year. (I lost a bunch and gained back most of it before I started again a few weeks back). Survival: Not really much to say. I have my food diary planned for the week and I stuck to the plan. All is good. I'm feeling happy and satisfied. Score: 11 (+1) Training: What I wanted to do today was stay in bed until it was time to hit the weights later this afternoon. Instead what I did was go for a long walk first thing is morning to the Highstreet and sports store (thanks @T2sarahconnor) About 2 hours there and back again. I did buy the stuff I need to fully repair my bike so I intend on spending tomorrow playing with that. I hit the gym in the afternoon and did my strength training program as planned. I'm seeing definite gains in strength with some of the stuff being easier with me getting more reps in and filling out the sets more easily. Score: 8 (+2) Mind and Spirit: Read an entire chapter of my course and immediately followed it up with my meditation Score: 13 (+2)

Oh you are quite right. Last year I'd easily have finished off the packet myself. If not two. Besides I really have come to the conclusion that in order to succeed you need to make sustainable lifestyle choices. Saying 'I am never going to eat X type of food again' is just not sustainable and when you fail you feel terrible. It's a vicious cycle. On the other hand making a conscious decision to just be mindful of when you eat that type of food. To have it occasionally and being fully aware of your actions. You can sustain that. Just own it, accept it and move on.

So what you are saying is the answer is D&D? Wait, wrong D&D!

Day 6: Not much to say about today. Most everything went to plan. A rather annoying co-worker brought some donuts into work and tempted me until I had one. I'll admit that he was right and they were super fresh and very good but I'd have been just as happy if he'd not told me. Survival: I didn't forget to pack my lunch today! Woot! I kept my food log. I ate 2 donuts but honestly its the first thing like this I've eaten in a month so I'm not going to beat myself up over it. Score: 10 (+2) Training: Not a workout day but I did cycle in once again. I kept otherwise relatively active with nearly 15,000 steps. The cycling is adding a few more steps, with the distance I walk from the bike racks to the bus stop and then on the other end from the stop to the office its added about another 3000 than I normally would get. I'm trying to get into the habit of taking a short break from my desk every hour. Just a trip around the data floor. Enough to get a little movement. I keep forgetting but it might be something to work on in a future challenge Score: 6 (+1) Mind and Spirit I hit my commitments to study and meditation tonight. Normally I'd have blown this off with Friday night syndrome but the challenge is every day. I'm very happy with the progress i'm making with study. Score: 11 (+2) All in all I'm happy with how the work week went

Hell yeah you are!

Day 5 A bit of a mixed bag yesterday. I felt a bit rough in the morning. To the point where I was seriously considering calling out of work but I picked up during the day and by the time evening came I was feeling pretty damn good. Survival: My first fail. Despite the fact that I took the time Wednesday night to cook my lunch for the rest of the week I ended up forgetting to take it. It wasn't until I was basically at work that I remembered! I considered my options for a long time and even thought about having a McDonalds grilled 'chicken' salad even though I consider it to be one of the most foul things in the universe - the chicken tastes like spam (which I don't particularly like) and my brain does backflips when I taste it. I ened up eating a sandwich and small bag of doiritos. Not great but it wasn't as bad as a bucket of fried chicken. I did update my food diary so at least I got that. Score: 8 (+1) Training: I hit the gym tonight! Doing the weights session that I swapped out on Tuesday. Felt pretty good coming out of it. I actually cycled to the bus station this morning! So thats a positive step forwards. My bike really still needs a few touch ups but I did realise it would be quicker to do that today because of the Reading Festivial grinding the town to a halt. Score: 5 (+3) Mind and Spirit I did my study tonight and finished out the chapter even though I was pretty wiped out by the time I got round to it. I'm enjoying the progress just this much commitment has made. I meant to meditate but I fell alseep instead. Oh well Score: 9 (+1)

ohh so ruthless! I'd expect nothing less.

Thanks! This livened up the office a little this afternoon

How did she see through my bravado!? What kind of sorcery is this? I call foul play. Challenge accepted, *swallows nervously*

Yeah, thats why I end up doing my workout late in the evening. Which reminds me. Less talking more gyming. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Oh now I feel terrible about being in the lead. How will I ever live with myself? Tell you what you can have some of my steps! I have some to spare ;-) Every couple of months we get pizza in at work. Every time I tell myself I'm only going to eat 2 slices. I've never once stuck to that! Well done. Seriously impressed! You rock. I was shooting for 300 total. Thanks for keeping me motivated. I just keep thinking anything is better than nothing. i don't even think I could eat that big of a piece of pizza! Sigh, right now I think I could!

That button is like an addiction all to itself. The more you hit it the more you want to hit it and the harder it is to stop.

Thanks man! Means a lot. I'm trying to drive through. Motivation is fleeting so a life skill that I'm working on is to try and do things I'm not motivated to do in the moment to acheive the bigger goals that I have.

I've legit used it as a matra before! Sometimes life gets like that and all you need to do is to remind yourself to keep moving forwards towards your goals. You'll get there. You'll get through school and you will be fabulous at your wedding!

Thanks. I'm pretty determined not to give up so quickly and appreciate the support!

Day 4. This was actually a rough day. I didn't sleep too much last night and when I did sleep I was pretty restless. Today I've felt pretty burnt out from the word go and have been running on caffeine for most of the day. Woot. Survival: Thanks pretty much only due to the fact that I've already prepped for this and just have to follow the plan. I took my lunch to work, didn't eat fast food and kept my diary. I did feel pretty hungry for most of the day though which I've not had for a while. Score: 7 (+2) Training: Not a work out day and nothing to report. I somehow managed a lot of steps. Sometimes my job does that to me. At other times it does the opposite and I end up sitting in a meeting for 8 hours. I took a walk around the lake. Yesterday it was a brisk walk today it was more of a gentle stroll. It was so hot (for England) that I don't know I could have managed more even if I'd tried. I try not to complain about the hot weather though, we get so little of it. Score: 3 Mind and Spirit: I thought long and hard about taking one of my built in days off from study. I didn't though. I pulled out my book and did my reading. I admit that committing to just 15 minutes a day is a lot more effective than I ever thought it would be. I'm actually making good progress. So feeling good about this one. Did my 5 minutes meditation. Almost fell asleep. Or maybe I did for a second or 2 Score: 8 (+2) So far so good.

Kind of what I was trying to say but you said it better than me!

Hello! I feel you! Sometimes you just wake up and wonder how you managed to let it go on for so long. It's never too late to start to change and the sooner you do it the better it'll be. The important thing is not the fall but the drive to make positive change! Best of luck with your journey and if there is anything we can do to support your efforts don't be afraid to ask.

Just one foot in front of the other, metaphorically speaking. You'll get there if you keep going. You can do this!