otterbyte

You were right! I found the correct formulae for ladies and plugged those in instead. Much more sensible numbers, now. By no one's calculations could I possibly be considered 13% body fat!

Yay! You must be so (rightly) proud of yourself. I just realized that at the end of your handstand you look just like your avatar. Kewl!

^Exactly. You upped your WIS score.

Thanks for the link to that chart! I made a copy to use...I've been looking for something like this for a while.

Looks like some solid goal meeting going on in here! I bet the next one will be even better. Is it crazy that this is part of my motivation for getting in shape? That and the collapse of civilization. Though that last one doesn't seem as far fetched these days. But I may be watching too much CNN.

Such an assassin-y challenge and you rocked it! Way to go, Ms. Pond.

Look at all those improvements! You definitely nailed this one. If you're not sure, just assume it's sweet sweet gainzzz. Looking forward to following your progress in the new challenge...

Look at you, pulling ahead at the finish line! Congrats and see you next time around, right?

Oh my gosh, no words. Losing your dog is awful, even if it's expected. And then dealing with what happened to your friend...I can see why it seems too much. I'll echo what folks have said here; take care of yourself so you can step up for your friend. Keep doing healthy things, because it will help you feel better, but don't worry about goals for now. There are times in life where it's a victory to just hold your ground. I wish you and your friend the best.

Congrats on so much awesome during this challenge. Can't wait to see what you get up to next!

Week 4 Wrap-up Diet: 13/14 - So, I managed to take care of remembering to drink my water by having a super-convenient water bottle around at all times. Now if I can just do the same thing with fruits, I should stop slipping up with this. Grade: A- Fitness: 12/12 - Staying on course, though this week was tough. Busy week, a lot of workouts got done super late, which meant less sleep, which meant even more tired/sore than usual. I think I can get this, but I need to do something so it’s a fun challenge and not a grind. ‘Cause this week felt like a bit of a grind. At least I feel ground. Grade: A Life: 13/14 - Coding is also happening too late most days, but I’m so happy about how much more I’m getting done, I don’t even care. But I know that it’s also something I have to be better about moving to earlier in the day, for my overall sleep health. The house is looking *so* much better this week. Some stuff I’ve done earlier in the challenge is starting to bear fruit and the effects are snowballing. Grade: A- Though my numbers this week are a bit worse than last week, it’s not statistically significant. I’m pretty happy with the last 7 days, and I’m looking forward to the next challenge. Lots of ideas already for that! To the next challenge!

Week 4 Updates Day 4.1 Fitness: Yes. Just my PT exercises. Pretty wiped from last week, so I decided to move my rest day up from Monday to today. Diet: Fruit + Veg: Yes. An apple, a sumatra, and mushrooms in the chili. Water: Yes. 8 glasses Life: House: Yes. Dunno if this counts, but we went out to dinner with my mom-in-law for her birthday. It’s been ages since we’ve done that, and I miss it. I am doubly blessed in having 4 wonderful in-laws (hub’s parents are divorced and both long remarried) that I love. I don’t see them as much as I’d like, and it was great to be able to just sit down and hang out with them. Maybe not great for keeping Code: Yes. A good hour and a half. Day 4.2 Fitness: Yes. Did the Fitness Marshall + Startbodyweight I skipped yesterday, and PT exercises. Diet: Fruit + Veg: Yes. Satsuma and mushrooms in the chili, and the return of sweet potatoes. Water: Yes. 10 glasses. This is definitely getting easier. Life: House: Yes. Made a bunch of follow-up calls with doctors. Which I don’t like, but I dislike having it hanging over my head more. Code: Yes. Just half hour, but done. Day 4.3 Fitness: Yes. Satsuma and sweet potato, and some pre-cooked veggies @Bighara made in bulk. Have I mentioned how much I love his cooking? And the fact that he’s doing the cooking? Diet: Fruit + Veg: Yes. Same as yesterday. Why fix what ain’t broke? Water: Yes. 10 glasses. Life: House: No. Sigh. Tuesdays are tough days. We’re out of the house almost all day, and then back out in the evening. I just kept the laundry and dishes monsters somewhat contained, and that’s it. Code: Yes. Just half an hour. Can’t do more on Tuesdays. Day 4.4 Fitness: Yes. BollyX and PT exercises. Five people in class today! Usually it’s just two, so it was nice to see new faces. Diet: Fruit + Veg: Kinda. Mixed veggie and sweet potato, but NO FRUIT. So frustrating. See? This is why I set small goals. Apparently I suffer from a type of brain damage that causes me to forget what a fruit looks like. Water: Yes. 9 glasses. Life: House: Yes. Took the car in for a tune-up, which it needed, but I fear I’m going to get bad news when they give my 12yo minivan a once-over. Code: Yes. An hour. Day 4.5 Fitness: Yes. Went to PT in the morning and kickboxing at night. Is it stupid that I love it when I go to PT because that means I don’t have to worry about the exercises at home that day? Diet: Fruit + Veg: Yes. Clementine and sweet potato. Water: Yes. 9 glasses. Life: House: Yes. I was right. The van needs work that costs more than it’s worth. So, we’re going to need to do car shopping. Ugh. Most of the stuff can be put off, but the tires are in such bad shape they’re unsafe. So today is all about getting new tires put on so I can drive around for the next few months without a blowout. Code: Yes. Half an hour. Day 4.6 Fitness: Yes. Had PT again. Didn’t do anything else because I’ve been feeling really run down. Maybe not getting to bed until after midnight for several nights may have something to do with it? Nah, couldn’t be. My guess is that it’s sunspots. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Diet: Fruit + Veg: Kinda. Made 15-bean soup again, so I got my veggies there, but again, no fruit. Honestly, we went through it faster than I’d anticipated and there wasn’t any in the house. But I could have made a smoothie! Ugh. Gotta make sure we don’t run out again. Water: Yes. 8 glasses. Life: House: Yes. Thing 2 finally got her piano lesson! Unlike Thing 1, Thing 2 is a homebody and almost never asks for stuff that involves going outside of the house - I’m usually pushing her a bit so she doesn’t turn into a shutin. So when she asked for piano lessons, I really wanted to come through for her. And today was the first lesson, and she loves the teacher. So, phew! Code: Yes. An hour today. Day 4.7 Fitness: Yes. A Diet: Fruit + Veg: Yes. Bought a big bag of clementines *and* almost a dozen apples. Ready for the next challenge! Had a clementine, sweet potatoes and mushrooms. Must research if there are orange mushrooms. I’m guessing yes, but probably poisonous? I’m guessing poisonous. Water: Yes. 9 glasses. Life: House: Yes. Broke down and bought a nice stick vacuum to replace our nearly useless upright. It’s super light and the hand vac part comes out for smaller stuff. It’s rechargeable and has attachments and I love it. Cleaned up 3 canisters’ worth of pet fur the big vac missed. Code: Yes. Just half hour, and squeaked it in last minute, but I got it done and I didn’t have to post any monkey poop during these 4 weeks! Scoreboard for Week 1: FIT \\ KB X X X || STR X X || PT X X || PT Exer X X X X X \\ DIET \\ Fruit&Veg X X X ⊗ X ⊗ X || H2O X X X X X X X \\ LIFE \\ Code X X X X X X X || House X X O X X X X \\

This is fantastic! CONGRATS TO YOU!

Hey, it's tough for all of us. Thing 2's TKD school has a class of 3-4yo's called 'Tiny Tigers' and they adora-freakin-ble. With their tiny, intense shouts and feet *everywhere*. What I would give to have that energy and stamina! So sorry to hear about your da. Hope he's feeling better soon and he can get the treatment he needs.

I'm not smart enough to participate in this amazing political dialog, but I think this is correct : You people should run for actual office, by the way. Your arguments are so compelling, I don't know *which* side to rep for!

This is definitely squee territory! I send you this:

Congrats on all your gainzzz but especially on this! From what I understand from folks who've been through it, it's a really tough habit to kick. Go you!

These are beautiful! I'm always so impressed by people with manual skills. Looking forward to seeing updates on these. Did you mention what the significance of the rhinoceros beetle is to you or why you chose it? It's such an interesting critter.

Oh, that book terrified and fascinated me when I was younger. Still does now, I suppose. Much more frightening than anything by Stephen King, because you could see how a society could devolve into that for real. A reminder to us all, as I'm sure Orwell intended. Double plus good book, indeed.

Sounds like you're getting set up perfectly to absolutely rock the next challenge!

For comments, I've had success with putting an explanation at the beginning of each logical chunk of code. Then I might add a few in-line comments, for particularly obtuse logic. I try to imagine that someone else will be reading this code, and will need to understand it. Actually, that's not too far from the truth. When I look back over the code I wrote five or even 10 years ago, I'm certainly not the same person as I was! As for my dog: oh I hope the dogs are planning on taking over. That means we can trade and I can do his job, which seems to be mostly lounging on the couch and begging for treats.

Hey, the whole point of all this working out is so that I *didn't* have to hide this body anymore Anyhow, it's all part of my midlife crisis. And it's cheaper than buying a convertible, so don't complain.

I'm doing something similar - VBA programming for MS Access. ITA that the worst is having to get your head back into the code after putting it down for a while. One of my challenges this month has been to code at least 1/2 hour per day, and the biggest benefit of that has been that I'm never completely lost when I get back to it. Which means I don't have to spend the first 15 minutes going, "and what the heck was I doing here, again? I don't even know what this code means!" Of course, being good about commenting helps, which is something that years of being bad about it have *finally* taught me. I'm also using an online bug tracker called Fogbugz (they have free version for individual users) that helps me keep track of all my open cases, communicate about them with my clients, and write notes to myself about what I've done and what I need to do next. Though, honestly, you could do much of the same thing with Google Tasks; I just like the setup Fogbugz has. I will admit that more than once, my 'rubber duck' has been my husband or children. Or the dog. He always looks so interested, it's very encouraging.

Don't worry, I won't get mad! It's definitely not a cuisine for people who are used to a more spicy flavor profile. It's mostly based off of Italian and Spanish (as are the people) so except for the occasional pasta arriabiata, you're not going to get tons of intense flavor of that sort. But if you like grilled food, there is nothing finer than sitting at the elbow of the asador and getting strips of entraña right off the grill, still pink inside and seasoned with chimichurri. I would always volunteer to be my dad's grill helper growing up, and I would eat easily half a pound of steak as he gave me bit after bit to 'test'. (He may have spoiled me a bit.) Man, I miss my dad. But it's a happy missing, YKWIM?

Oh I feel for you on the scariness of code. Have you tried rubber duck debugging?