Gothic Hippie

@raptron Mohawk vs Deathhawk And yeah I have, much easier to go with a work out buddy though.

I know the challenge is over but here is my last update: Thursday 21st June Upgrading my life: Completed. Driving Theory - Not completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 10 crunches - Not Completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Not Completed. Cooked today - Not completed. Basically just ate toast all day and chips, I know this was really bad but I also think I needed to stock back up on carbs. Gym - No. Angus didn’t go to the gym today so I didn't go either. I ended up watching TV all day. I went out in the evening though so that was nice. Friday 22nd June Upgrading my life: Completed. Driving Theory - Not Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 10 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Completed. Cooked today - Not completed. Had oats for breakfast with chia seeds, peanut butter, banana and a little bit of golden syrup. Picnic in the afternoon with friends. Ate humus, cucumber and lettuce sandwiches. Gym - Not completed. Angus was having a rest day as he did a lot of other exercise yesterday. We went to the field and played with a ball and Frisbee though. Saturday 23rd June Upgrading my life: Completed. Driving Theory - Not Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 10 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Completed. Cooked today - Completed. Gym - Completed. Worked on arms today and felt like I kinda knew what I was doing. Sunday 24th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Driving Theory - Completed. Read through 5 chapters in the book! Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 10 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Completed. Cooked today - Not completed. Ate left overs from yesterday. Gym - Not completed. Monday 25th June Got my hair cut today into a death hawk and I’m super happy with it! Something I’ve been wanting to do for a very long time and finally did it quite impulsively. Need to practice putting it up but even having it down feels amazing! Upgrading my life: Completed. Driving Theory - Not Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 10 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Not completed. Cooked today - Not completed. Gym - Completed. I felt really good during today’s session as well as afterwards. I did rowing and worked on the leg machines. I felt like I accomplished something and that I’m making progress. I feel determined to keeping going to the gym and push myself to get fitter and stronger. Level of Completion: Upgrading my life Finish my Final Unit at college - Completed Book Theory Test - Completed. Bonus: Read through 9 chapters of the book as of 4:30pm on Tuesday 26th June. Upgrading my body Chin Up - Complete a full chin up by the end of the challenge. Not completed. I can do 3 in a row consistently, 4 or 5 on a good day. I have done 5 chin ups on 27/28 days. 30 Crunches on at least 20 days - Not completed. Completed 30 crunches on 10 days. Completed 10 crunches on 4 days. 14 days in total. Barefoot walking 10 mins as many days as possible - 18 days completed. Bulk cook/prep at the weekend at least twice - Completed. I cooked 9 times. Gym - I went 5 times in 9 days. I’m happy with my progress through this challenge. I don't think it is important to keep doing crunches as I am now going to the gym regularly. I have been eating better and now I am going to the gym, I am more motivated and able to cut out the junk. I need to get over needing a work out buddy because it isn't always possible to go at the same time as Angus. Our rest days often differ too as he does sports as well, meaning I need to get my butt to the gym even if he isn’t!

Yeah they do have free weights but I'm pretty new to everything in the gym so I have no idea what to do or where to start. I've tried looking on youtube and things but they're mostly 5 minute workouts or home/bodyweight workouts.

Wednesday 20th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Driving Theory - Completed flash cards. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 10 crunches - Completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Completed. Cooked today - Completed. Repeat of yesterday’s meal again but cooked fresh veg. Gym - Yes. I don't feel like I did very much today and I still don't have a clue what to do when I go into the gym. I mainly did cardio today I guess. It felt good though and I’m feeling more positive in general I think. I need to work out my plan for when I go into the gym again and I want to use some of the resistance machines. Feel like this might actually be the time I get my fitness sorted out!

Monday 18th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Driving Theory - Completed flash cards. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 10 crunches - 60 completed (As part of gym session). Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Completed. Cooked today - Completed. Fake meat thing from the freezer with vegetables and gravy. Gym - I took it slower today, my calves were hurting from yesterday. I worked on abs and thats about it. I did some thigh and glutes as well as some easy bike machines. Tuesday 19th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Driving Theory - Completed flash cards. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 10 crunches - Completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Completed. Cooked today - Not completed. Repeat of yesterday’s meal. Gym - Rest Day. I was in a lot of pain today with my calves. I was also very tired and generally drained. It has been hot and muggy weather wise as well which doesn't help. I did walk for about 45 mins today and this did ease my legs up a bit but not much. It’s now towards the end of the day and my legs feel like they are getting better. They might still be bad tomorrow and then get better but hopefully I’ll be able to do a decent gym session tomorrow. I’ll still go even if I do stretches and other muscle groups.

Thursday 14th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Not completed. Cooked today - No. Friday 15th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Not completed. Cooked today - Made a green smoothie with oat milk, spinach, banana and peanut butter. Saturday 16th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Completed. Cooked today - Not completed. Sunday 17th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Now being changed to: Looking at driving theory. Today I went over the flash cards I previously made on stopping distances. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 10 crunches - Completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Completed. Cooked today - Made a green smoothie with oat milk, spinach, banana, cashews, chia seeds, nutritional yeast and peanut butter. I bought a gym membership today and did a gym session. I haven't been to the gym for about a year and even then it wasn't properly. I don't know how often I’ll use it but it was good today and I was surprised by how well I did considering I haven't done any proper exercise for several years. I went easy on the resistance machines for legs and arms but went hard on the cardio so my calfs will probably kill tomorrow. I am planning to go tomorrow as well. If I only do some stretching and core work that’s ok, but I want to do some cardio too.

I don't really remember what I have or haven't done in the last week and a bit so this is as close to what I think I achieved as I can remember. Not updating my document on a regular basis really put me off updating it. Because I wasn't updating it, I didn't have the drive to do the tasks. But now I'm back up to date so should be able to make more consistent progress. Saturday 2nd June Upgrading my life: Made my drafts for the title pages which took a lot longer than I expected as I decided to put all the sources I used in each section down. I updated my bibliography in the process as I’d had to find and put in another 13 references. It was fun though and I got into the flow of it while singing to some classic rock tunes. Booked the test today for 14th July at 11 am. I also did some work on learning the theory. I read and answered the questions for one of the 16 sections and I feel pretty confident about that section now. I made some flash cards for stopping distances and now I know them. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. These seem to be getting easier again. I can now do about three (still not full ones unfortunately), one after the other. 30 crunches - 30 completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - walked barefoot for about 20 minutes today. I walked up to the uni and then ran down the field just because I had the urge to run. I kept going till I got to the footpath and then walked home. It was fun and it felt really good to stand at the top while I could hear the music from the Uni’s summer ball. It just reminded me of a quote I heard. Something like ‘While you're out partying, someone else will be working their ass off’, I don't know who said it though. It just made me feel proud of myself for getting things done today. Cooked today - No. I ate left overs and cereal and toast. I also had some of yesterday’s smoothie leftovers. It didn't taste anywhere near as good as it did yesterday even though I kept it in the fridge overnight. I did also make a cupcake in a mug with some chocolate pieces in it so I’m not doing too great with giving up the junk. Sunday 3rd June Upgrading my life: I got a lot done and I am basically ready to hand in my project. Went through flash cards. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - 30 completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - completed Cooked today - I ate left overs and cooked pancakes. Monday 4th June Upgrading my life: I had the day off so no progress. No progress. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. These seem to be getting easier again. I can now do about three (still not full ones unfortunately), one after the other. 30 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - I did walk barefoot for about 10 minutes but I also walked about 15 minutes the rest of the day. Cooked today - No. I ate left overs and made chocolate milkshake I think but again I can’t remember. Tuesday 5th June Upgrading my life: Finalised my project, only thing left is the website. No progress. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. These seem to be getting easier again. I can now do about three (still not full ones unfortunately), one after the other. 30 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - I walked for about an hour today but non of that was barefoot. Cooked today - No. I ate left overs and garlic bread. Wednesday 6th June Upgrading my life: Completed and given in today! Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Not completed Cooked today - No. Thursday 7th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Not completed. Cooked today - Yes, BBQ with friends over. My brother also cooked for this and made WAY too much food! Left overs for at least the next week. Friday 8th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - Completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - completed. Cooked today - No. Saturday 9th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - Completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Completed Cooked today - No, but I did bake a cake. Sunday 10th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - Completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Completed. Cooked today - Yes. Big pasta sauce to go with all the left over rice and couscous. Monday 11th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Not completed. Cooked today - No. Tuesday 12th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Not completed. Cooked today - No. Wednesday 13th June Upgrading my life: Completed. Completed. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - Not completed. 30 crunches - Not completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - Not completed. Cooked today - No.

Monday 28th May Upgrading my life: I finished the summaries of my research project today including a summary of the summaries. Felt impossible yesterday but now it’s done. Today I am facing a similar challenge: ‘How are you going to use your research?’ I have no idea where to start but I thought doing a bit of a blog on here might get me into writing mode. No progress. Upgrading my body: I did several chin ups yesterday, I forgot to count how many, but I feel like my body has forgotten how to do them. I might have not done some for a while so I need to do a set number every day. I might start with a minimum of 5 per day. These can be spread out through out the day. 30 crunches completed. I found it difficult to start doing them again but by saying to myself ‘just do 10 now and then you can stop if you want’, I managed to get through the whole set. Walked barefoot to my friend’s house around the corner and back again. This and walking home after the party with heals in hand probably added up to about 10 minutes. No cooking today, I had garlic bread when I got in at about midnight. Tuesday 29th May Upgrading my life: I started the seemingly impossible task of answering the question: ‘How are you going to use your research?’ I am now on 653 words and I have only talked about one out of four major parts of my research. I feel a lot better about it this though. When I have finished the first draft, I have to send it off to be checked and then probably make adjustments to it. No progress. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - 30 completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - went for a 40 minute barefoot walk with a friend and climbed two trees. It had rained very heavily in the morning so I didn't want to push my luck with the trees. Cooked today - no. I made a salad for lunch at about 4:30 with lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, olives, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and cashews. I also put some balsamic dressing with it. I had left over veg casserole with pasta for dinner. Wednesday 30th May Upgrading my life: Feeling pretty good about how much I got done today! I finished the first draft of my ‘How are you going to use your research?’ essay and emailed it to my tutor. I also typed up 6 show reports, a sheet of announcements and standard procedures, wrote my show week blog and made a picture sheet of actors faces and make up testing. I feel pretty close to finishing, one more full day of working on the project and I will be finished. What a great feeling. No progress. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - 30 completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - walked barefoot for about 15 minutes today. Cooked today - yes. I had garlic bread for lunch and I made a good salad and vegan meatballs for dinner. Not so good choice and a good choice, its better than two bad choices. I can eat left over meat balls for lunch tomorrow with some veg casserole. Thursday 31st May Upgrading my life: Had a break day today, I was in college doing special effects make up today. I got some photos and some estimated times for application too. No progress. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - 30 completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - walked barefoot for about 40 minutes today. Cooked today - no. Bad day for healthy food. I bought all three meals today and they were all pretty unhealthy. I over ate so much and had lots of green tea. This was me slipping back into bad habits. Friday 1st June Upgrading my life: First draft of whole project review done - I will most likely have to come back and change this as I didn't have the criteria with me but I have a first draft so yay. Planned to took at the dates available and book it tomorrow. Upgrading my body: 5 chin ups - 5 completed. 30 crunches - 30 completed. Walked 10 minutes barefoot - walked barefoot for about 10 minutes today, also walked about 10 minutes in flip-flops. Cooked today - Yes! I finally cooked today and it was really satisfying to produce a healthy meal that was filling and tasted great! It was a bunch of veg in tomatoes made into a sauce to go with pasta. I have made a load of it so that will keep me going for a while. I’m trying to make a green smoothie to take with me for dinner tonight as I feel very full and like I have been eating junk food recently. Failing the smoothie, I will eat pasta with the sauce again. Overall feeling pretty good today. I also managed to change my sheets, hoover, change the towels and generally reset my room and I feel much happier because of it. I'm pretty pleased with how I've done this week, logging it everyday to upload later definitely helps keep the momentum going.

@lauragee Yes I've gotten a lot further from where I started but now I feel like I've hit a plato. I need to figure out how to get past it and make it feel like a possibility again.

I'm not entirely sure if my challenge fits in with the Assassins but I think it kinda does and the other challenges seem encouraging. One month until I am completely finished at College and I am released into the world to start preparing for Uni. I'm 20 and still don't have my life together but that's ok, I have a summer and that will be the next challenge. But as for this challenge, I have 4 Weeks, 28 days to complete: Upgrading my life Finish my Final Unit at college - I'm hoping to finish this by the end of this week as my deadline is 7th June but I have a lot of work to get done! Book Theory Test - This takes 10 minutes. Book it for the end of June or middle of July. - If I book it, I will have to study for it and I will have to pass it, I need to be able to drive and I can't until I pass this stupid theory test. Upgrading my body Chin Up - Complete a full chin up by the end of the challenge, I can currently do a chin up from standing with my arms at right angles and lower myself down to hanging. 30 Crunches on at least 20 days - Finished doing 30 days of crunches but that was 10 days ago and I've only done one set since. Barefoot walking 10 mins as many days as possible - I walk every day anyway but I don't always walk barefoot. It makes me a lot happier and feel more motivated when I do. Bulk cook/prep at the weekend at least twice - Last challenge, I only managed to bulk cook once and this isn't as curtail now as I'm not in college as much any more, but I can be lazy so I need something to dip into during the week. Ok, Challenge starting tomorrow, but I'm starting now to get the momentum. Good luck everyone!

End of this challenge, that snuck up on me a bit. Time to reflect and plan for the next challenge. 1. I completed my 30 days of crunches challenge. If I missed a day, I didn't try to catch up the numbers the next day, I just made sure I didn't take more than two days off. This technique really worked for me and I will use it again in the future. I started on 11th April, finished on 17th May - 37 days, I'm happy with that. 2. I think I was too ambitious with my original chin up goal. However, I am now a lot closer to being able to do a chin up so that is a win. 3. I would day I failed my cooking goal. I think I cooked one big meal this month. There were lots of left overs from what my dad was cooking and I made the one meal I made, last all week. Even if I don't prepare the food, I need to make sure I take enough of the right food to college with me to stop me from buying unhealthy food at college. So thinking ahead for next time; I want to keep a chin up goal but I need to figure out a more consistent routine with this. I also want to keep a cooking/food prep goal but again need to think of realistic goals and routines. I have now not done any crunches since the 17th May, I need to start this again or create a new stomach exercise challenge. I have some other life goals I want to add as well but more about that on my next challenge post. Challenge Finished!

Ok, Update Time. So in 8 days, it will have been a month since I posted this challenge. 1. 30 days of crunches - Completed on May 17th. I've taken 2 days rest as a reward for finishing it and today I will continue doing 30 crunches. I will keep track of when I do them and if I increase the amount. But for now, I want to stay with 30 and increase other goals. 2. Do a chin up every time I walk into or out of the kitchen - This has changed significantly. I don't do this every time I walk into or out of the kitchen and I don't do it when I walk past the bar. I tend to do it when I see the bar and see it as a challenge. Luckily, I'm starting to crave the challenge and the reward of being able to do a chin up. I am able to do a chin up from standing so my arms are almost at right angles and then lower myself down slowly to completely hanging. I then try and pull myself back up but with very very little success at the moment. I am getting closer to being able to pull myself up from hanging and I am excited for when I do. This excitement and the realisation that this is a very real possibility, a not too distant possibility, is continuously urging me to keep trying. It is a very contagious thought. 3. Cook at least 1 healthy meal every week in May - Not completed. However, my cravings for junk food and unhealthy snacks have faded again. They're still there, but easier to ignore again. I made veg pastry pie last weekend and have been eating it this week. I have cooked at least once this month and it was healthy so that is something. I knew I would be busy and I thought cooking once a week would be asking a bit much but its a good goal to aim for. I will keep this goal for the next time. I will be busy this week too. I will cook tonight, but I'm not sure how healthy or clean it will be. Anyway, I feel rested after have DSM'd 2 shows in 3 weeks. On to the next one tomorrow, luckily I'm only operating sound in this one and I might be doing some lighting operating and design for a music gig on Wednesday. Lots of printing paperwork out and making sure my research project is ready to be marked. Generally, feeling positive.

Hi, I've just read through this feed and it's been really inspiring to read your daily struggles and successes! It's so great that you can keep your spirits up to find new solutions even when you've hit a bump in the road. To go from 10 minutes of yoga to an hour in about a week, that's definitely something to be proud of. Keep up the great work and I hope you keep getting closer to your goals!

Thanks! When I started, I couldn't do one at all, now I'm nearly able to do one from hanging - I feel so close but yet so far!

I have changed from doing it every time I walk into the kitchen, to doing it most times I walk past the bar. I have been a lot more aware of my snacking habit and I am definitely closer to doing a full chin up