Malva

batty, if you are in San Diego you should totally be able to do some awesome gardening at this time of year! I love the winter garden uz the weeds don't grow so fast LOL. I am growing kale, bok choy, swiss chard, green onions, lettuce (several kinds...)... also parsley is still growing as it likes the cool weather. go for it! seeds are cheap!

Obviously I just cannot get into the groove for this challenge. I am giving myself an incomplete (I) and withdrawing. Hope everyone has a great challenge and I will see you all during a challenge in the future. btw I am planning on doing the 5k this weekend - but I will be walking it LOL as I suffered a foot injury. Still, I won't be missing it entirely.

Week One: Goal 1 - 5k prep wk 1 - this week has not been a big push for the 5k LOL. I did mow some on the path, so I guess that excuse is out of the way... Goal 2 - two other exercise days per week wk 1 - check! Goal 3 - diet: cut grains wk 1 - doing well, one serving or no grains per day so far this week, eating non-grain snacks, cottage cheese, apple/pb, yogurt. also reading the marks daily apple site a bit for learning purposes and downloaded his free ebook about primal workout. read through most of that. Goal 4 - keep the table clear wk 1 - check! Goal 5 - making the shoes wk 1 - good progress, went over the pattern/instructions carefully, made note of supplies I need to purchase. 40% off coupon for hobby lobby this week Goal 6 - make plans for xmas gifts, homemade and otherwise wk 1 - still in brainstorming phase, but I have a couple of good leads

Hi Rainin9! Hmm, I also have a race planned for that weekend in October - mine is on the 8th. Mine is half the length of yours, but since I am twice your age does this make some kind of mathematical equivalency? LOL So I am assigning myself to be one of your race prep buddies Hope you have a great challenge!

OK also have as a goal to post each week a minimum of one time on my challenge thread and whatever the squad rules are - I will keep up with that.

OK I am in for this challenge - and I finally have an event to work toward: a 5k race. Our small home town (how small, you ask? under 1000) is celebrating it's centennial this year, and the "Citizens for a Better Community" are sponsoring an obligatory 5K race. No excuses for me - the weather has cooled off, the race is right down the road, the admission fee is cheap, the kids can enter too. ::Sigh:: time to do it. I guess. So between now and October 8 I need to brush off my C25K app because I have not done any running since about May, due to the brutal heat and infestation of chiggers/ticks/snakes etc. Also the race will be on pavement and my experience running on pavement is, about a minute and a half. Then I turned around and headed back to the dirt LOL. Not sure how to handle this, actually. Goal 1: The First Annual Legend of Boggy Creek Monster Run. Get ready and do it: October 8. Yes there is a Boggy Creek Monster - it is like a bigfoot. Check out the following movie for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Boggy_Creek Yes, that is my hometown. Yes, I live here and yes, it is that crazy LOL. And, yes, there will be someone or several someones dressed in monster suits at the race. Any excuse to roll out the monster suit. Goal 2: Two other exercise days per week. Whatever they might be - yoga, bodyweight routine, even a gardening workday if it is a really hard day. My discretion to decide, in other words. Goal 3: Diet - cut grains. I am giving up on tracking calories for a while. I just can't keep up. I have to do something, though, so I decided to cut grains. One or two days each week I would like to be grain free. Otherwise, just a small bit, maybe at one meal. For snacks - got to find something else. No buttered toast! LOL I love toast. And cereal. No cereal! But sugar is allowed (I don't eat that much anyway) and dairy is allowed. What about potatoes? Haven't decided yet. Goal 4: Life goal - clear the table each day. That means craft and kid's school stuff has to be put away!!!!! Goal 5: Just go ahead and make this new project I want to try so I can stop obsessing about it all the time. It is making your own shoes - yes shoes!!! Looks so simple - just a simple pattern. Just make them already and get on with my life! Goal 6: related to above goal - start figuring out the homemade Christmas gifts I need. Maybe shoes for everyone....? OK signing up for weight loss squad - I know I am doing a running focused challenge, but weight loss is the overarching theme of all this fitness effort. Plus this will be an intro to spreadsheets, as I have zero experience with them. I am not that kind of nerd. Starting at 210 lbs, age 40.

I am giving myself a C. I didn't flake out entirely but I could have pushed harder to meet the goals I set. I did just enough to get by, but did not set any new levels of awesomeness. Several factors affected my challenge. First is the massive heat wave we are enduring. According to my log this reached crisis level about the end of week two and has not relented. We have had over 50 days over 100 degrees (avg. year we get 7!!) Also no rain. It is debilitating. Second we had a computer glitch which changed my routines and so I stopped posting here, but I did keep on with the challenge. Third - a relative was very ill for a period requiring a fairly large time investment plus much worry. Fourth, we are a homeschooling family and our kids school year started. Getting into our school routine took top priority. But back to the challenge results - so grateful that I was participating, to keep me mindful of my fitness/health needs in spite of all of the above. Here is a not very exciting report: Goals: Do a bodyweight workout whenever I can - aiming for 2x week. I did ok here, meeting this goal 4 out of 6 weeks, with one week that I did nothing and one week that I did one workout. This is a big improvement over 0 workouts each week, which is what had been going on for a while. (Track my diet again with Lose It app - slow but steady weight loss is what I am looking for.) After a couple of days of consideration, I think I need to focus on some tracking, but also pay attention to what is throwing off my tracking. Why could I keep this up for so long, then it all fell apart? Get to the bottom of this! I was not consistent with tracking. I did force myself to do it for a couple of weeks, but then a combination of losing interest, computer problems, not charging my ipod etc, caused me to just give up. I think one of the barriers to tracking is that it is a lot of trouble to enter the foods when I cook from scratch. Also the weather has been so hot that it is hard to cook - too hot in the house - and too hot to want to eat. A few bites here and there is a pain to log. Eat at least one homegrown or locally sourced meal per day. Basically perfect on this goal. I was probably doing this already, but I wanted to be more aware of this. It was a good exercise, and I am feeling better about all the money I spend on my chickens and garden. Follow my housecleaning calendar. I did ok with this. I am making an effort to keep up. I did establish a better chore schedule for the kids and this requires that I keep up with my side so they can do theirs. It has been a success so far. I am at least looking at the calendar and most of the days doing something on it... Pay attention to my mood and do not lose my temper! Be respectful of others. My attitude has been deplorable and it has to stop. UGH yes I am keeping a lid on it and trying to shift my attitude when I start slipping.

I am giving myself a C. I didn't flake out entirely but I could have pushed harder to meet the goals I set. I did just enough to get by, but did not set any new levels of awesomeness. Several factors affected my challenge. First is the massive heat wave we are enduring. According to my log this reached crisis level about the end of week two and has not relented. We have had over 50 days over 100 degrees (avg. year we get 7!!) Also no rain. It is debilitating. Second we had a computer glitch which changed my routines and so I stopped posting here, but I did keep on with the challenge. Third - a relative was very ill for a period requiring a fairly large time investment plus much worry. Fourth, we are a homeschooling family and our kids school year started. Getting into our school routine took top priority. But back to the challenge results - so grateful that I was participating, to keep me mindful of my fitness/health needs in spite of all of the above. Here is a not very exciting report: Goals: Do a bodyweight workout whenever I can - aiming for 2x week. I did ok here, meeting this goal 4 out of 6 weeks, with one week that I did nothing and one week that I did one workout. This is a big improvement over 0 workouts each week, which is what had been going on for a while. (Track my diet again with Lose It app - slow but steady weight loss is what I am looking for.) After a couple of days of consideration, I think I need to focus on some tracking, but also pay attention to what is throwing off my tracking. Why could I keep this up for so long, then it all fell apart? Get to the bottom of this! I was not consistent with tracking. I did force myself to do it for a couple of weeks, but then a combination of losing interest, computer problems, not charging my ipod etc, caused me to just give up. I think one of the barriers to tracking is that it is a lot of trouble to enter the foods when I cook from scratch. Also the weather has been so hot that it is hard to cook - too hot in the house - and too hot to want to eat. A few bites here and there is a pain to log. Eat at least one homegrown or locally sourced meal per day. Basically perfect on this goal. I was probably doing this already, but I wanted to be more aware of this. It was a good exercise, and I am feeling better about all the money I spend on my chickens and garden. Follow my housecleaning calendar. I did ok with this. I am making an effort to keep up. I did establish a better chore schedule for the kids and this requires that I keep up with my side so they can do theirs. It has been a success so far. I am at least looking at the calendar and most of the days doing something on it... Pay attention to my mood and do not lose my temper! Be respectful of others. My attitude has been deplorable and it has to stop. UGH yes I am keeping a lid on it and trying to shift my attitude when I start slipping.

Ugh the photos also make me nervous. Some of the etsy photography is first rate, and others, not so much. I don't want to look like a schmuck. Glad you are going for it, maybe soon I will too. Of to check out your shop now...

Share a link to your etsy store! I love to look at etsy stuff and have been thinking of putting up a store myself. Just keep worrying about setting it up "right." All that stuff about - you must choose the perfect username and can never change it and can only have one store ever!!!! - is making me nervous LOL. Reassure me, please

My mom is gone vegan - she also doesn't want to eat soy, so she uses almond milk in her coffee. I think that almond milk is "more paleo" than soy milk, so maybe you could try that. It is for sale at our grocery stores in the health food section and in the dairy section.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing your before and after pictures - really inspirational! I wish you even more success in the future.

I enjoyed watching your video - I feel like I know you a bit now, you look so happy and relaxed in the video. I did a challenge in the spring that finished at my birthday. I was a great way to approach the turning of the year. I hope yours is successful as well!

Great goals, Fergus! Welcome to the challenge. Good one! Please consider yourself encouraged, as well

Love your new profile pic! I am totally with you on the goal of not losing your cool - a recurring problem with this (ahem, anger management, anyone?) is what actually sent me back for this challenge. I have taken a couple of challenges off due to heavy work schedule - but I need to get back to self-control, and a planned, non-reactionary lifestyle. Hoping this challenge helps me focus. Off to list a real goal about this, thanks for the inspiration. And your workout looks bad-ass. I am doing the just the opposite, candy-ass LOL. But I AM doing it!

OH PLEASE YES! I NEED A SIX WEEK CHALLENGE!!! This summer has been too hard on me - I am worn down almost completely. I had such a great positive experience doing NF challenges from the first of this year until probably May or so, when things got so busy I thought I had to give something up to keep my sanity. In retrospect, giving up the fitness challenges was not the best idea. I need to do something for myself, and if I don't put it on the schedule, evidently it ain't happening. I am keeping the goals very attainable because the last thing I need is more frustration. Do a short bodyweight workout whenever I can - try for twice a week. Start tracking my diet again - this was so easy for a long time - why has it turned difficult? And follow my housecleaning schedule. Thank you, Nerdfriends! I need support during this challenge. I need a helping hand. Better find a guild to join or something...

Wow - that is an awesome race story! Three cheers from me

So sorry that you are suffering with plantar fasciitis - I have been down that road and it is not a fun place to be. In fact after several years pain-free, I am starting to have some twinges in my right heel and this is really bumming me out. I think I went too long without getting new shoes also too much walking, like you said. I know you asked for suggestions besides cycling, and the rowing machine is a good one I think. But just to let you know, I credit using a recumbent stationary bicycle for helping to heal my plantar fasciitis the first time - it took two years (!!!) to recover, but I did have a full recovery - until now, that is. I did learn a series of stretches and exercises from a physical therapist, and they helped a lot, but I think the thing that really pushed me toward healing was regaining lost strength in my affected leg - through the cycling. Rowing would probably do the same. Best of luck with your recovery. I don't know what to do to head off this new pain I am having but I sure hope I can figure something out...

Well, I have been absent and not working much on my challenge goals at all, due to heavy obligations in other life areas. However that will be finishing up next week. I haven't even been logging my food - which I have been doing consistently for six months! Just letting things go one by one in order to cope...

I am stumbling along toward my goals - doing fine I guess, but my mind is on other things LOL. I knew this would be a busy time in many areas of my life, so I almost let this challenge go by without participating, but I am glad I did because without it, I probably would be doing nothing, fitness-wise. Wk 3 - got my housekeeping goal basically completed - putting all winter clothes into storage and taking castoffs to donation center. Wk 4 - struggling to focus this week but hoping to pull it together!

LOL that video was awesome! Never seen it before - thanks for the link. Muscle soreness - I do advil LOL. I don't have any chronic problems with this, though. In the beginning of working a new muscle group, yes it can be bad, but it seems like after an initial period of soreness, the workouts don't produce soreness anymore. Maybe I am not working hard enough LOL.

242 g protein! please post some meals, I want to get some protein ideas from you!

MMM I love that kind of taco salad! I also make what I call hamburger (or cheeseburger) salad - lettuce with a hamburger on it then everything that you want on a burger - pickle, onion, jalapeño, bacon, a bit of mayo and mustard on the burger. Yum! In the summer I make BLT salad. Oh I am getting hungry for salad thinking about all these. Might make taco salad tomorrow

Awesome, Faline!

Hmm - well as my ideal weight is 135 lbs - according to some chart or another - I would have to lose a lot to get there. 100 lbs almost exactly from where I started (this time ::sigh: in Dec 2010. I have been thinking in terms of approachable goals - like my first goal is to get under 200 lbs. So I set a goal on my calorie counter of getting to 198. I am currently at 215, so when I reach 198 I will revise my goal - my current plan is to get from there to 185. Then to get to 165 - an emotionally troublesome weight for me, so I want to live there for a while and get it under control. From there? I am not sure that the "ideal weight" is really my goal. Johnny - like you say, I want to take a while to get there. Slow is good - or it feels good anyway. It feels real. Cita - I read your blog a while back and it is amazing. What a great story and you are so upbeat work so hard! I have been meaning for a while to tell you how amazing I think you are, so I hope you read this!!! I encourage everyone to read Alecto's interview with Steve that he links to above. Good stuff - real stuff. No gimmicks. Just the kind of hard work and consistency that has paid off for him and Cita and lots of others, so I know we can do it too! Let's all stick together!