Son of Zurg

2019 has got off to a good start; bare-ass-minimums are being met and I'm seeing results. My minimum requirement has been 65% consistency with my exercise and nutrition habits and I'm hoping to raise the bar on that one by the end of the year. It's March though, so we'll stick with March's goals. So far in 2019: Overall Nutrition Consistency: 89% Overall Exercise Consistency: 90% Success in the Slipstream Challenge looks like 65% consistency with each habit set. 19 gold stars out of 28 will see me high-fiving myself. No loot this month as I'm literally spending all the dollars this month. All of them. Best of luck with your challenges, Nerds. I'll check in at the end of four weeks!

So that's done! 85% on the nutrition habits 90% on the exercise habit Not bad going. Thinking of keeping a running total for the year, but I might bail on that if it starts to look depressing! So far in 2019 Overall Nutrition Consistency: 89% Overall Exercise Consistency: 90%

For this challenge I'm looking to achieve my BAM's for the month. The current BAM is 65% consistency on my nutrition and exercise habits. 18 days success for each habit counts as a win this time instead of 19 to give me some slack for the week of traveling I'm doing. Most likely won't check in until the final day. Good luck to everyone on their challenges and a quick round of internet high-fives to get us started! See you all in 28 days!

Hey Nerds, Challenge completed; report time! Overall Nutrition Habits: 93% Overall Exercise Habits: 95% That's way over the BAM's (Bare-Ass Minimum's) so I'm pleased with that - pink lacrosse ball ordered! Hard to say what I learned through this process, but for next challenge I'm going to keep the BAM's where they are. I'm traveling for a week which is going to need management. See ya'll again on February 11th!

Happy New Year Nerds! My level one challenge showed me that I'm not nearly as consistent as I thought I was, so this challenge is about increasing that slightly. I've been following along with the Precision Nutrition scheme since July last year and I started using a habit tracker to keep an eye on my PN habits. It turns out that I've been roughly 60% consistent with each of my habits since then so I can't help wondering what an extra 5% consistency is going to look like. There are a whole bunch of habits to be following from the first six months of the program and more will be added during the challenge, but my focus is on the few that are making the most difference to me personally. Nutrition-wise that's eating smart (lean protein, smart carbohydrates [read: complex] and lots of the fruit/veg stuff) and in terms of exercise it's simply exercising regularly and stretching to aid recovery. Regular exercise means the three-a-week schedule from the muscle building track. The Target I'm aiming for 65% consistency through the January challenge. 19 ticks for each habit qualifies as a win and to celebrate that I'll buy myself a bright pink lacrosse ball for future challenges with stretching and mobility work in them.

Way to go Rusk! Keep kicking it while it's down too I've been Type 1 Diabetic for the past 23 years, and I've recently felt like I was kinda lucky to get it. I think it forced me to consider my life options a bit more carefully than my healthy (is that the right word?) friends. High sugar levels apparently cause a catabolic state in the body, which can obviously be a pain if we're lifting heavy things. Keep good control & keep working hard!

Day 13 Nutrition: Very nearly missed the habits today, managed to eat enough in a sensible, but contracted, amount of time. Exercise: I feel awful today. I'm giving myself a free pass on the habit tracker for today; I'm here to enjoy the process, not to call myself a failure because I'm ill. Savings: In the pot.

I started the program in July, so it's week twenty for me, so we could have been in the same intake. I'm happy with the way they teach there; it's actually changed my way of looking at health and fitness which is remarkable considering the short time I've been on the program. That's the biggest plus, I think; the change in attitude I've got. It's a little difficult to quantify, but I'm enjoying the muscle gain track and I don't feel like I'm in a rush to gain. Stats-wise, I've gained 40cm all round; 5 of those are my expanding waistline the rest is muscle (mostly). Some of the habits were a bit of a struggle, and something in my brain actively fought me when I was supposed to be tracking my food intake - I manage 2 out of 14 days for that one. I'm enjoying the process of working through what exactly it is that's stopping me from doing that habit. Day 12 Nutrition: Did well today! Packed lunches again in the bottom of the pram whilst out with the family. Nutrition habits achieved. Exercise: Anticipated a 7am visit tot he gym before going out. Didn't anticipate the extra sleep I'd have because lifting weights makes me so tired No gym, but getting dragged around parks by my niece and nephew counts as active recovery, even if I am wiped out again. Savings: Put them in yesterday because I knew I'd forget with the family activities today.

Cheetah, that's exactly what I needed to hear Hopefully the same is true in the slow cooker if I remove the brisket as soon as it's ready. Day 10 A little late with this one. Nutrition: Survived a day with the family causing chaos! Woohoo! Took a couple of meals with me in tubs & kept chowing down. Exercise: Got this done early in the morning before chaos happened; smart move it turns out. Savings: In the pot Day 11 Nutrition: Fail. Got most of it done; lean protein, fruit & veg, smart carbohydrate choices but only ate twice not enough food for gainz (yes, with a 'z') Exercise: Moved my gym day to tomorrow morning and went for a long walk in the early evening. Savings: In the pot.

That's awesome! If it doesn't feel good, it's unlikely to stick anyway, right? I've had that happen time and again when I've started over-ambitious exercise programs and eating plans. Internet High Five for starting with the basics and enjoying it!

Day 9 Family just moved in for Christmas, so life has gone from smooth to bedlam in just a few hours. Lets see what this is going to do to my routine... Nutrition: Beef brisket today. That might technically be a fail as 'lean protein' is specified, but I'm going to call a mulligan on that one since I'm eating four meals a day and meat is expensive. There's more in the slow cooker for tomorrow. Exercise: Gym day and a quick one. Got in and out in 35 minutes, including warmup. Got as much of a sweat on as Sunday though, but my shoulders are going to survive until the weekend. Savings: In the pot.

This is SO on my assassin to-do list. I'd literally high-five myself if I could turn backflips. Soon. Real soon.

You and me both, Doc I spent five days of last week trying to justify why I didn't go to a yoga class. Keep up the good work for this week. To me it seems like health and fitness is mostly a case of just showing up and you were nailing it last week!

Internet High Five! Quite right. "And peanut butter" elevates good to great. Day Eight Nutrition: Working well; I'm putting some beef in the slow cooker tonight (Italian style), so the kitchen should smell amazing first thing tomorrow. I achieved my nutrition habits and managed to pick a sensible option whilst eating out for breakfast. Exercise: Stretching with Fitness Blender again today; I'm loving the idea of stretching whilst watching a TV show, though that could be a challenge for another month. My inner assassin is bothering me for some attention. Savings: In the pot. This challenge is really helping with actually remembering to do this on a daily basis.

+1 that. Knowing what can be done differently next time is important. You don't need a coach or outside assistance there, you're still sailing the ship (riding the bull/unicycle, walking the tightrope etc. etc.) Looks like a great first week of the challenge. Keep knocking 'em down & best wishes for the week ahead!

Internet High Five! Me too! Abso-bloody-loutley! Good luck with the challenge. Following.

Thanks CMoo, I debated a few days about following the plan rigidly, but decided to pack it in rather than fight it. I'll just have to remember to think my choices through a little bit more in future I figured. Day Seven Update: Nutrition: A good day today. Managed to get a new blender and made the worlds ugliest protein shake with it. I'm going back to PB, chocolate and banana shakes tomorrow - you just can't go wrong with that right? Exercise: Gym day & I procrastinated hard about going to get it done. I've no idea why that is, I really enjoy picking heavy things up and putting them down again. Dragged myself over there at about 3pm and modified the workout to keep me in the free weights area. Got done a lot quicker that way. Workout days are increasing sets for the next couple of weeks so I'm keeping weight the same and doing more work with it. That should only last a couple more weeks and I'll be in for some kind of change. Savings: In the pot

Day Six: Nutrition: Made it through today just about! Veg delivery happened at 6pm so I actually managed to squeeze in my five portions between a fruity snack and dinner. Boom. Exercise: Another HIIT workout today. Another first this one; I used the "this is important to me" statement so i could make my exercise habit happen. I'll hope to use that statement again post-challenge. I've just realised while typing this that I haven't practiced squats today, so I'll go do that after. Yoga: I'm gonna stop updating this one Savings: In the pot first thing this morning.

Day Five Update: Nutrition: Bit of creative scrounging around and I managed to hit my habits for the day; pretty pleased with that as there was zero preparation. Ordered vegetables, only just remembered the protein while I'm typing this so I'll do that next. Exercise: See Yoga Yoga: Did NOT go to the class. Didn't want to I followed a Fitness Blender stretching routine before breakfast and felt quite happy about it. Savings: In the pot.

Day Four: Nutrition Habits: Done and Done. Got my meals in. Haven't prepped much for tomorrow and I need to order meat/veg to be ready for next week. There's a four day weekend here so I've got two hopes of that happening. Trip to the supermarket coming up this weekend, just to get me through until Tuesday. Exercise Habits: Done. Today was gym day and I feel like maybe PN were letting me off as it's the last day of the week and I've been working my butt off. Still left in a sweaty mess, but I was able to walk down the stairs without holding on to the wall. Yoga: Ear-marked for tomorrow morning. Got a meeting that I'm calling an end to 15 minutes early specifically to go to this class. Savings: Ching. In the pot.

That's at a class. EDIT: While I'm typing I got thinking/realising that I would be happy following one of the NF Yoga flows at home, or following a stretching program like I did yesterday. That'd be awesome. I just don't want to go to a class.

You're preaching to the right crowd That's a huge issue that needs dealing with sooner rather than later. Keep up the good work!

Day Three: Nutrition Habits: A win for day three. All meals eaten. Satay chicken prepped for tomorrow. Exercise Habits: Rest day, so followed a Fitness Blender stretching program. Savings: Ching! Yoga: Planning on doing that on Friday, but only because I said I would. I'm still resisting this one, for some reason.

Off to a good start too, CMoo! I'm loving the idea of saying something positive to yourself each day; that's something I might consider doing in a future challenge. In fact, I wish I'd done it this time instead of yoga

Good luck Mist! Watching to see how you get on with the challenge.