twoheadstalking

Thanks for running this and to all who took part! This was my first mini and it was so much fun Sorry I also bailed, seems this was a tough time on many of us. We will smash the next one though!

Time to catch up on unanswered questions: Hey Inazea - I can't really answer since it went so badly lol. But I like the idea, and it doesn't seem too bad. The main things I found was to keep the meals at reasonably regular times and to drink lots. I'll try it again sometime soon so can hopefully give a better answer then! Thanks for this - I have added it to my reading list. This is amazing advice, and although I failed this bit of the challenge I will certainly have these as my next phase of push ups. The feel so much better than knee ones and are still quite a challenge. I have a wooden box that is a really good height for me right now to do these on - thanks Tash! Disaster! I hit an even worse patch, and everything went out of the window. It has lead me forward though... Almost - new post soon. This, so much this. This entire challenge was a disaster, but there are some rays of light. I realise I set myself too high targets to start with, and didn't prepare for any rough patches. When they hit (and they hit super hard) I couldn't deal with them and fell off track completely. However I did keep the walking going, kept food tracking, improved what I was doing at work, and got a lot more done at home. Now on to the next challenge, good luck everyone!

Thanks for checking in on me Wobbegong! I didn't forget but - the first few days of the challenge went really well... then everything fell apart (again). It's been a rough few weeks and I've been trying to check in on things occasionally and have done what I could towards the mini-challenge (which has been great fun and an extra motivator!). Pretty much my challenge has gone out of the window (again!). It's not all bad though, since even though I have not been officially following my challenge I have been doing well at the "stop the time excuse", "work", and "maintenance" parts. In particular the last couple of days have given me a lot to think about, so I will probably spend the next week doing what I can and thinking about the next challenge so I can hit the ground running in week 0. I'll also get back to the points above - I have been slacking My sincere apologies to those I started to follow, I'll try to catch up soon.

Glad you had a good Monday! Hope you can take that momentum and use it to crush your busy Tuesday, but don’t be afraid to take a few minutes to yourself too.

Do you make you own guacamole? Store bought seems a little expensive to me (though super tasty!) it definitely has to better than bread and candy for you

I did, so will add it! Glad I am joining the party

Good challenge goals there which feed in nicely to your overall goals. Good luck and keep us updated on the progress!

I think you just described me... I love these goals - challenging, achievable and realistic. The days off will give you the freedom to make sure you nail the walking 5 days a week. Aiming to make the teeth brushing a habit will turn it into something that happens naturally (this is how I now make sure I take my meds each day, and now haven't skipped a day since June). I started at a slightly heavier weight than you and highly recommend looking at your diet if you can. Don't go crazy with it, i.e. going from what you eat now to nothing but salads with no dressing for every meal, but see if there are any small changes you can make. The approach that has worked for me has been trying to eat "better than before". For example I had a chinese takeaway on Saturday night, but rather than eat 3 containers + rice to myself (like I would have done previously) I ate 1 container + half the rice. Was this a "healthy" meal? - hell no. But it was enjoyable, with good company and a treat for me. No regrets there. Good luck with your challenge and if you have any questions do ask.

Warning: a couple of "adult" words used in this post. My last challenge the non challenge was quite an adventure, starting out as a disaster before fellow rebels came to the rescue and turned it into a positive event. This challenge I aim to build on the successes, while also trying something new and different. *incoming wall of text* For as long as I can remember I have been trying to "fix" my life. The ultimate aim was to get to my ideal sort of life, even when that was (as it still is) somewhat ill-defined, but since my current life has always been clearly broken fixing it seemed like the sensible thing to do. Screw that. I want to make a transition into this new, better, happier(?) life. I still don't know what it is exactly, but I know some parts of it and I want to get away from the mindset of just working on fixing broken things. That always reminds me of the negatives, the things that need fixing, all the things that are wrong with me etc. I want to focus on the positives, the good things about me and my life, and the good things that will come. In some ways little will change since I will still be doing the same things, but looking at them from a different perspective. I guess I will also be looking at a few different things too. Week 0 was a miss for me, the week went by super quick with work and a few other things going on, so the challenge will have to start today. I did manage to jot down a few ideas though, so have a bit of an idea. However the challenge may not be fully formed yet and is subject to change throughout. In addition to the usual things, I seem to have started a new relationship, so it will take some working out how to fit that in alongside all of my normal activities. Having been single for rather a long time it's all rather new and confusing and I'll have to see how to mesh everything together. The transition challenge: Drink water - at least 8 glasses of water a day, every day. No excuses. Push ups - do some every day. These will start with knee push ups as that is all I can manage at the moment, but if (and only if) I can I will try for full push ups. These are to be done every day, no excuses. There is no reason why I can't manage at least 1 push up per day (thanks @Bean Sidhe for this excellent suggestion). I can do as many sets throughout the day as I feel like, of any number of reps per set - the only criteria is I do at least 1 per day. The goal here is to get to a full workout each day, and this is a starting habit towards that. No more going for the big workout and hitting burnout after 2 days! Intermittent fasting - I've heard good things, and don't eat breakfast anyway so lets give this a proper go. No eating between 9pm and 11am. The goal here is 6 days a week, 7 would be good but I will allow myself 1 screw-up a week! Stop the time excuse - I am a great user of the "I would do x but I don't have time" excuse. This is bullshit. If I really want to do that thing then I could make time for it, but I choose not to. Sometimes this is because I don't know how to make the time, other times it is because I am afraid of something, other times it is just plain easier to use an excuse than do the thing. This is stopping me from doing things that are good for me (cooking meals, working out, going for walks, meditating etc.) and things that I enjoy (chess, playing WoW, going out with friends etc). I don't yet know how to make this an actionable target, but stop using this excuse and do things! Work - for a while now I have been doing an ok job at work, but not committing myself properly. Underlying this is the fact that I am not happy there, and should find a new job. However in the short term I know I will be staying there so I need to re-engage and do a good job. There have been a few comments from co-workers and I personally am not happy with how I am doing so I will strive to be more focused, get more done, and get ahead with my workload. NF forums - people on the NF forums have been an immense help to me the last few months since I joined. Now is the time for me to give back and get supporting! Maintenance challenges - keep tracking my food intake, keep weighing myself daily, keep measuring myself and taking progress pictures weekly, keep walking regularly (keep that average over 4k steps a day!), keep working on my list. TLDR: transitioning from "old me" to "now and future me" by starting to live the life I want to live.

Wearily stumbling into the inn looking for a refreshing pint of ale, the traveller known only as TwoHeadsTalking sees the poster advertising for help wanted.Is he too late to volunteer his services? Would the group be interested in the materials he collected yesterday, as it was a fruitful day? I.e. can I join in? If yes, can I add my walk from yesterday (Sunday) onto the sheet or should I start from now?

1) I'm TwoHeadsTalking, back for my 4th (I think) challenge, a little late due to an odd and full week. 2) With a doubt the people - the support, encouragement, kindness and insightful advice is mind-blowing. You are all amazing people 3) Chess - playing, reading , watching, thinking about. Hard to describe how it makes me feel. Recently I have not been involved enough, and with the new season starting up I want to get more into it again. 4) I don't really have a favourite holiday spot (due to a distinct lack of holidays), so its a random gif instead!

No problem, so did I! Hope your challenge went well. This is a brilliant idea, and I will do it. I'm definitely guilty in the past of going all-or-nothing with attempts to exercise, which inevitably have failed. Next challenge will just be daily push ups (of some variety). Regarding the list, it now stands at: List 1 - must do: 0 List 2 - important/improvement: 68 List 3 - when time: 29 Unclassified as of now: 0 Total number of tasks: 97 so I definitely consider the last week of the challenge a success. I also feel much more comfortable with the list now, which is a bonus. This challenge started terribly for me (as the title says, a non-challenge) but with the help of you amazing people it got turned around onto my best one yet. So much progress has been made, and it has given me the confidence to keep building on these things and in my ability to adapt when things don't go as planned. The weekly mini challenges worked out really well and all the advice you gave helped me immensely. I really don't know how to thank you all enough, all I can offer is a picture of a smiling doggo (alas not mine)

Most of my walking is "functional", that is a means of me getting somewhere (work, meeting people etc.). I normally listen to podcasts to learn stuff as this helps me with both anxiety issues and also I get to learn and exercise. If never feels like exercise though as it always has another purpose, which is why I do it - to trick myself. I was thinking more of I am not doing any strength exercises at all which I want to fix. Having said that yesterday afternoon I went for a walk across the tops of our local hills, approximately 5 miles. Being a recreational walk it gave a chance to enjoy the views, fresh air, and chat. It was good, although the blisters are less so. Me neither, it can be fixed though! Bonus challenge update: it was more terrifying than I thought, and despite copious planning it went quite badly. However the outcome was incredibly positive, almost the best possible. It still has a chance to all go horribly wrong, but I needed to do it and am glad I did.

*continue rant about how insomnia sucks* 18 items on the list completed since last update. It now stands at: List 1 - must do: 0 List 2 - important/improvement: 143 List 3 - when time: 22 Unclassified as of now: 3 Total number of tasks: 168 Yes that is way more than before, as I have pretty must finished expanding items into their component tasks and new things have popped up along the way. I'm pleased that list 1 is being kept under control at all times, now I need to hammer in to list 2. Goal: achieved Work challenge: achieved - this is all going ok Home/personal challenge: mostly done. I forgot about answering that question again! Mini challenge 3: 8 Oct-15 Oct Goal: kick some butt Work challenge: Stay on top of things and ensure all "must do" tasks are completed each day. Bonus if I can make progress on "list 2" items. Potentially tougher this week as there are a few more things going on. Home/personal challenge: Push hard to get through the list. I want to get it down as much as I can this week as I feel I am not spending enough time relaxing, due to thoughts of "omg that is such a big list!". Some focus will be required, but I can do this. Bonus challenge: currently top secret. It exists, is terrifying, and needed. Some random thoughts: I have been doing no exercise apart from a bit of walking to work etc. This sucks - an item for next challenge maybe? I have been walking. This is good - and I have been doing more than I realised. Not so long ago averaging 3k steps a day was impossible. Now it's at least 5k on average, mostly 6k+. How did that happen? Despite lack of exercise and some poor diet choices I am still losing weight. I weigh myself daily but focus on a weekly average. Today marked the 21st day in a row that average has decreased! Since I started weighing myself daily I am down over 9kg (~20lb) and roughly 23kg (~50lb) below my heaviest. As part of my sorting I have been going through some old clothes, and discovered a bunch of trousers/shirts/t-shirts that now fit again. My wardrobe has pretty much doubled without having to buy anything new! The downside(?) is some of my older clothes are too big now (that is something I never thought I would be able to say). Happy Sunday folks.