Dyego

A report for 12/6 +5.48 miles Dyego Walks to Mordor! Time Spent Walkin': -- Miles Walked So Far: 21.15 miles Current Leg of the Journey: Hobbiton to Rivendale Last Milestone: Climbed a steep slope, camped in a firwood over the top of the hill. Ate at the campsite as a new day dawned, and then started on my way to the road rolling up and down.

Update on yesterday: Did my exercise, but it was a long, rough day at work so I broke down and had carbs and sugar. In my defense, the carbs were in a gluten-free english muffin absolutely drowning in Kerrygold and cashew butter, and the sugar came in the form of figs...stuffed with goat cheese and wrapped in bacon. So even on my bad, breaking-down day I still did better than I used to by a long shot. No writing, though, but I'm okay with that. I can catch up today and tomorrow. Will be updating my battle log to cover the exercise done yesterday. I'm trekking to Mordor, slowly by surely!

Well, thank you @Wobbegong!! It has been my best challenge by a long shot. Third time's the charm, right? This week has been going just as strong as last. The momentum is up and I'm going to keep riding. Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy Do your new diet There is a gaster, and I have flabbered it. I am absolutely stunned by how well the diet is going this time. I've done semi-okay on the south beach before, but since I've been systematically lowering my sugar for the last few years anyway, I've been able to keep to it. My veggie intake is better, my carbs are down, my sugars are rock-bottom, and my fat/protein is amazing. Exercise three times a week for five minutes 1/3 accomplished Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard I'm pretty much over the carb flu and sugar withdrawals, so today I crushed this! I wrote more today than I did all last week. Holla! (I...I can't really pull off a 'holla.' My bad) Total Words Added Today: 1008 Total Words Written (This Week): 1,008 Words Need for This Week's Goal: 5,992 --------------------------------------------------------------- Total Words Written This Challenge: 1,826 Epic Quest #3: Summoner of Worlds (Or: Designing and Publishing my Boardgames / Videogames) The second playtest has been rescheduled for Wednesday. We both should be able to make it this time. Reformatted the rules to be actually readable by somebody who isn't me! That's good, right? Current State: Second Draft Playtest

A report for Friday, December 1st: +6.84 miles Dyego Walks to Mordor! Time Spent Walkin': 10:53 minutes Miles Walked So Far: 15.67 miles Current Leg of the Journey: Hobbiton to Rivendale Last Milestone: I saw Hobbiton disappear behind the rising slopes, stopped in a birch grove and ate a frugal supper, reached Stock road, and then began to sing while walking between tall trees.

My weekly recap! I did not achieve my creative goals, but man did I CRUSH my fitness / health goals! Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy (Or: Losing weight. End Goal: 230. Current Weight: 267) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #1 WEEKLY WEIGH-IN: 259.3 (I lost 8 pounds!!) Do your new diet (Paleo-ish + Candida + South Beach Diet) Progress: NAILED IT! I kept to my new way of life. I have been Sogar (sober from sugar) for seven days now. The only added sugar I've had was less than a gram a serving in my various almond / cashew butters. It was absolutely rough dealing with sugar withdrawals and carb flu, but I pushed through it. I still crave them here and there, but I've been using my 20 seconds of courage every day to push back against them and I'm doing fabulous. I cannot wait for this coming week! I get to make Kung Pao Chicken, one of my all-time best and favorite dishes. Yeee! Exercise three times a week for five minutes Progress: 5/3 Accomplished, OVER-ACHIEVER! I am loving the new colder weather. I added more walking on Friday and twenty minutes of exercise yesterday to bring me up to 5 times this week. Woo-hoo!! Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard (Or: Writing and publishing my next novel by the end of 2017) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 Write 7,000 words a week I took it easy on the creative challenges this week because I was dealing with a lot of changes in my diet and honestly, just making it through work was hard enough. But I still managed to write a little, which is more than enough for now. This coming week I plan to up the amount written, despite a heavier work load, and I'm going to crush this one next. Time to reset the word count. Total Words Added Today: 0 Total Words Written (This Week): 0 Words Need for This Week's Goal: 7,000 --------------------------------------------------------------- Total Words Written This Challenge: 818 Epic Quest #3: Summoner of Worlds (Or: Designing and Publishing my Boardgames / Videogames) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 The boardgame playtest did not occur yesterday, as both parties (me and the other) were unable to make it. However, I did work on the art and thought about the rules a lot in my head, which counts! This week will be better. All in all, this was an amazing week and I feel amazing. I am loving my new way of life, lost eight pounds, and haven't felt this awesome in a long time. I still get the carb flu and sugar cravings in minor form, but they're easier to deal with. I am so excited!

More good news! Did some weight-lifting today, as outlined in my battle log. My shoulder is sore from sleeping on it wrong, so I didn't feel safe pushing it, but I still exercised. Woot! The carb flu / sugar withdrawals hit me hard today, but I fought back, had a bunch of electrolytes, and am making it through. Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy Do your new diet Still no added sugar. I've added some more beans to my diet, and had some black bean / flax / corn chips with salsa, but I limited my portions to about a 1/5 of what I usually eat. Getting hammered hard, but that just means it's working. I am crushing this. Exercise three times a week for five minutes 3/3 accomplished!! Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard Dealing with the effects of my diet has made me fuzzy and unable to truly write, but I've written every day regardless. It's small bits, here and there, but it's progress. I may not meet my goal this week, but screw it! I'm going to keep writing anyway. Total Words Added Today: 271 Total Words Written (This Week): 818 Words Need for This Week's Goal: 6,182 --------------------------------------------------------------- Total Words Written This Challenge: 818 Epic Quest #3: Summoner of Worlds (Or: Designing and Publishing my Boardgames / Videogames) I arranged for the Second Draft Playtest to occur this Saturday. Woot! Current State: Second Draft Playtest

Dyego Lifts The World Warm-Up: 5 minutes of swordfighting Cool-Down: 5 minutes of Yoga Weight Routine: Benchpress Weight Amount: 100 lbs Sets x Reps: 1x10 Amount Lifted: 1000 lbs Object Lifted: Grand Piano or Arabian riding horse

I am using the name of my current challenge as a battle cry, it appears. But instead of "screw it, my diet's ruined, I'm just going to eat anything..." kind of screw it...I'm using it as a motivation. So today, I said: "Screw it, I don't care if I don't feel good, I'm going for a walk." Boom, 10 minutes of walking. And then afterwards, I said: "Screw it, I don't care if I have a headache, I'm going to write." Boom, 388 words. So I get to update my quests with good news. Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy Do your new diet Three days down, doing good. Got the carb flu a bit, but hanging in there. Exercise three times a week for five minutes 2/3 accomplished! Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard Total Words Written (This Week): 547 Words Need for This Week's Goal: 6,453 --------------------------------------------------------------- Total Words Written This Challenge: 547

+0.40 miles today, 10:53 minutes walk today Dyego Walks to Mordor! Time Spent Walkin': 10:53 minutes Miles Walked So Far: 8.83 miles Current Leg of the Journey: Hobbiton to Rivendale Last Milestone: Look back at lights of Hobbiton from first slopes of the Green Hill Country.

Dyego Stretches His Limits(Yoga) Today: 5 minutes of yoga, including a 30-second plank, my record by ten seconds! Downward-Facing Dog Alternating Cat-Cow Plank Cobra Butterfly Sit Felt immensely good to stretch those muscles. Will probably do this after every workout from now on.

THANK you for reminding me about electrolytes! I always keep hydrated (it's flippin' Phoenix, after all, one has to be hydrated) but after I added salt and some other electrolytes, I perked right up. Thanks again! Today: 5 minutes of Yoga, no sugar (again! woot!) and absolutely no progress on any other goal because I'm still down from Carb Flu haha. Work was all I could manage today

+2.78 miles added today for walking! Miles Walked So Far: 7.98 miles Current Leg of the Journey: Hobbiton to Rivendale Last Milestone: Look back at lights of Hobbiton from first slopes of the Green Hill Country.

Today I used my 20 seconds of courage to avoid eating sugar. Woot! I also walked a bit, but I don't have my fitbit at hand and can't quantify it just yet. In the morning I will do. So far, so good, but still having the sugar-craving headaches

Today's progress: ate eggs and almond butter + celery for breakfast. Starting to have the sugar withdrawals already, but I'm going to work past them. I have written 159 words today, and at the moment that's all I think I can handle. I'll try again later.

First day down! No sugar (other than what is found in V8 juice and a bag of mixed vegetables) and I ate amazingly well, in addition to starting my Walk to Mordor. Going to do some more meal planning! Woot! Epic Quest 1, doing awesome! Quest 2 and 3, no progress today. Going to try tomorrow.

So! I figure it would be rude of me to start a new Battle Log for every new type of exercise I try out and accomplish, so instead, Dyego Climbs Skyscrapers! will now include all of my other various efforts at exercise. Climbing Skyscrapers™ Will Return this summer! For now, I'm exorcising my exercise demons! Today's Dyego Episode of Exorcises Exercise! Walking. I spent 4 hours on my feet, and in that time I walked 5.2 miles. So I guess I'll start... Dyego Walks to Mordor! Miles Walked So Far: 5.2 miles Current Leg of the Journey: Hobbiton to Rivendale Last Milestone: Cross The Great Road from the Brandywine Bridge. Enter Tookland. My next exercise adventure? Not sure! I know once my dueling lightsabers arrive, it'll be something EPIC. Also, one day I'd like to afford a recumbent trike so I can go biking again.

So the last time, I skipped a challenge. I didn't do really bad or good between, and I was planning to skip this month as well. Especially because I have a new seasonal part-time job during the worst part of the year for retail...(being broke sucks) But you know what, as the title says, screw it! I'm going to do this challenge and I'm going to crush it. My procrastination and taking-it-easy tendencies can go somewhere unpleasant. So here's my next challenge! I'm going to continue on with two previous goals, but start a new one. Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy (Or: Losing weight. End Goal: 230. Current Weight: 267) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #1 Do your new diet (Paleo-ish + Candida + South Beach Diet) I'm doing a new diet recommended by my doctor and looking around. I've got a yeast overgrowth issue that affects my gums, and I need to flush my system. So I'm doing the two-week South Beach + Candida starting, with minimum grains, carbs, or dairy. After that I will go to Paleo-ish, which is surprisingly less hard than the two weeks previous. Part of this involves very serious meal-planning, and I've got the first week planned, thanks to @Wobbegong prodding! Exercise three times a week for five minutes This time, I'm going to change my battle log to reflect ANY exercise triumphs, not just climbing the stairs. For some weird reason, not keeping a log makes exercise seem like a waste. (I know it's not true, but keeping the logs really helps.) So that's what I'm going to do! Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard (Or: Writing and publishing my next novel by the end of 2017) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 Write 7,000 words a week Once again, I'm going to flunk NaNoWriMo, but this year I wrote three times as many words as I did last year, thanks to the challenge! I'm still going to try, and who knows, maybe I'll even hit the 50k word count by the end of the month. But I'm not going to punish myself if I don't. Instead, 7k a week until the book is done is my new goal. Epic Quest #3: Summoner of Worlds (Or: Designing and Publishing my Boardgames / Videogames) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 A new Epic Quest arrives! I've got a boardgame design I've playtested once, but I'd like to push it through until I can add "Game Designer" to my resume for real! There are several steps involved in boardgame creation, and here they are: Design Document Mechanics Overview 'First Draft' Playtest Revision #1 Second Draft Playtest Revision #2 Rules pre-finalization Watchover Playtest (When you watch a group play your game with your rules but do not participate) Revision #3 Exported Playtest (When you send the game to a group who playtest it without you watching, and they report back) Revision #4 Rules Finilization Art Finilization Publish! Now that's a lot of steps, but thankfully I already have some done. I'd like to make it to step #8 this challenge. Here's hoping! And here's to Challenge Number Three!

My final report card for this challenge, with retrospectives and plans for the future. Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy (Or: Losing 30 pounds. End Goal: 230. Current Weight: 263) Only eat ONE sugary snack SERVING five times a week Progress: This one didn't end up so well, as explained above. The last few days were better than usual, but I am still quite addicted to sugar. However, thanks to some prodding from @Wobbegong, I sat down and meal-planned two weeks worth of meals. I haven't done that, like, ever, and I'm super excited about it. Associated goal to accomplish this goal: Progress: Finding a sugary snack that I prefer over others is not really going to happen, I think. There are those I do like more, such as Crème brûlée, but if it's sugar I'll eat it. So I need to find some other way about this. Exercise 3 times a week for five minutes each Progress: Exercise was another hit-and-miss section, as it usually is, but the weather is finally getting cooler so I can go outdoors more. Despite my allergies, I rather like outdoor activities and I'm looking forward to my nightly walks again. As the associated goal also, I'm going to keep searching for forms of exercise that i thoroughly enjoy, so I have high hopes for this in the coming months. Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard (Or: Writing and publishing my next novel by the end of 2017) Write 12,500 words a week (1,667 a day) Progress: As usual, I started off strong and then it has tapered off at the end. I'm going to spend today and tomorrow getting back into writing. I am excited about the novel, it's just so hard to write! But I'm going to do it. Epic Quest #3: Making Room For More Games! (Or: organizing and cleaning my house) Clean / Organize 15 minutes a week Craft Room Progress: This one came out as half-accomplished: we got the loft all sorted out, but the craft room is going to be a huge project all on its own. Still, I'm glad I got my Lego collection in one nicer area as opposed to all over the house. Going Forward The two-week meal planning is, I hope, going to get me started down a path of better nutrition. It was actually kind of fun, and I know the meals I picked are super healthy. Exercise is looking better since it's finally the cooler parts of the year, and writing...well, I'm determined to finish strong on my novel. All-in-all, I'm excited about the next few months but with the busy holiday season, I think I'm going to need to sit out another challenge and just weather the storm. I know I can, and I'm going to. Woot!

I've tried the nut thing, and it has helped. I think I'll give it another shot. High fat foods do indeed tend to keep me going longer, I just have to be careful about which fat it is, otherwise my stomach hates me for the rest of the day. You know...you're absolutely right. I never quite thought of it this way. It's probably why I've had such issues. Mindset adjustments can be incredibly hard sometimes, and it looks like I need one pronto. Thanks!

Alright! An update that's a little late in the building, but here it is none-the-less. Let's see how I've been doing, eh? Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy (Or: Losing 30 pounds. End Goal: 230. Current Weight: 263) Only eat ONE sugary snack SERVING five times a week Progress: 00/05 servings eaten this week. My progress on this one has been slow. I'm thinking I need to go cold turkey again soon; it's hard, but it has worked in the past. I've eaten more than my 5 servings a week, but I have also been binging less. So there is progress here! I've lost 2 pounds by lowering my overall eating. Associated goal to accomplish this goal: Progress: Eh, this one is hard. I like all sugar. Heck, yesterday I ate just a packet of Sugar in the Raw for my serving. It was yummy. Exercise 3 times a week for five minutes each Progress: My foot is doing better, but I haven't been climbing skyscrapers. I've been exploring other forms of exercise. It's cooler outside, so started walking. I also made a lightsaber out of pvc pipe, tape, and foam, so going to start swordfighting with my wife. I have actually been exercising more than three times a week. It hasn't been steady, or in any kind of rhythm, but it has been more exercise. Associated goal to accomplish this goal: Progress: Been exploring all kinds of exercise! I know I'm going to love running around swinging a lightsaber at stuff. Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard (Or: Writing and publishing my next novel by the end of 2017) Write 12,500 words a week (1,667 a day) Progress: My novel is at 20,552 words. I'm right where I should be, perhaps a little behind, but doing MUCH better than last year. I can't believe how much I've been writing, even with all the crazy stuff that's happened in life. Also: shameless self-promotion warning, one of my books just got #1 Best Seller on Amazon and I am so incredibly happy. Associated goal to accomplish this goal: Progress: So excited about writing again. It's been awhile since I've had that feeling. Epic Quest #3: Making Room For More Games! (Or: organizing and cleaning my house) Clean / Organize 15 minutes a week Craft Room Progress: Moved another bookshelf in there and organized some tables. About half-way done, I'd say. Need to do more work on that this week. Loft Progress: The loft is DONE, yo! (I don't know why I just said yo. I can't really pull it off.) mark this goal as 100% complete! Woot! Associated goal to accomplish this goal: no need for this associated goal any more. It be done. Going into the last week, I can see where I've done really good (everything but food intake) and where I still need to work (yeah, the food intake.) So it's pretty much the same as always. I really need to figure out what to do about my nutrition. I hate planning meals, I hate shopping, and when it's hot out like this I hate cooking. I don't really have the money to spend on a meal delivery service (like, literally don't have money, not the "i just don't want to spend it" kind of thing) so I'm a bit perplexed on where to go with that.

Ha, thanks for reminding me! I've been so busy writing for NaNoWriMo that I forgot to update the challenge as well! Tomorrow starts the next week, so I'll do a full check-in and keep my thoughts and progress organized.

10/30 update: Let's hear it for momentum! Only eat ONE sugary snack SERVING five times a week: 1/5 so far! Went the entire day without a sugary snack, and I know I can make it the rest of the day without one. I don't need one. yesterday my sugary serving was a Mojito as opposed to candy. Not sure if that's better or worse Exercise 3 times a week for five minutes each: BOOM! I worked out for ten minutes today. 2sets x 10reps x 105lbs benchpress, 2sets x 10reps x 185lbs lat pulldown, and then finished it off with some "yoga." Between sets, I also practiced with my foam sword. Almost cool enough to go running around with it outdoors, woot! Write 12,500 words a week (1,667 a day): It's against the "rules" of NaNoWriMo, but to be honest, I'm not doing NaNoWriMo for the bragging rights. I'm doing it to get my story done. So today I started NaNoWriMo early and wrote 3,496 words. It's the single best writing day I've had in a looong time. Absolutely, thoroughly pumped. Also, right now I'm going through my playlists and refining them for my current moods in music and writing. Almost done with that! Clean / Organize 15 minutes a week: no updates today. Moving LEGO is dusty work, and I need to be at my prime tomorrow. So that has to wait.

First week status update! Only eat ONE sugary snack SERVING five times a week: Failed. I got up to 8 servings, which is one more than I would normally if I'd chosen just 1 a day. This was also partially because I thought I'd try intermittent fasting, so that won't happen again. I need to get my blood sugar regulation under control before I start messing around with that. On the plus side, I didn't gain any weight! (or lose any) Associated goal to accomplish this goal: Find the sugary snacks I like the most and focus on those, while forgoing those "I want sugar, so I'll just grab anything in the aisle whether I like it or not." --I still think Butterfingers are my go-to...but they aren't nearly filling enough Exercise 3 times a week for five minutes each: Partially Failed. I exercised two times for 2 1/2 minutes each. Better than nothing, but progress needs to be made! Associated goal to accomplish this goal: Try out new forms of exercise. I want to try out 4 new types of exercise by the end of this challenge. -- I tried out weightlifting again. Didn't hate it, didn't love it. Also tried out a bit of yoga stretching. Felt good, but does't really feel like it's strenuous enough to help with my weight gain. I may just tag it on at the end of my other exercises as a cool-down. Write 12,500 words a week (1,667 a day): Side Success. It's not NaNoWriMo yet, so I haven't started this, but I did write 661 words on a different story this week, and my early goal of making a website for my books I TOTALLY GOT! Boom! Hand-coded and artworked, baby! Quite proud of that. Associated goal to accomplish this goal: Use "Cold Turkey" software to block out distractions on my computer until 100 words are written. Get pumped up about my novel! --Practiced with Cold Turkey. A good idea, but I need to see if it's going to close out my music, which will be a big no-no. Excited and pumped for my novel to come soon, though!! Clean / Organize 15 minutes a week: SUCCESS! Got my LEGO categories done and have half of them moved into their new homes. Moved and organized craft room, it's about 25% done. Did a lot this week on that! Woot!! Associated goal to accomplish this goal: Sketch out a room plan for how things should look. Make an "Organize My LEGO" list and get cracking on that. -- Already done with this. Yeah, who's the man?? Last week: two successes, two failures, not a bad start. I've got some momentum going, and as we all know, that's the kicker right there. This coming week will have the challenge of NaNoWriMo, which I have been preparing for, but will also have an added challenge of additional job responsibility and different hours, so I'm preparing to not let that kick me out of my new habits. Bring it on!

So, Tuesdays are date day, but my Wednesday did not go so well. I was also trying some intermittent fasting, just to see how things went, and boy did it not go well. I'm now at 06/05 of my sugary servings for the week and rethinking tomorrow's meals to be very, very important. I think I'll start off with some egg drop soup and then have some tuna for lunch. On the plus side, I did some weight training today. Haven't done it in awhile, so I just eased back into it. 1set x 10 reps x 30lbs dumbbell lift each arm for biceps, 1set x 10reps x 185lbs lat pulldown. Did pretty good! Biceps are feeling weak, but lat pulldown is still a strong workout for me.

@Wobbegong!! I was glad to see you appointed as a Guild Leader, I think you deserve the spot. Thanks for checking out my challenge and offering help! Right now, it's mostly just easing back into exercise as my foot is still injured from moving issues. Otherwise, here's a progress report! Yesterday, 10/22, was still mostly a "planning" day for my challenge since I got to the party late. However, I did still make some progress! This is Today's Progress-So-Far report. Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy (Or: Losing 30 pounds. End Goal: 230. Current Weight: 265) Only eat ONE sugary snack SERVING five times a week Progress: 01/05 servings eaten this week Associated goal to accomplish this goal: Progress: Discovered Caramels I like. Might stick to these. Exercise 3 times a week for five minutes each Progress: Climbed skyscrapers for 3 minutes, since my foot still hurts, and spend 2 minutes stretching. 01/03 exercise accomplished! Associated goal to accomplish this goal: Progress: I think I'm going to try some Yoga for my stretching next time. Found some beginner poses that I think I can actually accomplish. Looking forward to it! Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard (Or: Writing and publishing my next novel by the end of 2017) Write 12,500 words a week (1,667 a day) Progress: It's not NaNoWriMo juuust yet, so I spent today on another goal of mine: web development. Spend 2 hours learning CSS and JQuery. yay! Associated goal to accomplish this goal: Progress: I am PUMPED for my upcoming novel! Accomplished! Epic Quest #3: Making Room For More Games! (Or: organizing and cleaning my house) Clean / Organize 15 minutes a week Craft Room Progress: 2 new bookshelves installed, with appropriate items placed within. Unnecessary desk removed, other desk moved. Excellent. Loft Progress: 2 new shelves installed. LEGO sets removed to safe location for proper categorizing, and categorizing started. Excellent. Associated goal to accomplish this goal: Progress: Made a sketchup of what the craft room should look like when we're all done, including measurements, and made my LEGO category list!