Vickyloo

Weighed in at SW last night and I lost 6 and a half lb! Woohoo! Also, meditation and walking going well. Haven't done any yoga this week yet. Hopefully I'll fit it in on the weekend.

Great goals and well done on your cleaning so far! My place was in a similar state a few years ago but I spent a few weeks sorting it, like you are. It's hard work but I keep on top of it now, although I have to be really strict with myself! So it can be done - just don't let it intimidate you too much!

Great goals and great start to the challenge!

Thanks I agree about the meditation thing. In my challenge, I put 3 times a week but actually, I would like to try and do it every day. My issue is not laziness or lack of time etc but simply a forgetful mind! I'm definitely up for the challenge though. Good luck with your own quest too.

Fantastic goals livingroovy and I love the way you have worded them - they are really inspirational and powerful.

Oooo...blog post on yoga workouts sounds good! Today, I walked for 40 minutes extra, at around 6am this morning (soooo quiet!) and I meditated for 10. I know it's only the first day but I'm pretty pleased with myself so far ha ha

Fantastic goals! Sticking to a routine I think is a hard one for a born procrastinator such as myself (and as you sound) but it's definitely a worthy one! Good luck with them all.

Your mantra concept is fantastic! Good luck with your goals

Thanks Cathasaigh! I appreciate the advice - I've always liked the idea of meditation and tried on the odd occasion but always given up really quickly. This will be first proper attempt! I love your Dr. Seuss quote too!

Fantastic goals! Good luck

I love the idea of a 365 day portrait! I might even pinch that one off you... Excellent goals, good luck with them all!

Name: Vickyloo Race: Wood-elf Class: Druid Weight: 11 stone 4lbs (159lb/72kg) Height: 5'4 The last challenge I participated in was all the way back last July/August and back then, I was a scout! I was in training for a 700 mile cycle ride and so scout seemed perfect for my ends. When I finished my ride, I got very lazy, put on weight and basically stopped exercising! Now I want to get back in the game, and since the only thing I'm training for is life, I thought I'd try my hand at another guild. And thus, I've arrived here, with you druids. Nice to meet you all! Current attributes: STR: 5 DEX: 4 STA: 6.5 CON: 6.25 WIS: 9.5 CHA:6 Diet Challenge: To lose 1 stone (14lbs) in weight by continuing (or rather, restarting) the Slimming World plan. It has helped me lose over 2 stone in weight previously, in a healthy and enjoyable way. + 4 CON Fitness Challenge 1: To do yoga twice a week. There are no classes in my area at the moment (other than one-on-ones, which I'd love to do but it's simply not financially viable) and so I will do this via internet videos and tutorials. +4 DEX Fitness Challenge 2: To walk for at least 30 minutes, at least 5 times per week. I must not include my normal commute to work (I walk), because that is something I've always done and I think it would be cheating to include it! Ideally, I'd like to do these walks before work or early morning - a good way of waking up and clearing my mind before the day ahead. And George the Dog will love it too! +2 CON, +2 DEX Life Challenge: To meditate 3 times a week and work my way up to 15 minute sessions. I'm new to meditation but mindful breathing and mantra meditation are the two that interest me the most for now. Please let me know if you have any advice - is 15 minutes realistic? Too long or too short? +3 CHA Good luck with your own challenges!

Weekends are good for me too usually, except the next two are consumed by a strange mixture of weddings and overtime. Any ideas on a venue?

Just weighed in after my first week back at Slimming World and I've lost 5lb! Whoop whoop! That's half way towards my challenge 10lb, a fantastic start. What's even better is my partner lost 5lb too!

Woohoo! Cycling rocks!

Cheers dude. I enjoyed it (sort of!) lol I am recovering nicely. I am tired and going back to work was difficult - my legs ache walking up the stairs ha ha! Also, I have handlebar palsy (numbness and tingling in my fingers from nerve compression in my hands), which is not a problem as such, it's just driving me nuts! Hopefully, it'll clear up soon. I guess I should have worn gloves. I've written up my article too, hopefully going to submit it to the magazine by the end of the week. I rejoined Slimming World last night and weight in at 11stone 0.5lb (154.5lb) - better than I thought actually, given that all my clothes feel really tight and uncomfortable. Still, I'm back on the plan and hopefully on my way to losing that 10lb by the end of the challenge. I've been really enjoying the plank challenge - which surprised me because I blooming well hate planks! I've been doing them morning and night though and here are my times so far: 44 31 42 50

Congrats! That's fantastic news!

Woot! Well done, that sounds like a great ride! Might be one I try in the future

Nice link about the pull-ups - I'm keeping it for later! Excellent goals by the way and well done on your progress.

Nice goals and well done on your progress. Good luck with the asthma - I know how debilitating it can be and how it can drag you down emotionally as well as physically so fantastic job on beating it!

Ooo, that foot injury sounds painful! Make sure you recover fully before trying to do too much - I've made that mistake too many times and ended up worse off for it! Fantastic goals though, good luck with them. It's good to see that you aren't taking your slips with your diet as a sign to give up. They are just blips!

Nice goals! You are doing really well with your running. It's something I would quite like to get into but never seem to get around too :/ Maybe for the next challenge...

Cheers dude

Here's the write up for those who want to read it! Woot!

Day 5 - Calais to London, 90 miles By day 5, I had pretty much given up taking photographs and my ever-so-wonderful journal idea had gone completely down the drain. The days and events in my head are starting to meld together here and the British leg of our trip is rather blurred. Exhaustion was setting in and my mind was going fuzzy as my body was struggling to keep up. We left Calais early in the morning (although we might as well have had an extra hour in bed because we ended up waiting for the ferry!) and arrived in Dover at about 9:30. Immediately, there is a big hill coming out Dover onto the A2, which turns out to be a busier road than we were expecting, with cars and lorries zooming past as though we had accidentally wandered onto the motorway. We pushed on though. We stopped at a burger van in a lay-by and had a cup of tea and a coke. Sat there chatting to the couple we were running it, we told them what we were doing and why. They were impressed and gave us £5 sponsorship money for the British Heart Foundation - more than we had given them for the tea and coke! We got into Central London at about 11, completely exhausted. We knew weren't going to find anywhere to stay in London during the olympics (we had intended on getting to Reading on day 5) so we called upon some old friends, Dave and Philamena in the White Lion pub on Central Street (well worth a visit if you are in the are). They very kindly put us up for the night and gave us a fantastic donation towards the heart foundation too. Big thanks to Dave and Phil! My knees were in agony, I had hurt my ankle, I was dizzy after catching the sun again and I had burned the tops of my ears. My dad, although exhausted, seemed to be fairing much better than me that night. Day 6 - London to Old Sodbury, 120 miles The morning of day 6 was fantastic! The land had pretty much flattened out, meaning that we could speed along at a good pace. We had done 70 miles by 2 pm, we were feeling good and full of energy (a sudden burst from some hidden supply I can only presume). However, the sun was hitting us hard and we needed some sustenance so we stopped in a lovely country pub for lunch. Delicious it was too but it seemed to put an end to our good morning. Not long after we left the pub, we got a puncture. Nothing serious of course. Until we tried to pump the repairing tyre back up, only to discover that the pump had decided to give up on life, leaving us to mourn its death on a hot and busy road. We started the slow trek into Hungerford, passing two cyclists - both who insisted they didn't have a pump on them, although I'm inclined to think that they simply didn't want to stop (they both had luggage). Luckily, a fantastic good Samaritan stopped his car and offered my dad a lift into town to buy a new pump, whilst I waited with the bike on the side of the road. They were gone for almost half an hour, in which time I peed in a stingy nettle bush (ouch) and dosed by the side of a tree. We finally got back on the road and stopped a few hours later for tea in Chippenham. Feeling full of energy and positivity (derived from somewhere that I never knew existed), we got this half cocked notion that we would cycle through the night and arrive home in the early hours of the morning. We had already done about 100 miles by now. You can see where this is going can't you? It got dark and we were going through English country lanes, no idea where we were going and feeling completely exhausted. I was starting to hallucinate a little - seeing things that weren't there and mixing things up as my body craved for rest and I was getting confused and disorientated - probably a mix of cycling in the dark, possibly dehydration (although I was drinking an awful lot), exhaustion and sun. We stopped at the next place we found, in Sodbury. An old country hotel that was expensive but beautiful, relaxing and well worth the money. But they were full! I could have cried right there and then in front of the receptionist. She called her manager and the manager told us that there was a room but it was out of service due to a leak in the ceiling. We could have it, she said, at half price including breakfast. Of course, we snapped it up - we would have been happy to sleep on the floor in the corridor I think! She even let me use the phone in reception (there was no pay phone) to telephone my partner and let him know where I was. It was a luxurious night and breakfast was delicious. We felt refreshed the next day, especially when we realised how close to home we were. Day 7 - Old Sodbury to Barry, 57 miles Cycling over the Severn Bridge was definitely the highlight here for me. When you zoom over it in a car, you don't really appreciate the beauty of the bridge itself or the view over it. I really wish I had had the energy to take photographs but I just want to get home to bed. The landscape was reasonably flat all the way home, which was pleasant but by this time, even slight incline were beginning to feel like a hard slog and would drop our speed right down. Our muscles were fatigued and our will was waning. We didn't give up though, not once and I can't think of anything that would have made us give up - barring breaking a bone or hospitalisation. We got home just past lunch time to find a local journalist here to take our photograph and here our story. Hopefully, that will help us raise a bit more money for the British Heart Foundation (we've raised about £400 so far) Yesterday, I slept for almost 18 hours and today, I feel like I could do with some more sleep! Amazingly, my legs aren't aching as much as I thought they would, although walking up the stairs is a lot harder and my knees are still sore. My fingers have done numb too and my hands are bruised. All in all though, I feel much better than I was expecting to. It hasn't really sunk in until today just what an achievement it has been. I've been looking at maps online and am amazed at just what we did. [ATTACH=CONFIG]5111[/ATTACH] It just goes to show that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.