GregT.

I am glad you are all still here. Elize just keep going, it will all work out. getting upset over things that people do on FB or other social media platforms will not be helpful to you or the other person. I am looking forward to coming back and following you all again. I am finally repatriating this week, and I have really let things go. I am so happy to see so many of the folks from the past. \ Are you still going to the range and practicing? Have you started competing again?

Hey Hazard, Great work man. Sorry i haven't been around, but I am following. Life just getting in the way again. Sounds as if you have an excellent handle on what you need to do to achieve your goal. I expect that you will make it to your target, but just curious, is this also a challenge to see how low you can go regardless of hitting your target? Will you go lower if you can ? TANSTAAFL!

Caught up! I am following. I hope that you are able to come to a conclusion with Snippie, seems an appropriate name. The bites are an issue. I hope that the anti-boils have the upper hand now and that it gets better quickly. If not I hope on Monday the medical center can help you.

If that happens let me know and I will be glad to meet up. Would be nice to meet someone in person. In down in Abu Dhabi but this country isn't that big.

ODIN! The gains is happening. I went to the gym this afternoon and for the second time this week I was the only person, so no bench press. I was scheduled to do a 5 kg increase in weight on the deadlift and when I pulled it, I thought I could do more. I was right. I made a 15 kg jump today for 3 sets of 5. In tiger news, I was able to get into the correct squat position today! I watched a few videos and tried a tip they had of placing your hands together in front of you and using your elbows to press your knees out. Worked like a charm. I did a set of 10 body weight squats, and then walked around the gym and did it again without the hands just telling my knees to move out and it worked again. So with a big smile and as little shout of triumph, I went to the squat rack and thought I would hop under the bar and see if I could do a bar weight squat see if it was still correct. That is where the biscuit wheels fell off the gravy train. I was not able to get my left shoulder to flex back far enough to get into the squat position. the left is the one I injured last fall, and had to re-hab. I am going to start looking at shoulder mobility exercises to help. Overhead press was also a win, I went up to 55 kg, so on Sunday I am confident I will hit 60 kg, 135 overhead press, that is my previous max before I hurt my shoulder. I am really looking forward to he incremental gains approach and having a goal each workout and each week as well as an overall goal. Kinda like what NF professes. Anyway, ODIN|\

ODIN! Well Tuesday Lift went well. I was able to move up on all lifts and I am getting better at the squat position. My goal this weekend is to get it down, by intensively watching how to get in squat position views, using a box to get my positioning and just doing a bunch of body weight squats to get the movement down. I was not able to do bench press yet, hopefully today, due to no spotters available. I don't want to try and push my max to see what my working load will be if I have no one to pull it off my chest if I fail lol. Today is a lift day and it is back to the old gym. I like the old gym, I mean the new one is really nice but the old gym gives me a better feel. Like it is a place to work not be seen. Anyway, I will be moving up on deadlift again today and seeing how that goes. I have been having gastro distress for about a month now, since I switched to a ket type diet, and Tuesday I decided I was going to modify it. I just couldn't take disaster pants anymore, I barely made it in the house after the gym Tuesday, and the almost constant cramps were a problem. I am going to go more Whole 30, with increased calories. When I did whole 30 at teh beginning of the year it was a good satisfying eating plan, but I am glad I tracked it. I was still not eating enough food. So, I will try doing that again but with an increase in fat and protein to get the calories up. I don't think I could eat more veggies than I was on that plan to get the calories up. I have done Keto diets in the past with good success, but this time it is not working out. I gave it a month, and I didn't go into Ketosis according to two different batches of ket strips. So, something new. I don't think increasing the amount of leafy greens and such is going to be a real downside. I have not been updating the thread or visiting my friends on NF and I apologize. Since I~ have no internet at work, I am having to work at home to do all the corporate stuff that should be able to do when I am at work, but alas. It is not an excuse it is just reality. I get done doing the corporate training, and replying to a full day worth of emails, and researching them and I just want to get off teh magic box. I have been doing more reading though, since I spend about 12 hours a day on a PC I just can't take any more. Thanks for teh support, and to Ghost, great plan man, great videos on the flips. Elize you are doing great and don't worry about the fall out from your mom, there is bound to be some and it will diminish with time.

ODIN! Well it appears that I am not getting better at posting lol. In my defense one of the main ways I was able to keep up was that I could check from my work. well as of Last Thursday, my Friday, I was informed that I needed to take my WiFi hotspot home and I could not bring it back, which means I have no internet at work except my phone. the reception is horrible since I and in an RF shielded building. So I am trying to figure out how to arrange my day so I can get on here and keep up with all you amazing folks. I am planning to start coming on in the evening before I go to bed and use this like a journal. People say journaling is good, well I will find out. It will also give me a good excuse to turn the TV off earlier. So Sunday I started the new workout, and it was good. I got a baseline for overhead press of 47.5kg ( 105 lbs) and deadlift I settled at 100 kg ( 220 lbs). I can do more on deadlift but I was feeling it even though I was nearly 100 lbs below my max (45 kg). I need to make sure my form is perfect and I need lighter weight to do that. The program is going up in weight every workout, even if it is a minute amount but always up. So I feel that I will be able to make bigger jumps on deadlift toward my previous max and it will all work out. In the past two months I have really felt I have not been working hard but going through the motions. I have had some good workouts but it was not what it was before the New year. Squats still are kicking me in the ass. I can do them but I am having difficulty getting into the correct position. I am planing to do squat portion from hands and feet today and see if I can get my body to recognize the correct position. I am currently doing about 40 to 50 body weight whatever I am doing for squats. I say that because I am trying to get in the correct position with correct depth with no weight. Until I can do this I can't start doing real sets. Today I am not doing overhead presses but benchpress if I can find a spotter. I need to find my max so I can figure out my working weight to start. Food has been meh. I was doing good until yesterday she I went off the reservation, by going to another country. I had pasta, which is about as not Keto as you can get. Screw it, I haven't gone into Keto being under 50 grams a day or 6% total calories fro carbs in almost a month. I think I am going to go back to a whole 30 based diet with more protein. I don't know. I have to be careful changing to many things at once because then I won't know what is making the change. My weight has been consistent within a couple pounds for a month, regardless of exercise. Well time to head to work. I will dome best to catch up with everyone tonight. ODIN!

Hey everyone, 
 Sorry I have been MIA. I have just not been up the last week or so. My workouts have been terrible, my nutrition has been excellent but other than that it is has just been terrible. I am a bit depressed and have been taking the chance to re-evaluate what I am doing. I took this week off of training completely after my workout partner bailed on me permanently. I have been wondering if he was holding me back a bit and I am now certain he has been. The weight loss has just not happened. I am strongish. I am not seeing gains in the gym and I am tired, like real tired all the time. So I am changing my plan. I don't care about weight. I have said it before and this time I mean it. I am 321 lbs, and I am more interested in being strong and fit than I am in being skinny. 
 Starting on Sunday, and as quickly as I can master the movements, I am going old school and going to develop strength. I am going to be trying to do the Starting Strength program by Mark Ripetoe. I am reading the book now and trying to get into the squat which is still proving problematic, but I am going to Fing do this. 
 I am not doing challenges. I am going to make a progression goal of strength. If I lose weight great. If I gain weight fine, as long as my strength numbers are going up. I am tired of dealing with non-linear models of success. I can't make my body lose weight. I ate to little for 6 months and had nearly nothing to show for it. I am currently trying to do Keto and have been eating less than 50 grams of Carb or 5% of my calories per day and I have not entered Ketosis yet. If it doesn't happen so be it. I may bump my carbs up s I train, but I am no longer going to exercise, I am going to train. 
 My goals, are simple. I want to get my 250 lb (115 kg) bench press to 350 lbs (160 kg), my dead lift from 315 lb ( 143 kg) to 500 lbs (227 kg). I want to be able to do Low back full squats period, with a goal of squatting 405 lb (184 kg) and press over my head 220 lbs ( 100 kg) My timeline is infinite, I will be succeeding as long as I am progressing, even if it is only lifting 50 grams more the next workout. With these 4 exercises I will be able to work my entire body and it will build strength. I have done it before I just need to do it again to change my body composition. Once I get strong if I decide that I want to lose body fat I will have the means to do it. Right now I do not think I have the strength to accomplish it. 
 Last week I made a training trip to Al Ain again, and the person I am working with is a big cross fitter. I am trying to get ready for the OCR in April, and even with my limited cardio and such, I did a program that was 3 circuits that included, 3 mins of bike, 5 pushups, 5,50 meter bear crawls ( I did side steps with crouch in middle , Like I was fielding a ground ball in baseball), 5 burpees, then 5 snatch clean press with 60 kg. The next two cycles decreased bike by 1 minute and increased rep of other exercises by 1. The finish was 75 walking lunges and 100 squats capped by a 800 m run. I had to break the lunges into 3 25 sets, and the squats into 4 25's as well as having to stop a few times to let my heart rate get out of the high 180s lol. But when we finished, her in 43 mins and me in 51 mins, she told me a good complete time for it is 60 mins. I am not saying I am in great condition but I didn't die and I did it faster than average. We then went on to do a full body weight training regime. It took me two days to recover from this. She is a trainer and has been telling me for a while I am doing to much and I was to stubborn to listen. This workout proved it. I am done with lifting 4 to 5 days a week, ding splits and also swimming . I will lift 3 days per week, and do light cardio on the off days. On the weekends I will do healthy activities like hiking, swimming , etc., for fun. 
 Work has also taken a toll of late. The new commander is asking for a great deal of what can be construed as busy work. I spend more time writing reports and in meetings than actually doing the physical stuff they want me to do, and it is not getting done. There is no option of staying longer or anything else. One of the reasons I did not post was I was doing research on a 3800 line item list I was given a week ago Wednesday that had incorrect model numbers, or catalog numbers from manufacturer catalogs and I needed to determine if we had the capability to calibrate these items. It was very time consuming and I spent 65 hours in the next 6 days getting it done, including at home, but I got it done. The commander then sat and asked me if I was sure and what about this one and this one. He is not a technical person he is an administrator. This convinced me that I am going to prepare my resume this weekend and apply for a position that is one pay grade higher than me, but out of calibration. It is a Field engineer position in direct support of one of my companies systems. More money, same location and I get to be outside more often. 
 Anyway thanks for checking up on me. It had actually started to get in that spiral of I had missed it so long that I was dreading coming back as I had let it slide to long and ended to explain. Sorry no GIF's or pics. ODIN!

I am glad you are well. I am confused though. Why are you still living in that country? I know it is where you are from, and all, but there are much safer places to live. You want to keep your firearms, move to the US. We would love to have you.

Hey Cat, I did whole 30 for the month of January. It was not a big change for me as I was pretty much eating the same stuff. I tracked while I was doing it, but it was not to try and reduce it was just my own curiosity to see how close my previous measurement of food compared. It of course was still to little food for me but hey. It was good. It is easy and stress free. It is much easier to live with than Keto I am doing now. On my previous challenge I had pictures of meals I did that were whole 30. None were complex all were tasty if you want to see any for inspiration. It is a good way to get reset. It is absolutely a healthy style of eating. If you are at an impasse and don't know what to do I recommend it as it will put you in a good place nutritionally and let you decide where to go later. If you decide to track, ignore the calories. Just eat. Just measure it out after you follow the selection process of whole 30. It is a visual method of portion control. Weigh your plate empty. Fill your plate and weigh it again, as you put things on it. Read the books if you haven't and go for it. I would be happy to help if you questions. I have only done it once but it was recent so I might be able to answer some of he questions you have. I did lose weight on it, and I felt good doing it. They also say do not work out heavily while on it, but I did anyway as it is just part of my lifestyle now and I saw strength gains in the gym as well. Good Luck.

That was a good month Def. You have so many metrics that you are following that when you report 95%of them are 100% accomplished you just make the world seem small. You make me believe I can do more too. Thanks. I am willing to wager that if you did put BBP up month to month you would get honest reports from your fandom.

Glad you are back. Making it theme oriented seems like a good idea. As for the nutrition, there is no reason to throw it out, just open it up. I don't know if you were just trying to do a certain number of calories a day or if you have fat, carb and protein goals as well. Keeping track of what you put in your body should help you with the theme as well. If you are going to play tennis or do a cardio workout maybe adjust the macros for that day or day before to increase cars lower fat. Keep protein he same just so you have enough. I know it can be stressful, but if you made it a minimum number not a maximum number you are trying to achieve, based on what you know you need to do your theme it may be less stressful. You had trouble eating enough before but maybe with the added theme info, I need X today because I am going to play tennis for 3 hours. Instead of I need to eat X because I need to X and my plan says so. Anyway, keep it up and of course we are interested in what's going on, and I am glad your Uncle is doing better. Coughing hard enough to pass out is pretty awesome when you thik about it. I mean how many people can say I coughed so hard I lost consciousness?

WHOO HOO! Congrats to both of you. It will be better for your family and for her as well. See if you had not taken the initiative you wouldn't be here now! Good for you going and asking. You are not going to know what to do with the time you are going to save and how wonderful the stress relief will be., Yes I think this counts as a challenge in itself. You have been working on this for at least a year yes? So Completion BIG BOSS DOWN!

Great work Hazard! It is an inspiration. In fact I thought of you yesterday as I weighed n and and was slightly higher than I had been the previous day and persevered as you show on your path. I weighed in today to a happy result. Thanks for being inspiring.

Your new Meme: