Eddard

Well well! It's been a long while since my last update. First on life news as that's dominating most of my time and why I haven't posted here since the start. I flew out to Chicago for my interview and had a hectic though enjoyable whirlwind trip. Hoping to hear that I got the job by Tuesday. Second, I've been feeling aimless and rudderless for the last two weeks, even after posting my challenge. I had no guide, nothing to following. So I took the plunge and enlisted in the Nerd Fitness Academy. Just did the Recruit workout yesterday and it kicked my ass. I'm so excited to have something that is a bit more linear and takes the work out of my hands. So I'll be ditching my running goal for long, strenuous walks on off days so as not to expect too much from myself. I want to keep my goals conservative and progress. mom2sjm: I'll be following the Recruit workout circuit (10 pushups, 15 squats, 10 inverted rows, 20 bodyweight lunges, :15 plank, 3x) plus a warmup and cooldown. Will be doing this for about the next month.

Greetings! I had a moderately successful reboot challenge in the rebel group and decided to move over to the Rangers. So let's get to business: Fitness Goals: 1) 3 x week bodyweight circuit 2) 2 x week 1.5 mile run Diet Goals: 3) 3 daily homemade meals, plus one snack: I've realized that my meals have gotten extremely irregular, with lots of snacking. The goal here is to get on a regular and predictable schedule. Also planning on easing up on bread and sugar. Overall goal is to lose another 5 lbs and a couple inches off my waist. Life Goal: 4) Successfully move to Chicago. I'm up for a really cool job in Chicago that I am hopeful I will get. If I do, I'll have to engineer a cross country move from NYC. It'll be a lot of work, so I'm making it a priority here. That's all! I hope to check in daily to keep myself honest. Cheers!

This looks like a great, goal-driven challenge. Best of luck!

Checking in here at the beginning of week 3! Things have steadily improved since the first week. Last week was all about getting my exercise schedule in shape and actually making it back to the gym, which I did! I'm already outlining goals for the next challenge, which will be all about fitness benchmarks and not a target weight. Goal check-in 1) Continuing on with my diet goals. No big slip ups last week at all. A couple of days of eating out, but they I got salads on both occasions. 2/3) Exercise really fell into place this past week. Like I mentioned, I'm finally back to the gym. Running is tough given the weather though. Perhaps this wasn't the best goal to start with. I'll reevaluate by the next challenge 4) Piano continues apace. Making great progress on my recital piece and have kept up the hour a day plan. Weigh in today shows me down to 181 and my waist measurement down to 37.5. Feeling excited about the week ahead. Thank you all for your support and advice. You're a good bunch.

Midweek on week two and I've done some adjusting. 1) I'm leaning more and more on cleaning up my eating habits. This is going really really well. I hadn't realized the point to which my diet had atrophied over the last year. I'm settled into a nce morning routine of eggs, black beans, and some kind of greens. Lunch is usually a salad with grilled chicken, olives, and feta cheese. Dinner has always been homemade, and is usually something with lots of veggies and more limited portions than I'm used to. I've cut back tremendously on sweets and sugar, which is probably having a big positive impact on my energy levels. 2/3) Fitness and exercise has been a bit more rocky. The weather has suddenly turned cold, and the only time I have to go to the gym is frigid mornings around 5am. No fun! What I've done is transition to bodyweight exercises at my apartment. Squats, pushups, planks, etc. This is going well and takes much less time. If this challenge is about establishing a baseline and getting into good habits, I think this is the way to go. 4) Piano! I've been practicing a ton, and for good reason. I have my first recital coming up on January 30th. I already know the piece (Bach's Prelude in C) and feel comfortable with it. I'm also participating in a 40 Piece Challenge (annually) over on the Piano World forums. It's going great! Lots of practice and little pieces to expand my early repertoire. I'm going to make much more of an effort to chime in on other's efforts. Besides offering encouragement, I'll probably get some great advice from others participating. Thanks for the comments and cheers.

Gonna give myself a C overall for the first week. I'm pretty confident for the week ahead, as things will be much more normal life-wise. I have both an exercise schedule and menu all set up. I need to begin planning these things in advance if I'm going to achieve my goals. I'll be checking in daily this week to help keep myself honest as well. Thanks for all of your support thus far.

Greetings and thanks for the interest! The first few days have gone only ok. Life gets in the way. My wife had surgery on Tuesday, so the last few days have been prepping/taking care of her. First, the negatives: I haven't been to the gym, or gone running. I'm ok with this. Helping out has been exhausting, and I've been doing a lot of walking around my neighborhood recently. Positives: Only ate out once. Everything else has been homemade. Very happy with this. Also, while I haven't hit that hour a day piano mark yet, I have been putting in at least a half hour, which is good considering my responsibilities at home. I'll have a weekly grade assessment up on Sunday, and a plan going forward after that. Looking forward to finishing the week off strong.

I haven't done a challenge in a while, so this is a great opportunity to get back on the horse. My conscious exercising/training is extremely sporadic, though I do walk a lot and am generally active. My eating habits are not good though, and as a result I've put on about 15 pounds from my last successful challenge. I'd like to get back to those old habits. My three fitness/health goals: Daily homemade meals and one daily snack: I've been eating out quite a bit, but I've noticed that my homemade meals are much healthier. Rather than shooting for a specific type of diet, I'll just be aiming for wholesome homemade breakfasts/lunches/dinner, and a daily snack. Three days of full body exercises at the gym: This is my typical workout, and generally comprises squats, pushups, deadlifts, shoulder presses, rows, and leg presses. Going to keep it simple and stay with this. The goal isn't going to be doing this in full each day, but getting my three days in. Two days of running: I enjoy running, but it always gets tougher in the cold weather. I'm going to keep these to my standard 1.5 mile runs until I feel up to expanding them a bit. A longer term goal is to start participating in spring/summer 5K fun runs. My life goal: One hour of daily piano practice: I've been great with this recently (usually at least half an hour), but I'd like to accelerate my progress in advance of my weekly lessons. One hour should include scales, and working on two pieces. That's about it! Short and sweet. Looking forward to updating here weekly.

It's been inexcusably long since my last update. I've been progressing nicely, though! June 25 and 27th: Bodyweight circuit. 5 sets of 12 bodyweight squats 10 pushups 35 jumping jacks 25 second plank 1.5 mile runs on 6/26 and 6/28 as well. Food was neatly perfect for the week. Monday to Friday was almost entirely paleo, Saturday and Sunday less so, but no bingeing. I've been much better at being reasonable. Didn't work out again until Wednesday 7/2. Upped my reps again. June 25 and 27th: Bodyweight circuit. 5 sets of 14 bodyweight squats 12 pushups 40 jumping jacks 30 second plank I've currently maxed out at 31 pushups. I haven't run all week due to school obligations. Starting back up tomorrow.

Monday check-in. Weekend was a half bust. Had a great AM run on Saturday, ate well until a family graduation party. No paleo there, but I didn't overeat, so I'm pretty proud of myself. Sunday I was on my feet all day cheering on the USMNT. Good breakfast, late lunch of jerk chicken gyro (which was amazing). Somehow had fried rice for dinner. That was not good. Monday Food: Smoothie with one banana, kale, spinach, peanut butter almond milk. Salad with lettuce, grilled chicken, guacamole, tomatoes, black beans. Tomato sauce with tofu and spaghetti squash. Some frozen mango chunks. Exercise: Progressed today. Upped all of my reps. Bodyweight circuit. 5 sets of 12 bodyweight squats 10 pushups 35 jumping jacks 25 second plank

Thanks Teros! 50 straight, but I'm thinking about paring that down. I injured myself last summer because I upped my progressions to quickly. Based on my progress now, I'm going to drop it to 40. And the whole "fighting shape" is just a turn of phrase. Not a boxer myself, but I'd like to get to where I was last year at this time. I was in close to the best shape of my life around then. Thanks again for offering your support.

New check-in after 2.5 of my best days in the challenge. 6/18/14 Bodyweight circuit. 5 sets of 10 bodyweight squats 7 pushups 30 jumping jacks 20 second plank Food: Smoothie with one banana, kale, spinach, peanut butter almond milk. Salad with grilled chicken, olives, tomato, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Mixed nuts/dried cranberries. Salad with ground beef, tomatoes, avocado, olive oil, balsamic. 6/19/14 No workout. Woke up too late and it was a class day. Food: Smoothie with one banana, kale, spinach, peanut butter, almond milk. Salad with grilled chicken, olives, tomato, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Mixed nuts/dried cranberries. Salad with ground beef, tomatoes, avocado, olive oil, balsamic. 6/20/14 Bodyweight circuit. 5 sets of 10 bodyweight squats 7 pushups 30 jumping jacks 20 second plank Food: Smoothie with one banana, kale, spinach, peanut butter, almond milk. Salad with grilled chicken, olives, tomato, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Chili (ground beef, garlic, onions, tomatoes) over spaghetti squash.

Too long since my last check-in. My diet is definitely cleaned up from before the challenge, but I can be doing better. I took off from training over the weekend, did an AM run on Monday, but nothing on Tuesday. I couldn't bring myself to work out after coming home from class. I can definitely plan my weeks out better. Bouncing back today with my bodyweight circuit.

Checking in for the last two days. Food was a wash yesterday (mid-day burrito put a hitch in the plans), but I bounced back nicely today. Smoothie with kale, almond milk, peanut butter, banana, and strawberries for breakfast, two hard boiled eggs and black beans for lunch, chicken with guacamole, and peppers and onions for dinner. Thursday workout: Circuit training in the AM. 5 sets of 10 bodyweight squats 7 pushups 30 jumping jacks 20 second plank Friday workout: 1.5 mile run. Feeling great! I'm sleeping a lot better, and have more energy during the day. I can do much better on the diet end, but it's something I can work on over the coming weeks. Cheers all.

Thanks Snark. First check in. Days one and two went really well. Monday was clean eating (paleo + beans) but I didn't do any tracking. Tuesday: Circuit training in the AM. 5 sets of 10 bodyweight squats 7 pushups 30 jumping jacks 20 second plank Food 3 hardboiled eggs + black beans Bag of nuts with raisins Salad with lettuce, grilled chicken, guacamole, tomatoes, black beans Small turkey sandwich with swiss Salad with ground beef, tomatoes, sweet peppers, small avocado I have a 5:30-8:30 pm class, making meals difficult. I had the sandwich before class, and then was hungry again when I came home so had a salad. Probably ate a bit too much, but it went well overall Wednesday Workout: 1.5 mile run. 14:00 time Food 3 hard boiled eggs and black beans Bag of nuts with raisins Turkey sandwich on rye w/ lettuce tomato, small chicken soup Chicken breast with spinach Will check in again on Thursday. Cheers all, and good luck with your challenges.

It's been about a year since my last (and first completed) challenge. Two or three failed challenges in the interim, and I'm getting back on track now. Funny, thing, Im at the same weight as last year too! 178 as of today, This will be a repeat of that completed challenge, with a focus on bodyweight exercises, running, and clean eating. Here goes: Main Quest: Get faster, stronger, and back in fighting shape. 1) Circuit training 3x per week. Eventual goal is 50 straight pushups. 3 STR, 1 STA 2) Run 3x per week (two for distance, one for my 1 mile time) Goal is eventually an 8 minute mile: 2 STA, 2 DEX 3) Paleo + beans. One grain item allowed per day: 4 CON Life Quest: Finish Grad School with an A in my last two classes. 3 WIS. This will be a big one for me, and mark the end of an interesting and rewarding chapter of my life. I don't want to pad this one out any more. Just get to work. Today was a clean day for me. Workout starts tomorrow. Cheers all.

Thanks for the encouragement Harika. I started the challenge in the midst of winter break, so the balance wasn't too bad then. Now, however... Yeesh, it's tough. Thankfully I'm only taking two classes, and they're Wednesday and Thursday evening. The trick for me is trying to fit my training in on those other 5 days in the week. Brief check in: Food has been perfect thus far today, no circuit training. That was replaced by a ton of snow shoveling because it is snowing yet again. Did a yoga cool down after. Cheers all.

Brief check in yet again. Classes started up, and coupled with work, it's getting tough A) updating here and keep up with good food choices and workouts. My classes are Wednesday and Thursday nights, so I'm thinking about modifying my training/yoga schedule to: yoga or stretching days a week, strength training: 3 times a week. I actually got to an every other day schedule with my circuits, but it's just too tough to maintain with a full time job and class. I guess I'm actually rolling back to my original, more conservative plans. Onward!

Brief check in after far too long. Things are going moderately well. We're entering the home stretch, and I'm committed to finishing strong. Speaking of strong, I've noticed how much thinner and stronger my legs have felt during my yoga sessions. I'm finally starting to gravitate to the idea that strength gains, clothes fit, overall feel are way more important than scale numbers. I'll have odd bloated days, but on the whole I feel healthier and stronger than any point since last summer, when I was on a great regimen. Thanks for all the support here. I promise to check in more often from here on out.

Couple days since my last check in: Food intake has been eh, but I had a tremendously fun training day today. I shoveled like mad last night and this morning (lots of snow here in NYC), and went out to the park for some snow circuits. Same circuit as last time, but in 8 degree weather and in a pile of snow. I raced through it, probably my best time thus far. Came back and did a full yoga session. I'm feeling more confident and positive than last week. I'm struggling on the food front, but in comparison to before the challenge, I'm still doing extremely well. That's all to report for now. Cheers folks.

Not a great few days! Training has been on point. I went for a slightly extended run yesterday clocking in around 1.25 miles. Followed that up with a full yoga session. Today was a great AM run, followed by an expanded circuit. 5 sets of the following: 20 squats, 12 pushups, 25 second plank, 35 jumping jacks. Did a cool down run on the way back. No stretching or yoga. I just wasn't in the mood for some reason. My food intake over the last 3 days has been terrible. Lots of pasta, bread, cheese, etc. My breakfast on Friday really opened up the floodgates! I don't think I can really handle formal cheat days/meals anymore. They too easily descend into me making compromises on other days. Maybe in a few weeks after I've really shown some discipline. Anyways, I'm planning on bouncing back tomorrow.

Check in for 1/17/14 and 1/18/14 AM Yesterday was a perfect food day (eggs, black beans, greens for breakfast, tuna with lettuce and black beans for lunch, steak with mushrooms and onions for dinner). I did a complete rest day with regard to yoga, running, and circuit training, because I've been feeling a bit sore and in need of time off. Woke up this AM, .8 mile run to park for circuits, .8 mile run back. Great, great workout around 6:30am. Had a cheat breakfast because I've been craving bread. Toast, some cheese, and an apple with coffee. Greatly enjoyed it. back on track for the rest of the day. Cheers.

Thanks for the encouragement and food suggestions TennisGeek! Quick check in because I don't have much time to talk. Perfect food all day, except for bingeing on two ice pops. This is my first processed sugar in a couple of weeks. I'm disappointed in myself, but will do better tomorrow. Did the same circuits as Tuesday at the park, full yoga session, and meditated after. Good on those fronts. Cheers all.

1/15/14 check in: Good day. Goal 1: Rest day, went for a run instead. Grade: A Goal 2: Good food day. 2 eggs, black beans, green beans for breakfast. Salad with black beans for lunch. Dinner, salmon with green beans and black beans. As you can see, I'm working through all of my beans at the moment before I grocery shop this weekend. Had some swiss cheese after my run because I had a major craving. My only hiccup. Grade: B Goal 3: Full yoga session. Still improving. Grade: A Life goal: Still slacking on the meditation front. Getting everything else in line is a bit more important to me at the moment, but I know I can do better. Didn't meditate today. Grade: F Cheers all.

I'm getting a bit worn out on the often boring daily updates. These are a few of my reflections thus far in the challenge. 1) Cooking breakfast has been the single biggest wake-up call yet. For the last few months, I've been having a bagel with cream cheese or butter for breakfast. It satisfied some short term cravings, but set me up for feeling badly trough the rest of the day. On mornings when I have time, eggs, beans, and something green has been fantastic in preparing me for the day. On those busy mornings, I've opted for a shake with spinach, kale, almond milk, peanut butter, and a banana. It's been a world of difference. 2) Stamina to get through the day. I get out of work fairly early, around 3pm. For the few weeks leading up to the challenge, I came home and immediately napped for 45 minutes to an hour. Now, I do think there's something to be said for an afternoon siesta. It's when people are most tired in the work day, and can be rejuvenating when done properly. But I was abusing it badly. My nap has shifted to running, yoga, or circuit training. This alone has helped me to feel far far more energized than any nap thus far. 3) I sleep better. Sleep has been more refreshing, more satisfying, and deeper. I'm rarely waking up in the middle of the night. The slight muscle soreness from a good workout day is an enormously satisfying way to end the day. It's fantastic at inducing a long, restful sleep. 4) My mood is generally better. I'm a fairly introverted person and inclined toward depression. I hesitate to say that I suffer from full blown depression, as others do, but I get down quite a bit. Sometimes it dominates weeks of my life. Thus far in the challenge, my mood and outlook has improved considerably. I won't say that everything has been perfect, but my interactions with others has improved, and my internal monologue is more positive. 5) I'm recovering better from workouts. I have always hated post-workout stretching and cooldowns. I suspect it's the reason I've been inclined to injury in the past. The stretching and yoga has probably been my favorite element of the challenge. I've actually come to start looking forward to that element, almost like it's a reward for a good hard workout. I'm noticing some minor flexibility improvements as well, which is a great bonus. Anyway, thanks for reading. Cheers.