Unicoroner

Ok...So far I'm off to a good start. Two gym workouts this week so far and another planned for Saturday! I'm following a 5x5 routine for the next 3 weeks as I try to get back into weights! dAy 1 - FULL Body SqUATS 5 X 5; PEndLAy roWS 5 X 5; BEnCH PrESS 5 X 5; ovErHEAd PrESS 5 X 5; SkULL CrUSHErS 3 X 12; STAndIng CALF rAISES 3 X 15 dAy 2 – FULL Body dEAdLIFTS 5 X 5; PULL-UPS 5 X 5; InCLInE PrESS 5 X 5; UPrIgHT roWS 5 X 5; ZoTTMAn CUrLS 3 X 12; LATErAL rAISES 3 X 12 dAy 3 – FULL Body SqUATS 5 X 5; T-BAr roWS 5 X 5; CHEST dIPS 5 X 5; ovErHEAd PrESS 5 X 5; kICk BACkS 3 X 15; SEATEd CALF rAISES 3 X 15 I've been waking up at 5am thanks to this horrible (I mean, *awesome* app called Alarmy which won't turn off until I get out of bed and take a picture of the bathroom sink). However, if I have the day off, I usually stay up for about an hour and then crash again - sleeping for an additional hour. I need to find some work-arounds for this. Coffee earlier? Cold shower? Earlier bedtime? Clean eating has also been pretty good thus far. I've been clocking all my entries into My Fitness Pal but have definitely been feeling more hungry since starting to increase my activity. Anyone have some ideas about curbing that post-workout hunger? As far as the mini-challenge goes: HomeEc : I didn't do the planting yet, but I did rake up all the leaves and lay out 4 bags of compost and 4 bags of mulch! Whew! Planting to come... History: I can do 20 alternating lunges again without holding on to anything! I've been doing the NF beginner bodyweight exercises prior to this challenge and was surprised to see that I was able to still lunge away! Now...just to fine-tune the form and steadiness! Science: I'll be reaching out this week to a friend who is a CrossFit trainer to see about improving my lifts/form (I never was properly instructed in lifting, but I am a nurse with basic anatomy knowledge and I've watched a *LOT* of videos whilst collecting underpants to start/restart my journey). I'd love to do CrossFit in general, but it just doesn't fit in with my work/school life and budget for now... Math: Hmmm....well, I'm doing squats with weights now - so that's an improvement over just bodyweight! I need to work on depth and range of motion though. Since I've got a semi-bum left knee, I need to get a bit creative on how I do that... That's all for now!

Yeah! Definitely doable The breakroom is home to all kinds of temptations: donuts, candy, bagels, cookies, etc...patients bring us these "gifts" as a token of their appreciation, but they certainly do nothing for my waistline! I have a plan to battle these temptations....They shall be overcome!!

Aw man...I *LOVE* the Foo Fighters!! Everlong was one of the first "harder" things I taught myself on the guitar (acoustic version...I'm not rocking an electric one - yet)

Thanks @Tobbe and @Tanktimus the Encourager for clarifying the mini-challenge! I'm not the most well-versed at using these discussion boards and I have only ever tried a 4 week challenge once before to moderate success... Consider me updated and fully informed (and in need of adjusting my initial challenge post!

It's time...for another respawn! My "Big Picture" Goal: My overall goal is to lose weight and increase my strength and flexibility. I used to play all the sports when I was younger, but eventually developed some knee issues and started eating more while becoming less active – we all know what that leads to… so brings me to today. 5ish years since I was last at a healthy weight, barely squeaking through my last three classes of grad school, stressed in general, and lacking motivation because I just feel tired, achy, and gross all the time. I’m respawning because I love the support, inspiration, and challenge that Nerd Fitness supplies me with! However, after lurking for the last 2-3 years and not sticking with anything (other than keeping a baseline weight of 175-186lbs) I upped my motivation game by betting on myself via HealthyWage.com. My sister had introduced me to PACTapp a year or so ago and the financial push/pull was actually very effective at getting me out the door and active! However, the PACTapp had lots of bugs and they ended up folding. When a friend mentioned HealthyWage to me, I decided to go all in! I’m 42 (the Answer to the Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything!!) as of 5 days ago and I’d love to be able to kick ass in my HW challenge of losing 30lbs over the next 7mos! Main Quest! Increase productivity! Over the course of this challenge, I will be up and out of bed before 5:30 am at least 4 x a week! I need to be up at that time on the days that I work, so I should totally be able to do it one extra day a week for starters instead of sleeping in late on my days off. I’m aiming to be one of those productive morning persons who naturally wakes up at 5 every day! Work out! Over the course of this challenge, I will make it to the gym at least 3 times a week! I work 13ish hour shifts at the hospital 3 days a week, so there is no reason why I can’t make it to the gym on my other days! Eat clean 80% of the time! As a nurse, there is always a variety of sweets, pastries, and other unhealthy snacky snacks lurking in the break room – making it quick and easy to cram something in my mouth instead of eating properly prepared and nutritious things. Over the course of this challenge, I will prep meals for myself each week and will ingest non-processed, whole foods 80% of the time – allowing a 20% cushion for other things that I haven’t prepped. Track it!! One of our nursing tenants is “if you didn’t document it, it didn’t happen!” Likewise, I feel that I need to write stuff down to hold myself accountable. Over the course of this challenge, I will document my meals and exercise in MyFitnessPal (with help from the Fitbit app). Pictures attached for accountability and to remind myself that it's ok to keep respawning as many times as it takes! The tank top is the most recent one...the white shorts/black sports bra one is from Jan 2017, while the turquoise shorts/black sports bra is from April 2018. This time around, there will definitely be changes!! Ashleigh

Back here on the boards to try yet another re-spawn! I appreciate the mini-challenge to get us through the next several days until the official 4-wk challenge starts! Home Ec: I bought a bunch of mulch and flowers (that are now half-dead....but half-dead is partly alive, no?) weeks ago and have yet to clean up my apartments front green space. It shall be done! History: Sheesh..this is pretty much my full 4-week challenge! But,for a mini-challenge, I'll say get back to being able to complete 20 alternating lunges without support again! Science: My favorite subject!! I may pick up a free welcome/basics class at my local crossfit to work on lifting form. (I'd love to join, but grad school got me *super* broke right now). Math: Squat away, mon fre! I'm hoping to get my knees feeling less crabby and my range of motion/depth improved a bit!

Accountability time!! I've been a long-time Nerd Fitness lurker and have done a couple of half-assed attempts to get back to my former weight of 140 (was last there 5-6years ago). Attached are my previous attempts in Jan 2017; April 2018, and Today Sept 5th!! I'm in it for good now! Motivation has always been an issue for me. My sister had introduced me to the PACTapp a while back - where you set a goal and if you keep it, you earn money - but if you don't meet it, you lose money. It was a terrific motivator for me! Alas, PACT had sync issues and ended up closing down due to too many glitches. Now there's another website called HealthyWage where you can set a weight loss goal and choose what you're willing to get/part with. I am aiming to lose 30lbs in 7 mos. I'm putting up $75 of my own money each month for those months and if I reach my goal, I get a bigger payout than what I put in! Woot! I love $$$ and fat loss! I'm trying to get my sister to join in the fun (because there are team goals as well) but I didn't know if anyone else using Nerd Fitness was also on Healthy Wage - then we could form a Nerd Fitness team together! I think you can search via user name (I'm Ashleigh David)... here's a link/invite to use/explore the site (full disclosure, its a referral link, so I would get some perks if you sign up through there) https://hwage.co/394448/ If anyone is already a member, let me know and I'll try to find you so we can band together in Nerd Fitness greatness and glory!! Happy Wednesday... Ashleigh AKA Unicoroner Jan 2017 April 2018 Today!

Kudos to you, @Rebel Dan on what sounds like a couple of weeks of victories! I love the bar you installed and especially appreciate the happy floofs of kittens on their jungle gym in the background Keep up the good work!

I'm curious about your Crossfit classes, @Torvi I've been considering trying a class out, but it's out of my budget for right now. Are/were you new to it? How is it for brand-spaking new beginners?

Hi, @Rainelf ! As a matter of fact, I did not. I still haven't brushed off my baseless gym fears. I've been collecting underpants lately because I want to try to find a "do-able" gym routine. As far as that workout goes, I've added on a couple of things and most of the harder stuff is modified (i.e. knee push-ups, tricep dips instead of tricep push-ups, jumping jacks instead of jumping rope, etc). However, when I first started out, I couldn't even do jumping jacks for longer than 10 secs! 35 seconds is getting easier to me each time I try it. Overall update: I started off week one strong! eating better, meals prepped, bodyweight exercises 5 x over the week. Week 2 was a bit of a wash. Still eating ok. Meal prep done. Only cranked out 2 days of morning routine/bodyweight workout. Still no gym. To be fair, I supplemented those lapses with some much needed mental-health care. Saw my primary doctor. Got on anti-depressants for the first time in my life (this whole depression thing is new to me and was getting out of control the last couple of months) and made an appointment to speak with a mental health counselor. I also was forced to drop my grad school class for this semester - which was devastating, but also very freeing (from a stress perspective). Working my way through Week 3 with some apprehension, but attempting to get back on track. Onward!

Thanks, for asking @Hazard I've made significantly more healthy eating choices the last three days, and I have completed my morning routine for the last three days! (The first two days were before 6am, today's was done at 3pm - but, hey, I did it!). I plan to hit up the gym and food prep for next week tomorrow! My morning routine is as follows, with the"work out" being that I complete the Nerd Fitness bodyweight 2A alternated with 2B (old version - attached): Huzzah!! Onward!!

What a gorgeous respawning declaration!! I, too, am withering away under the trappings of grad school. I stay in, expecting to do school-work, and then find ways to procrastinate at everything else possible until nothing gets done. Then the day is wasted and I still don't complete the necessary work and I feel too guilty about leaving the house to accomplish other life goals, so then absolutely nothing is completed. Ugh! While I love your dissertation topic, it has filled me with anticipatory anxiety thinking about what I'll have to concoct in order to finish my MSN and eventually my DNP. You, nay....WE can do this!!

Hello all! My name is Ashleigh (aka Unicoroner) and I have been a long-time Nerd Fitness lurker for the last 2-2.5ish years. For some weird reason, I never knew about this forum and am excited to utilize it to help in keeping me accountable. I currently work as an ICU nurse and am also in grad school to become a nurse practitioner. I have roughly 4 semesters left, but it feels like a lifetime and academia is sucking away at my will to live. I live in Chicago with my partner and our dog, Maddie. Before we had some medical setbacks in 2016, we were more active with hiking, biking, camping, playing soccer, and running. Now we do a whole lot of school work and spend too much time stress-eating and procrastinating. (But that's about to change!!) This coming September, I will be turning 42 - which, as we all know, is the answer to the Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything!! I want to leave these last unhealthy 3-5 years of my life behind me and relearn how to be intentional, healthy, committed, and engaged in this awesome experience called "Life" once again! I also really want to be able to do a strict pull-up and not worry about my left kneecap sliding out of place anymore. My Main Goal is to lose 40+ lbs and increase my overall strength. My goals for this 4 week challenge are as follows: 1) Over the next 4 weeks, I will adopt the “never two bad meals in a row” mantra! 2) Over the next 4 weeks, I will get over my fear of the gym and attend at least 2x a week! 3) Over the next 4 weeks, I will food prep healthy meals for the week each Sunday! 4) Over the next 4 weeks, I will meditate at least 4 days a week! Happy Tuesday! Onward! Unicoroner