ilsudur

Challenge Results Ok, so here's how this worked out: Fitness - Goal Met - Managed to complete the second set on Thursday. Woot! Nutrition - Goal (Mostly) Met - I can't say for sure I am drinking enough water daily, but I have cut back significantly on non-water options (AKA milk), and I find myself mentally tallying both in the evening to decide what to drink with dinner. I've even become more protein-conscious on my workout days. Life - Goal Met'ish - I'm still a procrastinator, and that's gonna take more than one challenge to fix (might be a lifetime, who knows?), but it has gotten a little better. I still have a stack of papers ungraded from last week behind me, but it's not that large. This has been... fun. I'm actually enjoying being on the forums, especially when I can encourage others who are flagging or feeling down. Heck, I even manage to take my own advice about half the time. Now I have 2 weeks to decide on my next fitness goal, and I'd welcome thoughts: 1) Get more serious about strength training - about 2/3 of my workout day is with weights - barbells, dumbbells, cables, and machines - but I don't have a solid rotation down yet, since I go to the gym solo, I don't do bench press much, so finding myself trying to compensate for that. 2) Find a martial arts dojo nearby - I was a 3rd degree brown belt back at the age of 14 in shotokan karate, but I stopped before reaching black belt. That's something I kinda regret, even as a self-styled pacifist. 3) Focus on weight-loss weight training - I love the fact that I can start to see muscle definition for the first time in my life, but I'm still bummed about having a keg attached to my torso. This isn't much different from strength- and bodybuilding-focused training, as far as I've read, but the prep work with nutrition is pretty different, and I keep going back and forth on it... Good luck to everyone in their next challenge, and thanks for the encouragement.

win = Win = WIN as far as I'm concerned. Good job.

@Elastigirl -

Mine did the same thing the second week I started incorporating squats into my workout routine. Does anyone know why this happens? And I think you're making the right call. After that started happening, I took a week off from squats, just started them again, and it's not happening anymore. Also, you're doing great on everything else, keep it up.

As disheartened as you feel right now, I don't think you've really lost. However, I sympathize/empathize/struggle-myself with your feeling down and depressed about your goals and the reality of what we've done to our bodies in years of neglect. The silver lining - I think you've identified what it takes to crawl out of a deep hole. I'll quote Oathbringer here: "The first step is important, but not the most important. The most important step is the next one... then the next one, the one after that, and so on". If it takes you making 24-hr goals before you can make a weekly goal before you can make a 4-week challenge goal, do it! That's what I had to do at first. If I had been on here a month ago, when I first started working out... just ugh. Make a goal you *know* you can do, but that will take a little effort. Get that win that everyone needs for psychological validation and emotional boost. Then make the next goal just a little harder. Then so on... And, if the prospect of getting back into shape with exercise, with overhauling your diet, with preparing for a brutal final exam, and meeting the requirements of an online forum starts making you nauseated... make ONE goal. Any goals made > 0 goals made, and 0 goals attained > 0 goals made. In short, while nothing I say, nothing we say is going to make you feel great, you're not alone, you're not pathetic, you're not undisciplined or lazy or stupid or whatever... you're human, which means your potential is beyond measure.

Because you haven't taken a break frequently enough, your body/mind/psyche reacted so favorably to it. Definitely don't quit, especially since you're seeing such good results. Just remember to be careful about burning yourself by going too far too fast. "It is not meet that man should run faster than he is able." A break weekly is beyond healthy.

At the risk of sounding negative, just remember that the body and brain work differently with respect to blood sugar and regular nutrition. The body can and should handle periods of fasting, but brain function drops in the absence of regular food intake, a la Maslow's Heirarchy, blood-glucose levels as related to neural stimulation, etc. Balance in all things, especially when you're at the point that you'd slaughter an old man for a cheeseburger.

I'm right there with ya. Yoga is intimidating for those of us with limited mobility, but you're right, that means we need it even more. Especially those of us that have suffered back damage know what it's like to be leery of any odd movements. Still, you're cognizant of it, and you're taking steps, so that's a win to me.

Illness gets you a mulligan, so the fact that you still had two yoga sessions and tried to eat healthier... that might not be an A+, but that's at least worth a B. Just keep trying.

Good goals. Out of curiosity, what form issues are you having, b/c I'm finding it difficult to keep proper form on overhead presses.

I don't think you appreciate how big of a win that is. Ask the average person, of any age between 10 to 80, what their caloric intake on snacks happens to be... If you got more than 1 out of 10 as something other than "I don't know" I'd be shocked. The fact that you're conscious of your snacking means that, while there's always room for improvement, you're out of the mindless snacking zone.

I'd call that a huge win then. Good job, and I'm right there with ya. I'd almost rather be seen poorly-dressed (or lacking some important article of clothing) than seen running around outside, unless there's something to run from. Keep it going!

How has your progress been going? Even if you feel like you can't post much success, a 1/10 is better than a 0.

Weekly Update Week from the property adjacent to Hades... but that's life. Here goes: Fitness - About 2 shy of completing the second set of cheater push-ups, and only up to 6 real, good-form ones. Still, I'm surprised, considering I'm not losing a lot of body weight yet (see last week's post), but I also didn't know about the novice effect when I made my goal, so hey, think I'll be ok to meet it next week. Nutrition - Found it a lot harder to track how much water vs milk or other liquids I was having this week, especially on Father's Day. After all, it takes a special type of ass to turn down a gift on a holiday celebrating family. Still, I am going to low-ball it with a 4/7. Life - This is where I fell down, having given a total of 4 quizzes and 1 exam last week. I didn't get the exams graded until last night, and I left a lot of lab reports hanging over last week, so I'm estimating it at around a 6.5/10 or thereabouts. I still can't say I enjoy workouts, but... I don't mind them as much as I thought I would. Only had to force myself to get to the gym once in the past 2.5 weeks. So hey, that's as big of a win as I could have imagined a month before. Thanks again all, as dumb as it is, the psychological value of accountability combined with positive feedback makes a difference.

With a lack of expertise in everything but the power of viewpoint, you've made a huge progression step here. I'm still not happy with my own corporeal frame, even when I do start to see results. With your outlook, goals are that much closer, and I can guarantee you'll make progress. Looking forward to your next update.

I don't think anyone can choose a more solid life goal than paying off debt, especially when you plan how to do it. Something to consider, if the problem with getting to the gym is actually getting outside and to the gym, there are a number of bodyweight exercises that you can do for those days where it's just too much hassle. Look forward to your updates, and yes, use of color in a post is great.

I have to admire that mindset, both the reason behind it and your initial willingness to share more than you typically would. Keep trying - tracking your goals can be harder than actually making progress towards them at first, so consider something concrete to use for this purpose - say a calendar or fridge checklist.

Weekly Update This has been an interesting week for me, as it's the first time in a month I'd been coaxed onto a scale, and I'd lost all of 1.3 lbs in the last 30 days (255.6 to 254.3). Normally this'd be a reason for discouragement, but considering I *know* I'm getting stronger, the thought of actually gaining muscle AND losing a little fat as well is making me look forward to the next couple weeks. Anyhow, time to check-in on goals: Fitness - I'm almost at a full set of cheating pushups (I can do 10, but the tenth one had to be done with a little stalling). Still only a couple of real ones. 3 days of weight training, with bodyweight exercises either before or after. 48-ish hours between workouts. Increased all my weight values by 10-15 since last week, with no decrease in set length. Nutrition - Gonna call this 6/7, as I'm not certain I got in a full liter of water on Saturday. Spiritually, it'd be 7/7, as I've definitely cut back on the milk and upped the water, but it's harder to track something like this without concrete metrics. Life - 9/10'ish on this. All of the week's papers were graded on the day they were collected, but I'm still sitting on a stack of quizzes from the end of the week, so even though there's still time, it breaks the spirit of the law. Thanks for the encouragement, ya'll. This next week marks my first month down since starting to get serious about my fitness, and a little accountability mixed with encouraging advice help make it easier to stick with my goals and keeps my determination high. For this, I salute you!

My favorite simple/fancy dinner was stuffed chicken/chicken cordon bleu: Oven bake a chicken breast for about 5-7 minutes, take it out, slice it open pita-style, stuff with X, Y, Z, then grill it for a few minutes, long enough to melt cheese or cook potatoes or whatever was inserted. Oh, and the key part was to serve with black tie.

I quoted Tolkien to an 8th grade class and got one, and only one "pity chortle." I was then asked (same day) to put on a YouTube video of the Harlem Shake and thought, "What is this drivel? ... When did I start using the word drivel?" Bonus points if you can guess the Tolkien quote.

Keep it up. If anyone deserves a win, it's a teacher! (and I'm not just saying that for the job loyalty factor, I swear) Also, something I struggle with myself: it's ok to miss or fail a challenge. Just do better the second/third/forty-eighth time.

Hey everyone. You know those nights where, despite your best efforts, you have to get up at 3 AM cause your brain is demanding some random madness? Well, after fulfilling that annoying tweak, I started searching out tips on maximizing warm-ups and workout rotations (started up again about two weeks ago after 14 years of not doing jack squat more than occasionally walking somewhere), and ended up here. I'm... oddly enthusiastic... About me - I'm a 35 year old Adjunct Chemistry professor at a number of local universities and community colleges in the Phoenix-Mesa area of Arizona. When I actually got serious and did some fitness tracking, I found that I was carrying 91 lbs of body fat. All I could think about at that time was, "What would I be like if I didn't have a job that had me on my feet multiple hours a day?" My idea of a good day revolves around sleeping in, reading a book until fully awake, jumping on the console/computer/web for a rotation of games (RPG, strategy, puzzle ftw, especially if it's a hybrid of two of those, or a good old-fashioned board game or tabletop rpg, preferably with secrets and/or betrayals) until dinner, then cooking something simple but "fancy" or having someone else provide the food, then a spin of the "wheel of procrastination" to see what I don't do between dinner and bed. I know myself, so I'm keeping my goals simple: 1. Fitness - Work up to two full set of modified push-ups or half sets of real push-ups. Currently able to do about 6-7 knee or incline push-ups before exhaustion. 2. Nutrition - Replace at least half my liquid intake from milk to water (I am addicted to milk, drink between half a gallon to a gallon a day). Realistically, this'll take the form of getting in at least a liter of water daily, if not two. 3. Life - Grade at least 2 out of my 3 classes' papers on time. I see two of them twice a week, and last semester, one class ended up getting back 6 assignments in a flood. I'm not sure I can meet the fitness goal with less than 3 weeks, but what the heck? Can't succeed if ya don't try.