athousandwords

Lucky coworkers!! Those look amazing! I'm glad I don't work in your office, or I'd have no willpower to resist. I'm not sure how you didn't gobble up the whole bunch!

Yeah - I'm a bit confused because it seems like there are so many different ways to test it! I saw a 15 minute run test, but not the 1 mile walk test.. I'll keep looking into it. I couldn't guess at mine, but I'm sure it's not great. It's weird how I can be fit enough to jog 3 miles, but still get winded walking up stairs. 😬 They're back at school and it feels like a day off, even though I'm working! 😆 Thanks for stopping by!

Week 1 - Tuesday Macros: 💚💚 Run/Walk: 💚💚 Water: 💚💚 We survived the "snow" day (in quotes because we got less than an inch of snow and it melted by midday 😑) and the kids are both back in school today! 🎉 Did well on my macros yesterday. I made an effort to get more protein in early in the day with a higher protein lunch and some snacks, that way dinner wasn't so loaded down. I made pancakes for the kids for dinner (happy coincidence that it was Shrove Tuesday - we don't actually celebrate) and some small chia pancakes for myself with the Kodiak high protein mix, so that worked great for getting fiber+protein with an acceptable amount of carbs. I spent way too long yesterday tweaking today's food plan to make it work. I bought some greek yogurt at the store because it's high protein (yay!), but then adding any kind of sweetener added too many carbs. I don't want to just eat tons of meat, so I'm trying to find non-meat forms of protein, but finding the right balance is tough. Still - it feels rewarding and even after just a few days the scale is whooshing downward! 🥳 I did get for my run yesterday, although I was not very motivated and did more walking than running overall. I keep thinking back to what Rookie posted in Fitnessgurl's thread about increasing VO2 max to improve running, and I feel like I could really benefit from that. Plus kettlebells sound kind of fun? But I have no experience in them at all and it'll probably take a while to work up to the kind of laddering from that video. Could be a fun ST goal though... (And now I wish @KB Girl were still around to ask for advice! 😢)

If you have 7 minutes and access to Disney+ you should watch the Bluey episode "Dragon" - I swear, it will heal your inner child. 🥰

My parents brought home some dried durian from Malaysia and my two-year old at the time went nuts for it - ate probably 4-5 pieces. Then an hour or so later we went for a car ride and his car sickness struck.... I cannot accurately describe how horrifically awful it is to clean durian-scented vomit out of car seat straps. 🤢 Congrats on establishing your baseline! Cheering you on to stick with it for the rest of the challenge! 🎉 '' Nice work - take that, brain.

He does - I know he occasionally has issues with suction/seal breaking when he moves around at night, but overall it seems like it works for him. Looks awesome! This is actually adorable.

Absolutely should count! Painting is hard work!! 😓

Week 1 - Monday Macros: 💚 Run/Walk: 💚 Water: 💚 First day of the challenge was definitely a learning curve. I didn't really plan my day well enough: while my lunch was high fiber, it wasn't enough to keep me full, and most of my protein for the day was at dinner, when I was too full. I remember my first few days of calorie tracking being like this too, so I think it's just getting used to what to eat to hit these macros. I may go back to my challenge and adjust some numbers after I live with it for a week. I wish LoseIt let you set your macros goals as a percentage, because that would be helpful. I'm aiming for 25% of calories from carbs, so I calculated 100g based on 1500c/day... but if I eat fewer calories than that and still eat 100g of carbs, then my percentage obviously goes up... 😵‍💫. And I guess it doesn't matter that much, because any reduction in carbs is probably going to help with my weight loss goal, even if I don't get the numbers exact. (But I'm a perfectionist, so...) Anyway, 6yo was unexpectedly home yesterday because he's recovering from pink eye, but I was determined to stick with my goals so I took him out on my walk with me. I was looking forward to him going back to school today so that I would have no excuse to do my run in the morning, and then I got an email at 8 last night that school and daycare would be closed today due to snow in the forecast. 😳 So both kids are home with me today, and DH is out of town again. They're playing happily right now, but I'm going to put a movie on for them later and go for my run on the treadmill. No excuses! 💪

Ughhh yes same! 😭

That's really interesting! Makes me want to pick up a set of kettlebells...

Oh no! I'm glad he's okay, but sorry about your car! I hope it's not too expensive to tow and repair. 😭 Also chiming in to say your challenge looks great! Are you doing C25k for 5k training or something different?

No idea if it would help, but my husband uses a CPAP pillow with side cutouts because he finds it a lot more comfortable with his mask style. Might be worth looking into if you're a side sleeper or find your normal pillow pushing the mask against your face! Following along for the cute illustrations, of course! 😉

Welcome back yourself! Your challenge title is cracking me up because I'm actually super afraid of chickens (most birds really)! 😂 Will be following along! I'm a Tervis Tumbler and Mio fan, myself! And I actually like it! It's just remembering to fill it and actually start drinking it that's the problem... *grumble grumble* I'll definitely post in a couple weeks! Right now we're getting the carpet replaced in our basement, so everything's packed up and put away. Temper those expectations though - it's basically just a treadmill and a couple dumbells! Absolutely will do!

Ahhhh right - I read through the Angry Birds Workout and it had a reference to the Rebel Strength Guide, which I'd forgotten about! I think I still have the PDFs collecting dust somewhere! I'll give that (and the Angry Birds one) a look over! Thanks both of you! ❤️

Was that from the Journeys app or did he post it on the blog? I see quite a few workouts on the blog, but they all seem like one-offs. Thanks for the cheering! 🤗

I just added a couple cans of beans to the veggie soup I made this weekend (which has the dual benefit of stretching it out a little more too!). And I love avocado but I'm slightly allergic... 😭 Occasionally it's worth having my mouth go itchy/numb for a really good avocado though... 🥲

Congrats on your Super Bowl win - I'm over here drooling because that all sounds sooo good. 🤤 Happy year of the dragon! Very auspicious start!

Aaaand my husband just bought be early Valentine's chocolates... 😅

Following along! I love the idea of wild cards for combatting ranger brain!

Right there with you. I keep hearing that "if you're not excited to work out, you haven't found the right workout yet..." but sometimes I feel like that applies to those of us who are perfectly content reading books and playing on the internet all day! 😆

Basically me

Is that a new siggy quote or have I just never noticed it?! Either way, I love it! 😍

Oh having that term to search for helps a lot! Thank you! New challenge is up!

I'll be honest with y'all. I struggled to put together this challenge. I came back to NF about 3 months ago because I was unhappy with my weight, primarily. It was creeping up into the 180s and I remembered how hard I fought to get into the 150 range years ago. It felt like I was letting part of my myself down. And with it, I felt like I wasn't setting a healthy lifestyle for my kids: who am I to say they should eat nutritious food when I was rarely doing so myself? How can I talk about how important it is to move our bodies when I'm sedentary most of the day? There's also some vanity too: I'm going to Cancun with my sister in 9 weeks and she's always been slim (and weight-obsessed). I love her dearly, but I don't want to be uncomfortable in my own skin around her. Yes, I think you can be in a bigger body and still be confident. No, I don't think that's where I am right now. All that boils down to: I am on a weight-loss journey, not just a health journey. And while I've spent the last few months building up a better healthy foundation, I've barely budged the scale from where I started back in November. I want to make some serious changes in that number over the next couple months. I don't fully know how to do it in a sustainable way. I've lost weight before, but I'm in my late 30s now and have two kids - it's harder. So this challenge will be weight-loss focused. I've going to try out low-carb, while still balancing getting enough fiber and upping my protein. I know it's going to be hard, and I'm not going to be perfect, so I'm aiming for hitting my macros 5 days a week. I'm also going to keep up my running/walking goals from last challenge, because that actually was going well. And I'm forcing myself to stick to a dang water goal, because I know that helps and I know I'm bad at it. Finally, I really want to commit to an ST program, but I don't want to rush into something like I have been. I want to take some time, invest in equipment if needed, and set up our home gym for success. Realistically, that can't happen until we get the new carpet installed next week, but I want to be ready by week 3. This word of the year is intention, so: Challenge Intention: Dial in on what will help with weight loss and stop spending time/energy on habits that don't work. 1. Aim for a high-protein, low-carb diet 5 days a week Less than than 30% of calories from Carbohydrates Eat more than 80g of Protein Eat more than 18g of Fiber (These numbers were tweaked on Week 2) Intention: Focus on eating more nutritious, filling foods and eating fewer 'junk' calories 2. Run 3 / Walk 2 Run 3 times a week, Walk 2 times a week Goal for the end of the challenge: run my 10K on 3/16 with no walk breaks Intention: Continue to build the habit of movement 3. Drink the damn water. Every damn day. 8 glasses of water a day, at least. Stop being such a baby about it. Intention: Change the narrative I tell myself about how I'm bad at drinking water - I can build this habit if I try 4. Find and start a Strength Program Week 1: Research/Try out ST programs with the equipment I have available or buy what's needed Week 2: Set up Home Gym for success after carpet install Week 3 - 5: Follow the program Intention: Find a ST program I love with Progressive Overload* to track progress (*thanks for the terminology, @Elastigirl!)