Pallas Athena

P.S. SO happy that you're drawing again! Love your work!

Just one tip, LostOne: NEVER take someone else's word for who or what you are. NEVER. What people say about you or to you is a reflection of who they are, not an indicator of who you are. When your mom says something hurtful, look carefully and you'll see she's describing how she feels about herself, not you. The things we get most angry about in other people are things we usually feel most insecure about in ourselves. Maybe your mother is projecting those feelings onto you because she doesn't know how to deal with them in any other way. That said, it's not YOUR responsibility to fix her, only to recognize the dynamic that's happening between the two of you so you can detach from her statements that aren't true about you. You are NOT your "inner critics", either--those voices we hear in our heads that criticize us. Those voices are learned from others. In the deepest part of your being, you know you are a good person. That's why it feels so upsetting when others misperceive you. One way to deal with those feelings is to write down things others tell you, or you tell yourself, that are negative. Then take each statement and analyze it. "I do a lot around the house." "I take care of family and pets a lot." Basically, find out--objectively--if the hurtful statements are true or not. You might want to keep track of what you do for the family around the house for a week. Just do it quietly, for yourself. Don't bother telling anyone you are keeping track. It's you who needs to be convinced of the truth, not them. YOUR opinion of yourSELF is what needs to be clear. It really doesn't have to matter what others think. You can love your family completely, but also recognize that their opinion of you is ridiculous. Their opinion is not because of who you are, but because of who they are. Your happiness must never depend on someone else's behavior. You have a choice to refuse to believe what others say about you--even family. Perhaps that's the big change you want so badly in your life--setting yourself free of the opinions of others, especially those you love. I surely wish that for you. It would change everything.

Steve, sorry for the newbie question, but what does the "@x" mean at the end of your workout data? I'm assuming the initial part is: sets x reps x weight Just not sure about the @ part. TIA.

Will let you know, Hira. The cool thing is that the treadmill will adjust the incline to match the trail data. Can't match the decline (downhill parts) but should be fairly accurate on the uphill parts. Their machines go to a maximum 20% uphill grade. I don't think the trail will be much steeper than that except possibly on VERY short stretches.

Woot! Finished my 2000th squat today! Behind on posting, but doing well on the squats program, eating Whole30, and walking. Still need to focus more on back exercises. Also checked out the gym I found the other day (thanks for checking, EmCee!). They do have iFit treadmills, so I should be able to go in next Saturday and put in PCT trail map data and see how far I can go in 4 hours. Really looking forward to it (if I can get iFit figured out between now and then)! They also have a couple of trainers with PT experience who know mobility inside and out, so I'll try to work with one of them as soon as time allows. More later... must sleep now...

Sorry the scale was being unfriendly, but you're the boss. You'll get back where you want to be--and beyond! The scale doesn't matter. Maybe part of the increase was dense muscle? Hang in there, Hira!

Brava on rebounding to good eating! Brava on moving the date forward a day! Brava on planning to leave anyway. Your Mom is probably just afraid someday she'll be left alone, so she's acting desperate. She'll probably get over it. Check out the nearest library for a computer. Most have them available. Many are free. You CAN do this!

AJ, it looked to me like you might have your head a little too close to the wall. As I recall from doing these years ago, you need room to get a little arch in your lower back. Also, a slightly firmer surface (not hard like a floor, but not so pillowy) under your head so your head and hands are level might also help. Pillowy surfaces make balance harder.

Brava, AJ! I've often thought you should be one of Steve's success story features.

I'm sure it wasn't very funny at the time, but I have to admit I howled when I read your mishap description. I have similar problems like that all the time, so I can totally relate. For instance, don't ever try doing kettlebell swings without a bra. Different body parts move at different speeds unless they are well secured as a unit, and you don't want anything moving under your armpit when the kettlebell is on its way downward. Big ow. I love how you are always trying new things, or coming at achieving something by trying a new approach. Rock on, AJ!

Wow, lots of pistol work--sounds great! Nice work!

Sounds like you're feeling back on track again--good for you for getting yourself there!

This sounds really awesome, Sam! Sounds like you've already accomplished the title of your challenge! The hiking (and flirting!) sounds fun, and I hope you enjoyed your snow walk, too.

Great workout! So glad you're feeling good about things! Hugs!

Look at you go, grrl! Sounds like you're having a blast, too! Fantastic!

You said: "OK I have big news! Drumroll........I am moving out of my parents house on the 17th of this month and into my Nana's house. And this isn't for just a week or two, this will be until I'm a Marine." CONGRATULATIONS! I'm so excited for you! Sounds like you are really pulling things together in your life in a big way! You'll be a Marine in no time at this rate! Brava, LostOne!

Trust me on this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKffm2uI4dk#t=198

Days 8 through 12 (Monday through Friday): 1. Back exercises: scheduled rest day, no, scheduled rest day, no, scheduled rest day. BAH! 2. 10k squats: 3x23, scheduled rest day, 3x24, scheduled rest day, 3x25. Perfect! And all well below parallel, though still not ATG yet except the first few. 3. Walking: 70 mins. WIO, no, no, no, no. Heavy web work schedule during evenings this week. Need to get more sleep so my self discipline goes back up. Eat Whole30 custom maintenance: yes, yes, yes, yes, no. (Today--Friday--was mostly okay but had some soda. Okay, a lot of soda...) Paint/draw daily: no, no, no, no, 2 drawings. I may change this goal a bit. I just signed up for a four year online painting course. Though I didn't draw every day, I was studying at least an hour or two every day. Most of the course lessons from here on out will include almost daily drawing/painting assignments, so I think I might revise this goal to say something like "work at least an hour a day on my drawing/painting course." Going to think about it for awhile first, though. I happened to see a new gym while I was on the mainland in town today--Anytime Gym. I didn't have time for the tour, but picked up one of their flyers. I'm going to see if they have iFit on their treadmills. If they do, I can call up the PCT on Google maps and train on a simulation of the ups and downs of the trail. My biggest question right now is: how many miles can I actually hike in one day, including elevation changes? Doing a simulation might help me estimate that number, which will tremendously help my planning for the trip in August. They also have brand new free weight equipment. It looks like they have a drop in guest policy so I wouldn't have to buy a membership. I don't get into town often enough for a membership to be worthwhile, but being able to use the facilities to test myself occasionally would be wonderful! I'm also working hard on changing up my daily routine. I need to get my walking done earlier in the day, and I suspect doing them earlier would help me get the back exercises done, too. I can't really add hours or add/drop most of my daily activities, but I think I can put them in a more productive order.

Sam! Thanks for stopping by! I've had the back exercises on the last couple of challenges, but I have not been good at "doing" them. I'm still only getting them done sporadically, but am doing a little better this challenge. I will have the habit built by the end of this challenge, I'm sure. My back injury is totally healed, as far as I can tell. However, my back health overall is a mess. The squats are helping my lower back and core get stronger (did 3x25 air squats today, well below parallel!), but my upper back is a computer-generated nightmare. I NEED to be doing the back exercises. Regularly. Seriously. Otherwise I'm going to have to learn how to spell "dowager's hump." I don't wanna.... I'm thinking about getting a trainer to help me develop a program to rehabilitate my shoulders and upper back, but I want to do these exercises consistently and work with yoga balls for awhile, too, to see how far I can get with what I already know and haven't been practicing.

Hilarious cat video (hope it works--FB, so weird) by Loui Grover

Day 5 (Friday): 1. Back Rx: series A. 2. 10k squats: scheduled rest day. 3. Walking: 70 mins. WIO Whole30 maintenance: yes. Paint/Draw daily: no. Day 6 (Saturday): 1. Back Rx: scheduled rest day. 2. 10k squats: no 3. Walking: 75 mins. WIO Whole30 maintenance: no. Weather caused power to go out again, so ended up eating sandwiches. Paint/Draw daily: no. Day 7 (Sunday): 1. Back Rx: no. 2. 10k squats: no. 3. Walking: no. Whole30 maintenance: yes, but only because of preplanned exceptions allowable on my custom maintenance plan. There was a party at a friend's home (big green salad, homemade pizza [toppings okay, crust not], brownies and champagne). It was also the day for creating and taste testing a recipe for my newspaper column. Both of these are allowed exceptions as long as they occur no more often than in my plan. Paint/draw daily: no. Clear that I need a schedule for getting this done instead of just trying to fit it in during the day. Have been working on a daily schedule routine for a few days that fits everything in without feeling inflexible.

Day 4 (Thursday): 1. Back exercises: scheduled rest day. 2. 10k squats: 3x22 (8337 to go) 3. Walking: 60 mins. WIO Eat Whole30 custom maintenance: yes. Paint/draw daily: no. Got started a couple of times but kept getting interrupted. Tomorrow is a town day on the mainland, so am planning how to handle that re: Whole30 eating. First, it's important for me to eat breakfast at home before I leave. Second, I need to buy some safe snack foods--maybe an apple and some cashews. I also need to take a water bottle. Staying hydrated helps keep me from getting hungry. I don't have many errands to do, so hopefully I'll be home in time for a late lunch.

Thanks, Hira! The 10,000 squats accumulate over several months (110 steps plus rest days as needed). I've got about 1650 done so far (step 36), and the count accelerates as I do more squats each work day. At first I was doing 10 or 20 squats a day. Now I just finished 66 (3 sets of 22). On the final day I'll be up to 200 squats in one set. At least, that's the goal. It's starting to get harder, but mostly because I get winded. It's a lot like doing kettlebell swings. I need to find a quick but effective way to warm up better and get my heart rate up before doing the sets. Strength-wise, I'm keeping up just fine. My strength has been building well, and I'm almost getting down to the ATG position (all the way down), so my flexibility has been improving nicely, too. I can really feel the difference in thighs, glutes, and abs. I just found a new hip mobility yoga exercise today that I think will help me get that last bit of depth--the Half Happy Baby pose. The basic pose doesn't include the rolling movements, just grabbing the instep and stretching. By the way, I'd like to thank you again for mentioning the Wii in one of your posts awhile back. That plus the Walk It Out program has made a HUGE difference in my life. Now I can walk (in place) every day without worrying about the weather or whether my little grandson can keep up. It's awesome! Way more fun than a treadmill.

Day 1, Monday: 1. Back exercises: scheduled rest day. 2. 10k squats: scheduled rest day. 3. Walking: no. 8 inches snow outside and no power inside, so couldn't use Wii, or even treadmill. Eat Whole30 maintenance: no. Draw/paint: no Day 2, Tuesday: 1. Back exercises: made this a scheduled rest day in order to get these exercises and the squats on alternate days. 2. 10k squats: 3x21 (8403 to go). 3. Walking: 70 mins. WIO. Eat Whole30 maintenance: no. Draw/paint: no. Day 3, Wednesday: 1. Back exercises: series A done. 2. 10k squats: scheduled rest day. 3. Walking: 65 mins. WIO. Eat Whole30 maintenance: yes. Also developed and posted my allowed list of maintenance exceptions. See above. Draw/paint: yes. I think I've got everything for the challenge organized well enough now so I can pull it off consistently. Felt really good to eat clean today!

I hadn't checked in since you headed for Brazil. Wow, sounds like a lot has been going on for you! So glad to hear that you're happy! And your bike ride sounds exciting! Also sounds like JV is very supportive of your efforts to be healthy and strong--nice! Go, Blaidd!