jbbst13

Well, one more week of dealing with Poison Ivy, Prednisone, the side effects and everything else...and no progress to report. However, while I may be slipping on my short term goals (this challenge), I am keeping in mind the bigger picture of long term effects of trying to get healthier. So with that in mind, I woke up early, and got a good workout in this morning. I could feel each of the 3 weeks I haven't been able to do something and had to cut my reps down a bit, but it felt great to be moving like that again! And I've started making breakfast at home instead of buying at work. I'm going to spend the next week or two adding a morning workout to my routine. After a shower and breakfast, I take a few minutes to sit and read and it's given me a great start to the day. So, while I may have taken a step or two backwards, I'm still moving forward. I have 3 weeks left to see how I can get back into this!

Well, this 6 week challenge is not going well at all! Last week it was travel and side effects from the prednisone, this week...I'm not sure if I had a stomach virus or what, but was out of commission for 2 days with symptoms similar to what I had before I had my gall bladder out in the spring. I was finally able to eat last night. The only positive is I lost 4 pounds, most of it fluids...not the way to do it! So, once more I need to get back into a routine of working out and paying more attention to what I'm eating. Based on how I feel today, I think whatever was bothering my stomach (flu, virus, or too much food) had been around last week too and it finally came to a head Monday night. I feel good today, so I'm hoping to get some sort of work out in tonight before doing homework...whew. Got some catching up to do to meet my goals!

sounds like you are making quite a bit of progress towards your goals! Way to go! keep up the good work and keep us updated!

Laney, Thanks! I am feeling better, and am looking forward to my workout tomorrow! Today was a date day with my wife since I was out of town for 4 days. Now it's on to homework, lol. Thanks for the tip on the pull up bar as well! I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Well, it's Friday of week 1, and it was not a good week. I got in a work out and ate well on Sunday, then it went downhill from there! I had a case of poison ivy last week and the prednisone (?) really messed up my stomach and I felt awful all week. Add to it traveling for work, and working a few very long days, and yeah...no progress towards my goals this week. Thankfully, it's the weekend, and I'm back home, so i can start fresh tomorrow! The medicine is finally out of my system so now I feel I can and need to get some workouts in and undo this week! Hope everyone else had a better week!

Good luck with your goals, and especially in finding another job! I worked two jobs for a while and I can relate to how you feel without a normal schedule!

Well, while the official challenge starts tomorrow, today was a planned work out day and I wanted to get it done early so I can have energy and focus for as long as possible while trying to do homework for my class....so today I did 1 round of my body weight workout routine, hitting all the desired reps, so I was happy with that. This has been a long, tough week and I hadn't done a workout in about a week and a half. Between work (crazy), school work (crazy), and getting poison ivy and being on some medicine to help...ugh. It felt good to move like that this morning! Now, on to my homework....

Thanks!! I'll check that out. A pull up feels like a rite of passage, and I really want to push myself to get there! Good luck as well!

Thanks! And good luck to you with your PhD! Thankfully, the rest of the house is okay, but I can relate! We renovated our bathroom earlier in the year, and it was a rough few days without a shower! I'm going to try and post before and after pictures of the office, so we'll see how it goes. And as for the classes, they are something that my wife really likes to get into, so I figured it would be good to work with her and use that in place of one of my workouts. Either way, I'm moving more, and it's fun to take the class with her! So thanks for that too! Good luck with your challenge, I look forward to seeing how you do with your goals as well!

I like your goals! And the progress you've made so far. I hope this forum helps and good luck!!!!

I got through challenge #1 in pretty good shape, but had some room for improvement. I have to say I've learned alot about myself and dieting, working out, and watching the scale over the last 6 weeks, so I've got some things I'm going to different this time. First off, there will be no weight loss goal, or even a body measurement goal. I'm going to focus on things I can control, not what fluctuates based on the time of day and everything else. Several fellow rebels warned me about that last time but I already had it in as a goal. So with out further ado, here are my goals for this challenge: 1. Continue with the body weight workouts, but get through 3 cycles of the following: 20 goblet squats with 12 pound dumbbell, 15 push ups, 40 lunges (still working on this one!), a plank for a count of 60 (I hope seconds, but sometimes I count fast!), and 20 dumbbell rows, also with the 12 pound weight. + 2 STR, +2 STA, +2 DEX 2. Get a pull up bar (or make something) and do a real pull up/chin up by the end of the challenge. I saw this on another post for the last challenge (Wookiesquatch, I think?) and like it. I need to figure out the best way to do a pull up at home, I usually work out in the basement but may move it up to the office so I have an interior door frame for the pull up bar. +2 STR, +2 STA 3. Attend either aqua aerobics or yoga classes at my gym at least 3 times over the next 6 weeks. This is something my wife is also interested in so I'm trying to make it fit both of our schedules. +2 STR, + 2 STA, +2 DEX Life Goal: This is a tough one, part of me wants to tie it to my grad school classes, but that seems like an easy out. But, it's definitely exercising my mind! I also have a few projects around the house, so...i think I'm going to combine the two! In order to make the office suitable for a work out area and a place to do my work in, I need to: 4. Finish mudding, taping, sanding and painting the walls, clean the floors and reorganize the furniture to give me a good place to work out and do homework. +3 WIS, +2 CON That should equal 15 points! Good luck to everyone in this challenge, I'm looking forward to seeing how I can do this time, as well as seeing the progress made by our fellow adventurers! Comments are welcome! Thanks!

I'm late with my results as well, but wanted to get my character points updated for Challenge #2! Here they are! I noticed I didn't add apply any points to Dexterity, or Wisdom, looks like that may have to play into my goals for challenge #2...that post will be next! Nerd fitness Challenge 1 (August 6 to September 17, 2012 Character starting out: STR DEX STA CON WIS CHA 3 2 2 3 3 2 Goals STR DEX STA CON WIS CHA Grading Complete 3 cycles of basic body weight with full complement of lunges 3 2 0.75 Eliminate carbs and sugar as much as possible, focus on transition to paleo 2 1 0.6 Maintain Diet and workout on Vacation 2 2 0.75 Lose at least 5 pounds by the end of the challenge 1 2 0.8 Character points after challenge 1: 6.75 2 5 5 3 4.2 It works out that I added 10.95 points out of a possible 15, around 73%. It's my first challenge, so while I'm a little disappointed that didn't do better in some areas, I'm happy with the results I've seen so far.

Congratulations!!!!

I third that post! I agree with you, this is a phenomenal community, and one i'm glad i stumbled on! Good luck on here and with your goals!

Wow! 6 weeks is gone already!!! I have learned a lot about what I need to do, what I shouldn't do, and what can be done better in the last 6 weeks. I started out of the gate strong then lost momentum as work and class work took over my evenings. I've still managed to get in a workout every day or two, but not at the full intensity I had done earlier in the challenge. But, overall, I feel good, I've lost at least a half an inch off of my waist (by my belly button), I had to go to a smaller belt to keep my pants tight, and have had more energy and focus then I have had for a while! So, here's an assessment of how I did with my goals: 1. Complete 3 cycles of the basic body weight routine with the full complement of lunges (right now I'm at 10 a leg)--This was a tough one, but eventually, I've gotten up to doing 2 sets of 40 total, and the last of 30. I have added reps and the dumbbell to the squats as I've done well with the other exercises. One thing I've learned (again) is if you miss a work out or don't do it as much every time, you lose a little bit of the momentum you had before that. I'd rate this a 75% success, I can see the results in the mirror and I feel stronger 2. Eliminate carbs and sugar as much as possible by incorporating more fruits and vegetables in my diet, really focus on transition to paleo diet. Not sure how to measure this one yet...This one was also a mixed bag, I started out strong and my weight went up! (more on that later)...I kept at it and finally started to see some results, only to go on vacation and run into the OC boardwalk and a funnel cake...and some ice cream...and pizza, lol. Overall though, my diet is better today than it was 6 weeks ago, though I'm probably not much closer to paleo. I'd rate this a 60% success! 3. Maintain workouts and diet on Vacation (right in the middle of the challenge) Well, see above about the funnel cake, ice cream, pizza, and donuts from the fractured prune. However, I spread that out over the week, and the rest of the meals were pretty healthy. Since then, I've found it's easier to stick to a good menu during the work week, it's too easy to snack or not eat as well on weekends. I've got some work to do, but again, from where I was 6 weeks ago, it's progress. I'd rate this 75%! 4. Lose at least 5 pounds by the end of the challenge. Ahh..the weight challenge. After reading about how you shouldn't make this a goal, I wasn't sure how it was going to go. Especially in the first 2 weeks of the challenge, my weight went from 203.4 to 206.6! Then, it was like the flood gates opened, I lost 2 pounds in one week, then it took off from there! Over the next month, I managed to lose about a pound a week, and as of my weigh in earlier today, am currently at 201! So, while I'm not down 5 pounds from my starting weight, I am 5 pounds down from where I was a month ago. I can't explain the first two weeks, but I'm glad I was patient. My goal going forward is to keep losing a pound or so a week, at least until the next challenge! I'm rating this one at 80%, and it was the easiest to measure, at least this time. This site has been a great resource, as are the people who post, read, and help out their fellow rebels. Thanks to this site and to everyone who read my posts and offered advice. Tomorrow is back to the workouts (today is a rest day), and i hope to keep improving. I'm really looking forward to my next challenge! I contemplated buying a NF t-shirt if I did well with my goals, but I don't think I'm there quite yet...so that reward is still out there.