Nigmi

Yesterday's food: am - smoothie lunch - salad w/ garbanzo beans, sunflower seeds, chicken, tomatoes, bit of olive oil dinner - nachos , salad w/ honey roasted walnuts, avocados, fortune cookie eve snack - chocolate cake w/ no frosting This was an oops day. Unplanned to include nachos and chocolate actually. Unexpectedly went out to dinner with the team with whom I was working that evening and they literally were like "have nachos, it's peer pressure" and I couldn't say no because I didn't want to feel awkward. When I came home, I had one of those moments of "oh well, the day is already screwed so chocolate cake!" ... I know I am giving myself two days off from dietary restrictions but ... well ... I already have those planned out. Ooops.

Logging food here. Feels more accountable that way than in my notebook. am - smoothie (1c fruit - strawberries today, 1/2 c almond milk, 2 tbsp flax seeds, 2 tbsp almond butter, some water) lunch - salad leaves w/ some quinoa, mixed veggies, olive oil snack - almonds dinner - salad, cannellini beans, avocado, green onions, basil, peppers, olive oil eve snack - moscato grapes bonus points - said no to cookies at evening meeting! woo!

Hey arthaey. Thanks for the comments on my thread. Sorry I wasn't updating more frequently and not checking in here over the week. I'm planning to update my thread about once a week. I'll try and check in more on your thread this upcoming week. How did the rest of your week go last week? How did the rest of your vacation weekend go? Did you find some time to exercise and do language work? Good luck this upcoming week! Keep your eye on the goals -- I know you'll do awesome!

Week 1 in review: The week was certainly a less than auspicious beginning. I am certainly not good at posting frequently or checking this site frequently. I did attempt to achieve the goals I set for myself this week to various degrees of success. Re life goal -- I did manage to study for 1 hour or more 5/7 days. Yay! One of the two days I did not study, my husband and I had plans with friends, and I just did not have time for more than 30 minutes. The other day, well, it was Friday and I was just exhausted from the rest of the week. For this week, I'll try to plan my time better -- although the schedule is more hectic this week (as in, I have no idea what time I get off work) and I'm worried about that interfering with attempts to study. I have a book to read for ophtho, and in order to get through that by the end of this week and by the end of the ophtho week, I need to be reading 40 pages a day -- which will take about 2 hours or so if I don't get distracted by webcomics and stuff That's the plan for this upcoming week though -- 40 pages each day and some extra work to prep for my final in two weeks on the weekend. Re fitness goals -- well ... positive news first I guess. I did work out three times this week and am now on W5D3 of C25K. Woot! Next week I'll be entering W6! Also, my weight, while fluctuating some during the week, especially with alcohol intake, did decrease to 156.4 lbs as of this morning. Hopefully that will keep going next week. And then the bad news ... the dietary goals I tried to set for myself kinda, well, crashed. I did log faithfully at the beginning of the week, and then come Friday I just couldn't make myself. Easy enough thing to do in theory, right? I did notice from my logging and from just observing myself that I was overdoing it on three things -- cheese, bread, and desserts. While I did not have 5 ice cream cones this week, I did manage to have some sort of dessert 4 nights out of the week ... not quite the 2 I was aiming for. I noticed that it was easy for me to justify indiscretions too -- "pita bread is healthy ... it's so light" and "well, they're freshly baked brownies so c'mon ... I just won't have dessert other days ..." and then on other days "well, it's been a crud day so clearly warm cookies are in order." I won't even go into cheese. I think what I need is better rules for the diet aspect of this. Before I started this, I was doing pretty well with diet for about a month and a half but was already starting to slip at the end of that time period. I was hoping that starting this challenge would help keep me from slipping but it has not seemed to as I too easily find loopholes in the vagueness of "healthy diet." So, rules ... When I felt I was eating healthy, I was basically eating everything except bread/bread products, cheese, eggs, alcohol, and desserts. I don't particularly want to go back to that and that only. For instance, I want to enjoy a nice breakfast with my husband on the weekends, a dessert every so often, a slice of cheese or eggs occasionally. I have a friend who does Paleo most of the time with some preset amount of "cheat" days per week. I think that might work for me. I am planning the following for the diet portion of this diet: - 5 days of the week, I will eat no bread, cheese, eggs, and have no alcohol. - 2 days of the week (weekends, to allow me to enjoy socializing with friends, eating treat type foods with my husband, and to not feel totally deprived ) will be "cheat" days where I can have the foods I don't allow myself otherwise I will continue to log as best as I can just to keep track of what I'm eating. I'm aiming for 7 days next week!

Arthaey, we meet again Yeah, this is the level in my weight loss cycle where I usually start slacking off and then increasing back up to like 165 again. Hopefully this challenge week will help keep that from happening. I think I'm going with a piece of paper and pencil approach for now. It'll let me use a notebook!

Hi Ferocia. Yeah, the studying is so easy to put off -- as is the working out and the eating healthy Thanks for the well wishes. Good luck to you on your goals also!

First challenge, not first, second or third time trying to get into shape. About me: I'm a fourth year medical student with less free time than I'd like and a strong inclination to use that free time reading, watching TV, playing board games, eating, drinking, generally hanging out. I've tried multiple times before to change this pattern in order to get in shape and to be a better pre-doctor. Right now, I've been working on losing some weight with diet and exercise (Couch to 5K) for the past month or so with some degree of success. I like the idea of this 6 week challenge -- breaking down of something huge into smaller goals, knowing other people are doing the same thing, leveling up in the things that are important to me. Plus, a friend is doing this and everything is better with a buddy, right? Starting stats: Weight - as of 1 month ago, 165 (BMI: 25.1), as of today morning 158 (BMI: 24) Week of C25K - W4,D2 Number of ice cream cones eaten in past week - 5 (?) Time spent studying each day - <30mins (?) ... and really zero most days in the past month or so (excuse: finished a big exam a month ago and deserve a "study break" ... problem: gaps in knowledge no smaller) Goals: Fitness - 1) Lose 5-10 lbs in next 6 weeks (so 158 --> 153 - 148) to get closer to goal weight of 145 (BMI: 22) 2) Run 3x per week, completing C25K in process 3) Healthy diet of mostly fruits, veggies, lean meats, grains, and no more than 2x weekly dessert; log food daily to keep self honest Life - 4) Study at least 1 hour each day, including weekend days