Mekong

Have you ever had Secret AArdvark sauce? I think it's described as tex-mex-jerk. My sister sent me some from Portland and I've been putting it on everything. That looks really good. I like chopping up leftover porkchops or pulled pork with eggs and adding red chile powder to get a carne adovada breakfast burrito flavor thing going on.

I like the cut of your jib. Good luck!

Thanks, you also! I'm not too worried about going through the actual motions, I just really need to change my perspective on these challenges and make them a part of my daily routine so I'm not constantly starting at 0 and can move on to more interesting goals.

That sounds really good. Do you leave the peppers whole and pull them out later? I usually keep a can pureed in the fridge and add it to food as needed, but a whole can may be pretty spicy. Then again I like to eat spoonfulls of the sauce while I'm cooking so perhaps not...

My last few challenges have been operating under the framework of what I should be doing, which hasn’t been working particularly well. I’m following steps but not really thinking about where those steps should lead or embracing the actual journey. I’m collecting underpants, probably, I think, I would need to read that post again but it sounds about right. So let’s reverse engineer this: I am wasting a lot of my mental energy trying to stay on top of aspects of my life which should be mindless, streamlined routines. I’m taking a page from the President’s book by honing down my wardrobe in order to reduce the time and decision-making associated with getting dressed in the morning. In that vein, eating, sleeping, working out, hydrating… none of this is revolutionary and it would be nice to take a few steps up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs by throwing this stuff on autopilot. Therefore, in 6 weeks I don’t want to waste so much time on what I’m eating, when I’m working out, or how I’m sleeping. I want to be moving forward, finding more productive ways to spend all my newfound time and energy. Energy In: A) Make a meal plan master list for dinners, which will include a basic outline of variable meals based on prep/cook time available on certain days and including a list of fallback recipes comprised of ingredients we pretty much always have and that take as much time to make as it would take to go to In-N-Out and gorge myself on 4x4s, protein style, animal style. Have food ready for work the night prior. C) Eat vegetables every day. A pile of lunchmeat and a bowl of stevia-sweetened whipped cream does not a balanced diet make. D) Stay the Paleo course, which there shouldn’t be much room for digression given A, B, & C. Energy Out: A) Strength train 3x a week without fail. This will be comprised of 2 Starting Strength sessions and 1 Team Badass session each week. Decide on and stick to a gym schedule for the Starting Strength sessions. Because winging it isn’t working and I spend a lot of time thinking about when I should go next. C) Decide on and stick to a simple aerobic something program on off days. Power Down: A) Give myself at least 8 hours in bed each work night, be it reading, sleeping or otherwise. The phone isn’t used in bed. C) Establish a foamrolling habit. Or, barring that because it sucks, do it anyway. D) Try meditation of yoga at least twice. Bonus Power Up: A) Learn 6 German phrases. Send my mom a postcard. C) Finish my initial wardrobe sweep, organize all the things.

Today I managed to not eat: Double chocolate cheesecake someone brought in for our department, Vanilla cake with strawberry frosting for someone's birthday, Chocolate Oreo ice cream cake for someone else's birthday, sauce/fixins with BBQ takeout our manager bought our team (my order was still a satisfying .5 lb brisket). It was very hard and I felt sorry for myself the entire time, but reminded myself that if I didn't eat this shit all the time in the first place I wouldn't have to turn it down now. That's all.

I like reading your workouts because I get all flustered when the areas/equipment I plan on using at the gym is taken, then I wander around and do some poorly planned, half-assed thing and leave, so it's nice to see how you adapt and overcome challenges/bros.

Update: I suck at updating still. I will focus on this more for the remainder of the challenge. I had a day or two tripping me up with eating but I'm back on track and meandering towards ketosis. Have to figure out a post-workout protein shake solution. Sleep isn't going great but my intentions towards sleeping are. I've done really well with not playing on my phone in bed, I've been reading a lot (halfway through book 1 in The Wheel of Time series but really want to pick up the Saxon Tales series again so I can read that latest book). Waking up is still hard. I'm a little surprised this hasn't ameliorated at all but I feel a lot less guilty about it when I'm reading in bed and giving myself 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep time. I've managed being active everyday but think I can do better. I picked up Starting Strength and want to read it and start doing the program. The gym is killing me with how busy it is right now. It's really frustrating to go with a plan and have to wait around to use an area/equipment. Not doing well on the work goal. I need a "job" I can throw myself in, be it a project at home or actually at work, but I'm not particularly inspired at the moment.

Why thanks! Hope your challenge is going well also! Dawww... so cute! Maybe the true secret to not throat-punching people is more pet gifs. A theory I think I should try... I want to be more creative with my challenges but honestly, it's the basics that trip me up. I'm terrible at consistency and planning ahead. So until I can conquer that, here's where I'll be. I like your pic, something tells me my four-legged hiking partner wouldn't mind knowing you either.

I too fail at keeping up with the challenge updates but tried doing the same thing as you tonight- I got a basic outline up with the expectation I'll add to it. Good luck on your quest!

Main Quest: Gear up towards becoming more serious and consistent in my fitness goals this year, focusing on strength via lifting and stamina via jogging/hiking/consistent medium intensity cardio, and working toward filling in general well-being gaps such as flexibility, bodyweight exercises, sprinting, and maybe actual sports. For this, I look to my dog for inspiration. I will probably never be as happy or interesting as Lyla, the sheepherding, tree-climbing, fly-catching, fuzzysnugglewugglekins poop machine, but damned if I can't try. So in the assumed advice of Little Wolfie Sneezle Weasle, I will focus on eating, sleeping, playing, and working. 1. I will eat! Paleo, 90%. The Nutella is safely in the freezer and I aim for 100%. The husband is working on getting to ketosis so my diet will likely mirror his once a couple planned recipes are made and consumed (spaghetti squash with sausage, kale, and a pesto cream sauce, primarily). 2. I will sleep! Reclaim the bedroom. I will not "go to bed" and play on my phone for hours until the battery wears down and my hands are falling asleep. I'll set my alarm before I get to bed and if I truly can't sleep, I'll read. 3. I will play! A true lesson I can take from my dog- the key to a good sleep is earning it when you're awake. I will find time to be active and connected to my physicality everyday. Gym, bodyweight exercises on days off, walks, follow-up with foam rolling. Etc. I will work! If you don't give a dog a job, she'll find one by herself. In memory of my couch, my shoes, my phone, a lamp, a rug, and a particularly droll pillow that was totally asking for it, I pledge to find time for and satisfaction in my job as a coworker, as half of a domestic partnership, and as an actual member of this community (rather than someone that starts a challenge and bails on the forum-ing part immediately). Salud!

Do we work together? Subbed because not throat punching people is a noble goal and I'd like to learn from you.

What do you like to eat? I'm boring, I usually marinate and grill a bunch of chicken breasts and cook up ground beef at the beginning of the week. Then I just either heat it up and cook some vegetables to go with it or stirfry it all together. I usually have a couple sauces to shake things up- pesto, salsa, homemade bbq, tahini, and of course, butter. I had different meat this week but my meals have pretty much been: ribs and coleslaw, steak and coleslaw, ribs and broccoli, ribs and snow peas and avocado, and tonight steak, broccoli, and snow pea stir fry.

Thanks! I'm a little intimidated to post in the Warrior guild since I'm pretty new to strength training and worried my goals weren't specific or lifting-focused enough. I was too young to ever really get into Black Flag but I've seen Rollins' spoken word a few times and enjoy his writing.

Subbed! Tell me more about breakfast puke.

“The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.†Main Quest My constantly researched and tirelessly analyzed potential will manifest itself to empirical badassery. Couch conjecturing will be no match for observed obliques! “Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on.†Quest 1- Work on –and TRACK- the big 3 lifts, each at least once a week. Find my 5 rep max, hopefully also increase weight but with a stronger emphasis on form. [4 STR, 1 CHA] Scoring- Track and practice 6 times (A), 5 times ( , etc…. “[…]the material you work with is that which you will come to resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.†Quest 2- A tired and stressed body cannot recover. Give myself at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep time (lights out, phone away, dog with night terrors and snoring spouse banished to the guestroom if necessary) on weeknights. In the spirit of recovery and de-stressing, strive also to watch less TV, foam roll more, pay attention to hydration and protein intake, stretch/yoga it up, have more sexy times. [1 DEX, 1 STA, 2 CON] Scoring- 27+ nights of 7+ hours of attempted sleep (A), 24+ ( , 21+ ( C), 18+ (D), <15 (F). 7+- hours on a pass/fail. “Keep your blood clean, your body lean, and your mind sharp.†Quest 3- Eat clean(er). Continue to eschew grains and sugar. Further reduce dairy and nuts. Cut out alcohol, replace with my own delicious tears. Eat ENOUGH, but if I’m fasting actually do it. I’m getting into a bad habit of snacking through the day so I’m always eating but still end up with <1000 kcal for the day. [2 WIS, 1 CHA] Scoring- 0-2 points a day based of my own subjective scoring. 84-75 points (A), 74-68 ( , 67-59 ( C), 58-51 (D), 50-0 (F). Life Quest “I want to learn more about the world. It makes me want to get up and go.†Clean out the office, set up and learn to use the sewing machine for which I begged 2 Christmases ago and haven’t used, read and finish a book, learn about and pay more attention to personal finances, spend at least 3 hours (30 min/week) listening to TED talks/iTunes U/MOOC, learn about Access or intermediate Excel for work. [1 CON, 2 WIS] Scoring- At least 5 things(A), 4 doohickies ( , 3 whatevs ( C), 2 stuffies (D), 1 sad panda (F). That’s it. Intros, measurements and stats to come. “You need a little bit of insanity to do great things.â€

Updates, woman! I need closure so we can go forth and conquer the next challenge. In the words of Howard Dean- "YEEEEEAAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!"

Challenge Results Sorry for the belatedness, I was on vacation. I barely had phone service, let alone internet! It was awful, I had to just hang out at the beach interacting with my loved ones with nothing to distract me. Main Quest: Become a more active, functionally fit, person. Strive for consistency, perseverance and stick-to-it-iveness overall, even if a specific activity doesn’t end up grabbing me. Embrace a more dynamic, engaged mindset both physically and mentally. Get out of analysis paralysis and just move forward! I feel good about my main quest- I can still do a lot better regarding acting vs. just thinking but I accomplished my goals and I'm starting to hit a really good stride being more active overall. I'm finally to the point where I'm becoming physically fit enough to actually start tackling my long-term goals, which is really exciting. -I will consistently follow a Paleo diet with strict focus on eliminating sugar and less-strict focus on eating less dairy. A for diet- Even on vacation I didn't go completely off the rails and it's starting to feel a lot more second nature than previously. Only worry is that I shared a food diary I'd kept a few days with my trainer and she says I'm eating too little. So unsurprisingly, there's always a new challenge to which I can look forward. -I will engage in some cardio activity at least twice a week for at least 20 minutes. C for the cardio. I've worked a lot more aerobic activity into my routines and feel like I have more stamina but my path didn't follow my expectation really at all. I think I ran like twice, but added in swimming, walking, playing with the the dog, etc. But I can still do a lot better here. -Add a plate to squat, bench press, and deadlift and make time for all three every week. A for strength- I'm proud. I went from just 45 lb bar to 115 lbs squat, 85 lbs dead lift, 60 lbs bench press. None of these are to failure but all I can do 8-10 reps with good form. For what it's worth (nothing, I know), I can squat 240 lbs on the freemotion machines at my gym, also not to failure. Life Goal: Update my resume. Apply to the management training at work and/or apply for another job. B for professional development. I met the letter, not the spirit of the law. I could be more proactive about work and my future. This will be ongoing.

Challenge Results Sorry for the belatedness, I was on vacation. I barely had phone service, let alone internet! It was awful, I had to just hang out at the beach interacting with my loved ones with nothing to distract me. Main Quest: Become a more active, functionally fit, person. Strive for consistency, perseverance and stick-to-it-iveness overall, even if a specific activity doesn’t end up grabbing me. Embrace a more dynamic, engaged mindset both physically and mentally. Get out of analysis paralysis and just move forward! I feel good about my main quest- I can still do a lot better regarding acting vs. just thinking but I accomplished my goals and I'm starting to hit a really good stride being more active overall. I'm finally to the point where I'm becoming physically fit enough to actually start tackling my long-term goals, which is really exciting. -I will consistently follow a Paleo diet with strict focus on eliminating sugar and less-strict focus on eating less dairy. A for diet- Even on vacation I didn't go completely off the rails and it's starting to feel a lot more second nature than previously. Only worry is that I shared a food diary I'd kept a few days with my trainer and she says I'm eating too little. So unsurprisingly, there's always a new challenge to which I can look forward. -I will engage in some cardio activity at least twice a week for at least 20 minutes. C for the cardio. I've worked a lot more aerobic activity into my routines and feel like I have more stamina but my path didn't follow my expectation really at all. I think I ran like twice, but added in swimming, walking, playing with the the dog, etc. But I can still do a lot better here. -Add a plate to squat, bench press, and deadlift and make time for all three every week. A for strength- I'm proud. I went from just 45 lb bar to 115 lbs squat, 85 lbs dead lift, 60 lbs bench press. None of these are to failure but all I can do 8-10 reps with good form. For what it's worth (nothing, I know), I can squat 240 lbs on the freemotion machines at my gym, also not to failure. Life Goal: Update my resume. Apply to the management training at work and/or apply for another job. B for professional development. I met the letter, not the spirit of the law. I could be more proactive about work and my future. This will be ongoing.

I would like to have a fruit/avocado bowl and a jar of almonds at work but I'm afraid of attracting Anthony's Voltron-running roach.

Wow, awesome progress! I really feel you on the job front- I don't know how many times I've wanted to apply for a job but didn't because I was worried about rejection or I wanted my resume and cover letter to be perfect, which i then procrastinated on until it was too late. Seriously, I'm my own worst enemy, it's frustrating. I really like this Ask a Manager blog though- for job searching advice as well as just general career stuff. If it's not weird to ask, how tall are you? Just curious, reading your stats and your "small and deadly" ultimate goal.

Yay fellow viking! How's your weight going (she says as she realizes she can just go to your posts and see)? Mine... hasn't changed. And I don't feel like my clothes fit differently but I have teeny tiny visible abs and biceps so I can't shouldn't complain. DarkRaven I suck and I'm sorry! I need to turn on notifications here- that may help. Updates- my moderate awesomeness is contagious and I've finally managed to get the husband on board with eating Paleo. Usually it's the other way around where he kills my resolve. I really, really hope he sees some results soon so he doesn't bail. We're going on vacation next week as the challenge ends so hopefully we manage to be mostly good. Work is work, I don't want to talk about it. I've done more cardio but it's hard to measure because I'm not really just jogging like I thought I would. Do 60 minutes of water aerobics set to Mumford and Sons count? I've accomplished my lift goals; that being said I thought I'd see more progress these 6 weeks but my workouts have changed lately and I haven't focused on straight lifting as much as I did previously. This should change...

BAM. What's up America? Life Quest has gone from non-existent to DONE, bitches, in one long pain in the ass day. I'm upping the quest- update resume, apply to work leadership program thingy, apply to another job, including a fucking cover letter which I fucking hate, you can tell by the fucks in this sentence. I'm eating outrageously well and I'm not losing weight. I'm trying to sleep more than 5 hours a night and drink more water and sacrifice the odd boneless, skinless, chicken breast to Odin and see how that all helps things. Also I'm not giving up, which is my general protocol after a week of being a decent fit human being and not managing to turn into Annie Thorisdottir. Now I'm off to slaughter some zucchini for dinner!

Great job on your yoga! I think I'm going to steal your links for both the yoga and meditation challenges, they both look interesting. I'm not one to ever order the same thing at a restaurant twice, but I miraculously don't find Paleo boring. It's simpler because you're basically doing vegetable+protein but there's endless variety in preparation and flavor profiles. For me I think it offers just the right parameters in which I can work, otherwise I like to cook and tend to turn dinner into this 2 hour amalgamation of overly-complex meal components- meat+side+starch+sauce+dessert+more sides... But we're omnivores, different things work for all of us. I'm glad you liked the clam sauce (mmm... and I'm jealous).

PS... Also trying to sleep more, and started doing a 90 day challenge at my gym. My goal is to lose 5% BF.