Rostov

What everyone else said Injuries are very tough to deal with and get over, and sometimes they can be the cue for everything to start unravelling and to slip back into old habits. But you didn't, and that's outstanding.

Congratulations, Chanda - that's an excellent set of results. Special congratulations on the weight loss - that's outstanding. I don't think you need to feel bad about the Accountibilibuddies group. I don't think that it neccesarily means posting a lot. I find it difficult to post generic "well done you!" comments unless I think someone's being hard on themselves, but I'm better when I have something to say, or add, or suggest, or something like that. I think also it's about knowing that there are people reading along, even if they're not always posting regularly. I think as an idea it works really well for Adventurers because individuals can get lost in such a large guild and having a small team of people to focus on really helps. I'd imagine in smaller guilds like the Druids and Scouts that's less of an issue. But speaking personally I'd be very glad to be in any group with you in it for future challenges

I agree with Jonsey - you're being pretty hard on yourself here. If you've been sick with the fever and have exams coming up then things are tough, and sometimes something has to give. You have finite energy, especially when sick, and frankly I'd be amazed if the best use of your limited energy reserves was posting here. It's funny, really, but grading achievement is all very well, but it's not the same as proper old school experience points which were really what was needed to level up. Sure, you didn't ace your fitness goals, but you made some good progress and gained some vital knowledge/experience - about muscle imbalances, about the gym, about hiking options that you didn't know about before, and you've got a stretching habit. And if it turns out that calorie counting is for you (and it's certainly worked for me), then that's a tremendous lesson to learn about what works best for you. It'll be a shame not to see you for the next challenge, but exams have to take priority, and there's more to fitness than challenges. But hopefully I'll catch up with you again for the next one, if not before....

And a belated final summary.... Goal 1: A shadow of my former self Lose 6lbs (average 1lb per week) over the duration of the challenge. I'll do this by a combination of calorie counting and exercise and run a safe net deficit through, sustainable habits. My starting weight is 88.7kg, 196lbs, 14st 0lbs. +0.5 con and +0.5 dex are available per 1lb of weight loss after the first, for a total of +2.5 for each Finishing weight: 87kg, 192 lbs, 13st 10 lbs. 4lbs lost in six weeks, so 3 x 0.5 con and dex, for a total of +1.5 con and +1.5 dex Goal 2: Citius, Altius, Fortius I will work out on at least 11 days out of 14. +0.5 Strength and +0.5 Stamina per successful 14 days, total of +1.5 str and +1.5 sta available. (+3 overall) Managed my first pull-up, and I can now do 2. For some reason, I can now pull higher than before, but can't do more yet. Something to build on. Achieved in all three fortnights. Total +1.5str and +1.5 stam Goal 3: The awesomeness of the middle distance runner Injury permitting, these are my running goals: (a.) entering a timed 5k run (+1 cha for entering one at all); and (b.) getting a time of under 30 mins (+3 sta). If I miss this, I get +0.5 sta if I complete without walking or stopping, and another +0.5 sta if I'm under 33 mins. Failed completley due to injury. I managed to get up to 2 miles before injuring myself again. I'll probably roll this one forwards. Again. Goal 4: Life goal - Roll your Charisma In my previous challenges I've set myself life goals related to getting to know people better, or opening up more, or turning acquantainces into friends. This time I'm going to broaden things out and give myself points for times when I've taken a risk and "rolled my charisma" - to use a D&D term. +0.5 points per week where I can say that I've managed to do this. Total +3 available, which I'll split evenly between wisdom and charisma. Did well here - and succeeded in 5 weeks out of 6. So, +2.5 total, +1.25 wisdom and +1.25 charisma In summary.... a massively eventful six weeks involving a major life change, and not one for the better. But I've managed to - if not put it behind me - at least plot a path towards moving on. Thanks to everyone who's read and commented, and apologies if I've not always been able to return the favour as often as I should have done.

Thanks for the pull-up tips and the .gif - that's pretty much what I was worried about, but add in a falling ceiling and some plaster for extra comedy value... My final week report.... end of challenge summary to come later.... Goal 1: A shadow of my former self Lose 6lbs (average 1lb per week) over the duration of the challenge. I'll do this by a combination of calorie counting and exercise and run a safe net deficit through, sustainable habits. My starting weight is 88.7kg, 196lbs, 14st 0lbs. This week: 87kg, 192 lbs, 13st 10 lbs Slightly disappointing end, as the scale is showing over a 1lb heavier than last week. That's a bit surprising because I've been off work this last week and spent a lot of time walking. Having said that, I've probably been eating less well without a structure in place. However, that's still 4lbs down over the 6 weeks of the challenge, and while that's less good than previous challenges, it's still progress and the less I have to lose, the harder it is/longer it takes to lose what remains. Goal 2: Citius, Altius, Fortius I will work out on at least 11 days out of 14. 6 out of 7 this week which takes me 11 of 14. Lucky to manage that it some ways, because I forgot I missed two days last week. I can now do two pull ups and make a little progress towards going back up for a third. The improvement is pretty much entirely due to improvements in technique/confidence rather than strength. I can only manage one rep with two, but I can do a second rep immediately with one. At the moment I've dropped the bodyweight workout entirely and I'm now doing 20 decline pushups (need to change this up soon) most mornings and nights, 12 calf raises, and pull-ups when I pass the bar - probably five or six attempts per day at least. I need to fit squats back in there somewhere too, but I haven't decided whether to continue with grail squats or to work on form and flexibility and try to get lower. Goal 3: The awesomeness of the middle distance runner Injury permitting, these are my running goals: (a.) entering a timed 5k run (+1 cha for entering one at all); and (b.) getting a time of under 30 mins (+3 sta). If I miss this, I get +0.5 sta if I complete without walking or stopping, and another +0.5 sta if I'm under 33 mins. My foot is feeling better, but I still get the occasional twinge. This time I'm doing no proper running until I manage to go for several days with no symptoms or twinges whatsoever. I've just pushed it from my mind entirely for now. Maybe next week if things continue to improve. Maybe. Goal 4: Life goal - Roll your Charisma In my previous challenges I've set myself life goals related to getting to know people better, or opening up more, or turning acquantainces into friends. This time I'm going to broaden things out and give myself points for times when I've taken a risk and "rolled my charisma" - to use a D&D term. Another good week - went out for a meal with some people I hardly knew.

Without wishing to defend quacks, charlatans, and rip-off merchants....(and believe me, I really don't - I have an illness that's one of the ones preyed on fairly regularly by the snake oil brigade...) I wonder if there's some element of positive placebo effect at work here. Some people don't like what they're hearing about the real way to get healthier and fitter, either because it seems too much like hard work and sacrifice, or (more likely) because they doubt their ability and willpower to actually make those positive changes. Then some plausible-sounding quack comes along and offers a reason to believe not only that it can be done but that you can do it. In return for a large pile of cash, naturally. Some quacks are just selling harmless placebo and some basic good advice that's available free elsewhere. More serious are those selling stuff that gives (or appears to give) quick results through clearly unsustainable plans, which will almost inevitably fail, causing the poor sucker to blame themselves for yet another failure. But while I'm absolutely no fan of quacks or alternative "medicine", there's definitely something in the placebo effect and in the power of positive thinking, I remember the first time I watched Steve's "Beginner Bodyweight Workout" video, and he said something about push-ups along the lines of "don't worry if you can't do a full one yet"... and the casual inclusion of that little word "yet" was so important for me. Do this routine, and not only you could, but you will be able to do one. And he was right. So... while I've no knowledge (directly or indirectly) of the products/plans discussed in this thread, I wonder if it's worth noting the one part of at least some of them that might actually be beneficial?

I'm still scared of the pull-up bar. I'm worried that I'll pull the doorway down on top of me, or it'll come loose and I'll land badly. I'm afraid that I'll wrench my arm out of its socket. I still find myself looking up at it and thinking, "naah - not going to happen". Having said that, I find myself having a play with it several times a day, though without warming up or stretching or anything. At first the biggest problem was my hands hurting and not being able to stop myself from swinging wildly. My hands still hurt (even through gloves), but I don't swing so much now. My current personal best is to lift myself up (perhaps with a tiny jump, I'm not sure) quite high, lower myself down, and then pull myself up about half to two-thirds as far, before lowering myself down in a controlled way. Whether that qualifies as a full pull-up I'm not sure - probably it's the second pull that needs to be all the way up. I can also do something similar with the reverse grip (palms towards me). I can sometimes do a second and occasionally third rep, but with a much reduced second pull. At that point my hands are usually hurting, so I stop. I've read good things about using tennis grip tape on pullup bars, so I might try that next. I've put the bar over the least used doorway in the house, which is the one to the spare bedroom. That's got a built in-wardrobe with a full length mirror, so I can check my form/gauge how high up I'm getting. It's not bad for vanity purposes either.

Well, here's what's worked for me. I'm increasingly of the opinion that while the fundamentals are the same for everyone, each individual needs to find the path that best suits their temprement and preferences and lifestyle. 1. Completley forget the word "diet". If you want to lose weight and keep it off, I'd strongly suggest forgetting about notions of being "on a diet". Instead, what you're doing is making permanent changes to your eating habits. A diet is a sustained attempt to use willpower alone to eat less over a short period of time. Changing habits is permanent. If you can change your habits and default settings, you're much less reliant on willpower. 2. As notanartmajor mentioned, counting calories using "myfitnesspal" or something similar is well worth doing. I don't think it suits everyone, but it's suited me and is the single biggest reason why I'm now over 50lbs lighter than when I started using it. 3. I used MFP to do a food audit - to find out what the calorie content was of what I usually ate, including the snacks I was prone to forget about after the last mouthful was gone. This information was invaluable, because it allowed me to look at how much "value for calories" I was getting in terms of deliciousness and fillingess. You'll probably find that some foods that you eat are very poor value (garlic bread is my standard example here) and some are excellent value (most soups). You'll probably also find that there are significant calorie differences between varients of the same food. I found that the sandwiches in the shop where I get much lunch varied from about 200 calories to about 600. The 200 calorie sandwiches were pretty dull, but there were plenty around the 400 mark that were just as/nearly as appealing as the 500-600 sandwiches. Make that one small change, and that's already 500-1000 calories less over a five day working week. Eating pleasure cost to me? Virtually none. Find and exploit all of these quick wins. For most people there's pain free gains to be made. Grab 'em. Find and implement every last one of these and see where that leaves you before thinking about making more radical willpower-taxing changes. I found that grabbing the quick wins made a noticable difference, and having made those changes, gradually other changes that didn't seem like quick wins at the time now started to feel like they might be. 4. You can set up MFP to give you a daily target of calories to aim at that will result in losing 1lb a week or so. You can use it for pre-planning your food, and for measuring your progress. Try to hit the target each day (or hit the target on average, over the week), or come in just under it. Some people here have cut out certain foods entirely. I haven't, but instead I budget for them. I can have my takeaway pizza if I like, but if that puts me over the limit that day, I'll need to be under in the days before or after.

Obvious I know, but I think it's important that you're gentle with yourself. The university course-career transitiion is very, very tough and incredibly stressful. There's not many times in life when it feels like so much is hanging in the balance, the stakes so high. I think the reality is that it just determines your starting position on the grid for your career proper, but clearly there are big advanages in finding yourself starting near the front of the grid rather than at the back. While this needn't be an excuse to slack off, comfort eat, whatever, I do think it's worth cutting yourself a bit of slack in the knowledge that you're probably not likely to be under quite so much stress and playing with such high stakes very often in later life.

Time for another update... end of week 5.... Goal 1: A shadow of my former self Lose 6lbs (average 1lb per week) over the duration of the challenge. I'll do this by a combination of calorie counting and exercise and run a safe net deficit through, sustainable habits. My starting weight is 88.7kg, 196lbs, 14st 0lbs. This week: 86.4kg. 190.5lbs, 13st 8lbs. Nicely on track for 6lb weight loss by the end of the challenge, though I had friends over this weekend and that plus Easter means that I've probably got a bit of work to do over the next week to redress the calorie balance and make the last extra half pound. Goal 2: Citius, Altius, Fortius I will work out on at least 11 days out of 14. Only 5 of 7 this week because of visitors, but I've got some good walking in (as always). 7 out of 7 in this coming week should be do-able. I now have a pull-up bar, and I was pleasantly surprised at what I could do. Not a full pull up, of course, but I've played around with negatives and pulling myself someway off the ground. I can lower myself and raise myself a little. Thing is, my back hurts when I try it now, and I'm not entirely sure whether it's just DOMS or whether I've done a bit too much. It's not a problem the rest of the time. I also need some gloves or some tape or padding to put around the bar - I have delicate office worker hands. Goal 3: The awesomeness of the middle distance runner Injury permitting, these are my running goals: (a.) entering a timed 5k run (+1 cha for entering one at all); and (b.) getting a time of under 30 mins (+3 sta). If I miss this, I get +0.5 sta if I complete without walking or stopping, and another +0.5 sta if I'm under 33 mins. I've pushed running out of my mind completely. My foot is recovering again, and fairly quickly, but there's no point even thinking about it until everything is at least 95%. Maybe I just try resting it longer this time. On the plus side, I can go for long walks without problems. Goal 4: Life goal - Roll your Charisma In my previous challenges I've set myself life goals related to getting to know people better, or opening up more, or turning acquantainces into friends. This time I'm going to broaden things out and give myself points for times when I've taken a risk and "rolled my charisma" - to use a D&D term. Done well again this week - struck up a conversation with some strangers at a sporting event.

ZachAcid mentioned record keeping and accountability, and I think that's worth thinking about. The 'eureka' moment for me was starting to record all my food and exercise on My Fitness Pal and counting calories. Two reasons this worked for me - partly because of the "game" nature of it - trying to come in on or under the calorie target - and partly because of the educational value in finding out how many calories are in which foods. And I was surprised - some food has lots more calories than I thought, some much less, and it turned out that (for me) some small changes could make a big difference given time. I wonder if the mistake that that you're making, tony, is trying to do too much too quickly. Then you fail, and then you feel bad about it, and if feeling bad makes you eat worse, so it goes on in a vicious circle. What I'd suggest is trying something less ambitious - not "eating clean" but "eating cleaner" or "better" or whatever. The thing to do is to start with very small changes - the kind of changes that don't even bother you that much. For example - the sandwiches available in my local shop for lunch vary from around 300 calories to nearly 600. A lot of the 300 ones are quite bland, so I won't have them, but there are some sandwiches that come in below 400 that I like just as - or nearly as - much as the 600 ones. Make that change every day for five days and that's 1000 fewer calories per week, in exchange for virtually no sacrifice on my part. Similar things are true of chocolate bars, crisps/chips, frozen pizza, takeaway food, and so on and so forth. I would be very surprised if there aren't some relatively pain-free changes that you can make. Those are the changes to make first. Once you've made them and they've become habit, making other changes becomes easier. And once you start seeing results - what on another forum they call NSVs (Non-Scale Victories) - there's a lot of added motivation there. Once the results became apparent, I felt great and wanted more and better. Even after that point it's not always easy or straightforward, especially if other life priorities get in the way, but the hardest part - I think - is getting started. The post-sacrifice, pre-results stage. And you can get through that stage much faster if you can get the best possible results for the minimum possible sacrifice. All the best - keep us informed of how it's going.

If in doubt, ask yourself "WWSD?"

Thanks! I realised the other day that it's a slightly different foot injury this time, and not the same as the previous one. Last time the most painful position was standing up, foot flat on the floor, knee pushed forward. That still hurts, but this time it's foot off the floor, foot pointing forward and stretched in line with the leg. There's definitely a ballet term for that movement, but I don't know what it is. It's all linked, but whether this is better or worse I don't know. My instinct is that this more acute and hopefully therefore less chronic, and should hopefully go away quicker, though it's a bit more limiting now that I have it. There's unseasonal snow on the ground, freezing temperatures and apparently more to come, so at least I'm not missing out on spring running.... I've ordered a pull-up bar, so I'll soon find out how close (or not) I am. Bonus points if I can do it without hurting myself.

Welcome back, and really pleased to see that you've had a great trip. And even more pleased to see that you're not beating yourself up about having a holiday and letting normal routines slide a bit. The key is getting back to the good habits upon return, and doing some things to try to minimise the damage while you're out of your normal environment. Which you're doing/done, which is excellent. Bonus points for the N7 top. I've got an N7 t-shirt which I'm very fond of, particularly because it's subtle nerdery - those who know will understand, those who don't won't even realise that there's something they've missed....

It's funny, really. I used to have quite strong religious belief when I was much younger and am now, as I said earlier, a humanist first and an agnostic second. I think this puts me in an unusual position of having experience of what it's like to have faith and of what it's like not to have it. Reading this thread I'm far from unique in that, but what I'd say to anyone who hasn't personally experienced both states is that there's something that you just don't - and can't - fully understand. And further, you can't make yourself experience it, and no amount of reading and researching will help you. There's an old argument in the philosophy of mind about Mary the Super Scientist, who knows everything there is to know about optics and colour, but is herself colour bind and can only see in black and white. If her colour blindness can be cured, will she learn anything new when she sees something that's red for the first time, even though she already knows all there is to know about red? I'd say yes, and I'd say that if your God has always been a more or less constant presence in your life then you don't fully understand atheists/agnostics and vice versa. Further, I'd say that if you've had both experiences and you can get beyond the simplistic "I was wrong then, I'm right now" then you're in a rare position to translate between mutually incomprehensible groups who just don't understand each other. So I find myself sticking up for religions and religious people against the militant atheist types, and for atheists against the less tolerant religious. What I've learnt in all that time is that there are two great sins that people make in those debates. The first is gross (and often deliberate) distortions of the views of others, to the extent that it's a straw target at best and outright slander at worst. Whether it's the bizarre "atheists have no morals" argument or lumping everyone of the same religion together as if they all believe the same things, completely uncritically, and take the worst example of their religion as the norm. Honesty and integrity are vital. There's no excuse for propaganda. The second is the assumption that we're accountable to each other for what we believe (which is different from being accountable for what we do), and that we've got to somehow justify to each other what we believe. Some people set themselves up as the ultimate aribter of what's reasonable, and think they're entilted to judge others - often without any kind of insight or understanding of what it's like to have/not have religious beliefs.

I tried stopping everything that hurt or which caused discomfort, which excluded circuit training, proper running, sports, and any exercises involving impact, but left in walking and rebounder jogging. I left it pretty much alone, then returned to circuit training and the next day was back to square one. Since I've had the orthotics I've tried doing very little for a few weeks, and then gradually introducing a bit more proper jogging/running. I managed about 10 minutes running indoors in a sports hall with few problems, left it for a bit, and then tried one mile, then two, and on the second two miler made things worse. I think the next step might be to go back to doing nothing except walking and rebounder jogging and then not returning to anything until perhaps a week or so after the last twinge, and then try to build things up again. Madly frustrating.

I'm an agnostic Humanist. And by "agnostic" I mean the technical meaning - that we don't know if there are God(s), and very probably can't know - rather than the more commonly-understood definition of "I'm undecided/I don't know". But reason and respect for others are things we can and do know about, and act upon.

Week 4 update: Goal 1: A shadow of my former self Lose 6lbs (average 1lb per week) over the duration of the challenge. I'll do this by a combination of calorie counting and exercise and run a safe net deficit through, sustainable habits. My starting weight is 88.7kg, 196lbs, 14st 0lbs. This week: 86.8kg. 191.3lbs, 13st 9lbs. 5lbs down in week four is pretty good going, especially under current circumstances. Goal 2: Citius, Altius, Fortius I will work out on at least 11 days out of 14. Only 4 out of 7 last week, but 7 out of 7 this week, so 11 of 14 overall. I've decided to drop my bodyweight circuits and instead do individual bodyweight exercise throughought the day, rather than concentrated into a circuit. I also need to change the individual exercises so I'm doing fewer reps, which makes it easier to fit in. I've upgraded from normal pushups to decline and quickly equalled the same number of reps, which is pretty good. I need to sort myeslf out with a new squat type, work out how hollow holds are meant to work, and probably get a pull-up bar - though I don't think I'm anywhere near doing one, I don't know how much more my kitchen table can take. I'm still held back a bit by not being able to do any impact work. Goal 3: The awesomeness of the middle distance runner Injury permitting, these are my running goals: (a.) entering a timed 5k run (+1 cha for entering one at all); and (b.) getting a time of under 30 mins (+3 sta). If I miss this, I get +0.5 sta if I complete without walking or stopping, and another +0.5 sta if I'm under 33 mins. Did another two mile run and aggravated the injury again. Not clever. It hasn't set me back all the way, but given that this is week 4 of 6, I'm going to fail this for the second challenge in a row. Had a brief text conversation with my chiropodist (before I aggravated it) and she said to take it slowly. I thought another two-miler was safe enough, but I should have realised after a mile that I should stop. Thing is, that felt like a backward step and it felt like giving in. All this "listen to your body" stuff is all very well with hindsight, but in the moment it's sometimes hard to tell when the voice telling you to stop is about injury and when it's reaching for an excuse. Goal 4: Life goal - Roll your Charisma In my previous challenges I've set myself life goals related to getting to know people better, or opening up more, or turning acquantainces into friends. This time I'm going to broaden things out and give myself points for times when I've taken a risk and "rolled my charisma" - to use a D&D term. Full points again this week. I've joined a local social group that organises activities and trips and things and booked onto a few events. Toughest moment was finding them - they meet in a pub, but had left only approximate directions as to where, and had left no clue on their table. So I just had to look around, pick out the most likely candidate table and go and ask them. Fortunately I got it right, but I found this more nerve racking than I expected, or normally would. But it's done... and I need to do the same thing again at the next few events...

The steakhouse/other gift idea sounds like a good one to me - spend the money on them rather than on travel. I dunno how far you are away from Florida, but it's my understanding that the US is quite big. While it's nice to have all your friends and family there for a wedding, in many ways I think it's better to be able to do something nice with individual friends/groups of friends because there really isn't much time at weddings. I've been to loads where the bride and/or groom seems to be worrying about neglecting people, or at least not spending enough time with them.

I use 'myfitnesspal' and it's probably been the biggest single factor in losing weight. But I think calorie counting suits some people and their eating habits better than others - just one of those odd temperament things. I tend to use it as much to log what I plan to eat as to log what I've already eaten. I find it makes planning easier and I know if I can "afford" a snack or not in advance. MFP is usable via a web browser or on a mobile app, though unfortunately their mobile app is supported by annoying ads and there's no paid-for ad-free version.

@Synster - thanks for that. I've tried the stomach vacuum today, and I'll read up some more about it. That kind of occasional bodyweight stuff is the direction I'm heading, I think. @Waldo - thanks for your reply, that's really very helpful. I've tried to work out what the problem with bodyweight circuits is, and I'm not entirely sure. I used to think that it was because I don't like feeling as exhausted as I used to, and that perhaps I didn't feel safe being that tired. But I got just as tired doing circuit training - though then I was around other people rather than alone at home, so perhaps I felt safer there because other people are around and because the sports hall is open and airy, and my front room/hall/kitchen isn't. But then other people around risks embarassment, while being at home is safe and private. So I don't know... perhaps it's just that I don't enjoy it, and it doesn't permit any greater analysis than that. I've been thinking about what I want strength for, given that I don't enjoy strength training. In my day-to-day life I don't really need much, and what I do need is probably strength-endurance rather than strength-raw power. But to be honest, it's also vanity. I know it's not supposed to be possible to bulk up while losing weight, but I have gained some muscle (though nothing, I'm sure, that would impress any warrior-types around here), I like the way it looks, and I'd like to keep it if I can. On specific exercises... I'll have another look at 1 legged squats. I had a play around a while ago and abandoned them because of a lack of balance/flexibility, but perhaps I need another look. By grail squat, I mean a standard two legged squat holding a dumbell vertically in two hands (like a cup). I find this exhausting, but I think it's because of the cardio aspects and because I can't get my breathing pattern quite right. I'd love to be able to do hand-clap push-ups, so I'll look for some harder variations to move towards that. What do you mean by the "bridge family"? I could retry the one-legged version of the hip raise, but it didn't feel safe. I think I probably still have flexibilty issues. On BW rows, I'm not sure. I think I've probably been getting them wrong and relying too much on my core to bounce myself up and too little on my arms. Or perhaps I've just got too little confidence. On the hollow body, I think I get the back bit, with the whole back touching, including the lower back which usually wouldn't. How long should I try to hold it for, if I'm comfortable at 60secs of planking? Thanks again, Waldo. I know you've helped a lot of people here, and your time and trouble are much appreciated.

Sounds like a brilliant week.... congratulations!

Thanks Chanda - that sounds like good advice. I think I'm reaching the end of my "being gentle with myself" - it's now over a week, I've started telling people, and although I'm still sad I've accepted it and made plans with the general aim of moving on. We've all been there, I've been there, and... meh. I'm a big fan of long walks.... weather permitting I go for a 90 minute walk every Saturday and Sunday in the local park. Last weekend it seemed abnormally full of couples and young families, but that's probably just my mind playing tricks on me!

Background: Male, mid 30s, 5' 10", currently 193lbs, lost over 50lbs, perhaps another 10lbs or so to go - not sure. I've achieved this by calorie counting, running on a rebounder/mini-trampoline, playing sport, bodyweight strength exercises, long walks, circuit training, and jogging. Was doing 5k or so per run, since injured my foot and only just recovering Goals: Lose a little more weight, maintain my improved upper body strength, either increase speed over 5k and/or push to 10k in time. Reach steady state with healthy diet and exercise habits. The problem: I really don't like doing bodyweight strength work. I started with Steve's beginners' bodyweight workout and increased the repetitions/difficulty until I burned it out and struggled to make myself do it. I tried changing the music, changing rooms, and finally changing exercises. I used the guide on designing my own workout to come up with my own (see below), but now I've burned that out too. Maybe I'm unusual round here, but I love cardio - I look forward to running days, whereas the bodyweight routine casts a shadow over the day. I know the exercises I'm doing at the moment probably aren't optimal, and I could probably change most of them up. But I'll burn them out too, in time. I know I can keep changing them up, but honestly I can't see myself ever enjoying it. While on one level it would be excellent to do a full pull-up, I just don't want it anywhere near enough to actually do what it takes. Although I don't really need much in the way of upper body strength in my day-to-day life, I was occasionally embarrassed by my weakness, and I do enjoy being that little bit stronger, and I do like being able to do proper press ups. What might work for me is a shorter first thing AM/last thing PM set of exercises that don't take long. At the moment I'm doing 12 calf raises (to help with my foot injury) and 20 press ups when I remember. I know the 'Angry Birds' workout can be spaced out over a day, and I'm wondering if that's the best option for keeping what I have/small improvements. First thing/last thing are both good times, as is immediately after getting in from work, or as part of a warm-up/warm-down after a run. The other thing that works is my circuit training class, which is a mixture of bodyweight and cardio, which I do enjoy. So, my questions are: Has anyone got any experience of sprinkling bodyweight stuff throughout their daily routine, rather than doing circuits of intense work? What exercises should I consider, and how often should I do them? Once I'm back running, could I drop all my lower body bodyweight work and just rely on the running? Am I just really saying "can I have the gain without the pain, please?" Here's what I do now. 5 mins rebounder jogging warm up, then: Quads - 3 x 7 grail squats, few breaths between each sub-set thing Push - 22 standard push-ups, good form Glutes/Hamstrings - 5 x 10s hip raise (tried one leg raises, but have got pre-cramp warning feeling - perhaps not flexible enough? Will swap for step-ups when foot injury heals) Pull - 14 x inverted bodyweight kitchen table rows (my table is starting to creak!) Core - 60 second plank (5 sec two legs, 25 secs left leg, 5 secs two legs, 25 secs right). Tried hollow body instead, but don't really get it. x 3 circuits 5 minus rebounder cool down (sometimes do longer - 25-30 mins cardio) Any thoughts/advice/suggestions much appreciated.

Goal 1: A shadow of my former self Lose 6lbs (average 1lb per week) over the duration of the challenge. I'll do this by a combination of calorie counting and exercise and run a safe net deficit through, sustainable habits. My starting weight is 88.7kg, 196lbs, 14st 0lbs. This week: 87.7kg 193.3lbs, 13st 11lbs I'm really pleased with this slight weight drop, as I've not had a good week food-wise. My relationship status was "It's Complicated" and is now "Single", and perhaps unsurprsingly that's made me very sad. I don't know whether I'm comfort eating, or whether being at a low ebb means that I'm less good at resisting temptation. But to put things into perspective, the eating decisions I'm fretting about now are significantly less bad than the ones I used to make without a second thought. I'm not sitting at home with a ladel and a vat of ice cream. While I'm going to continue to be sad, things are less complicated now and the path ahead is clear, so I'm planning for that. And that's not entirely negative. Goal 2: Citius, Altius, Fortius I will work out on at least 11 days out of 14. Only 4 out of 7 this week. Busy week with a lot of evenings out, so less time to work out. On the plus side, I did manage hour plus walks on the days when I wasn't working out. On the negative side, I really hate my bodyweight workout again, and need to change it or look at doing something else. I can still hit this if I do something every day next week, but whether that's a good idea is another question. Let's see. Goal 3: The awesomeness of the middle distance runner Injury permitting, these are my running goals: (a.) entering a timed 5k run (+1 cha for entering one at all); and (b.) getting a time of under 30 mins (+3 sta). If I miss this, I get +0.5 sta if I complete without walking or stopping, and another +0.5 sta if I'm under 33 mins. Some better news on this front this week. I risked a mile run during the week, and although my foot felt a little sore and twingy afterwards, it felt mostly better the next day. Today I stepped it up a little and ran two miles and feel fine so far. I was running faster than I would have done before my injury (about 8.5min mile pace) and was blowing a bit towards the end. I probably had another mile in my legs, but it would have been a struggle and at a slower pace. I'm starting to wonder whether i'm better off trying to manage the problem and push it a little, rather than do nothing until every last trace of the problem has gone. At the moment it feels as if my aerobic fitness is at the same level or a bit further forward than when I was injured, but I've got the biomech stuff to build back up, and not just around the injury. It feels good to run again. All being well, my next run will be another two miler. Goal 4: Life goal - Roll your Charisma In my previous challenges I've set myself life goals related to getting to know people better, or opening up more, or turning acquantainces into friends. This time I'm going to broaden things out and give myself points for times when I've taken a risk and "rolled my charisma" - to use a D&D term. Generally ending up single is the sign of a botched charisma or wisdom check, or perhaps both. But I'm giving myself full points this week for approaching a couple of people watching my sports team play and offering to explain the rules. One of our team brought them along to watch, but there hadn't been time to explain the rules. Also... dinner out with work colleagues, and also for generally not entirely retreating back into my shell this week.