Bellezarna

I didn't want to clutter up the first post by saying my progress so far. So far, I've been really bad at this. Monday night I discovered we needed to have everything four feet from the heaters so they could inspect them on Wednesday, so the past few nights have been a frenzy of getting all my stuff out of the way and into the center of my little apartment and then undoing that work. I can count that as exercise, but no real cleaning was done and bedtime was a bit lenient. Fruits and veggies didn't really work out, though I did get both veggies yesterday and both fruits and veggies today. The same for the four glasses of water - I can't remember how much I drank the few days before that. Ditto for goal four. I'm hoping to do a bit better at preparing for bedtime so I can make these updates nightly so I actually remember. Not getting online was my problem last challenge as well.

So... I'm a bit late to the party, but I'm okay with that. Sort of dropped the ball on my first challenge and then did LUC which went pretty well, and I'm back ready for more. Goal 1: Don't fall off the wagon. Does this count? I'm gonna count it. During LUC I built the habits of exercising and cleaning every day and started on having a bedtime. (Bedtime is hard - I keep running out of time in the evening for wrap-up things like this. Time management, heh.) I want to keep up with this because I don't think I've quite got them to the point where if I don't make a point of checking them, they will still get done. That was poorly written. I apologize. Goal 2: Fruits and veggies! One fruit each meal, made possible by orange juice. One pack of veggies for lunch and at least one for supper. Doesn't sound like much, but the veggie packs are actually two servings. Yay! Goal 3: Four "glasses" of water. On a work day, I envision this being a refill of the old pop bottle at my desk, my newly emptied tea mug from lunch, and two glasses when I get home. I'm thinking I'll have to use extra hairbands around my wrist to remind myself I still have a few glasses left. Goal 4: Floss every night. I have a big gagging problem with anything mint-flavored. This has not done much for my oral hygiene. I've found some floss that's unflavored, though. I just need to get into the habit of using it every night. Starting stats: waist 47.75 Hips 48.25 chest 46.5 Underbust 41.25 Weight 235 I'm inclined to think I have just a little bit of bloat today, though, so those measurements might not reflect what they should.

Wow, it's been longer than I thought. Hopefully I'll be getting on a little more frequently now. Update! Goal 1: I worked out today. Once this week. Goal 2: Orange juice and apple. Naughty me forgot about the veggie again. 2 and 0 this week so far. Goal 3: I'm in the process of drinking the third glass. I'm calling this one a victory. Goal 4: 6677 words. Still an F in my books, but I still have time to pull that up. I kind of doubt that I'll be able to pull anything better than C (by my standards, at least) out of this at this point, but Cs are still better than Fs, so here we go!

Thanks Rostov. I tried to get back into things today, but my body didn't seem too terribly interested in working out. Still not eating much, either. I've got my third glass of water beside me right now, and I'll be in bed soon's I finish it. Night all.

So.... I caught the flu this week. It kinda sorta wiped me out. I think I'm mostly back to health now, though obviously this week is a wash challenge-wise. I suppose I could bright side it with since I haven't really been eating, I've probably (unhealthily) lost a few pounds. I think I'm good to resume normal activities tomorrow, though, so here's to a workout tomorrow. Sorry for disappearing on y'all.

Thanks for pointing out with the signature, I'll figure out where to put the extra point tonight. Math apparently isn't my strong suit! The veggie goal is really about getting the vegetables on my plate every day. I'm hoping that by the end of the challenge, since I'm being held accountable to make the veggies stop lurking in the fridge, I'll be absolutely owning this goal with several servings a day, but I know that if I start with that I'll get the deer-in-the-headlights look and not even start. Also, I had sort of forgotten potatoes were a veggie. I had always thought of them as a starch, like pasta. My plant intake might be a little higher than I had originally estimated. (French fries not included.) I'd love to hear recipes if you have any to share. I wouldn't mind replacing my morning juice with something a little lower in sugar. Thanks for all the questions on my writing. I work in fantasy (which has a bad reputation, so I understand if interest is suddenly lost), but I've done a lot of work in the world-building and making laws to govern the magic. The particular story I'm working on for this follows a set of "magical girls" trying to escort their friends and family off of a dying world. For NaNoWriMo, I plan to either hammer out the mythology or give some life to the back-story of a particularly long-lived alchemist.

Thanks for the heads-up. I was pretty amazed at how many posts and threads there are in here; it would be a little overwhelming to try to keep up on a lot of it. I did decide to try the 6 week challenge. Thanks for the support, both of you!

I apparently joined right in time for a challenge, and I figure this will probably keep me going at least through the six weeks. Goal 1 "Do" the beginner body workout 3 times a week. (+2 str +2 con) I put the do in quotes because when I first did it a couple days ago, I didn't quite get through the first circuit. Maybe today I'll be able to do at least some of the jumping jacks. Goal 2 Drink three glasses/mugs/bottles of water every day. (+2 con +2 sta) Flavored water counts as long as the label is filled with zeros, but tea and juice don't and soda should go sit in the corner to ponder why it's such a bad little drink. Goal 3 Eat 7 servings of vegetables and 14 servings of fruit every week. (+2 con +1 sta +1 cha) I already drink juice at breakfast, so 7 servings of fruit isn't a stretch at all. My fruit and veggie intake overall, though, has been pretty lackluster. Goal 4 Write 25000 words. (+2 wis +1 cha) I hit 20k at last year's NaNoWriMo, so this should be a bit of a stretch and a good warm-up for the big race. My starting word count is 5582, so the target final count is 30582. For the water, fruit, and vegetables, a lot of the work will involve making them easily available. I got some little containers so I can make serving size "snack packs" so when I want to eat something, the fruits and vegetables won't require any work - just grab and eat. I think just being held accountable for the workout will help in getting them done.

I love your race; I couldn't think of one myself. I really like the idea of time logging. Good luck with these!

Hello fellow newbie! I really like your goals. If I may, if your advisers push you on the grades, tell them about how you're turning your life around and the dedication you'll put into your graduate work. I did something similar at my job interview, and it seemed to work. Good luck! Also, out of curiosity, have you decided a thesis statement? I know around here you need to submit one with your application, though you can refine it as you work.

I've always called it my insulation myself, though it perhaps works better up here in the frigid north. Good luck, your goals sound great.

Hi. I'm Rebecca from North Dakota. I've honestly never posted to a message board before (probably wouldn't even be posting now if not for the encouragement from the "be weird" article today), so I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing. I'm weird. I'm an aspiring novelist (which I personally think is awesome) and a taoist who needs more study (which I find deeply satisfying, even if everyone I know is Christian.) On the less happy side of the coin, I'm also bipolar and a recovering hoarder. It's not weird, but I also tend to eat when I'm stressed. I guess my grand battle plan is to remember what the garbage is for, find homes for everything and keep everything in its home, replace the empty snacks with something a little healthier, and get my books finished, edited, and searching for publishers. I'm honestly not sure what else I should be doing here. I suppose picking a class and following everyone to offer encouragement? I'll spend some time now to look at what else is going on here. And now I'm rambling, so I'll just hit post.