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I'm continuing my tradition of posting a new challenge before I actually post a challenge summary in the preivous one. During last challenge, I moved from NY to VA and I'm still figuring out how to adjust. I need some new habits and routines! I read an article a while back describing habit forming as slowly wearing grooves into something. Each time you repeat the thing you're deepening the groove, which eventually becomes deep enough that it's an ingrained habit. So, it's time for NTB's New Groove(s)! A little background: All of these habits have slipped a weeee bit since I moved. I'm still doing them, but not all of them are as consistent as they were before the move. So I want to do a few things this challenge to fix that: Miniquest: Whip up a spreadsheet and track the habits on the above list to help get back in the groove of doing them Miniquest: Continue exploring and getting familiar with the area, through a to do list of things to check out Main Quest: Establish a lunchtime routine to go along with my morning and evening routines (at least for work days). I think building this in will help me squeeze in some of the habits (like going on a walk) that aren't as ingrained here as they were in NY. I'm still tinkering with what I want to happen during my lunchtime routine, but to start I'm thinking: Get sort of fresh air, either by taking a walk or at least going out onto the balcony for a few minutes, or even going on a run if it makes sense for the day Some sort of stretching, which could be a number of things: A full yoga routine, GMB's Focused Flexibility, freeform stretching, GST Foundations mobility course Possibly doing some meditation? I usually meditate at night but it could be interesting to see how meditation helps me focus during the day. Possibly some sort of quick check in for the guardian habit - asking "am I acting like a guardian?" or something to that effect

This challenge, I am ready to push out of my comfort zone and have a little fun. I've been struggling with depression and while I know I have good reasons to be sad, I don't want to be defeated by it. For this challenge, I chose quests to get myself back into healthy habits that I can maintain when the challenge is over. Also, healthy habits are awesome for combatting depression! Quest 1: walk 75 miles. This is the perfect time to incorporate a walking challenge. The weather is going to be pretty cool and dry here. 75 miles is about 2.6 miles a day which is a great place to start for me. Getting out and walking in the sunshine (or partly cloudy days) is like taking a Prozac! Unless it's stormy, I'll be walking outside. On days where the weather is just too bad, I can substitute 50 minutes on the exercise bike. The goal is for walking. Exercise bike challenges can be saved for worse-weather months got my walking outfit ready!! Quest 2: 100 servings of freggies. This averages out to about 3.5 servings of fruit and vegetables a day. Since I'm eating that much each week right now, this will be the most challenging part, but also incredibly rewarding. A lot of my sadness is food-related. I think improving my eating habits will improve my mood. The only reason not to do this challenge is if I get the stomach flu, which Is highly unlikely, so no excuses I deserve my freggies!! Quest 3: Spend 30 minutes a day doing a pleasurable activity that isn't numbing Or avoiding. Sewing projects, practicing instruments, dancing, reading, journaling, hiking... you get the idea. I often fall out of this habit first when I am feeling bad or going through a rough time, and the days feel Like something to endure instead of enjoy. Okay let's DO THIS Rewards: 1st prize: Should I get a perfect challenge, I will reward myself with this Awesome crewel Christmas stocking kit. 2nd prize: 80% or better, I will reward myself with this Lego Robin Keychain. (This means I need at least 22 successful days ) Booby Prize: Less than 80% means I'll have earned some minty dental floss!! Whooooooo!!!!

Took a bit of a break, and now I'm back with a slightly different focus. I actually think this is going to be a difficult challenge for me, since I'm focusing more on making and breaking habits, which is a type of goal I'm notoriously terrible at. I'm pretty settled in my routine of Crossfit 3x/week, and am doing fairly well at meeting my numbers for ETP, so, while I will likely report on these, they won't be specific goals (some of my goals will be related, though). I will have 1 workout-related goal, related to running, which is also something I'm notoriously terrible at doing (consistently). I'll start all this officially on the 18th (I like my weeks to run Monday-Sunday), but for Zero Week I'll be doing my best to start sticking to these habits (it's going to be a process, so I'll need the practice). I'm debating on if I want to have a reward for being perfect, I like the idea to give me a bit of extra motivation, but I don't know what the reward would be... Breaking Bad (Habits) When I get home from work/the gym, it's very easy for me to eat, then laze in bed for the rest of the evening with the TV on (only sort of watching it) and messing around on the internet. I'm usually fairly exhausted, both physically and mentally, and this is the habit I've fallen into and the one that leads to me not being successful at making new ones. It's just so easy to laze then sleep, and it's not so much that I forget to do the other things I want to do, but that I'm distracted and by the time I think of it it's bed time. I always say I'll do it tomorrow but then the pattern repeats. So, first new rule: the TV can be on, but only while I'm doing something productive (ie. one of the following habits). Second new rule: no internet until I've completed my habits for the day. This means I might not be updating here daily, but I'll do my best. This one will be the key to success for all the others, and probably the hardest of the bunch. New Habit #1 ~ Physio and Stretching/Mobility This is a goal of mine almost every time I make a challenge, and I almost never fail to fail it. I've had ongoing hip issues and have not been dedicated with the physio assigned to me to help fix them, and so can't really judge if it's helping or not. And every time I feel like I'm getting in a good exercise groove, something gets tweaked and I have to take a week off to let it heal, and it's never serious, but it sets me back, more mentally than anything. Daily physio and a maintenance routine will help me keep up with other habits (like running), as it will hopefully remove any excuse to not do it (such as minor injuries and general aches and pains). And waiting until the end of the day when I work the late shift is not an option, at least for the physio aspect, I have plenty of time in the morning. New Habit #2 ~ Meal Prep I sometimes do ok with this, and sometimes not. I've found that I really need to meal prep 2x/week, doing it all on the weekend isn't viable (or rather, doing a whole week at one time isn't viable, things get boring and/or funky by the end of the week and it makes it easy to go off plan). The easiest days to do this are Wednesdays after the gym, and one of the weekend days (or spread it across both). Things I want to focus on are finding/creating dressings and sauces that aren't overly fatty but are very tasty, to liven up my chicken and rice (suggestions welcome), and incorporating more variety into my diet (specifically on the fruit and vegetable front). I also need to get better are packing meals the night before, so I don't have to rush as much in the morning. New Habit #3 ~ Logging Things I have a fitness log to fill out for my police application, and it's easy for me to skip it for a few days then fill in a bunch of days at a time. As long as this is only a few days, it's not that big a deal, but it's better if I log it daily. I log my food in MFP, and am doing fine with that, but it's infinitely easier if I pre-log my day. Having everything logged in ahead of time helps keeps me on track and avoid temptation, and will help with my goal of more variety, since I don't have to try to wing it and hope it fits. So I'll take some time before bed to plan out my day, and make sure I've got at least 1 fruit and/or vegetable in every meal. I should probably log my habits (apart from updating here), even if just with a check mark, to help me keep on track with them. I haven't decided how I want to do that, but I might just make a chart and stick it in my OPP fitness log, which will hopefully remind me to log both things daily. New Habit #4 ~ Sleepy Time Another goal that's perpetually in my challenges and which I perpetually am bad at. Going to bed on time and getting up with the alarm. The former is usually ok most of the time, the later not so much. Getting up on time will be a big one seeing as I now work 3/5 days a week at 8am, and have to have enough time to get ready in the morning. I'm hoping some of the meal prep stuff will help here too, since the more I get done the night before, the less I have to do in my sleep-deprived state in the morning. Workout Goal ~ Running My work schedule is now amenable to doing a workout every day Monday-Friday, so I will do so as much as possible. I now have two 1-9 on-call shifts (in the past one of my on-call shifts was 10-6 which pretty much killed my entire day), so the mornings of those days will be run days (unless I need to schedule an appointment). One of those days I will do the beep test at my gym, and the other I will do a hard 2.5k (1.5mi, which is part of fitness testing at one point). I will continue to do a 'long' run on weekends, keeping it at 5k until my hip starts to behave itself better (hopefully Habit #1 will help with that), then start working up to 10k. Workout Goal ~ Pushups I need to increase my pushup numbers for future police-related testing, so I'm going to start a 100 Pushup program (specifically this one), which will be tentatively done on the same days as I go to crossfit, so Monday-Wednesday-Friday. I haven't decided what to do if I do pushup in that day's workout, but I'll play that by ear depending on the number I do.