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I've always both identified with and cringed at Robert Downey Junior's portrayal of Iron Man. The guy obviously has issues with his parents, foods, and alcohol ... issues that he hasn't dealt with because he generally doesn't need to do so most of the time -- but that come back to bite him in the ass repeatedly during the Iron Man and Avengers series. I can relate. For years, I was able to ignore the poor food choice messages and habits I'd gotten from my family of origin, but I recently realized that the past has been dragging me down slowly and inexorably for the past 15 years. I've gone from thinking I'm really in charge of my life and on top of the world... ... to realizing that I need to dial up some major changes and address issues directly before I can make real progress. In my life, the missile has the name of my family of origin on it too. So, this challenge, I'm following the lead of Tony Stark and making some major direction changes in how I approach fitness. First off - I'm going to really focus on changing my eating habits from the ground up. I've been putting bandaids on with minor tweaks. Time to rip off the bandaids and dig into why and when I over eat. I'm going to read Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole M.S. R.D. and dig into why I eat the way I do .... and make changes. But these changes will be different. No restrictions on what, how much, or when I eat. Just paying attention to the hunger signals .... and the ton of "messages" that play in my head from my parents and society about food. I'll try to approach this with the famous Iron Man sense of humor. Second, I'm going to keep an anti-log log about what, when, and why I eat. And how I feel. And what I think about food choices. Yea, I know, logging when I'm doing intuitive eating is kinda breaking the rules. But that's so very like Stark .... And for something really different, I will spend a challenge NOT RUNNING. Seriously, can you imagine Tony Stark running??? In truth, after I get done with the Zombies, Run! virtual race, I need to take a break. Plantar fasciitis is flaring up, and I'm in a mental place where I'm not enjoying running, especially on a treadmill. It's been a long, wet, icy winter, and I'm just ready to do other things, like biking or PiYo or whatever looks fun. 6 days per week. And then, don't faint, I'm increasing strength training to 4 times per week. I've got my kettlebells in the basement and a workout plan for them. And if I want to go to the YMCA, I have two different workouts I can do there. The idea is that I can increase muscle mass while I unscrew my head. If I'm eating a bit more, it has a purpose in a dirty gain. Finally, it is time to SUIT UP!! I've been drifting, work-wise, for a few years, and my wardrobe is ...... patchy. I have come up with a list of items to fill in gaps so that I am professorial on the days that I am in the classroom (MWF) and business casual (jeans) during office days. And .... I'm only sorta keeping score this time. I have a checklist just because it is a way to remember what I planned to do for self-care. But if I am still typing and logging as of the last day of the challenge, I get a new tech toy. Sorry, Pepper. I will get an Aria 2 scale - mostly because I do want to record progress but I am terrible about remembering to log the numbers before I've had my first two cups of coffee. For week 0 Objectives: purchase Intuitive Eating & prepare new affirmations. I requested the book from the library, in the spirit of not buying more things that I need to store or move, but it looks like it is popular and will probably not arrive. So, I'm a gonna order one this week.