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Welcome to my new home! After two years of NF challenges I decided to try something different. I am currently at a point in my life where daily movement practice isn't much of a challenge (as long as I'm not on vacation or sick, that is...), and I have found things that I actually like to do. I have become a fan of the GMB courses and have just finished 7 weeks of Elements. I may take the rest of this week "off" while I'm trying to get rid of the remnants of a cold and a crick in the neck, while I decide where to go from here. My options are: Another round of Elements (7 weeks, mostly Bear, Frogger, Monkey) - where the challenge is not the basic execution of the movements, but I'm kind of beat after two minutes of those. Another round of Vitamin (4 weeks, focus on a different movement each day) - a lot of fun, though some intimidating stuff along the way. Another go at Floor 1 (13 weeks minimum, probably longer, because I may not be ready to advance to the next phase after the suggested time frame) - I got stuck on my first try and didn't finish. May be worth another shot to see how far I can get now.Aside from that I like to follow the monthly "challenges" GMB proposes (if I can). For July it was working on the bridge. I don't know if I can actually do another bridge before the month is over, thanks to the pinched neck/shoulder thingy, but I have already learned a lot and have made progress, so even if I may not be able to finish officially, it was definitely worth doing it! I also love attending the strength training class working with kettlebells, bodyweight and occasionally barbells, though I haven't been able to attend as often as I would like. Ditto on the yoga class - but since the only class I can usually make it to is one for "deep" stretches, it's kind of couterproductive for my goal of getting my hypermobile joints more stable (and not even more overstretched and wobbly). But I really like the teacher, and I hope I can figure something out. Another big thing affecting my overall health and well-being is my ongoing battle with Sugar Monsters and Emo Monsters. Even after two years on NF I am far from done with this. I'm dealing better with it than I used to, but there's still lots of room for improvement. And for my mental health, let's not forget Rosie-the-pony and all the fun and crazy things we do together. I'm very happy to have her in my life!

Since my life is going to remain pretty busy with both work and pony-sitting until mid-October, at least, I simply don't have the energy for an elaborate new challenge. The best I can do right now is to not fall off the wagon entirely in regards to stress eating and neglecting exercise. So this is going to be a pretty unexciting holding pattern, trying to keep me from sliding back into bad habits. Goal #1: Beat that Sugar Monster Number one on this list is still my fight against the Sugar Monster. It turns out that even if I reduce the days when I eat the sweet stuff, I can still go totally overboard (there was that 250 g Ritter Bar that didn't last even an hour, poor thing). Goals: * Remain candy free at least 21 out of 42 days. * Don't eat more than one 100 g bar of chocolate (or an equivalent if the Sugar Monster is of the baked goods variety) in one day. Goal #2: Hit that target Keep the overall amount of calories in check. Tracking my food intake alone doesn't seem to do the trick. So I'll set again a limit on my weekly average. Last time I did have that target, an average of 1600 kcal max seemed to work quite well. Goal #3: Do yoga Don't forget to keep moving. While I'm still figuring out how to proceed with my KB classes, I can't really set a realistic goal there. But I did sign up for the 30-day yoga challenge on doyouyoga - so far I have made it to day 4. I'd like to make a bit better progress than the past two weeks... So I'll aim for an average 3 videos per week, or a total of 18 over the course of the next six weeks. Which should at least bring me to day 22 at the end of this challenge. Goal #4: Practice French And then I'll continue to brush up my mad French skillz via duolingo. I'd like to progress at least one lesson per week. Stat points and grades will follow... Just wanted to get this up so I'll have a new place to crash here for this round. Also still need to update my sig. I know. ... and for the Brigade... JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM???