Search the Community

Happy New Year everyone! I hope the holidays were good for everyone. I sure have had a great holiday season, and am excited to take on 2016. This year could either see much change in my life, or a lot of the same old same old, I don't honestly know which way it will go, its all dependent on what will happen with my husband (The Mastermind), who is working on his PhD. Either way, I want to make the most of the year ahead, and I have big plans to do so. The biggest of my plans is that I signed up to run the Detroit International Half Marathon in October, EEEK! So that is the current fitness quest I am on. Other plans include exploring and soaking up all there is to do and see around the area where I live, because if The Mastermind finishes his PhD we will be moving, most likely. So without further adieu, this is what I have planned for the first 4 weeks of the year! 2016 Take 1 - Love thyself Step 1) Rehab that ankle! I will do my physical therapy for my sprained ankle everyday, first thing in the morning. The motivation, you cant run a half marathon on a sprained ankle, plus I need to develop good workout habits in the morning. The PT only takes like 10 minutes and its so simple there should be no excuses! 42.8%42.8% 3/7 as of 1/10 Step 2) No spend soda/Starbucks! I will not spend any money on soda or Starbucks. I have to break this bad habit. I got a good start with my 2 week vacation back home for Christmas (still here actually). So I'm already caffeine detoxed and on a roll. The caveat here is that I can still drink said beverages if someone else buys them for me, like Saturday morning dates with The Mastermind, but those are rare so its not a big loophole. 100%100% 7/7 as of 1/10 Step 3) "you are so used to your features, you don't know how beautiful you look to a stranger"- unknown Since I gained all this weight I have struggled with my body image. I spent last year avoiding photos like they were the plague. I have bought minimal clothes in the last few years because I hate looking at the large sizes and getting frustrated when things that used to look good do not. This body image issue reached a critical level when my mom offered to buy me pants that fit for Christmas and forced me to try on a bunch of clothes. It was such a demoralizing experience for me. So I have decided I need to work on my body image, and learn to love my body no matter what it looks like. This is a 2 part quest, part 1 I will clean out my closet and only keep the clothes that fit and that I look good in today. The others will either be packed up for the future me, or sent away. Part 2 will be more challenging, I will go shopping once a week and try on some clothes that I need to complete my much smaller wardrobe and must buy one piece each trip. Closet Clean Out 33.33%33.33% 5/15 as of 1/10 Shopping 0%0% 0/4 as of 1/10 Scoring All three quests will be pas/ fail. Step 1 and step 2 are obviously a daily pass/fail, step 3 part 1 is pass/fail for the entire challenge, while part 2 is a weekly score. I think I will just go for a completion percentage and see how I do. If I accomplish everything there may be some pampering for me for my birthday which is at the end of the challenge.

Main Quest:To build up a solid foundation of habits to propel me towards my ultimate goal of being a master of my own body weight. Mission #1: Convict Conditioning New Blood program (+2 STR, +1 DEX, +1 CHA)Two workouts per week, alternating with pushups/leg raises on one day and pullups/squats on the other.Mission #2: 0 to 1650 swim challenge. (+3 STA, +1 CON)Had difficulties with this last challenge mostly due to sickness and other unexpected circumstances.Will continue starting at week 3 of the plan. Mission #3: Recovery. Lights out by 10pm each night. (+2 CON, +1 WIS)To support recovery on my workouts and a fresh, clear mind for work and training.Life Mission: Study Android Development 8 focused hours per week outside of work. (+2 WIS, +2 CHA)I have long neglected my career training. This will be a first step to getting back where I should be.I will likely have a lot of time to work on this at work, so my goal is based on personal time spent versus an amount of material covered.Grading:Mission #1 (in days): A = 12, B = 11, C = 10, D = 9, F = 8 or lessMission #2 (in days): A = 16-18, B = 14-15, C = 12-13, D = 10-11, F = 9 or lessMission #3 (in days): A = 27-30, B = 24-26, C = 21-23, D = 18-20, F = 17 or lessLife Mission #4 (in hours): A = 44-48, B = 39-43, C = 34-39, D = 29-33, F = 28 or less Rewards per goal: A = 100%, B = 75%, C = 50%, D = 25%, F = 0% Motivation:To be a Master of my own body weight and an example of health to my wife and kids.