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Hello, everyone! I'll try to keep this short and simple. So, onto the questions! Questions Can you manage stress eating with meditation and physical stress management techniques? Or is this a more advanced technique to work towards? Is "sympathy stress" a thing? How long do I have to go through the "this sucks" phase of reducing sugar in my diet until it becomes second nature? If you dealt with stress eating, what have you done to keep it in control/end it? Longer Explanations Stress Eating I personally crave sugary, sweet things when I'm stressed. I find that simply switching to fruits or vegetables does not give me the satisfaction to "kill" the craving. Perhaps I need to eat fruits with a higher sugar content? In the meantime, I've bought almonds to nibble on when the stress and craving hits. I read somewhere that a chocolate craving can be curbed with nuts. Don't know how true that is though, but it's worth trying. I also want to implement something physical to combat the craving. I was thinking I could get up from my desk and walk around outside in the fresh air, try to relax and refocus my mind. At home, I could do the same thing, or even trying stretching or meditation. Sympathy Stress Long story short, my husband is super stressed with working on his Ph.D. research right now and I think I'm getting stressed because he's stressed. The problem is though, even with stress management, I am still stressed because he is stressed. To explain what happened yesterday: I exercised with my sister after work. Was feeling pretty great about myself, proud I'm sticking with this body weight routine. But just a few minutes afterwards, I start to think about my husband (he was still at work at the time, trying to prepare his research for presentation) and I got this craving for candied caramel. It didn't make sense; I just did some nice physical activity and this stress was coming back to me as if I didn't even try to cope with it. I don't even know if "sympathy stress" is real though. Is it possible my cravings are finding a creative way around my management techniques? Could it just be my body revolting against the decreased sugar intake it has grown accustomed to? It's very unsettling, because diet is a huge part of fitness success. I'm worried that if I can't stick to my plan of action, how can I expect to reach my fitness goals? Reward Thank you for reading my ramblings and concerns. Here's a fluffy puppy to say thanks!

Goal #1: Elements practice 6x / week I finished the current round of the Movement Multivitamin, but before I get back to Floor 1 practice, I'd like to work on the basics some more. Enter the Elements program, where I'll be working on three movement patterns: Bear, monkey and frogger. While I have no big problems with the range of motion in any of the basic variations of these, I'm sadly lacking in strength and stamina - especially my legs start complaining after about a minute or so of froggering about. This could definitely need more work, so that's what I will do. The program will take me 7 weeks to work through, starting week 1 today. In addition to Eements, I'm still taking yoga classes and kettlebell classes. Goal #2: Keep the (Emo) Sugar Monster at bay (2 - 3 Sugar Monsters / week) Same thing we do every challenge, Pinky... try to take over the world keep the sweets in check, aim for 2 - 3 Sugar Monsters per week, and be extra careful around the Emotional variety. Goal #3: Keep a health journal 7/7 days a week I'm still working on some health issues (namely trying to get that pesky Raynaud's in check). Among other things, I'll probably have to start taking meds to improve the bloodflow . Data geek that I am, I'm kind of curious how the things I do will affect my (well-)being in general and some symptoms in particular. Ergo: collect ALL the data. Okay, maybe not all of it, but at least some markers that seem relevant to me now.

This challenge is more or less an extension of the last one: Goal #1: Floor 1 practice (6x / week) My mangled foot is on the mend, so I can finally get back into my unsual routine. Since I didn't make much (or rather: any) progress in the past couple of weeks with the Floor 1 program, I'm still stuck at phase 1B. I'll stay there until my foot can take all the jumping that's supposed to happen in phase 2. I've also started my yoga classes again, and I hope to make it back to kettlebell class this week. Goal #2: Keep the Sugar Monster at bay (2 - 3x/week max) I've been doing okay with this for the last challenge. The occasions where I go overboard with the sweet stuff are becoming more rare. When there's stuff around at the office, I now ask myself if I truly want to eat it or not. Astonishingly enough, the answer is quite often that no, I actually don't. Still, this is not on autopilot yet, so I'll aim for at most 2 - 3 Sugar Monsters per week. After sticking to 1 Monster per week for Lent (well, mostly), that should be doable. Goal #3: Stick to kcal target. Again. After a couple of weeks of doing basically nothing that deserves to be called exercise, the Easter holidays with all the chocolate-y goodness they bring, and a visit to my parents with way too much good food, I need to take better care of what I eat. Especially how much I eat. Because if you'll let me, I can eat A LOT. Though I've been tracking what I eat (more or less) for the past couple of weeks / months, the numbers have crept up, and so has my weight. Maybe not much, but enough for some clothes to not be quite as comfortable as they used to be. I aim for an average kcal target of 1550 / day. Tracking will be done via MFP. Life goal: Take care of stuff / make appointments: FSME shot: appointment in week 2: done! check-up: appointment in week 6: done! change tires: done! get ID + passport renewed: in progess: mug shots taken, application process started. call plumber with wishlist sort books and donate to local library (if they want them): 2 boxes donated so far, work in progress I don't know if I want to do the whole grading and / or stat points thingy this time around, so I probably won't.

... and somehow kicking it up a notch, through no fault of my own. Goal #1: Floor 1 I'm still working on the GMB program "Floor 1", still in the very first phase of the beginner's program. As long as I can't consistently hold a crow pose, that's where I'm going to stay. I have managed to hold the balance for a couple of seconds (PR as of today: 15 seconds!!!), but there are still days when I don't get the balance at all. Though considering today's new PR, I hope to progress to the next phase sometime during this challenge. For now, F1 practice will happen 6/7 days a week. If work allows, I'll also aim for the usual 2 kettlebell classes + 1 yoga class per week. And, of course, there's Rosie, my part-time pony. Goal #2: Keep the Emo Sugar Monsters in checkThanks to my Lent-ing atheist friend, I'll be trying to stay Sugar Monster free on 36 / 42 days. *glup* This is going to be HARD, especially since I'll be under a lot of pressure at work, and that is usually a good opportunity for the Emo Snack Monster to ambush me. I'm going to need all the help I can get! Aiming for: 1 lonely Sugar Monster per week. Goal #3: No alcohol, also thanks to my friend. Since I had been down to 1 glass of wine per week, anyway, that shouldn't be too hard. Unless I go visit my parents. Wait, that sounds wrong... Aiming for: 0 alcoholic beverages at all. Life Goal: Set up a better working environment with Git and possibly a VM for developmentTry setting up an Ubuntu VM on a stick so I can take it home with me. Set up Apache + same PHP version as current dev machine on said Ubuntu VM. Figure out which DB to use (DB on current dev server? local DB on VM?). Install Git on VM, clone project data and set up repo so that we all can work with it. Git happily ever after. Not sure if I'll have much time for that, but we will see. I would have loved to join the 10.000 Swing challenge, too, but I don't think it will work this time around. Oh, and let's not forget the usual fire engine red battle cry... WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM???!!! :livid:

I'm not sure if "challenge" is the correct term for the next couple of weeks. While there will be a lot of work involved, my challenge is surely not going to be spectacular, there won't be any huge milestones to be achieved, and progress will be slow, at best. Goal #1: Floor 1 I'll be starting the GMB program "Floor 1", which is supposed to teach me essential strength, agility and body control over the course of 14 weeks or so. The program has me working on that 6 days a week, alternating balance, strength and flexibility days. While I will have probably few problems with the flexibility basics, I have a lot to catch up on regarding strength and balance. For example, day 1 will start (after a proper warm-up, that is) with a crow hold, "up to 30 seconds", according to the program. Ha! As if... I can not really do a crow hold at all. For a second, maybe, if I'm lucky, on a good day, when the stars are in favour or something. So this is going to be interesting frustrating a good learning opportunity. I'll also not have a dedicated handstand practice goal this time around, because there is going to be a lot of hand balancing (or training for hand balancing) in this program. No need to put more strain on the wussies than that. Goal #2: Check up on those Emo Sugar Monsters Same thing we do every night, Pinky... try to stay sugar free on 21 out of 42 challenge days. This should be easier, now that the holidays are over, and most of the treats have disappeared. I'll stick to two health / fitness related goals, because anything more wouldn't make much sense for me right now. I will be going to my usual kettlebell and yoga classes on top of Floor 1, then there's Rosie, so in some weeks at least I will probably get mroe exercise than I have bargained for... Life Goal: Set up a better working environment with Git and possibly a VM for development Ahem. There is still a lot to do in this regard. So, the life goal stays. - Check current Ubuntu VM for LANability. - Set up Apache + same PHP version as current dev machine on said Ubuntu VM. - Figure out which DB to use (DB on current dev server? local DB on VM?). - Install Git on VM, clone project data and set up repo so that we all can work with it. - Git happily ever after. Just like the last one, this challenge will be done without stat points and without leveling up. It's more about consistency and keeping doing the things that work than working on major changes. Still, the battle cry remains... JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM????!!!

So here I thought I'd start a regular kettlebell routine again, looking into the Simple & Sinister program. I did some initial benchmarks to figure out where to start and how to progress eventually. Enter not the kettlebell, but the possibility of Patellar Tendonitis. Exit my challenge-plan-to-date. Now I'll need to figure out what all I can or can't do in order to fix the buggy knee. Since it's been buggy for the past 11 months and didn't even hint at getting better despite all the physical therapy and strength training I threw at it, it seems like I need to do something different. Meaning I need to talk to various people who know more about this than I do. In the meantime, I'll use the time slot in the morning I had reserved for the S&S practice for GMB's Movement MultiVitamin. Which is all about the exploration of movements, not learning any specific exercises. I hope this will be easier on the knee as well as help me un-klutz a bit. Goal #1: Movement MultiVitamin It would be great if I managed to do the practice every day for the next four weeks, but being realistic, I'll be happy with an average 5 out of 7 days a week. The program runs for 4 weeks, after that I'll either ease into a modified Simple & Sinister routine (knee permitting), or I will repeat parts of the Movement MV program until the end of the challenge. Goal #2: Wussy conditioning + handstand practice Again, it would be awesome if I did it every day, but I'll aim again for 5 out of 7 days a week. Wrist prep is a MUST on all of those days, actual handstand practice will depend on the current state of the wussies. Goal #3: Be prepared for the attack of the Holiday Sugar Monsters It's that time of year again when the Sugar Monsters turn up in droves (or insert appropriate term for a group of Sugar Monsters). I'm keeping my usual goal of staying sugar free at least 21 out of 42 challenge days. Life Goal: Set up Git and possibly a Virtual Machine at work I've been meaning to do this ever since we started our current project earlier this year. As usual, life got in the way, and I'm still sans Git and a sensible development set-up. I need to: Set up (or download) an Ubuntu VM and have it accessible via LAN. Would be nice to have for VMWare player, but any VM environment running on Windows 7 and 8 would work. Set up Apache + same PHP version as current dev machine on said Ubuntu VM.Figure out which DB* to use (DB on current dev server? local DB on VM?).Install Git on VM, clone project data and set up repo so that we all can work with it.Git happily ever after.At least that's my theory so far. Aside from that, I'll keep doing the usual (if the medicos don't nix that): kettlebell class 1 - 2 x / week, yoga class 1 x / week, doing fun stuff with Rosie 1 - 2 x / week. Grades and stat points tbd later. *DB as in DataBase. Not DumbBell. I think trying to store client data in dumbbells might be more of a challenge than I can handle...

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???

On my way to a healthier and stronger me, I'll have to keep it simple in the next couple of weeks. I'll have a lot on my metaphorical plate, both work related as well as private, and as the stress level rises, I will have to be careful not to have too much on my literal plate as well. In order to stay sane and not revert to bad habits, I'll do the following Keep the Sugar Monster in checkKeep movingStay flexibleKeep cookingGoal 1: Keep the Sugar Monster in check +2 CON +2 WIS The more stressful life gets, the more obnoxious the Sugar Monsters become. But I will keep them at a distance, at least 50% of the time. Like the last time, every sugar free* day of this challenge earns me a point, again with a theoretical max (again, ha!) of 42 points. Like the last time I should end up with at least 21 points, which equals an average of 3 - 4 sugar free days every week. *) "sugar free" == no added sugar, no sweets, candies, cookies, cake, sweetened desserts... Fruit and honey or maple syrup are allowed in reasonable quantities. Grades: 21 points or more => A 18 - 20 points => B 15 - 17 points => C 12 - 14 points => D anything less => F Goal 2: Keep moving +3 STA +1 DEX When life gets stressful I tend to want to do NOTHING once I get a bit of free time. This is not an option. For the first two weeks I will continue with the current program: exercise 5x / week, probably 2x Swing practice, 2x TGU practice, 1x yoga class. On June 23rd my beginner's kettlebell class will start, which will change my program a bit: 2x KB class / week (Mon + Wed), 1x yoga class as well as 1x KB practice at home. This will probably be plenty. Each workout earns me a point, including yoga. For the first two weeks, I'll aim for 5 points per week. For the last 4 weeks it's going to be 4 points per week, which gives me 26 points total. Grades: 26 points or more => A 22 - 25 points => B 18 - 21 points => C 14 - 17 points => D anything less => F Goal 3: Stay flexible +3 DEX +1 CON At least once a week take care of one of my problem areas, mostly my lower back, hips, knees or the Whinies and Wussies. This can either be a mobility routine, some stretching, extra yoga, foam rolling... It doesn't matter, as long as one of those areas gets at least 20 minutes of extra TLC per week. Each of those earns a point, for a total of at least 6 points over the course of this challenge. Grades: 6 points or more => A 5 points => B 4 points => C 3 points => D anything less => F Side goal: Keep cooking +1 WIS +1 CON +1 CHA Try at least 3 new (healthy) recipes during this challenge. (Brownies and cookies still don't count.) Grades: 3 or more new recipes => A 2 new recipes => B 1 new recipes => C 0 new recipe => F All right, let's do this - cause... WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM??????!!! Goal 1: xxxxxxx | xxxxxxx | xxxxxxx | xxxxxxx | xxxxxxx | xxxxxxx 21/21 Goal 2: xxxxxxx | xxxxxxx | xxxxxxx | xxxxxxx | xxxxxxx | xxxxxxx 26/26 Goal 3: xxxxxx 6/6 Side goal: xxx 3/3

This is my first NF Challenge and I am pretty excited. I’m trying to get hubby on board too! I’m not new to weight loss – I’ve lost 185 lbs from my highest weight of 365. I am very active now but I have trouble staying the course with my diet – especially when it comes to sugar. I’m a total addict, and I need to stay far, far away from it. I don’t do Paleo (hope you won’t look down on me for that!), I am a clean eater at heart. Makes me feel energized and amazing – when I freaking stick to it! I’m REALLY excited to be here with all of you!! So, here are the goals. I don’t have a “Character†per say at this point, but I distributed points and grading anyway. Goals: 1. Eat Clean: What does this entail? No processed food, sugar substitute, white flour, less than 8 grams of added sugar per day No more than 1 serving of dairy per day Clean carbs, including oats, quinoa, beans and legumes Lean protein, including meat, eggs, beans and legumes Any and all fruits and vegetables Healthy fats 80+ oz of water per day (plain or sparkling) Logging all food into Livestrong. This will also involve cooking for most of the week on Sunday, preparing foods and dividing into individual servings for ease during the week. (5 CON) (What is a "slip"? - any more than 8 grams of added sugar, any sugar sub or white flour consumption, more than 2 servings of dairy in a day, any complete day not logged into Livestrong, anything less than 80 oz of water) A: no slips for the whole challenge B: 1-4 slips C: 5-8 slips D: 9-12 slips F: 13+ slips 2. Gym/training at least 4 times per week Bodyology (my training facility) 2-3 days, plus gym 2-3 days Circuit training will be primary importance, including weights and metabolic training together (1 STR, 2 STA) Within this goal, I will strive for the following: 5 full pushups, chest to floor, in a row, 1 single purple band assisted pull up (2 STR) A: Gym/training at least 24 times, 5 pushups 1 SPB assisted pull-up B: Gym/training 20-23 times, 5 pushups, 1 purple plus black assisted pull-up C: Gym/training 15-29 times, 2-4 pushups, 1 medium assisted (3 band) pull up D: Gym/training 10-14 times, <2 pushups, no pull-ups, or using more than 3 bands F: Gym/training <10 times, no floor pushups, no pull-ups 3. Fit comfortably into my size 10 capris by the end of challenge. (Comfortably: can wear them all day at work with no problem. Right now, I can button and zipper them. Breathing is another story) How? See #1, #2 and #4. (1 STR, 1 STA, 1 CON) A: Wear capris comfortably all day C: Wear capris comfortably for ½ day before they feel too tight/uncomfortable. F: Unable to wear capris comfortably 4. Take at least 20 minutes to wind down before sleep, and MORE sleep This means NO internet, TV or gaming 20 minutes before bed/sleeping Getting at least 8 hours of sleep per night. This will mean being ASLEEP by 10:00 at the latest. (2 WIS) A: 38-42 nights of winding down and sleeping 8+ hours B: 34-37 nights of winding down and sleeping 8+ hours C: 29-33 nights of winding down and sleeping 8+ hours D: 25-28 nights of winding down and sleeping 8+ hours F: <24 nights of winding down and sleeping 8+ hours Of course, I welcome feedback. I know it seems like a lot, but it’s similar to what I have been doing/striving for, so it’s NOT all new to me. It’s very helpful to break it down and put specifics to it. So glad to be here part of the challenge! I'M BRININ' SEXY BACK, BABY! I look forward to getting to know you all and cheering you on to victory! If anyone is interested in checking out my blog, which has chronicled my journey up till now, it’s here: http://lifeincareer-sis.blogspot.com/