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Hello to everyone! I'm Ingagr, just turned 38 and been overweighted for 15 years. Back then I used to play rugby, strenght train and low speed medium distance running for cardio three times a week. I got married, a degree in forestry engineering, a house, a couple of dogs and a small pack of cats. I quit all my sporty activities, settle down as sedentary and started gaining weight. One good new: four years ago I managed to quit smoking. Now I feel I can move forward and begin training and building healthy habits. So I sign up at a gym (functional, bodyweight train, strength train and cardio mostly) by june (winter here deep south america in Argentina) and two weeks ago I started to take care of my nutrition. I am not going in any restrictive diet. Opposite to that I eat whatever I want, "just" measuring myself in the quantities I eat. Of course "whatever I want" does not mean junky food, sugars, sodas, etc. I am trying to take baby steps, one by one, building healthy habits, focusing in changes rather than objectives. For example: my objectives are not weight losing but not to skip my workouts and take care of my meals. Weight loss will be a consequense of my objective but not an objective itself. My height is 1.88 m (sorry to Americans, I use metric system ). I started with a weight of 135,5 kg and today I am 130,8 kg. Weekend was fine, went hiking everyday with my dogs to the park a few blocks near my house, care about meals. Saturday night I ate home made pizza (a tradition here) and a half liter can of beer. As I said, I do not any restrictive diet! Today I made my bed early in the morning after waking up, went to work and after I'm going to gym to workout. I will try to keep this log updated daily. Thank you all for the support. For the rebellion!

My Story? Hmmm. Well, my real name is Stan, also known as Ziggy and my online persona is Axiel (pronounced Ah-shell, don’t drop the S ). Currently 50 years old, (6 ft) 255 ish lbs. (Down from 270 4 weeks ago). I’m a 30+ yr Type 1 diabetic that’s been reasonably well controlled with no major complications as yet, other than a slight neuropathy (numbness) in the feet and frozen shoulders (which until recently I didn’t know was a complication from diabetes). For all this time I’ve been following the standard dietary advice of my dietician and endo, and generally gained 2-3 lbs a year. The few times I’ve tried ‘dieting’, always ended disastrously as I found trying to balance insulin and high carb meals to be almost impossible. (Standard dietary recommendation for diabetics from both the American & Canadian Diabetes Association is along the lines of 60-70g carbs per meal plus 2-3 snacks, and avoid all fats – boy is that bad advice ) So, about 5 years ago, just after turning 45 I suffered a minor heart attack (MI), with no permanent damage, and a follow-up angiogram indicating two additional ‘future’ blockages currently at about 35%. At that point I was terrified to do anything exercise wise, and dieting was still difficult for me to break out of my established eating / insulin regimen. Shortly after turning 50 earlier this year, I was almost defeated, I would get up, eat breakfast, go to work, come home, eat supper, sit in front of the TV for the rest of the night, and repeat. Weekends weren’t much different, except I’d be in front of the TV more, and I finally had the simple realization that if I kept on the same path, I would be lucky to see my 55th birthday. Since I was never successful dieting, but I knew there had to be others that had been, lets just say my life changed with a simple google search ‘lose weight as a type 1 diabetic’. The search results from this exposed me to tons of research which I’ve devoured over the last few months, and has led me to adopt a low-carb diet. For anyone interested, an excellent starting point would be to lookup ‘Dr. Bernstien’s Diabetes Solution’. I won’t get into details here, but send me a note if you want. So adopting this style of eating (wasn’t too difficult for me as I was also diagnosed celiac 10yrs ago, so cutting the rest of the processed carbs out of my diet wasn’t a big deal), has already seen some weight loss over the last month, but more importantly, much better controlled blood sugars. For those curious my target is 4.6mmol/L or 83mg/dl (for the math nerds, that’s a conversion factor of 18). My plans as I see them now are to: 1. Reach and maintain a 30 day avg blood glucose of 4.6, 2. Bring my HgA1C down to under 5% 3. Reach an eventual target weight of ~180 lbs 4. Get my 1st degree black belt in Taekwon-do (long range, still waiting to meet with instructor about shoulder injuries) I’m quite introverted by nature, and really have to work to put myself out there, but I hope to bring a level of dedication to the community to be able to help and encourage others with their journeys. I'd love to follow along any other T1 or T2's journeys (well anyone's journey to be honest), so introduce yourself and we can journey together. I haven't found much in the way of discussion here regarding this lifestyle for diabetics, and I really hope we can change that, cause diabetics can do everything 'normal' people can. Now to see what I want to do for my first challenge and battle log. tldr; 50yrs old, 30yr Type 1 diabetic, time to get off my ass and do something about my health and life. Oh, and 25xp to anyone that can name the game where my online name came from.

Cheechoe's Flying Circus FEATURING... A Cheechoe A Challenge... ...Annnd A Bunch Of Nerds To Help Her Keep Her Head.. (pssst. That's you guys...) 1. MFP Tracking Track ALL THE FOOD 1800 cal/day as a baseline. I add in my exercise and my caloric allotment are adjust from there I get ONE CHEAT DAY A WEEK where I can go to 2500. ONE. TRACK EVERYDAY 2. Eat Primal No Processed Carbs No Nut Butters unless it's a cheat day and within my caloric allotment No Junk Food. I'll allow myself dark chocolate on my cheat days within '' '' '' My cheat days will NOT be cheats on Primal diet, only caloric intake Stop That. 3. Teach and Learn Admittedly, since I have bowed out of competing at the World Championships Tournament in Italy this year, I have fallen away from instructing. Some was travel, some was other life distractions, some was just being lazy; no more. I need to get back to sharing my knowledge and my passion. Teach TKD 2x/week On the same note, recently I have fallen out of the habit of attending the advanced classes. Pretty much since April I've been training at my DoJung only by myself on Saturday mornings. As much as I love my alone raining, I need to be around my instructor more. Now this will be tricky since I usually end up teaching the advanced class as soon as my instructor sees me walk in, but I always end up learning something from him or me those nights. Train in TKD 3x/week. Note: these will probably be on the same night of back to back classes; teach the first one or two, then take the last. Totally doable in a week's time. ****** ****** 4. Keep on Moving Barbell Strength Training 3x weekTKD training 3x week per #3 goalBike ride or rollerblade 2x weekOne long run per week (Long run = 5+ miles) ** Each week will include this laundry list of activities Punishment: Burpees (for the week) Reward: Being awesome (Another NF shirt if all 6 week go without failing) Life Quest: One personal "Adult Task" daily(Shamelessly stolen from Spezzy) Nononononooo.. >.> <.< Adult task here meaning: Laundry, paying bills, batch cooking, washing car, ....all those boring adult tasks that are all simple individually, but when stacked up during the work week make you want to throw a temper tantrum. Those ones. I want to do them daily so they don't all pile up at the end of the week and take up an entire day off.

Oh dear. This had to happen some day. The Courier has lost her mind for good. Guys! Wait, don't give up on me yet! I'll illuminate you! Reactivity is the exact opposite of proactivity. Figures, doesn't it? … No? Uh ... I came across this term in Stephen Covey's „The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People“. It was a fascinating book which I literally devoured (don't worry M, not THAT literally, you'll get it back in one piece). The first big kick in the butt was the following simple concept: That there is a gap between an external stimulus and the behavioural response. This gap contains the „freedom to choose“. So it is totally up to ME how I react to something. I am not a subject of my environment, the conditions, the weather, or to gremlins. Although that is quite logic, it has to be manifested in your consciousness. Now, how do you define 'proactivity'? Let me quote Mr. Covey: „... It means more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behaviour is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen.“ Well, it hurts to admit it, but I am still a quite reactive person. I noticed it with much discomfort again just yesterday. I didn't really feel like participating the service as a member of a choir, and the fact that it took me more than 2,5 hours to get to the church because of building sites all over the public transport system (plus irregularities that resulted in missing almost every train and that the choir made several unnecessary mistakes which almost screwed us worsened my mood extremely. So I spent half a nice summer day angry and sulky, green with envy for the guys in the TKD-boot camp I would have SO DAMN loved having attended, feeling sorry for me for being stuck here, having such an awful morning, instead of … I don't know, for example packing my things and get to the lake and go for a swim to spend some nicer hours and relax a bit. (Which I did this morning. Better late than never.) … you see what I mean about me being reactive? Although I must also say I was much, much, much worse. Such as described above happened much more often and the feeling lasted much longer. But still, there is a lot of work to do. And why bothering with all this? Because I happened to notice, that me being slacky on daily exercise is not a problem of a busy life, or finding the right program, but of a serious lack of guts and willpower. I do come home very late almost every day during the week. So what? One still CAN do 2 sets of 10 'exercise XY' The answer, why I don't do them, is simply: I don't feel like it. And now there comes the reactive personality: „I had an exhausting day, I deserve to rest. There's always a tomorrow.“ Well, vicious cycle. And it is so silly, since exercising and eating right brought me some results. Nothing extraordinary, but I feel much better about myself. And would I do a bit more, I would feel even better. Self-rewarding system, actually. The big question is, how to accomplish it. I don't really have more of a plan than to pay more attention on how I behave. Unfortunately, there is no emergency kit when I notice I am being reactive again, which I do. I am well aware when I am making excuses or blaming gremlins. Unfortunately it seems that I am perfectly willing to listen to them far too often. (T__T) So, this is more of challenge about the right mindset than about health itself. Regular exercise which is independent from TKD-lessons, is the last big health issue I have to master, but it's been over a year that I am struggling with it, so … maybe I need to concentrate more on my brain first. Speaking of Taekwon-Do, since my school is closed this week due to a boot camp almost all members are attending, I have one explicit, measurable goal for week #1: Do any kind of exercise every day. That might be a 5km-walk, 15 min of jogging, a CC session ... doesn't matter what, but do something to get you to sweat. It might not be efficient as far as getting strong is concerned, but not much unlike M, I really have to get used to exercising daily. I know that I have to come up with a more specific plan to succeed at least a little bit, just give me the first week to observe, as a time of making up and developing strategies against the reactivity gremlins. So, brace yourself for a frenzy of modifications during those six weeks.

Cheechoe is Sher-Locked This challenge demands constructive goals every week; Each bringing me closer to that which I seek; To be a monk who is reaching her peak; And also Fucking Awesome. Always searching - motivation, self-actualization, wisdom.....call it what you will; this Monk is on a mission. Throughout this challenge I will be unraveling, deducing, and deciphering the small habits that are keeping me from my utmost form of awesome. Every week I unLOCK new habits will lead me closer to my full potential. Elementary, My Dear Nerds. My Challenge is Simple: 1. You Do Count Going to do a cut, my friends! I am going to allow myself a baseline of 2000cal per day which I will enter into MyFitnessPal to keep up with my goal. (Shamelessly stolen From Risen Phoenix). Since I am I fairly active person, I will adjust my calories depending on the exercise I did that day to avoid energy loss and other deficiencies. I thought about keeping a simple cut to 2000cal/day, but on days when I have multiple workouts or go on a long run, I can burn over 1000cal... and a cap of 2000 is just not enough. Furthermore, on days when I work or days I make rest days (hahahahahahahaa......) 2000cal is on the liberal side of PLENTY. The adjustment is just necessary. How will I adjust it, you ask? I will enter the workouts I did for the day (conservatively) into MyFitnessPal which will adjust my caloric allotment. I will allow myself ONE CHEAT DAY per week. (With a cap of 3000cal) Oh, and here's the kicker... *drum roll* NO NUTS OR NUT BUTTERS ON ANY DAY OTHER THAN A CHEAT DAY! For those of you who know me and my crack-whore tendencies toward almond butter and the like....this is a BIG DEAL. I also added the cap on my cheat day because I could easily make out with consume 1000cal worth or more of almond butter in one sitting. This is my attempt at breaking that habit. Edit: Easter and my birthday are free cheat days. I don't make the rules..... +2 WIS; +2 CON 2. Wake up and Workout I have already gotten out of the habit of working out before work. Lame. My weak-morning-brain always seems to justify needing the extra sleep for my 12 hours shifts. Yes, I need sleep, but I know I have more energy throughout my shift when I get up to workout before work. It gives me a boost, and I also sleep better that night. I really need your help with this one, guys. My weak-morning-brain is winning!! Goals to help actualize this challenge: - Set a second alarm on work nights so I have two alarms to snooze (God, this is sad...) - Attempt to go to bed as soon as I get home from work on consecutive work days - Allow myself ONE WORKDAY PER WEEK when I get to sleep in. Otherwise I only get the extra sleep on off days. (Or....or....Kishi gets to pick my punishment! ) (Oh God, why did I just type that?) +1 WIS; +1 CON; +1 CHA 3. Take the Rape Stairs Elevators are evil. They slowly suck the soul out of you with every vertical oscillation. I am fairly certain they displace part of your essence, leaving it to rot on some certain level and spitting your slightly-more-empty body back out into life with a slightly-more-pointless destination. There was a point where I wouldn't think twice about prematurely ending a conversation because someone didn't want to take the stairs with me. "Oh...you're taking the stairs? Ok....bye now!" *shrug* Unfortunately, I have gotten out this habit; particularly at work. Lame. I noticed this one night when I was walking to the parking garage with a co-worker and she said "Please don't make me take the stairs,". I didn't, of course (what....she asked nicely...). Anyway, it made me realize how much I have gotten out of the habit for myself. This must be remedied. There are multiple series of staircases in my hospital and in the parking garage across the street which I have come to refer to as The Rape Stairs. This is because the only way of describing them is somewhere between A-Hot-Mess-of-Chaos-That-Surely-Leads-to-Narnia and No-One-Will-Hear-Me-Scream. I shall conquer these Rape Stairs and any other staircases in buildings I find myself exploring. HUZZAH! TO THE STAIRCASE, WATSON!! +1 STR; +1 DEX; +1 STA 4. Get Ready With the Monkage. Of course, I need to get ready for my International Tournament in Italy this year. WOOT! I will attempt to focus more on my workouts that I have been so lame about the past couple of challenges. - TaeKwon-Do 3X/week (excepting when I am in Boston. I hope to have a place to Monk, but 3X that week is not realistic) - One LONG run per week (Long = 5+ miles) - Heavy Lifting 3X/week (delaoding Starting Strength and Heavy Crossfit WODs count) -At least one boxing workout per week I used to post my workouts here fairly consistently, but stopped because I realized no one really reads them. Buuuut I also realized it would help me to keep track of my progress. So.. I am going to attempt to post them again. For accountability. For Monk. For Science. +1 STR; +2 DEX; +2 STA Let's Do This! Thus endeth my super long post that will hopefully lead to an unforgivable amount of gifs and computer lagging. And I leave you with this as my Mutant Enemy Sherlock... "Grrrrrrrr.....Arrrrrghhhhhh"

NOW. Where did I put that challenge..... ....Oh. There it is. Goal: Becoming a Warrior: Doing it right. As some of you know, at the very end of the last challenge my boxing coach, who had grown very dear to me, passed away suddenly. Part of my life that was quickly growing came to an abrupt halt. But I am a fighter. I pick myself back up and join you guys the battlefield; here among other warriors who are gaining strength, preparing for their own battles. I need to re-gain focus. So I come here. I come to gain strength. I come to fight. I come to win. I Come to Gain: As part of my last challenge, I began starting strength and ended with some....eh...satisfactory gains. During The Holidays I back tracked (haven't lifted in 3 weeks...and ate all the things....oops). Strength Goals: Continue Starting Strength (need to finish the book...)3X week have strength building focused workout (in addition to lifting)Start serious progressions to get a barbell snatch by 4T. (so close I can tas......No. Not going there.) um..+4... STR...duh? I Come to Fight: Wait...warriors fight?? I can't spend all day PREPARING for battle. Let's do this. (Monk at heart) TaeKwon-Do 3X weekBag work (preparing for competition in March)Boxing (remembering Coach's drills) STA: 3, Dex: 2 I Come To Win: I am my own worst enemy. Last challenge, I decided to try a Primal diet. Failed. Miserably. Like 50% compliance. (Milk Stout WHY YOU SO GOOOOOOOOOOD) This time....oh, this time. I will WIN. I will conquer my eating habits (always the hardest for me). Primal dietexcepting 4T because, who am I kidding, I'll have all the alcohols. +3 CON Side Quest: One thing Richie's death taught me was that you can impact people in any aspect of your life. I still maintain that your relationships with others during your time here on earth are a huge part, if not THE Meaning of Life. (...and something about 42). I need to take advantage of my seemingly infinite series of "nows" of time. I don't want to waste it; not with so much potential benefit. I have come to find the more I impact others, the more fulfilling MY life is. Isn't it weird how selflessness can lead to so much self fulfillment? *shrugs* We are a social people; I guess it follows, logically. I have felt a bit lost lately....and I think I found a way to find me. I exist only to the extent I actualize myself. I am, in a sense, my actions. Time to act. This is mostly my take on Sartre, by the way ... (and a bit of Kierkegaard). I am not that clever. I just eat this stuff up. Fave quote alert: "Man...exists only to the extent that he fulfills himself; he is therefore nothing else but the ensemble of his acts, nothing else than his life." - Jean-Paul Sartre Ok, now I'm rambling. *Cough* My life quest is to impact someone, somehow, weekly. Who? Not sure What? Not sure But I will be scoping out opportunities. Maybe telling someone I care about what they mean to me. Very hard. Maybe going out of my way to do a selfless act. I probably won't post my achievements here because a) It may involve someone of which is none of your business b ) I'm not looking to get any pats on the back....searching for personal fulfillment. I will, for accountability's sake, post some vague description. So you guys can remind me when I'm losing faith in humanity... Again. I'm not doing this for Richie, though he impacted me greatly. I'm doing it because that's the kind of person I wish to be. So act already. + 2 CHA. +1 WIS Here we go....

This had to Happen. Letta Slaya' Slay What? Another Television theme where Cheechoe defeats a different opponent each week of the Challenge? I guess she does that... Come on, it's Buffy. She is The Chosen One. She is hot. She kicks ass of all kind. She looks great in a sports bra. She is tiny, but fierce. She has super strength. Did I mention she was hot?? My Overall goal this challenge is to become more like Buffy. I Must Defeat The First. To do this, each week I will defeat a Big Bad and in doing so, I will have achieved the goals of the lowering my weight class in boxing (Buffy wouldn't give up when she failed, so neither can I) and increasing my strength by 15%. Though I will be fighting a different Big Bad, these three goals remain the same: 1. Primal Diet Buffy, in order to discover the extent of her awesomeness, had to reacquaint herself with her roots: Sineya, The First Slayer. This primal female was The First chosen to defend the world against the forces of darkness. To get in touch with my primal awesomeness, I must change my eating habits to that of a Primal Diet. That is, Paleo including dairy. Strict. People. Strict. 2. Starting Strength What would our hero be without her super strength and superior healing abilities? A little girl, that's what. I MUST get stronger. I started lifting heavy again last challenge and I want MOAR. Therefore, I will follow the intermediate guide of Starting Strength and measure my gains. Also, since muscle burns fat, I feel it will help me with my overall goal. This is not to replace my typical Monkery: I will still continue to do TaeKwon-Do and boxing workouts. This program is intended to supplement my usual workout to get me over my plateau. My initial numbers for Bench Press, Back Squat, and Deadlift will be posted on my first workout on Monday. 3. Portion Control The Whole30 offers a portion control guide which I will maintain throughout the 6 weeks. This is basically a visual guideline as to HOW MUCH food I should ingest per meal. I feel this was the draw back of my last challenge: I ate pretty clean (aside from all the October brews) but only lost a couple of pounds. (Damn you, almond butter. I hate to love you!) I refuse to count calories, because that's just exhausting, so I will refer to The Mummy Hand for my guide. This should help me get a HAND on my weight loss. I hope I can HANDle the cut-backs. I hear portion control is the best diet regulation, HANDS down. Don't get mad at me; you're the one still reading this. Moving on the the Big Bads: Week 1: The Master I will "Master" the Primal Diet by having strict portion control as well as timed meals. Depending on when I wake up, I will eat a small, but nutrient rich meal every 4 hours. This should be a good kick start for my eating habits. Week 2: Spike/Angelus/Dru These three enemies I shall fight at once: Bench Press (Spike), Deadlift (Angelus), and Back Squat (Drusilla). My initial numbers for the Starting Strength should be making linear gains. My focus will be on technique of these lifts. Week 3: The Mayor This week I will gain more spunk. Moar cardio. running, biking, rollerblading, etc. Week 4: Adam This week I will do army exercises. Train like Adam, beat Adam. Week 5: Glory Glory is a God. How do I beat a God? You can't. You have to wait until she is Ben form. For this week, I will PvP some Ben out there. Could be one of you Monks, or some other nerd. I will see who wants to step into my ring. (speak now, nerds! ) Week 6: Evil Willow Willow is like a sister to Buffy. When willow turns evil because she gets addicted to the Magics, Buffy must defeat her loved one with the hope of not destroying her. This week, I will enter in the Pre-Thanksgiving race with Devyn, the Kender assassin and hope I don't completely destroy her. Muahahahhaa. hah. ha. .. heh. Let the Slaying Begin!! Grrrr.....Arrrggghh.

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold… Last challenge, I was awaken from my coma. Now... It’s time to KICK SOME @$$!!! Ready. Main Quest: Get in shape for new hobby: ameatuer boxing. To which I will refer henceforth as: Shogun Shodown. Goals: a) Wiggle your big toe Weight loss starts with diet. Before I can move on, I need to stop and master my prey. No processed carbs. No grains. Diet will be primarily meat, egg and veggies. (occasional fruit, legume, dairy) Lenient but aware of calorie count. Once a week I will allot myself an alcohol. (you know, for science sanity). Pass/Fail per week. I need to lose 8 pounds during this challenge. (NOT water weight; flesh weight). [i nough, I nough, I nough….I shouldn’t be looking at the scale in terms of health. In this case, I need to be in a certain weight class or I will be fighting ALL THE TALL PEOPLE.] Acquire Japanese steel If you are going to defeat your enemies, you need the proper tools. I will slowly build up my arsenal this 6 weeks. Every week I defeat my assailant, I gain an attribute. Speed Agility Strength Self Control Endurance BadAssery SASSEB?? [The template I made for the last challenge really worked for me, so I wanted to stick with it this challenge. Plus, the Kill Bill format was easy to shrink to fit to the same template ] At least 6 workouts a week. This is inexcusably attainable seeing as I can get in 2-3 workouts on my days off. 6, I feel is pushing myself without asking too much. c) Training under Priest Pai Mei I will need wisdom from The Master. This is my Side Life Quest: Every week I will have one substantial update for my nursing school applications. Conference dates, app submissions, financial aid apps, etc. Pass/Fail Week 1: Copperhead Speed - This week my workouts will focus on speed. Punches, kicks, back work, runs, et all the ceteras. Week 2: GoGo Yubari Agility - focused workouts being football drills, sparring, jump rope, hand stands, cutting, suicides, BWW, assassin style workouts and the like. Week 3: Cottonmouth Strength - heavy lifts (barbell stuff), squats, push-ups, core exercises, and other warrior-like shenanigans. Week 4: Sidewinder Self Control - another pseudo-cleanse. Many smoothies and green tea will be involved. Workouts modified for intake. Also bedtimes. Week 5: California Mountain Snake Endurance - longer runs, patterns, sparring, bike rides, roller blading, scoutlike workouts and what have you. Week 6: Bill BadAsseryness - fights, fights, fights. I will try to get in as many sparring sessions as possible; TaeKwon-Do and Boxing to train for Shogun Showdown! (TBA) IFF I fail to loose my 8 pounds by the end of the 6 weeks, I will let my fellow nerds decide what my Halloween costume will be this year! .....If I succeed: I will be Beatrix Kiddo. (Hot yellow jumpsuit Beatrix, that is). Just Kiddoing: I'll probably look more like Bumblebee. :/ The journey starts now... "...And when I reach my destination, I am going to Kill Bill."