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Last challenge was a hot mess. I tried! but things came up. I think I did reasonably well considering: * a week 1 emergency health thing (not me) and a trip to florida to mug with my sick daddy-o (still doing awesome, by the way) * a week 2 presidential election that resulted in me being actually depressed for the first time in literally forever, and requiring lots of quiet self care * a week 3 where we had the kids every day b/c of their mom's work travel, impinging on our planned gym time for goals, and * a week 4 with a planned and much enjoyed visit to iceland and england instead of american thanksgiving. and then I wrapped it up with * a week 0 that was all about me traveling to houston for training - which meant wednesday I left the house at 3AM and I returned at 1AM on Sat. ZOMG TIRED. So ima just gonna do that last challenge all over again. additional bonus facts/exciting conditions: my husband lost his job last week, it's the holidays, we have the kids all during Week 1. (sidebar: losing the job is not terrible. We are going to evaluate our ability to send him to school full time spring semester to continue working towards his goal of shifting careers into shoe design and shoe manufacture.) * go to the gym. schedule it in for at least 2x a week at the gym. My husband is in still, and maybe this will be doable even when we have the kids all the time in the mornings, because he can just go home to make sure that Thirteen has managed to get out the door in good time. I had said that next challenge I want to start the dojo weight lifting, but I'm going to give myself until january. Even though it will make me look like that january gym starter guy. but whatever. * learn the pull-ups. I'll be 40 in April. KEEP PRACTICING. this looks like: hanging from a bar and pulling in my shoulders every day I'm home. move on to negatives. pull-up assist machine / bands are available but for now I need to focus on grip strength and getting a little movement in from hanging. the key is REGULAR. * track my food more carefully. extra double important during the holidays! track every day. Don't ever have to catch up the next day. * check in on my goals! hard learned obvious lesson of the summer/fall: if you don't check your goals, you won't actually do anything to achieve them. DO THE THING WITH THE GOALS. get something written down every day, if you can. regular stuff will occur, that being: running outside when I can, doing tkd 2-3x a week, dojo saturdays etc. Ideally I'm active 5-6 days a week. I picked up a discounted hulahoop class on cyber monday, and it would be amazing if I worked in more stretching/yoga. OK, got it? SECOND VERSE JUST LIKE THE FIRST A LITTLE BIT LOUDER AND A LITTLE BIT WORSE.

Track and Be Healthy! A. What's the focus of your group? 1 goal, 3 goals, motivation, tracking, etc... B. How much info do you want to share? There doesn't have to be a rule here, but if you're feeling iffy about the content (TMI stuff) but want to talk about it, then use the Spoiler box so that folks know that going into that box means you have agreed to the risk. Some folks handle other people's stories just fine, some get triggered. SPECIALLY useful for the group working on awkwardness! C. How often do folks think they should post? Don't overdo it, this isn't your main challenge, but you'll want enough that the conversation stays fresh and everyone gets a chance to chat about their stuff and give responses as they can/want. Seriousleigh Kareesh Cathelas Syren Starstuff Akkina Skywalker Wokerjabi

Establishing a Baseline OK! I've done two challenges here so far and they've both gone fairly well. Not as well as maybe I'd like (or as I could probably do), but decently well enough. I've increased my strength over both of them, my hydration over the last one, and am working on my flexibility too. I did all of this because I wanted to get started and do things or I wouldn't get started or do things at all. Now it's time to get a baseline. Quest 1: Track all caloric intake and exercise. I don't know exactly how much I eat or how much the exercise I do affects anything. I used to think that food tracking was for weird people...but then I thought recently, "wtf, I AM A WEIRD PERSON." So it's time to get on the bandwagon. I'd like to know what I'm eating now so that in six weeks I can take a look at where I am and decide where I'm going. I can't really adjust my eating habits if I don't really know what they are, now can I? This isn't a quest to judge me for what I'm doing; it's a quest to get to know me. I will strive for these six weeks to not be harsh with myself for doing or eating what I normally would. I know that as a consequence of tracking my intake, some of it will naturally change, but that is not the point of this exercise. Grading: 7x/week = A While I'm doing that, I want to kick my workouts up a notch. I may not be completely ready for the Advanced Bodyweight Workout, but if I waited until I was completely ready to try something, I'd never go anywhere! Quest 2: Bodyweight workouts I can do some modifications to the ABW to more match where I'm at, but I think I'm ready to move on from the Beginner Bodyweight Workout. I've started seriously working on completing a pull up, and I can do 2-4 pushups on the floor (depending on the day/set). I can do deep squats too! One-legged is just a step away. My fiancé is even working out with me now, so this is extra motivation to not slack off. He may stay at the beginner routine since he just started doing this with me a couple weeks ago. Grading: 3x/week =A And what's a good workout without some flexibility? Bending and stretching and being able to move in many directions is an important component of future goals, so I'm keeping a quest from last time (assuming that's allowed!). Quest 3: Stretching and sleeping By far last challenge, consistently stretching was the quest I did worst on. Either I didn't want to in the morning because I was tired, or I forgot in the evening because I was tired. So this is a two-part quest. First part, I need to get to bed at about the same time every night, weekends included, so that I can get in the proper sleep cycles before morning. I already know that I need to be asleep before 10:30 in order to hit that spot. Second part, I need to get out of bed at about the same time every morning and do my stretching. It's a good way to start the day and, along with water, helps me feel more awake. Grading: In bed before 10:15p 5x/week = A Out of bed before 6:10a 5x/week = A I'm allowing myself a couple of days for wiggle room as I adjust to this two-part quest. They are graded separately, but I must pass both of them to gain a level. Finally, while I'm improving my body, let's also expand my mind! As I search for a new job, it's remarkable what skills recruiters are looking for these days outside of the regular what would be expected. It will be good to learn new things as well as add some skills to my resume. Life Quest: Coding Html is the code of choice in my field, it seems. Some of the bits on my company's website, as well as our e-mail marketing site, are easier to figure with some html knowledge. So I'll take these six weeks as a time to get a basic knowledge of html coding. I already have an account at CodeAcademy and had started one of their programs a while back. I will restart that program and progress as I gain confidence. Grading: 3x/week = A And now, to get at it!