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Bullet Points: -I am officially 30 (and a couple days) but someone said something about a "bone doctor" today and I snickered, so I fully admit age can be a very relative construct in some cases. -I officially told my job about moving to Colorado. They were surprisingly supportive and happy for me and appreciative of my work here. No timeline is set, I told them that I'm flexible and willing to extend my notice quite a bit and that I don't have anything lined up yet in CO, that I still intend on leaving the position in good shape despite being horrendously in the weeds on a lot of projects right now and they were really warm about it all. I mentioned that I'd love to be remote too and they said there wasn't a precedent for that in my position but they'd look into it, which is more than the flat NO I expected. All told everything is as much up in the air as it ever was, but I'm feeling a lot better about having it out in the open and I think that aspect makes all possibilities more workable, so I'm happy. -My birthday was good. I actually told my job about stuff on my birthday, so that was an interesting day. Then I went and treated myself to some shopping. I bought prenatal vitamins and a neurobiology text book, so if your birthday is any summation of where your life is, I don't know what to tell you. Some people surprised me for dinner, so that was nice of them, since I hadn't bothered making plans with anyone, and then I spent the evening calling/texting/social media-ing people back that'd wished me a happy birthday. All told I'm quite pleased with myself in this regard as usually having to return a bunch of phone calls and Facebook messages makes me really overwhelmed and anxious and I end up avoiding doing it for like a week and then I get more anxious and finally respond and feel like an asshole for taking so long. So yeah, I feel like a functioning adult, sort of. -I'm newly in ketosis (I think? I haven't gotten any ketostix to check yet) and it's going pretty well. My reasoning was mostly that I wanted a stricter eating parameter because I've had a lot of trouble with consistency and even when I manage to track and keep calories on the level, some days I still end up with a lot of sugar, some days not, and I think it's all just contributing to a lot of headaches, not feeling well, and overall difficulty staying on routine. I've felt a little better so hopefully this helps. If nothing else, I hope it keeps me more consistent because I don't want to have to get back into ketosis. It hasn't been easy during a birthday week but not nearly as hard as I expected. It's restrictive enough to keep me overthinking about it. -Challenge stuff to be updated. (5/18 edit) Challenge Stuff Update! I dedicate this challenge to Sleep, that elusive seductress. My methods remain pretty consistent, but I am going to try to approach them with intent towards sleeping better, sleeping more, and being more restful. -Keto- continue to track food and keep carbs low. The aim is 20-25 net carbs a day. I actually feel much better on VLC, I think keeping tight reins works better for me. And I definitely feel very awake and lucid with bulletproof coffee so onwards on this front. -Drink all the water- Aim is 100 oz a day. Partly because keto demands it, but it definitely feels better and if I chug water right before bed it's good insurance that I'll be out of bed first thing in the morning. -Work hard, play hard, sleep hard- Aim is some activity daily. Still an inconsistent one for me, and it being 100+ F at night doesn't help, but I envy my dog that sprints her heart out and then conks out for a nap and is off running in her dreams, all within a span of 20 minutes. Exercise helps me sleep. I need help sleeping. -The little extras- multivitamin and omega 3s nightly, figure out a better study schedule for German, continue to chip away at projects at work and get to Colorado.

Oh, look at this! The next challenge is up and I was actually paying attention! This is very exciting and unprecedented. Right in the middle of this challenge, I'll be closing on our house and one step closer to moving to Colorado. So my big sweeping goals for the month are something like this: Pre-close: Continue to camp out in my mostly packed house, packing, doing the billion things involved in selling a house, trying to eat the random stuff left in my pantry and keep my dog company. [/img] She only really needs whipped cream. Post-move: Dog goes with the husband in CO, I move into a family member's winter home (with wi-fi again, thank god), and really buckle down on a CO job search and what my next move is. And through it all, some constants in the form of my semi-regular goals: Eating- Continue to track on MFP (if anyone wants to be friends there, I'd really like to spy on people's menus), try harder to hit macro goals, and eat at least one serving of vegetables for every fruit serving (0 for 0 doesn't count). I'm finding my carbs are mostly coming from starches and sugar and I aim to adjust. Sleep- Set a bedtime, phone off, for 10pm or 11pm if I got a nap, every night. Reading a paper book is okay while I transition. Sweat- Not actually because I don't really sweat, I just pass out and that's a problem, but I digress. Activity, daily. I think mostly walking at the dog park pre-move and sprinting in the pool post-move, with bodyweight or gym days sprinkled in. This is going to be my downfall, but I have to do it. For fun, practice German more consistently. Pre-move use my some language software I have, Post-move get back to DuoLingo with extra web resources. Okay, that's the gist. This is still week 0 so it's a dabble week. I.e. I've eaten well today but I'm about to destroy some ice cream. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

My name is Rachel. I'm a barista and an Esthetician. I'm turning 30 in May. I'm looking to get back to my roots; I used to be a dance teacher, avid urban hiker and adventurer and had more energy and love for life. The past 5 years I've increasingly lost touch with being comfortable in my body and mind and this 6 week challenge and Nerd Fitness is my gateway to an improved version of me- WHO AM I ?! I'm looking to make year 30 the beginning of my new life. * I'm interested in Herbal Medicine, Ethnobotany, Anthropology, natural movement and free dancing, foraging, hunting, paranormal menus, mountain living etc. * I WANT TO BE NIMBLE AND EFFICIENT AND CLIMB WALLS AND HOP GATES AND SAVE THE WORLD FROM POISONS! * My Goals: -Walk to work twice a week instead of take the bus. Stamina (STA) - Endurance and Energy 4 points I work at a bakery exactly 3 miles away. I walk a mile to get to the bus stop already and figured the extra is only 40 minutes more. I can even walk through the parkway if I choose to! I've made this trek before so I know what to expect and the weather is getting better. Walking helps me with breathing more efficiently and clears my anxious prone mind. -Eat homecooked food AT HOME 5 days a week. Constitution (CON) - ability to resist damage and disease 5 points It's easy to spend money and time at a restaurant or bar after a hard day of work and make up lots of excuses as to how I 'should' allow myself these 'treats'. BLAH! It's expensive and usually means not very high quality or organic food is entering my body and making it angry and bloated and weak. -Have a sweaty, amped up, private dance party twice a week. Charisma (CHA) - force of personality and physical attractiveness 3 points Everybody's gotta sweat and get the emotional shields blown. It's necessary for my metal and physical health I just KNOW IT. And there's the added benefit of dressing up if I want to, too. -Save $10 of my tip money once a week and put in a secret box. Wisdom (WIS) - intuition and sense of things around himself 3 points I'm planning a move to a different state to go to Herbal Medicine School sometime this summer 2013! I'm terrified! It's easy to do online banking and set money aside in my 'savings' account but I felt that seeing the GREEN and ritually putting it into my own secret box would be sympathetic healing magic. * I have an auto-immune disorder- Cluster Headaches. A lot of foods cause inflammation that make this condition worse. I'm sensitive/intolerant to soy and gluten especially. When I was reading more about changing my eating habits to eliminate these ingredients I found out about 'primitive eating' but more importantly I discovered Nerd Fitness. Part of my overall goal beginning in these 6 weeks will be to read labels more acurately and remove these inflammatory foods from my diet completely. However, it's difficult to measure this as a an actual 6 week challenge goal so I thought I would just mention it in this post script. Here's to health!