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Life has been really busy now school has started again, and I'm having trouble keeping up and getting the stuff done that I want. To top that off, I got a nasty cold. It's getting better though My challenge this round will hopefully give me the structure I need to get everything running smoothly again. I love structure and schedules and lists. These things give me piece of mind, and help me "allow" myself to do things just for me. Update: I don't like my first challenge draft, and I'm going to completely change it. Quest 1: Eat healthy I've been logging all of my food in My Fitness Pal for over 5 months now. It has been good to get a sense of what I'm eating and how much I should be eating to create a deficit. But I'm starting to get obsessed by kcal and I'm not paying enough attention to food quality. Besides that: the binges have returned. I've been binge free for so long, and this feels like a real setback. I think the cause is that I don't eat enough nutrients and my body wants more. Stressing about staying within my kcal limit doesn't help either. So new plan: I'm going to eat 3 meals a day, one, maybe two snacks if I'm really hungry in between. But there are some rules: - The food has to be healthy (not heavily processed, made from scratch as much as possible, whole grains, fruit and veggies, that kind of stuff.) - I stop eating when I'm satisfied, not overly full, but not still hungry either - I can have a treat on special occasions like birthdays, parties etc. Quest 2: move Zumba and dancehall are still my workouts of choice. I want to get back to body weight training, but it has been proven hard to schedule that in. I've been making excuses not to have to workout. By the end of the challenge I want to have at least 1 body weight workout a week. But preferably 3 I was doing workouts in the morning, but my mornings are kind of full nowadays. So I'm thinking of doing them in the evening, see how that makes me feel. Quest 3: Adulting Back to lists! Lists make me feel in control and give me piece of mind. So I'm going to make lists with everything I need to do each day.

I sit at my desk surrounded by the remnants of the first binge of this year. Chinese food boxes and bags, forks, crumbs from a package of Combos, wrappers of food I stole from my roommate while she was asleep. My stomach hurts so bad that I consider skipping my afternoon class, but I know I won't actually skip it; if I did, I'd be confronted with the idea that eating this way is actually affecting my life. But I look around at the mess on my desk and I can already see that truth plainly. I look to the left at my familiar appearance in the mirror: tousled brown hair, green eyes behind big brown frames, headphones and an oversize teeshirt. I look the same as I did before I ate this food, but I know I'm not. I know I have ruined a month of success. I know I need to change. This is my first ever 4 week challenge on the forums. I'm hitting the metaphorical start button on my health goals. As was suggested, I made three health goals and one non-health goal. 1. Actually win the DietBet I am playing (by reaching 188.5 lbs by March 6) (+1 WIL) Stay at a 1,000 calorie deficit (or more) every day Make sure to recover from any mistakes by exiting every week with a 7,000 calorie deficit (or more) 2. Work out at least five times per week (+1 DEX) Go to the gym first thing in the morning on weekdays Exercise even on weekends 3. Drink at least 100 oz of water each day for the majority of challenge days (+1 CON) Carry my 20 oz water bottle everywhere I go Order water instead of diet pop at restaurants 4. Save money by reducing spending (+1 WIL) Don't order food for delivery Take advantage of my job perks by eating my one "free" meal at work (Pita Pit) Wish me luck! I know I have this in me.

So I was going to do another acronym challenge and call it I.V.Y. just so I could use this picture Because holy crap does it describe me! LOL But then the 'powers that be' decided to go revamp the site and piss me off With our Fearless Leader posting his views on what our 'description' should be, I decided to change the topic of my challenge, even though what I'm working on stays the same For those who do not know me...I just (Jan. 2nd) had my two year "nerd-versary", I have always been an adventurer...I do not particularly give a rats ass what some book decided to change the description to! I have tried several things in those two years...some have worked, some, not so much! What has worked: Eating Paleo, not so much because of weight loss, but because I have RA and not eating the SAD foods has reduced my inflammation to more manageable levels. Walking, because I have realized I really enjoy it, and doing 5K's because they're fun! Yoga, because stress and my neck injury are a real thing Kettlebells, because they're versatile enough to keep me motivated and continuing to use them. What has not worked: Derby, not because it doesn't work, but because I have RA and my recovery time is crazy...I have to be able to move the next day. HIIT, see derby. Anything that requires me to go to a gym, or devote crazy amounts of time to, because my schedule is constantly changing from one day to another... So once again, I'm trying something new for this challenge...a friend talked me into DietBet, I figured why not (if you want more info just ask) nothing like money to motivate you to lose weight! Our "Wellness@Work" program is doing a walking challenge, kinda like the walking to Mordor one here but we're walking from our facility to the beach (virtually of course) While I'm not doing derby anymore, I do have access to a program (that I paid for so I gotta use it! LOL) called CoreBuilder that looks intriguing, it's a month long so that works perfectly with the new format... I'm also looking at scheduling when I'm doing my workouts, because I work better with structure, as well as why I'm doing what I'm doing...'to lose weight' isn't cutting it apparently...I spelled all this out in my spreadsheet tl/dr; Immediate Goal To lose 40 lbs and finish Dietary Manager Course Goal 1 After Work Because I’m tired of making excuses and feeling bad - CoreBuilder 3-4 days a week - Kettlebell 2-3 days a week STR – 2 CON – 2 Goal 2 Before Work Yoga At Work Because I love how I feel and endorphins are awesome! - Moving 3 miles a day - Yoga 2 days a week STA – 2 DEX – 2 Goal 3 After Workout Because I will run out of time! - Homework! WIS – 2 CHA - 2

Is part of your goal to lose weight? Do you need just a little extra kick of motivation? Then this may be the place for you! Diet bet is a tool I've used before. And it was the best motivation. Pay $10 (usually they ask for more, but not this one) weigh in on the start date (this Sunday the 25th) then you have until the 22nd December to lose 4% of your bodyweight. And guess what? If you win, you get not only your money back, but potentially a share of the pot! (To give you an idea, I did one where I bet $25 (£16), and I got $40 (£24) back ) If you'd like to take part, head to the DietBet page And Sign up on the spreadsheet. We're in the Cross Guild section