Search the Community

I'll fill this first post out more when I'm home, but here are my goals for this challenge, just to get them out there. Goal 1: Recover from the holidays...and then some What this looks like: Body fat goal: 26.25%Start of challenge: 28.27%Where I ended in 2014: 26.97%How much I need to reduce beyond 2014 levels: 0.72%Waist size goal: 38.5"Start of challenge: 39.75"Where I ended in 2014: 38.75"How much I need to reduce beyond 2014 levels: 0.25"Supported through maintaining an 80/20 Paleo diet. Having all my Non-Paleo Tokens (NPTs) for meals and snacks in one pot during the last challenge hindered me a little I think, so I'm going to separate them out and have different banks for each. So that means I start the challenge with 25 Meal NPTs and 17 Snack NPTs.If by some miracle, I blow past these goals, I have stretch goals in mind that I'll introduce when/if the time comes. Goal 2: The Superhero Trajectory What this looks like: Gym time 2-3 times per week. I'm currently still doing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles workout, but I'm not necessarily tied to that. However, they are superheroes I can admire. Supplement with Days 5-46 of the PLP 60-day challenge. I started doing PLP on January 1st, so why not use that to my advantage!Further supplement workouts with trying out HIIT on off-days, 1-2 times per week.Goal 3: "Cure" my apartment What this looks like: Participate in "The January Cure," modified to suit my needs.Continue to lighten the load by getting rid of 50-100 more pounds of "stuff."Goal 4: Become multi-lingual What this looks like: Practice French at least 5 times per week using the DuoLingo website/app.Bonus points if I can get a 40 day streak on DuoLingo (starting from today)!I did technically start my challenge on Monday, and I definitely used some NPTs over the past few days so my bank is currently at 22 Meal NPTs and 13 Snack NPTs.

As you can see from my topic title, there will be more of a story element to this challenge. Story element coming soon! ---------- Hi everyone! I'm back! India was awesome and very challenging. I came back with a greater respect for issues of social justice, and desiring my negative social footprint to be smaller than it currently is. I also came back about 8 pounds heavier (from around 187 to around 195) and about 2.25" bigger (from about 38.5" to about 40.75") around my midsection. Needless to say the food was amazing. I've spent the last 2-3 weeks bringing those numbers back down closer to where they were before I left. While they're not quite back to where they were yet, I have made significant progress towards that end. As of today, I'm down to 191.4 lbs and back to 40" around the ol' belly. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself! To that end, I want to keep that forward momentum going, with one or two tweaks. Here are my basic goals. I'll flesh them out more in a little while. Goal 1: Lose 3% body fat Start: 29.2%Goal: 26.2%Points up for grabs: 2 DEX | 3 WISGoal 2: Lose 1.5" from midsection Start: 40"Goal: 38.5"Points up for grabs: 1 CON | 1 CHAGoal 3: Complete graduated pull-up/chin-up training once and for all Points up for grabs: 4 STR | 3 STALife: Get rid of 50 lbs of stuff Points up for grabs: 1 WISBecause I normally weigh in on Fridays, my challenge starts TODAY!

Aaaaaand I'm back for another one! I'm feeling very good still about how I did last challenge, and am looking forward to accomplishing even more this challenge. So here are my goals for this one, shaking things up a little bit from the last 2 challenges... Goal 1: Lose pounds, body fat and inches Most of my past challenges, I've focused on one or the other of these individually. This time, I'd like to go for the combo! A win for me would be to see all three of these numbers go down, even marginally, this challenge. These may be a bit ambitious, but I'm willing to try to see where this leads. The good thing is that if 2 of these go down, they generally will be positively affecting the third metric. Starting weight: 186.4 lbs Max goal: 180.4 (6 lbs lost) Starting body fat: 26.86% Max goal: 25.36% (1.5% body fat lost) Starting midsection measurement: 38.5" Max goal: 37" (1.5" lost) Points available: 1 CON, 1 WIS, 1 CHA Goal 2: Gym time 3x per week Last challenge, this fell by the way side for the last week or two when I got sick, and I haven't been back since. But I've actually been itching to get back into the gym. I will be doing my regular routine of pushup training (wanting to work slowly towards handstand pushups), graduated pull-up training (hopefully finishing that and moving more permanently into full pull-ups and chin ups), and planking. I'm gonna shake up my leg routine, since I admittedly do not love assisted pistol squats, which is what I had been doing. So I'll be moving back into barbell squats. If anyone has any good leg exercise suggestions, body weight or otherwise, I'm open. Oh yeah, the one potential wrench thrown into this goal, is that the last 5 days of the challenge, I will be in India (part of a month-long trip). My intention is to keep up my normal workout schedule, which is why it would be helpful to have a couple of bw leg exercises I can be working on when I'm not able to do barbell squats. Points available: 2 STR, 2 DEX, 1 STA Goal 3: Supplement gym time with PLP I'm behind on my blog reading, but I just recently read Steve's article on PLP, and I got really excited about it. I started Day 1 today. Because I'm nowhere near being able to do 10 pull-ups, I'm doing the 1 rep on day 1 for each exercise and progressing from there. I have enough strength to be able to do at least 1 not so great pull up, so I'm looking forward to seeing how this helps me, in addition to the graduated pull-up training, be able to do more pull-ups with better form. Ordinarily, I would hold off on something like this until I was able to do them better, but this seemed like a good opportunity to get better at a skill I've been working up to for a long time. Points available: 2 STR, 1 DEX, 2 STA Life Goal: Back to Paleo Paleo during Lent completely rocked! Since then, I've been trying to keep my non-Paleo meals to 1 per day, which has helped me keep on track. But I have definitely noticed that my progress, while still being progress, slowed way down. I also like how I feel when I eat Paleo, which is much less sluggish, more energized and generally more healthy. Last time I tried to work in new recipes, which I had marginal success on. As part of this goal, I want to finish what I started and try another 3 new recipes. This goal will also be a challenge once I'm in India (Indian food is amazing!!), as Indians cook a lot with yogurt, and there will be many vegetables I won't be able to eat due to water conditions. Any suggestions here would be welcome as well. Points available: 1 STA, 1 WIS So there you have it! Feeling inspired and ready for this fight.