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Hello Scouts! I thought I give this guild a try My name is Siferiax, or Sif, or Siffy, or... be creative! I'm a female and 30 years old. I have a boyfriend and two cats. I'm working within the limitations of autism & hypermobility (the moment flexibility SUCKS) I love road cycling and spinning. I also love walking. I unfortunately have quite a road cycling trauma I have to get over at the start of every season. I made a false start with a walking goal last year. The idea was to walk every single weekend for the entire year. Hypermobility basically ruined it and it ended up with me unable to walk for more than 30 min. I got shoe soles and special physical therapy and I'm happy to be able to say I CAN walk again. SO this year I'm again going for that goal! Unfortunately my problems with cycling haven't been resolved yet. I have been to the hospital and hopefully soon I'll get a special adjustment in my cycling shoe. Right now I do spinning for at least 20 minutes. Sometimes it goes well and I go for longer and sometimes it doesn't. I have been doing more spinning though. Right now I'm trying for Tuesday and Thursday. As for diet I'm currently focusing on Intermittent Fasting (IF) and no snacking (see below). I'm otherwise eating whatever I want. This has to do with my mental health in part and my sanity as another part. I'm a very picky eater and I dislike a lot of common foods. And ESPECIALLY I can't take anything spicy/hot/sharp/whatever you wanna call it. And with anything I mean not even in the slightest. Which is a challenge all it's own. And that's basically my background in regards to my health. ONTO THE FUTURE! I focus on habits instead of goals, but I have decided on some passing grades. So here goes. #1: No snacking (+WIS) Limited to weekdays only. On weekends I can snack, though it shouldn't be a snack feast either. A snack is defined as follows: anything not part of a meal (max 3 meals a day) and not a fruit or nut. Snacks as part of a meal are not tolerated when they fall into the category of deep fried cafeteria snack. (I seem to gain a bad habit there) Passing grade: 50% #2: Intermittent fasting (+STA) I fast at minimum 14 hours every day. I don't hold strictly at times, though usually I don't eat between 19:00 and 9:00. Passing grade: 100% #3: Drink 2 bottles of water (+CON) Every weekday I drink 2 bottles of water (I have 2 bottles with me to work) On the weekend I don't use my bottles, but should be mindful to drink enough Passing grade: 100% #4: Physical Therapy (+STR) As part of my recovery from downright evil hip problems I had physical therapy. I should still be doing this every day. They are mostly core strength exercises. Passing grade: 25% #5: Walking (+STA) I love walking and I want to do more of it! I want to not be limited by my endurance or muscles. I walk at least once a week. At least 5km. My end goal would be to have enough endurance for a vacation to New Zealand (goal and reward wrapped up into one ) Passing grade: 100% #6: Cycling / Spinning (+DEX) More spinning more better! And road cycling when weather allows. They are my absolute joys! I cycle (outside or inside) at least once a week for at least 20 minutes. Passing grade: 50% #7: Take medication (+CON) So on top of all the limitations I have... I have some more I have laxatives as a "real" medication. I also have supplements for my period. I should be taking my laxatives every day. Period supplements are more... flexible?! Passing grade: 25% #8: Creativity (+CHA) I want to be more creative. Writing, drawing, designing, coloring, you name it. I want to do a creative activity at least once a week. D&D Prep and D&D sessions count toward this. Passing grade: 0% As you can see my passing grades are all over the place. They indicate my focus and most important habits. For example IF is one of my main focus, while creativity is more of a nice to have. These grades and exact habits are probably going to change every challenge I don't change goals, I change focus and details. I use a nifty Google spreadsheet to track all these things. Including my current streak. Link is in my signature EDIT: I forgot I was gonna do stats again Here's the challenge start stats as I promised myself last challenge: STR: 2 | DEX: 2 | STA: 3 | CON: 1 | WIS: 1 | CHA: 1 What's what? I've added to my goals what they can earn me! I always felt the stats go up too quickly. So I earn 1 point for getting at least a passing grade. I'm not gonna bother with levels, so I'm leaving those out.

Ok, so I posted this in my current challenge thread (in my sig) but I figured I would post this here as well: I've been bothered by something the past couple of workouts and maybe someone can either give advice or idk; something. I feel like my muscles can handle everything I'm doing and do even more; but my problem is other parts of my body. For example, with the tire-ups I need to take the break because the palms of my hands are killing me. It is NOT because my arm muscles are burning and need a rest. I mean, that's a big difference. For certain stretches and when trying planks; it's being on my knees/elbows that hurts and not the tightening of muscles. Now I should make note of something; I WAS 130 pounds overweight. Today I'm 100 pounds overweight. So just my sheer bodymass is most likely the cause of why my joints/bones/hands/ect are giving out before my muscles. It's just..... discouraging. It's like my muscles are doing kick-ass but I can't progress as fast as I want to because of OTHER physical limitations. I guess I'm just realy bummed about it. If there are others that are significantly overweight; does this happen to you as well? Are there solutions? (besides the obvious- lose weight- I'm doing that duh). Or am I missing something and there's something else I can do to overcome this? Thanks to anyone with advice.

For the next six weeks I have only one goal: Listen to What My Body is Saying. I'm going to focus very hard on the feedback that I am getting from myself in all aspects of my life. Luckily I enjoy sitting retrospectively drinking tea! I've broken my goal up into Nerd Fitness friendly bits: 1. Exercise! [sTR+2] [sTA+1] + 3 points possible 1.1 Exercise while traveling 1.2 Thumb recovery 1.3 Return to bike commuting I am traveling at least twice this challenge. I'm taking a long weekend vacation to New Orleans with my mom! Two weeks later I'm going to a week long conference in Orlando. I hurt my thumb badly in the beginning of February and I still can't use it to "grip" anything. I rewrote my work out plan and have a new "Thumbless" routine that I enjoy. I feel confident that by the end of this challenge I will have transitioned back to the Dumbbell Division workouts. Major priority is healthy thumb recovery. Another side effect of hurting my thumb is that i can't grip my bike's handle bars. I miss biking very much. I think I can return to biking soon, probably before I'll be able to grip a heavy weight I'll be able to put weight on the handle bars. But we'll see. 2. Food! [sTA +1] [CON +2] [CHA +1] + 4 points possible 2.1 Fodmaps 80/20 2.2 Chia + Flax + probiotics 2.3 Add more veggies! Again, I'm traveling, so I'm going to focus on consistently achieving the "spirit" of my diet. I have found that consuming chia and flaxseed daily is very helpful. I'm quite on the fence about probiotics, though I want to believe. Diligence will be required to eat my nastly little chia flax shakes publicly on the road. As for adding more veggies, fodmaps eliminates quite a few vegetarian complete protein options so my diet is the most meat heavy it has ever been in my life. In addition to being in conflict with the lifestyle I desire, my body has been telling me to go vegan for the past several weeks. I'm going to focus on snacking on veggies instead of fruits to see if that helps at all. At the end of the day it isn't about being fodmap free, but about feeling good. I don't want to miss the forest for the trees. 3. Intermittent Fasting [sTA +1] [CON +2] [CHA +1] + 4 points possible 3.1 Determine right fasting length 3.2 Determine the frequency of fasting 3.3 Be flexible Let me be upfront about why I'm experimenting with IF. I'm not in it for weight loss or training benefits I'm in it for less pain. Food will sit in my stomach for longer than normal and in my guy for waaaaay longer than normal. On 'bad stomach' days I might literally have no room in my stomach for more food. This can make eating painful....so why not skip the meal? This has been very successful for me: immediate relief. The first time I fasted, my body's response was 'do this again immediately' I was hyper motivated when I finally measured my abdomen (at the mole by my belly button) on a "bad stomach" day (defined as days I puke or can not push my stomach/abdomen outwards) and I had gained 3 inches. No wonder I couldn't push my stomach out anymore it was at it's max! Also exciting because I now have a better measurement (other than weight) to track "bad days." 4. Anxiety and Depression [CHA +1] [WIS + 2] [CON +1] + 4 points possible 4.1 Honesty - Be clear about how I feel, even if it changes 4.2 Action - Go to the mother ****** doctor Without going into all the details, 500 bad things happened last year and are continuing to happen. My cat is mysteriously sick and probably dying. My husband is taking a job 2 hours away (and moving). My grandpa died after Thanksgiving and my grandma isn't so healthy. I think times are ripe for anxiety attacks and good ole depression. I don't have much experience with either but I know what i would do if it was a physical injury. If I was hurt I'd go to the doctor - duh! So, if my feelings be broken, use the HSA and go to the counselor. Damn the torpedoes! I mean my prejudice! I think focusing on goal # 6 will help. Bonus Goals. 5. Food Diary - form follows function. How to I want to analyze the data I collect from journals? Figure this out and the journal will follow. 6. Say No! - There are a few people (one person in particular) that I can not say no to. Then I get myself into trouble and have to struggle my way out. Last month, I realized this is a major weakness of mine and I made a New Years Resolution on the spot to "say no." While I may mange to do this one or twice during this challenge, this is a major lifestyle change that I will have to revisit several times before it becomes a habit.