BD's Going to Give This a Try

[bdwilson]

Hi everyone, my name is BD and I'm participating in the challenge for the first time. I've had an account here for a while, but never popped it near the start of the challenge and then I'd forget to come back. This time I got in right under the wire!

 

Over the last year, I stopped paying attention to heath and exercise while working on other things. Now that those are self-sustaining habits, I'm ready to work on this again and this seems like a good way to put that at the forefront.

 

Long-Term Goals

• Increase muscle tone.
• Lose ~25 lbs and maintain it before my next birthday.
• Develop a meditation habit.
• Build up my savings, for peace of mind.

 

Quests for this challenge:

• Do the Nerd Fitness Beginner Body Weight Routine at least once per week.
• Cook at least three of my dinners per week and bring my lunch at work at least four times per week.
• Meditate five minutes every morning.
• Create a budget before the month starts and stick to it to within 10% at the end.

 

Feels like it might be a little light, so my stretch goal will be to get the BW Routine in more than once in a week.

 





[WhiteGhost]

Welcome to the Rebellion!

 

18 hours ago, bdwilson said:

Feels like it might be a little light, so my stretch goal will be to get the BW Routine in more than once in a week.

Nothing wrong with starting out with light, easily achievable goals.  

[bdwilson]

11 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Welcome to the Rebellion!

 

Thank you very much!

[Gobnait]

Starting out light is a good thing.  You can figure out how to develop new habits and how many you can handle at once.  This is actually pretty reasonable.

[Sylvaa]

Welcome to the challenge boards!

 

Re: "light" challenge. Everyone starts from a different point, so it's hard to really determine how hard or easy it will be for you. In general, first challenges are great because you have so much excitement and momentum to begin with that it's easy to do well. But at the same time, it's super easy to get carried away and try to do too much from the beginning. 

 

In regards to your challenge goals, it's important to evaluate your current state and figure out how reasonable making your challenge harder is. If you do your first BBWW, you are able to get through it, and can recover in a day or two, then I'd say bump it up to twice a week. If you are struggling to do it once a week, don't push it further for this challenge. 

 

How is your challenge going so far?

[bdwilson]

On 5/29/2019 at 9:46 AM, Sylvaa said:

If you do your first BBWW, you are able to get through it, and can recover in a day or two, then I'd say bump it up to twice a week.

 

Thank you! First attempt floored me for a bit, so maybe it was more reasonable than I thought 

 

Anyway, I need to not be sore tomorrow, so I decided against a second round. I'm going to try it again on Sunday, though, and might pull off a second one next week.

 

Other than that, I'll be cooking my third dinner this week tonight and just finished the fourth lunch I brought instead of bought. I've managed the five minutes of meditation and decided to Beemind that one, since it's something I tend to let slide if I don't have some reinforcement.

I haven't finished my budget for June yet, but it's on my list for this weekend. Pretty decent start so far!

 

[aramis]

When I started to do BBWW, I was able to push myself through 2 circuits, but with limited reps per set (pushups cut to half, 10sec plank etc). Maybe this will work for you too? Just do half of reps in a set, just to spare some energy for a second circuit. Or even purposely do less, just to be able to work out more during a week. Even if pushed to the limits, your muscles don't need whole week for regeneration, so doing BBWW easier, but twice a week should give you better results towards your big goal than pushing yourself hard, but only once. 

Cheers

[harborcoat]

how is your meditation challenge coming along? i have the same goal as you.  

[bdwilson]

On 5/31/2019 at 3:00 PM, aramis said:

Just do half of reps in a set, just to spare some energy for a second circuit. Or even purposely do less, just to be able to work out more during a week.

 

Oh, good suggestion. I'm hoping I won't have to drop down (no schedule conflict this week), but I'll keep that in mind. Thank you  

 

On 6/1/2019 at 12:58 PM, harborcoat said:

how is your meditation challenge coming along? i have the same goal as you.  

 

It's going okay so far, though I have a hard time focusing even for five minutes  

[RES]

Welcome to the rebellion...I can't really do more than to echo the advice on 'leveling up' here...

Challenges are personal and up to you to determine how much you are able to do, set yourself up for success!!

[bdwilson]

This week went well! I did the BBW twice this week and I haven't been as stiff as the first time since then. I think I'll progressively step it up over the next few weeks.

 

Meditation is going okay, though the program I originally started with began to feel more like mini-lecture than a meditation so I decided to bounce around. (I'm using the free access in the Simple Habit app, so there's options.)

 

Not going to make three meals this week, I don't think, but I should make two. Being out one of my usual cooking nights threw off my schedule. I did bring my lunch four times, though.

 

I created my budget in YNAB and got it all caught up. I've managed to stay within the limits this week, so I'm off to a decent start there.

[RES]

Great job!

[harborcoat]

On 6/7/2019 at 12:41 PM, bdwilson said:

Meditation is going okay, though the program I originally started with began to feel more like mini-lecture than a meditation so I decided to bounce around. (I'm using the free access in the Simple Habit app, so there's options.)

staying flexi wrt meditation is part of the journey, i think. you're doing great! 

[Xena]

Really solid week!

 

[bdwilson]

Dropped off the face of the forums this week, but I've been keeping up with things.

• Keeping to at least twice a week with the NF BBW, and managed a third last week.
• Still only hit two meals, unless I get to cook tonight, which I don't expect to anymore due to a schedule shift. I might just accept that as the reality and try to make three when I can. Brought my lunch four times, though.
• Kept up my morning meditations. Still having a little trouble with focus, but I kind of expected that.
• Kept track of what I was spending and shuffled some money for an unexpected expense to keep in budget.

So all in all, pretty decent

[aramis]

11 hours ago, bdwilson said:

Still only hit two meals

 

It's just a matter of time management - you'll get to it eventually. For now, keep it up and be proud of yourself

[Xena]

On 6/14/2019 at 2:21 PM, bdwilson said:

Keeping to at least twice a week with the NF BBW, and managed a third last week.

 

Great job keeping up with all your goals, and especially of getting in an extra workout.

[Sylvaa]

On 6/14/2019 at 2:21 PM, bdwilson said:

Still only hit two meals, unless I get to cook tonight, which I don't expect to anymore due to a schedule shift. I might just accept that as the reality and try to make three when I can. Brought my lunch four times, though.

 

There are two suggestions I have with this. The first is to try to incorporate some amount of batch cooking into another meal night so that you can hit 3 (i.e. last night, we grilled burgers for dinner. My husband grilled up some additional chicken for dinner tonight - grilled chicken salad - so it's just a matter of throwing the ingredients together instead of cooking a second time). The second is to look at what you are eating when you don't cook. Can you make any healthier substitutions with your current dinners?

[RES]

3 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

The first is to try to incorporate some amount of batch cooking into another meal night so that you can hit 3

Batch cooking is a lifesaver for me!

[bdwilson]

6 hours ago, Sylvaa said:

 

There are two suggestions I have with this. The first is to try to incorporate some amount of batch cooking into another meal night so that you can hit 3 (i.e. last night, we grilled burgers for dinner. My husband grilled up some additional chicken for dinner tonight - grilled chicken salad - so it's just a matter of throwing the ingredients together instead of cooking a second time). The second is to look at what you are eating when you don't cook. Can you make any healthier substitutions with your current dinners?

 

Thank you for the suggestions

The last couple of weeks has more been a schedule that has me out of the house on my cooking nights. On those ones I've been trying to pick the healthier options like you suggested, though, so hopefully that's balancing some of it out!

[bdwilson]

Okay, so final week. How did we get here so fast? 

 

• Done the BBW twice this week. Going to try and do it on Sunday again, though that's out of the challenge range.
• Meditation kept up the whole time. Some days better than others, but I'm building the habit at least.
• Brought lunch all fours days.
• I've cooked two days so far, so if I cook tonight or tomorrow I can hit three at least once before we're done 
• I've got to do an update, but I think I've stuck to my budget. There's one unplanned for purchase that I probably should have checked before making, though.

Overall, pretty good. I think I'll join up for the next challenge, though I'm not quite sure what I'll focus on yet.

[RES]

On 6/21/2019 at 2:04 PM, bdwilson said:

Okay, so final week. How did we get here so fast? 

 

I have reliable intel that after this next one they will be moving to a 5 week format  

[bdwilson]

41 minutes ago, RES said:

I have reliable intel that after this next one they will be moving to a 5 week format  

 

Nice! This ending with a week left in the month has thrown me off *lol*

 

And I cooked dinner tonight! So at least I did the three meals for one of the four weeks  

[bdwilson]

Right! End of challenge check-in

 

Quests for this challenge:

• Do the Nerd Fitness Beginner Body Weight Routine at least once per week.
• Cook at least three of my dinners per week and bring my lunch at work at least four times per week.
• Meditate five minutes every morning.
• Create a budget before the month starts and stick to it to within 10% at the end.

Not bad overall. I might have to re-evaluate the cooking thing based on my schedule and the things that tend to creep up that throw off whether I'm home to cook or not. I think I pulled off 2 nights every week this month, but being there for the 3rd night was a coin toss.

 

Going to set that one of the back-burner for the next round. I think I'll pop over to Rebels for the next challenge, since I still haven't really focused