PitBull_Liz - Leveling Up To Phoenix

[PitBull_Liz]

So holy crap, my first challenge! So excited/terrified! I don't want to disappoint my fellow Assassins so I'm planning on working hard and making everybody, myself included, proud.

I named this Leveling Up To Phoenix as I also have a blog by that name. I recently got a phoenix tattoo on my foot because I was proud of myself for taking up running and doing my first 5K. Unfortunately, after getting the tat, I needed to let it heal before doing too much and I totally ended up falling off the exercise wagon. So I need to re-earn my right to have my phoenix, to BECOME my phoenix.

I've always been the overweight friend, the "oh but you're tall so you carry it well" friend. The friend who had to shop in the fat girl stores. The friend who never got hit on. The wallflower with no self-esteem. I'm ready for that to change. I want to buy clothes in regular stores. I want to get hit on and maybe, god forbid, DATE. I want to feel comfortable in my own skin. I want to be able to run around and leap over things and just be silly out in nature because I can.

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So here's the plan. I have 2 fitness goals, 1 diet goal, and a life goal:

1. Do five real push-ups in one set.

+1 STR for each push-up completed after the first one (first one doesn't gain me a point), up to +4 STR total.

+1 STA

2. Do Rebel Fitness workouts 3x a week and 30 minutes cardio 3x a week.

+2 DEX

+1 STA

+1 CHA

3. Eat Primally for all but one meal of the week.

+2 CON

4. Complete Baby Step 1 from Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover (establish emergency savings fund).

REVISED LIFE GOAL: Get all bills entirely caught up, including utilities.

+2 WIS

+1 CHA

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So what's my baseline?

Push-ups - can do several incline push-ups (8 at a time?), and struggle through 1-2 knee push-ups. I plan to start doing many more knee push-ups and just supplementing with inclines. Time to get out of my comfort zone and start trusting that these weak little T-Rex arms of mine can hold me up. For god's sake, if I faceplant, it's not that far anyway.

Rebel workouts 3x a week, cardio 3x a week: Last week I did that exact thing, so I have a full week of experience under my belt. Just need to maintain now.

Eat primally for all but one week - have been primal for several months now but have a tendency to cheat several times a week. So I've got a solid foundation and just need to learn to save my ONE splurge per week on something mind-blowingly awesome.

Establish emergency savings fund - this means $1000 saved. Have a little bit more than half that right now. Going to cut back on my frivolous spending and start putting all excess monies into that to get it built up.

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I will get pics/measurements later this morning, after I have showered. Not sure I'll post the pics. We'll see. That takes a lot of guts and I'm not sure I'm that brave yet.

Looking forward to supporting everybody on their challenges! Let's show the other guilds why the Assassins are THE guild to be afraid of!

[Siferiax]

Good luck this challenge!

Remember that you can only have 5 points per goal

Looks like you have some nice goals though! I'm sure you'll do great!

[Nuala]

Good luck for the push-ups! You'll do them, I'm sure of it!

[PitBull_Liz]

Thanks for the point reminder, Kibcy! I changed it! LOL And thanks for the confidence, Nuala! Push ups have always frightened me so it's time for me to just get the f**k over that and do them.

[drsloomis]

Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" is good stuff...I'm using his snowball approach to getting rid of debt even as we speak! Good luck on the push-ups. Like Nike said, Just Do It! I've found the mental battle to be frequently harder than the physical one.

[nightlight]

Awesome start.

I might make your goal 3 real push ups, and then 5 is your stretch goal. But by the way you structured it with your XP, this way looks great too.

For your finances, check out This book by Ramit Sethi I love it.

Now, go get 'em.

Also, if you don't want to post your pics, that's fine -- they are for YOU, not for us.

[Aeryn]

Nice goals - I'll be cheering for you on the pushups! I bonked my nose on the stairs doing incline pushups just this morning, so I can confirm it's not that bad even if your arms do give up on you (or your feet slide, which was my error - turns out pushups in dress shoes isn't a good plan!).

[PitBull_Liz]

LOL @Aeryn.

Nightlight, thanks for the book recommendation! I added it to my Amazon wishlist so somebody else can buy it for me! LOL

[Raikas]

Push ups! Woot!

Good luck with your other goals as well. I like the way you talked through your starting points - always good to have those details to compare back to!

[Devyn]

Great goals! We have very similar ones, so I'll be cheering for you.

The Phoenix rises from the ashes of its previous self. You will come back even stronger than before!

And remember that you are beautiful right now...you just get to be a healthier, stronger version of beautiful you!

[Raina]

You've already completed one of the hardest steps in your journey for a better life. You've made a plan, said how your going to do it, explained exactly why your doing it, and told your fellow assassins, who can help and motivate you if necessary, and even if it's not necessary. I admire your strength, and I bid thee good luck.

[Wolverine]

Wahoo! Nice goals! You'll be rocking those push-ups in no time!

[PitBull_Liz]

Thanks for all the encouragement, everybody! It's so fantastic having a group of like-minded people to cheer me on. My only other friend interested in getting fit wants to do so by starving herself (less than 1000 calories a day) and killing herself with cardio. I can't support her with that, and she thinks I'm crazy with my eating style. So I appreciate having Nerd Fitness. :-)

Just got done with my Rebel workout for today. I'm on the Rookie level and alternating between workouts A & B as Steve recommends in his Fitness Guide. It calls for incline push-ups but I switched to knee push-ups even though I can't do as many - 5 has me quivering. My 10 minutes of cardio after my strength workouts is hula hooping. I can keep it up the full 10 minutes so I can work on footwork and armwork at the same time. Gets me sweating like a horse, so I think it's good.

Also very proud of myself today because I tried a new food - spaghetti squash. Last time I'd had squash was as a child, and it was butternut squash, and I remember vividly nearing vomiting from the gag reflex. This spaghetti squash sat on my counter for a few days, right in prime position, giving me the hairy eyeball, challenging me to be brave enough to try it. Well, I tried it and ate the whole thing with some homemade alfredo sauce! LOL It's nice to have an option when I need a carrier for pasta sauce.

Edited to add that I took my pics today. Frightening. Until I looked back at the "before" pics I'd taken in March. Holy crap. I actually gasped when I looked at those. These weren't pretty, those were TERRIFYING. So it's nice to see I've already made some progress. Can't wait to take more pics in 6 weeks!

[Happienumber]

Thanks for all the encouragement, everybody! It's so fantastic having a group of like-minded people to cheer me on. My only other friend interested in getting fit wants to do so by starving herself (less than 1000 calories a day) and killing herself with cardio. I can't support her with that, and she thinks I'm crazy with my eating style. So I appreciate having Nerd Fitness. :-)

Just got done with my Rebel workout for today. I'm on the Rookie level and alternating between workouts A & B as Steve recommends in his Fitness Guide. It calls for incline push-ups but I switched to knee push-ups even though I can't do as many - 5 has me quivering. My 10 minutes of cardio after my strength workouts is hula hooping. I can keep it up the full 10 minutes so I can work on footwork and armwork at the same time. Gets me sweating like a horse, so I think it's good.

Also very proud of myself today because I tried a new food - spaghetti squash. Last time I'd had squash was as a child, and it was butternut squash, and I remember vividly nearing vomiting from the gag reflex. This spaghetti squash sat on my counter for a few days, right in prime position, giving me the hairy eyeball, challenging me to be brave enough to try it. Well, I tried it and ate the whole thing with some homemade alfredo sauce! LOL It's nice to have an option when I need a carrier for pasta sauce.

Edited to add that I took my pics today. Frightening. Until I looked back at the "before" pics I'd taken in March. Holy crap. I actually gasped when I looked at those. These weren't pretty, those were TERRIFYING. So it's nice to see I've already made some progress. Can't wait to take more pics in 6 weeks!

Going from 1-2 to 5 kneeling push ups is a big deal! way to go! Spaghetti squash is the bomb, if only I cooked more often.

Congrats on the progress! Its always exciting to look back and be like, dang, i've come a long way. Keep rockin it girl!

[nightlight]

Thanks for all the encouragement, everybody! It's so fantastic having a group of like-minded people to cheer me on. My only other friend interested in getting fit wants to do so by starving herself (less than 1000 calories a day) and killing herself with cardio. I can't support her with that, and she thinks I'm crazy with my eating style. So I appreciate having Nerd Fitness. :-)

glad you're here!

Just got done with my Rebel workout for today. I'm on the Rookie level and alternating between workouts A & B as Steve recommends in his Fitness Guide. It calls for incline push-ups but I switched to knee push-ups even though I can't do as many - 5 has me quivering. My 10 minutes of cardio after my strength workouts is hula hooping. I can keep it up the full 10 minutes so I can work on footwork and armwork at the same time. Gets me sweating like a horse, so I think it's good.

oooo hula hooping. that sounds like SO. MUCH. FUN. I love that you're doing something fun for fitness. i mean, i LOVE lifting barbells -- but when I started on this journey it was zumba class! i need to go find a hula hoop now.

Also very proud of myself today because I tried a new food - spaghetti squash. Last time I'd had squash was as a child, and it was butternut squash, and I remember vividly nearing vomiting from the gag reflex. This spaghetti squash sat on my counter for a few days, right in prime position, giving me the hairy eyeball, challenging me to be brave enough to try it. Well, I tried it and ate the whole thing with some homemade alfredo sauce! LOL It's nice to have an option when I need a carrier for pasta sauce.

next time, try it with some garlic butter. yum. if you're goin' primal, try kerrygold brand butter. it's expensive, but to me, worth it. (it's pastured)

[PitBull_Liz]

My grocery stores don't carry Kerrygold! I'd love to try it because I've heard so many good things about it. And one of my other friends also suggested just butter and parmesan on top of it so that's two votes for it. I may have to invest in spag squashes!

Hula hooping is awesome - just make sure you get an adult-sized hoop. They generally are weighted (as in, a pound, nothing major) and a lot bigger so easier to keep up. I can't do anything fancy other than move around a little bit, and spin in circles inside the hoop, both directions.

[hatenik_the_barbarian]

I feel you on the pushups! I'm having a wrist problem that's making that kinda hard. Don't be afraid to ask around if you want help. Also, your dog is adorable. <3

[Fear]

Awesome job! Spag. Squash is AWESOME! Stay positive and keep moving forward!

Fortune Find You!

~Fear

[Sea Level]

I am currently eating spaghetti squash with meat sauce. Delicious.

Welcome to the Assassins! I'm trying out primal this time around, so it'll be cool to see what foodstuffs we can make! Best of luck!

[Siferiax]

Great job on those push ups! And yay for hoola hooping I remember doing that as a kid, great fun!

[inara]

Love that you hula hoop for cardio, it's so much fun! A tip is to make your own so you don't have to buy the weighted ones. Lighter ones are a bit more difficult to use as you say but you can do more tricks and stuff with them and they don't mash your intestines.

[PitBull_Liz]

I actually have a hoop that my hooping instructor made for me, but I can't use it yet. Too light still! I need that little bit of weight to help me out, LOL. But speaking of mashed intestines, did you ever use one of those truly weighted ones with the waves on the inside? HOLY CRIPES those hurt! Somebody gave me one for free when I started hooping. Used it for about 10 seconds and haven't picked it up since, LOL.

[Fatal Charm]

Being debt free is amazing! Definitely an awesome life goal to work towards. I was lucky that I hadn't dug myself too deep a debt hole to climb out of when I found Dave Ramsey only having a car payment. When I realized how much smarter it would be for me to pay it off than to keep paying the bank every month it only took me about 6 months. I could have kept paying for years and it would have only benefited the bank getting my extra interest. When my husband and I were married four years ago he was in the middle of finishing our basement. We completed the project cash flowing the expenses and then dug in to pay off the house. It took us about a year and a half of focus, but now we can say we own our house instead of BOA. And a year later we were able to pay cash for a new car. Next on the list is saving enough to find our dream house and so we can pay cash for the difference of the two houses. What I love most about being debt free is knowing if the money coming in stopped we will be okay.

Love that you are hooping! I've only dabbled with a hoopnotica hoop that I haven't played with in a while, but it is something I should get back into. You should check out http://www.hoopcity.ca/. Lots of hoop-inspiration there!

[Devyn]

I love how you already have a good start! Keep it up! I will keep an eye on you.

[Chaze]

"I want to be able to run around and leap over things and

just be silly out in nature because I can."

This could be one of the best reasons to keep with getting in shape I've heard, and keeping with it is the hardest part. Good luck!