swaffe: Getting Back in Touch (my first challenge)

[Kishi]

Well, what can be said? Sometimes life happens. People getting put in the hospital tends to trump our fitness plans, which it should, because that's a big freaking deal.

 

It sounds like most of your concentration was in being there for your OH. That's not a bad thing. If you don't mind me expressing an opinion on this, I'd say you have nothing to feel bad about at all.

[Chanda]

I second what Kishi said. Sounds to me like you have your priorities right. You supported your OH and family through a hard time. Then you go right back into your routine. You should be exceedingly happy with yourself.

 

Your accidental completion of the Assassin mission is inspiring and shows how much you care for OH too. Made me smile.

 

Looking forward to your final report! 

[swaffe]

Thank all 3 of you for helping me putting the set back life through me into perspective.  I tend to be very harsh on myself, its an ongoing weakness for me.  Though life sometimes doesn't like plans (whether they be fitness related or else-wise) and I need to learn to not blame set backs caused by life on myself.

 

I'm also glad to hear that the story my assassins mission brought some smiles.

 

Final Week

May 13-27

          Yoga: 2 of 1

          Walking: 4 of 3

          Water: 7 of 7

          Painting: 1 of 1

          General notes: I had a very strong finish, and I was even able to make up the missed yoga class on Tuesday.  I was able to meet of

 

Mini Challenge

Adventures

         I sat down and created of master list of where I started (including my journey before nerd fitness), where I am now, and where I want to go.  It includes fitness, career, and personal goals.  It includes the steps I need to take to get there and a list of goals for the next challenge and for a few more challenges (assuming things go as planned).

[swaffe]

First challenge complete!

Overall I am pretty happy with the way my first challenge turned out.  The two make ups were due to extenuating circumstances as was the one day of painting I missed.  It took stepping back from it and the opinions of some of you awesome people to not be harsh on myself about those.  

Overall Grade: A-

Yoga: A
     The goal - to attend yoga class each week classes
     Completed all classed, although one of the weeks was made up this week.  Yoga is really helping me work though some personal issues and helping my stress level a     

     lot.  Though I am having to find some substitute poses because my hip at this point in time cannot handle some of them, my instructor has been really great about working

     with me on them!
     +2 STR  +3 WIS

Walking: A
     The goal - to walk 3 days a week
     Two weeks I waled 4 days a week, most day 3 days a week on most weeks but one week walked only 2 days a week.  I am counting one of the weeks I walked an extra day

     as the day I missed one week.  The walking seems to be helping my hip more than anything else I have tried.
     +1 STR +3 STA

Water: C
     The goal - drink 2 liters of water everyday
     Some weeks I drank two litters on all 7 days, most weeks were less and on the worst week it was only on 4 days.  I didn’t do so great with this goal.  It seems the day gets 

     away from me before I have drunk enough water.  Though I was better about drinking enough on days I was doing yoga and walking.
     +1.5 CON
    
Painting: B
     The goal - spend time painting at least one day a week
     I only missed one week.  I also completed two paintings during this challenge, and have a third in progress.  It took me 2 months to complete my last painting because I

     was doing it so infrequently.  Painting more often has been a great way for me to let everything out.
     +1.5 WIS +.75 CHA   

Mini Challenges
     I completed all of the mini challenges! 

     I really enjoyed them and learned a lot.  I now know I love doing my walking barefoot and that I actually kind of enjoy some body weight exercises.  I also have my plan set

     out of how to keep going and have signed up for a self defense class thanks to them.
     +1 CHA

So my stats after this challenge are:
STR 1 I DEX 2 I STA 4 I CON 5.5 I WIS 7.5 I CHA 4.75

I also took waist measurements and weight at the beginning and end  (If I don’t limit myself I would literally be obsessive about it).  At the beginning my waist was 44.5†and my weight was 239.  Now my waist is 42†and my weight is 230.  So I lost 2.5†off my waist and 9 pounds during this challenge.
That means I have lost a total of 35 pounds since graduation last year!  23 of which has happened in the 3 months I have been reading nerd fitness (It took me a while to join the community, lol).  That means I have lost 2x the amount of weight in 3 months than the other 9 with “conventional wisdom.† This really didn't click for me though until I went over everything for the adventure mini challenge.

[Chanda]

Fantastic! You did great! Well done!

 

I am so impressed how you were able to balance and prioritize what was going on in your life with the challenge.

 

Isnt it interesting how the walking seems to be helping with your hip? I really believe that we are built to walk around and that the movement helps our bodies function better and heal themselves better.

 

About your "make ups". I usually write my goals as "do an average of 3 per week". That way what matters is the long term result... so if one week I do a little more or a little less it averages out in the end as long as I aim to be consistent. I also try to be 1 or 2 ahead of the target because it means that if I am sick or something happens mid challenge, I am not too stressed, because I know messing up a week wont hurt the challenge.

 

I am so glad the mini-challenges were helpful to you! It makes the time I spend thinking them up well worth it!

[Kishi]

Convential wisdom leads to conventional results. If you want unconventional results, then you need to discard the convention. Which you did.

 

Good job!