GypsyHeart: Track into the Dark Forest

[GypsyHeart]

Hello everyone!

 

Returning for my third challenge.

 

My main goal is, as always, to be fit and healthy in spite of leading a busy life.

 

Fitness Goals:

 

1. Do 5 minutes of yoga every day

2. Do a gym session/beginner bodyweight workout session twice a week

3. Keep on track with healthy eating (veg/salad with every meal, no junk food!)

 

Life Goal:

4. Go through two lectures from my pathology course each week

 

Extra fitness goal:

5. Get up on time every morning

(currently 6.30am but depends on my placements so could be earlier!)

 

This is a brief post due to my lack of internet at home currently. But look forward to catching up with everyone soon.

[Ian Fin 8]

Welcome back!  Good and attainable goals.  Good luck!

[GypsyHeart]

Welcome back!  Good and attainable goals.  Good luck!

Thanks Odin8! Good to see you back too.

[RogueWelkin]

Goals look pretty good. Any grading/stats?

 

Good Luck!

[GypsyHeart]

Sorry for the rather brief start to the challenge due to lack of internet! Here is proper update for those of you who don't know me.

 

This is my third challenge here on nerdfitness. Before I started, I had only been to the gym once or twice before so was quite unfit. Now I am slowly making progress and enjoy my gym sessions. I try and run regularly with one of my friends, and the furthest I have run is now about 4 miles (7km).

 

Before I would often start something and not finish it, or make goals that were far too ambitious and impossible to reach. But working through the challenges has made me more realistic, and also realise that I don't need to be so hard on myself when things go wrong, or be such a perfectionist. I am also getting a lot better at following through on things that I decide to do.

 

I am a medical student, and am currently working at hospital placements which I love. My biggest overall quest in life is to be a really good doctor. And part of that for me is having the good diet and healthy lifestyle which I am going to be recommending to my patients! My health is also really important to me, and I don't want to be limited in life by being unfit. Not being able to carry my heavy shopping home without resting on the way, or not wanting to go and exercise with friends - what a rubbish way to live! My medical training also tells me that exercise is about the best thing you can do to look after your body as well as eating well.

 

In the challenges that I have done so far, I have begun to enjoy exercise and going to the gym. I am now working on making exercise a continuing part of my life. Because I am often busy with hospital work, studying, or social things, and because I rotate around different hospitals of varying distance away from me it is not always easy to actually get to the gym, or go to regular exercise classes. So I am trying to find a way around this by getting to the gym when I can, and completing work outs at home that I can do with minimal equipment where ever I am staying. In the last challenge I discovered I really enjoy yoga, and I am hoping that it will help me with strength and flexibility. I am currently trying to build it into my morning routine, so starting with a small amount and working my way up to more. For the purposes of this challenge if I don't fit it in in the morning then doing it in the evening counts too. Last challenge I worked at getting up in the morning, and had steady progress throughout the challenge. So hoping to keep up the good work I did then this time too.

[GypsyHeart]

Grading system:

 

Fitness Goals:

 

1. Do 5 minutes of yoga every day                                                                         (A =7 or 6 days, B= 5 or 4 days C= 3 or 2 days D= 1 day E= 0 days)

2. Do a gym session/beginner bodyweight workout session twice a week              ( A= 2 work outs C= 1 work out E= 0 work outs)

3. Keep on track with healthy eating (veg/salad with every meal, no junk food!)    (A =7 or 6 days, B= 5 or 4 days C= 3 or 2 days D= 1 day E= 0 days)

 

Life Goal:

4. Go through two lectures from my pathology course each week                           ( A= 2 lectures C= 1 lecture E= 0 lectures)

 

Extra fitness goal:

5. Get up on time every morning                                                                             (A =7 or 6 days, B= 5 or 4 days C= 3 or 2 days D= 1 day E= 0 days)

(currently 6.30am but depends on my placements so could be earlier!)

 

I give myself a grade each week when I post my week update, and then an average grade at the end of the challenge.

 

Stat points:

If I complete the goals I will be awarded:

 

1. Yoga +3 DEX

2. Workout +3 STR

3. Diet +3 CON

4. Lectures +3 WIS

5. Mornings +3 CHA

 

And if I complete the challenge I will of course level up!

[GypsyHeart]

Goals look pretty good. Any grading/stats?

 

Good Luck!

Thanks for reminding me Rogue. I have now updated with the grading system I always use. Looking at the points I could gain definitely keeps me motivated!

[GypsyHeart]

So far I am doing ok on the challenge.

 

Now I have internet more easily I have updated my thread properly and joined a group and caught up with posting on other peoples threads a bit.

 

Since I set my goals I have got up on time every morning (woop!), eaten ok considering the constraints of canteen food (I had an ice cream as a treat but that's totally allowed on occasion) and done two mini yoga sessions. Planning to get to the gym this weekend for one of my sessions, and get my body weight workout done as well. I have also identified the two lectures I am going to go through for this week, and am planning to blitz them both at the weekend. I have been doing other studying related to my current placement so far this week which is also important, so feeling things are under control.

 

As long as I stick to my plans this weekend things should go fine.

[Teros]

Great job so far

[RogueWelkin]

How'd the weekend go for you GypsyHeart?

[katmilby]

Belated welcome back, GypsyHeart!

[RogueWelkin]

How'd your weekend go GypsyHeart?

[Teros]

How goes it?

[RogueWelkin]

Hey GypsyHeart, you still active out there? Don't worry if you've stumble on the challenge the important part would be coming back and being active. This is something you can do! Let us know how you're doing!

[GypsyHeart]

Hi everyone!

 

Sorry for being so out of touch and thank you all for checking up on me.

 

Things have been a bit hectic in my life so that coupled with having no internet at home for the first half of the challenge. And to be honest, I haven't been keeping up with my goals at all, so I think this challenge may be a bit of a failure!

 

Sorry for abandoning you all though! I am normally very active on the forums and I love keeping up with everyones threads and checking in on how people are doing so I feel like I have let everyone down on that front.

 

Hope you are all doing well, and much better than me though.

 

Not sure if I should come back and keep my my goals for the last few weeks or just sit it out and wait until next time. I feel like even if I have a good couple of weeks, it won't be worth it as my overall score will still be rubbish.

 

What does everyone think?

[RogueWelkin]

I think it's only a failure if you don't pick yourself back up and get going again. Don't worry about the score, don't worry about what happened the first half of the challenge. You're not working for that score, or for how the first half worked. You're trying to improve your life from here on out and the best way to do that is to pick yourself back up, refocus yourself on those goals, and start kicking their ass. The road to success is paved with stumbles, falls, and setbacks. As long as you get back up and keep going you'll eventually reach success. So I say get back to it!

[GypsyHeart]

Thanks Rogue Welkin for totally having my back

 

I am all ready to smash the last weeks of the challenge.

 

Been having veg/salad with every meal so far, no junk food meals, and I have done my yoga each day, and got up on time. (Although had a night shift so it wasn,t early, but I did get up at the time I planned!)

 

And am going to try and fit in my two lecture, one during the week and one on Saturday as I am on call on Sunday.

 

Woop to getting back on track!!

[RogueWelkin]

Huzzah! Sounds great, and I imagine that getting back on track is a great feeling as well (I know I get a little excitement once I do).

[GypsyHeart]

Yes totally getting that buzzing feeling of excitement! Especially satisfying after falling off the wagon for so many weeks.

 

I feel that I am ready to get properly back on top of life though. Sometimes I think you do just need a bit of a break. After all, no one can be perfect all the time can they

 

I also feel especially good about myself this evening as I finally completed a piece of work that I had to put off legitimately due to being ill, but then majorly procrastinated (for 5 weeks!!). You know when you could perfectly well do something, but you don't, and then you feel guilty, and that makes you want to forget the whole thing, so you ignore it, and the guilt gets worse, and then you develop a weird block about doing it, etc. etc.

 

BUT I HAVE FINALLY FINISHED it and sent it off. Whoop! So now I feel like I can do anything.

 

On the (very) slight downside it meant that I spent this evening doing that instead of my planned pathology lecture, but it was definitely worth it. Will try and fit in the lecture tomorrow and I will still be on track! Hooray!

[GypsyHeart]

Mini Quest update

 

In my excitement at being back in full swing I have also checked out the mini quests I missed. Most of them don't seem to have a time deadline, so I am going to complete them (albeit a little late!) as normally they are one of my favourite parts of the challenges.

 

Mini quest 1:

My accountability squad is the Rogue Squadron, and my new nerd fitness friend is Rouge Welkin who has been absolutely ace at encouraging me!

 

+ 1 CHA

 

Mini quest 2:

I am going to complete this, but still working out my idea for a healthy dish. I love this type of challenge as I love creating new dishes and cooking healthy food. However I am staying in hospital accomodation at the moment with minimal cooking facilities and only a small local convenience store nearby which does not seem consider a medium range of vegetables a necessity! So waiting until I get back home to do this. I think I shall do something involving roast butternut squash. And possibly bacon and rocket and pine nuts. But not sure yet. Watch this space!

 

Mini quest 3:

Reframing summary

 

This is a perfect one for me as I have been trying to find the positives now I am back on my game.

Accomplishments, and setbacks that have been defeated:

I am back in the challenge! This is a big plus, as with my normally perfectionist ways I was very tempted to sit this one out and join in next time. However this is not the right response to a set back and I have successfully started the challenge again. Hooray! Another positive is that I have recovered from my illness which is what caused the start of the set back, and so this obstacle is no longer in my way. I am also feeling fired up, so I am going to use this burst of motivation to ensure success. Also the time where I have not been focussed on the challenge has not been a complete disaster. Although I didn't do any conventional exercise sessions, I have been doing a lot more walking and stair climbing than usual due to the large hospital I am currently working in, and deliberately choose to take the stairs and not the lift. My diet had been very reasonable, just slightly less veg and salad than usual with the worst food offenders being I ate fish and chips twice, and ate a pack of cookies and an ice cream. I would describe these as fairly normal treats, it's just more than I usually have on top of less veg.

 

Overall, I have to remind myself that I am doing great. I have got back into the challenge despite having such a busy life. I have fought off feeling a bit miserable-and-unmotivated-and-guilty-about-not-being-on-top-of-things. And I am achieving things again! Woop.

 

Steps to take:

My goals are clearly laid out, so I know exactly what I am doing. Now I am back into the challenge, it will be much easier to follow them through. I am also going to keep up to date with my accountability group as they provide me with the motivation and support to suceed.

 

+1 CHA

 

Mini quest 4:

Ready for trouble

 

These are the steps I have taken to avoid trouble:

I have planned specific times to complete my goals for this week, and will continue doing so, rather then taking a general approach of "it will get done".

For my daily goals, such as yoga, I have anchored them to a specific event so I don't forget to do them (getting up in the morning, with a backup option of before I sleep if I am in a rush in the morning.

I have made sure I have a copy of  the beginner bodyweight workout so that I can complete it in my room which doesn't have internet at present.

I have bought fruit to snack on if I get hungry.

I have bought plenty of extra salad so I can be healthy even though the local shop is rubbish for veg

 

+1 WIS

[Gobnait]

Does the hospital have a cafeteria?  It may not be the best, but they should have a healthy selection.

[GingaNinja]

Good job, glad you are bouncing back in your challenge! Keep it up

[RogueWelkin]

Hey Gypsyheart, keeping up with the challenge? Haven't heard from you in a bit. Let us know how it's going even if it's not great, just as long as you're hanging in and learning and using that to come up with a better plan, we want to hear back from you to let us know that you haven't given in just yet.