"Upgrading My Bodyware & OS" - Journal to a Modern .ME

[IronGlider]

Let's GO!

 

Saturday Diagnostics 28/06/2014:

 

 

So, with the dinner at friends to look forward to this week, it made sense to have my 'fun-day' on Saturday and get my weigh-ins documented!

So how did it all go down? Well, I'm glad to announce that a week of taking it easy off the 24hr fasts and focusing on the other ones still brought results to the table, as I managed to lose 3.0lbs, putting my body-weight at 193.4lbs. My body-fat has been cut down to 22.7% and my and my muscle percentage has increased to 38.4%.

 

So yeah, pretty happy with that! :-) I have the funny feeling this weeks weigh-in wasn't technically 3lbs off, as I screwed up with lasts weeks weigh-in being bloated, but regardless I'm still really happy with 3lbs loss over 2 weeks if that's the case + where things are heading..

 

I'm now in the 1Xlbs when it comes to the final countdown, yay getting closer to the single digits realm! :-)

 

...

 

As with Saturday, it was great... except that the dinner didn't plan out :-/ Something turned up for them, and we did it instead on Sunday, which lame because I started eating my 'exotic' selection of foods earlier in the day. So instead, I attended on Sunday, but ate sensibly and leniently which went fine. 

 

Sunday's been a really odd day for me, I've spent a lot of time with family as the result of being invited over and I pretty much for that day became involved with what ended up being a lot of errands on their behalf. I didn't mind as such, just expected it to be more chillaxing then it was. Oh well :-)

 

I can't believe we're half-way in this challenge, that's just crazy! :-O Time flies man! Well, it's been a good week progress wise, I'm looking forward to improving my pull-up abilities, and I'm excited to see how much more progress can be made in the rest of this challenge... :-)

 

p.s. I completed the meditation side quest too, yay! :-)

 

Come on, week 3!

[IronGlider]

Finally, I have some time for myself today and a day off! Currently in an art centre at the park, zero signal or wifi so I know I won't get disturbed :-)

 

While I've still got to do some of the 'rounds' to you all, while I still have a few hours concious I'm goingn to write up how the last two weeks have been now and in the bits of spare time I have hear-on in throught today and tomorrow I'll be able to catch up to you all! :-) But yeah, I'm truly sorry for not keeping up to date with you all, it's been the hardest two weeks in my post-NF life but I managed to get a hold around the chaos.

 

I'll try not to turn this into an essay, I know I have the tendency to do that xD. First and foremost, some background reading music:

 

 

Hahaha how can I say no to another a-ha track? xD Plus I can find these lyrics fitting the theme of this post/comforting.

 

First: I am totally bamboozled by how much time has passed. Is it really week 6... already? I've had my head so far down into the mud with a hectic routine that I didn't even notice. Wow.

 

To recap the schedule of the last two-ish weeks, here are all the things that I've had to juggle on top of this challenge:

 

1. A hectic amount of work was done. I even ended up doing an all-nighter (another first in my post-NF life!) which... wasn't as bad as I remember, but it's still something I take seriously to avoid. I wasn't happy that I did that at all, but I think my 3rd point lead to this. My mind has very much been side-tracked with all this problem-solving shenanigans!

 

2. I got ill... twice :-/ (Specifically, the first one was a cold that lasted for a few days and the second was an outright flu which lasted the entirety of the second week. Both were due to dust, the first being at my friends house where I had dinner that time and the second was during some rigorous chore cleaning. Second one was baaaad, but as of today it's gone so wheeeeeey! :-D)

 

3. Whilst I'm completely at home now with parents, my parents+some family members are fasting for ramadan. I forgot that this was happening so soon! And really, I didn't know how I would approach it. I do want to do it because mostly everyone around me here was, so I did. Whilst I'm personally not much of a spiritual person, I've been fasting with family since... 11 maybe? But this year, the routine is really hard, and these fasts are on a completely different league to what I'm familiar with. Everyday is around 18hrs, the fast is broken at 9:30pm-ish and you can eat until 3am. Whilst 18hrs is nothing compared to what I've done prior, the scheduled times for eating on top of NO DRINKING fluids as well as eating is difficult (many of you know that I relied heavily on teas, water and coffee).
This was very hard, the first day towards the end of the fast I was in total agony, and the first week I was groggy, (usually) bloated and fatigued. Second week I got ill from the flu but my body started to adapt to the routine. This year is probably the hardest one I've ever done.

 

I admit I found it difficult to express the 3rd one, especially online, but being transparent is part of the process! #guzziwouldbeproud! And documenting the process of it and how it impacts certain things like weight etc is important too. 

 

No to mention that usually everyone (including my family) stuffs their face when they can during this time with the most... shall we say 'exotic' of foods (translates to oily and fattening foods) xD. Resisting any of those foods when you're body's craving anything takes iron will man, but I've gotten use to it now.

 

So yeah, juggling all of the above turns out to be pretty darn hard, most of the time (including my precious NF time at night!) stopped because I became so darn tired and exhausted. Sleeps schedule is crazy (and a little sleep deprived). As a result of all the following changes, Fasting, Healthy Eating, EXErcise, EXPlay challenges had to adapt to survive in this new, crazy routine, otherwise nothing would be accomplished, and then I'd go crazy and risk relapsing (and I really don't that!).

 

This whole situation reminded me of an event over a year ago (pre-NF) where I made my second attempt to be healthy and exercise following a spreadsheet I made for myself that (basically) punished anything that wasn't perfection. I lasted a month and a half (which was the longest I had ever held onto anything back then). I often refer to that as 'titanic' for obvious reasons xD, but despite just how hard I relapsed and failed, I knew I was onto something. The whole thing went awry June 2013, when the hectic summer routine began. 'Titanic' collapsed because a 'perfect' routine could not adapt itself to life.

 

I almost fell into the same trap this time, until I realised that the 'Bodyware & OS' was built to flex and can cater for these scenarios, I just forgot that I could because I've had nothing disrupting my routine for the last 9 months! xD

 

But despite all of this, I'm happy to announce that I survived! :-D. As I've mentioned right from the beggining, adapting to a difficult routine/scenario is my kryptonite. The mindset goes wild when there are no set rules to follow.

 

It's been hard guys :-/ but I figured it out in the end, and ended up learning a ton. I've got about two and a half weeks or so of this left to do, hopefully it'll be a lot easier!

 

But first, I 'll go over what exactly I've done to adapt my goals.

 

Fasting: So, I've put my own pre-set of fasts on hiatus until ramadan is over. I've been doing around 18hr fasts everyday until late evening, eating, then (usually waking up) eating again before it closes around 3am. Difficult routine, but I think that's kinda meant to be the point xD.

 

Healthy Eating: Having a wealth of knowledge on intermittent fasting, I actually break these fasts eating the same as what I've eaten prior, just salad, some fruits and then either a protein shake or nuts, depending if that day was a workout or cardio day. I noticed that I eat less for main meal (which is the usual noodles/quinoa/buckwheat with vegetables, lentils/curry and *@Deftona butts in* MUSHROOM FUNGUS!). For the first three days, I usually found myself peckish and craving something cold around midnight, so I got into the habit of eating cereal (cornflakes and branflakes). I didn't want this (I know it ain't strictly speaking healthy foods), but I needed fibre, so following on I made the switch to 30g oats and 30g muesli and seeds. It's been going pretty well despite eating late now! xD

 

EXErcise: This one has suffered the most recently. I've still kept up on interval jogging and walking often, but weights can be hard and I just don't posses the strength I once had, so I switched up the routines to ones that are slightly easier, and I no longer push for PLP reps. Abstaining from water is a big challenge whilst exercising too, which is another reason I rely more on body-weight exercises. I've scaled down exercises to 2x a week and interval jogging/extended walks to 4x a week. 

 

EXPlay: Despite being ill or brain-dead tired most of the time, I have made a few social efforts here and there. I'm visiting another family member come Saturday. Otherwise the past two weeks have been pretty bleak for this category :-/ I have been following my meditation routine well morning+evening, with the exception of days when I was tired.

 

What did I learn? Paradigm Shifting (yes, that's what I'm calling this @Rookie!) into different routine/mindset to adapt to a different challenge. This one has been all about conserving my energy and using it wisely. Whilst this all has radically changed this challenge for me, I'm still in this to win! :-) Just going to have to change my challenge a bit.

 

And for the most part, that's pretty much it... OH YEAH (thanks for reminding me Kailer!) DIAGNOSTICS!!1

 

Diagnostics:

 

06/07/2014 Body-weight: 194.6lbs (+1.2) F: 23.1% M: 38.3%

13/07/2014 Body-weight: 191.6lbs (-3.0) F: 22.6% M: 38.6%

 

So, the first week of rigorous fasting actually caused me to gain weight again, but the second week I managed to lose a lot (surprisingly!) I genuinely didn't expect to lose any weight during this time. What shocks me more is that I actually gained muscle despite doing less intensive exercise... wut? 0.o

 

Also I definitely notice physical changes to my body in the second week, but positive body recomposition-like changes during this time. I still do my Sunday-Funday thing where I'm lenient :-). 

 

...

 

And that's pretty much it! Thanks for all your infinite patience guys/gals, much appreciated! :-) *hugs* I missed you all, you're all not forgotten, let me assure you of that! Any questions? Please ask! Looking forward to catching up on you all on the epic progress!

 

p.s. I can't believe this challenge is almost over, let alone week 6, this is crazy! My next challenge is definitely going to be more optimised for my challenges. Gotta end on a major high-note for this somehow, maybe with EXPlay (since that's suffered the most throughout all this) hmmm...

[IronGlider]

Now that I have (finally!) so time and caught up with everyone, I can (freaking-finally!) get around to posting the challenge results! :-)

 

I'll try to make this digestible guys, apologies in advance if it's too long.

 

First Off, I really catch you all up on... 

 

Sunday Diagnostics!:

 

20/07/2014 188.6lbs (-3.0) F&M%: Unknown (I weighed myself on my older sisters house, who didn't have a fancy scale :-/)

27/07/2014 187.0lbs (-1.6) F: 21.1% M: 39.3% (Fat Decreased, Muscle Upped!)

 

It's been as busy as ever since I last wrote, but things have gone rather swimmingly! :-) I didn't get ill or anything, and the ramadan fasts became much easier to do then it was the first two weeks. Eating as healthy as ever. The biggest thing to bring me some happiness these past weeks one of my sister's who's needed my support is coming around and feeling a lot better now. I actually convinced her to join me in a few exercise session and go jogging around the area several times. All this is new to her, but I took it slowly and started from the top and covered how I approached and started things. She did really well as a beginner, much much better and fit then I started. It's all really helped her get out of negative thinking and depression. 

 

It's been a great experience supporting her, and has gained me much more knowledge on approaching beginners in health and fitness mindset. This will certainly be really helpful, now that she can hold her own for the time being, I can refocus on the new rebels here again with some first hand experience. 

 

Also, as written above, I've been jogging outside! I've had AMAZING resistance to asthma and general breathing these last few days, and have even gone for an ENTIRE 2 weeks of now requiring the blue inhaler...once. Not before/after exercises, and not outdoor jogging (one of the biggest triggers for me). It's likely due to the great summer season here in the UK,  but I'd I'd like to also think my conditions significantly improving as I progressed in my post-NF life!

 

I've been forced to jog continually outside as I do not have an Xbox and Kinect for the time being, my nephew asked if he could borrow it in exchange for his PS3 during the holidays, I accepted. I just felt like i was ready to take on the real world, and it's going great! Me and my sister have even gotten a couple of supportive words from the local community as we make our laps! It's a great feeling.

 

Fasting for ramadan did multiply the difficulty of many of my challenge goals, which meant that I had to dial it down to survive or risk relapsing or something else terrible. I'm glad I managed paradigm shift into adapting my routine to my current lifestyle changes, it was the smart thing to do, and thankfully it has been a big benefit to to my overall life quest, which is kinda what you have to remember, right? The initial challenge goals to the ones I had to make do with and adapt to are all different roads to the same destination. Yeah, it sucked not having water at hand to risk that extra lap, or being strong enough to do PLP reps with the same amount of weights at challenge start, but really, you learn to appreciate just what the body is capable of. I still can't believe it managed to adapt to the brutal routine I undergone. I ended up doing things towards the end of the week that were record breaking, like 5x PULL-UPS IN A ROW!, 17hrs IN A HARDCORE FASTING CYCLE!!1 :-O

 

But I do want to point out that despite the work overload, illness, support to sister, ramadan routines etc I am really disappointed with myself and how my NF time suffered greatly with posting here and to my fellow rebels. I want you to know you were all still on the forefront of my mind, believe me I did try, but I want to ensure (lets say this time next year) I can cope with scenarios like this better. Since much of my hectic schedule carries over to the next challenge, I'll be considering the structure of it so that it allows me to make the most of my NF time! :-)

 

Also, just being flat-out thankful for having a functional, healthy body. I often thought of @Guzzi and her achievements with marathons and jogging events during my fast, and just how incredible that is. I was reminded how undertaking that challenge was much much harder then anything I was enduring, and it's really motivated my workouts these past few weeks. Plus, @Deftona's success with fasting and trying it made me real happy and I really been feeling that sense of co-op and unity during the long road to our life quests. @Kailer and @skinnyLara also reminded me how we should be so thankful during times that we have external difficulties/pressures, and just how important and supportive it is focus on the thing we CAN control in life, like health, fitness, wellbeing etc. Not to mention, I'm most thankful for the incredible people and the community we have here at NF :-) Your journeys have really given me strength!

 

I mean, really, all these positive changes that's happened over the months and fantastic people, what more could I ask for?

 

Right, let us get to to the challenge conclusion, shall we? ;-)

 

...

 

Mission 1: Keeping up with my current routine that I've built/expanded upon here from the very start! (Grade A)

STA +2, CON +2

*New* Weekly Food Routine: (First two weeks, yes, but I've had to adapt to ramadan fasting, which are much much tougher than what I have laid out here, so I think it still counts points-wise... :-p) 

- 2x 17hr Lite Fasts

- 2x 19hr Standard Fasts 

 

- Implementing 24hr fasts once or twice a week (AHAHAHA! I got more than what I was bargained for, that's for sure! xD)
- Eating Healthily by having Fruits+Nuts when breaking my fast and balanced dinners (Yep!)

- Drinking herbal teas (Yep!)
- Keeping up with Exercises (Yep, even though I've had to adapt)
- Measuring progress on Sundays (yep!)
- Picture progress every month (I have been doing it, but I haven't posted the last two here yet, but I shall soon!)

- Restrict Internet Usage with StayFocusd Chrome Extension (yep!)

 

Mission 2: Adding the following things to current routine and post daily (Grade C)

WIS +2, CHA +1

 

While I did everything here every single day (except some of these on the days I was ill) I think it's fair that I get a C because I failed to post it daily like I had planned.

 

*New* Early Morning Startup Routine (

*New* Meditation for 5mins morning/evening (
*New* Note down something to be thankful for that day, everyday!

*New* Late Night Shutdown Routine (Getting ready, prep for next day, set/lower lighting, read/NF-catchup, sleep)

 

Mission 3: Exercising @Level 4 Renegade Workouts for 3 Days a weeks + 3 additional days of Interval Jogging with Cardio (Grade C)

STR +1, DEX +2 

 

I shifted all these past week 2 to my own variations, which were basically 'mods' a.k.a doing Level 4 workouts, but switching some of the strenuous and tough exercises for Level 3 ones which workout the same areas, and I didn't incorporate PLP either. 

 

Side Challenge: EXPlay: These were minimized into bitesized 10mins here and there, no new or ground-breaking things really happened here imo :-( Oh well, next challenge!

 

Weight Progress Throughout the Challenge:

 

22/06/2014 196.4lbs (+0.6) F: 23.4% M: 38.2%
28/06/2014 193.4lbs (-3.0) F: 22.7% M: 38.4%

*Ramadan Fasting Begins*
06/07/2014 194.6lbs (+1.2) F: 23.1% M: 38.3%
13/07/2014 191.6lbs (-3.0) F: 22.6% M: 38.6%
20/07/2014 188.6lbs (-3.0) F&M%: Unknown

27/07/2014 187.0lbs (-1.6) F: 21.1% M: 39.3% (Total=10lbs)

*Ramadan Fasting Ends*

 

10lbs is pretty decent loss, especially considering it's my 'worst' graded challenge yet (and yet my weight loss has ranked higher than most of my other challenges, lol!)

 

Side Quest Points:

Quest 1: 1+ Wis

Quest 2: 1+ Dex

Quest 3: 1+ Cha

 

Conclusion:

 

Despite these grades being the lowest I've ever had in all of the challenges, I'm most the proud of them. I knew what it took to get me get me there, hacking a ton of work, braving to adapt and doing something different. Believe me when I say there were a lot of moments where I could have just resigned from all of this at any single moment. But alas, I availed and live to tell the story! Thank you all!

 

...

 

Eeeek! I've got to wake up in the next 3 and a half hours! :-O Geez, how's is that fair? But I just had to type this all out now, this couldn't have waited another day (like it has been for the past couple of weeks!) so it was worth it imo even if I have to lose sleep over it lol! Thank you all for being so patient! Next time I'll get in touch is probably Tuesday, since it's Eid tomorrow (well, technically today) and I'm treating this Sunday like a normal day in order to enjoy that day. 

 

P.s. In addition, next Sunday's Funday won't ben happening, as I have a wedding event for Saturday, so I'll be doing it then! So, two fundays in one week? That's a first! I wouldn't be surprised if I don't lose anything this week or even gain! xD Oh well, at least I don't need to do any more crazy fast routines and can go back to my own, yay!

 

Track of the Challenge/Credits Music:

Hmmmm... I don't know. :-/ Heck, I'll just post what I'm listening to now xD (I like the catchy chorus in particular!)

 

 

p.p.s. Picture progress pending! :-p It shall be interesting though, as they are pre-post ramadan fasts.

 

Thanks agaaaaaaaaaain!

 

p.p.p.s Any questions please ask! And on that note, I would totally be broccoli!

[Lil’Rali]

Wow you are making amazing progress. I hope to match that some day. I started a few weeks ago around 260 and I'm working my way down to 160 to start. 

[IronGlider]

Wow, I've been so neglectful of my battle log! :-/ 

 

I have been around (most of the time) and kept fightin' the good fight, it's just that I've just mainly been posting in the challenges!

 

Apologies fellow rebel, if you want to catch up/ a little more detail with what I've been doing, you can read through it all here:

 

Challenge 6

 

And the more recent:

 

Challenge 7

 

Here's how weight progress has been since I was last here, as you can see, I experienced quite a stall, but the persistence all paid off eventually :-)

 

Every Sunday Diagnostic Since:

 

02/08/2014 187.0lbs (0) F: 21.2% M: 39.2%
10/08/2014 185.0lbs (-2.0) F: 20.8% M: 39.4%
17/08/2014 183.8lbs (-1.2) F: 20.3% M: 39.7%
24/08/2014 184.0lbs (+0.2) F: 20.5% M: 39.6%
31/08/2014 184.0lbs (0) F: 20.7% M: 39.5%

 

08/09/2014 184.0lbs (0) F: 20.3% M: 39.7%
14/09/2014 179.8lbs (-4.2) F: 19.4% M: 40.3%
21/09/2014 178.6lbs (-1.2) F: 19.1% M: 40.3%

 

I only have 3.6lbs to burn in order for me to reach my goal, whoop-de-doop! I'm hoping I can achieve this in the current challenge... :-)

[IronGlider]

Wow you are making amazing progress. I hope to match that some day. I started a few weeks ago around 260 and I'm working my way down to 160 to start. 

 

Hi Red_Queen! :-)

 

Apologies for my super late reply here :-/ thanks for the kind words! 

 

You seem to be on a similar epic quest :-) Congrats for having it in you! Many adventures await ahead of you my friend! And you will boss this! :-)

 

Really excited for you, I'm going to visit your battle log and cheer you on! :-) You've got this! 

[IronGlider]

Hiya all! Here's how the last few days have gone!

 

Thursday: 24hr Fast. Interval jogging + lotsa walking
Friday: No fasting today. Interval jogging + lotsa walking (I intended to do a workout, but I spent absolutely hours walking and running around town in a rush to do some much needed shopping...)
Saturday: 24hr Fast. 40min workouts (My workout quality suffered on this day, I was far into the fasting cycle and had moved around way too much by this point...)

 

Thursday and Friday were good days, Saturday was good until later on one of my sisters panicked the absolute living hell outta me with some of the mess she had gotten into, starting to lose my patience a little, but anyway what's done is done...

 

Good days for challenge 2 and 3, stormtroopers got in the way of dealing with the bigger enemies for challenge one. Hoping to tackle this today, I gotta keep focused and make sure nothing else gets in the way...

 

Sunday Diagnostics 28/09/2014:

 

After maxing out this week in many of the different ways I could, I'm glad to announce it payed off, as I managed to cut off yet another -1.2lbs off my weight, putting my total body-weight at 177.4lbs.

 

However, for some reason my BF% and M% weren't reading properly today, it came up with a weird error and then largely inconsistent readings. I think I need to change the batteries... :-/ (looking back, my feet were a bit wet, maybe that's why...) either way I know I've gotta change batteries soon because sometimes it's come up with 'low' xD Just 2.4lbs to go go go! xD

...

Hope everybody had an amazing week (looking forward to seeing how you've all done!) hope you're all ecstatic for the following week... <3

[IronGlider]

Thought I'd share a post from my challenge today! :-)

 

Okay, these are how the past 4 days have been:

 

Challenge 1:

 

Defeated a bunch of Stormtroopers, and also the Stormtrooper Commander, that was a hard one, but I must make haste with the others!

 

Challenge 2:

 

Going really well! I've done 2 jogs so far, and 3x EXErcise sessions, one normal, one light (w/ a resistance band) and today I did the KONAMI CODE workout! Was a ton of fun! :-) I've also doing short burst exercises during pomodoro work breaks (I was inspired by Steves recent holiday post) and opportunity to do some squats/reverse crunches/push-ups/pull-ups is really great!

 

Challenge 3:

 

Great! Had a Standard Fast Day for Monday, No Fast Day Tuesday, 24hr Fast Wednesday, Lite Fast Thursday!

 

Smile Please!:

 

I forgot to add/announce this section prior! This has gone through MANY name changes, but it's basically to note at least one positive thing for that day (inspired by @skinnyLara :-D) I now store these in my evernote and ensure that HabitRPG reminds me to do before bed... (talking about HabitRPG, jeez, how have I lived this long without it? xD)

 

Mon: For better planning and approach with fear/perfectionism/courage

Tue: For really feeling stronger these days. Also, less time gone towards  

Wed: Happy that I had time to revise, refine and clean up my Evernote account. Really helped feel like I had my priorities organised. 

 

Thu: and the last one...

 

1x PULL-UP ACHIEVED!!!!1

 

Day's finally come my friends! Many of you know that I thought I accomplished this many months ago, but I confused it with a chin-up. Ever since I did @Hazard's challenge, I've been practising here and there, then when I got close, I couldn't quite reach the top of the bar. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I felt like I could do it, but the form was wonky. Today I managed to do it properly (the move does really take it out of me though). I can also do 6x chin-ups in a row! :-)

 

Today's a long time in the making for many reasons! Thanks for sticking it out with me everyone! And @Deftona with the encouragement way early on that I could do it! :-)

 

p.s. Cause I need to share my awful taste to what music is in my head these days! :-p Have no clue what on earth she's talkin' about in this song, but tune's stuck in my head! Tried listening to @Teros's awesome "Bacon and Pancakes Mix" but darn it doesn't work! :-(

 

 

p.p.s. With my music taste lately, I'm starting to think if I'm only a man on the outside, and an angst teenage girl stuck in the 90s on the inside... xD

[IronGlider]

Thanks everyone! :-)

 

The rest of last week went well, kept up with all the exercises and healthy eating regimes, and in terms of fasts, did 1x24hr, 1x24hr (Warrior), 2x Standard, 2 days normal.

 

Sunday Diagnostics 05/10/2014:

 

This week resulted in 0lbs loss in weight, which still puts my body-weight at 177.4lbs. My body-fat seems to be in a great place atm, at 18.7%, and my muscle is upped at 40.5%!

 

Sunday was Eid (I realised this quite late!), so I had a good time at home and with the family, had a lot of nice things to eat.

 

Monday I was out and about and busy, and ended up doing a 24hr fast even though I didn't intend to (likely because of the all the energy I got from the food on Sunday! xD) I didn't do interval jogging because all the walking was more than enough for that day. I also did some (much needed) shopping, and bought a shirt with vouchers I needed to get rid of (lol!), some essentials, and (after a real long time) a couple of gifts for myself going forward (which what I can spare financially atm). One of them was some protein powder (the soy one I had leftover is almost finished, thank freaking goodness!) and now I bought the best brand/type I could buy and it was pretty cheap from amazon (it's the Optimum Nutrition one that's 909g and 100% whey/chocolate) it cost £24.99, compared to H&B selling the exact same thing for £44.99! :-O #whatacon!

 

Forgot to mention: Mid-last week, I bought organic apple cider vinegar and been drinking it (diluted of course, I'm not an animal!) and putting it on my face too. I've found it's really been helping in many ways, for example, I don't seem to have much of a build-up with sinuses, which helps a lot, and also my face is much more glowy and clearer/healthier.

 

I also got my Xbox back (after many months) which is great (and yes @AshPS, I once again have belly-dancing facilities! xD), and the closing gap of this journey, I decided to spend it getting two kinect games which look pretty fun (and cheap!). I got UFC training for £3, and I bought another one called EA sports active 2 for £4. I was genuinely interested in the UFC one (it looks like it'll kick my ass!) and honestly, I only bought the EA sports active one because it contained a heart-rate monitor + resistance band (either one of those on their own cost more than £4! xD) and the game itself don't look bad (though I'm accustomed to yourshape!).

 

Excited to return to the kinect games, they're a fun way to move and compliment an assortment of exercise regimes, and will likely keep me on the right track for cutting off this last 2.4lbs remaining. I've already learned from the past how I should never rely exclusively on something like this for multiple reasons (mainly the issue with over-reliance like a GPS, If I'm for some reason without it or if I move into a room that's not big enough, I don't want to be clueless). Besides, everyone needs to break the monotony with something, body-weight exercises and weights/bands just using a piece of paper and a timer too is still fun + super efficient! But I want to make sure that going forward, there are many fun ways to move!

 

It's what I relied on a lot during the the beginning (this time last year) when body-weight routines were really quite difficult, and I'm using it again (+harder) now towards the end (almost like everything's coming full circle! :-) I'm intrigued to see how much my stats need updating from the last time + how well I'd fare at it.

 

Anyways, that was an overly long discussion on all the exciting toys that I get to try, I'm just happy I got them cheap! Let's hope they don't disappoint, if so, back to yourshape + belly-dancing it is xD

 

Looking forward to seeing what everyone's been up to + Fort William pics! :-p

[IronGlider]

Hi everyone!

 

Friday went as planned, and I caught up with both exercises + did a 24hr fast. Saturday went well too, and I did a 19hr fast that day.

 

Sunday Diagnostics 12/10/2014:

Been a good week, and I've managed to cut off 0.8lbs off my body-weight, putting myself at 176.6lbs. My body-fat has been cut to 18.6%, and my muscle-percentage has been upped to 40.5%.

 

Was excited to see what this week brought, considering my total body-weight stayed the same last week. Getting to -175lbs sure is tough, but it's a good journey, and any weight gained by muscle is good in my books. I just need to experience the same weight loss as this week twice and that's pretty much it, exciting! I do wonder, we're 4 weeks into this challenge, can I get this done by the end? *suspense*

 

Hope you're all well, had a nice/chillaxing day today. Bring on week 5! :-)

[IronGlider]

(Man, I have trouble keeping the battle log up to date, I'm going to paste what I've written in my challenge post! :-)...

 

 

Kept you all waiting, huh? ;-)

 

Well, here it is:

 

Sunday Diagnostics 19/10/2014:

 

How did that week of tabata and hiit play out?

 

Well, I woke up and stepped straight on those scales, and...

 

 

19/07/2014 174.6lbs (-2.0) F: 18.4% M: 40.8%

 

(Note: The scales shows a +0.2lbs increase as I was holding my phone)

 

My friends, the day has finally come!!! The empire has been defeated!

 

I've posted in the woot forum: click the medal below!

 

 

Everyone, thank you so much for everything and keeping me in check! This has also been a great challenge, and I'm interested to see where I'll be taking it next (I'll be taking a different approach) but seriously, thank you! I've accomplished 2 big things (neutral bmi + "practically" zero asthma) and have gained knowledge, confidence and strength!

 

To update y'all on Sunday, it was good, I actually bought some random candy for the last time as I felt like rekindling with my inner kid. It was my sis's birthday that same day though, so I never really put too much emphasis (or in fact, told anyone) that day. I also went to the park, and there was a charity run event going, and I just stood there cheering all the excellent runners as they focusing on that finish line!

 

Hope everyone is doing well, looking forward to seeing how everything's going... :-)