Varoun's Quest, Part II: Keeping Up Momentum

[Varoun]

Let’s keep this ball rollin'...
 

Okay, this is going to be my second six-week challenge, and I’m super pumped for this one. I had a lot of trouble keeping up last time, so this time around I’m hoping I’ll have a bit of experience under my belt so I know what I’m going into.
 

Main Quest: Okay, so in my previous challenge my goal was to simply lay down a foundation. It didn’t go as well as I would’ve liked, but I still made a great deal of progress than the lazy, sedentary lifestyle I had before. So now I want to keep up my momentum and work harder, longer and more effectively. Now that I’ve seen just how much my body and I are capable of, I’m more motivated than ever to improve more and more, and keep applying Newton’s First Law.
 

This is the first time I’m incorporating ‘stats’ into my challenge, and I’m new to the whole ‘attributes’ system (for Nerd Fitness at least!), so I’m just ball-parking these. If they seem too high, someone let me know and I’ll modify them.

 

1) Find a bodyweight exercise routine that works, and do it Monday-Wednesday-Friday. I still haven’t found one that will suit me perfectly, but I’m going through a variety of different bodyweight exercises that will hopefully help me build some muscle and get into the habit of exercising on a daily basis. Right now I’ve also incorporated splitting wood with a 16-pound maul for some arm and core exercise, and that’s a load of fun. I love useful exercises like that. If anyone has any suggestions for fun or ‘useful’ bodyweight exercises, I’d love to hear them. (Reward: +2 STR, +2 STA)
 

2) Learn at least three simple, healthy recipes. I’m a terrible cook; I’ll be the first one to admit it. But I really want to get better! I want to learn to create simple, healthy meals for myself, so I don’t have to always rely on other people or boxed junk. My ‘nutrition’ goal for this challenge, then, not only to learn the recipes, but actually prepare and consume them several times over the weeks ahead. (Reward: +2 CON)
 

3) Lose 10 pounds in 6 weeks. At the moment I weigh 183.2 pounds. At the rate I anticipate I’ll be losing weight by sticking with the two other goals, I’m hoping I’ll be losing 2 pounds per week, maybe even more. I’m trying to limit my calorie intake to around 1450 calories, and keeping up with my bodyweight exercises, so I’m hoping that it will help with losing that amount of weight in that short of time. (Reward: +2 CON, +2 STA)

100% Completion (with Life Quest) = +4 CON, +4 STA, +2 STR, +2 WIS

 

Life Quest
 

Finish my novel. November is National Novel Writing Month, where you are tasked with writing 50,000 words in 30 days. This equates to 1,667 words per day, which is a pretty sizable chunk of text. I actually won the challenge back in 2010, but I failed miserably in 2011/12. This time I think I've got a pretty good idea, but I’m already behind on my word count. It’s my goal to catch up and finish before the end of November. After it’s over, I’ll come up with a new Life Quest to do while finishing the rest of the six-week challenge. (Reward: +2 WIS)

[Lilith]

Keeping the momentum going is really important, and those challenges help a lot! You have great goals, from your writing they look down to earth and obtainable. I'm interested in what kind of bodyweight routine you will finally settle for! 

 

As for the recipes: if you consider oatmeal healthy, I have the most amazing on the go snack cookies for you. Super easy, two ingredient cookies you can twist to your own liking (add raisings, chocolate, cranberries, spices) 

 

http://www.theburlapbag.com/2012/07/2-ingredient-cookies-plus-the-mix-ins-of-your-choice/

[Varoun]

It's been a struggle to really narrow it down and choose one, because I want a body-weight routine that really makes me feel like I've done a powerful workout. And thanks for the recipe! They look good, and I think I'll give it a try for my first meal.

[Lilith]

Personally, I really like Insanity if I would do one strict program. Have you heard of that before? Not trying to push you into doing something, but maybe a few extra options help? (Or they might make it worse for more choice is not always better, in that case sorry O_o)

[Varoun]

Personally, I really like Insanity if I would do one strict program. Have you heard of that before? Not trying to push you into doing something, but maybe a few extra options help? (Or they might make it worse for more choice is not always better, in that case sorry O_o)

Insanity is exactly that: insane. I've tried it once, but I simply could not get through even the beginning pre-Insanity trial thing. I think it was like ten or fifteen minutes into it before I collapsed on my bed, panting and sweating like I was about to die. I actually felt like I was about to die, haha. But thank you for bringing back those repressed memories! And for the suggestions.

[Lilith]

I constantly die too, and it's okay to not follow along everything - I know I have to take more regular breaks than the ones in the video do. But I know it's so efficient, few workouts give me SUCH a sweat. 

[Varoun]

Alright, so first update. Sorry I've been quiet for a while, life has been busy these past few weeks with preparing for finals and whatnot. I'm a bit frustrated with how I've been progressing with my goals so far, to be honest. My weight hasn't budged any since the challenge began, though that is my fault because I haven't been eating a healthier diet like I had planned. I'm still choosing what I eat more wisely, but it's not enough it seems. I've got a little under five complete weeks to lose ten pounds, so I'm hoping that's still enough time. 

As for my cooking endeavors, I tried Lilith's suggestion for the Two-Ingredient Cookies. My first batch wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good either. It wasn't cooked wrong or anything, I just needed to add more flavoring to it, as the bananas just were not enough by themselves. Once I made my second batch and added in a little bit of cinnamon and a few chocolate chips, they were great and still pretty healthy, and I considered them a resounding success. I'm going to try moving to something more difficult now, maybe something healthy that I can fix for lunches. Then my third and final recipe will be for dinner. 

As for my NaNo Novel, I haven't made a whole lot of progress on it either. I'm stuck by analysis paralysis. I've got so many things I want to write about that I am at a loss as to which ones will be the best for me. I figure to make up time and finish before the deadline on the 30th, I'll need to write 5,000 words per day. That's a lot, but I'm determined to complete it this year!