Jess- You have to want it.

[Jessikuh]

"Failure is not falling down, but refusing to get up." - Chinese Proverb

 

Ciao everyone! My name is Jessica. I'm 21 years old, about 100 pounds overweight, and have a terrible relationship with the term "perseverance." I wrote up my NF training challenge about a three weeks ago, and followed it for two, and then gave up. Why? Looking back on it, I'm not entirely sure. So here I am, standing up and trying again. I want this.

 

Main Quest

Lose 100 pounds and get strong!

• I weighed myself at the beginning of the year. I was... well... a lot. The most I've ever weighed. Since then I've managed to lose 13 pounds since the beginning of the year, so I'm 13% to this goal. (Woo-hoo!)

 

Mini quests

Strength training 3x per week (+STR/DEX)

• Do this:
• 

 

 

I wrote this up weeks ago, and did it a few times. It's a combination of the NFBBWW, and some kettlebell stuff. It's hard, but doable. 

•  

Finish the Zombies Run! 5k training (+STA)

I have been trying to finish this training since the beginning of the year. I've been stuck on week 5 for a month now. I haven't been running consistently enough to build up the endurance I need to finish the program. So I want to run 3x per week.

 

Stop eating out. (+CON)

• Period. I have a terrible relationship with fast food. Where I work is a street away from my city's downtown district, so there's a dozen restaurants and fast food places available for me to go to lunch. I will give myself credit for the last three weeks. I have cut down my eating out from 4-5 times per week to about 1-2 times per week. I don't want to do it anymore. Period. No fast food. 

 

Side quest

Save up $100 (+WIS)

• I work full time and am a part time student, and I'm living paycheck to paycheck. If I have any extra money left over at the end of the month, I waste it on stupid things. I don't want to do that. I want to save up some money to build an emergency fund.

Motivation

Honestly, I'm just tired of being fat.

• I've been fat since childhood and it sucks. I really love doing sports and outdoor activities, but my weight makes it really friggin hard.
• I want to be strong, energetic and healthy and active, not stick thin and starving myself.
• I want to be able to shop at normal clothing stores, wear shirts without sleeves and dresses without tights.
• I want to buy a swimsuit for the first time since the 8th grade.
• I want to learn how to dance without running out of breath halfway through a song.
• I want to be strong enough to do a cartwheel. It's a little silly, but when I was a kid, I got made fun of for not being able to do one.  
• I want to run an entire 5k without stopping, and run a marathon one day.
• I want to be able to chase the kids at work around the playground without getting winded, and I don't want anymore 3 year olds asking me if I have a baby in my tummy. 
•  I want to learn how to surf and go rock climbing and skydiving and free running and do all of this other crazy stuff that I wouldn't be able to do as a fatty. 

That's about it. I've been doing this whole dieting->weight loss->binging->weight gain song and dance for so many years now. I have a really good feeling about this time though. 2014 is going to be my last year being obese, period.

 

Good luck to all of my fellow nerds! I can't wait to get healthy with all of you! 

[sjr243]

Those are all absolutely fantastic goals!  I am excited for you!  You have done an amazing job thus far!  13% is pretty awesome!  I am looking forward to your challenge! Good luck

[VTSPE772]

Saving $100 should be easy if you stop eating out...even knocking one per week will save you $90 (over 6 weeks) if each meal is $15.00...Then just reduce one trip to Starbucks per week and you're there (wait, this last tip is for my goals...sorry).

 

Good luck!

[VTSPE772]

Sorry for the double post...screen didn't refresh!

[wilkymouse]

Love your goals.  And so much color!!

Like VTSPE772 said, you can kill two birds with one stone by eating out less.  My fiance and I have been using cash more and never spending a single dollar bill (with few exceptions like restaurant tips, church offerings, and strip clubs [just kidding about that last one!]).  I use cash a lot less, so I've only put away around $150 in singles in the last 8 months or so, but he's got at least twice that in singles...and more in larger denominations.  There are so many tricks like that to save money; I'm sure you'll find one that works for you!

[KB Girl]

How you wrote down your training routine put a smile on my face  

Really great you're already 13% towards your goal, good luck with the rest!

[Jessikuh]

Thanks for the support everyone! I really love this community. It's great to be surrounded by such a large group of like-minded individuals. That's a great idea with the dollar bills, wilkymouse. I don't have cash on me often, but when I do I usually spend it just because it's there. It's a terrible habit. :/

And oh yes, lots of color. I have a weird obsession with color coding my entire life. I love it though.

VTSPE772- it's awesome to see that you've already lost 20 pounds, great job!

[VTSPE772]

VTSPE772- it's awesome to see that you've already lost 20 pounds, great job!

Thanks Jessikuh...just wondering about your name...is that spelling from a movie?  Maybe "Can't Hardly Wait" ???

[TheStephil]

Congrats on losing the first 13%!

You have great goals and a lot of motivation to get you there. I agree with everyone, not eating out will help with your goal of saving money.

I like the tip of saving single bills. I never have cash and it's so much easier for me to spend money when I use a card.

[Jessikuh]

Thanks Jessikuh...just wondering about your name...is that spelling from a movie?  Maybe "Can't Hardly Wait" ???

 

Haha, nah. It's actually kind of a funny story. In high school I was in a theatre production with like 30 other people, and there were 5 other girls named Jessica on the cast and crew. And that pissed me off because I was 16 and wanted to be an individual. So I started spelling my name different. I don't spell it like that anymore, but it's still kind of stuck with me as a username on forums and emails and that kind of thing.

[Nuala]

I don't know why but you stopped answering just after my welcome message, made me feel sad :'( So, like your previous challenge, the assassins will be checking on you, feel free to visit the guild! We have a lot of kettlebells users there.

[ApfelStrudi]

Kettlebell swings! Dancing as motivation! Must follow your progress!

 

If you want to stay motivated through your motivation - feel free to stop by at the Dance-Off Accountabilibuddy group

[Orphos]

Hi Jess! I wanted to say that I share a lot of your motivations and your post definitely made me think. I am also very excited about the prospect of being able to buy clothing at a store, or even *gasp* a thrift store, which I would really enjoy. 

 

I did a big push to stop eating out last year and I wanted to ask - do you have a plan for the alternate procurement of food? I find I eat out when I'm tired and it's late and there's nothing in the house. Do you cook, or are you going to cook and have leftovers to stop eating out? I adopted projects to learn to cook new (cheap) things, like dried beans and different (less expensive) odd cuts of meat, and it really helped. What's your take on non-eating out options? 

[Jessikuh]

I don't know why but you stopped answering just after my welcome message, made me feel sad :'( So, like your previous challenge, the assassins will be checking on you, feel free to visit the guild! We have a lot of kettlebells users there.

I'm so sorry, Nuala. I'll be completely honest, I checked out of my last thread, and the rest of NF like a week after I started. I didn't read your messages until yesterday. Like I said... problems with perseverance. Still, it was very rude. I hope you'll forgive me. Thanks for supporting me again, I would actually love to join the assassins after I train a little bit more.  

 

 

 

Kettlebell swings! Dancing as motivation! Must follow your progress!

 

If you want to stay motivated through your motivation - feel free to stop by at the Dance-Off Accountabilibuddy group

I've always wanted to dance! Music has always been a passion of mine, but dance has always eluded me. I like the idea of the freedom and expression through movement, but I can't get control over my body enough to get it moving the way I want it to. Someday though, someday.

 

 

 

Hi Jess! I wanted to say that I share a lot of your motivations and your post definitely made me think. I am also very excited about the prospect of being able to buy clothing at a store, or even *gasp* a thrift store, which I would really enjoy. 

 

I did a big push to stop eating out last year and I wanted to ask - do you have a plan for the alternate procurement of food? I find I eat out when I'm tired and it's late and there's nothing in the house. Do you cook, or are you going to cook and have leftovers to stop eating out? I adopted projects to learn to cook new (cheap) things, like dried beans and different (less expensive) odd cuts of meat, and it really helped. What's your take on non-eating out options? 

Thrift shopping! My friends and I were really big on this when we were in high school. Do you know how many clothes they sell in thrift stores in a size 18 that isn't a brightly patterned mumu? I'll give you a hint... nothing.

As far as cooking- I'm not super good at it, but I can manage. When I cook, I usually cook enough for the entire week so I'll have lunch when I go to work. I was doing pretty well a few months ago, but then I got lazy. I'll usually cook chicken breasts or lean ground turkey, an obscene amount of broccoli (mmmm ) and either some rice or a small potato or something like that. Or I'll make a spinach salad, top it with chicken and either homemade hummus or half an avocado. I've never been a huge fan of salad dressing. Other than that, I can make soup in my crockpot or turkey meatloaf, but that's about it. I need to learn to cook more.   Which is another advantage of this challenge. Do you have any suggestions?

[Nuala]

No worries! I'm just happy that you came back and this time let's make sure you won't disappear again! We would be happy to have you with us next challenge, so let's stay together

[Orphos]

 I'll usually cook chicken breasts or lean ground turkey, an obscene amount of broccoli (mmmm ) and either some rice or a small potato or something like that. Or I'll make a spinach salad, top it with chicken and either homemade hummus or half an avocado. I've never been a huge fan of salad dressing. Other than that, I can make soup in my crockpot or turkey meatloaf, but that's about it. I need to learn to cook more.   Which is another advantage of this challenge. Do you have any suggestions?

Suggestions? That all sounds delicious, and it all depends on what you like to eat! I'm a huge fan of cooking over the weekend and having leftovers/lunches for the week. My only suggestion is to include learning new cooking skills/recipes/habits in a challenge to eat out less. 

 

Personally, learning to cook delicious dried bean dishes (for Indian dahls, lentil soup, black bean tacos, hummus, duck fat beluga lentils, etc) was a real breakthrough for me, and reduced my food costs to pennies a meal at times, but legumes aren't for everyone! I tried to imitate the stuff that I was just _dying_ for from takeout places, and I'd experiment with allrecipes.com (great comments there and explanations of what went wrong or had to be adjusted in recipes). I leveled up my cooking by grinding on my favorite recipes until I had them the way I wanted them. Paying ~twenty bucks for a meal I could make at home for $3 really changed my feelings about eating out. I still do it when I'm exhausted/have a bad day etc, but I feel more able to make do for myself. At this point, I cook to relax. 

[Jessikuh]

Of course, Nuala! I'm sticking it out to the end this time. Promise.

 

 

 

 

Personally, learning to cook delicious dried bean dishes (for Indian dahls, lentil soup, black bean tacos, hummus, duck fat beluga lentils, etc) was a real breakthrough for me, and reduced my food costs to pennies a meal at times, but legumes aren't for everyone!

 

Hummus is like crack to me. That was one of those things that I started making myself because it's so freaking expensive storebought.  I've never tried lentils, though, but I've heard a lot of people say that they're like one of the healthiest things you can eat. Today's my grocery shopping day, I think I'll try them.

 

Well I just went for a run. I ain't going to lie- it wasn't pretty. It was actually a little chilly for April in Phoenix, so that wasn't too bad, but my allergies were absolutely killing it for me. I was a complete snotty mess after a mile and a half, so I turned around and came home. So I went 3 miles this morning, which I guess isn't so bad, but I was planning for 4. 

There was A LOT of people at the lake this morning. Lots of runners and cyclists, and people setting stuff up booths. I think some type of competition is going on.

[KB Girl]

Oh allergies Do they bother you during the whole summer or just a small part? Have you got any medication for it? 

Must be nice running around a lake!

[Jessikuh]

Oh allergies Do they bother you during the whole summer or just a small part? Have you got any medication for it? 

Must be nice running around a lake!

It is very nice. It's a manmade lake. Recently a few dragonboat teams have been training, it's been super cool to watch. My apartment is just god awful, but the location is fantastic. 

 

As far as allergies go... I haven't gotten them since I moved two years ago. 

I don't think what I have is allergies. It's been getting progressively worse over the weekend, and now my tonsils are inflamed and I have a 101.5 fever. Of course I get sick right before the first official day of my training.

I went to target and bought some cold medicine, crackers and tea. And Avengers popsicles. A little artificial I know, but good for the soul.

They even have jokes on them.

How did Julia stay cool during the baseball game?

[VTSPE772]

How did Julia stay cool during the baseball game?

Hope you feel better!  Answer to joke probably has something to do with being a "Fan"...>intrigued!<

[Lammis]

Seriously on this, PLEASE let me know if you want any help with easy recipes.  I wrote an entire cookbook of super simple but healthy recipes for a friend of mine and I'm happy to share.  

 

I also am a serious meal planner (which is one of my goals, to stick with it since I am seeing success but it's super hard to manage with baby/job/life) so I could easily post recipes/plans if anyone was interested.  I almost never eat out, but I do end up scrambling for meals and not using ingredients/buying duplicates, which I find irritating and wasteful.  

 

I've used this lentil soup recipe and it's fantastic.  But I use red lentils because it cuts down on the cooking time and looks prettier.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/02/vegan-lentil-soup.html?ref=search

 

I would also guess that the entire price on this lentil soup is maybe $5.  For the 5 person serving.  So...yeah.  That should help you put away some cash!  

 

Also, my user name is the name of my childhood cat.  My real name?  Also Jessica.  

[Jessikuh]

Went to the doctor this morning. I have an upper respiratory infection. So my training is going to be delayed a few days. Wonderful.

 

I forgot to buy lentils at the store! That lentil soup actually sounds pretty good, Lammis. It doesn't look the best, but the recipe sounds simple and filling. I like soup.

 

Despite a few popsicles and some watered down juice, I've actually eaten pretty healthily today. I defrosted some homemade chicken soup that I made and froze a few weeks ago. It was delicious.

[snowberry]

Love your goals and love your signature. Rainbows make me happy . Rest up, feel better, and just keep swimming.

[Lammis]

That's why I like the red lentils instead of the brown.  The brown looks bleh.  I swear it tastes great though...

And it's spring!  No reason to eat bleh looking food. 

 

If you have a little infection, maybe you can just do some walking or keeping active in a way that will help out in the long run?  Yin yoga?  Simple stretching?  It all counts, right?

[snowberry]

It all counts, right?

Exactly!

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