[RxLady] is going to C-II another challenge!

[RxLady]

I can't believe challenge #2 is already here! I am excited to be a part of the adventurers this time around after having learned much from my Red Pill buddies.  

 

Main quest: %5 body weight loss which is ~9 lbs.  I have stopped trying to cram all the weight loss into these six weeks, but this is my short term goal.  I think my total weight loss goal is closer to 30 lbs, but I wanted to start a bit at a time. 

 

Quest 1:  Continue training with YAYOG for strength training (already done with week 1 out of 10) 4 days a week (or 5 days a week, when the program advances for week 6).  +4 STR, +1 STA possible. 

 

20-25 workouts: +4 STR, +1 STA

15-19 workouts: +3 STR, +1 STA

11-14 workouts: +2 STR, +1 STA

8-11   workouts: +1 STR, +0 STA

< 8 workouts: No points

 

Quest 2: Complete at least 2 yoga workouts per week (preferably on off days from YAYOG, but not mandatory).  +3 DEX possible. 

Now I just need to find a good Yoga manual... or check out some more of www.doyogawithme.com

(10/15) I am editing quest 2 for the remainder of the challenge - my friend recently posted a Thanksgiving 5K and I might participate, so I am going to allow either jogging OR yoga on my off days for the last 2 weeks so I can start getting ready for a 5K.  

 

9-12 sessions: +3 DEX

7-9 sessions: +2 DEX

5-7 sessions: +1 DEX

<5 sessions: No points

 

Quest 3: Track all food on MFP and aim for 1850 calories daily (based on Mark Lauren calculator with YAYOG challenge).  +4 CON possible.  This is going to be very tough for me as I tend to get REALLY bored consistently tracking meals. 

 

For each week completed (at least 6 out of 7 days), +1 CON awarded up to a max of +4 CON. 

 

Life Quest:  Complete TWO chapters of testing study material for this pharmacy test that I keep putting off in my head.  But to more I read the material, maybe the more comfortable I will get with signing up for it. +3 WIS possible, if both chapters complete.

(10/15) I am editing this quest to include the journal club presentation I researched and presented as a substitute for one of the chapters.  I will still finish the other chapter and maybe START a second one before the 6 weeks is up.

 

I will try to keep applying what I've accomplished in the first challenge, although I may do less jogging. I am still on the fence about jogging (I like it, but not sure the benefits are all there...)  I will try to keep up a paleo meal a day (although in my world some beans and dairy are OK, but in pretty moderate amounts). 

 

As a side note, I turn 30 while this challenge is going on, so I am hoping to look awesome for my birthday a month from now.  

 

And lastly, I promise I will quit with the pharmacy puns when I find some more of my nerd-self to put out there, but for now, it's my theme.

 

Happy 2nd Challenge!  

[Aces3000]

Subbed! Awesome goals! They look a lot like mine - as you pointed out. ;-) I look forward to following your progress and helping each other out!

[Balthazar]

I found you at last!!!

[RxLady]

So day 1 and 2 have been just fine. 

 

Day 1 was week 2 day 1 of YAYOG.  Upper body workout and my numbers were very similar to past, a bit low if anything for working on form.  All calories tracked on MFP. 

 

Day 2 - rest day. Woof. Doubling back at work isn't terrible, but it does take it's toll.  Did a 2 mile walk with the Zoe Beast and tracked all my calories.

 

Now, 1850 is my goal for calories, based on YAYOG, but do you HAVE to eat that many? or that is your max?  I am finding I am overall satisfied not eating that much and I feel that sometimes the calories I track might be underestimated in MFP, so I try to track UNDER 1850... I know you are supposed to eat your RMR worth of calories, but could use some feedback. 

 

And speaking of battle gear, I kind of want these yoga socks....

 

 

Now time for the second Thor movie with the hubby.  

[Aces3000]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like you're off to a great start with this challenge! 

I'm not sure about MFP and tracking calories. I'm sure that my counts have been off most days. I'm just trying to get the best estimate for each day that I can and not go over the calorie limit. I'm trying not to sweat it that much, and use it as a guide. It's helped me make better choices because I may want to eat something and I'll think "do I really want to blow X calories on that today?" So that has been a benefit I hadn't expected.

[Balthazar]

MFP tends to come under how many calories you actually have eaten so I wouldn't worry too much

 

Also as long as your calories are coming from veg, fruit and meat freshly prepared at home rather than out of a packet or restaurant then I wouldn't worry too much

[Ryoko]

Finally!! I found you. Subbed of course.

 

Awesome goals - I look forward to following you again. ^.^

 

And I love toesox! I have several pairs. I highly recommend them.

[RxLady]

Finally!! I found you. Subbed of course.

 

Awesome goals - I look forward to following you again. ^.^

 

And I love toesox! I have several pairs. I highly recommend them.

 

Glad to see you stop by!  Always glad to have someone who has actually used a product recommend. That's how I bought my new vacuum today! (completely non-fitness related, but whatever. )

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Today was a YAYOG day - workout of back lunges, one-legged romanian deadlifts, squats and swimmers completed.  My thighs are still really sore... is this normal? Will they stop feeling like they've been hit by a Mack truck soon? 

 

Also have tracked with MFP through lunch.  Haven't had dinner yet, but will track.

 

And walked three miles today with the pooch.

[Ryoko]

Glad to see you stop by!  Always glad to have someone who has actually used a product recommend. That's how I bought my new vacuum today! (completely non-fitness related, but whatever. )

 

Haha that's how I bought my vacuum too!

[Feowyn]

Hello there!  1-You're avatar is adorable, 2- Another YAYOGer!  I don't follow it exactly because I wasn't sure if I could progress at that rate, but most of the individual exercises I do come from there. Your goals compliment each other well. Sounds like a great plan.

[RxLady]

Hello there!  1-You're avatar is adorable, 2- Another YAYOGer!  I don't follow it exactly because I wasn't sure if I could progress at that rate, but most of the individual exercises I do come from there. Your goals compliment each other well. Sounds like a great plan.

 

Why thank you!  I do love some Star Wars and Princess Leia is a kick-ass kinda girl, you know??  

 

Glad to see a fellow YAYOGer stop in here! (totally stealing your new noun btw... )  Don't forget that you really only progress as much as you like... Each exercise can be modified, and I think it's the time and the consistency that counts the most! 

 

Thanks for checking out my challenge! 

[RxLady]

Day 4

 

Completed my YAYOG training for the day - I feel like my form on these exercises is getting much better.  And luckily my thigh soreness has gone way down!  Maybe I just needed to ask when it was going to get better, as a cue to the universe or something...

 

Also did 34 minutes of yoga today and it felt awesome to stretch out.  I did a video through www.doyogawithme.com and found out that the videos are chromecast compatible!  This made my day, as now I can cast them in my living room. And with so many videos to choose from, this will be great. 

 

MFP calories tracked for the day.  I tried to track pretty liberally and I am still under by 230 for today... Maybe a nice piece of dark chocolate is in my future...

 

Lastly, walked the Zoe for a mile. And she gave my foot a good bath during my yoga lunge, so even she participated.  

[Balthazar]

lol glad to hear she is getting involved

[Teros]

I am still on the fence about jogging (I like it, but not sure the benefits are all there...)

The best workout is the one you do.  There are a whole slew of benefits and drawbacks and blahblahblah for any workout system. What should matter is if you like it and feel passionate about it. If you do- stick with it. If you don't- there's no harm in trying out other things. My 'gateway' workout was using sledgehammers over a year ago and I still use them once in a while.

 

 

And speaking of battle gear, I kind of want these yoga socks....

...Those are so frigging weird.  Have fun with 'em.

 

Good luck and have a great time this challenge!

[RxLady]

The best workout is the one you do.  There are a whole slew of benefits and drawbacks and blahblahblah for any workout system. What should matter is if you like it and feel passionate about it. If you do- stick with it. If you don't- there's no harm in trying out other things. My 'gateway' workout was using sledgehammers over a year ago and I still use them once in a while.

 

 

...Those are so frigging weird.  Have fun with 'em.

 

Good luck and have a great time this challenge!

 

Hi Teros!  Thanks for stopping by! 

 

I tend to agree with your statement about exercise.  I do enjoy running, but I think for now my interests are more peaked with bodyweight exercises. But I do hate that feeling after not running for a while, and then starting OVER at working on endurance and getting back up to the distances I was at before.  But I could drive myself crazy thinking about it, so I'll just keep doing SOMETHING.  

[RxLady]

Day 5

 

No official workouts today.  Rest day from YAYOG and I didn't do any yoga today.

 

I did end up walking 3 miles with Zoe (and hubby for 2 of them).  All calories tracked in MFP - just under goal for the day.  

 

Short and sweet today. 

[Teros]

Hi Teros!  Thanks for stopping by! 

 

I tend to agree with your statement about exercise.  I do enjoy running, but I think for now my interests are more peaked with bodyweight exercises. But I do hate that feeling after not running for a while, and then starting OVER at working on endurance and getting back up to the distances I was at before.  But I could drive myself crazy thinking about it, so I'll just keep doing SOMETHING.

What I did was in order to feel well-rounded; I would have a 'base' workout and a 'free mode' workout.

  The base always was something I felt I should work on. The free mode was extra that I wanted to have fun with- no tracking, no limit. That kept me engaged instead of felling like I had to do this, and this, and this.

 

For a while, this was my setup:

 

Base:

Walk the dog for 2.2 miles

Sets of pushups (+1 extra each workout)

Sets of lunges (+1 extra each workout)

 

Free Mode (could be any of the following):

Sledgehammer - Killswitch

Sledgehammer - Butter Churn

Sledgehammer - Chop Wood

Sledgehammer - Shoveling

Sledgehammer - Barbarian Stabs

Sledgehammer - Hitting a tractor tire

Kettelbell - Russian Twists

Kettelbell - Bent-over rows

Kettelbell - Shrugs

Kettelbell - Kettel swings

Kettelbell - Farmer's Walks

Bar - Bent-over rows

Bar - Incline Pull-up attempts

Bodyweight - Dips

[RxLady]

What I did was in order to feel well-rounded; I would have a 'base' workout and a 'free mode' workout.

  The base always was something I felt I should work on. The free mode was extra that I wanted to have fun with- no tracking, no limit. That kept me engaged instead of felling like I had to do this, and this, and this.

 

For a while, this was my setup:

 

Base:

Walk the dog for 2.2 miles

Sets of pushups (+1 extra each workout)

Sets of lunges (+1 extra each workout)

 

Free Mode (could be any of the following):

Sledgehammer - Killswitch

Sledgehammer - Butter Churn

Sledgehammer - Chop Wood

Sledgehammer - Shoveling

Sledgehammer - Barbarian Stabs

Sledgehammer - Hitting a tractor tire

Kettelbell - Russian Twists

Kettelbell - Bent-over rows

Kettelbell - Shrugs

Kettelbell - Kettel swings

Kettelbell - Farmer's Walks

Bar - Bent-over rows

Bar - Incline Pull-up attempts

Bodyweight - Dips

 

 

You know, the more people talk about sledgehammers the more I want to learn how to use them for exercise/weight training.... I don't know why, but they remind me of the workouts that the guys had to do to get crazy buff for the 300 movies - flipping tractor tires, lifting stuff, hitting things... that all looks so interesting and different!  I'm not sure I would say "fun" but it looks kinda fun!  

 

I like your set up -the combo of the "base" and the "free mode".  I will keep this in the back of my mind when planning my own workouts.  Thanks for the ideas! 

[Aces3000]

It's been a busy few days for me so I've only spent a little time on NF. Finally had a chance to catch up. Great job on your goals this week! Thanks for the updates - I should be able to check in a bit more next week.

[Feowyn]

End of the week and still going strong    

[RxLady]

It's been a busy few days for me so I've only spent a little time on NF. Finally had a chance to catch up. Great job on your goals this week! Thanks for the updates - I should be able to check in a bit more next week.

 

No problem!  Gotta take care of life stuff and your own challenge first, so I appreciate you stopping by!  Thanks for the love.  

 

End of the week and still going strong    

 

So far so good! Thanks for checking in.  

[RxLady]

Day 7:

 

Yoga early today before hosting a barbeque.  It was about 35 minutes.  I am loving the doyogawithme site.  

 

Starting week 3 of YAYOG tomorrow!  Eek!  Excited but a little nervous for intervals. 

 

I did track my calories today but I must admit it was a bit of a cop out.  Between hosting and prepping food and everything else going on, I didn't really eat breakfast or dinner, but one big lunch and a little bit of afternoon grazing. So I counted all my calories as spent and am calling it a day.  I didn't really make too bad of food choices, although there were some mini pumpkin pies to be found.  But I had a homemade veggie burger (quite healthy actually), some potato salad, a veggie chip dip with a handful of chips... 2 beers. so I think considering it was a party, I did pretty well.  And proud I still got my yoga in for the day. 

 

Week 2 comin' right up! 

[Balthazar]

That's a good effort considering it was a party. I always say it isn't always about how much good you can do but how well you can stay away from the bad stuff

[RxLady]

Sorry folks, couple days behind.  

 

Monday: YAYOG - great push workout, starting week 3! All calories tracked on MFP.

 

Tuesday: YAYOG again, this time legs, day 2 of week three. All calories tracked on MFP. 

 

Wednesday: Rest day from YAYOG, but did 30 minutes of yoga.  Wanted to do more, but my headache took over and I needed to stop, which is where I am right about now.  So, going to go see about that. 

 

Better updates to come! This week has been a little crazy with my work schedule... 

[RxLady]

Day 11:

 

Week 3, Day 3 of YAYOG

LMIs (90 degree bend, overhand) - 12/12/12 (2 second pause on top for 2nd and 3rd sets)

LMUs - 8/8/7

LMIs (slight bend, underhand) - 12/12/12

Towel Curls - 12/12/12

 

Had a lovely walk with the pooch this morning.  Wisconsin is pretty in Autumn.   

 

Also, came down to my Let Me Ups table and found it like this. Gotta love those projects, thanks hubby.   

 

Calories tracked through lunch today - planning to track for dinner too, as I have the day off and have no excuse.