Mightynute's 6 Week Challenge

[Mightynute]

Fitness Goals:

1: Lose 10 pounds, putting me at 229 lbs as of Dec 5th.

2: Stick close to the paleo diet (at the very least, cutting out grains/bread, processed sugars, simple carbs, and especially soda pop) with no more than 5 "cheat" meals in the six weeks.

3: Stay on the Beginner's Body Weight Routine at least 4 days a week and stick with it for at least 20/24 days.

Non-Fitness Goal:

1: Complete my NaNoWriMo goal of 30,000 words from Nov 1 to Nov 30.

[Hrunter]

Your goals are measurable and well defined! Excited to work with you throughout the challenge!

[Mightynute]

Day 1 (10/24): Three eggs for breakfast, chicken/onion/bean stew for lunch, bacon/spinach/pepper frittata for dinner. DIET: 1/42

Day 2 - frittata for breakfast, stew in the bag for lunch. Beef/onions/peppers stir-fry on the agenda for dinner, plus the first run-through of the body weight routine tonight. Already starting to feel the "Man, you need to go grab a Dr Pepper" craving, but am sticking to water. Plus, dropping and doing 10 push-ups in my office every time I think I want to go grab a snack out of the vending machine makes for good conditioning.

UPDATE: Day 2 - frittata for breakfast, stew for lunch, last bit of eggs and bacon for dinner. Handful of unsalted almonds as snack. LOTS of water consumed through the day. DIET: 2/42.

Also completed the first run-through of the Beginner's Body Weight Routine. Oh man, talk about a measuring point.

Iteration 1: "Hey, this isn't too hard! I'm still in good shape!"

Iteration 2: "Whoo, okay, this is hitting me now. Just get through it."

Iteration 3: "OH MY GOD I HATE YOU STEVE PLEASE DIE..."

But I did make it through - with the caveat that on the last plank I had to break it into two 15-second planks, but I think that counts as a "Go" for the first time through. EXERCISE: 1/24.

[Mightynute]

Day 3 - two scrambled eggs with two strips turkey bacon for breakfast. Two small bratwurst sausages for lunch. Baked chicken breast for dinner. About 3 liters of water through the day. DIET: 3/42

Looking forward to next exercise benchmark tomorrow.

[Mightynute]

DAY 4: Rushed to get out the door, but had the presence of mind to grab two eggs and toss them in a tupperware container. Microwaved scrambled eggs at work - not going to retry THAT experiment again, ugh. Healthy lunch, steamed up some tilapia for dinner. Was feeling a bit low on energy at a few points during the day, should probably bring some carrots and peanut butter as a mid-afternoon pick-me up. DIET 4/42

Exercise: Made it through three reps of the Beginner's Body Weight Routine. My quads are screaming from the squats and lunges, but it felt easier than Tuesday's. Well, maybe not easier, but less "why are my muscles on fire?" ouch. EXERCISE: 2/24

So far, on track. Oddly, no cravings for soda pop today. Perhaps four days off is working to kick the habit. Also downed... wow, about 4 liters of water throughout the day. Having a small .5 liter water bottle makes it oddly easier to drink more, plus I have to walk down two flights of stairs to refill the bottle. Bonus exercise!

['Roos]

If you're doing strict paleo, peanuts are out (legumes). Also, if you're feeling tired, it's probably partly caffine, partly not enough fat. The diet relies on quite a lot of fat compared to your average 'diet'. Keep it up, dood.

[Mightynute]

Three days in a row of sticking to the diet - albeit allowing myself one beer and a Reese's cup at a Halloween party. Plus a double-day workout this weekend. Next week adds moving and lifting lots of boxes to the workout, so yay for practicality.

DIET: 7/42. Week 1 goal, met!

EXERCISE: 4/42. Week 1 goal, met!

Starting Tuesday, the NaNoWriMo goal goes live, with 1700 words daily as the goal. Plus, a second non-fitness goal has been added to the challenge:

CHALLENGE GOAL: Grow a totally awesome Mo'vember 'stache.

[Faline]

Looks like you started off strong!! Hope you second week is going as well

[Skirler]

Excellent work so far! Hope you are still doing well --- how 'bout an update??

[Mightynute]

DAY 12:

DIET: 12/42 - eating healthy so far has made me feel a lot better. Remembering to keep up calories has helped a lot with the initial feelings of tiredness, right now I'm at about 1500-1600 a day, and Monday's weigh-in should reflect some improvement.

EXERCISE: 5.5/24 - missed doing the body weight resistance workout yesterday, was moving stuff into new apartment. I figure that carting around electronic equipment and walking up and down stairs counts as half a workout.

NON-FITNESS: NaNoWriMo novel (7510/50000 - on target), Mo'Vember 'stache: 4 days and going!

[Mightynute]

DAY 14:

DIET: 13/42. Went out with friends this weekend, imbibed a bit too much.

EXERCISE: 7/24. Got workouts in yesterday and today, plus moving on Saturday. Lots of exercise in.

NON-FITNESS: Unfortunately, absolutely no writing got done this weekend. The Mo'vember 'stache, however, is doing well.

[Tocks]

Congrats on the progress! How's the body weight routine going?

I like the update on 11/4 that says "eating healthy so far has made me feel a lot better."

[Mightynute]

You know, there's something I noticed - and I know the whole "correlation does not imply causation" thing - but since cutting out soda, processed sugar, and switching to a simpler diet I haven't had a single incident of acid reflux. Which used to be a major issue for me, and I know the weight loss is helping with that as well, just from an engineering standpoint (less abdominal fat pressing on the stomach means less acid getting squeezed up into the esophagus) - but I no longer have the morning routine of "Wake up and immediately gargle with sodium bicarbonate".

The body weight routine is rougher than anticipated initially, but I'm adapting pretty well to it. I've increased the upright rows and the pushups from 10 to 15 per rep since those are easier exercises for me, and started really concentrating on form for the squats and lunges.

[Mightynute]

DAY 17:

DIET: 16/42. Sticking to the diet is getting easier as time goes by. Finding that cravings for soda and snacks have decreased greatly after two weeks.

EXERCISE: 8/24. Back on the Tues/Thurs/Sat/Sun rotation. Increasing pushups and upright rows from 10 to 15.

NON-FITNESS: The novel has petered out, so that's likely to be my failure goal. Nadgers. In better news, the tacky Mo'vember 'stache is awesome.

[Hrunter]

Consistent with the updates! Keep at it, the fact that the cravings are going is GREAT!

[bildungsroman]

Awesome news about the diet! As for the novel, at least you started, which is more than I have managed to do every November I said I'd try NaNoWriMo...