Big Adam lays a foundation

[Big Adam]

Hey Rebels!  It's been a while since I participated in a 6-week Challenge, but I know how important the support of others is when trying to accomplish something difficult.  For this challenge, I'll be mostly focusing on building good habits that will help me sustain healthy eating and make future goals easier.  Now then, the challenge!

 

Main Quest:

Lose Excess Body Fat.  Specifically, get a Flat Stomach.

Why: 2 reasons.  1) So I can look in the mirror with pride.  2)  It's something I've never been able to do. No matter how athletic I was, my body never looked like a fit person's body.  I feel it's a barrier I need to get over for my own confidence and personal growth.

 

Goal 1) Diet: No Sweets or Bread-based items.

Goal 2) Habit: Eat all meals/snacks at the dinner table.  No screens while eating.  Reading is ok but it still needs to be at the dinner table.

Goal 3) Habit: Cut down on Internet Browsing: Take 1/2 hr each day to check facebook, blogs, etc.  After that, only use internet for SPECIFIC tasks and don't browse.

 

Side Quest: Find an apartment and move out of Parent's house.  I've been working on this for a while so may as well make it an official side quest!

 

Grading:

Done on a week-by-week basis for each goal.  I'll average them up at the end.  A strike = 1 sweet; each meal or snack eaten in front of a screen; every half hour of Internet Browsing after the first.

A = 1 or fewer strikes in any goal (Ex: 1 sweet eaten on Wednesday but no others through the week = A grade for Goal 1)

B = 2 strikes

C = 3 strikes

D = 4 strikes

 

*Emergency extra credit:  Should I have a Really bad day where I eat all my meals in front of a screen and eat tons of Ice Cream and spend all day on computer, the rest of the week is not shot and I CANNOT use that day's failure to give up on the rest of the week.  If I get right back up the next day, I'm brought back up from a D to C.

 

Looking forward to the Challenge!  Should be awesome!  Also, guess who's signed up to go to Camp Nerd Fitness next fall?  This Guy!

[Countess D'If]

*Emergency extra credit: Should I have a Really bad day where I eat all my meals in front of a screen and eat tons of Ice Cream and spend all day on computer, the rest of the week is not shot and I CANNOT use that day's failure to give up on the rest of the week. If I get right back up the next day, I'm brought back up from a D to C.e*Emergency extra credit: Should I have a Really bad day where I eat all my meals in front of a screen and eat tons of Ice Cream and spend all day on computer, the rest of the week is not shot and I CANNOT use that day's failure to give up on the rest of the week. If I get right back up the next day, I'm brought back up from a D to C.

I have the WORST time with this! Good job building in a fail-safe!

[Big Adam]

Thanks.  In past attempts to make diet changes, I've noticed this tendency to say "screw it" once I mess up.  I'm hoping that this'll help buffer me against that

[Alanna]

Nice goals! I'm working on not eating in front of the computer this challenge, too (no TV, so that's not a possible distraction for me). I'll second that I like how you added a motivation for getting back on track the next day.

 

Camp NF should be very fun (and great motivation)!

[Omega v1.1]

Hi Big Adam,

 

I'm trying to shift some of the excess bf on this challenge too! I really like your built in fail-safe, it means you can have a bit of a slip-up without feeling like you've screwed it all up and then give up on it all. It'll help you focus on what you want to accompish in the long term which is where you'll get the real results you want.

 

Good luck!

[JuiceeTarget]

Researchers call it something like the "Hell With It" effect. People will tend to actually eat more than they would normally if they say "To hell with it" after a small to medium setback. Building in a bounce back mechanism for that is very smart.

[Big Adam]

Hey All! I'll post a proper update at the end of the week, but so far it's been so good!  I feel like I could use some sort of tracking mechanism for the internet browsing time.  Does anyone know of any programs you can download that track your time spent on certain sites?  I'd like to actually track the amount of time I have Facebook, gaming sites, and blogs (even Nerdfitness) open instead of estimating it the way I am now.

[Big Adam]

Week 1 Update!

 

It's been a good week.  This was my first full week back at work after the Christmas and New Year's break, but it was surprisingly calm. No explosion of work from clients or giant email backlog from my time away.  Pleasant surprise.  And besides that, I already finished my side-quest!  I took off work on Wednesday to look at apartments, found one I loved, and signed the lease on Friday!  Come the first weekend of February, I'll be moving into a sweet 1-bedroom apartment in Phoenixville, PA!  Bye-bye Mom n' Dad and Hello World!  Big Adam's comin' at ya!

 

Now then, onto the goals:

 

Goal 1) Diet: No Sweets or Bread-based items.  - A

Nailed it.  Surprisingly not all that tough.  Funny how making a formal public declaration of your goals makes things easier.  I ate so much ice cream and other junk over the break, but it wasn't all that hard to switch back to fruit, carrots, and other healthy snacks.  On a related note, I made myself some "ice cream" on Saturday night with frozen bananas, greek yogurt, and peanut butter and it was fantastic.

 

Goal 2) Habit: Eat all meals/snacks at the dinner table.  No screens while eating.  Reading is ok but it still needs to be at the dinner table.   - B

I didn't eat any snacks in front of screens, which I'm pretty proud of.  And I ate almost everything at the dinner table.  It's funny how those old habits stick though.  I caught myself a few times this weekend snagging a chicken cutlet or a carrot from the fridge and munching it while wandering around the house.  Gotta keep on it and break that habit.  I've found that mindless, bored eating has led me down unhealthy paths in the past.

 

Goal 3) Habit: Cut down on Internet Browsing: Take 1/2 hr each day to check facebook, blogs, etc.  After that, only use internet for SPECIFIC tasks and don't browse. - A

Even including Nerdfitness and Art of Manliness.  It's funny how now that I've restricted the amount of time I spend browsing, I actually have the attention span to read and digest the articles that I do end up reading because I don't have the time to just mindlessly tool around the internet.

 

Side Quest: Find an apartment and move out of Parent's house.  I've been working on this for a while so may as well make it an official side quest!  Ch-Ch-Check!

I'll need to come up with a new sidequest.  Maybe buy a car...

[Alanna]

Great first week--congrats on the new apartment!

[Big Adam]

Time for a Week 2 Update!

 

Goal 1) Diet: No Sweets or Bread-based items.  - A

Success!  Funny anecdote: I told my brother that I was doing a challenge for myself by not eating any sweets for 6 weeks and he looked at me like I was crazy.  He's actually considerably leaner and maybe a little more muscular than I am despite not having the best diet.  Lucky bum.

 

Goal 2) Habit: Eat all meals/snacks at the dinner table.  No screens while eating.  Reading is ok but it still needs to be at the dinner table.   - C (using Extra Credit)

I was feeling kind of crappy on Wednesday and Friday night and just felt like sitting back, watching some anime, and munching on something.  I had a couple of apples and some peanut butter.  Saturday and Sunday though, I got back up and kept everything at the dinner table.

 

Goal 3) Habit: Cut down on Internet Browsing: Take 1/2 hr each day to check facebook, blogs, etc.  After that, only use internet for SPECIFIC tasks and don't browse. - A

I downloaded a program called "RescueTime" yesterday.  It's supposed to track the amount of time you spend on designated "Distracting Sites" vs "Productive Sites", so I'm hoping to use this to accurately measure how much time I spend browsing.

[Alanna]

Nice week 2! I might have to check out that internet time tracking program--thanks for sharing.

[Big Adam]

Wow! Already half way through the challenge! I feel like it just started.

 

3 Weeks Down (Not to be confused with 3 Doors Down).  3 more to go.

 

Goal 1)  B

Goal 2)  B

 

I had one strike for each of these on the same night.  Wednesday night found me feeling crappy.  I let myself get bored and didn't really try to do anything.  I tend to get into a funk when I let myself get bored like that.  Anyway, I had a bowl of Ice cream while watching some Anime.  Ice Cream is such a comfort food for me.  Got back up and killed the rest of the week though! I can live with one strike.

 

Goal 3) A

According to RescueTime, I only spent an hour TOTAL on distracting sites this week.  I'm not sure how accurate that is since it thought that Nerdfitness was a business site and categorized it as "very productive".  I'm still figuring the categories out.  BUT, from my own estimation, I spent very little time aimlessly cruising around the web and I've almost always gone online for a specific purpose.

[Alanna]

Goal 3) A

According to RescueTime, I only spent an hour TOTAL on distracting sites this week.  I'm not sure how accurate that is since it thought that Nerdfitness was a business site and categorized it as "very productive".  I'm still figuring the categories out.  BUT, from my own estimation, I spent very little time aimlessly cruising around the web and I've almost always gone online for a specific purpose.

 

I had to laugh at the "very productive" rating. I guess it's a business site for Steve Kamb!

 

Great job on the first half of the challenge--keep killing your goals!

[Big Adam]

Thanks! Looks like you're kicking some major tail in your challenge too!  I'm impressed that you're adding conditioning work alongside your strength training.  That's tough.  Right now I have my weekly pick-up Soccer game to keep my endurance up, but I'm going to need to find something new once I move.

[Alanna]

Thanks! Looks like you're kicking some major tail in your challenge too!  I'm impressed that you're adding conditioning work alongside your strength training.  That's tough.  Right now I have my weekly pick-up Soccer game to keep my endurance up, but I'm going to need to find something new once I move.

 

Thanks! It's felt pretty natural to tag some short conditioning work onto the end of my strength workouts--piggy-backing on the established habit helps. Soccer sounds like a fun way to get in some cardio. I used to play it with my friends waaaay back in elementary and middle school.

 

How's the moving prep going?

[Big Adam]

Thanks! It's felt pretty natural to tag some short conditioning work onto the end of my strength workouts--piggy-backing on the established habit helps. Soccer sounds like a fun way to get in some cardio. I used to play it with my friends waaaay back in elementary and middle school.

 

How's the moving prep going?

 

Moving Prep's going great!  I'm getting really excited.  A bunch of my friends from back home are going to help with the move, so I should be able to get set up fairly quickly.  I'm excited to delve into the programs available in the area.  I scoped out the area with google maps and it looks like there are a few gyms and a dancing studio near my new place.  Those will definitely be worth checking out

[Big Adam]

Feels like it's time for a Weekly Update! 

 

Goal 1) Diet: C  

Wah Wah Waaaah.  Three Strikes all on the same day.  I was winding up for a perfect week but let myself get bored on Saturday.  Is Boredom everyone's trigger for their bad habits? Because it definitely is for me.  I scarfed down two mugs of ice cream and then some cereal later.  The old stomach wasn't too happy with me later in the day.

 

Goal 2) All food at Dinner Table: A

Goal 3) Cut down on Internet Browsing: A

RescueTime Weekly Summary: 1 hr 47 min on Distracting Sites for the whole week. Yay Productivity!

[Alanna]

Feels like it's time for a Weekly Update! 

 

Goal 1) Diet: C  

Wah Wah Waaaah.  Three Strikes all on the same day.  I was winding up for a perfect week but let myself get bored on Saturday.  Is Boredom everyone's trigger for their bad habits? Because it definitely is for me.  I scarfed down two mugs of ice cream and then some cereal later.  The old stomach wasn't too happy with me later in the day.

 

Goal 2) All food at Dinner Table: A

Goal 3) Cut down on Internet Browsing: A

RescueTime Weekly Summary: 1 hr 47 min on Distracting Sites for the whole week. Yay Productivity!

 

 

I have to be careful not to eat when I'm bored, too--although school and lifting are keeping me busy enough that that's not much of a problem these days! Maybe next challenge you can have a goal aimed towards replacing boredom grazing with a different habit (drinking tea, going for a walk, reading...)?

 

Despite the off day on Saturday, it sounds like last week went well--keep it up!

[Big Adam]

Thanks Alanna.  I think you're right.  Going after that grazing/snacking habit is going to be a big thing for me.  I'm trying to chisel away at it bit-by-bit.  This challenge was "no snacks in front of screens", next challenge might be "no snacks outside of meal times" or maybe "no snacks unless you're ACTUALLY hungry and not just bored"

[Big Adam]

Whew! This weekend was so busy that I never posted an update!  I moved on Saturday and am now enjoying my own personal apartment!  The move in went fairly quickly.  I recruited three of my friends from back home to help with the moving and two of them had big pickup trucks.  With those plus my parent's van, we were able to move everything in one trip and with four fairly-strong 20-somethings, the loading and unloading went fairy quickly.  The first thing I did after getting all settled in?  Food shopping.  My kitchen is now well stocked with paleo foods.  Meat, eggs, lots of veggies, and no ice cream or other sugary treats lying around to tempt me!  I am super-stoked.  Now I just need to find a gym...

 

Now for the weekly update!

 

Goal 1) Diet: C  

Odd, I really thought this would be the easy one since I did a more difficult food restriction over the summer.  I cheated a few times this week with cereal.  Better than ice cream certainly, but still short of my goals.  I'm hoping that staying away from crappy foods will be easier now that I have control over what's in my kitchen.

Goal 2) All food at Dinner Table: A

Goal 3) Cut down on Internet Browsing: A

 

The home stretch is coming up! (Although I guess I'm already partway into it)  One more week of the challenge left and I'm planning to kill it!

[Big Adam]

Week 6 Recap:

 

Goal 1) Diet: C  

My Birthday was this past week so naturally I ended up going out with some friends and family a few times.  They got dessert and I didn't have the restraint to not get some myself.

Goal 2) All food at Dinner Table: D

Whoops.  Not sure exactly why I caved on this so badly this week.  I snacked a bunch while watching "Band of Brothers" on Amazon (which is great, btw).  It was all healthy stuff, but it was also mindless eating.  

Goal 3) Cut down on Internet Browsing: A

 

So ends my second challenge!  I didn't do as well as I hoped, but I ate MUCH better and was happier and more productive during this 6 week period than I was before.  So I call this a win

[Alanna]

Nice progress, congrats on the new place, and happy birthday! Good luck finding a gym, too--is there anything in particular you want to do for your gym workouts?

[Big Adam]

I'm not sure what I want to do with my workouts right now.  In the fall, I was doing a version of 5x5 Stronglifts (I had to do front squats instead of back squats due to limited equipment).  I saw some good strength gains from that, but in December I lost access to the gym I'd been using.  After that I still lifted weights, but I was just using my set at home for strength maintenance since the weight didn't go very high.  Now that I've moved out, I'm not sure which direction I want to go.  I was planning to join a gym and continue the Stronglifts but now I'm not sure.  I joined a Martial Arts club in town and now I'm feeling like bodyweight exercises might be better.  I don't know why, but I associate martial arts with bodyweight stuff.  Maybe I'm wrong.  I'd also like to increase my range of motion and mobility so I feel like BW exercises may be more helpful in that respect as well.  I'm also kind of frugal so I like the idea of just working out at home without paying for a gym membership.  I've heard that Convict Conditioning is the go to book for bodyweight stuff so I'm planning to give that a read and see how far I can progress down that road.