My "can you even finish anything" challenge

[Cienfuegos]

Even though I've been on the forums for a while and entered into a couple challenges before...I've never finished a challenge. That's why I'm posting in the recruit. Best way to get better is to break it down to the basics

I'm going to be very aggressive on this challenge because of what it means if I fail completely. Basically I just got a ticket to Camp Nerd Fitness....if I don't meet some goals by then I'm not going. I'll have paid $900 for nothing. Soooooo basically I need to not waste that much money. So without further ado

Goal 1:
Lose 20lbs of weight.
I know that weight goals are hard. Especially if you're working out and stuff that can be difficult to accomplish. And even more so 20lbs in 6 weeks??!! Am I crazy? Am I going to die? What's going to happen...
Actually a long time ago I changed my diet and didn't start working out and lost 26lbs in 6 weeks.
Long term goal:
To be able to weigh myself on my scale at home. It tops out at 325. So I have 40lbs to lose in just over 17 weeks. That's when camp starts. If I fail to achieve this I won't go to camp (unless there's a legitimate reason why I have lost the weight. I'll address that when the time comes if necessary)

Goal 2:
Follow 80/20 protocol on diet. 80% of my calories will be from everything except dairy, legumes, and grains of any kind. 20% will encompass the rest. Basically keep track of my food and see if I have kept to that.
Long term goal:
Eat at fast food no more than once every pay day after the challenge is over. I get paid every two weeks and I think that's an acceptable amount of time to go between bad food. If I fail to do this I won't go to Camp.

Goal 3:
Figure out some type of money saving strategy that actually allows me to save money. I'm horrible with saving. Not in a "oh I have $300 I don't have any money" way but in a "oh I have 43 cents...what can I buy?" Way. Its very hard for me. Which also makes it hard for me to cook at home because I'm lazy and if I have some money then I'm more likely to spend it on food eating out than I am saving it. So by the end of the challenge I want to have a system in place that saves my money (automatic bank draft to another account doesn't really work for me. Since I have access to that as well)

Long term goal:
Have one of my Capitol one credit cards paid off. Obviously the one with higher balance will be the harder one to pay off...but it's currently the only one that I have that charges interest on it. So that's my goal. This challenge isn't a make or break challenge. It's just one I hope to accomplish in the next 17 weeks.


So in conclusion also called TL;dr:
Goal 1: lose 20lbs of body weight by the end of the challenge.
Long term goal associated with this: lose 40lbs in 17 weeks...total of 2.35lbs per week.
Goal 2: adhere to 80/20 diet. Track all calories to make it easier to be yelled at over the internet if I mess up.
Long term associated with this: eat fast food only once per paycheck.
Goal 3: figure out this money thing. I happen to make fairly good money and my bills are pretty low...so where does all my money go (hey that rhymed. Awesome).
Long term: pay off a credit card. Preferably the one with highest balance as it's the one that charges the most.

[KenTheBrave]

Welcome to the Forums DarkKent! I like that your goals are diverse and cover a lot of bases. Making them known is the first step! But don't forget to have some way of measuring yourself and grading your progress. 

 

I've struggled with money and cooking myself. One thing that has been a godsend to me is a website called the Minimalist Baker. Not sure how much of a health nut you are, but the recipes on there tend to be vegetarian/vegan. What I love about this site though is that they break up the recipes by complexity. They have ones that only take 30 minutes, ones that only use one pot (yay for not having a bunch of dishes to clean!), and my favorite, ones that only use 7 ingredients! It makes shopping and prep soooo much easier. Give it a shot and let me know how you like it!

 

I also found another site called You Need a Budget that gives some great guidelines to getting your spending under control. I still have a lot of debt to tackle myself, and I'm trying to pay for a wedding this year, but these have helped curb my impulsive 'ooooh shiny!' spending. There are also some great articles on Life Hacker to start tackling debt that I've found pretty useful.

 

Sorry for the word vomit   glad to have you with us!! Good luck! 

[Cienfuegos]

Thank you ken! I'll definitely take a look at those websites. The diet I'm going to be using is going to be very very sparse in any grain products. So hopefully they have something on that website I can still bake. I found an amazing biscuit recipe using coconut flour and tapioca starch. It's delicious and chewy.

As far as measuring/grading. I am taking before pics and some basic tape measure measurements. Also my scale will obviously be used in this challenge. It's not typically good to use a scale.

[KenTheBrave]

Thank you ken! I'll definitely take a look at those websites. The diet I'm going to be using is going to be very very sparse in any grain products. So hopefully they have something on that website I can still bake. I found an amazing biscuit recipe using coconut flour and tapioca starch. It's delicious and chewy.

As far as measuring/grading. I am taking before pics and some basic tape measure measurements. Also my scale will obviously be used in this challenge. It's not typically good to use a scale.

I've heard that there are a lot of gluten free replacements out there. I've not tried any so I couldn't give you any recommendations unfortunately, but a friend of ours has chromes disease and she says they're pretty good when she's used them.

 

I totally agree about the scale. It's a small part of overall fitness and it can be discouraging to not see it move the way you want it to    

[ElemHH]

Hey DarkKent,

 

I just wanted to pass on some advice that I heard on a podacst (on the page) a couple of years ago. Chip Chinery was giving advice to writers with debt, he said that people always focus on their biggest debt first (understandable), but he advises people to actually pay off their smallest debt first. When it is paid off, they should then use the money that would have been used on the lowest debt and add that to the payments for the second smallest debt. Keep doing this with all of your debts and by the time you reach your biggest debt, you will pay it off much faster as you will be paying much more monthly than you could have before.

 

Good luck with your goals

[Blaidd]

I would caution against making losing weight a quest.  I know it's your end result, but your quests should all aid towards that goal i.e. working out or eating right.  

 

Also weight is a tricksy bastard e.g. i have lost almost 10cm around my waist (that's 4 inches about) and not more than 2kg (+-/4lbs) off the scale.  That doesn't seem right?  I've lost weight, i'm wearing smaller clothes and i feel great, but that's not what the scale says. Inches and body fat percentages are much more reliable measurements. 

 

You might notice that someone has added a tag to your post.  This is not to box you into a corner but rather because your goals or lifestyle have links to the guild you've been tagged and we'd like to bring you to the attention of one of their guild ambassadors. These ambassadors will be able to offer you advice, encouragement and support on your goals.  You don't even have to wait around for them to come introduce themselves to you, you are more than welcome to pop into the Adventurers' board and introduce yourself to the guildies there. I am also around to answer any questions that you might have so do not hesitate to PM me.

 

Good Luck with your challenge

AB xx

[KenTheBrave]

Hey DarkKent,

 

I just wanted to pass on some advice that I heard on a podacst (on the page) a couple of years ago. Chip Chinery was giving advice to writers with debt, he said that people always focus on their biggest debt first (understandable), but he advises people to actually pay off their smallest debt first. When it is paid off, they should then use the money that would have been used on the lowest debt and add that to the payments for the second smallest debt. Keep doing this with all of your debts and by the time you reach your biggest debt, you will pay it off much faster as you will be paying much more monthly than you could have before.

 

Good luck with your goals

That's really smart! Thanks for letting us in on that. Do you happen to remember that article?

[Cienfuegos]

Debt:

The reason I'm going after the big one first is because it's currently the only one I have that is charging interest...so it's the one that will keep getting bigger the longer I ignore it. And it's only $200 or so bigger than the smaller one.

Scale:

I know weight isn't a good indicator of getting healthy...I know I have over 100lbs to lose. I'm a big guy. My doctor even told me I needed to lose over 100lbs. But of course If the scale says I lost 10lbs but I'm wearing a 2x instead of my normal 4x...I'm counting that as a win. But that's why I'm focused on weight instead of size...because I KNOW I can lose 100lbs...I don't know if I can lose 3 shirt sizes. I also have no way of checking my body fat that doesn't cost money (unless I do the online measuring things that are semi-accurate). You know what I mean?

Thank you all for posting advice! I take all of it to heart and nothing is off limits or anything. I'm not the kind of person that sugarcoats anything. Some people like it some people don't lol.

[Cienfuegos]

Day one:

Diet was good today. I accidentally didn't eat very much... But for dinner I had fried pork chops (in seasoned coconut flour) and steamed asparagus and lemon garlic aioli.

Exercise...30 minutes of beginning yoga in which I was drenched in sweat afterwards. Only ~3500 steps (according to my Fitbit). We were slow at work today and that usually means standing around a bit more than usual...so that's something I have to learn to work on. When we're slow there's no reason I can't get a workout in! Lol. I did do some push-ups using a counter at work and tried to stretch my hamstrings since they tend to give me the most trouble while doing yoga.

Things I've learned:

Eat more...just makes it easier to live life.

Try to move more. I can't lose weight if I don't move.

[Eskcanta]

Hi Kent!  Cheering you on and glad to share my first challenge together with this focused challenge of yours, though we've set our goals quite differently.  I am so glad and proud of you that you're fitting exercise into slow worktime.  I strive to do that too.

 

What Blaidd mentioned, the changes to her body but not the scale, that has happened to me too recently.  I don't know how common it is.  I don't even know if this is a reasonable question to ask you, and I hope you forgive if it isn't, but  do you have any interest in considering yourself as maybe being okay and allowed to go to the camp if you get great gains in your health, wellbeing, coordination, balance, clothing fitting more looser, you can -tell- you are getting into better shape.... but the scale itself is not being your friend and showing the specific results you decided to see?

 

The actual challenge doesn't start for another dayish....  I am surprised, interested, and excited that you are risking that much money on your goals, and I -really- want to see you succeed.  I hope you will consider that you could possibly earn the right to that prize through a means that doesn't require a specific and exact number on the scale, because.... well.  My body might not give me that, but it does show signs that my efforts are being very successful.... If that happens to you, well.  You're worthy, and you're a warrior, and you did it, to my eyes - If you work that hard and do the right things.  Your success may be more than just a number on a scale.

 

And again, if that's an out of line way to try and be supportive, I'm sorry.  Let me know if I stepped on toes, and I'll place my feet more careful next time.  But I want to see you succeed in this very, very much.  I'll be watching for updates from you and eager to support your efforts any way I can think of.  Would you consider allowing yourself an alternate way to win, if you can tell how much better your fitness, strength, body fat composition, balance, health is getting, even if the numbers on the scale do not cooperate with your plan?

[Cienfuegos]

Thank you for your response Eskanta. And don't worry you didn't step on my toes at all . I did mention in the post I had before my last one that if "I only lose 10lbs but I'm wearing a 2x shirt then I count that as a win". I think I'll be okay letting myself go to camp if I achieve that instead of my actual weight goal.

And I'm already losing some size (it's only been 9 days since I've started changing things) I've lost an inch off my waist and 5lbs on the scale in the week that I've been doing this (hey if this is cheating the challenge...oh well. I'm a winner!)

Thank you again for your excited response good to know that someone is cheering for me

[ElemHH]

That's really smart! Thanks for letting us in on that. Do you happen to remember that article?

Sorry, I missed you ask this.

 

It was a podcast called On the page the finance guy is on episode "186. Finances for creatives"

[Eskcanta]

Hey Kent!  I want to check up with you.  Would you please post when you can, about how it is going, if things go well or if you're facing troubles?  I'd love to feel like I'm doing my challenge 'with' you in a sense, and if you're struggling I'd like to try and help make it a little less impossible-seeming, and if you're succeeding wildly, I'd love to know and take joy in your progress.  Generally.... you're someone I feel close to in trying to succeed with, and.... no matter what is going on for you right now, I'd love to stay in touch about it.  Maybe I or others can find a way to help, if help would be helpful and desired.

[Cienfuegos]

I'm doing awesome. I'm down two belt holes and down to 359lbs (-7 if you're keeping track). I may be able to fit into a 3x shirt but I haven't tried. I'm waiting some more time to do that.

My food has been good the last couple of days and I feel like that has helped me a lot. I've been doing some stretching and yoga trying to get flexibility as well as strength (I used to be VERY strong. Able to throw my girlfriend on the bed if I was so inclined...can't do that at all now)

Thank you for checking up on me! I had meant to make a post here but I forget easily!

[Eskcanta]

I am so excited to hear this!  I'll probably try to check on you about twice a week, if you don't seem to be posting at least that often.  I have no idea if that seems like too much for you, if it does, I'll ease off.  I am thrilled to hear your progress.  I am so glad that you remain a 'voice on my radio', and that in your hold-out against this zombie apocalypse we are having, that your survival (quests) is going so well.

[Cienfuegos]

I'm basically doing this to

A. Get healthy.

B. Look good naked.

C. Impress myself

[Eskcanta]

Fantastic reasons.  I will definitely be checking on you twice a week if you're not posting at least that often.  All of those things are good for you, and I want you to work towards attaining them, steadily, sanely, slowly, but without stopping for any long periods of time, day by day.  You deserve that work, and the rewards to come.

[KenTheBrave]

I'm basically doing this to

A. Get healthy.

B. Look good naked.

C. Impress myself

 

 

(I used to be VERY strong. Able to throw my girlfriend on the bed if I was so inclined...can't do that at all now)

 

I agree with Eskcanta! Those are great goals, especially because you have something to shoot for (having already been really strong before). We're all rooting for ya! 

[Cienfuegos]

I gained some weight back over the weekend but my size stayed the same. Even though my diet wasn't on point very much I'm surprised my size stayed the same. Other than that I'm really doing well and my diet is going awesome. I've been experimenting a lot with new foods and different stretches and stuff.

[Eskcanta]

Love that your diet goes well and that you experiment with different foods.

 

You are exercising more than you used to - it is possible that your body is successfully adding more muscle to you (denser, no size increase if an amount of fat is lost to match that size 'change'), and if that is happening you may well see weight gain even as your body fat percentage drops.  I hope you're as okay as I am with the idea of adding more lean body weight, even if that makes the scale go up.

 

I think you are doing great.  I am excited and anticipatory of good things because you are continuing each day to work on this.  I am thrilled we both continue to survive!

 

Keep up the good work.  Tweak small things - small things - if you wish, but your plan's efforts sounds pretty wholesome, as diet is said to be 80-90% of how successful weight loss is.  Lets see what happens this week as you keep up your effort.  And I'm glad you've added exercise in too, even though your quests doesn't call for it directly.

[Cienfuegos]

Just a quick update before I leave for work.

Down 12 lbs (weighed on 3 different occasions to be sure)

And down another inch in the waist.

[oldnews]

Congrats! Sounds like you're doing really well.

[Eskcanta]

Huzzah Kent!  How are you feeling these days?  Any really cool or rather difficult things in your workouts or food planning?

[Cienfuegos]

Everything is good. I can tell when I eat the wrong foods.

[Eskcanta]

Hey Kent!

 

I know you're still active, just pretty quiet (hunting wabbits, right?       

 

How are each of your three quests going?