42 Days of Awesome by blackwidowwannabe

[Lateral Planet]

Hi folks, since I've had a bit of a lull over the last week I thought there's no better time than to start planning to revitalise the next six! So I'm joining the 6WC for the first time. My first set of goals are a bit pedestrian and mostly focused on habit forming, but that means they are achievable as well as challenging. I'll worry about stats etc later, but I just wanted to get these down so I can't back out.

 

Main quest:

• Lose 12kg (26lb). I haven't given myself a deadline for this; it's more just an indicator of ideal general fitness.

 

Side quests:

• Achieve steps goal every day. The goal is set for me by my nifty Garmin Vivofit II, based on my previous performance. Every day I reach the goal it increases by a little bit, so every day I get pushed a little further.
• Don't skip a workout. I've only done this the once in my NF career (Supernatural was on and I am weak) and of course something came up the next day so I couldn't make it up and everything was thrown out of whack. I need that extra incentive to remain faithful to the schedule, even if it means a few late bedtimes.
• Eat breakfast every day. I'm terrible at breakfast; I usually swap it for a few extra minutes in bed. But lately I've had some very long days of work and I've been totally knackered by lunchtime, which has given me a really good reason to start having breakfasts again.

 

Life quest:

• Save AU$5,000. I'm getting ready to start house hunting, so every bit I can scrape together now is going to be needed very soon.

 

This is going to be awesome!!

[Laurenji]

I'm terrible at breakfast too! For some reason I just can't remember to eat it (doesn't help that I usually eat it at the office).

 

Good luck and I look forwards to seeing your updates!

[Blaidd]

Breakfast can be such a fun meal.  I never have the same breakfast two days in a row, funny that. 

 

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

[Boots610]

I have to make my breakfast the night before, otherwise, I'll end up grabbing junk on my way out the door.  I too like to sleep.  Pop-Tarts were a go to breakfast (if you can call it that) just a few short weeks ago.  Have fun, and good luck!

[Archon]

Breakfast can be such a fun meal.  I never have the same breakfast two days in a row, funny that. 

 

Breakfast is my favorite meal to cook & eat. That said, I have a very different philosophy than Blaidd... I eat bacon & eggs every day during the week and then vary up the breakfasts on the weekend (often including a mix of fresh veggies & avocado).

 

Hope you have a great challenge!

[Lateral Planet]

Thanks, guys! I think having more variety is going to be the key. Being a good Aussie kid I had two Weetbix every morning til I was about 12, when I put my foot down, but I never really found a regular breakfast I could get excited about. Then once uni started up I stopped bothering altogether. But uni was a while ago now and it's time to form some good grown-up habits

[Lateral Planet]

Day one successfully completed!! Off to a great start, but being in a GMT+10:00 timezone I did get a bit of a head start on the day

 

Managed to achieve my steps goal, but it was a bit of a close thing. I did a lot of baking tonight so to get there I had to do a bit of walking on the spot while slaving over a hot stove.

Did my workout while the cake was in the oven. I quite enjoy working out in the kitchen, actually. The floor in my bedroom is a bit creaky so when I try jumping jacks I feel like I'm gonna fall through the floor.

Had me some tasty pikelets for brekky, without the usual lashings of butter or jam and cream, because that would have been a bit cheeky I think.

 

As for my main quest, I've also signed up for the current PvP challenge which will give me a boost to achieve that as well.

As for the cakes and brownies, they're for a morning tea at work tomorrow and dinner with the in-laws after that, so I can rely on everyone else to eat most of the stuff for me.

[SkiBlue]

Solid plan, I like it! Congrats on a successful Day 1!

[Lateral Planet]

So far so good! Three days down with 100% success

 

A looming grey sky nearly stopped me tonight, but I took the chance and went for an evening walk anyway and managed not to get drenched.

Tomorrow's going to be the real challenge. It'll be a long day of work followed by a dinner/movie date with Boyfriend, so that's a lot of sitting still. It's gonna be hard to squeeze in my steps, but I'm not about to start slacking off so soon!!

[Lateral Planet]

I managed alright yesterday after all. I knew I might struggle to reach my steps goal so I took every opportunity to get some walking in. So instead of killing 10 minutes on Tumblr at lunch I did 10 minutes of walking. I went for a very quick walk just after work, and that was lucky because it started pouring down with rain soon after!

Today it won't be so much of a struggle. There's blue sky again and I have no commitments, so I can spend some extra time succeeding here

[Lateral Planet]

So much for a nice nature walk under blue sky. I discovered (nearly tripped over) a mostly skeletonised kangaroo and it rained the whole way home

Oh well at least I'm still managing a 100% success rate so far. Definitely feeling more energised in the mornings after a full week of breakfasts!

[cotterpin]

Hi blackwidow! Congratulations on your success so far. Great challenge - I love breakfast, and absolutely cannot function without it. Been known to open a meeting with, "sorry I'm late, but I had to eat breakfast". #noregrets

 

Can I ask what kind of workouts you're doing? I'm looking for something to round out my biking/yoga routine and just trying to get ideas... I know there are like 1 million workouts on here but I'm maybe a little overwhelmed by the options.

 

I discovered (nearly tripped over) a mostly skeletonised kangaroo 

 

 

Wow, and gross! I've never seen a kangaroo (skeletonised or not), I so have to visit Australia someday. 

[Lateral Planet]

Hi blackwidow! Congratulations on your success so far. Great challenge - I love breakfast, and absolutely cannot function without it. Been known to open a meeting with, "sorry I'm late, but I had to eat breakfast". #noregrets

 

Can I ask what kind of workouts you're doing? I'm looking for something to round out my biking/yoga routine and just trying to get ideas... I know there are like 1 million workouts on here but I'm maybe a little overwhelmed by the options.

 

Thanks I've been enjoying having breakfasts so far, but they've been pretty basic. Next week I'm really gonna need breakfast because I have another week of long work days, otherwise I'm just gonna be wiped out by around 11:00 and never manage to quite get going.

 

I'm a total noob, so I've just been doing the Beginner Bodyweight Level 1 sets from the academy, and even then I'm doing the lowest level of those. So trying to learn to do proper push ups and squats and what not. I really enjoy doing planks! I'm always trying to beat my personal best there. I heard the world record was like an hour of planking, which doesn't sound huge but even 60 seconds at a time is pretty challenging. And I'm doing a lot of walking, sometimes with Zombies, Run! so there's occasional jogging as well.

 

I never learned how to ride a bike (I have like zero balance so those training wheels never came off) but maybe someday I will. Mostly, the completionist in me wants to see green ticks against all of the academy quests, however unlikely that actually is.

[Lateral Planet]

Wow, and gross! I've never seen a kangaroo (skeletonised or not), I so have to visit Australia someday. 

 

I studied archaeology for five years so skeletons don't bother me at all; it's the fleshy bits that wig me out. Kangaroos are lovely. They're about as cute as megafauna can get and very friendly when they're alive and don't feel like running away. Just don't get in the way if they're boxing!

 

I could say something about the dangers of Australian wildlife being exaggerated, but on yesterday's walk I encountered a brown snake (the kind that can kill you if they feel like it). Luckily he was in a running away mood, but I noped outta there anyway and finished my walk on the other track, which is actually a lot more hilly than the one I was on. So my instinct for self-preservation actually made me work harder, which is probably a good thing.

 

Anyway, I'm clearly cursed so I'll just be walking around the suburbs instead for a while.

[Artemis]

It sounds like things have been going well so far.  What did you decide to do as a breakfast strategy?

[cotterpin]

An hour of planking is crazy (in a good way). I did the beginner bodyweight workout from the blog today and only managed 20 seconds(!). Also did the pushups on my knees - my muscles are so weak! For some reason I love doing squats and hate lunges. 

 

I came across a rattlesnake once but it was way out in nature - definitely not a suburban neighborhood. Australia sounds friggin' awesome.

[Lateral Planet]

It sounds like things have been going well so far.  What did you decide to do as a breakfast strategy?

So far so good! Mostly it's been a matter of just having breakfasty things available to me. I live with my grandparents and their idea of breakfast is All Bran and lite milk (yuck to both). So I make sure I've got some cereal I actually like and proper milk to have it with. And if I sleep in I'll bring a little container of the stuff with me to have at work, which is not all that weird, it turns out. Plus I'll grab some fruit or pikelets or crumpets for variety every other day.

 

That's been effective so far, but I think I'll have to figure out a plan B in case this routine starts to get boring halfway through the challenge!

[Lateral Planet]

An hour of planking is crazy (in a good way). I did the beginner bodyweight workout from the blog today and only managed 20 seconds(!). Also did the pushups on my knees - my muscles are so weak! For some reason I love doing squats and hate lunges. 

 

I came across a rattlesnake once but it was way out in nature - definitely not a suburban neighborhood. Australia sounds friggin' awesome.

I know, right! I did a little research and it seems 20 seconds is about normal, and if you do any more than two minutes you're not really getting the benefit. Still, it'd be nice to be able to say I can do it! I try to convince myself that I only don't like certain moves because I'm no good at them, so hopefully if I persevere I'll start enjoying lunges more! I definitely feel weak when I try pushups of any kind. But it's just extra motivation to lose some weight - they've gotta be easier to do when there's less of me to lift!

 

Ooh rattlesnakes are cool. All my wildlife adventures are happening in the middle of the capital city. Australia is very cool, but I think it would be better with fewer spiders!

[cotterpin]

If you get bored with cereal, I could list 1 million things for you to try! After all of the different experiments I've done with what I eat and don't eat, I'm the queen of weird and interesting breakfasts. 

[Lateral Planet]

If you get bored with cereal, I could list 1 million things for you to try! After all of the different experiments I've done with what I eat and don't eat, I'm the queen of weird and interesting breakfasts. 

I'm realising that probably the real challenge is remembering to get up on time. I'm so used to just lazing about in bed until 15 minutes before I have to leave for work, so I'm just doing basic brekky while I try to get in the habit of leaving the Comfy Zone a bit earlier. I make great French toast (strawberries and ice cream optional) but extra sleep/comfy time wins out these days!

[Lateral Planet]

One week down, five to go. I got this!!

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

I'm a total noob, so I've just been doing the Beginner Bodyweight Level 1 sets from the academy, and even then I'm doing the lowest level of those. So trying to learn to do proper push ups and squats and what not. I really enjoy doing planks! I'm always trying to beat my personal best there. I heard the world record was like an hour of planking, which doesn't sound huge but even 60 seconds at a time is pretty challenging. And I'm doing a lot of walking, sometimes with Zombies, Run! so there's occasional jogging as well.

I love to challenge myself in planks, too. One hour sounds like a lot. I can't imagine ever doing more than five minutes.

[Cephalopod_Dreams]

I also suck at breakfast, but I've tried making big batches of healthy flapjacks and muffins on a sunday so I can grab them throughout the week. It's working pretty well for me so far. Well done on a great start to your challenge!

[Boots610]

Congrats on your success so far!  Keep up the great work.  I too hate lunges.  At first, I cut them out of my workouts completely until I got a bit stronger.  I didn't want anything to deter me from continuing on this journey, so I figure if I get to anything that I just absolutely dread, I'm just not going to do it.  I'll try it again in a week or two and see if it's any better.  Although, I don't know if I'll ever apply that method to running.  I really dislike running.  =)

[Lateral Planet]

I love to challenge myself in planks, too. One hour sounds like a lot. I can't imagine ever doing more than five minutes.

I managed to track down the article I found that in. I was only thinking of the ladies' record, but there was a guy who held it for about four and a half hours!

Most of the NF workouts I've done so far only ask for 15 seconds at a time. But since this is one of the moves it turns out I'm pretty good at I wanna push myself more too. I got myself an app which challenges me to achieve a certain time a day. It looks like the last day of the challenge is a five-minute plank, and I'm not sure how realistic that is! But I like having a computer tell me what to do - if I leave it all up to me, well, that's how I got to my current weight and level of fitness.