Make 2017 An Amazing Year

[Mon Mothra]

There is no other way to describe 2016, as far as my life is concerned, than as THE YEAR OF SUCK. I'm just relieved that those 365 days of lameness are behind me. I'm ready to make 2017 an AMAZING YEAR, and Nerd Fitness is one of the two things I'm going to be taking on this year to improve my perception of my life.

 

You can call me Mon Mothra, as I love Star Wars, am fond of the old Godzilla flicks and have a cheeky appreciation of mashing things up.

 

MY FIRST CHALLENGE*

*strikethroughs are because I test drove my challenge and decided to be easier on myself for my first challenge

Diet

1. Eat 2x as many veggies as meat/carbs portions. Eat a minimum of 3 cups of vegetables per day. (+1 xp/day)

2. Reduce alcohol consumption to 2-4 drinks/week. (+5 xp/week)

 

Fitness

3. Do 30m cardio workouts 4x/week 3x/week. (+2 xp/workout)

 

Level Up Your Life

4. Research and outline two scripts: 90s black comedy and horror genres. (+2 xp/writing or research session)

 

POINTS

I'm going to do this with a point system. I'll need to keep a record of my progress, but that self-accountability will be a help rather than a hindrance.

 

If I knock it out of the park and have a perfect first challenge, I'll have 120-128 130-148 points at the end of the challenge (grade A!). If I do a pretty good job I'll have 100-119 110-129 points at the end of the challenge (grade B). If I do a meh job at the challenge, I'll have 80-99 100-109 points at the end of the challenge (grade C). Anything less than 80 100 points means that I don't level up, I guess?

[Mon Mothra]

SMART Challenge

=======================================

 

I thought that I'd take a few minutes during the end of the Rose Bowl (go Lions!) to answer whether or not my challenge is SMART. Maybe it would have been SMART to answer this before I drew up my challenge... Hmm...

 

1. Are your goals able to measured and tracked?

Yup. I can do that fairly simply. Either I accomplished the goals or I did not.

2. How will you track them over the course of the challenge? 

I'll be awarding myself points and will track those points with daily postings to my online journal and with occasional summary check-ins on this fo

3. How are you grading your goals? Is there a reward for effort?

I have a final grade I'll get based on how many points that I've earned throughout the challenge, but am not entirely sure how I'll translate that to stat points at the end. I'll figure that out, later. There's no reward other than the satisfaction of having kicked my own butt.

4. Are you trying to build multiple habits or is all your energy focused on your main quest?

I'm trying to build multiple habits, but it's all in the name of making this year a good year. I think it's pretty do-able.

5. Do you have the time to complete all the goals you've set?

Yes, I do.

6. Do you have a plan on altering the goals if you become ill/injured?

Hmm... Well, based on my points system, even if I never did any exercises but did all of the other stuff, I could get a C, which would feel about right to me. I could also just add in another diet related goal (like drinking more water) if I get injured and cannot exercise.

7. Are your goals realistic? Can you scale them down to fit your life better. even if that takes longer?

I think that my goals are realistic. I'm really excited to get started and will actually do so starting tomorrow. If I feel like the goals need to be scaled down before the 8th, I'll do that.

8. Are you giving yourself any rewards or accountability?

I am not giving myself any rewards, but for accountability, I'll be doing daily journaling. For me, that'll be enough.

[fleaball]

Sounds like a good plan. Thinking about making your goals SMART does help before you set them, but you'd be surprised at how many people forget sometimes. Or when you're new you don't realize how helpful it is. You seem pretty solid though.

[Mon Mothra]

Thanks, fleaball!

 

Okay, so since today is day one of week zero of my challenge, I'm going to create today's plan and give myself "ghost xp" if I accomplish my aims.

 

TODAY

=============

DIET

Bfast: 1 slice honey teff bread, toasted + 1/2 tbl salted butter, 1 soft boiled egg, 1 cup broccoli, coffee black

Lunch: 2 cups store mix chinese chicken salad + 4-6 oz chicken breast

Dinner: Goat cheese + spinach stuffed salmon, roast sweet potato & kale salad

NO BOOZE

 

FITNESS

Cize video workout 1 before lunch

 

LEVEL UP MY LIFE

Dedicate some time to brainstorming horror script ideas

Do some light internet research for a couple of the brainstorm ideas

 

Note

==============

I'm NOT going to post all of the time here on my plans. Usually, I'll be posting plans in my Penzu journal. I just want to make this a big official first day for myself so that I stand a better chance of accomplishing today's goals!

 

[fleaball]

Well done!

[Just O]

Looking good!  Man I love me some black comedy, it is the king of all comedies for me.

 

Following!  Here's to a great 2017!

[Mon Mothra]

On 1/3/2017 at 7:58 AM, Mon Mothra said:

Okay, so since today is day one of week zero of my challenge, I'm going to create today's plan and give myself "ghost xp" if I accomplish my aims.

 

Note

==============

I'm NOT going to post all of the time here on my plans. Usually, I'll be posting plans in my Penzu journal. I just want to make this a big official first day for myself so that I stand a better chance of accomplishing today's goals!

 

Well, it's morning of day 3 of my zero week. I don't get a full week to practice actually challenging myself, but that's okay. I am so glad that I chose to test drive my challenge. I think that my challenge is manageable, so far. Uh... except that I've become so out of shape that I'll need to work my way up to doing a 30m high-intensity aerobic workout. Right now, I'm at around 10m.

 

Whatevs. No biggie.

 

PROGRESS

===============

Tuesday - I would give myself a +2. I didn't drink alcohol, had a really good balance of veggies to carbs and meat and spent some quality time brainstorming and researching my new screenplay ideas. No exercise, though.

Wednesday - Yesterday was worthy of a +3. No alcohol, great vegetable healthiness and work done on screenplay ideas.

 

So far, so good.

 

[Cabfranca]

Mon:  like your organization, I'm a newbie so I need to start on my list of todo's, good ideas you are sharing. Cheers, Cab. Here's a present; ha ha.

[Mon Mothra]

10 hours ago, Cabfranca said:

Mon:  like your organization, I'm a newbie so I need to start on my list of todo's, good ideas you are sharing. Cheers, Cab. Here's a present; ha ha.

Thanks so much! I love to see my pics of my family, even if they're quite distantly related.

 

////////////////////////////////////////////////

Okay. Yesterday was a pretty good day for me. I am proud of myself for having adjusted my goals for the upcoming challenge so that they're a tad more achievable. It's important to me that I celebrate the things I've done during this challenge, and if I were to slip up a bit on my higher veggie goal of 2x veggies as carbs/meat, I'm sure that I'd have a tough time celebrating even a fairly good eating day. I'm sure that I can accomplish my daily goal of 3 cups of veggies/day over the course of the challenge. I look forward to feeling better from adding so much veg back into my life! I also did a lot of work on my screenplay concepts, I tried again at that CIZE video (even though I knew that it would be difficult), I didn't drink alcohol and I prepared healthy food for myself and my husband. +4, I say!

[Ennue]

Hurrah! What a good plan to test drive your goals during the planning week so you know they are reasonable during the actual challenge!

[Casbin]

Hey,

 

stopping by because you got me curious.

Your Goals are looking good and there is no shame in having to work your way back into Workouts you used to do!

But I'm abit confused with your pointsystem, shouldn't Tuesday warrant 3 points with vegies and research? Plus you worked out (though not the whole thing) maybe partial point from 15 min. on? Not earning points while pushing your current level sounds pretty harsh. But that's just my two cent.

 

I'm looking forward to hearing how you are doing

Casbin

[Mon Mothra]

3 hours ago, Casbin said:

Hey,

 

stopping by because you got me curious.

Your Goals are looking good and there is no shame in having to work your way back into Workouts you used to do!

But I'm abit confused with your pointsystem, shouldn't Tuesday warrant 3 points with vegies and research? Plus you worked out (though not the whole thing) maybe partial point from 15 min. on? Not earning points while pushing your current level sounds pretty harsh. But that's just my two cent.

 

I'm looking forward to hearing how you are doing

Casbin

 

Hi! Thanks for stopping by!

I believe that Tuesday's entry was calculated by my earlier goal point system... I'm sure that I had a good reason for giving myself only +3. I definitely only gave myself +1 for the workout that day, because of partial effort. Anyway, we're in week 0, so these points don't exactly count. Thanks for reminding me to be fair to my efforts, though!

 

I'm actually doing fairly well - it's only been a few days of no alcohol+veggies+exercise efforts+writing, but I feel great - I think that this challenge will go smoothly.

 

My loooooong term fitness goal is to get back to powerlifting and beat all of my previous personal records. I would like to bench 120 lbs., squat 200 lbs. and deadlift 200 lbs. I was very happy when I powerlifted regularly.

[fleaball]

1 hour ago, Mon Mothra said:

so these points don't exactly count.

(insert Whose Line is it Anyway? gif here)

 

 

[Lord Pakku, the Unhinged]

6 hours ago, fleaball said:

(insert Whose Line is it Anyway? gif here)

 

 

ask and you might as well receive


this test drive idea is interesting to me. im totally going to steal it.

[Mon Mothra]

So far, the test drive has been a modest success. I wasn't perfect in my execution of my goals, but I kept them in mind with each day, which resulted in me being a bit better of a moth.

 

MY FIRST CHALLENGE*

*strikethroughs are because I test drove my challenge and decided to be easier on myself for my first challenge

Diet

1. Eat 2x as many veggies as meat/carbs portions. Eat a minimum of 3 cups of vegetables per day. (+1 xp/day)

2. Reduce alcohol consumption to 2-4 drinks/week. (+5 xp/week)

 

Fitness

3. Do 30m cardio workouts 4x/week 3x/week. (+2 xp/workout)

 

Level Up Your Life

4. Research and outline two scripts: 90s black comedy and horror genres. (+2 xp/writing or research session)

 

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

It's day one of my first challenge and I'm already feeling impatient to get to the close of my future second challenge. I've promised myself that I won't invest in another gym membership until I finish my second challenge, but already I'm dreaming of power lifting again. Unfortunately, my stamina is absolute s*** right now, my muscles are hidden and are just waking up again, and my diet is currently not supportive of rigorous muscle breaking work.

 

That's why I'm here at all on Nerd Fitness. I know that physical and life overhauls don't take place overnight. I just wish that they did. I'm starting today to get my life moving forward in the way that I meant to for all of 2016.

 

BOOM.

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

Just to put it out there, here are my aims for the next three challenges:

Challenge 1: Lower cholesterol with veggie-filled diet. Become less dependent on the daily pint. Increase stamina and bring regular exercise back to my routine. Make progress toward scripts for entry into Nicholl Fellowship, Slamdance and Austin Film Fest.

Challenge 2: Get below 210 pounds with macros-conscious diet. Add kettlebells and bodyweight strength exercises back into the mix. Break that muscle! Complete drafts of scripts for entry into above competitions.

Challenge 3: Get below 200 pounds. Start hiking again on a regular basis in the Santa Monica Mountains. Push self to greater challenges with KBs, cardio and bodyweight exercises. Finalize and enter scripts into above competitions.

 

 

[Mon Mothra]

Day 1 of this challenge:

- ate my 3 cups of veggies

- resisted opening a bottle of wine to pour myself a glass

- nailed down the winning plot for my horror script

 

Let's hope that the rest of my challenge goes so smoothly.

[fleaball]

Well done!

[Cabfranca]

Awesome! Reminds me I need to get to my writing project. Keep it up!

[FatboySuave]

Awesome job so far on your challenge and especially for being able to adjust your quests along the way!

[Mon Mothra]

Thanks, @fleaball @Cabfranca and @EternalJourno!

 

 

Yesterday went fairly well. I had my 3 cups of vegetables (woot!) = +1 points. I did A LOT of writing = +2 points. That means that yesterday was a +3 day. Not bad! In addition to my tons of writing completed, I made a turkey chili which was truly delicious and chock full of veggies. If anyone wants the recipe, let me know! Here's the recipe.

I'm planning on doing a CIZE workout in full today (YES. I CAN.) and really want to get a full +5 for the day.

 

POINTS

=========================

1/28 : +3 | 2/28 :  | 3/28 :  | 4/28 :  | 5/28 :  | 6/28 :  | 7/28 :  | 8/28 :  | 9/28 :  | 10/28 :  | 11/28 :  | 12/28 :  | 13/28 :  | 14/28 :  | 15/28 :  | 16/28 :  | 17/28 :  | 18/28 :  | 19/28 :  | 20/28 :  | 21/28 :  | 22/28 :  | 23/28 :  | 24/28 :  | 25/28 :  | 26/28 :  | 27/28 :  | 28/28 :  | || |  Total: 3 out of 148

[Just O]

Mmmm  turkey chili!  Sounds delish!

 

Looking great so far!

[Mon Mothra]

Thanks, @Just O!

 

YESTERDAY

=========================

diet: +0

fitness: +1 (did 15 minutes of CIZE)

life: +2

 

POINTS

=========================

1/28 : +3 | 2/28 : +3 | 3/28 :  | 4/28 :  | 5/28 :  | 6/28 :  | 7/28 :  | 8/28 :  | 9/28 :  | 10/28 :  | 11/28 :  | 12/28 :  | 13/28 :  | 14/28 :  | 15/28 :  | 16/28 :  | 17/28 :  | 18/28 :  | 19/28 :  | 20/28 :  | 21/28 :  | 22/28 :  | 23/28 :  | 24/28 :  | 25/28 :  | 26/28 :  | 27/28 :  | 28/28 :  | || |  Total: 6 out of 148

 

How can I get my diet on track and my fitness up to +2?

 

- every day type up meals for the day into journal as I had in week zero and adjust to add vegetables where necessary

- try some other cardio exercise that I can do for 30 minutes: rowing

[KaitSith]

I knew I saw a Star Wars reference! I am a super Star Wars nerd. How is your writing going?  Mr. Sith and I have been working on the nerdiest Star Wars fanfiction ever (could be an overly nerdy TMI but whatevs), and Steven Pressfield has been my go-to for Outline, Editing, and Story Writing knowlege. Seriously his newsletter is one of the only that I subscribe to and his emails are always useful.

[Mon Mothra]

1 hour ago, KaitSith said:

I knew I saw a Star Wars reference! I am a super Star Wars nerd. How is your writing going?  Mr. Sith and I have been working on the nerdiest Star Wars fanfiction ever (could be an overly nerdy TMI but whatevs), and Steven Pressfield has been my go-to for Outline, Editing, and Story Writing knowlege. Seriously his newsletter is one of the only that I subscribe to and his emails are always useful.

That's so awesome that you and Mr. Sith write together, KaitSith! I have the most amazing husband, but he isn't much for writing, alas.

Nope. That's not overly-nerdy TMI, by the way. Keep sharing nerdy stuff! It keeps this place interesting! Thanks for the tip on Steven Pressfield

[Mon Mothra]

I am taking a moment to muse on the practice of journaling and planning my day here for a couple of reasons: 1) It's said that writing down a thing you hope to accomplish makes it more likely to get done (hello, Nerd Fitness challenges!) and 2) planning my day gives me an opportunity to reflect positively on my previous day, which keeps me motivated.

 

We already are familiar with writing down our goals on the monthly basis on the challenge forums. I've noticed that there is a huge amount of diversity in how people choose to track their progress in the challenges, which is to be expected. "To each their own," right? For me, I am keeping a private journal every day, in which I first write my accomplishments from yesterday (challenge or not) in a list and then write down how I did in regard to my Nerd Fitness challenge. I absolutely disallow myself from writing down things that I did not do. I give myself a mental tsk-tsk if I start to think on how "I should have" or "I meant to". Bulls**t. How will feeling bad about things that I did not accomplish help me to accomplish more? It won't. For me, it'll just make me feel a little crappy, whereas I could be feeling satisfied with the list of stuff that I managed to do the day before.

 

A wise and funny woman once said:

"I think of my body as a side effect of my mind." - Carrie Fisher

Much of Carrie Fisher's written commentary on her life was comically intended on the one hand, but honest and true advice on the other. Rest in peace, lady.

 

With her insightful quote in mind, I'd like to say that I think it absolutely applies to the last year of my life. My mind was cluttered, self-esteem shot, and my body reflected that. I am just starting to come down from the highest weight that I've ever been, as it's only been the last month or so in which I began to see my life as being a blessing rather than some sort of hopeless battle which I was destined to lose.

 

Affirmational journaling, meal and task planning every day is one of the ways that I've been able to turn things around. I know what I did yesterday (a lot, by the way!), I know what I'll aim to accomplish today (yet again - a lot!) and know that tomorrow I will not beat myself up if I don't cross off every item on my list.

 

I don't know if any of what I've written reflects what others are doing as a supplement to NF peer accountability on the boards, but hope that putting my own approach out there will start a discussion, or at the very least give less confident NF challengers some food for thought.