Jarric

I think a reward system's a good idea; will have to see what I can come up with. Not sure what yet, but will definitely have a think. Also, you've reminded me of something, story time: I used to have my alarm on my stereo over the other side of the room. It would blare out Machine Head or System of a Down or something at top volume, loud enough to wake up the whole house if I didn't get up and turn it off. But the stereo used to spin the CD trays for a couple of seconds before playing music which, combined with the fear of the extremely loud noise, was enough to get me out of bed and turn it down before I upset anyone. One day, after a particularly heavy night out, the CD trays were not enough. I woke up on the floor underneath the stereo, my right foot screaming at me for urgent attention. Looking down my foot was covered in blood, and on closer inspection a large chunk of my big toe was hanging limply off. Still only half awake, confused, and with a pounding hangover, I crawled out into the hallway and towards the bathroom. Lying on the bathroom floor, door open beside me, I tried my best to stem the blood flow and push my toe back together with toilet paper. The commotion had also awoken my mother, who came to investigate. As she arrived a new thought occurred to me, lying confused and bleeding on the bathroom floor. I had slept, and in fact still was, completely naked. Piecing the morning back together afterwards, I realised that when the music started I must have leapt out of bed, kicking an empty glass off my bedside table in the process. I then proceeded to run across the broken glass to my stereo and turn it off, all prior to waking up. I probably would be more productive at swimming if I went later in the day, I'm definitely not a morning person! I really do enjoy swimming in the morning though and it makes me feel better for the rest of the day. Once I'm actually out of bed I have no problem going to the pool, it's just the getting out of bed that's an issue. The other problem is that I'm going to the gym 3 times each week, playing badminton twice and snooker at least once, so I don't actually have a day after work where I'm not already doing something.

I'm similarly inclined; if I have a pack of biscuits in the house I may well eat the whole pack in one sitting. But I won't bother to go to the shop and buy them when I have other food available in the house. All fine as long as I don't go shopping when I'm hungry. But Elk, if you do naturally crave healthy foods then I can see no reason why this shouldn't work for you.

I've just started batch cooking omelette muffins too, and I'd never seen that recipe!Doing mine with beef mince (250g), spring onion, mushroom, cheese (40g) and 6 eggs to make 6 muffins. About 220 calories and 20g of protein a pop. I eat them cold coz I'm weird like that, and I really can't find time to even re-heat food in the mornings Last batch stuck to the paper muffin cases horribly though, so I'm going to try it without the cases or failing that I'll have to buy some silicone ones.

So I have officially failed the swimming challenge for a second week and only gone twice. Why is it so hard to get up in the mornings? Anyone have any ideas to help with that? Otherwise all going well. Had a great gym session yesterday (although i seem to have twanged a tendon in my finger), and other goals all up to date apart from what I missed earlier in the month.

Great progress so far. Have fun with the dancing and good luck at the new gym!

Nice solid goals for this month, will be following. How's it going so far?

I'm sorry, you're entirely wrong, 2 ring binders are most definitely the way forward! Congratulations on the goals so far, that's a lot of progress this early on

Yeah, definitely. Missed swimming again today (though last night was pub night) so will have to get my last one in tomorrow. I really enjoy learning languages. So why some day? Why not today?

That really sucks, I'm sure you'll get somewhere good soon though. For the progress bars you can click the button to the left of the twitter icon. You then select the colour you want and type in the percentage you want it to show, and it inserts the code for you. Alternatively you can go straight for the code: [progress="red"]45[/progress]That would show up as: 45%45%

Cool challenge, will be following along again.

Congratulations Talos, really well done on all your challenges. Look forward to seeing your next one.

That's really helpful, thank you. Will definitely be trying out some of those stretches .

Kinda repeating Slates here, but I would alternate days on rowing and weights rather than alternating weeks. That way you get a rest day from each exercise, and you can keep your hand in at both so to speak Also, for me I would want to keep track of every exercise side-by-side, so you can immediately see where you're gaining weight/distance and what your next progression should be.

I have something that sounds like "snapping hip syndrome", apparently caused by a tendon flicking over the hip bone but it feels like they're dislocating. I went to a physio many years ago for it but they weren't much use. Can I ask what stretches you do for it?

Cheers Chris-Tien! Life just gets in the way sometimes, doesn't it? So missed my sleep goal last night being thoroughly disorganised, got to bed about 11:40. Then failed to get up for swimming this morning (these two things may be related!). Did do my French yesterday though, so back on track with that one.

Seconding dexter101's comment: Baby Steps Make a change to your diet or exercise so small that it's easy, then do it until it becomes routine. It then stops being something you have to do, or need motivation to do, it's just a natural part of your day. Then make another small change and stick with it until that becomes routine, and then another. It's a slow way to do things, but requires very little motivation and creates lasting change. Looking forward to updates on how you get on.

Sounds like you're going through a lot at the moment. Although not everything is getting done, remember that you are getting to work on time, you are meeting class deadlines and you are keeping appointments with your therapist. These are victories in themselves so don't forget to celebrate them.

House hunting really sucks, I know. I spent a lot of time stressing, shouting and swearing over my last move. But keep pushing on and you will end up somewhere good; and then you'll be glad you did it! Good tip on the plan to get to sleep. I have sleep as one of my goals too, so will definitely give it a go. Speaking of which, it must be my bedtime!

Fantastic transformation, inspirational to see how far you've come

Great stuff, always good to hear it from someone else isn't it?

Sounds like a good solid full body workout. As you start increasing the weight on it you might find it more satisfying. Congrats on the weight loss too; 11lbs in just over a month is a good achievement.

Great attitude to have, keep on with it and see where you go losing that weight. Also, what really works for me when I can't bring myself to go and do something or to keep doing something is to make it really simple and mechanical. Just think about one step at a time; left-right-left-right-left-right.

Having to re-work the body balance challenge slightly. Yesterday I waited for Mrs Jarric to turn up to class, and by the time she got there it was too late to go. I went home and did a 40 min youtube video instead, so I'm still counting it. Just found out I have a snooker match next Monday, so will be a video instead for that one too. made the gym and swimming yesterday though, and swimming again today

Awesome progress so far, that soda challenge is a big one but sounds like you're managing really well. Will be following along for the rest of the month. What are you doing for your new gym routine?

Great first week. And although you gave yourself a C on the peanut butter, one measured serving is a lot better than just grabbing the jar!