2014 TypeC Health and Exercise Challenge

[Coriolis]

I posted last night, and lost it all to a random browser shutdown. Take two.

I have three goals

1. Improve eating habits. I generally have a very good diet, and avoid most things that lead to weight gain. The one exception is nibbling between meals, especially in the evening since I often stay up rather late and get hungry after dinner. This needs to stop. Specific goal is to eat only at mealtimes, plus a single healthy snack in the evening (e.g. fruit or carrot sticks, etc).

2. Get more exercise. I do martial arts, but need to add some cardio and strength training to my routine. The hardest part of this is scheduling, since my work and activity schedule can vary quite a bit, and the only reliable time is late at night when I prefer to be winding down for sleep. Specific goal is to exercise at least three times each week, in addition to martial arts practice. Likely/acceptable activities include workout videos, cycling, hiking, or even walking if all else fails.

3. Weight loss. I would like to lose 5-7 lbs. This one should take care of itself if I keep up with 1 and 2.

 

[highlander]

I'm going to start soon. Not yet though.

 

[Honor]

Goals:

1. Drink 64 oz. water every day.

2. No sweets.

3. Run 2 miles every day. Light weight training every other day.

(Pretty much what I do already, except I'm going to do some experimenting this year to figure out what works/doesn't work for me.)

 

[Firebird 8118]

Okay, so here are my goals:

1) Jog/run for at least 1 mile per day - there's a Halfathon in the spring near my area which I plan to register for soon, though in the meantime I'm planning to go to my school's gym building at least 2-3 times per week
2) Drink plenty of water each day (I intend to carry a water bottle with me to campus now)
3) Eat more fresh foods (more fruits and vegetables) and quit/cut down on meat (which is especially bad for my health)
4) Cut down on sweets

[If I think of any more goals, I will be sure to edit this post.]

 

[highlander]

My goal is to live a healthier lifestyle with a specific goal of losing 24 pounds in the next six months. I'll say 12 pounds in the next three months then since that is the duration of the challenge.

Some specifics:
- Getting 7 - 8 hours of sleep a night. Get a more regular sleep cycle schedule.
- Eating more healthy food in general; reduce/eliminate meat and dairy products, anything with white flour in it, breads and things like that, things that are high in fats; reduce processed food.
- Working out at least three times a week.
- Reducing or eliminating caffeine and alcohol.

That's it.

 

[Udog]

I'll post a list of everyone who is participating in the Challenge and requested to be tracked tomorrow.

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Summaries aren't necessary this week, but here is mine anyway:

1. Don't eat sugar / flour. 4/7. One controlled "day off", and 2 days where I lost it. I identified a couple of major challenge issues that I'll work on in the upcoming weeks.

2. 4/4 resistance exercise days completed. I didn't do the 1 "active" day, though.

So, definitely room for improvement. Next week, my goal is to remove one at least one of the "cheat" days by avoiding the trigger that led to it.

 

[Coriolis]

Here is my first weekly update. I plan to count weeks from Fri-Thurs, and post updates on Fri, Sat, or Sun. I will use the format below, unless you (@udog) suggest something else.

1. Improve eating habits, specifically eating between meals.
Did well on 4/7 days. One of the 3 was the rare party I actually wanted to attend, so though I didn't snack outside of mealtimes, I probably made up for it at dinner. (Still, concentrated on eating salads, veggies, some lean meat, so not as bad as it could be. I enjoy well-prepared fresh veggies about as much as anything else, especially when I don't have to go through the bother of cleaning and preparing the veggies.)

2. Get more exercise: at least three times each week, in addition to martial arts practice.
Did 4 times this week, so very good.

3. Weight loss.
None yet.

 

[INTJMom]

I didn't do well enough this week.
I did the Ab Crunches every morning except Saturday.
I even added some weight lifting on a couple of mornings.
But I also did not do the 45 minute workout on Saturday.
I think Saturday was a wash, well, because I was just too depressed to make myself do it.
But I think I will be better by next Saturday.

 

[Qlip]

Check In

Weighed in at 163.
Went well enough. I only did 2 pushup sessions, need to up that to three. I ate relatively okay, except one day, I kinda stuffed myself, but with healthy stuff. So far, so okay.

 

[Randomnity]

Week 1 summary: met all my exercise/stretching goals except missed a day of ankle stretches (I've been doing them with my bedtime tooth brushing and it was a Fri night, lol...I'll have to remember to do them earlier in the day if I'm going out at night). Bonus: I'm not sore at all today after the same routine yesterday that made me really sore last week, so that's encouraging. (my weeks start on Sun nights, with Fri/Sat off)

I'm going to keep my goals pretty low for the rest of the month and avoid ramping up too quickly so I can form it into a real habit - I'm a pro at starting things and tend to fall off the wagon after a few weeks, so my focus this month will be on maintaining the daily activity, and on days I really don't want to do it, I'll give myself permission to scale way back on the intensity as long as I actually do something. Not sure yet what will happen on nights where something comes up and I don't have any free time at all. I guess I'll try to make an effort to do something still, even just 5-10 min, and/or just get back on track the next day. Habits are so hard for me to form and so easy to break. If I get through the month without missing a day, I'll modify the exercises for a bit more challenge, and/or add a food goal for Feb. Otherwise I'll keep focusing on making it a daily (weekday) habit.

 

[Udog]

Here is my first weekly update. I plan to count weeks from Fri-Thurs, and post updates on Fri, Sat, or Sun. I will use the format below, unless you (@udog) suggest something else.

Whatever works best for you, but I like your format. It's informative, with some contemplation to go with the status.

As we go on, my only suggestion may be to include adjustments you could make or are making. If you are hitting all your goals, perhaps make it slightly more challenging. If you are struggling, perhaps remove a goal or two so you can double efforts on another. But that's for down the road...

I didn't do well enough this week.
I did the Ab Crunches every morning except Saturday.
I even added some weight lifting on a couple of mornings.
But I also did not do the 45 minute workout on Saturday.
I think Saturday was a wash, well, because I was just too depressed to make myself do it.
But I think I will be better by next Saturday.

INTJMom, it sounds like you did a great job. You didn't hit all of your goals, but it sounds like you did a pretty good job and even added exercise. I consider it a win. Remember, we are striving for improvement, not perfection.

Things will be a bit tougher during the winter months as well, so don't discount that. Less sunlight tends to lead to less motivation to exercise.

I'm going to keep my goals pretty low for the rest of the month and avoid ramping up too quickly so I can form it into a real habit - I'm a pro at starting things and tend to fall off the wagon after a few weeks, so my focus this month will be on maintaining the daily activity, and on days I really don't want to do it, I'll give myself permission to scale way back on the intensity as long as I actually do something.

Sounds smart. I like the idea of aiming for health goals that you have a 90% chance of succeeding at. If that means keeping the goals low, so be it.

I'll admit my goals are ambitious at the moment. If by week 3 I'm still struggling to hit them, I may reduce them. (Likewise, if I'm getting the hang of it by W3, I'll make them ever so slightly more challenging.)

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

It's going to be tough for me to really participate until I'm finished with my licensing exams for the new job.

 

[Udog]

Week 1 Participation List

And here's our list of initial participants!

Week 1 Participation List
AngelLight2012
Coriolis
garbage
highlander
Honor
INTJMom
Ivy
kyuuei
prplchknz
Qlip
Randomnity
Redbone
SophiaDeep
Udog
Urarienev

If you'd like to join and don't see your name, just let know and I'll add you. I'm assuming people don't want to be tracked unless they told me otherwise.

Good luck, everyone!

 

[Evo]

Summary of my first week:

I have to rate things to give myself a practical visible result of my effort.

Week 1 Rate: 8/10

I started this week off pretty rough. It's still a little rough. I am out of shape and have learned that I have a serious problem with eatin slowly.

For the first week though, I think that rate is pretty darn good.

The last couple days, I started to get better.

I exercised 3 times more than I expected to. Which has really made me want to continue getting more endorphins. I always forget how good they feel.

 

[kyuuei]

apologies for my delay nursing school just started I'll write back with my specific goals and I'll get started sometime this week

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

apologies for my delay nursing school just started I'll write back with my specific goals and I'll get started sometime this week

Good luck with nursing school!!!

Are you excited abt it?

 

[kyuuei]

^ If by excited, you mean I spent nearly $900 on books over the past two days, then Yes. Super stoked.

 

[prplchknz]

oh did i have to say i'm participating? well I am

 

[Udog]

apologies for my delay nursing school just started I'll write back with my specific goals and I'll get started sometime this week

Insane price of books aside, awesome! And good to see ya - I was wondering where you had gotten off to.

oh did i have to say i'm participating? well I am

Nice, and welcome to the fray! Did you have any goals at the moment?

 

[prplchknz]

Insane price of books aside, awesome! And good to see ya - I was wondering where you had gotten off to.



Nice, and welcome to the fray! Did you have any goals at the moment?

yeah, just to establish better and healthier eating habits mostly. like eating 3 meals instead of 1-2 a day