Over at NerdFitness.com, Steve threw out a challenge that I thought was very doable: 

Take on one healthy activity every day for the next 30 days.

Anything is fair game: whether it be a victory over junk food or undertaking a new fitness challenge, or embarking on a course of self-improvement. Every day, just one thing. 

Of course, one thing isn’t asking too much in my book. So I hope to do at least 3, no matter how minor and insignificant it might seem! 

Yesterday, Sept 3:

1. I went to strength training class even though my neck and shoulder felt like hell.
2. I finished chapter 1 of Web Fundamentals at Codecademy.com.
3. I did 5 sets of 10 push-ups (again, my neck and shoulder pain tried to keep me bed-ridden). 
4. I filled out 3 reference surveys back-to-back for a friend looking for work.
5. Got in my fish oil capsules!

Today, Sept 4:

1. I got up a little early and made it into work at 10:30a (better than the last couple of weeks of getting in at 11:30 or noon).
2. I went to cardio class and finished Kickboxing (my neck and shoulder weren’t as painful today).
3. I did 10 sets of 10 pushups and 10 sets of 15 squats (bodyweight, but I was feeling the pinch).
4. Talked to my new business partner, did some sketches on a new web project, laid out some ideas. 
5. Got in my fish oil capsules!
6. I stayed under 100g of carbs — woot!

 Hope to keep up with logging every day! 

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S’ok, I admit that I was perhaps a little to ambitious getting my fitness groove on.

Here’s where I am starting week of 8/25:

1) Eat paleo/primal for a 4-week stretch: Sorry, but the muffins and the corn have been throwing me off. The sodas are DEFINITELY not helping. I sense my hormones are going a little berserk right now which are contributing to the sweetness cravings. Ice cream has also lately caught my attention.

2) Eat at goal 1300 cals (net): Started off strong…then crashed. I’m thinking hormones here too.

3) Push-ups: 100 pushups a day for 4 weeks. Okay, I thought I did pretty well with this…getting to the point where I was enjoying the pain of making it through 100 pushups in one sitting. But then, I pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve somewhere, ‘coz now it’s agony trying to work through even 10.

4) Strength training: have not touched the weights at all. With the exception of PBT classes.

This morning I weighed in at 140.4. No significant weight gain or loss…just maintaining. 

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…and you’re 90 percent done.

This is a quick summarization of the 10/90 rule that Mark Sisson wrote in his Daily Apple blog.

He calls out 10 activities that one can perform to get on the road to health-happiness: everything from abandoning processed foods to moving (exercising) more, from getting more quality sleep to loving oneself. 

One of the 10 things that particularly caught my attention was the exhortation to throw off the yoke of unhealthy habits and relationships, poor decisions, painful memories, and bad history–all of which trap us in an emotional shroud that undermine our ambitions and bury our dreams.

“Fidelity to self” is a maxim I live by (thanks, Marcus Aurelius). Have faith in yourself in all things, and moving on will be possible. In fact, I think that this is the only way to move on and get the most from life. If you give your personal authority over to others – even experts and those with good intentions – it will be much harder to let go and move on.

I believe that many times we “get stuck” in the wake of something negative because we’re not trusting ourselves enough to lead ourselves out of it – we submit that power to someone else. When you make yourself C.E.O., your soul becomes free, and the bad stuff just dissipates in its proper time, as it should. But most people never do this, because it takes a massive leap of faith. We’re conditioned to cheat on ourselves, essentially, by giving our personal authority to others. As the soul dies, so goes the body.

Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/10-90/#ixzz2ceiBrSOF 

I think emotional eating contributes to a lot of the weight and health issues we see today. Learning how to manage those emotions plays a big part in one’s success to lose weight, get fit and be healthy and happy.

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Six days and 5 nights in paradise might seem a short time, but it’s enough time to undo a lot of hard work.

On July 20, I weighed in at my doctor’s office at the lowest I’ve ever been: 135! And they were using the same scale I used at the gym, a professional grade Health-O-Meter. The nurse remarked that the weight loss was a great achievement. Of course, it was no small feat, given that I was required to fast for at least 12 hours for a blood sugar test.

In retrospect, 12 hour fasts are common in my schedule. With the exception of coffee in the mornings, I don’t generally eat my lunch until 1-2pm. My last meal in the evening usually occurs around 8pm at the very latest.

Fast forward to the Hawaii vacation, access to all my favorite Asian foods and –wham– an easy 8-10lbs regained (back to 145lbs on the night I came home). But some of those pounds dropped easily within the next few days, putting me back on the 140 line.

Some of the vacation photos I took are a really eye-opener though. 30% body fat on a 5’3″ frame just isn’t very flattering…and I actually purchased a new bikini set during the trip. There were soooooo many “beautiful” people on the island, I just didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin. Again. Ugh is for ughhhhleeee!

Ok, so enough self-reproach. I’m launching a 4 week challenge to myself (inspired by NerdFitness’ current 6-week challenge) with some very specific goals to achieve:

1) Eat paleo/primal for a 4-week stretch (the longest I’ve done is 2 weeks straight) . On those days that willpower weakens, achieve at least 70% primal eating.

2) Eat at goal 1300 cals (net) a day for 6 days a week (I can do 5 days straight, but break on the 6th–so time to push the envelope). Realistically, I should feed my body more during strength training days–but with the idea of keeping the goal in sight.

3) Push-ups: 100 pushups a day for 4 weeks. Everyday. For the last 19 months, I have not gained the upper body strength that I desired. Time to shut up and do the work.

4) Strength training: lift weights on my dinky/ghetto barbell set, even if I never add another plate, for 4 days out of the week. I might shop for a kettlebell on this one.

I had planned on starting this yesterday on 8/12. I was off to a great start until today–ice cream ruined me (and I was actually craving bread pudding) and no gym class today.

The game starts tomorrow. Let’s see how we play. 

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