Danswercise E3 Challenge! - Get Fit / Healthy / Slim

Hiked 12 miles today, then played pick-up soccer for an hour. Sunburnt and my ankles are a bit wobbly, but totally worth it.

Something I've found that helped me recently was buying a physical wall calendar (they're like $1-2), and writing what I did in terms of exercise and cooking (if applicable) each day. The physical act of writing seems to work better for me at altering my behavior and maintaining habits than any digital recording.

Another thing if you're losing weight and into data/graphs, get a wireless scale. When I track myself every day I lose weight a lot more consistently. The gaps when I'm not weighing in are when I'm not sticking with it. It's also fun to see how much my weight changes after a meal or end of a day vs. the beginning. Obviously, this might not work for everyone, but I love having all that data available.

I don't think the chains website is very well made, but this prompted me to start running again after quite a while at least. I'm looking forward to my stamina building up again because right now I get out of breath fairly quickly which is annoying.

On a related note, I was wondering if more than a third of the group on there has dropped out, or it's just a bit wonky. Maybe it's one of those things that was an app first, and deployed a barebones website later (like Instagram).

Also, I wonder what activity is dominant in the group. I would guess running, since people keep mentioning it and it doesn't require much beyond shoes. Personally, I've mixed in soccer, hiking, running, lifting, and yoga so far; without having one dominant activity. I find it extremely challenging to do the same solo activities for more than 3-4 days in a row.

Hey guys! Every time I hop onto Chains.cc I check out the group to see everyone's progress and it's awesome to see ya'll's long chains! Keep it up!

Picked up one of these from Amazon as kind of a supplemental workout tool.

Something to do while I'm playing games or watching tv/movies, as suggested in the podcast. I'm loving it so far, but it is VERY disorienting to play a game with 3d movement while trying to keep pace while standing. It's very doable while sitting, which this machine also supports. 2D games are fairly easy to manage while standing.

@poser: I'm pretty sure that counts as exercise, so go for it! With great vigor and tenacity!

Whoa, that's an interesting little thing. I had no idea something like that existed, neat idea. I wish my work desk wasn't so damn low, otherwise I'd probably get one.

I think the chains group has lost ~50% of the people it started with. I hope y'all that are sticking around are staying strong.

Apart from one missed day I have been doing pretty well with the daily exercise. Even on days when I don't have time to go to the gym I try to at least do something to keep the chain going. And while I haven't really lost any weight, some of the clothes that were too tight in the stomach area now fit me again. I guess that means I'm replacing fat with muscle! Yay!

Next step is to get back on my bike again!

Honestly, I don't workout every day either. At least not in the sense of going to the gym and physically exerting myself. But I do try to at least do something even on my off days. Simple things, that don't take too much time. Like going for a walk, doing some planks or just some stretching.

Another thing I've started doing again on my days outside the gym is exercises on my fitness ball. It's great for building core control or pretty much any other body part you want to have better muscle control over.

Thank you for doing this... I've been trying to make sure I do something at least once a day, and now I'm up to 14 days in a row. Even if I can't get to the gym I try to do something like walk my neighbor's dog for a mile and get a little activity that way. Its been very good for my mood and social anxiety I think.

Glad to see so many chains still active. Keep up the awesome work, fellow Danswercisers!

If you're looking for ideas for brief exercises or stretches, I'm posting short daily yoga exercises on IG using #danswerciseE3challenge.

Well, I happened to have worked out a few days before the initial podcast, so I hit the 70 today.

I think it would be cool to hear how people fared throughout this. I think there's only ~60 or so chains left in the group, and obviously a significantly smaller chunk that will may it all 70 days. Regardless, it would be nice to hear about other people's experiences.

I also tracked my weight through this since I already was doing so with a wireless scale. Here's a lightly annotated graph I threw together in python+paint. Key is 45-50lbs since the start of the year, and ~25 or so lost during this stretch.

I also got the linear equation of each line section pre and post-danswercise start. My slope actually decreased slightly over the past 70 days, but I've been eating more and lifting less, and the initial weight was always going to be the easiest to lose. I'm actually surprised the change was that small. In the next 10-15lbs I'm going to hit the weights hard again. I definitely lost upper body muscle, and will work towards my ultimate goal, which is to regain a lot of strength and end up somewhere between 190-205.

@cwal37: Wow, you're doing well there sir!

I couldn't get chains to work, but I've been running most days since doing marathon training.

Since I've been injured most of the period I've been doing cardio and hit a new PR of 6:27/mile on a 3 mile run! I've lost a ton of weight but also feel like I've lost a lot of strength which I'm slowly working back up as I recover from my injuries (chronic and acute).

Other than 3 days where I had serious personal/family issues, I've been stayin with it!