GET DAT REAR IN GEAR July 2024 Challenge

baconslave
baconslave Posts: 7,018 Member
It's not summer for some of us. It's winter in the southern part of the globe. Or you can take the position of the sunny side and remember we're smack dab in the throes of the oh-so-lovely 2024, still freakin' dealing with one kind of crazy nonsense or another... Whatever the season (or catastrophe. There's always somethin' these days, isn't there? :unamused:), the month of July is as good a month as any to endeavor to challenge ourselves to stretch our goals, to push ourselves a little farther or harder, because we know, if we want to, we can do anything. These past few years have def proved how strong we can be!

Some of us have been plugging along and maybe have slowed down their effort a little. Some of us have paused to blink and noticed "Dang! 6 months are gone already, and I'm still spinning my wheels not getting it done. :grimace: "
No problem. It's Get Dat Rear in Gear July. Off yer duff, me hearties! It's go time.

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Whether it be revamping our on-going plan or finally spurring ourselves to get off our rear and start, let's challenge ourselves to improve our efforts. As long as it represents an improvement for you and your health/fitness, your goal is perfect for this month, whatever it may be. Buckle down on plan basics? Push a little harder in workouts? Branch out and try a new kind of exercise? Stepping up lagging NEAT? Or just plain BEGIN? It's all fair game.

Get dat rear in gear, y'all, and see how far you can go! I think you'll surprise yourself. :wink:
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Replies

  • tishsmith101
    tishsmith101 Posts: 1,671 Member
    Self improvement- -yep
    Buckle down- get my logging in daily
    Step up my NEAT -you betcha
    Push harder - absolute must

    While most of my warm weather wardrobe fits, most of my office attire does not and it causes me stress. I will be using this monthly challenge to be better each day than the day before.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,327 Member
    My July goals are:

    1)Stick to my weight program.
    2)Do bodyweight intervals 2-3 times a week.
    3)Be intentionally active at least 4 days a week.
  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 7,018 Member
    Still calculating my goals. I'm going out of town for the holiday so I'm busy preping for getting 5 people ready for that undertaking. I will be strategizing between sessions of reading on the camping trip though.
  • tishsmith101
    tishsmith101 Posts: 1,671 Member
    @baconslave yay camping!!! same here but just me and hubby.

    Had my strength class yesterday but skipped yoga for some errands. Did pretty well with NEAT and logged everything. Fitbit says I did 8 sets of stairs yesterday, will aim for 10 today. Fitting in some random bodyweight sets during work today (every time I have to get up).
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,327 Member
    baconslave wrote: »
    Still calculating my goals. I'm going out of town for the holiday so I'm busy preping for getting 5 people ready for that undertaking. I will be strategizing between sessions of reading on the camping trip though.

    I would love to get out camping more often. We do have a trip planned for a week later in July, but it is likely that will be the only camping we do this year.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,327 Member
    I am very pleased with myself. I was very sluggish all day. I got home from work, and had no energy to workout. I thought a snack might help. Well, the snack turned into a full meal. I was going to put off working out until tomorrow. At about 8:30 I decided that I wanted to stick to my schedule even though lifting weights late in the day might negatively affect my sleep. I did my workout with a somewhat abbreviated warm-up, and supersetting some of the exercises to shorten the length. It turned out to be a pretty good workout. Now to cool down a little, shower, and go to bed.
  • tishsmith101
    tishsmith101 Posts: 1,671 Member
    My trainer hosted a 90 min group workout challenge yesterday. It was really tough since it was humid and because I've slacked off so long and just getting back into actual workouts. But I got most of it done. I did eat some foods not low carb yesterday but did not overeat for the day. Got in plenty of water as well so calling it a win.
  • taylok23
    taylok23 Posts: 828 Member
    I’m late to the party but realized I needed to get my rear in gear. I was off of work last week so eating was not great but I did intermittent fast. Starting today I want to be much more focused on low, healthy carbs, moderate protein and high fat. Sugar is a no go. I will continue to intermittent fast 16+ a day and not eat after 8pm, earlier if possible. I find my sleep is much better this way. I also need to log. I’ve been maintaining for too long and want to drop 25 lbs so no time like the present.
  • stormywxs288
    stormywxs288 Posts: 812 Member
    I have been mostly following a keto diet for a couple of years. However, I am currently less strict about it, and I am ready to get back on track. My wife wants to go back to a stricter form of keto with low carbs, whereas I want to go full carnivore and cut out carbs completely. So, today, we started our respective plans and will have a keto vs. carnivore challenge for the next 30 days. We want to be held accountable publicly by joining your July challenge group and sharing our results. We look forward to being inspired and motivated by your stories of "Getting Dat Rear In Gear!".







  • Malimalai
    Malimalai Posts: 276 Member
    I'm on low carb diet to look good for my holidays in October and for my health of cause. I cut out all junk foods.So far so good. I might add a bit of black rice,noodles etc, once in a while.
  • stormywxs288
    stormywxs288 Posts: 812 Member
    My goal for July is to "Feel Better." I want my joints and bones to stop aching. Pain in my neck, back, thumbs, fingers, and toes has plagued me for years, and I would like to reduce or eliminate it. I want to regain some of the flexibility and range of motion I once had. I am starting to feel and look like an old man. Although 74 may be old, I don't have to look so old. In addition, I need to lose about 20 pounds. I have been carrying around the weight equivalent to my 16-pound bowling ball for too long.

    Plus, I must beat my wife in our Keto vs. Carnivore Challenge, and I will gladly accept any help or advice you all may have in that pursuit.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,327 Member
    My goal for July is to "Feel Better." I want my joints and bones to stop aching. Pain in my neck, back, thumbs, fingers, and toes has plagued me for years, and I would like to reduce or eliminate it. I want to regain some of the flexibility and range of motion I once had. I am starting to feel and look like an old man. Although 74 may be old, I don't have to look so old. In addition, I need to lose about 20 pounds. I have been carrying around the weight equivalent to my 16-pound bowling ball for too long.

    Plus, I must beat my wife in our Keto vs. Carnivore Challenge, and I will gladly accept any help or advice you all may have in that pursuit.

    Welcome. I am only 57, but I know Keto did wonders for my joint pain. I am more carnivore now, but still do eat some veg, just not a lot. You can do it.
  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 7,018 Member
    baconslave wrote: »
    Still calculating my goals. I'm going out of town for the holiday so I'm busy preping for getting 5 people ready for that undertaking. I will be strategizing between sessions of reading on the camping trip though.

    I would love to get out camping more often. We do have a trip planned for a week later in July, but it is likely that will be the only camping we do this year.

    Oh. Well I do hope it's a great trip since it's your only.

    We don't really do any other vacations. (Not my choice but hubs is particular.) We own a 20-year-old RV. And living in the Appalachians means we have 3 or 4 state or federal campgrounds/parks within a 45 min drive in different directions. So it's a little vacation close to home. He clusters it around a weekend so that he can maximize his available vacation days. So we get basically 2, 4-day weekend getaways a month from Memorial Day weekend thru September. This last one was 5 days, but he abused his paid vacation for Independence day.


    @baconslave yay camping!!! same here but just me and hubby.

    Hope you had a good time. It's really stinkin' hot out there in places! Thankfully this park was in the woods and our site is shaded most of the day.

    My goal for July is to "Feel Better." I want my joints and bones to stop aching. Pain in my neck, back, thumbs, fingers, and toes has plagued me for years, and I would like to reduce or eliminate it. I want to regain some of the flexibility and range of motion I once had. I am starting to feel and look like an old man. Although 74 may be old, I don't have to look so old. In addition, I need to lose about 20 pounds. I have been carrying around the weight equivalent to my 16-pound bowling ball for too long.

    Plus, I must beat my wife in our Keto vs. Carnivore Challenge, and I will gladly accept any help or advice you all may have in that pursuit.

    I've never done carnivore myself. But I do mod the Carnivore group. It's not super active but there are 2 regular posters, and you can scroll old posts and ask them some questions on their threads. Let me know here in the thread if you request to join. My notifications just don't ping me at all. :neutral:

    Wishing you both success!




    Ok. I am back. Back tracking on the path. And back working out hopefully. I consistently got 10k steps every day while gone, but I've had no strength training, and I'm anxious to get back to that.

    CONSISTENCY AND PERSISTENCE OVER TIME. Track your dang food and calories. You know you have to. You can't eyeball worth crap, girl, you know that. And even if you do, your carb devil likes to direct your hand to over-serve. Quit messing around. :rage: You deserve to be back to your healthy weight, not chips and cookies.

    Sorry, you had to see that. She needed a talkin' to.
  • Malimalai
    Malimalai Posts: 276 Member
    Hi,everyone, camping and caravaning sound like a lot of fun.A friend tried it out by renting a caravan for aud$130 per day and paid $70 per night to park it at a caravan park.He can park on our property any time when he's in the area.We will be heading to Denmark 🇩🇰 in October for a cruise. Then we're heading to Thailand afterwards before we go back home to Australia. 🇦🇺 I'm back on low carb woe again.I know it good for me.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,327 Member
    Last week went well overall. I got in my activity and weigh training. On Saturday it was my Son's 19th birthday, so we went out to the Mandarin Buffet. For the main course I stuck with meat, but I did partake in cakes and sweets for desert. That is pretty much what I planned, just like this week there is a company event, and my plan is to eat freely there as well. The Saturday meal kicked me out of Ketosis for basically a day and a bit, but got back into it based on my breath meter quite quickly. The big positive is that after that, both the weight gain (mainly is not exclusively water weight) dropped off fast, and I hit a new low at 168.8 pounds, so eating freely didn't throw me off track eating wise. I think that is largely because I like eating this way more than any other way of eating I have tried. For me that is a big win.
  • tishsmith101
    tishsmith101 Posts: 1,671 Member
    7/10/24
    Self improvement-feeling pretty good so far this month
    Buckle down, get my logging in daily-little to no internet at the lake so no logging, back at it today.
    Step up my NEAT-lots during camping with trips between camper and truck, forgetting things inside or out LOL
    Push harder-we kayaked 2 hours a day and walked a good amount. I wanted to do more because it was cooler in the mountains but hubby wasn't feeling up to it.

    More laundry is both my workout and NEAT today. Hard to want to do more with temps in the 90's and two little window AC units.
  • stormywxs288
    stormywxs288 Posts: 812 Member
    @baconslave, on your advice, I applied to join the “Low Carbers Carnivore Club” and included your name as a reference.
    I am admittedly an optimist, so take my words with that in mind. I have only been on the Carnivore diet for four days now, but I lost 7.8 pounds in that time. I played a doubleheader of softball and two hours of pickleball. My energy, stamina, and recovery time have all seemed to improve. I need to work on my sleep, as I wake up a bit too early, my mind buzzing with thoughts of what I will do today.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,327 Member
    @baconslave, on your advice, I applied to join the “Low Carbers Carnivore Club” and included your name as a reference.
    I am admittedly an optimist, so take my words with that in mind. I have only been on the Carnivore diet for four days now, but I lost 7.8 pounds in that time. I played a doubleheader of softball and two hours of pickleball. My energy, stamina, and recovery time have all seemed to improve. I need to work on my sleep, as I wake up a bit too early, my mind buzzing with thoughts of what I will do today.

    I am mainly carnivore at this point. I still eat some stuff that is more keto, and I still use herbs and spices, so I am not strict in any way. I do find my energy levels are good, and my strength was going up steadily until I injured myself. I have been focusing more on maintaining strength in the lifts that were not directly affected by the injury, and rebuilding strength in those that were in the last several weeks. Things seem to have healed where my back was injured, so I am hoping to ramp things up a bit more, but knowing I have a week away camping at the end of the month, I am not going to push things much. I figure after we get back I can refocus on building strength as I will likely lose some during our time away.
  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 7,018 Member
    @baconslave, on your advice, I applied to join the “Low Carbers Carnivore Club” and included your name as a reference.
    I am admittedly an optimist, so take my words with that in mind. I have only been on the Carnivore diet for four days now, but I lost 7.8 pounds in that time. I played a doubleheader of softball and two hours of pickleball. My energy, stamina, and recovery time have all seemed to improve. I need to work on my sleep, as I wake up a bit too early, my mind buzzing with thoughts of what I will do today.

    I approved your request. :smile:
  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 7,018 Member
    I am here. I've been tracking and staying on plan. :+1: Busy couple days though. Sheeeeesh.
  • tishsmith101
    tishsmith101 Posts: 1,671 Member
    Lots of stairs and some jumping jacks throughout the day yesterday, food was good and all logged. Went a little over on carbs but not enough to worry about it. Some self improvement-did my best to bite my tongue and not engage in a convo with a friend yesterday, that did not serve me. That's something I've been working on, maintaining my peace.
  • taylok23
    taylok23 Posts: 828 Member
    Back to work after a week of vacation kept me fairly busy. I didn’t log as planned and didn’t go off the rails until Friday night. I kept sugar quite low all week but a couple of diet sodas slipped in after too many adult beverages. For the most part, I cooked at home with a few missteps along the way. Soooo, room for improvement this week!
  • tishsmith101
    tishsmith101 Posts: 1,671 Member
    @taylok23 that's a successful week back from vaca! Yesterday I mentally couldn't get off the couch after grocery shopping so today I forced myself outside for two hours of yard work. Protein shake for lunch then some food prep for the week. Tomorrow is strength training at lunch and yoga before dinner if class doesn't get cancelled. Scale is minimally down every other day but it is at least consistent, I'll take it.
  • stormywxs288
    stormywxs288 Posts: 812 Member
    Hey everyone, I've been focused on "Getting Dat Rear in Gear" for the past week. I started the Carnivore Diet last Monday, and so far, I've lost 10.4 pounds and 2.4 inches from various body measurements. I've also managed to kick my soda habit and limit my coffee intake to one cup daily. I've noticed an increase in my energy levels, a decrease in stress, and a reduction in my old aches and pains.

    I originally committed to the Carnivore Diet for 30 days, but now I'm considering extending it to 90 days. I've developed a new fondness for Rib Eye Steaks. What could possibly go wrong with eating one every day?

  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,327 Member
    This past week I did pretty good in terms of exercise, although I didn't meet my goal of 5 days of intentional exercise. I needed one more, but spent a whole day removing and replacing a part on my truck's air conditioning system. It was far more work than I expected, and by the time I was done I was hot, tired, and sore. Today, I am even more sore with a whole host of bruises from doing that job. Eating was good, although there are a company function on Friday where I chose to eat freely. I focused on meat, but did eat sweets and some salads that were far from low carb. I was out of ketosis based on my breath meter, but by Sunday I was entering back into it.
  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 7,018 Member
    My weekend was bad. Has it been worse though? Absolutely. We got take out from a sit-down restaurant, and I only hate half of my portion the first day. Def improvement!!! I cut down my evening snacking as well. However, the inlaws invited us over and despite my resolve I ate a little too much while there. I have a plan to improve next weekend even further. Otherwise, I have been logging my food during the weekdays well.

    Exercise took a downturn the end of last week as the teens adopted kittens, and they have needed constant attention so my workout window on Friday was absorbed with making sure baby cats didn't get themselves killed. I don't usually workout on the weekends but couldn't anyway. They seems to be geting less reckless over time, and the kids are home from their weekend trip. I was able to get a good leg day and some cardio in yesterday. Today will be arms and cardio.
  • stormywxs288
    stormywxs288 Posts: 812 Member
    This past week, I did pretty well in terms of exercise, although I didn't meet my goal of 5 days of intentional exercise. I needed one more, but spent a whole day removing and replacing a part on my truck's air conditioning system. It was far more work than I expected, and by the time I was done I was hot, tired, and sore. .

    @rileysowner , I know exactly how you feel. I count my yard work as exercise. I play softball, pickleball, and bowling and, of course, count those as exercises. However, nothing gets me more tired and sore than yard work. Mowing, trimming, picking up, and getting rid of yard waste is far more difficult than any sports I like to play. I call these kinds of things FUNctional Fitness and log them as exercise.

  • rwsagan4229
    rwsagan4229 Posts: 1 Member
    Started Carnivore'ish' woe 1 week ago (July 9th) and intend do go for a minimum of 60 days, then transition into low carb woe long term.

    From research (albeit very limited), my goals are

    1.) elimination diet to reset what foods work for me and don't, to reduce inflammation and side effects
    2.) to lose weight/fat through caloric deficit and ketosis
    3.) lessen joint / muscle pain
    4.) lower blood pressure (take meds for bp and cholesterol)
    5.) increase mental clarity
    6.) increase mood
    7.) increase overall daily energy and to stabilize energy throughout the day

    What I have been eating week 1:
    • Scrambled Eggs / Bacon / Chicken Sausage / Butter / Coffee / Hard Cheese
    • Steak (Rib Eye / NY Strip / Roast)
    • Hard Boiled Eggs
    • Trout
    • Lamp Loin Chops
    • Salt / Pepper
    • Ground Beef (once on day 3, made me nauseous)

    Added to Diet yesterday (7/16):
    • Sour Cream
    • Cream Cheese
    • Hot Sauce
    • Kroger Shredded Cheeses (cheddar, jack)
    • Electrolyte mix

    Start Metrics:
    • 5'11'
    • 261 lbs
    • 50 years old
    • Male

    Felt mildly bad day 3 and 4, nothing really worth noting, no real keto flu

    The thought/smell/taste of meat made me nauseous for days 4 and 5 (after eating ground beef). Been getter better, but not truly craving meat yet.

    Yesterday (7/16) morning I was down 10 lbs in total (251.3).

    Monday (7/15) was daughter's birthday and we had hibachi. I ate steak and scallops with whatever soy/teriyaki they put on it. Tuesday I made chicken bufallo dip which added cream cheese/sour cream/hot sauce back into my diet. This morning I had gained '1.5 lbs. (??)

  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 7,018 Member
    Started Carnivore'ish' woe 1 week ago (July 9th) and intend do go for a minimum of 60 days, then transition into low carb woe long term.



    welcome welcome. I approved your request to the Carnivore group. :smile:

    Being 100% "over" meat for a brief period of time is entirely normal. Usually that accompanies ketone levels rising. You may have more periods of that once you get fat adapted but it will pass. It's really great when you reach the point where food no longer has an evil, supernatural hold on you. It can simply be tasty fuel, and you can move on. With more energy and a greater zest for life.

  • baconslave
    baconslave Posts: 7,018 Member
    Doing great. Aside from being still sore as all hades from leg day. My body is just mean. I think it's the Sjogren's. Outsized DOMS when I have been doing strength training for almost 10 years now. :disappointed:

    Scale is still dumb. I know I have inflammation from sore muscles. The rest is just my body being a punk. Some of the resistance to dropping the weight is also probably a med I am on. Annoyed. But nothing to do but keep on keeping on. Can't outlast me forever.