[EDIT: this is a very long post, in the interests of your #Juneathon reading time the TLDR version is like this;Ate too much while the Queen had a party, joined Slimkicker, did some excersises at home, went for a short run ’cause its #Juneathon]

Was it just me or did the 4 days of the Jubilee mean an extra few pounds (LBS & £££)  of bad food choices every day? God Bless the Queen & all that jazz, but please can we celebrate the 65th by having salad & fruit? (Fruit in Pimms may count & celery & tomato juice in Bloody Marys could coun twice) That way I won’t think that

Tough Mudder logo

Tough Mudder logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

the Jubilee is a justified reason to buy a bag of haribo every day, eat a giant bag of Revels in one night, and consume vast amounts of BBQ’d meat and croissants for breakfast.

So is it any wonder that I had to unfreeze my BeeMinder Graph this morning?! and I’m just writing off all of May, and counting the 23 weeks till Tough Mudder and checking the calendar for any other Event Excuses to stop me getting in shape & getting less fat.

I’ve also found a app/site that fuels my need for points/gold stars/level ups that’s also a diet/nutrition tracker. (Good grief there’s an awe full lot of slashes in that sentence!) It’s called Slimkicker, and I think it’s still in Beta stages, there’s no where for me to find out how many people are using the site, but I think it’s around a thousand or so. It’s a little clunky on the app, and adding food is not as quick & easy as on other apps (like with MFP for example) but it does have two mechanics that make me think it should be a little more motivating.

Firstly, it’s like Fitocracy but for food!

Everything you log into your tracker gets you points, good things, like servings of fruit or healthy fats, get more points than others, I don’t think there’s a food that won’t give you any points. The points all add up & eventually you level up, and if the glow you get when you move from level one up to level two isn’t enough, you can also set rewards. When I reach Level Five I will reward myself with a trip to the Urban Decay counter, but I’m still only level Three, so I have a few weeks to go.

Secondly, there are challenges.

Yes, yes, this also sounds like Fitocracy too, but there are slight differences. You have to join the challenges, Slimkicker isn’t going to automatically give you the points if you log things, so there’s no accidently scoring points for something you aim to do, and the challenges aren’t all about food. They’re split into 4 categories;

  • willpower – e.g “No Snacks After 3pm”
  • fitness –  e.g “20 Push Ups a Day”
  • emotional – e.g  “Daily Gratitude Prayer”
  • nutrition – e.g “A Salad A Day”

These are just one of the challenges in each area, and if you can’t find one that grabs you, there’s the option to create your own. I’m currently in 5 challenges;

  1. Loose 10lbs in 30 days
  2. 10 Push Ups a Day (for 7 days)
  3. 10 Wall Squats a Day (for 7 days)
  4. 10 Normal Squats a Day (for 7 days)
  5. 10 Lunges a Day (for 7 days) – this is one I created, if I’m squatting I might as well do some lunges too.

So you check in everyday, and get a little bonus boost to your points, keeping you focused on the tasks in hand & keeping you accountable, but if you fail or fall off the wagon, then there’s also a restart option, requiring you to stay honest with yourself. I restarted the “No snacking after 7pm” challenge several times, this weekend, and now I’ve given up on that, as it currently seems impossible.

The downside of it all is the current size & it’s American base, I find myself having to create a lot of foods, compared with the more established trackers out there, it’s a little tedious to do. The app isn’t as nice as the website, but it seems that the developers are listening & they seem to pay attention to the post put on the forums, so suggestions go a long way.

Anyway… #Juneathon!

Aside from the parkrun I did at the weekend I haven’t honestly done much excersise or running for Juneathon, but today I will commit & start doing something everyday & writing shorter blogs about it too! What did I do today;

  1. Planks (20sec, 25 sec
  2. Wall Push Ups ( 2 sets of 10 reps)
  3. Body Weight Squats (2 sets of 10 reps)
  4. Body Weight Lunges (2 sets of 5 reps)
  5. Wall Squats (2 sets of 5, holding for 5 secs each)
  6. Leg Lifts (2 sets of 10)
  7. Running 7.18km (58 min)