Post: #1

Hi everybody! I'm Bouchra, and some of you may remember me from last year's 21DHL (I'm the one who was doing a water-fast). For those who don't, I'm 18 years old, and I live in the Middle East.

2011 was one of the busiest and most productive years so far. I'm looking forward to 2012 being more productive than 2011, and I already have a huge list of goals to tackle in 2012, and 21DHL fits in quite nicely with many of my goals, so I thought, why not do it? After all, my goals will be the same, only this time I'll be sharing my progress daily as opposed to the weekly/biweekly progress report I post on my blog.

I haven't done all of my Pre-work yet, I'll be posting the whole thing in the next post, but I've already decided on what I'm going to do with regards to exercise: a Couch to 5K plan.

Upcoming, my full plans for 21DHL. Stay tuned. And Happy holidays to everybody. Hope this year will take us all ad astra*!


*Ad astra: Latin for 'to the stars'

Post: #2

Post: #3

Pre-Work

Step 1: Write your ideal vision for your health/fitness/lifestyle

In my ideal world, I'll be healthy, fit and living my life to the fullest. I run marathons, and I'm even attempting an ultra-marathon. My weight doesn't matter much, however I'm at the ideal weight for my age and height (about 50 kg). I eat a healthy diet, I'm not vegetarian, but my diet is very healthy. I exercise almost everyday, mostly training for marathons, but I do some strength training (push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, etc) also. I sleep on a poly-phasic schedule, mainly due to my need to be awake during different time-zones, and also because I tend to focus on studies better after midnight. I write regularly, both journaling/diary-keeping/blogging and creative writing. I play games that benefit me (Scrabble, Sudoku, etc). I do a one week water-fast every six months for detoxing. I'm on way to finishing memorizing the Quran. Reading all kinds of books is also a big part of my life. If I'm not having exams or loads of studies, then I usually read 2 - 3 books a week. On top of all this, I'm near the top of virtually all my classes. I'm happy and content with my life.


Step 2: What do you want to accomplish at the end of 21DHL?

At the end of 21DHL, I want to have transitioned to my initial poly-phasic sleep schedule, started on my C25K plan, doing stretching/strength training exercises on the days I'm not C25King, established the habit of drinking 2.4 litres of water daily, wrote 15,750 words in my novel, established the habit of planning my days in advance, had a good start on all of my Project 2012 sub-projects, caught up with my studies schedule, and done my only-raw-veggies week.


Step 3: Create your 21-Day Healthy Living Plan!

- Write 750 words in my novel everyday
- Follow my exercise plan daily (C25K Thu, Sat, Mon; stretching ex. Fri, Sun, Tue; climbing steps Wed)
- Drink 2.4l water everyday
- Study for 10 hours everyday (weekends also)
- Plan my day everyday before my first sleep session
- Sleep at 21:00, wake up at 01:00, sleep again at 08:30, wake up at 10:30, have a 30 min nap at 13:00 everyday as part of my poly-phasic schedule
- Start on my Project 2012 sub-projects as planned (on 1.1.2012)
- Do the daily task as set by Celes
- Report to my journal at 20:30 everyday with a progress report and a brief paragraph on the next day's plans

Phew! That took me so long to write, even though everything is mapped out in my brain. Even though I've got a lot to do today in preparation for tomorrow, I can't wait for tomorrow to come!


Today's action plan:
- Drink 2.4l of water (0.6 done, 1.8 to go)
- Follow my poly-phasic schedule even if I'm not feeling sleepy
- Clean my room
- Clear my desk and prepare it for tomorrow
- Collect the other books I want to read in January
- Post my January plans on my blog
- Decide on three people I want to follow throughout 21DHL and post on their journals saying so

That's it for today, I think. I'll be back in about 12 hours to report my progress and put up tomorrow's action plan. Now I've got to go and sleep for 2 hours (it's 08:20 here).

---

(12-30-2011 11:11 PM)Bilal Kamoon Wrote:  

Hi Bushra! I'm from the ME too, Lebanon to be precise.

I just wanted to know that you have my full support, we're all in this together

Can't wait to read your plans

Hi Bilal! Thanks for the support.

Post: #4

Hi Bushra

Good luck for the challenge.

Ahmed

Post: #5

OK, I'm back.

Progress report:
- Drink 2.4l of water (1.8 done, 0.6 to go) -- Will do just before sleeping
- Follow my poly-phasic schedule even if I'm not feeling sleepy -- Only missed my nap
- Clean my room -- DONE
- Clear my desk and prepare it for tomorrow -- Halfway DONE
- Collect the other books I want to read in January -- POSTPONED to 1st
- Post my January plans on my blog -- DONE
- Decide on three people I want to follow throughout 21DHL and post on their journals saying so -- Half done, have to post on the journals only, that'll be after I wake up, I got to sleep now.

Tomorrow's action plan:

- Drink 2.4l water
- Follow my poly-phasic schedule precisely
- Exercise according to schedule (stretching)
- Write 750 words in novel
- Collect the books I have to read for fanfic research
- Declutter my desk
- Do as many Geography lessons as possible, do all ICT lessons that I've fallen behind schedule on
- Spend fifteen minutes deciding on this week's movie and documentary film
- Spend 30 min doing something towards my OBBM '12 (part of Project 2012, details on my blog)
- Find a way to install Mum's printer onto my laptop.... even if it involves downloading a huge file from HP = )
- Get a good head-start on this week's book

I think that's all for the 1st. Somehow I feel like I had planned for more, but planning out the day seems to make it seem less packed. I decided I'll have 2 progress reports per day, one at 08:00 and the other at 20:00.

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(12-31-2011 03:15 PM)ahmed.akber Wrote:  Hi Bushra

Good luck for the challenge.

Ahmed

Hi Ahmed! Thanks, good luck to you too.

Post: #6

Hello Bouchra!
Thank you for stopping by my post,you seem such a clever girl. Good luck with your goals especially Quran memorizing. Take care.

Post: #7

12-hour progress report for 1.1.2012

I didn't do anything yet! Except that I followed my poly-phasic schedule, and I drank 0.75l water (1.65l to go), decided on whom I'm going to follow throughout 21DHL, and posted on their journals saying so.

Now I have to go and sleep for 2 hours, I'll be back with my progress report for Day 1 at 20:30. Let's hope I manage to do all what I've planned for.

---

(01-01-2012 02:03 PM)Enas Wrote:  Hello Bouchra!
Thank you for stopping by my post,you seem such a clever girl. Good luck with your goals especially Quran memorizing. Take care.

Hi Enas! You're welcome. Oh, I don't think I'm that clever, otherwise I would have already completed half today's goals by now. Thanks anyway for your kinds words = )

Bouchra

Post: #8

hi,

You seems to keep on track quite well. Keep it up!

Post: #9

I'm back with my progress report, and to be honest, I didn't do much today.....

- Drink 2.4l water -- DONE (only .25l left, it's on my desk waiting to be consumed)
- Follow my poly-phasic schedule precisely -- Not so precise, I overslept on the second part, so I skipped the afternoon nap)
- Exercise according to schedule (stretching) -- DONE
- Write 750 words in novel -- ONLY 95 words..... I seem to have hit writer's block!
- Collect the books I have to read for fanfic research -- Going to get them now, will take only 10 min approx.
- Declutter my desk -- HALFWAY through, have to sort books tomorrow.
- Do as many Geography lessons as possible, do all ICT lessons that I've fallen behind schedule on -- Procrastinated on this, did only one Geography lesson, no any ICT lessons yet.... seems like I'm not going to have no-lessons-weekends for a long time!
- Spend fifteen minutes deciding on this week's movie and documentary film -- DONE
- Spend 30 min doing something towards my OBBM '12 (part of Project 2012, details on my blog) -- DONE, put a list of supplies I need to collect from around the house.
- Find a way to install Mum's printer onto my laptop.... even if it involves downloading a huge file from HP = ) -- DONE, found the file to be downloaded, downloading tomorrow.
- Get a good head-start on this week's book -- Not yet. I won't be doing it today, most probably.... it's too late.

Tomorrow's action plan:

- Exercise (C25K W1D1 workout)
- Download printer's installer file
- Read book 1 for fanfic research
- Write 750 + 655 (yesterday's) = 1405 words in my novel
- Follow my polyphasic schedule precisely
- Drink 2.4l water
- Make all calls on the list I made yesterday
- Do 3 - 5 Geography lessons
- Do 1 Chemistry lesson
- Do 1 Physics lesson
- Do as many ICT lessons as possible
- Read 100+ pages of this week's book
- Tackle one of my OBBM '12 goals
- Continue decluttering my desk

Hmmmm, that's it for today and tomorrow, I think. Now off to collect the books and go and have some sleep. Catch you guys in the morning!

---

(01-01-2012 06:43 PM)NLinh2911 Wrote:  hi,

You seems to keep on track quite well. Keep it up!

Hi Linh! Thanks...

Post: #10

HI, I find your progress reports very inspiring.
Thanks

Post: #11

Hi Bouchra,
your energy and your optimism is truly inspiring. I wish you good luck with your plans!
Britta

Post: #12

12-hour progress report for 1.2.2012:

I slept one hour later than planned last night, but I got up exactly 4 hours and 2 minutes later. I was feeling a bit cold, even though I hadn't turned on the A/C, it was on in the 2 other rooms right next to mine, so the cold air had found it's way into my room somehow. I decided to get a head-start on the 100+ pages I had to read from this week's book, instead of reading the fanfic one that I had to take notes from. The problem was, I couldn't stop until the book came to an end, about 250 pages more than what I actually wanted to read today. I also drank 1l of water so far, and I'm in the process of finishing up my first Geography lesson for the day.

I personally don't think I did well so far, but I realize that now I have this week's book out of the way, I will have to force myself to study till next week!

I'm going to sleep now, though I'm over 40 minutes late, but that's because I was late in sleeping last night so today's schedule has been pushed ahead one hour.

When I wake up I will finish up the rest of the works I have to do, and also try and do my calorie list. I'm sensing a similarity between this year's and last year's tasks, but as I didn't do except 3 - 4 days of the challenge last year, I cannot do much of a comparison. Anybody else noticed this?

---

(01-02-2012 07:09 AM)bcharles Wrote:  HI, I find your progress reports very inspiring.
Thanks

Hi bcharles! Thank you for your kind words.

---

(01-02-2012 03:00 PM)bfhpierce Wrote:  Hi Bouchra,
your energy and your optimism is truly inspiring. I wish you good luck with your plans!
Britta

Hi Britta! Thank you for your kind words. I wish you the best of luck too.

Post: #13

I'm sensing the same thing I think the tasks will be the same as last year. For me thats fine, because I dropped out after 5 or 6 days. Did you expect new tasks? You can find last year's tasks in the 'Past Challenges' Section in the forum, so you can compare

Post: #14

(01-02-2012 03:12 PM)Bushra Wrote:  When I wake up I will finish up the rest of the works I have to do, and also try and do my calorie list. I'm sensing a similarity between this year's and last year's tasks, but as I didn't do except 3 - 4 days of the challenge last year, I cannot do much of a comparison. Anybody else noticed this?

(01-02-2012 04:21 PM)bfhpierce Wrote:  I'm sensing the same thing I think the tasks will be the same as last year. For me thats fine, because I dropped out after 5 or 6 days. Did you expect new tasks? You can find last year's tasks in the 'Past Challenges' Section in the forum, so you can compare

Hey guys, yes - the tasks will indeed be largely similar to last year's tasks, because ultimately the steps to healthy living are of the same universal principles. Drinking sufficient water, working out, eating healthily, eating fruits/vegetables, being conscious of what we take in, etc. I rearranged some tasks and have a couple new tasks inserted in which I feel makes the challenge stronger, but ultimately it's quite consistent to last year's challenge. No point reinventing new tasks just for the sake of having new tasks, especially if the current challenge design is already a tried, tested and proven formula. 21DHL is about executing steps to healthy living and having results to show for that (which is pretty much the main goal of the challenges at PE anyway), not necessarily acquiring new theory/knowledge, though that may well happen along the way.

"If you want to get something you have never gotten before, you've to do something you've never done before."
Personal Excellence - For people passionate about achieving excellence in life

Post: #15

I feel so horrible... I already skipped 2 progress reports. Yesterday evening, about 19:30 I was feeling very sleepy because I had missed my nap once again, so I decided to go and sleep. I had already messed up during the day, so I didn't feel like writing the progress report. When I got today at about 1:30, I was feeling really cold and tired, I stayed in the bed in order to warm myself up, but I didn't realize that I had fallen asleep except when I woke up at about 4:30. I was still feeling tired, had a bad headache and felt like I was developing a cold. I thought maybe this was because I had skipped dinner the night before, so I went and ate.

After eating I felt slightly better, but the sensation of having a cold was stronger. I sat for a while on my laptop, checking email and stuff. Yesterday instead of finishing what I was supposed to, I got tempted to watch the trailer of the documentary film I'll be watching this fortnight, and I didn't stop until I had finished it! So when I felt really tired at 19:30, I thought I'll push the stuff I didn't do yesterday to today (almost everything except 1 Geo lesson, downloading the file, drinking water and reading the book). I even didn't get to do my exercise so I swapped Wednesday's climbing the stairs workout with yesterday's C25K W1D1 workout.

But today morning when I felt so ill, I decided to change the whole program, so instead of completing what I didn't do yesterday, many of which involves a lot of thinking (my headache isn't gone yet), I decided to read as many books as possible from the collection of 21 books I have to read for my fanfic research. I might also do the writing I have to do, but I'm keeping that for later on when I might be feeling better. I still have to do today's exercise (stretching), drink 2.4l water, and try and follow my polyphasic schedule as much as possible.

That's all for now. I can't guarantee that I'll be staying awake till after 20:00 so I can post my progress report then, but I'll try to post one before I go to bed for the night.

---

(01-02-2012 04:21 PM)bfhpierce Wrote:  I'm sensing the same thing I think the tasks will be the same as last year. For me thats fine, because I dropped out after 5 or 6 days. Did you expect new tasks? You can find last year's tasks in the 'Past Challenges' Section in the forum, so you can compare

It's fine with me too, I also dropped out within 3 - 4 days last year.

---

(01-02-2012 04:47 PM)Celes Wrote:  

(01-02-2012 03:12 PM)Bushra Wrote:  When I wake up I will finish up the rest of the works I have to do, and also try and do my calorie list. I'm sensing a similarity between this year's and last year's tasks, but as I didn't do except 3 - 4 days of the challenge last year, I cannot do much of a comparison. Anybody else noticed this?

(01-02-2012 04:21 PM)bfhpierce Wrote:  I'm sensing the same thing I think the tasks will be the same as last year. For me thats fine, because I dropped out after 5 or 6 days. Did you expect new tasks? You can find last year's tasks in the 'Past Challenges' Section in the forum, so you can compare

Hey guys, yes - the tasks will indeed be largely similar to last year's tasks, because ultimately the steps to healthy living are of the same universal principles. Drinking sufficient water, working out, eating healthily, eating fruits/vegetables, being conscious of what we take in, etc. I rearranged some tasks and have a couple new tasks inserted in which I feel makes the challenge stronger, but ultimately it's quite consistent to last year's challenge. No point reinventing new tasks just for the sake of having new tasks, especially if the current challenge design is already a tried, tested and proven formula. 21DHL is about executing steps to healthy living and having results to show for that (which is pretty much the main goal of the challenges at PE anyway), not necessarily acquiring new theory/knowledge, though that may well happen along the way.

Thanks Celes for the clarification. I appreciate your taking the time to explain = )

Post: #16

Hey,

don't worry too much if you skipped a task or a report. There is always a tomorrow.

Get well soon!

Post: #17

I feel so horrible for not updating the past few days, but I was feeling down on the 3rd, and I slept about 19:30. This time I didn't get up till dawn on the 4th, and I had a high temperature by then too. My fever was lower in the night, but I still fell asleep before 20:30. I didn't bother to think of doing exercise or anything else those few days. On the 5th the fever was gone, but I got up early in the morning to throw up. I threw up 4 times in the morning that day before falling asleep again. I think I slept more than 12 hours between 20:00 on the 4th and till the time I woke up on the 5th for the second time (after sleeping after throwing up). I felt better, but I had a really bad cold then. Again I didn't bother to exercise or anything else, I was feeling too down to do anything! Later in the evening Mum bought some fast food we buy once a month or so (shrimp coated with breadcrumbs and fried + french fries + a small coleslaw salad), by then I was feeling better so I ate some. What astonished me though was that I could smell a horrible chemical-like smell in the food (more like concentrated hydrogen peroxide -- the one that comes part of a hair-dyeing kit)! I knew it didn't exist, this wasn't the first time I was eating it, and I made everybody smell my plate to make sure that it's not something wrong with it, but I couldn't come up with any sort of explanation for it yet! That night I slept really later than usual at about 10:30 because Mum was out and she got late to come with the food (we hadn't eaten anything except fruits for lunch that day!). The next morning I got up at about 6:30 or so, and I didn't sleep. We actually were going to Makkah (a holy city that's close to where I live) for the day, so we got ready and went at about 11:00 (we ate a big breakfast before going). We didn't eat anything except biscuits and fruits the rest of the day, because I wanted us to come home earlier than our usual return time, so we agreed that we won't be buying anything there for dinner because that would make us late. We reached home later than I expected (22:30), and I had already fallen asleep on the way back, so I told Mum that while she heats up the pre-prepared dinner I'll take a nap, if I don't wake up then to leave a bit for me. Turns out I didn't wake up till about 9:00, so I had my dinner for breakfast today morning.

That's the report for the past 2 - 3 days. I also wanted to mention that on the 5th and 6th, I didn't drink all the water I'm supposed to drink (2.4l). On the 5th I drank about 1.5l, and yesterday I drank 2l exactly. I had planned to drink the rest of the .4l after dinner, but I didn't have dinner.

Post: #18

Oh Bouchra, please don't beat yourself up too much. I'm very sorry to hear you are so sick, hope you'll get better soon!
Your body was obviously tired and needed a break, so sleeping for 12 hours is totally fine.

Get well soon!

Post: #19

I also wanted to say that I drank 1.4l of water so far today, and I finally started on my C25K plan. It was an incredible experience, especially the running part. I'm going to write a whole blog post dedicated to it, I hope I will have it done by tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, here's my to-do list:

- Do 2 lessons from any subjects of my choice
- Exercise (stretching)
- Drink 2.4l water
- Follow my poly-phasic schedule
- Make the calls I was supposed to make on the 2nd
- Write about 2K words (I'm supposed to have done 8 x 750 by tomorrow!)
- Start on the book for this week
- Memorize 2nd page of Surah al Baqara
- Spend 15 min deciding on this week's movie
- Install the printer onto my laptop, print out all the sets of past papers I've downloaded
- Sort all of my clothes into 2 piles -- folding and hanging + choose 3 pieces to iron this week
- Decide on the thing I want to get rid of for Week 1 (I realize this is almost over but I just remembered this goal!)

I think that's it for the day. Catch you all in 12 hours!

---

(01-08-2012 03:09 AM)bfhpierce Wrote:  Oh Bouchra, please don't beat yourself up too much. I'm very sorry to hear you are so sick, hope you'll get better soon!
Your body was obviously tired and needed a break, so sleeping for 12 hours is totally fine.

Get well soon!

Thanks! I'm already very much better today! I was really afraid that I'd quit after I became sick because that's what happened last year, but I'm glad that I still have the enthusiasm to continue with 21DHL and all my other goals too!

Yeah, I understand that, I wasn't scolding myself for that, I used to sleep for more than 10 hours just a few weeks ago even though I wasn't sick or anything.

Post: #20

I'm sorry I didn't report in the morning, but I didn't wake up until 9:30 today. My sleep has been disrupted, I'm trying my best to get it back on track, but it's proving to be harder to do than getting used to it in the beginning!

I did 2 lessons of Physics today, drank 2l of water so far, did some stretching exercises, decided on this week's movie and book, installed the printer, printed all past papers except Chem (battery finished before that!), decided on the thing I want to get of for this week, and made the calls (which nobody answered )

I'm going to try and get a headstart on the book before bed (preferably while getting myself to sleep), and I'll do the clothes right away. I'll see if I can squeeze in memorizing the page or not too.

Here are tomorrow's goals:

- Do as many Physics lessons as possible (5 get me 3 games of Lexulous, 10 get me 8 games, 15 get me 13 games)!
- Follow my polyphasic schedule
- Drink 2.4l water
- Exercise (C25K W1D2)
- Try calling again
- Print the Chem past papers
- Read more from my book
- Finish memorizing 2nd page of Surah Al Baqara
- Write as many words as possible (1K gets me 25 pages from the book, 2K = 50 pages, 3K = 75 pages, and so on)
- Read as many FF books as possible (with note-taking)
- Read as many pages as possible from Sahih Al Bukhari
- Go to the lecture with Mum

That's all for tomorrow! It's going to be a busy day, I think I'm going to have to unplug in order to get everything done! See you all at 8:30 tomorrow morning.