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Last Time: F A I L. Not sure what happened. Time got all scrambled again. Brain is a bag of fish. Started taking supplement, it hasn't helped so far but it might still do something. Options will be re-evaluated once the supplement runs out, according to the results. In the meantime, time to get up and try again. again. This Time: Unfortunately for everyone who knows me, I finally saw Captain America: Civil War. Have not yet stopped screaming about Bucky. My brother is probably going to punch me through a wall if he hears me say 'Bucky', 'Avengers', 'Civil War' or 'Sebastian Stan' one more time. Bucky Barnes, man. Most personally relatable character since Merlin. Also utterly heartbreaking and everything about him makes me want to cry. Also gorgeous. Currently at the forefront of my ever-shifting lineup of most favorite/pondered/analyzed characters. Largely due to being the most recent to grab my attention. (Note: if anyone wants to shriek and flail or even actually calmly talk about anything related to Bucky or Civil War or anything of that sort (hell we can even talk about Jefferson) please. I'm here fo dat.) Logical Course of Action: We bout ta do a Bucky Challenge. The Set-Up ____________ It's become apparent this week that I'm on unsteady ground and will have to shrink my theme to suit. Gonna run this Challenge in two sections; Maintenance and Missions. (ERROR: currently in a quagmire again, not sure how this is going to go, will edit this for better stuff once I no longer feel like crying hysterically for no reason)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ~ Intro ~ *Third time editing this hoLy c r o w * What's Going On: We have one more possible help for the Bad FeelingsTM, but don't get to order until early October. I'm really hoping that it works. But this Challenge won't be about that. This Challenge is about trying to get better at living with the Bad FeelingsTM and managing them. Which I've been trying to do pretty much all year and so far, not so much. But I'm trying again because I understand there's a chance they might not ever go away, and I need to be able to function. So I'm re-visiting what I know helps a bit, and also giving some new things a try. The main goal is to hang on and be productive instead of floating in this interim of waiting for potential solutions. There's also heckofalot of school stuff right now. Which is added stress that won't dissipate until it's done, so I really do have to at least manage well enough to actually get some effective studying done. Um...it's basically guaranteed there will be a lot of back-and-forth in this thread from reasonably cheerful to mega-angst to "I-don't-want-to-be-here" and all that...I try to refrain from posting that stuff but sometimes it feels better to tell someone...still, will be trying to manage that better too now the Challenge has officially begun. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ~ Set-Up ~ Okay, one of the shows I've recently been sucked into is Voltron: Legendary Defender. A friend watched it with serious enthusiasm, but I thought it sounded corny and stupid even if the fanart she was posting was fabulous. Then an acquaintance started to watch it and complained for the first half or so of the series, but then her tone changed and before long she was really into this show an just completely won-over. So I watched it with my brother and we thoroughly enjoyed it, even if there was a nasty cliffhanger. Several weeks later, I'm being buried under plot ideas for fanfictions. Thought I had avoided that, but no such luck. Anyway, in Voltron, you've got your villain, Sendak, who takes over basically the entire universe and proceeds to rule for 10,000 years. After a certain point, all resistance stops and he's just left to do his thing. Then these five adorable Earth children rescue a guy who just got back from having been abducted by aliens, find a gigantic blue robot-lion, wind up on a foreign planet, find four more giant robot lions, and become the main resisting force against the villain and his army of really cute but also hideously evil minions. So we've got teenagers piloting colorful cats around space while they fight evil purple koala-cats. Sounds intense, right? These kids are called Paladins and, for the next four weeks at least, that's my class, too. Each Paladin has different skills, flaws, strengths, weaknesses...they also each have their own Lion that they can operate independently, as well as a unique weapon. The coolest thing, though, is when they form Voltron. It takes all five of them to do that, so if even one is missing, or out of sync with the others, it's just not happening. Similarly, it's going to take all of my goals working together to make any real, solid progress. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ~ The Challenge ~ Each week, there will be a new Villain to fight, each one stronger than the last. For every Task I complete, I earn Attack Points, which lower enemy Health. In turn, failure to complete Tasks earns Attack Points for the enemy, lowering my Health Points. There are also Bonuses to be unlocked, which will come especially handy in later Battles. Scoring: Task Completed = +1 AP Task Failed = -1HP Combo - two or more Paladins' full Task Lists completed. = +5AP per Paladin Form Voltron - all tasks complete. +25AP Bayard Bonus - Paladin's Bonus Task Completed. = +10AP Coran Bonus Quest - +10HP. Can be stacked. Paladin's HP are tallied independently. Voltron's is their cumulative total. HP does not reset between Battles, but may be recovered through Bonus Tasks. If a Paladin reaches 0HP, they are Unconscious until the next day, and a -5AP penalty is incurred. If all Paladins lose consciousness, Voltron falls and the Overall Challenge Score goes down. Downtime: Even Paladins of Voltron can't always be fighting Battles! Saturdays and Sundays are Permitted Rest Days. All non-essential Tasks are optional. There are Five Permissible Days of Weekday Leave which can be used at any time, but not consecutively. If by some miracle an enemy is defeated early, Idk man didn't plan for that. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ~ Goals ~ Keith: The Red Paladin. Guardian of the Spirit of Fire. Said to fight like a Galra Soldier, his Primary Trait is his skill in battle, and the fierce conditioning required. He will represent the 'Body' quests: Walk two miles Workout 100 oz water Track food Do not cause injury Bayard Bonus: Run One Mile Pidge: The Green Paladin. Guardian of the Spirit of Forest. Pidge's Defining Trait is her intellect, particularly concerning her affinity for all things technical. She will represent 'Mind' Quests. Study Math Study French Study Spanish Study Italian Study Code Bayard Bonus: Memorize Times Tables Lance: The Blue Paladin.Guardian of the Spirit of Water. *info* 'Spirit' Quests. Plot/Write One Story Plot/Write One Fanfic Practice Hobby Journal Yoga Bayard Bonus: Organize Writing Life Hunk: The Gold Paladin. Guardian of the Spirit of Land. *info* 'Soul' Quests. 5 Bible Chapters Time in Prayer Keep up with Friends Read "Do Hard Things" Practice ASL Bayard Bonus: Complete new SaltLight Routine. Shiro: *Image Later* Week One: Reading Challenge Week Two: Improve Handwriting Week Three: Improve Posture Week Four: Positivity Challenge Coran Bonus: Clean Bedroom Clean Kitchen Clean Bathroom _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Will finish later because I really need to get to work and also find some food*

Hello, introductions are always so tough. Well, let's start with the basic. My name is Alexander, 22 years old and I'm from Sweden! I like daydreaming and coming up with all sorts of fantasies in my head, it's amazingly fun. So, here's the thing. I have always been struggling with my weight, I eat when I'm bored, stressed, sad and the whole spectrum of emotions. After so many years, it has turned into an extremely hard habit too break and I need your help! A place that I can turn to in my darkest hours, when the craving for "sugar" is strong. It feels nice joining Nerdfitness and it's community and I hope you all will welcome me with open arms. Thank you for reading and it's so fun meeting you all! Thank you!

Not entirely relevant to the Challenge itself, but kind of important. There might be some SongSpam this time around just because I decided to make a Positive Song Playlist. For, uh, science. <.< Anyway. Recap: Week One was okay last time, Week Two was Better, and then I epically crashed and burned in Week Three under the weight of feelings I still don't fully understand. This whole 'life' thing just sometimes feels like more than I'm interested in dealing with. As typically happens, that particular thought is now receding and the motivation to Do All The Things is returning. I'm not going to count my last Challenge as a success, because that would be a lie, but I'm also not going to dwell on defeat and instead of spending more time feeling bad about it am going to Get Up and Try Again. Goals: This time, I'm between changes. Life has recently been irreversibly altered, and more change is coming up, though hopefully in a happier context. Big steps where school is concerned, life in general. So the focus will be quite basic, pretty much the same goals as always. Better emotional stability would be a nice payoff. And speaking of emotions, theme time! This movie punched me repeatedly before the credits rolled. Set Up: Five characters, five categories. The aim is to earn one point per category per day. No weekday-only restrictions this time, so there won't be that to think about. Much more flexibility than I usually give myself. Zero Week will be even more flexible because there's a lot to do this week aside from Challenge things, but I need to get going again as soon as possible. Zero Week will not be scored, but I will be starting my Tasks nonetheless. Potential Points: 140 I wanted to do the Islands thing, too, but couldn't think of how that would work or what to do with it, so, not doing that. Staying bare-bones, super basic. GIFs are welcome and encouraged even if totally unrelated to the theme. Let the silliness commence.

June 1, 7:39 am Today is the day that I woke up eager to start the reset and upgrade of my life. My Motivational playlist playing, my inspiring pictures flashing on my background, water bottle within my reach and my energy eager to go. 20 body weight squats 10 push ups 20 walking lunges 10 dumbbell rows (using a gallon milkjug) 15 second plank 30 Jumping Jacks The beginners Workout. I only did one set, and that's O.K. I am getting my body ready for more sets in the very near future. After the workout. I like the idea of taking a set of photos on the 1st of the month and possibly the 3rd. Progress and what not. Current size- 260 ( But I have to start somewhere.) Pant size- 20/22 One of my short term goals is to see the other side of 240. Long term is to see how I look at 200. And it can be done! Allons-y!

How do you handle things when your significant other, family member, coworker, or other person you interact with on a consistent basis is negative or discouraging toward your health and fitness goals? I recently began shifting toward a more primal/paleo eating style and the boyfriend is not on board at all. He hates the idea of "diets" and no matter how much I explain it as simply cutting out unhealthy foods he still sees it that way. We live together and have a one year old boy. My mom has issues with weight and is very skeptical of everything eating related. As you can imagine, I've struggled with feeling like myself since pregnancy because of all the physical changes I've gone through in such a short period of time. I feel this is the right sort of eating style for me. I want to feel like me again and set a healthy example for my son who is just beginning to become acutely aware of what is on his parent's plates. I've struggled in the past with dropping and gaining weight in a constant cycle. I've never been as heavy as I am now and feel miserable about it. I also tend to be more outwardly motivated so when the people I love and care about criticize me or my actions it weighs heavily on my decision making processes. Any words of wisdom are most welcome!

I've tried to look and didn't see any topic threads about this, so I figured I'd ask: Anyone out there changed/modified/revamped their diet to combat depression? What worked? What didn't work? What tips can you give others in the same boat, because, let's face it, there's probably a lot of us here who do/have. I've dealt with depression for a number of years (10+) and am sick and tired of it. The technical term for it at this point is Dysthymia. Irregardless, it's single-handedly ruined my life and I need to do something to change. I know people will say it's a matter of being determined enough to make changes to your life to get over it, and they're right, but only to a degree. Anyone who's seriously depressed knows that the depression cripples you to the point that you don't want to do jack squat about anything. I'm hoping to make some slight changes to my diet in order to kick things up a bit. Tips? Advice? Any other threads I should take note of? I'm hoping to really get a conversation going about this. Thanks, and all the best!!! (soundtrack of the day: Siouxsie and the Banshees - Hyaena)

Not that I am all settled into this Nerd Fitness Madness, I thought I'd make a proper introduction. My names' NewMe. There is a specific reason why I chose that name; to remind myself that I am actually creating a New Me. It's going to take some work and a lot of hours, but for the upgrading of my life, for defragging away negative thoughts and habits, it is worth the hours put into it. I'm a College student working on getting my certificate in American Sign Language to be an Interpreter as well as continue performing with my Viola, (been playing now for 13 years), to compose music for Video games and keep working in my Circus. Yes, you read that right, I am a professional Clown, story teller, singer, juggler, fiddler in a Circus. I'm an adorable clown, thank you and none to scary. As for the Nerd part of me, there are a lot of things that I nerd out on. I am a big fan of: Doctor Who Sherlock Star Wars Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Music of all types Video Games Books (There is a bit more things that I am nerdy about, but I think this is a good place to start.) My first game love was Final Fantasy IX which is the BEST! So says ME! But I grew to love Halo and other RPG games. Dude, I miss the heck out of Crash Bandicoot and Spryo and Tench Stealth Assassian. Oh, and a good, wacked out racing game like Twisted Metal or Mario Kart racing have a soft spot in my heart. And Legacy of Kain. Mmmmm! There are so many games that I like, I won't bore you to tears of me discussing the ones that I am fond of. If you want to know, please feel free to send me a message. But there is one thing that I wanted to tell you about, and that is my newest tattoo. As of now, I have 7. The 2 newest are on my tummy. Why there? Because I always thought that my tummy was not very attractive. So, what better way to appreciate my body, all of my body, then to decorate it with art that I drew? If you go and look at the pictures of me shrinking you will see them and notice that one side is smooth and the other side is all sketchy looking. Smooth is Jekyll and Sketchy is Hyde. I love that story to bits. The fact that this man has inside him this 'creature' capable of doing awesome and terrible things is just riviing to me. It also means that everyone has that aspect inside of them just waiting for that one moment to slip out. The catch of it is, you have to find that balance point of knowing when to be Jekyll and when to be Hyde. I tend to let Jekyll out moreso than Hyde and that isn't Balance. To be in Balance, I have to become comfortable with both sides of who and what I am and to rememeber that it is beautiful, hence the tattoo. If you have read this far, I thank you.

Last challenge was tough for me. I had a lot of stuff happen in life and I realized my coping skills leave much to be desired. I relied heavily on food for self-medicating and whiskey for forgetting, trading useful daylight hours for laying in bed way too long, and generally living mostly immobilized by fear. Living from a place of fear has meant that my reaction time is lightning fast, my fight-or-flight system is on hyperdrive, my responses to life are often irrational, and I care too much about things I can't control. At the root is ultimately fear of pain, be it physical, emotional, spiritual, etc. Fear of pain leads to a desperation to escape from discomfort. The desperation fuels the hyperactive amygdala which in turn heavily influences physical and psychological reactions. I've lived this way for 31 years and I'm just plain tired of letting fear of fear dictate the parameters of my life. I have a well-established paleo lifestyle and a solid training program going, so I plan to simply stick with those. As far as diet and exercise go, the idea for the next 6 weeks is just to stick to the plan. No program changes, no switching to a new idea from a new website/magazine/podcast. Just stick with the current program for the next challenge, and at the end I can determine if changes need to be made. With that in mind, my goals for this challenge are stacked heavily toward battling this fear beast that is blocking my path toward my goals. For 31 years, this thing has always been there...I'd work on a goal right up until I smashed into it, then I'd back off and think, "I just need to try something different." The obstacle always looked vague, shapeless, and immense, so naturally I thought the problem was with whatever program/hobby/diet I was doing at the time. This past challenge, something clicked into focus and I finally saw the beast as it is. It's not vague and it's not shapeless; it's big, but not insurmountable. It's my dependence upon fear. Truly, dependence. I don't know how to live without it being there, so that seems like dependence to me. It's dark, and hard as granite, shiny with a menacing oily sheen, and it's tall enough that I can't see past it. But, it has edges, scaly pockmarks, and fissures, and I can work with those. Edges can be climbed over, scales can become handholds, and fissures can be split wide open. I know I probably won't be able to conquer this thing in 6 weeks; after all, it's been sitting there blocking my way for 31 years. But I can sure as hell get it in the crosshairs and see how much damage I can do to it over the next 6 weeks. My efforts this challenge focus on these areas: --establishing a consistent journaling habit; nothing fancy or melodramatic, just a notebook and a pen to write down whatever. I started this already; I have been writing 3 positive things about the day prior every morning before getting out of bed. --honoring my spirituality and my commitment to Buddhist practice by bringing regular meditation back into my life. I also have a few books on various teachings that have been collecting dust, and I'd like to break them out every now and then to foster my learning. --not allowing my mind to keep my body in bed for 9, 10, 11 hours a day. I did that a lot last challenge, and ultimately I felt like crap...sluggish, grumpy, etc. I'm not setting any specific bedtime/wake-time goals, but just focusing on keeping my time in bed in the sweet spot of 7-8 hours per night. This includes waking time in the bed, so I will not be reading in bed anymore. Not only has this been terrible for my posture, but reading in bed keeps my mind super active and I have a harder time falling asleep. Which leads to laying in bed doing nothing for a longer period of time. --committing to taking my vitamins and supplements every day. I eat a healthy diet but my food choices are limited in variety because I live so rurally. In the summer, this is not a problem as the local farms explode and the farmer's market is awesome. But during the fall/winter, the rural community just shuts down and all I'm left with are produce choices at the grocery store, which are expensive and often taste like crap. I want to make sure I'm getting a solid range of nutrients so I have done a lot of research and come up with a supplement routine that has worked well for me...when I take them. --being intentional about preparing my body for movement and recovering adequately from movement. In short: MWOD, baby. My jump stretch band and tennis balls are en route to my door as I type this, and I am going to explore the wonderful world of MWOD throughout the challenge. I did an assessment of my current habits and environment, and came to the conclusion that evenings in my living room while watching Hulu would be a perfect time for MWOD. I mean, I'm there almost every night already anyway...the only difference is that instead of sitting on my couch or laying on the Saint Bernard, I'll be rolling my spine on tennis balls or stretching out the shoulder with a band slung over a beam. One thing that I truly believe is that people carry their feelings inside their body. I know I do. Many times when doing a long yoga session or other stretching that works major joints, I find that the physical opening-up often results in feelings rising to the surface. I fully expect that this will happen with much of the mobility work. --doing good stuff for my body and mind out in the wide world. As I've mentioned (probably hundreds of times by now), I live in the middle of nowhere and I work from home. I am extremely isolated, and on weekends I also have no car, so when I actually have time off I can't go anywhere. I rarely see actual people, and that starts to make me feel a little crazy after awhile. I love health and fitness, and every time I've ever done anything health- or fitness-related out in the community with other people, I've loved it and felt great for days/weeks afterward. So I have set up three tasks, pass/fail, to work on toward this goal. My expectation for this challenge is that the cultivation of journaling and meditation, combined with attention to my sleep hygiene and solid nutritional/recovery support, I can start to address the underlying emotional issues that make up that big, nasty, dark barrier keeping me from moving forward in life. Fear is the mind-killer... Without further ado, the individual goal details. And...yes, these are based on MTG cards. I had a lot of fun on the Gatherer doing research for this challenge. (Also, my workouts will be tracked in my battle log thread, while specific goal progress will be tracked here.) Level 5: Wherein Sambie Faces the Jabberwock (source) Defeat: Meishin, the Mind Cage Every morning upon waking, write in my notebook before getting out of bed. 42 days = 100%. +2 WISDaily sitting time. 42 days = 100%. +2 CHADefeat: Entangling Trap Spend a minimum of 7 and a maximum of 8 hours in bed each night. No reading in bed. 42 nights = 100%. +4 CONAchieve: Beastmaster Ascension Take vitamins/supplements every day as scheduled. 42 days = 100%. +2 CONPractice MWOD every evening. 42 days = 100%. +2 CON Acquire: Healing Salve Sign up for 1 massage with massage therapist in town. +1 CONSign up for 1 yoga class at the studio in town +1 CHAMake 1 telephone inquiry to the naturopathic doctor in town. +1 CON Support Strategy: Continue eating 100% paleo - sugar/honey/maple syrup are officially out. There's no way around it...my body hates them, acts like I ingested poison when I do eat them, so I gotta give 'em up. And the thing is, sugary stuff never tastes as good as my mind tells me it will before I eat it. Tricksy brain cells, they lies to us! This includes (le sob) chocolate. But, I have my cacao tisane, which is 100% roasted cacao bean shells and nothing else, and is delicious. Continue with current training program: BodeeFit full metcon 2 days/wk Free weights + BodeeFit mini-metcon 2 days/wk (not two days in a row) Yoga 1 day/wk Rest 2 days/wk (rest day can include Moving at a Slow Pace if desired, i.e. walk/hike, more yoga, etc.)