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Challenge #2 of the year. Let's do this. My last challenge went really well for me. 96% overall score. It was exactly what I needed in my return to the Nerdfitness forums. With in one month, I have stopped taking all my medication and lost 22 lbs. With seeing success in the last challenge, this challenge will be very similar. I will add in a few more upgrades to my challenge goals, to push myself a bit more. Hopefully, this will enforce the habits to have them as a good base for the rest of this year, and beyond. Now, on towards the goals for this challenge! Goal #1: Keto on, and add in IF I have successfully ate in the keto method since the first of the year. I figure I may as well continue that on. This challenge, I want to add intermittent fasting back into my eating habits. Now, I may need to adjust the eating window from time to time, but I am going to go for a consistent 18/6. 18 hours of fasting, 6 hours of eating time.My window will be 11 am to 5 pm. This should cover most my needs for times I need to get eating in by. I still need to track everything in MyFitnessPal. Goal #2: Walking, Walking, Walking... I started off last challenge going for 3 days a week to walk on. Eventually moving up to 5 days. This challenge I want to start off with 5 days a week of walking. Eventually moving up to 6 or 7 days, or possibly staying 5 days, but increasing step count. My eventual goal is to get back to running, and possibly adding in body weight workouts. Goal #3: You must still get Sleep I did well last challenge with closing down everything by 11:30 pm, reading till 12:30 am, then getting to bed. Though I have been able to easily slip back into night owl habits in the last few days. I need to have this again. I also notice I wake up a lot more while my wife is getting ready for work. So to get more possible sleep, I am going to try to get to bed 30 minutes earlier. Shut all things down by 11 pm. Then read till Midnight, and head to bed. I'm going to grade on reading as well, because it is too easy for me to not read, but still get to bed on time. Goal #4: Start and finish Introduction to Linux I figure for a bit of fun, I'll take an online course. I've played with linux from time to time, but don't know a lot. This means time to take this class I signed up for awhile back https://www.udemy.com/introduction-to-linux-centos-7/learn/v4/overview Looks like 26 lectures, so I'm guessing enough to last the month. Grading: Goal #1 - 7 days, 3 points per day. 1 point for IF, 1 point for tracking, 1 point for under 20 net carbs Goal #2 - 5 days, 1 point per day of walking. (may get adjusted during the challenge) Goal #3 - 7 days, 2 points per day. 1 point for reading started at 11, and 1 point for heading to bed at 12. Goal #4 - 6 points per week. Almost one per lecture course. Weekly points: Week 1: 37/40 points - 92% Week 2: 38/40 points - 95% Week 3: 0/ points - Week 4: 0/ points - Overall challenge score: Measurements End of last challenge/Start of new challenge/Finish: (taken Feb 5th) Weight: 345.6 lbs / 340.2 lbs / 335.4 lbs Neck: 19.68 in / 18.85 in / 19.60 in Chest: 54.72 in / 53.74 in / 52.95 in Waist at bell button: 59.84 in / 58.66 in / 58.07 in Bicep (L): 16.37 in / 17.08 in / 17 in Bicep (R): 16.33 in / 17.04 in / 16.61 in Forearm (L): 13.34 in / 13.46 in / 13.22 in Forearm (R): 13.58 in / 13.58 in / 13.50 in Thigh (L): 29.44 in / 28.70 in / 28.58 in Thigh (R): 28.30 in / 27.99 in / 27.71 in

Greetings fellow Rangers! This will be my first challenge in the Rangers guild, and I am so super stoked to get started and crush my goals. My previous challenge was in the Warriors guild where I concentrated mainly on strength, but I would like to broaden myself during this challenge and really push myself to the next level. I feel like I am ready to take on this strenuous quest where I will be faced with a daily challenge to reach my ultimate goals and defeat the demons that lurk within my body. I will fight and burn the caloric lunatics who re-spawns themselves before each sunrise only to be defeated by me once again! I will travel the distances to reach my nemesis, the raged fat demon, and destroy the hateful creature one centimeter at a time! My most trusty weapons of destruction? - Dumbbells of Fire - Wizard's 2 Handed Barbell - Stamina Running Boots QUEST: DEFEAT THE FAT DEMON OBJECTIVE: Weight training 4 times a week. OBJECTIVE: Walk 10 000 steps every week day, and at least 8 000 steps on Saturdays and Sundays. QUEST: DEFEAT THE CALORIC LUNATICS OBJECTIVE: Burn 2200 calories a day during the week, and at least 1800 calories over the weekends. OBJECTIVE: Exercise for at least 60 mins all together (weight training and/or walking/jogging) each day during the week. I will journey far and fight hard, but I will defeat these demons and succeed in completing these quests!

Hey all, Im thinking about getting a fitness tracker and the one I'm landing on seems to be the charge hr or charge hr 2. I like that it has a watch and a heart rate monitor in addition to other stuff and I think it's cute enough to wear to work as an accessory (not a big clunky plasticky thing I'd want to hide). Still, they're expensive, and I'd like to hear some thoughts before I invest $79-130 in something. Do you have an activity/fitness tracker? A Fitbit or a different brand? How do like it? Does it seem worth the money? Thanks for the help. I tend to be pretty frugal, so spending money on something I can't try first makes me a little nervous.

Had a fitbit since around January. Kicked ass this morning in full body circuit and run...checked the fitbit app and finally moved my cardio score from "Good (44.2-49.6)" to "Very Good (49.6-55)" Woot woot!

I’ve been noticing a trend in myself -- the small changes are harder than the big changes. I can go for lunchtime walks. I can make myself workout or run. It’s the little things that keep getting in my way… so this challenge will be all about treating the symptoms of a passively healthy lifestyle. Getting proper hydration. Getting a minimum amount of steps in. Staying in a net range of calories. The things that should be mindless at this point. Main Goal: Build better simple habits to improve my overall fit life to maintain or decrease my weight or measurements as a sign of personal improvement. Goal One: Yellow Exercise 4x per week (bonus point for 5) 4 points per week; 20 points available Goal Two: Red 4,000 steps minimum on work days 5 points per week; 25 points available Goal Three: Blue 60oz of water a day 7 points per week; 35 points available Goal Four: Multivitamin Net 1500 calories a day. 7 points per week; 35 points available Let's do this! TOTAL POINTS: 115 30 Points Defeats RED 35 Points Defeats BLUE 40 Points Defeats YELLOW Beginning measurements: Weight - 165lbs Hips - 42in Waist - 32in R/L Thigh - 25in/24.5in R/L Arm - 12.5in/12.5in Chest - 31in Bust - 38in Ending measurements: Weight - Hips - Waist - R/L Thigh - R/L Arm - Chest - Bust

Soooooo! I am getting in on this new challenge too! Last challenge was a sort of "grand" return to these fine forums, and I had a lovely time doing it, and could not wait to sign up or volunteer as tribute for the new challenge! My goals in four parts are thus, this time, not all fitness oriented, because Summer's coming and I have art to make! 1) I have a FitBit. Time to make use of it's nifty app. I'm aiming to hit my step goal (10,000) everyday, but the goal is more to track food, water, sleep, and calories in/out. I tracked calories last challenge with a different app, but I am trying to take advantage of the Fitbit's all-in-one-stop-shop-ness. (This is the "pattern" part of my title, in that I am trying to sort out my eating, drinking, sleeping patterns) 2) Here's where things get more interesting, and a bit more... ME. I am building a Rick for DragonCon (ala Rick & Morty), I've not been publicizing this, but I try to bring a new puppet down every year. I've been leaning on #PuppetCapaldi from Doctor Who (you can google it, I actually show up!) but his tenure as The Doctor is ending and I feel the need to move to a new puppet. #PC is still coming with, I might even give him a new hair cut (wig). But his days are numbered. I LOVE having grumpy old man puppets, I don't know why. So I am making a Rick with mechanical eyes and brow. This is a huge step in my mechbuilding, and I am attending the National Puppetry Conference in June (during this challenge) to pick up tips from the incredible Jim Kroupa, who I studied with last year, and just wrap my brain around it all and STOP BEING SO SCARED OF JUST TRYING TO BUILD SOMETHING. Anyway, it's going to be a lot of work, but it's going to be fantastic, I hope. 3) JAPANESE. I am trying to head back to Japan to study Kuruma Ningyou Puppetry with a master there. I've been invited, which is stellar, but I want to brush up and rebuild my Japanese. Right now I have been using Memrise (I've paid for it at a discount), and I just need to keep up once-a-day practicing. This will be most difficult when I am at The O'Neill (Puppet Conference mentioned above) but I can make it work. And if I fall off the wagon, I can climb back on. Just trying to keep it a priority. Japan is freaking amazing and I need to go back. 4) My last part of my goal was going to be veganism, but I am not sure. Really it was going to be "Freeganism" because I wasn't going to complain if someone made me something that had egg in it, or dairy, I am just not that picky, or pretentious. But for myself at home, I was going to cut out dairy and animal byproducts. I am still on the fence about how much a actually care about this though. I am a vegetarian and have been for 15+ years, so that's not going anywhere... but veganism interests me, I just don't have the commitment to it. That said, I am interested in trying it out, veganism with intent rather than vegan-by-accident. Maybe I'll book mark that for the next challenge. PROPER GOAL 4) Zombie 5K Training. I tried this last challenge and utterly, utterly failed. I just couldn't get my schedule to fit it in. I am attempting 3 evenings (or mornings?) a week with this app. I just need to do it. I intend to keep up running at The O'Neill, so that's a goal the conference won't shove-off. And maybe I'll eat a bunch of vegan lentils after. Oh, and keep running shoes and clothes in a bag in my car, with an inhaler, so I am always ready to go. That's about it, I would still love accountabilibuddying! It helped me SO MUCH last challenge!

I'm late but I'm here! I took an extended week zero thanks to traveling. I got home a couple hours ago so figured I should put up a challenge thread. My spreadsheet will be added to this post when I create it, lol. I'm actually going to be doing my challenge officially for the month of June, but since the NF challenge started yesterday (oops) I'll still post along. I knew starting a challenge on vacation just wasn't going to happen. My depression has been bad, and I've identified one reason was my efforts to date go in waves and the current waves have been super crappy. So I am taking a break from attempting to date for the month of June. If I meet someone organically, cool, but I'm not going to try (dating sites, etc). That should help with my depression. I'm also going to try a little less hard to do ALL THE SOCIAL THINGS. That will also help with my depression. So, goals for the challenge: I now have a 24 hr access pass to my gym. Huzzah! This means I don't have to avoid going because I feel guilty for giving up time with my son (which was a cop out, since he's out on his bike anyway). I can go after he's in bed if I want (since my mom lives with me, he wouldn't be unattended). So the goal is going to be hit the gym three times a week, and I'm roughly targeting Tues/Thurs/Sat, with allowances that life happens so I can reschedule if need be. While I would love to lose weight after spending the last two months re-gaining a bunch of what I had lost, instead of eating at a deficit I'm going to make my nutrition goal be to not go above maintenance calories period. No eating back the calories I "earn" from activity/exercise, no exceptions for special occasions. If I do lose weight, I will readjust MFP to recalculate my new maintenance level. If I do well with this, I expect to lose some weight just because of the activity level I have on a daily basis at work. This will seem really weird to put as a goal, but, I will play at least two hours of video games per week. Because I keep avoiding playing WoW with my family and friends due to stupid anxiety/perfection/depression reasons, and I want to get back into it. I also still haven't touched the Steam games I got for xmas/bday. So yes I am actually setting a goal to play games! LOL! Side benefit: video games are the one indoor hobby I have that I don't like to eat during, because I don't want to get food on my keyboard/mouse. So the more I game, the less I snack, which is a score. My fourth goal is going to be to read for at least two hours a week. I have barely read a page in the last month. It's been all Netflix all the time. I'd like to get back to reading. My fifth goal is going to be to get at least one hour of outdoors exercise a week. This can be walking, hiking, biking - but I know I feel better when I am getting out in the sunshine. I think five goals is enough, so, now I will build my spreadsheet, edit in the link, and then I'm all set to unofficially start tomorrow. Edited to add: Challenge Spreadsheet

These are largely the same overarching goals as the last challenge, just adjusted for the month ahead. Previous Challenge Stats STR - 31.75 | DEX - 47.5 | STA - 47.75 | CON - 75 | WIS - 47 | CHA - 47.5 Weight 170lb Waist 30" Belly 33.25" Hips 38.75" Thigh 23" Body Fat 26.60% Goals Food Continue eating as per low-GI guidelines. Be stricter re: treats, things that are almost ok - this means better planning and sufficient snacks on hand. Allowed exceptions - but remember guidelines for socializing!: Friend’s bachelorette Post-rugby-games (x2 this challenge) - social-ing after games = pub food and beer Plan Carried over from the last challenge - I need to refine my goals/plan from my 2017 Roadmap. It's not specific enough about specific steps to take and mini-goals/smaller things on the way to the big goals. So I want to work on figuring out the specifics in a more detailed and organized way. Also apply lessons from The Life Changing Magic Of Not Giving A Fuck to help eliminate/prioritize goals. Cardio I’ve got rugby practice a couple times a week right now, weather permitting, and 2 rugby games during the course of the challenge, so on weekends when I don’t have a game I’ll go for a run. And if practice is canceled due to rain I'll go for a run. Ideally I’ll be able to go over to the park that’s ~1.5km away (I think) and run the big hill there, but that’ll also depend on the weather (the area at the bottom of the hill, which also includes a dirt/clay(?) running track collects water like no one’s business when it rains). The hill isn't a sand dune, but it'll do! Not technically cardio, but I also want to make sure I get my 10 000 steps a day in - if anyone’s got a FitBit I’m down to do challenges! My name is also maegs on the app, my picture there is a hummingbird Reading Read 2 books during the course of this challenge. I’m 2 books behind schedule on my Goodreads challenge so I have to start catching up! Knitting Finish the blanket I finished knitting during the last challenge - weave in the ends, wash, and block it. Remember to take pictures Start Lambing Mitts Sociable Unofficial goal - be more active on here, both on my own thread and on others' threads! To Do List Fix leggings, T shirt Organize kitchen cupboards Tidy living room - magazines, tray Tidy bedroom - desk, grey drawers, closet, dresser top Try on clothes from home Finish white skirt Shrink sweater sleeves Clean green purse Flats & dress for Britt's wedding Plan what to see at the Stratford Festival The Road So Far Week 1: Eat right (rugby) - done Plan - nope Rugby practice x1 - done Run x1 - done Rugby game x1 (preseason) - done Steps - 7/7 Read - nope Knit - nope [Sociable] - x4 days Week 2: Eat right - done Plan - a little Rugby practice x1 - done Run x2 Steps - 7/7 Read - nope Knit - a little [Sociable] - x5 days Week 3: Eat right (bachelorette + rugby) - done Plan - a little Rugby practice x2 - done Rugby game x1 (season opener) - done Steps - 5/7 Read - one book read Knit - blanket blocked [Sociable] - x2 days Week 4: Eat right - yep Plan - mostly done Rugby practice x1 - nope Run x2 - nope Steps - 5/7 days Read - a bit Knit - Lambing Mitts started [Sociable] - x1 day

Looks like I took an unexpected trip to the spirit world again. I'm still a little bit disconnected so the fast travel seems to be switched off. I'm switching things up again for this quest. I do love switching. I will be doing a different set of quests each week. I'm not making these quests up on my own since I've had issues sticking ith self-created quests. For the first two weeks, I'll be sticking to Rising Heroes quests since I signed back up with them for a month. I thought rejoining would help me get my priorities straight since the first month I had tried it out was a huge success for me. Once the RH is done for the month I'll switch back to the academy quests and log those here. Glad you could make it. Let's see where this quest leads.

First off - challenge spreadsheet here! Keeping things kind of simple, but I think these are some good goals, and would be helpful habits to get into (keep into, in the case of my step goal). Goal 1: 15k steps work days/10k steps other days Last challenge, I just went with the default 12k every day goal I have set on my fitbit. I decided to increase the goal for work days, because I'm very active on work days. I lowered it on weekends, because I really struggled to hit 12k, and I don't want to step a goal that is unrealistic to attain. The plan is to increase again next challenge (maybe something like 17k work days, 12k other days). Goal 2: 5 new recipes The last two challenges, I've had goals about how many different dinners (instead of repeats, leftovers, or takeout) in the four weeks. I started at 15, then I did 20. What I learned is that with a three person household, it's really hard for me to not have at least one (usually two) leftover nights a week. My freezer would fill up so fast. And... eating leftovers isn't really a bad thing. Eating out? Yeah, I am still trying to avoid that. But, I do want to continue to encourage my cooking creativity and to grow my skills as a cook, so over the course of this challenge I will make at least five new recipes. Goal 3: leafy greens 3x week I've noticed that while I eat a ton of veggies, I don't eat a lot of leafy greens, and I know they have lots of health benefits. I also know that the weeks I increase them, I seem to feel better. So this challenge I will eat them at least three days a week. Goal 4: Turn off TV at bedtime Honestly, this will be my hardest challenge goal. I have a LOT of trouble falling asleep. I typically either have something playing on my TV or laptop to fall asleep to. It helps to distract my brain away from thinking. Well, the last few weeks this has shifted into me staying up way too late because I get too interested in what is on the TV/laptop. So for this challenge I will work on turning the stuff off and just falling asleep.

Jarric: As Yet Untitled So for those of you who may not have seen this, there's a show on British TV called Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled (Wikipedia link) in which Alan Davies sits at a round table with 4 guests (mostly comedians) and shares stories and talks nonsense for an hour, with no agenda, no plan, just having a chat. At the end of the hour they pick a title for the show based on what they've talked about. I've only just discovered the show and love it, so in the interest of sharing stories and talking lots of nonsense for this challenge I want to do the same - at the end of the challenge we'll pick a name for the challenge based on what's happened this month. Format! Last challenge (which I will go back and wrap up soon, promise!) fizzled out a bit at the end, so I'm jumping straight back in and making this one a 5 week challenge. Building on my 2017 road map and my last challenge the goals will be similar to last month, with a few minor tweaks... Goals! Move! - 15XP What? Exercise every single day. Why? Working towards my OCRs this year, and I find I work better working every day than trying to have rest days. How? Follow Juggernaut lifting plan MWF and Runkeeper sub-55 minute 10k plan TTSS. I'm rolling the 4 days of lifting over three days (until I become ruler of the world and make standard weeks 8 days long), so if one week is Monday Bench, Wednesday Squat, Friday OHP, then the next week will be Monday Deadlift, Wednesday Bench, Friday Squat. Make sense? The running program is a faster version of the 10k plan I ran last year (and briefly injured my hips on), and I rather enjoyed it so I'm trying it again. Snooze! - 10XP What? Don't hit snooze! Why? Because I set that time for a reason, and I need to remember that! And I don't like rushing (more than usual) in the morning. How? On weekdays, when my alarm goes off at 05:30, get up without hitting snooze. Track! - 10XP What? Track calories every day Why? Because I've lost sight of quite how much I should be eating, and I want to find that again. And it wouldn't hurt to lose the barrel I'm carrying around my waist at the moment either! How? Track calories using Fitbit (and best guesses where necessary) every day. No target amount until I work out how generous Fitbit is being with the calorie burn. Budget! - 15XP What? Stick to my weekly budget Why? Because getting out of debt and saving is one of my main goals for the year, and ultimately because I want to own my own house before I reach retirement age! How? Every week I have a weekly budget of £80 for random sundry expenses (this feels like far too much, but whatever). This doesn't include groceries, work travel or exercise expenses, or bills/rent which come directly out of my account. Basically it's food and drink out and random stuff. And to get us going on the random chat, and icebreaker (I may do a few of these): Icebreaker: Have you ever won a trophy or medal? So for me, I won a couple of trophies when I was about 14 in a pool competition. Run by a caravan park in Wales. I think as a way to shift off-season tickets. But it was the start of something and I've had a string of pool and snooker trophies since, so I have fond memories of it .

The last few months I've done the bare minimum exercise. My gym buddy hasn't had time for the gym, so I haven't gone. My hiking buddies haven't had time to hike, so I haven't gone. That changes this month. I've also noticed how boring and repetitive most of my cooking has gotten when I'm not hunting for a new recipe. Finally, a goal I set for 2017 is to rebuild a social life, since I am tired of feeling lonely all the time, the way to fix that isn't sitting on my couch thinking about how lonely I feel. Goal 1: Hit the gym 3x a week No more waiting for the gym buddy. I'm paying for the membership, I should use it. There is no reason I can't go 3x a week or more. Goal 2: Hit daily step goals As I did last month, I'm setting the goals as 10k on non-work days and 15k on work days. Goal 3: Cook a good variety I've noticed I tend to make the same 8-ish meals over and over. This month let's see if I can cook at least 15 different dinners. Then next month we can up it to 20 and so on. Goal 4: Start rebuilding a social life Instead of spending my weekends at home in my PJ's, let's go see people. We'll say 4 social events for this month. Yes, I'm setting this one very low. That is because it terrifies me and I want to start small. Challenge Spreadsheet

Guess who's back? That's right! Me, good ol' Korra. It's been a little over 6 months since I went awol, but I just couldn't stay away. Once a rebel, always a rebel. And guess what? I graduated college! I've got that milestone over and done with. No thanks to my university. I'm pretty salty about the whole college experience. Heck, my college cut over half the classes in the college of the liberal and fine arts leaving half the professors with barely a working wage and the other half were either forced to find work elsewhere or into retirement. And don't get me started on my personal career advisor. Since my original one was on leave I was given a new one. At the beginning of the semester, everything was running smoothly when he told me I had everything in order to graduate. Then all of a sudden I get an email a few weeks before graduation stating that he had overlooked a few things and that I was suddenly missing credit hours and couldn't graduate. And this was after I sent out the graduation invitations and ordered my ring. I wasn't sent un-invitation cards to everyone, waste another semester and add a few thousand more dollars to my already crippling student debt because of this. I filled out paperwork for graduation, crammed for a few CLEP exams, and walked the stage and earned my diploma. Now the only problem is finding a job. I've got a shiny new degree and no career to follow it up with. Ah, the struggle of a post-graduate. And I still live with the folks and work retail. At least I made the main goal of my last challenge. I graduated and that's all that matters. 2016 was a grand dumpster fire, though. During that year I: - Got my first real b/f -was dumped by said b/f -pledged for a fraternity disguised as a business organization (for a friend) -got rejected by said fraternity (and said friend made it in and hasn't spoken to me since) -I got a job at a pet store (and still have it) where I get paid to hug puppies -gotten carried away with Pokemon go -forgot how to socialize my last semester out of fear of failing a class - cut 19in/48cm of my hair off -did a summer internship at a non-profit and witnessed some top notch burnout my hair use to look like this now it looks like this 2017 is gonna be different. During this year I'm gonna: -find me a real career -be able to afford my own teeny tiny studio apartment -start making payments on my student loans -go back to college for grad school -lose some weight -run a 5k -run a 10k -run something bigger -think about writing that book that's like HP meets Attack on Titans meets Soma meets D&D where the origins of magic is macabre and the definition of what it means to be human is really questioned But hey... baby steps. It's only a few days into the new year and I've already signed up for Rising Heroes and gotten a months subscription to a new yoga studio with the fam. By the end of the week, I hope to persuade them to start meal planning. We sorta already had to change out eating habits around Maleficent (aka my stepmom) since she had 80 percent of her stomach removed for weight loss surgery. That's life. ~~~ for now, I'll stick to the small things Main Quest: Get a job Health Quest 1: Food -Drink +72oz of water per day Health Quest 2: Exercise -workout x4 a week Health Quest 3: Sleep -get +7hrs of sleep Level Up Your Life: Language -practice duolingo x4 a week let's do this

Technically, my birthday is on Wednesday, but in the interest of convenience, I celebrated it with my loved ones this past Sunday. It is a reflection on my personality that it was a costume party (I was an elf) and my gifts were a Fitbit and a set of sparring gear. *Side note: I am so happy to get my own set of gear. I have been using the dojang's very, very used gear for sparring, and I hated it. Anyway, my Fitbit (and accompanying app) has a wide range of features that I will be using this challenge to get a bit more fit. Without further ado, the goals (with accompanying theme music): 1. All the Right Moves One of my favorite features of the Fitbit is the hourly reminder to get up and move around. I want to get in my steps, but also try to work in some crawls, pushups, pulls, and other movements each hour from 9am to 6pm, even if it is only a couple minutes. Hopefully having the reminder on my wrist will keep this from falling through the cracks like last challenge. 2. One Step Closer I want to take this challenge to focus on training the three Self-Defense One Steps I need to know for my belt test on December 16. Two are easy to practice at home, but for the third, I will have to summon my 20 seconds of courage and ask another student to help me practice either before or after class at least 3 times during the challenge. 3. Habits I'm feeling a little burned after last challenge's major diet fail. Especially with the holidays coming up, I'm not sure that a "no sugar" type challenge is wise. Instead, I am going to track calories with the Fitbit app, with a goal of staying within 50 calories of my daily intake goal (number varies according to activity). Hopefully with the gadget tracking my movements, I will get a more realistic assessment of how many calories that should be, and I'll avoid the blowback from being too low. I am also hopeful that the reminders to keep moving (goal #1) will save me from boredom eating. Here we go!

I have no idea what I'm doing yet, but here's a thread. I did update my November challenge spreadsheet with final results if anyone is interested. I posted a short post in my last challenge thread as well. Edited to add: Here is my challenge. Might be kinda simple compared to others I've done, but it's basically a "survive December lol" plan. Goal 1: not as SMART cause hard to measure, but, goal 1 is basically to be cognizant of my mental/emotional state and take care of myself Week 0: Decompress from the godawful Thanksgiving and be super kind to myself. Week 1: Prepare holiday battle plan to not binge on all the treats/take care of my mental state. Week 2: Recover from the family xmas on the 10th and cope with family time after work during this week. Remind myself I don't suck. Week 3: Have a phone conversation with my sister about how xmas needs to not repeat thanksgiving, or we don't go. Week 4: Finish long holiday weekend, then get home and decompress from the drama that is certain to happen. Hopefully not much. Goal 2: daily fitness goal - morning fitness Same for all weeks. I want to get 30 mins of activity before work. I wake up super early and want to turn that into gym time. However, getting steps at home is also acceptable this month. Goal 3: daily fitness goals - getting my steps 10k on non-work days 15k on work days Goal 4: nutrition goal - try new recipes Guys I have a crock pot, I should use it. The goal is to try at least 6 new recipes this month. Should be easily doable, since I have 3-4 planned for just this weekend. I thought about setting a higher number, but unsure how much cooking I'll be able to do the other weekends this month. December Challenge Spreadsheet!

Well, after 1 year, 1,002 miles, 2.4 million steps, and 17.8 pounds lost, my beloved Fitbit Charge HR has finally bitten the dust. *moment of silence* The Fitbit company has graciously offered either a free identical replacement or 30% off a new tracker; and since they have made some significant updates to the trackers since I bought mine, I am going to choose one of the new models. My problem is that I'm not sure which one I should choose - I'm looking at the Charge 2, the Alta, and the Flex 2. Does anyone have a second-generation Fitbit model, and what do you think of it? Would you recommend it? If it helps, I use my current Fitbit to count steps, miles, calories burned, and heart rate - and, of course, as a watch. :-) I think I'd miss some of these features if I didn't have them, but the most important features are the steps, miles, and calories burned. Thanks guys!!

Hello, all. No fancy challenge theme this time. To be honest, I was debating not doing a challenge at all, after how I vanished during the last one. My depression is getting really, really bad, so I am hoping that this challenge will help me manage it. It may not be very "adventurer" but it is what it is. I am sorry I stopped following all of your challenges last time around. I got overwhelmed by it all. I kept doing mine, but not posting. I have posted a challenge summary now in my last thread (here) if you are interested. My goals for this challenge are going to be about taking care of myself. 1. Track everything on MFP. Even if I decided to have that muffin. Having a muffin won't derail all my progress, but slacking at tracking very well could. 2. Stay active. Shoot for my 10k steps daily. Hit the gym 2x a week. Etc. 3. Get good sleep. Shoot for 6+ hours a night. 4. Personal hygiene is the first thing to go when I'm depressed. I'm going to set the bar low and hopefully exceed it. Brush teeth daily. Shower 3x a week. Wash face daily. Tracking spreadsheet here

As stated, this challenge is about starting again. Albeit a little late to the party compared to most people. I have neglected my health and fitness to focus on being lazy and eating a lot of rubbish, if not delicious, food. It has been a while since my last challenge and I have a habit of doing some challenges and then not doing any for a while. I think this just suits my life. As it stands, I was planning to get back into the swing of things tomorrow (26th) so this challenge is well timed. So today doesn't really count though my partner and I did do a meal plan for the next few nights (until our weekly veg box arrives) and went food shopping mainly in the vegetable aisles. I am going to focus on the following points: Exercise This one I haven't done too badly on recently. But I need to keep building on it. Go to the gym at least once a week Walk at least 10,000 steps a day (as measured by my fitbit) Do yoga once a week I think this is definitely achievable. Going to the gym once a week does not sound like very much but in reality it will just be one week that is like that; I should be going at least twice. I have an Atlas wristband to test out as well which has only had one gym use. So I will use this challenge as an opportunity to test it out and report back. Walking 10,000 steps isn't going to get me fit by itself but it keeps me active and is definitely more of a challenge on days off. So, at least for the rest of the challenge, I am going to get up and dressed to go for morning walks on my days off. I accidentally done this recently and made sure I got stuff done the rest of the day so I am going to mirror it this challenge and see if it helps. Yoga because yoga. It keeps me flexible and mindful. I definitely need to get this back into my routine. Diet This is one area that I have been doing pretty badly on. I have had some good days but then the next day I can eat a ridiculous amount of rubbish. Make lunches for work again. Cheaper and healthier. Track what I eat and make sure I am eating a varied diet (not just carbs unfortunately) Eat vegetables every day (that is a challenge at the moment) Making my lunch for work ties together my diet and life goals together. I do have to do some research and vary what I make though as I tend to make the same thing. I just want to make something the night before work that will keep for the next four days, is easy to make and has a good helping of protein. I don't ask for much, right? My diet recently has mostly just been varients of carbs for a while. I need to make sure I am sticking to my macros and not just eating rubish. Some rubbish is allowed though. I track with MFP with altered calorie goals; I may be small but 1450 cal is not enough for me. I am not too worried about going over as long as I am making better food choices. Life Money - don't spend any money on non-essentials for the challenge. Put spending on my spreadsheet. Writing - plan what I am writing for NaNoWriMo. Attempt to write every day. Time - spend my time being more productive and not just wasting it all on Tumblr or Facebook. I have been terrible with money recently and really need to get myself sorted. It means I can't go to the Edinburgh meet up despite wanting to. I am not going to buy anything I don't need. The only thing I am allowed to buy is a bluetooth keyboard for my iPad as I did buy one but Amazon failed to deliver it. It is for NaNo to enable me to write at work and such when carrying my laptop would be too much hassle. I also need to work a system out to deal with writing on a windows laptop and an iPad. I have my idea for NaNo and it is something I want to develop after NaNo and keep working on so I need to actually plan this one to a degree. I think that is fairly simple and should be able to actually stick to this one.

WOO!!!!

It can get pretty lonely and boring for the Princess of Neptune. While peaceable times are wonderful, there isn't much to do while out at her planet, making sure no threats are coming to threaten the Silver Millennium. Michiru decided it was time to get herself back in tip top fighting shape, with a little help from her friends, the rest of the Sailor Senshi. The pretty soldiers in sailor suits spent a lovely day together, over the course of which they brainstormed goals with Michiru, and promised to help keep her on track. Each senshi would assist with one objective. SAILOR MOON! Usagi-chan loves her junk food. LOVES IT! Sometimes her sailor suit gets a bit tight though, so over the years she's learned to dial it back and eat in a more balanced manner. Goal: Log all food on MFP, do not go below 1200 or above 1700 SAILOR MERCURY! Ami-chan is so smart and studious. She is rarely seen without her nose in a book. She will be encouraging Michiru-san to read more. Goal: Read books five hours per week, divided between the days however works SAILOR MARS! Rei-chan is a Shinto priestess and serves at her grandfather's temple. She will be helping Michiru-san to get back in touch with her spiritual side. Goal:Do something spiritual once per week. Can include reading from a book, meditating, or performing a small ritual (New Moon 9/1, Full Moon 9/16 SAILOR JUPITER! Mako-chan is such an amazing cook! She's going to reach Michiur-san a few tricks this month so she can broaden her kitchen repertoire. Goal: Try three new recipes over the course of the challenge and/or three new foods. SAILOR VENUS! Minako-chan is a social butterfly. She loves singing, games, and so much more. She's going to encourage Michiru-san to have some fun! Goal: Do something social once a week. Can include: WoW (if grouped), D&D, board game night, Friday Night Magic, group hikes, karaoke nights, etc. SAILOR URANUS! Haruka is so active and athletic. She will help Michiru to stay active! Goal: Do something active every day. Can include: 10k steps, 30 mins walk/hike, 30 mins bike, 30 mins gym SAILOR PLUTO! Setsuna is the Guardian of Time. It just makes sense that she'll help Michiru stay on task with schedules/calendars/all that fun stuff that can get lost in the shuffle of day to day life. Goal: Stay on top of things like mail/bills/scheduling workouts. SAILOR SATURN! Hotaru-chan has dealt with many health problems and has learned the value of self-care. She's going to assist Michiru-san in remembering that she cannot take care of others or be a good Guardian Senshi if she isn't taking care of herself. Goal: Take better care of myself. Shower more often, brush teeth twice a day, use lotion, etc. I'm working on a "points" system to earn money to spend at a concert I'm going to on 9/16, since that's almost the end of the challenge. I haven't finished this points system yet, and it's stressing me out to try, LOL! I think instead, if I get 75% success rate across all goals, I'll allow myself to buy some nice souvenirs. Ready, set.... GO! RESULTS! List of goals: Moon: Log all food on MFP, do not go below 1200 or above 1700 Mercury: Read books five hours per week, divided between the days however works Mars: Do something spiritual once per week. Can include reading from a book, meditating, or performing a small ritual (New Moon 9/1, Full Moon 9/16 Jupiter: Try three new recipes over the course of the challenge and/or three new foods. Venus: Do something social once a week. Can include: WoW (if grouped), D&D, board game night, Friday Night Magic, group hikes, karaoke nights, etc. Uranus: Do something active every day. Can include: 10k steps, 30 mins walk/hike, 30 mins bike, 30 mins gym Pluto: Stay on top of things like mail/bills/scheduling workouts. Saturn: Take better care of myself. Shower more often, brush teeth twice a day, use lotion, etc. Week One Summary Week Two Summary Week Three Summary Week Four Summary

Well, time for a new challenge... or more accurately a continuing of the previous one. Goals will be basically identical (and will probably continue to be until they truly become habits LOL). Stronglifts 5x5 3/week. Current best sets Squat - 145 lbs Bench - 100 lbs Row - 80 lbs OHP - 75 lbs Deadlift - 165 lbs Couch to 5K 3/week Will be doing weeks 7 & 8 (and last day of week 6) which only adds up to 7 runs... will decide what to do after that when I get to that point. Currently, the speeds I am using on the treadmill do not actually get me a 5K distance in the time (I am walking at a 4mph pace and running at a 5mph pace... C25K is based on 6mph pace) So, I am thinking of keeping the time at the end of the app the same and gradually increasing the speed until I reach that 6mph (10 min/mile) pace. Thoughts anyone? Walking To Mordor Will continue to track my distance on the journey to Mordor. I am starting 0-week just short of the camp on the 4th day out of Bree (193.55 miles out of 194) Milestone goals (approximate): Should reach the foot of Weathertop (or part way up it) by the end of 0-week Should reach two days out from Weathertop by the end of Week 1 Should reach four days out from Weathertop by the end of Week 2 Should reach six days out from Weathertop by the end of Week 3 Should reach the Stone Trolls on the 12th day out from Weathertop by the end of Week 4 Should be almost to Rivendell by the end of next Week 0 Which is not too bad... I will work full time and still make the trip in only about 2x what it took them LOL. Sleep Will be continuing to monitor my sleep habits, now including on my spreadsheet not only my fitbit report on quality sleep but also my total time in bed and a % efficiency score. I will be working towards the following quality sleep goals: Week 0 - 5:15 quality sleep per night Week 1 - 5:30 quality sleep per night Week 2 - 5:45 quality sleep per night Week 3 - 6:00 quality sleep per night Week 4 - 6:15 quality sleep per night I think that about covers it other than deciding how I wish to score things (and what ability scores I wish to assign where). Will edit later to add those once I figure them out LOL.

Last challenge went really well for the first three weeks, and then some stuff at work really got under my skin. Some bouts of emotional eating combined with the long 4th of July weekend bumped up my weight by about a pound. I really need to take measurements because my clothes continue to get looser as I bike and run and walk. Mid-summer, like mid-winter, just doesn’t have a lot of events to look forward to enjoying. There are a lot of things happening near the end of August, but these upcoming weeks have the potential to really drag in the proverbial “dog days of summer”. And when I get bored, I tend to eat more than I should. When it’s hot and muggy, it’s tempting to stay inside and avoid any sort of workout. But not this summer!!! My main goal for the next challenge is to stay in control of my eating and keep in balance with my activity. 1) Plan meals, including fun foods and treats 2) Stay in points budget 3) Get 83 points worth of exercise each week (how many points does swinging a sword for a 1/2 hour get me??) Have some fun 4) Start archery (target) and practice on rest days 5) OCR training (Dirt in the Skirt round 2 redux) Summer ...... bring it, bitches!!!

Hello fellow Rangers. After spending a month or two as a victim of the conservation of momentum (a body a rest tends to remain at rest LOL), I am back. I started losing momentum towards the end of the March challenge, started off April slow and never really got going, May never even got a challenge up.... However, in May I did get my momentum rolling again. So, as a respawn I am going to keep things fairly simple this challenge. My goals are as follows: -3 lift days per week (Using StrongLifts 5x5) -3 run days per week (Using C25K-currently getting ready to start week 4) -Get my stride length properly calibrated in my new Fitbit and then begin tracking a Walk to Mordor (Need to make sure my distance measure is accurate before I begin tracking a long Walk like that. -Sleep. I need to get more and better sleep (should actually be doing that now, but I woke up and jumped on NF before trying to go back to sleep--probably a mistake there LOL).

Introduction Post Goals Running 2x a week Track and post all runs on Fitbit & Fitocracy Report run on 4WC thread (mi/mm:ss) - must be same day Weight Lifting 2x a week Track and post all workouts on Fitbit & Fitocracy Report workout on 4WC thread - must be same day Hike/Bike 1x a week Track and post all hikes/biking on Fitbit & Fitocracy Report hike/bike on 4WC thread (mi/mm:ss) - must be same day Domestic Rangering Prep all lunches throughout challenge Track all meals daily on MFP throughout challenge Report daily calorie total on 4WC thread - must be same day Scoring Method 1 pt - Exercise activity accomplished 1 pt - Exercise activity tracked and posted 1 pt - Lunch prepped 1 pt - Daily meals tracked on MFP (7 days total) 1 pt - 4WC thread " - must be same day " goal met Available Trophies 5 pts = Excellence Award 4 pts = Gold Star Award 3 pts = Good Job Stamp 2 pts = Adequacy Ribbon 1 pts = Certificate of Participation Additional Points = 1 Up Challenge Point Rewards Based on the average of each week's total points. 20 pts 15 pts 10 pts

Main mission: Look fab in a bikini? Lose a couple lbs? tone up a bit? Summer is on full force in Austin! We have boat parties, pool parties, vacations, and just overall lots of great stuff going on. I am looking to balance my fun stuff with my health stuff...all culminating in Oktoberfest in Germany. Goal 1: Fitness: Workout at least 180 minutes per week PLAN MY WORKOUTS (this will be something I work on today and tomorrow) Make it to the climbing gym at least two times per week. Some form of hiking, climbing, yoga, kayaking fitness blender combo. A - 180+ minutes B - 150 - 179 minutes C - 120 - 149 minutes D - 90 - 119 minutes F - <89 minutes Goal 2: Fitbit Business I just realized my goal last challenge was to only get 55,555 steps and I just slayed it. My goal is to average 70,000 steps per week. A - 70,000+/week B - 65,000 - 69,999 steps per week C - 60,000 - 64,999 steps D - 55,000 - 59,999 F - 55,499 steps or below Goal 3: NO alcohol during the week. Not even a little wine. Also cool it on the weekends. Ain't nobody need to see me binge drinking. A - none per week B - one per week C - two per week D - three per week F - four per week Bonus: record all calories during the week and remain around 15,000 Bonus two: attend one circuit training class - I have been wanting to try but I am too intimidated Life Quest: My dogs need some serious training. I have four tricks I want to work on that will help her be more polite.