This is my first challenge so I am open to critiques and corrections on how I’ve set it all up. Details: Female, 20, 160cm (5’2), 67 kg (147 lbs). For this first challenge I would like to concentrate on the calming and gradual strengthening of my greatest asset – my mind and willpower. I suppose you could call it mental fitness. While one of my goals in life is sustainable and healthy weight loss, I aim to gain and keep my health steady and well for the rest of my life. This means that I need to train my mind to ensure that I can and will have the power to fulfill this. I don’t want perfection; I want the comfort to know that if and when I come across difficulties, for any goal I set in life, I can trust myself to stand back up and come back stronger. My goals will change, but my determination and persistence must grow with each one. Here are my identified issues: Inability to concentrate for a long period of time. Lack of mental clarity. Inability to follow a schedule or timetable. Here are my goals: Meditation [+2 STA, +2 WIS] For the purpose of improving my first and second issues, I’m aiming to meditate throughout the 6 week challenge in increasing increments. Week 1-2: 5 minutes, daily before bed. Week 3-4: 7 minutes, daily before bed. Week 5-6: 10 minutes, daily before bed. This gives me the opportunity to practise calming my mind, and improves my ability to ignore distracting thoughts. A: 90% of sessions complete. B: 80% of sessions complete. C: 70% of sessions complete. D: 60% of sessions complete. E: 50% of sessions complete. Dota 2/Starcraft 2 Training [+2 DEX, +1 WIS] This is where the nerd part of nerd fitness comes in handy. There are certain mental skills that you are able to improve by playing these two games: teamwork, mental speed, resource management, healthy competition, concentration, attention. By strengthening these in a fun and (mostly) friendly environment, they are more likely to stick and spill into other areas, including study and the ability to stick to diets/exercise regimes. I understand this is not extremely conventional, but I have great difficulty in sticking to a schedule or commitment, and I hope this will improve that. This is how I plan to train myself: Dota 2: 2 games per night on at least 1 of my five training heroes (Shadow Shaman, Leshrac, Crystal Maiden, Vengeful Spirit, Venomancer). Starcraft 2: 1 game per night against a Medium level A.I. All of this is very easy to track. A: 90% of games complete. B: 80% of games complete. C: 70% of games complete. D: 60% of games complete. E: 50% of games complete. In addition to these two goals, I will include two diet and weight loss specific goals: Ketosis [+2 STA, +1 CHA] In order to maintain a ketogenic diet for the purpose of weight loss, I am aiming for <30g of carbohydrates per day. I will keep track of this on a food intake log. A: 90% of days <30g. B: 80% of days <30g. C: 70% of days <30g. D: 60% of days <30g. E: 50% of days <30g. Weight Loss [+2 STA, +3 CHA] Over 6 weeks I would aim to lose 5 kg (roughly 11 lbs) through the ketogenic diet. This is a slightly less than 1kg per week. My starting weight is 67 kg (147 lbs). My end goal weight for this challenge is 62 kg (136 lbs). A: 5/5 kilos lost. B: 4/5 kilos lost. C: 3/5 kilos lost. D: 2/5 kilos lost. E: 1/5 kilos lost. Well I hope this all makes sense and is acceptable. I’ll post weekly updates on Wednesday evenings (in my timezone of course ), including details for each goal and an overall reflection on how to improve. I will start today. Time to give it my all!
