Devyn

The sun burned orange through her eyelids. Devyn groaned and rolled over, burying her face in the warm sand. Sand? She pushed herself up, though she was blistered and sore. The bright light shone upon the white sand, blinding her for a moment. All she could see through her tears was an ocean of white contrasting with an ocean of blue. Ocean? She rubbed her eyes and tried to slowly get used to her blinding world. The sun was hot and she felt as if she had been the subject of its fury for a while. A bird screeched through the jungle. Jungle? A sudden and worrisome thought stabbed at her brain, more painful than the light in her eyes. She forced her lids open and saw that she was on a beach. Behind her was jungle. All around her was sand, ocean and trees. There was no sign of civilization anywhere. She walked around for a bit, difficult because the sand was so deep and she was so small. She trudged toward the trees and shouted. “Hullo?†A loud bird answered. She walked around some more, calling out her name, introducing herself to anyone who might be around. But it was only the animals and the sound of the waves that greeted her in return. An island. She was deserted on an island. That Blerch. That sunnabitch! That’s right. I’ve got to survive on a deserted island! How do I do this? By adopting a primal lifestyle of course! It’s the only way. Until I find a way off, it’s the only way. How do I do this? 1. Primal diet - I’ve got no choice. They don’t have a supermarket on the island. I have to eat off the land. Hunting, fishing and gathering. There’s no other way. I must follow a strict primal lifestyle. 2. Distance - There of course will be a lot of walking. Not only do I have to hunt, gather and fish, but I’ve got to find a way off this island! I’m also a kender, so staying put is not an option for me. The total circumference of this island is 150 miles. I must reach this distance through running, walking, swimming, rowing (or biking, shhhhh). This means I have to do one of these every single day. 3. Jumping - Because. Surely there’s got to be a lot of jumping involved. I’m not sure why yet, but I’m sure it will come up during my stay here. My jumping, because of all my problems in previous battles, has become a bit rusty. I can jump 12†but I need to level up. I will work on squats, box jumps, broad jumps and other lower body exercises to level up to an 18†jump. 4. Pull ups - Climbing trees, climbing rocks, running from large predators and accidentally running too far and falling off a cliff but saving myself by grabbing onto a lucky random branch hanging out off the side of the cliff. All of those things take upper body strength. And I have to do it to survive on this island. Or else large predator will eat me or I will not be able to hold onto the branch. I need to strengthen my upper body. To do this, I will do pushups, dips, weight lifting and assisted pull ups. My goal is to go from 75lbs to 35lbs on the assisted pull up machine. If I don’t do these things, I will not survive. But wait! There’s more! Luckily, I was stranded with my backpack. These are the only things that will keep my entertained. In it are books, pens and papers. I can read and write (OOC: because I’m a student of literature and creative writing) to keep myself entertained. I will be keeping a journal (either here or in the battle logs section) because that’s what stranded people do. On top of that, I have to build and maintain a shelter. This means daily work is involved. I need to keep my environment optimal for survival. And I must remember to play. Play to keep sane. So what’s the typical day in the life of a kender stranded on an island? From sun up to sun down, I will do my best to live the primal lifestyle. I have been doing it in bits and pieces in the past, but this is where I bring some of the most important elements together. I’ll wake up with the sun (my natural sunlight alarm clock) and hunt for some breakfast. I may or may not find any. Then I’ll probably do some reading or writing. Then I’ll have to take down my shelter. When I finish, I’ll walk around, trying to discover a way off the island. this might involve some adventuring which will lead to using my jumping and pull up skills. During this time, I’ll try to find some food. At the end of the day, I’ll rebuild my shelter, cook some dinner and then read or write until the sun goes down. Then I get a good night’s sleep until I do it again. Sure, that might sound dull, but I think it sounds kinda peaceful. And when a kender is involved, who knows what the next day might bring. tl;dr Got stuck on a desert island, now I have to eat good food and exercise to survive.

OMG did this challenge end? Okay, well, let me do a quick recap. I did pretty well considering the circumstances. Straight up starting school and with a new area of study plus kids starting school plus this challenge...hard to keep up with it administratively, but practically, not so bad. I kinda sucked the last week, but previous weeks, I did really well. Lost some weight and kept going even when things were stressful. The biggest thing I learned from this challenge was specifically what direction I wanted to go. I knew I wanted to lose weight, get stronger and be awesome at ninja-y things, but I wasn't specific enough in my goals. But now, like a proper kender, I have a map and I'm ready to get the next challenge started with a bang. 75% - C

OOPS! (famous kender saying) In all the insanity, I forgot that there was a challenge going on. Well, I sucked this past week. Big time. I pigged out on crap food and I didn't exercise. It was just a tough week and I gave in to my weakness. I slid down the mountain, but I did not fall off. I just have to climb up the same little bit again.

What I hear is "goatsucker bird" Maybe it's not healthy. I'm not sure. I am just going off of how I have lost weight in the past. Okay, so how about 5lbs?

Judging from past experiences, I can do it. But the key is not to obsess. I should probably eat more veggies instead of nuts when i snack.

I forgot to add mine this week, so I tallied them in real quick. I put "parkour jumps" because we do different kinds of jumps in parkour class that I have no idea what the name is and "thingy off the wall and onto a box" doesn't really fit.

I have spent this whole week trying to get into the swing of things and trying to get all my work done. I hate that I've slowed down on posts here, but I refuse to let go. I'm still doing well. I ate some junk food on Saturday and I'm paying for it now. Upset stomach = no fun. But that's okay. I'm back on track. I've been doing parkour and weight lifting so things are going well. My official measurements from 1 month ago: Lost 4lbs Lost 1.5" on biceps Lost 1" on my waist Lost 2" on hips Lost .5" on thighs Everything else has stayed the same. I definitely feel a difference in how strong I am so that is great motivation for me to keep going. I have a new mini goal that is more for fun than for obsession. I'd like to lose 10lbs or lose 1 clothing size by the time Camp NF starts. The Camp is in 25 days. Any tips? Tips that aren't things like juice cleanses and things that appear on Women's Health magazine.

Thanks! I love it! Yup!

I think school always starts the week before labor day here. And it's about 36C here.

That's awesome! I remember at the height of my weight loss when I'd put my hands on my waist and then my hands just kept going in and in and in way past where I thought they should go. It was great. I loved that feeling.

I'm here, I'm here. First week of school for me and for my 2 boys so it's been hectic. I'm getting into the sing of things, both figuratively and literally. I have been going to parkour class where we've been working on laches and scaling walls. Fun stuff. I'm getting better at laches, but I am no good at the wall stuff. Yet. Today has been quite a day. Nothing really happened, but I got about 3 hours of sleep. I am a person who regularly gets 7-9 hours of sleep per night, so when I say 3 hours, I mean business. So today has been blah. I've had one great win and one bad loss. WIN: I exercised even though I didn't want to. I mean I really, really didn't want to. But I saw this thingy on the computer as I mindlessly surfed the weberverse all day long that said something about no matter how crappy you feel you always feel better after a workout. So I got off the computer and did the Nerd Fitness Academy bodyweight workout. I didn't physically feel better afterward, but I'm glad I did it. LOSS: I ate junk food. I do that when I'm tired. I ate 1 cup of nuts and 1/4c of honey, a whole chipotle salad and a slice of pizza and some cookies. Not good. My first slip up for almost 2 months. But as long as I recognize it as a slip and not a reset button, I will be fine. Tomorrow, I'll jump back in the game, slightly stronger for having exercised and not that much worse for wear having had some junk food. I'm still in the game, y'all. BTW: I have lost 3 inches off the waist and a total of 15lbs.

Wow. There was actually a time when I was taller than you.

Look me up! I'm Devyn the Kender or maybe just Devyn

Are people whistling at you as you drive past?

Re: that last gif, I really am sincere in my thank you, I just like Justin Timberlake. THAT'S RIGHT. I SAID I LIKE JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE!

Thanks! I got it done at a salon. I haven't had any issues with it before. I think it might last longer because I'm lucky enough to have the kind of hair that I don't have to wash very often because it's so thick and course. They put a primer on it first so it should stick better. They also said the more often I dye it the longer it will stay each time. They gave me a set of instructions on how to take care of it.

"Wow if I had a nickel for every time I was doomed by a puppet, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right?" - Dr Doofenschmirtz

You're a saint...

Thanks everyone! Yesterday I did a bodyweight workout. I didn't do much, but I was sweaty by the end of it. My workouts really have been getting better. It's not that they're not hard, it's just that I feel good about doing it. I guess I'm getting out of my funk? Not sure. I didn't work out today. I was too busy getting this done to my hair: What a delightful rascal I am which was totally worth it. Now when I parkour, I'll parkour more awesome. On account of my awesome hair. True story. Despite the fact that I am "allowing" myself to eat some things with sugar and things with the occasional grain in it (namely rice), I have been eating quite well. Today I was out and I was super super hungry but I passed up all the sammiches for a delicious salad. I just don't feel like eating junk. I'm very pleased with my progress. Tomorrow I have a busy day again, but I will be able to do another parkour class at night.

Yes, always eat before the squats.

Yes, that is insane. I'm usually in bed at that hour.