RobinStarling

So went pretty well on the first week! Intermitent fasted on six days. Four workouts, including two strength training. Meditation on all but one day. And translated 35 sentences.

Having come from the adventurers, I would say they don't manage it. Not that they aren't lovely and friendly, there are just far too many people to possibly be able to visit more than a fraction of the threads.

Thanks guys I'm actually at a good level with the Spanish, I've been keeping up to date, or slightly ahead. Spanish is the goal I've struggled to keep up with most in the past, so I'm quite happy with how I'm going.

I assume we won't be having a Druid week, which means there will be an adventurers week. I'm curious as to what that will entail since there doesn't seem to be a strong theme beyond general fitness.

Great goals. The sun salutation is a lovely gentle way to get the body moving! While a dark enough chocolate in small amounts might actually have health benefits, eating a high amount of fruit and veg is a great thing to aim for! I should really aim for more in my diet. I know what you mean about going well with goals but failing to report in on NF or do the mini-challenges, and that's something I'm really trying to focus on this time as well!

Good goals. Detailed enough that they should have an impressive effect after 6weeks. Yet not so drastic that they will be difficult to follow.

Whoo! Today was my shortest fast, but still didn't eat till 1pm or so, so still counts. Caught up to 20 Spanish sentences today. Have done a little yoga, and will do more later as well as some meditation. Thus will be totally on track and not behind on any of my goals!

Thanks. Personally I find the hunger part of fasting to be no big deal, and I can almost enjoy the empty feeling, when I have cracked in previous fasts it has been due to cravings rather than hunger. Still, since I won't be doing many fats longer than 24 hours, I think I should do ok at sticking with it!

This is going to be fuuuuun!

Circ stuff is great! What are your focuses? Great goals! The way your eating habits got thrown out of whack sounds no fun at all, but I'm sure a few weeks will get you back to a good place!

Hey, I, also 22 and have hip issues! It may depend what is causing it, but if you can I would suggest trying fish oil, as this has helped with my hip in a dramatic way! I'm sure walking it will help also. Good, achievable goals, and easy to measure. Good job.

Wow, and hour meditation is pretty impressive! Flexibility is a big one for me! Might even need to be a main goal next challenge. Good goals in general though, should keep you on your toes!

As to the questions about fasting, it is mostly a health/fat loss thing. I've actually Putin a small edit changing the goal to intermittent fasting. Though I may still throw in a few days of not eating at all. I think fasting is a viable spiritual practice, but to me seems more of an every now and then thing, maybe when preparing for a special spiritual event or celebration. To Sunmage, no I haven't read any of his stuff, but I just googled him and he looks pretty fascinating. Might have to try getting hold of some of his books. ==== As a quick update the first day went well with fasting till 2, swimming and meditation. No Spanish yet, but as I said, that can be clumped, and I have gone back and found the site with all the children's picture books on it.

Awesome goals! And so much more fun to read with all the colour! Something I shall have to keep in mind when I write up my next challenge. Ah Friends is a classic! I've seen most of the episodes far too many times, but they still make me laugh!

Hi! Thanks for the friendly welcomes! I do have a bit of experience in meditation. My eventual goal would be 20 or even 30 minutes everyday. But I'm keeping it low for now to make it easier to follow. 10 minutes everyday is, I think, better than 20 or 30 minutes every now and then. Yoga I've done a bit of, but will be keeping to mostly simple stuff. Some sun salutations, and some hip work as I've got a not so good hip- but recently found that fish oils helps a lot, and so am trying to open up the hip area. But I will try and find places to do yoga classes every so often. (I'm currently traveling, so I cannot have a local). As far as physical or spiritual, I've been trying to blur that line a bit lately. Yoga is an obvious one, it is supposed to be good for your body, while also giving a chance to practice some moving mediation. I read a very cool quote in a book a week or so ago though that, through mindfulness, exercise and consuming food can both become like a living prayer. Hah, I sometimes try to mediate while taking a bath, The problem is I love making the bath way too hot, so I just get light headed.

A young adventurer is resting quietly in the Imminent Grove after having been accepted as a student by the Mater Patterner of the school of wizardry on Roke Island. The young adventurer had once been awed by the flashy spells thrown around by village witches and weather workers, but as he had started to mature in both body and mind he discovered the simple beauty of the Master Patterner's way of life. Living among the trees of the Imminent Grove, which is the centre of the world, and watching the patterns of the universe form and change. === Ok so I might be blurring the line a bit too much here trying to claim "wizard" in a druid's guild. But to me the Master Patterner of Roke perfectly fits the archetype of the modern idea of what a druid is. For those that haven't read them, I'm making reference here to Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books. I come to the druid guild after having spent two challenges with the adventurers. My eventual goal is to be a dual-class warrior druid. I have been feeling a need to get my spiritual life in shape lately, so I will start my training with the druids first! Goal One: An active mind needs an active body. I will workout four times a week, with at least two of these workouts being strength training. Swimming or yoga are the other two likely options. 6 D, 12 C, 18 B, 22+ A STR 3 STA 1 Goal Two: Meditate for at least 10 minutes everyday. Preferably 15 or 20 minutes, but 10 is sufficient. 11 D, 21 C, 32, B 40+ A WIS 4 Goal Three: Two days of fasting a week on average. Fast days will be on days that I have not done any strength training- yoga or swimming of fast days is fine. On strength training days I will aim to slightly over eat in order to feed my muscles and prevent starvation mode. Preferably fast days will consist of consuming no food at all only water and possibly tea. However, while staying with family I will allow a small end of the dinner. 3 D, 6 C, 9 B, 12 A CON 3 --- I'm just going to get in quickly and change this before the challenges proper start. I'm going to change this goal to at least 5 days a week of intermittent fasting. This involves no breakfast, and either no or a late lunch. --- Goal Four: To read/translate 5 sentences from a spanish picture book each day (35 a week). And transcribe these into my flash card program. This goal may be done day by day, or in chunks of what ever size. The spanish goal is the one I have failed in the most for my past two challenges, so I am going to push really hard to do well in this one. 52 D, 104 C, 156 B, 205+ A WIS 2 CHA 2

First goal: gain three kg. will figure out goal weight when I can get to a scale! This means gaining about 500g a week. With a slower gain- I should get a higher percentage of the weight being muscle. (After weighing myself, my goal will be to reach 69.5 kg. which is actually 4 kg increase!) Going to give myself a fail on this one. I simply flat out lost interest in weight gain. Second goal: three exercise sections a week. (Need not be weight training). Mostly I will do weight training, but can also do swimming or yoga or such. One off of a B on this one, but that still makes it a C (My hip was hurting in the last week though, so I made the decision to not workout as to not make it worse.) STR 2. STA 1. Third goal: meditate ten minutes everyday. I didn't do well at 25 meditation every second day after starting to travel. So half as long, but twice as often may make it seem easier to fit into my free spots. This is a C So Wis 2 Fourth goal: just five minutes Spanish practice everyday! FAIL

Ok, so I haven't updated in a long time, I have however been mostly keeping up with my challenges! Weight I've kind of lost completely- It has been tricky since I've been without any scales to weight my self, and have rather lost the interest in adding weight at the moment, at last weigh in i managed, i was around 66.5kg. Work outs I have done 10. So that is a C so far. Meditations I'm up to 17, so not far off a C. And spanish I again have fallen behind, and am only on 5. Next challenge I will try and make doing the spanish more interesting by involving picture books.

So I am now at two of everything. Unsure of weight as don't have have scales where I am currently staying, but am eating sizeable amounts.

Ash! Sounds like it's going pretty well. And yep, constant improvement is what we are aiming for! Doesn't matter how many or few push ups you can do, as long as you can do more next time! The main danger with fat is that a small amount has many calories. Combine that with simple carbs and you can over eat junk load! But keep up the good work and don't expect to see giant results in a week! I assume that's why the challenges are six weeks long- short enough that we can put in an awesome burst of effort, but just long enough that you will see some results after it's done!

Ok, so the first week I... didn't do so well. But this was quite expected as I have been at mardi gras in Sydney and I spent most of last week drunk, or at a party, or hungover, or sleeping. And didn't eat nearly enough to gain any weight. But this was all quite expected and I'm eager to jump back onto the healthy ness! Starting today with workout, mediation, and spanish sessions. I will also aim high with my calories at 4000 today!

Edited to add current weight, and to add points and gradings.

Second challenge whoot. First goal: gain three kg. will figure out goal weight when I can get to a scale! This means gaining about 500g a week. With a slower gain- I should get a higher percentage of the weight being muscle. (After weighing myself, my goal will be to reach 69.5 kg. which is actually 4 kg increase!) Thus +1kg D, +2kg C, +3kg B, +4kg A STR 2. CON 1. Second goal: three exercise sections a week. (Need not be weight training). Mostly I will do weight training, but can also do swimming or yoga or such. 5 D, 9 C, 14 B, 18+ A STR 4. STA 2. Third goal: meditate ten minutes everyday. I didn't do well at 25 meditation every second day after starting to travel. So half as long, but twice as often may make it seem easier to fit into my free spots. 10 D, 21, C, 31 B, 42+ A WIS 4. Fourth goal: just five minutes Spanish practice everyday! 10 D, 21 C, 31 B, 42+ A CHA 2. I want to start practicing mindfulness mediation as one of my goals for the next challenge. Does anyone have any ideas for how I could make that into a SMART goal? As it isn't a set thing you do, but an ongoing mindset that you practice.

Goal 1: Though I likely weigh less now, that is a result of early cutting, and I did reach 68 kg, so give this one an A. 2STR and 2CON. Goal 2: I snuck in a last workout, bringing me to 13. I don't feel I slacked off often, I just sometimes felt I needed an extra day off or my hip acted up. But I get a C for this one. 2STR Goal 3: Also snuck in one last meditation, bringing me to 9. I was a little lazy on this one. Will do better next challenge! 9 gives me a D (one off of a C!!!) 1WIS Goal 4: Completely failed. F

12 work outs, 8 meditations, and have bombed on spanish! I will try pick it up for the last stretch to the finish!