Hi everybody! My fiancée (@Mera) and I found out about NerdFitness recently, and we've both jumped on board to try and get more fit! Background: I'm a wandering American from small town Central Texas who's come over to Europe by way of London. After a few years in the big city, I moved on to new adventures and am currently working towards a PhD in Lyon, France (just an FYI, living in France is not the best move for controlling one's diet). I used to be more active a few years ago, doing competitive swimming, and long bike rides in mile high desert, but not so much any more. All of that kinda stopped with the move to London, thanks to pub lifestyle, classic British cuisine, the imminent threat of death by bus-crushing if you risk going out on a bike, and a small but persistent knee pain (so the whole 'I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took an arrow to the knee' joke has a beautifully ironic parallel for me in this context). Also, I was spending my days in front of a computer at work, and then coming home to sit in front of my 'game of the moment' all evening, which only compounded the problems. So now that I'm working on filling my brains with amazingly cool stuff, it seemed the perfect time to augment my intellectual pursuits with a good dose of physical improvement as well. Gotta keep that mind/body balance right! I'm aiming to work on my diet, and my (currently not-so-awesome) body composition. I'd really like to look good in a swimsuit. (Well, I've got vitiligo, so I'll always look splotchy without a shirt on, but I like to think it's like my body's way of making sure I'm camouflaged in case of unexpected snow storms, or mad wizards obsessively casting Blizzard all over the place). I'd also really like to just feel a bit more comfortable in my skin, and feel more able to go out and enjoy an active outdoor lifestyle. Mission: Regain consciousness Kaine wakes with a start. The room is oppressively dark. He can't even see his hand in front of his face. "Where am I?" He fumbles blindly in front of him and hears the crumpling of the pages of an old tome. Exploring further, he wraps his hand around a cold metal cylinder... What is that, a candleholder? It starts to come back to him slowly. He must have fallen asleep while researching the... "Wait! What the hell was that?" There's a faint grinding, scraping sound in the distance, echoing through long stone corridors. There's the delicate murmur of water trickling down a wall that's close by. Suddenly Kaine realises his throat is absolutely parched, it is as if he is inhaling hellfire. He tries to stand up to find the source of water, but his limbs, weakened from lack of nourishment and numb from sleeping in an awkward position, give out on him as he collapses on the stone floor with all the grace and poise of a beached octopus. "Well, this oughta be fun..." he mutters to himself as he struggles once again to reach the water he so desperately thirsts for. Quests for this challenge: 1) Eat a healthy breakfast regularly and avoid complex carbs at dinner. Reward: A +2 CON, +2 WIS B +2 CON, +1 WIS C +1 CON, +1 WIS 2) Go for at least 1 run per week longer than 10 min/1 mile without stopping. Reward: A +2 STA B + 1.5 STA C +1 STA (additional) +0.5 END for each additional run/week up to max +5 END 3) Do a bodyweight/kettleball workout 3x/week. Reward: A +2 STR, +2 DEX B +2 STR, +1 DEX C +1 STR, +1 DEX Long term goals: Quantitative: 1) Get down to ~180lbs (82kg) with ~15-18% body fat [I'm just a hair under 6' tall, and currently ~215lbs (97kg) with a body fat percentage that is (estimated based on pictures) probably closer to 25-30% range] 2) Tackle the Montée des Chazeaux (~240 steps) here in Lyon in one go at jogging pace! Qualitative: 3) Develop healthy habits for eating and activity level. 4) Look super-hot for my wife-to-be by Aug 1. Looking forward to joining the community and becoming a more active guild member once I figure out what this body of mine is capable of doing nowadays!
