Urgan

So far, so good, I believe. Other than no workout on Thanksgiving, my only sticking point has been, predictably, sleep management.

A week now, and no soda so far.

No Training today Nutrition Breakfast - coffee and cereal Lunch - a roll Dinner - the last of the lemon chicken spaghetti Snack - chocolate Water count: 5-6 cups No soda Sleep In bed 11-ish Looking forward to the return of normalcy.

Yesterday, 11/29/2014 Training Deadlift 5 x 5 @ 70 lbs Squats 5 x 5 @ 60 lbs OHP 5 x 5 @ 30 lbs Deadlifted a T-bird's chrome front bumper, ~65 lbs, just for fun, followed by a 20 lb pumpkin Nutrition Breakfast - cereal and coffee Lunch - more lemon chicken spaghetti Dinner - turkey and a roll Snack - chocolate, two rolls Water count: 5-6 cups No soda Sleep In bed late Friday night, around 11-ish. No excuses, I was playing Grandia after the visit with family My OHP isn't anywhere I'd like it to be, but everything can't just instantly improve, I guess. Oh well, soon everything will be back to normal.

No Training today Nutrition Breakfast - coffee and cereal Lunch - a roll? Dinner - white chicken chili and rice + regular red bean chili and rice, four jumbo olives and a green olive Snack - chocolate, tiny lemon pie slice, a few chips, some with salsa, hot chocolate Water count: 5 cups No soda Sleep I got in bed sometime after 9:30 but before 10 More Thanksgiving get-together with family today, plus we're redoing the shelving in our pantry, so food is scattered everywhere this weekend. Our eating was thus thrown off a bit today. Tomorrow will begin to be more normal, with training, groceries, etc.

No Training today Nutrition Breakfast - coffee Lunch/Dinner - Turkey, ham, dressing, green bean casserole, krachel roll, english pea casserole, a nibble of sweet potato casserole, and that's about it (one plate's worth) Snack - chocolate, lemon pound cake slice, two bites of cheesecake, nibbles of turkey, and a roll Water count: 10+ cups No soda Today was Thanksgiving. 'Nuff said. Sleep In bed with lights out at 9:28

No Training today Nutrition Breakfast - cereal and coffee Lunch - yet more Pappa al Pomodoro, salami, and cheeses Dinner - Mike's cheese dip (sage sausage + 2 cups cheddar + can of Rotel = YES) *actually, I got to watch HIM eat it. Microwaved some chicken pasta with olives instead. Snack - chocolate and a few graham crackers -- an inordinate number of chocolates, since I was home most of the day Water count: 8 cups No soda Sleep Got in bed late last night, 9:58, due to us beating Bioshock 2 Today was...different. Worked less than a half-day, got off at 10:30, so I ran home and made Bacony Deviled Eggs, Ham in Coca-Cola, and a white chocolate blueberry cheesecake for Thanksgiving to share with 8-10 people, depending. I made up batter for Krachel , which are like rolls except better. Here's to tons and tons of protein, vegetables, and cheese-related things tomorrow, then it's back to Work. Happy Thanksgiving in advance!

Did the mini-quest 2, too. I may do 3 soon.

Miniquest 2: Part 1 - My sig be done Part 3 - Following Disil and Tanuki!

Holidays make us bipolar, don't they? So great sometimes, so not at others. I'll be rooting for you!

Following you! You'll surely find the right diet combination with a little time.

Mini-Quest 1 done!

Mini-quest 1: 1. Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)? Is it reasonable? I can either get it done in the 3 and a half weeks, or at least get very close to it with my squat, an 80 lb deadlift is definitely a reasonable goal, based on my progress thus far 2. Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much? Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on? Absolutely, sleep, quality food, and obviously exercise are imperative for reaching my goal, accountability and the knowledge logging these things brings will push me on 3. Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them? Are your goals able to be measured and tracked? What will you use to track them? I believe they are, since I'm shooting for smaller gains over the duration of the challenge, they could be prolonged for a few more weeks if need be, I'm tracking my progress with my own personal sheet(for quick historical review of the numbers, like via a bar chart or some similar), sig progress bars, and detailed notes in the battle log 4. How are you grading your goals? Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)? Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€? I guess it's pass/fail on a daily basis when it comes to following my plan for the week. The workout is the reward, being able to shift the weight and stand up with the guys, even if my weight isn't as heavy right now--pound for pound, I feel pretty competitive, though! 5. What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? I just don't go to the gym if I feel sick, but the proper rest and good food never stops, in fact it becomes even more important in those cases. You can also just do a portion of your normal routine if the full plan seems insurmountable for whatever reason. No matter what happens, tomorrow is another day and not the end of the world. 6. Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge? What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those? I will either take Thanksgiving as an additional rest day or do bodyweight exercises. The gym is technically open, but I'm part of the cooking/hosting this year, so probably gonna be stuck at home. 7. Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? Nope, not that I can see! Food, sleep, exercise. 8. Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set? If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them? I've made this part of my lifestyle now, time is not a factor after work. 9. Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? I'm taking this one at a time, first I started cooking meals at home, then I began exercising, and now I'm trying to get better at going to bed at a decent time. I'm a die-hard night owl.

Thanks Teirin, I'll be sure to post here until the end of the challenge so people can follow here without having to slog through the log lol.

If only all of life could be put into perspective like this. Thanks for the encouragement.

So far so good for today, got in bed on time last night, exercised according to plan (increases by at least 5 lbs per week to meet this challenge), met my nutrition requirements (no frieds, no soda, 8+ cups of water, and logged everything in my Battle Log.

Training Deadlift 5 x 5 @ 70 lbs -- GAIN + 5!! Squats 5 x 5 @ 60 lbs -- GAIN +5!! Bench Press 5 x 5 @ 40 lbs -- GAIN + 10!! Nutrition Breakfast - sushi and coffee Lunch - the rest of the sushi and Pappa al Pomodoro Dinner - Red Beans & Rice Snack - chocolate Water count: 10 cups No soda Sleep In bed and lights off by 9:38 on Monday, and uninterrupted even by the cat that jumped on top of Mike, then on top of me around 4 AM. Today was pretty good, didn't feel much of the 2 PM blahs and no muscle aches, so no obstacles to training. Per my Level 1 challenge, I increased weights all around. The bench press was by far the toughest, I had some failure and had to rest more often than usual, sometimes mid-set. Here's to a long post-gain recovery over Thanksgiving.

...to join the Warriors Guild soon. I know we're two weeks into a 6 week challenge already, but hopefully I can play catch-up and make it turn out okay. I've been working out since August 2014 and already have a major goal, the real challenge here is posting it online and proving myself to the Rebellion. So here are my goals: Quest: Take my deadlift and squat from 65 and 55 lb to 80 lbs in pursuit of my main quest of hitting100 lb I have started posting a detailed log in my battlelog, please let me know if this is allowed while on the Level 1 Rebels challenge. I figure I'll at minimum update weekly here? Side Quests: 1. Exercise consistency Maintain 3 days/week exercise regimen 2. Sleep Get in bed by 9:30 PM on weeknights, 10:30 on Friday/Saturday 3. Nutrition Log food and beverages consumed Drink 8 cups of water daily No french fries under any circumstances, minimize appearance all fried food from diet No soda per No Soda PVP Motivation Get much stronger and continue raising my quest goals in order to improve my quality of life and avoid the natural consequences of a sedentary life. That's it, now I'm going to get to it.

*peers around corner* Can you put me down for SuperBeast vs sodas?

I'm going to use this as my training/nutrition journal--I've been tracking my weight, lbs lifted, and sets x rep, but not my food. My very first major annual goal is to be able to deadlift and squat my bodyweight (100~lb as of this post) by August 2015, hopefully with bench/overhead presses not far behind. I regret nothing. Without further ado, here goes: Saturday, 11/22/14: Training Deadlift 5 x 5 @ 65 lbs Squats 5 x 5 @ 55 lbs Bench Press 5 x 5 @ 30 lbs Nutrition Breakfast - cereal and coffee Lunch - post-workout house fried rice (shredded roast beef, egg, bacon, edamame, veggie medley), raspberry soda Dinner - this http://food52.com/recipes/21442-chicken-black-olives-and-lemon-with-spaghettibecause I'd planned it to coincide when Mike was on a car show trip. He doesn't like olives Snack - chocolate and two graham crackers Water count: 2+ cups Sunday, 11/22/14: No training today Nutrition Breakfast - cereal and coffee Lunch - the rest of the fried rice from Saturday Dinner - plain hot dog and vanilla coke Water count: 4 cups Monday, 11/24/14: No training today Nutrition Breakfast - coffee and miso soup Lunch - more lemon chicken spaghetti Dinner - Pappa al Pomodoro http://www.realepicurean.com/2009/01/papa-al-pomodoro-recipe/-- subbing arugula for the basil because allergy Snack - chocolate Water count: 8 cups EDIT: Due to my own inexperience, I have come to the conclusion that 100 lbs in a year is too easy a mid to long term goal, which, God willing, I will meet in January. Therefore, I'm raising the bar to 200lb deadlift and squat, 150lb OHP and deadlift. This may be too small or too big, time will tell. Either way, I'll do my very best to rise to it. This log will continue to document my progress whether or not I take on a challenge, said challenge will not distract from my aim to pull 2xBW off the ground.

There are so many ways to skin this cat, here's yet one more: http://stupideasypaleo.com/2013/07/10/easy-pan-fried-lemon-chicken/ This is by far the easiest way to get moist chicken quick. I hear quick is important some days... It's so versatile, can be paired with just about any side, IMO. Good luck!

Congrats and here's to you hitting your goal weight! Amen on the cardio and what a Godsend Steve's been in spreading the good word of weightlifting.