Strawberry Squatcake

Thank you! This is probably why I should have read SS six months ago. If I need to change, I guess I'll change if I think my goal will result in injury or something.

I already don't want to come back and I'm not even there. I'm going skydiving and plan to ride my very first wave surfing. I'm even working on balance stuff pre-trip to increase my chances. Hopefully I don't drown; I'm not much of a swimmer.

We'll be deadlift goal buddies! I'm hoping to see considerable BF% change this challenge like you did last. I thought of your change when I set my goal. Good luck with the challenge!

Nice goals! Good luck!

Your survival goal made me laugh! Good luck planning your move; that will make any sane person a little crazy. Congrats on your moderator gig. And good luck conquering the 1000 lb club and all your challenge goals!

Yes! I like it! And good luck on your saving goal. That's an excellent chunk in six weeks!

Race: Shape-Shifting Ginger-Gnome Class: Warrior Height: 67” Weight: 185ish Body Fat Percent: 38 Starting Stats STR: 3 DEX: 2 STA: 2 CON: 3 WIS: 3 CHA: 2 Fitness Goals 1. Improve assisted pull-ups from 20 on the machine (112 pounds) to 16 (I think that’s 88). STR: 2 2. Improve deadlift by 20% from 130 to 180 (1 set, 5 reps).* STR: 2, STA: 1 3. Improve from 8 to 25 pushups in a row. STA: 2, DEX: 2 Diet Goals 1. Decrease body fat percentage from 38% to 33%. CON: 2, CHA: 2 Life Goals 1. Make extra house payment in May and June. Read Starting Strength and Paleo Solution. WIS: 2 This is the first time I’ve ever done anything RPG-related. I feel more interesting already! The whole reason I joined the NF boards was because I wanted to get really strong, and couldn’t find the support anywhere. So here I am, officially declaring my journey to warriordome. Warriorhood? Warriorosity? I digress. First, shout out to Weirdquark for helping me figure out my race! I’m very indecisive as an offshoot of being a raging perfectionist. I see so many pros of so many things I don’t accomplish anything. So, shapeshifter! And I feel like we gingers deserve our own protected class as humans. OK, that’s a joke. I like how being a redhead gives me a bit of wiggle room to be sassy. So shapeshifting ginger it is! I thought about stopping there, but before WQ gave the shapeshifting recommendation, I’d done a little research on some of the races listed and liked that gnomes are introverted. Plus the gnome in my garden has a cute potbelly and totally owns it. And I’m pretty sure he’d drink beer with me. I can dig that. So there’s my race back story. I bet you’re glad it’s over! And then there were goals: My first goal is one of my life-long struggles. Even when I was a really skinny kid, I couldn’t do anything that had to do with the pull-up bar. In grade and high school we’d do fitness tests where we’d have to“hang for X seconds.” Yeah, I couldn’t hang. I couldn’t even hang for a fraction of a second. Chair pulled out. Fall. I used to assume it was my body and I was helpless to change it. But no more! My goal is to get ONE pull-up by the end of the year – heck, I’d be happy to hang by the end of the year, but that’s leaps away from where I am now. This week I started doing 5 sets of 5 reps with assistance set to 20. I can’t even do one with assistance set to 19. I believe (if I can do math) there is six pounds difference between each number. So I’m starting at 112. And want to be at 88 by the end of six weeks. I was the same way with push-ups. I didn’t do my first “boy” push-up until I after graduating from college. The most push-ups I’ve ever done in a row is 23. Right now I think I can do between six and eight. The goal is to conquer my previous goal – I’ll be using an app that mimics hundredpushups.com. And I figured with two upper-body goals, I needed a lower-body one. I tend to like squat goals, but I did that last challenge. So this challenge: deadlifts. For some reason my deadlifts are less than my squats. I feel like it’s a core issue, so I’ll also be doing more planks. I grappled with a way to track a diet goal (counting number of “cheat” meals, and setting a goal). But I’m going to be in Hawaii for a week during the challenge, and while I expect to be able to make good choices, there will obviously be more day drinking (um yay for day drinking!), but I’ll also be getting in more movement during the day (unlike with my desk job). So I decided this is a once in a lifetime vacation and I'm going to use a fairly challenging body fat percentage goal to motivate me to be as good as possible. Near the end of the last challenge I had a trainer use calipers to check my body fat percentage. So that gives me 10 weeks I’ll have been working toward this by the end of this challenge. I’m not sure if going from 38% to 33% is realistic in that time. The trainer who tested me said this isn’t realistic, but I’m going for it! (Telling this sassy redhead she can’t do something is great motivation for her to prove you wrong!) Finally, life goals. I went back and forth between making the extra house payments in May and June and reading the two books I’ve downloaded (Starting Strength and Paleo Solution). So far I’ve been on this journey with mostly advice on the NF boards and Internet research. All are good, but I know I’m missing out on a lot of fundamentals. Both are important to me, and I had assigned 2 WIS points. Stuck in indecisive (shapeshifter ginger) mode, I decided to do both (essentially assigning ½ point to each month’s payment and each book – this seems fair). So that’s it, team! Sorry I’m so wordy. *Note: 4/30 Edited deadlift goal increasing goal from 155 to 180 and changing from 5 sets of 3 reps to 1 set of 5 reps, per Bean. I figured less sets means I should be able to conquer more. Starting Inches (these depend on the day and how accurately I measure - mostly want to see waist improvement): Shoulders: 44 Chest: 39 Left bicep: 13.5 Belly button: 38.5 (ugh - THIS - ugh) Hips: 42.75 Upper Thigh: 26 Calf: 15.5

Man, I like the depth of your character. I love writing but am so out of my element with this. That said, I'll try to get there; I love being out of my comfort zone. The part about how you'd be all sneaky if you went on a rampage made me laugh! Although, I respect it's probably true. Good luck with your goals this challenge!

Your race is awesome! I dropped my iPad. Also, 1% beer? +100

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. Apparently I need to be whichever race is indecisive. I think that's the real issue. Sigh. I'll set my goals and see if that helps? I'll think about it and make a final decision tomorrow. Thanks again!

Spezzy you're the best! Thanks for all the time/thought you've put into this to make the challenges more fun, engaging, organized and fair. I think this whole thing is awesome! I think the race thing was a little confusing for those of us who have never done RPG, and beyond that some of us newer members are struggling to find our "home." But NF is so dang welcoming, helpful, we'll all find our place and a solid plan for world peace by Monday!

So can I be half-dwarf (fat+beer), half-ginger (human+awesome)? ;-) Seriously, though, this is very helpful. I googled some of the terms and was leaning toward gnome because I couldn't find a description that fit me, and didn't want to be a boring human, and the gnome I have in my garden has a pot belly (plus gnome was described as introverted). Am I wrong that race is more of a creative way to describe yourself than something that impacts the challenge? I'm torn on guilds. I think I'm letting the way the forums were setup before impact me, but want to make sure I'm going the right direction. I don't do Crossfit - I try to do heavy lifting but don't want to leave cardio/endurance fitness out. I don't want to drop into the undecided group only because this is my second challenge and being specific/focused works well for me. That said, my primary goal is strength. However, focusing only on strength last challenge I lost a lot of my cardiovascular endurance (-10). So based on this info where should I be? Go Warrior and do cardio on the side/separate from challenge? Or go Ranger (or whatever the Crossfit group is) even though I don't do Crossfit. I realize I CAN do either, just looking for a little guidance from a professional to get the most out of the challenge! I also know I'm over-complicating things, but am excited to give this a try. I've never done anything like this before! PS- Thanks spezzy for taking the time to set this up. I follow you on Twitter and saw you working endless hours on this. Props! (Do people still say "props?")

Rawr! Get it! That's fantastic, all of you strong, supportive, badass ladies!

I also love spaghetti squash! I'm a fan of zucchini in general, but you can make "pasta" with zucchini, too. I have a mandolin I cut it into pasta-like strips with. I zap it for a few minutes in the micro with a little water and top with whatever pasta sauce I like. I was surprised how close it was. Also a fan of cauliflower mashed potatoes. So many veggie-based ideas I'd never considered before!

BAHAHAHA! <--That's the noise I just made with that picture! Also, I agree berries and super-dark chocolate (I let it melt in my mouth slowly) seem to do it for me. My friend said the other day, "So you have NO sweet snacks?" And I said, "Well, fruit, and this chocolate." And she said, "No, I mean SNACKS." Hah. Oh right, I guess if we're talking about SNACKS, then no. ;-)

OK, I'm going to go the other direction with this one. Shouldn't readers be held accountable for determining who they take advice from and whether they're qualified to give it? It's the freaking internet, people! We're all a bunch of crazies, working off of our own limited experiences, drawing conclusions based on the limited facts we've obtained thus far. If I thought everything I saw on the Internet was certified, I'd be making millions "working from home" and hanging out with my best friend and one cup... Too far?

Yes! Love it!! I bet the guy thought for a long time about approaching you and had such tunnel vision he failed to notice your pics. What a compliment and I think Mr. Pirate's response was great, too!

Second that motion! Haha!

Ha! I snorted, and not in an attractive way. I ate bacon + chocolate last night. Thought I was hormonal or something. I didn't melt the chocolate on, however. Just two foods, sharing the same plate in perfect harmony. Ok, fine there wasn't a plate. Who are you, my mom?

I did the most recent challenge and it was my first. I'm not sure if challenges are typically this way, but you chose your own goals, encouraged to do a few diet/fitness and then some level up your life goals. Obviously everyone's working toward different stuff. But I got ideas for my goals based on stuff others were doing. I think the forum for the last challenge is still there. Take a look! I hate to say too much and create boundaries that don't exist. And last time at the start of the challenge spezzy made a "post here if you're playing" thread. But without blogs, that might be different. That's the easy part, just keep your eyes peeled. I personally like to spend time writing my goals. But I'm a planner.

I wish I could remember where I read this so I could reference it. A study I read (it was pop culture, so probably like 100 tmz.com readers or something!) said only 4% of people are morning people. That means the other 96% of us want to throat kick everyone and everything near us first thing. Hi, friends! For some reason knowing this brought me comfort. And motivated me a little more. I guess knowing if others could overcome it feeling like I do, then I could, too. If I have a class I like, I move more quickly. So I know I can do it. I just need to be more motivated. In the last six week challenge, one of my mini challenges was getting 8 hours of sleep. No matter what I was doing (watching TV, surfing the web, cleaning the kitchen, sexting - wait, just seeing if you're paying attention), I dropped it at the appropriate time and got in bed. In a week, my habits had already started to change.

Man, I can relate. I grew up in a low-fat household. I didn't know how to make anything without adding bread, crackers, chips or pasta to it. I make potato soup with macaroni, and would eat chicken noodle soup with mashed potatoes and homemade bread. It was normal to eat ten servings of grains/processed carbs a day. I thought it was healthy/normal. Bread was the last grain to go for me. It was more of a habit than anything. If you don't like one particular meat without breading, choose another type of meat. Or cut. Or way of preparing it. Or, make a goal to get where you want to be if paleo is where you want to be. I cut out things slowly. And when it came to bread I did it in phases. 2 per day for a week. Then 1. Next week, three times a week. Next week once a week. Next once a month. And that worked for me. Maybe you could do that? And, to be honest, if I have bread now I binge on it because I don't ever feel full, then feel miserable. I'm better off without it.

What if you eat it with fruit? I like dark chocolate and strawberries. Disclaimer- I'm not a huge chocolate fan. I have to control my fruit intake more than chocolate. But when I crave vending machine junk, a little chocolate with a full or half serving of fruit works for me. I've also eaten a square of it with a little nut butter. It's a lot of fat, but makes me personally want less.