whitedhairedwolf

Thanks! ## Today I didn't have the best food day, today. I'm letting myself 'stress eat', which can cause me to have some serious calorie issues, even if I'm only eating yogurt like there's no tomorrow. I'm going to skip drinking any wine this evening, as I already had three glasses (!) yesterday evening. I'll try to abstain until next weekend. Wish me luck! ## Journal Entries https://penzu.com/p/acd079b4

These sound like good, reasonable goals. You can do it!

I'm not looking or feeling so good right now. I'll have to fight may way through this. - WhiteHairedWolf I totally could have completed my first challenge, which I attempted back in January, but I didn't. That was then, this is now. Meal planning - stick to a healthier diet for the entirety of the challenge, with planned meals for work and healthier snacks. Scoring: Two cheat meals or less per week = 100xp; Three = 70xp; Four = 50xp. Exercise - do more than four rowing sessions of 20m each per week for the entirety of the challenge. Scoring: More than four = 100xp; four = 90xp; two to three = 70xp; one = 50xp. Alcohol - drink less of it! Stick to wine or rye bourbon for the entirety of the challenge. Scoring: four wine/whiskey servings or less per week = 100xp; five to six = 70xp. Spend 20m cleaning or otherwise prepping for our move every day of the challenge. Scoring: seven days = 100xp; five to six = 70xp; three to four = 50xp. Since I'll be scoring this challenge weekly, there will be a total of 1600xp possible with 400xp per week. As long as I get above 1000xp total, I'll consider this challenge completed! I'm just getting started again, after all.

Cool first challenge! I'll be following along. You know, my sister-in-law is getting remarried in September. SIGH. I hope that my efforts in the next couple of challenges can have the great side effect of helping me to look a bit more fabulous in those photos. Best wishes to you on prepping for bridesmaidery!

For today's effort in prep for the four week challenge, I'm going shopping for groceries to go toward my healthy meal plan. I completed a two week meal plan last night, and will set up another two week plan soon enough. I'm also going to do day 1 of the squat challenge today, plus 15 minutes of interval rowing on my water rower to get warmed back up into doing cardio. Writing-wise, I'm going to outline the new story that I'm writing: An arcane blacksmith's apprentice finds herself between a rock and a hard place when her master is discovered to be selling his magic imbued weaponry on the black market, which is a mortal crime against the state.

This looks great! I'll be following along with your first challenge

I totally hear you. I've been able to do pistol squats before (when I was in amazing shape), but am not sure that I could work my way up to that in like, 20 days. I'll probably have to substitute.

White Haired Wolf This lady absolutely KILLED it with her female!Geralt. I don't know if I can summon up real chainmail, so I may need to go another way. As a huge fan of Witcher 3, I've been inspired enough by the character Geralt of Rivia to want to try my hand at cosplay. I have never done any sort of cosplay - I haven't even dressed up for a Renn faire - but I would love to put my sewing skills to use by putting together a female!Geralt costume. The vision that I have for my female!Geralt is not of one who's 5'6" and 214.2 pounds, though. I just don't have enough self-confidence for that. There's a whole lot of stuff that I'd like to work on, including my self-confidence, but while I'm working on that I may as well work on my physique. I used to be in such amazing shape, after all... I believe that I can get back to that level of fitness again, and be as strong and shapely as Ciri. If I don't quite make it to that level of fitness, that's okay, too. If I've done my job and leveled up through my other self-improvement goals, it won't matter. Future Level 50 Accomplishments female!Geralt of Rivia cosplay debuted at a convention and/or Renn faire. At least ten published short stories under my belt and SFWA membership. At least four screenplays submitted to two successive years of Nicholl Fellowship. Travel with Kyle to Colmar, France some Christmas; to Amsterdam, Netherlands; to Hawaii; to Zion and Arches; to Acadia in Maine; to Costa Rica; to Chiang Mai, Thailand; to Sweden. Paint my self-portrait and a portrait of my husband. Stable part-time income stream from artwork print sales and writing. Complete three regional Spartan races (sprints or otherwise!). Build a tiny house on wheels with my husband and live rent-free. Spend at least forty hours out of the year volunteering. Submit a novel manuscript to publishers. Run-walk a marathon. Create an emergency savings fund with my husband strong enough to cover at least three months of expenses. Here is how I'll make a good start toward my long-term goals: Levels 1 through 5 Strength Walk up Mar Vista stairs with 40lb weights, 3 circuits. 40 XP Complete five unassisted chin ups. 100 XP Complete 30 day squats challenge. 20 XP Complete 10 full pushups in a row. 20 XP Complete 5 sets of 20 glute bridges. 10 XP Endurance Complete a Spartan Sprint course. 100 XP Complete 20m kettlebell circuits, 3x/week for four weeks with 35lb bells. 40 XP Complete the Temescal Canyon hike up to Skull Rock in less than 1 hour with < 2 brief rests. 40 XP Complete 20m kettlebell circuits, 3x/week for two weeks with 15lb bells 20 XP Walk 10,000 steps per day 6 days/week for four weeks. 20 XP Complete 20m kettlebell circuits, 3x/week for four weeks with 25lb bells. 20 XP Complete 15m kettlebell circuits, 4x/week for one week with 15lb bells. 10 XP Powers Stick to meal planning for one week straight. 10 XP Stick to meal planning for one month straight. 20 XP Volunteer for 3 months with Habitat for Humanity or Twilight Brigade. 50 XP Submit a short story to a literary magazine and track it. 10 XP Submit and track fifteen short stories to literary magazines. 100 XP Spend 15 minutes per day keeping my living space clean and orderly for two weeks straight. 10 XP Create a Society6 shop and list 10 art pieces. 50 XP Do one good work for someone other than myself at least 1x/week for a month. 20 XP Meditate 10m per day for a month. 20 XP

You have awesome goals! I'm going to follow along and see how it goes. Best wishes to you!

This is awesome and totally well mapped out. I am inspired! Best wishes to you in your challenges, and with your new job.

I am a painter, too. I wish you the best in making your painting a priority!

This looks like a great challenge. I'll be following along!

I love the game Witcher 3 and am just starting to get into Andrzej Sapkowski's books, so I thought that I'd use Geralt of Rivia as my character, even though I'm a lady. I could have gone with Ciri, I guess, but if I were going to cosplay anyone from the game it would be a lady version of Geralt. I've built a mini backstory for my character on my profile page. Check it out, if you feel like it! I just heard about Nerd Fitness from my husband. This is just the thing that I need! I had a wake up call this past week while I was helping my mom move into her new property in Oregon. I helped take down barbed wire fencing surrounding the property, hauled wood and heavy fence posts, and did some demolition work on the garage. The "wake up" part of all of this was that I thought that I was a lot stronger than I proved to be. I saw a bunch of photographs of myself working and saw that I was fluffier than I've ever been in my life. I stepped on two different scales and confirmed that indeed, I am the heaviest that I've ever been in my life. I am 5'6" and 214.2 pounds. EEEEEEEEP. My First Challenge: Strength Complete the "Ultimate 30 Day Squat Challenge" from Fitness Magazine. (I'll have to start that one a couple of days early - see the image for the challenge calendar.) Endurance Work up to completing four fifteen minute kettlebell circuits in week four of the challenge, using 15 pound bells. Powers Stick to healthy meal plans every day for a month with one "oops" day allowance per week. Submit one short story to a literary magazine and track it.

These are good first goals. I'll be following along to see how it goes. Best wishes to you!

Awesome goals. I'll be following along!