John Prester

Good luck, @Nethlion!

I don't have any advice for you, but just wanted to say welcome. Keep up the great work, @tents!

Welcome @erithehedgehog! First place I'd start is the videos on the main site. They will show you how to use free weights and do bodyweight exercises. then you can go back to your gym to get feedback on proper form, etc.

Welcome @Jon, Destroyer of Mice! I'm a newb myself at a little over a month. Forums are pretty straight-forward, just like any other forums (except the people, of course!) The main website is a little weird to figure out, but if you follow the links in the starter emails, you should be able to get a good start on it.

Thanks, @fleaball! Starting with a physical diary for now. Want it to be as simple as possible, and many of the apps are too complex. And don't want to spend the time looking for "the right app." If it sticks and I want to continue past the 28 days, and I want to keep easily referenced historical data, I'll start looking into an app.

For my second 4-week challenge, I'm going to expand on what did during the last one. Last challenge: Replace one sugary coffee drink per day with black coffee or tea. Replace beer/wine at mealtime with sparkling water. Get off the train one stop early and walk the rest of the way to work/home. (5x times/week) Remove one piece of clutter from my home each day. This challenge: No sugary coffee drinks No alcohol Purge one category of clutter each week (books, clothes, paper, miscellany) Keep a food diary Continue getting off train one stop early (This one is easy, so I'm not really counting it. But thought it was important to note that I am continuing to do it.) This is going to be a much tougher challenge than the last one.

Thanks, fleaball. I have noticed you popping in and checking up on us, and I do appreciate it. For the month since I joined, I did pretty well on the 4-week challenge, but I stopped doing the weekly getting-started stuff after the first two weeks. Other than the weekly APB email about it, it just fell off my radar. I was focusing on the small changes in the challenge, and the big changes in the weekly emails just got snoozed. Also, the way the site is structured does not make it easy to come back and find what you're looking for. You either have to save the email in your inbox and then start clicking from the beginning all over again, keep the tabs open in your browser, or create a whole folder devoted to nerdfitness bookmarks. One of the quests for Week 3, I just noticed while looking to tie them into the next 4-week challenge, is this: Seems like you've created a perfect topic for this noob quest specifically, @fleaball

The 4 weeks are almost over, and I haven't been posting updates every week like I've hoped. I have, however, been continuing to pursue my goals. Diet Replace one sugary coffee drink per day with black coffee or tea. This is continuing to go well. I am still at only one sugary coffee per day, and on some days have even managed to drink only black coffee. Replace beer/wine at mealtime with sparkling water. Again, still "mostly successful." Had a couple slips when work events led into dinner and drinks, but for the most part, have been avoiding wine/beer with my dinner. But cinco de mayo dinner and beer at work, followed the next week by beer/pizza/poker night were the slips. Exercise Get off the train one stop early and walk the rest of the way to work/home. (5x times/week) This is now a regular habit. I cannot imagine getting off at my "regular" stop, and now consider the one before my office to be my regular stop. Level up Remove one piece of clutter from my home each day. Because I was "saving" pieces of clutter, I adjusted this one a little. Instead of one a day, I have spent the past 2 Saturdays doing major purges. First, I cleared two entire closets. Then, last weekend I purged a lot of my books. (And I mean a lot.) I have reduced my library to one bookcase, and subdivided into "Books I cannot live without" and "Books I will read soon that I'd rather not pay to replace." Overall, I have removed far more than 28 pieces of clutter from my home, but I just haven't been doing one every day. All in all, a fairly successful challenge so far, with a couple of slips, and a change mid-stream.

After nearly one week, here is my progress: Diet Replace one sugary coffee drink per day with black coffee or tea. This went just fine. Am now only drinking coffee with cream and sugar once a day, where before it was several. Have replaced all others with black/green tea with nothing in it. Next step will be to eliminate the remaining one, and this might happen before the end of the four weeks. Replace beer/wine at mealtime with sparkling water. This one was mostly successful. I say mostly because I did sub alcohol at all dinnertimes, but found on a couple of nights I had an extra "unwinding" drink after work. I might need to adjust this to simply, "No alcohol." Exercise Get off the train one stop early and walk the rest of the way to work/home. (5x times/week) Did this every day this week, and really enjoyed it. It was a nice little buffer between crowded trains and busy work, having a nice 10 minute walk to adjust my mindset. Level up Remove one piece of clutter from my home each day. I did this every day, but with unintended side effects. I would find several pieces of clutter to be removed, and instead of removing them all at once, I would "save" one for tomorrow, which meant removing the clutter perhaps a little more slowly than I would have otherwise. This goal might need to be adjusted somehow as well. All in all, a fairly successful week, with some unexpected results.

Thanks, fleaball! I'm not much for social media, so I would consider this a habit change in itself. I'll get around to the other areas, but for now, baby steps. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good luck with this! Looks like you also picked some SMART goals.

For my first 4-week challenge, I got some ideas from the posted suggestions, and added a couple of my own. Diet Replace one sugary coffee drink per day with black coffee or tea. Replace beer/wine at mealtime with sparkling water. Exercise Get off the train one stop early and walk the rest of the way to work/home. (5x times/week) Level up Remove one piece of clutter from my home each day.

Thank you both!

Newly joined within the past week. My Big Why: as it has always been, since I was a teenager. A small cabin by a lake in the woods. It ties all of what I want together. I need to be healthy in order to live long enough to enjoy it, I need to save money to afford it, I need to have the mental fortitude to live free of distractions, and I have to build the personal relationships to share it with the people I love. Looking forward to being a part of the community. Also: anything special I need to do to get into the Facebook group? I requested to join last weekend, and haven't heard anything....