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Pre-Challenge Blurb! Hey kids, I didn't do as well last challenge as I wanted, like normal I start off strong then get behind and feel like a failure for not keeping up with everyone. While the scale went in the right direction, I didn't hit 190 lbs like I wanted too, I was 193 lbs this morning. Darn you Beer Carbs!!!! I'm coming up on my three year anniversary (next week) to live a healthier life, and my yearly picture will probably won't be as positive as it was last year, but I'll have to use that to motivate me keep with it. Everything is great with the Cardinal/Red Knight and I, so much so that we're talking about our future together (marriage, rings, living together, pets etc...) and it actually doesn't freak me out as much as I expected it would, I'm not the guy I was four years ago. While my online time is still limited until I'm back on shiftwork on September 8th, I'll try and touch base twice a week. Thank you all for your support! Greetings all! For those of you who know me (poor devils) this is mostly a re-hash. A little about me... I'm 42, live in Nova Scotia (east coast), Canada, in a committed relationship with a lovely, understanding, sexy girlfriend, no kids (one cat), have WAY too many books and proud of it. I'm a boiler and refrigeration operator by trade, though my dream is to have a "bricks & mortar" used bookstore. I currently, have a part-time one that I run out of my basement in my spare time and my whole inventory is science fiction & fantasy (my passion). Should be a link to my stores facebook page in my signature. I'm also a Freemason and quite active in my lodge, which has helped offset my normal "hermit" habits and given me a new confidence in myself and abilities In August 2013 I weighted 267 lbs, and something "clicked" in my head and I decided I needed a change. The pic on left was me on August 23, 2015, pic on right was me in August 23, 2013. I'm REALLY struggling lately, too many cheats, lack of motivation and need a reboot So, I started trying to get healthy and since I'm a type "A" person I use www.loseit.com as my food log and calorie counter. I hit my goal weight. The holidays and other life "stuff" put me above my goal weight of 175lbs and the first (and second) challenge of the new year was less than successful for me. Main Quest: For this challenge my main quest is too get to 190lbs, I've gained too much weight since the New Year and keep adding too it. I've got most of my crazy "to-do" list behind me, so am going to try and focus on taking some "Me time". To do that I will be doing the following... Side Quests: Keep my daily food log and weigh-ins with my loseit.com account, and stay below my calorie limit. I'm allowing 1 cheat per week. Do at least 2 Cardio workouts a week (min 20 minutes), even if its just walking around my sub-division or playing on recumbent bike. 3. No eating or booze after 8pm. I'm allowing myself 1 cheat per week. Late night eating is the worst for me, this works if I can stick with it. 4. Check in and update my thread AT LEAST twice a week. Life Quest: My MAJOR life quest is to finish my basement and turn it into rec room/bookstore, though lately I find my free time quite limited and haven't built a bookcase in over a month. I also like to write, what I have been doing for the past while is mirroring parts of my real life into a story featuring a halfling named petefeet. More of this in next post.

Hey kids, Before my standard intro, I thought I'd get some stuff off my chest. I've been struggling lately... Not mentally, I'm probably in the best spot in that department I have been for years (no doubt to Red Knight/Cardinal), but when it comes my diet/habits/routines, I've been stumbling badly. I'm bringing treats into the house, breaking my 8 pm rule, etc... I don't quite know what it is, and that's probably why I'm struggling, but my motivation to be the "real" me has been hard to find lately. When I stepped on the scale this morning I weighted 196.8, what I weighed a year ago!!! And I'm pissed at myself. I "think" part of it is that during the summer months, my online time is very restricted. Most times at work, I don't have access to a computer and following along with you guys helps keep me on the straight and narrow. And when I get home from work, I don't have much energy to be creative or play online, just busy trying to get caught up on chores that I would normally do on days off when I'm shift (work Monday - Friday in summer). So when I do find a few free minutes, usually later at night, all I want to do is kick back, crack a beer and chill. So for this challenge, I'm making a twice weekly check in a goal, but for me, and because I missed hanging with my NF crew <g>. Greetings all! For those of you who know me (poor devils) this is mostly a re-hash, though I'm in need of a REBOOT! A little about me... I'm 42, live in Nova Scotia (east coast), Canada, in a committed relationship with a lovely, understanding, sexy girlfriend, no kids (one cat), have WAY too many books and proud of it. I'm a boiler and refrigeration operator by trade, though my dream is to have a "bricks & mortar" used bookstore. I currently, have a part-time one that I run out of my basement in my spare time and my whole inventory is science fiction & fantasy (my passion). Should be a link to my stores facebook page in my signature. I'm also a Freemason and quite active in my lodge, which has helped offset my normal "hermit" habits and given me a new confidence in myself and abilities In August 2013 I weighted 267 lbs, and something "clicked" in my head and I decided I needed a change. The pic on left was me on August 23, 2015, pic on right was me in August 23, 2013. I'm REALLY struggling lately, too many cheats, lack of motivation and need a reboot So, I started trying to get healthy and since I'm a type "A" person I use www.loseit.com as my food log and calorie counter. I hit my goal weight. The holidays and other life "stuff" put me above my goal weight of 175lbs and the first (and second) challenge of the new year was less than successful for me. Main Quest: For this challenge my main quest is too get to 190lbs, I've gained too much weight since the New Year and keep adding too it. I've got most of my crazy "to-do" list behind me, so am going to try and focus on taking some "Me time". To do that I will be doing the following... Side Quests: Keep my daily food log and weigh-ins with my loseit.com account, and stay below my calorie limit. I'm allowing 1 cheat per week. Do at least 2 Cardio workouts a week (min 20 minutes), even if its just walking around my sub-division or playing on recumbent bike. 3. No eating or booze after 8pm. I'm allowing myself 1 cheat per week. Late night eating is the worst for me, this works if I can stick with it. 4. Check in and update my thread AT LEAST twice a week. Life Quest: My MAJOR life quest is to finish my basement and turn it into rec room/bookstore, though I'm going to add some minor life quests for this challenge for those days I need to do something else. I also like to write, what I have been doing for the past while is mirroring parts of my real life into a story featuring a halfling named petefeet. More of this in next post.

Greetings all! For those of you who know me (poor devils) this is mostly a re-hash, though I'm in need of a REBOOT! A little about me... I'm 42, live in Nova Scotia (east coast), Canada, in a committed relationship with a lovely, understanding, sexy girlfriend, no kids (one cat), have WAY too many books and proud of it. I'm a boiler and refrigeration operator by trade, though my dream is to have a "bricks & mortar" used bookstore. I currently, have a part-time one that I run out of my basement in my spare time and my whole inventory is science fiction & fantasy (my passion). Should be a link to my stores facebook page in my signature. I'm also a Freemason and quite active in my lodge, which has helped offset my normal "hermit" habits and given me a new confidence in myself and abilities In August 2013 I weighted 267 lbs, and something "clicked" in my head and I decided I needed a change. The pic on left was me on August 23, 2015, pic on right was me in August 23, 2013. I'm REALLY struggling lately, too many cheats, lack of motivation and need a reboot So, I started trying to get healthy and since I'm a type "A" person I use www.loseit.com as my food log and calorie counter. I hit my goal weight. The holidays and other life "stuff" put me above my goal weight of 175lbs and the first (and second) challenge of the new year was less than successful for me. Main Quest: For this challenge my main quest is too get to 185lbs, I've gained too much weight since the New Year and keep adding too it. I've got most of my crazy "to-do" list behind me, so am going to try and focus on taking some "Me time". To do that I will be doing the following... Side Quests: Keep my daily food log and weigh-ins with my loseit.com account, and stay below my calorie limit. I'm allowing 1 cheat per week. Do at least 2 Cardio workouts a week (min 20 minutes), even if its just walking around my sub-division or playing on recumbent bike. 3. No eating or booze after 8pm. I'm allowing myself 1 cheat per week. Late night eating is the worst for me, this works if I can stick with it. Life Quest: My MAJOR life quest is to finish my basement and turn it into rec room/bookstore, though I'm going to add some minor life quests for this challenge for those days I need to do something else. I also like to write, what I have been doing for the past while is mirroring parts of my real life into a story featuring a halfling named petefeet. More of this in next post.

Greetings all! For those of you who know me (poor devils) this is mostly a re-hash. A little about me... I'm 42, live in Nova Scotia (east coast), Canada, unattached, no kids (one cat), have WAY too many books and proud of it. I'm a boiler and refrigeration operator by trade, though my dream is to have a "bricks & mortar" used bookstore. I currently, have a part-time one that I run out of my basement in my spare time and my whole inventory is science fiction & fantasy (my passion). Should be a link to my stores facebook page in my signature. I'm also a Freemason and quite active in my lodge, which has helped offset my normal "hermit" habits and given me a new confidence in myself and abilities In August 2013 I weighted 267 lbs, and something "clicked" in my head and I decided I needed a change. The pic on left was me on August 23, 2015, pic on right was me in August 23, 2013. So, I started trying to get healthy and since I'm a type "A" person I use www.loseit.com as my food log and calorie counter. I hit my goal weight. The holidays and other life "stuff" put me above my goal weight of 175lbs and the first (and second) challenge of the new year was less than successful for me. Main Quest: For this challenge my main quest is too get to 180lbs, I've gained too much weight these past 16 weeks. To do that I will be doing the following... Side Quests: Keep my daily food log and weigh-ins with my loseit.com account, and stay below my calorie limit. I'm allowing 1 cheat per week. Do at least 2 Cardio workouts a week (min 20 minutes), even if its just walking around my sub-division or playing on recumbent bike. 3. Do the following Body Weight exercises during the week. I used to try for more, but am making my goals reachable and plan on building from here. 50 Push-ups 75 Squats 50 Leg Lunges (combined total of both legs) 75 Dumbbell Rows (combined total of both arms with 25 lb weight) 50 Leg Raises 100 Jumping Jacks 40 Bicep Curls (combined total of both arms with 25 lb weight) 20 Triceps drips No eating or booze after 8pm when I work dayshift or on days off. 12 midnight when working nightshift. I'm allowing myself 1 cheat per week. Late night eating is the worst for me, this works if I can stick with it. Life Quest: My MAJOR life quest is to finish my basement and turn it into rec room/bookstore, though I'm going to add some minor life quests for this challenge for those days I need to do something else. I'll be adding mini-life quests as well. Each week I will spend an hour doing at least ONE of the following things I enjoy. 1. Work on a short story 2. Work at updating my used bookstore in some way (inventory, ads, etc...) 3. Work at my Masonic interest (reading, learning lines, etc...) I also like to write, what I have been doing for the past while is mirroring parts of my real life into a story featuring a halfling named petefeet. More of this in next post.

Greetings all! For those of you who know me (poor devils) this is mostly a re-hash. A little about me... I'm 42, live in Nova Scotia (east coast), Canada, unattached, no kids (one cat), have WAY too many books and proud of it. I'm a boiler and refrigeration operator by trade, though my dream is to have a "bricks & mortar" used bookstore. I currently, have a part-time one that I run out of my basement in my spare time and my whole inventory is science fiction & fantasy (my passion). Should be a link to my stores facebook page in my signature. I'm also a Freemason and quite active in my lodge, which has helped offset my normal "hermit" habits and given me a new confidence in myself and abilities In August 2013 I weighted 267 lbs, and something "clicked" in my head and I decided I needed a change. The pic on left was me on August 23, 2015, pic on right was me in August 23, 2013. Need to find missing pic, darn you new forums!!!! So, I started trying to get healthy and since I'm a type "A" person I use www.loseit.com as my food log and calorie counter. I hit my goal weight. The holidays and other life "stuff" put me above my goal weight of 175lbs and the first (and second) challenge of the new year was less than successful for me. Main Quest: For this challenge my main quest is too get to 180lbs, I've gained too much weight these past 12 weeks. To do that I will be doing the following... Side Quests: Keep my daily food log and weigh-ins with my loseit.com account, and stay below my calorie limit. I'm allowing 1 cheat per week. Do at least 2 Cardio workouts a week (min 20 minutes), even if its just walking around my sub-division or playing on recumbent bike. 3. Do the following Body Weight exercises during the week. I used to try for more, but am making my goals reachable and plan on building from here. 50 Push-ups 75 Squats 50 Leg Lunges (combined total of both legs) 75 Dumbbell Rows (combined total of both arms with 25 lb weight) 50 Leg Raises 100 Jumping Jacks 40 Bicep Curls (combined total of both arms with 25 lb weight) 20 Triceps drips No eating or booze after 8pm when I work dayshift or on days off. 12 midnight when working nightshift. I'm allowing myself 1 cheat per week. Late night eating is the worst for me, this works if I can stick with it. Life Quest: My MAJOR life quest is to finish my basement and turn it into rec room/bookstore, though I'm going to add some minor life quests for this challenge for those days I need to do something else. I'll be adding mini-life quests as well. Each week I will spend an hour doing at least ONE of the following things I enjoy. 1. Work on a short story 2. Work at updating my used bookstore in some way (inventory, ads, etc...) 3. Work at exploring my family history 4. Work at my Masonic interest (reading, learning lines, etc...) I also like to write, what I have been doing for the past while is mirroring parts of my real life into a story featuring a halfling named petefeet. More of this in next post.

I got some goals. They mainly involve me surviving law school. I've been doing OKish, but I got struck down by a cold that would not quit and that threw me off my schedule and I tend to REALLY suck when I get off schedule. This last week I've been reorientating and we're in good shape, I think. So this month, I would like to continue the streak, but I also need to work on my reaction to myself. I'm seeing a crazy doctor to get some of my shit together (my shit tends to be all over the place) and we are working on not my behavior, but my reaction to my behavior. I am very unkind to myself and that's no fun. My goals : not to be so fat and unhealthy. More quantifiably, I want to be under 200lbs. I think I'm back to 230. I've been too stressed and busy to check, also I don't really need to, nor do I want to, know. I don't really have a challenge parameters as much as a challenge schedule which looks like : Monday : hard core at the gym because I have a FIVE HOUR break between classes. Tues, Wed, Thurs : Master the stairs for 20/30 minutes. I'm slowly upping the speed and length on the stairmaster. I still hate it. Friday : hard core at the gym again. Then there's some law school stuff, reading, writing, surviving. More later, just had a super energy crash (what? it's been a long day)

Happy Monday. This is my third consecutive challenge. I rocked January's but had some issues with February's. For March I'm going to be going back to basics since life will be more complicated this month. We sold our house and closing is March 25. I currently live and work near Detroit, MI during the week. I've got a one bedroom apartment in a large apartment complex. I lost my job in the late spring 2015 and found a much better one in August...4 hours from our beautiful house (that we bought Feb 2015!! ) near Youngstown, OH. My husband is in the OH house but he just had hernia surgery last Monday so basically he's taking care of our two dogs and doing what little he's cleared to do until I go home on the weekends. He's not even allowed to drive until March 17. We joke that he picked an extremely convenient time to be an invalid. Heh. Anyway: this month I want to sustain good habits. Food is my huge stumbling block. It seems like it's just so easy to eat a frozen pizza while in front of the TV. Diet: track everything with MFP and steps with Fitbit every day Diet: drink 72 oz water/day Fitness: Complete NF bodyweight workout 2x/week Level Up Life: complete something on my moving productivity list every day (except Fridays - after work I drive 4 hours to OH).When I track my food with MyFitnessPal it makes me very aware of what I'm eating and guilts me in to behaving. Eventually I'd like to switch over to Paleo but for now I think this will work best for me. Last month I set a Paleo goal too early for my current living situation. When my husband and I are co-habitating again things will get much easier. 72 oz water/day really works for me. I feel good, my skin looks better, and I my ankles don't puff up (I sound like my mother!). I'm antisocial when up here by myself during the week, and especially since the weather is still pretty nasty here, so I think working out at home will be do-able. And I used to love lifting weights but I'm so out of shape...eventually I'd like to get into it again. Maybe get into the Warrior group...? And completing something on my moving list...weekends will be when I'm focused on packing but the apartment is a great big mess since it's only me so I really need to pick up my clutter. I have a "nest" around the chair where I sit and watch TV, play on my laptop, read, and knit/crochet.

Hi all, so I'm staying in rebels for now and trying to build on my first challenge (here) My Quest To be fitter, healthier and to look better naked. Challenges New Gym Program (10XP) - After a good few weeks in the gym, I'm meeting a trainer tonight to put together a new training plan. Will post the new workout when I have it if anyone's interested. Challenge is to run the new program at least twice per week (bonus 5XP for 3 times a week every week). Body Balance (10XP) - So I did a little home yoga stuff last month, and now I've booked myself and my partner in to "Body Balance" (apparently a mix of yoga and tai chi?) on Mondays. Challenge is just to go to this every week, but I may throw in some stuff at home as I get used to it. Swim More, Swim Better (10XP) - Swim at least 3 mornings per week before work, with at least one "drill day" (bonus 5XP for 5 times a week on at least two weeks). Will post my drill routine on here once I have it worked out. Went for a swim this morning so already started on this (if you hadn't noticed today will be a busy day!). Sleep (10XP) - No tea after 4pm daily (again, I know this was in my challenge last month), plus in bed by 11pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursday. I'm also (hopefully) getting a Fitbit Charge for my birthday on Thursday, so I should be able to track my sleep better. Parle plus en français (15XP) - Same as last month, but I've upped my Duolingo goal from 20XP (2 challenges) to 50XP (the highest setting; 4-5 challenges). Complete daily French goal on Duolingo every day for the duration of the challenge. Once again will keep you posted. Also, guess the computer game reference in the title for your chance to win a totally imaginary prize!

I’m slightly late to the party, but hey, better late than never! I’ve been sort of MIA in the challenges for a couple months, mostly because I just...haven't done things. There's been a lot of that in my life recently, for no particularly good reason - I'm just not doing stuff. So, it’s high time I get back into it. Because I enjoy these challenges, and they make a positive difference in my life. It’s a win-win Me in a paragraph: I’m in my last year of undergrad, with a double major/double minor (violin performance and psych, human biology and math, if anyone’s curious) and work as a music teacher and math tutor, so I tend to be super busy with school and work. I have lots of physical health issues, largely results of repetitive strain injuries from violin in high school that spiraled waaaaay out of control, and am currently very obese (which also really doesn’t help with chronic pain…). So, my focus is on finding ways to build a healthy lifestyle that will help me lose the weight I need to lose, and deal with chronic pain. Goal 1: Practice Yoga for 20 minutes 5x a week Grading: missing a practice lowers the weeks letter grade, final grade is the average I’ve had this goal before, although for slightly less time. I succeeded and really enjoyed it, so I don’t feel that adding slightly more practice will be an issue. Yoga really helps me with a lot of chronic pain and physical issues, as well as anxiety, so this is something that’s really important for me to do and maintain. Goal 2: “Ritualize Eating†Grading: keep notes, and at the end of the challenge, I’ll asses and grade accordingly Basically, treat it as an important event. Whenever I eat anything, I will do nothing but focus on eating the thing (not also do homework, watch videos, etc.), use actual eating utensils (as opposed to just using my fingers, a paper towel for a plate, etc.), actually sit at a table, that sort of thing. It doesn’t matter if it’s an entire meal or a single bite of something, I will sit and focus on it. I have a tendency to fall into the “I’m too busy to have a meal time, I’ll just eat while also doing x, y, and z†which results in a lot of mindless eating - doing this should help with that Goal 3: Bring healthy food to school Grading: forgetting to bring food/buying food at school lowers each weeks grade, final grade is the average I have a bad habit of not bringing food with me to school, then needing to buy something from one of our university cafeterias - which all just basically have donuts and chips. Donuts and chips do not a healthy meal make. So, I will make healthy food to bring to school instead. I even prefer the food I make to school food, I just have to take the time to actually make it. Life Goal: Write 500 words 5x a week Grading: missing a day lowers each weeks grade, final grade is the average I’m writing a book that I got about 2/3 of the way through several years ago, and have written maybe 1,000 words in since because “I’m too busy to write.†But I really miss creative writing in general, I really want to finish this draft so I can start revising (I work better with a full draft in front of me, trying to revise partway through has never really worked for me), and I’m actually not at all too busy…so, I’m going to get back into it Yay goals! I'm looking forward to the rest of the challenge! Side-note: I may be somewhat radio silent at times, due to prioritizing classes over being active here. It's not that I'm not doing things, it's just that I'm focusing on something other than posting about it

This was going to be super epic respawn challenge tiem (and it might turn out to be, who knows) but my schedule is currently insane so we're gonna scale this shit back. And see if this setup makes it any better to create/build habits so I stop getting in my own way. Week 1 goals: SURVIVE. Meditate every morning.Finish 2 midterm papers and an exam Monday-Wednesday.Wake up without an alarm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.Clean bedroom and back porch so workout space exists.Somehow clean running shoes of the bed bugs that aren't actually in them. Week 2 goals: (spring break!!) Keep meditating every morning.Send out 6 internship/job applications.Write shortest final paper left over from last semester.Write last semester's statistics final.Start c25k.Yoga? Week 3 goals: Continute meditation, c25k, yogaSend out 6 more applications.Start YAYOG.Eat vegan as much as possible.Start other final paper from last semester.More yoga. Week 4 goals: THRIVE Continue all of week 3 goals.Get ready to kick ass next challenge.

This will be my second challenge - making sure I don't burn out on this one. I will be a well-read, guitar-playing, fit man. As such, my challenge is as follows: 1. One green vegetable with a meal 5 days a week + 4 large glasses of water 3 day 100% - 4/4 weeks 2. Set a new PR in pull-ups + walk 5+ miles one day a week 100% - 4/4 weeks, PR 3. Play guitar for 7+ minutes a day, 3 days per week 100% - 4/4 weeks 4. Complete 2+ books 100% - 2/2 books completed edited 3/29/16

So the last 6 months have sucked big time. I've gotten really ill, been on a series of meds, quit my job and generally need to get it all together again by the summer when I start a new and incredibly awesome job. I've got to work within my limits on these targets Main Quest Get healthy!! Give myself the best chance possible to stop being ill and reduce or get off meds. Have more energy, function like a human being and get my shit together. SMART quests 1. Exercise at least 5 days per week. This is the schedule. Monday - Nerd Fitness Angry Bird Bodyweight Circuit Tuesday - Run Zombie Run Couch to 5K Wednesday - PopPilates Beginner 2.0 Workout Schedule Thursday - Run Zombie Run Couch to 5K Friday - Nerd Fitness Angry Bird Bodyweight Circuit Saturday - Power Yoga DVD Sunday - Run Zombie Run Couch to 5K Being ill for the last 6 months means my exercise has stopped. I've lost far too much weight and have painful joints; I generally feel frail and ache. So I have to take it damn easy. To tired and achy to run 5k's ---> swap to easing back in with the C25k program I began with (and loved). Lifting weight with wrists that can't be extended without hyperpain --> slowly build up with a bodyweight routine and do pushups and planks on fists. 2. Eat 4 freggies per day I've been eating junk due to tiredness and needing a zillion hours extra at home to get my job done. Now with no work I have more time to focus on eating right. 3. Go to bed by midnight every night and get up by 8am 5 days a week. Lie in's allowed 2 days a week. Afternoon naps are allowed as often as required. Being ill and not working it's really easy to start sleeping weird hours. I need far more sleep at the moment which I should be getting by going to bed earlier. But the illness I have makes me feel like crap in the hours after waking and decent at night so I've been staying up until silly o'clock and sleeping in for the whole morning. Not good habits. Life Quest Improve my handwriting. It's currently crap: messy and illegible, not to mention makes my hand hurt! I've bought a book off amazon for improving handwriting as an adult which I'm going to work through.The 'before' shot of my handwriting is attached for proof and comparisons at the end! :-)

Greetings all! For those of you who know me (poor devils) this is mostly a re-hash. A little about me... I'm 42, live in Nova Scotia (east coast), Canada, unattached, no kids (one cat), have WAY too many books and proud of it. I'm a boiler and refrigeration operator by trade, though my dream is to have a "bricks & mortar" used bookstore. I currently, have a part-time one that I run out of my basement in my spare time and my whole inventory is science fiction & fantasy (my passion). Should be a link to my stores facebook page in my signature. I'm also a Freemason and quite active in my lodge, which has helped offset my normal "hermit" habits and given me a new confidence in myself and abilities In August 2013 I weighted 267 lbs, and something "clicked" in my head and I decided I needed a change. The pic on left was me on August 23, 2015, pic on right was me in August 23, 2013. So, I started trying to get healthy and since I'm a type "A" person I use www.loseit.com as my food log and calorie counter. I hit my goal weight. The holidays and other life "stuff" put me above my goal weight of 175lbs and the first (and second) challenge of the new year was less than successful for me. Main Quest: For this challenge my main quest is too get to 180lbs, I've gained too much weight these past 8 weeks. To do that I will be doing the following... Side Quests: 1. Keep my daily food log and weigh-ins with my loseit.com account, and stay below my calorie limit. I'm allowing 1 cheat per week. 2. Do at least 2 Cardio workouts a week (min 20 minutes), even if its just walking around my sub-division or playing on recumbent bike. 3. Do the following Body Weight exercises during the week. I used to try for more, but am making my goals reachable and plan on building from here. 50 Push-ups 75 Squats 50 Leg Lunges (combined total of both legs) 75 Dumbbell Rows (combined total of both arms with 25 lb weight) 50 Leg Raises 100 Jumping Jacks 40 Bicep Curls (combined total of both arms with 25 lb weight) 20 Triceps drips 4. No eating or booze after 8pm when I work dayshift or on days off. 12 midnight when working nightshift. I'm allowing myself 1 cheat per week. Late night eating is the worst for me, this works if I can stick with it. Life Quest: My MAJOR life quest is to finish my basement and turn it into rec room/bookstore, though I'm going to add some minor life quests for this challenge for those days I need to do something else. I'll be adding mini-life quests as well. Each week I will spend an hour doing at least ONE of the following things I enjoy. 1. Work on a short story 2. Work at updating my used bookstore in some way (inventory, ads, etc...) 3. Work at exploring my family history 4. Work at my Masonic interest (reading, learning lines, etc...) I also like to write, what I have been doing for the past while is mirroring parts of my real life into a story featuring a halfling named petefeet. More of this in next post.

The last challenge I started over. I decided to take the first steps down the dark and scary path toward being fit. I aim to continue that journey this challenge and hopefully pick up the pace a bit. I have been fairly successful at keeping my arch nemesis the peanut butter ninja at bay but he still creeps past my defenses every once in a while and strikes. This challenge I am going to focus on keeping my calories in check, beating the peanut butter ninja, and getting to the gym while following my selected lifting program. Current Stats: Sex: Male Age: 35 Height: 5’10†Weight: 247.2 lbs. Stomach: ??" Chest: ??" Neck: ??" Bicep: ??" Main Quest: Get below 20% body fat this year. I currently stand at about 32% body fat. This is not healthy for me at all. I am hoping that at the end of the year I can be about 50 lbs. lighter but the weight is only an indicator of my progress. If I end up at 20% body fat and am nowhere near 200 lbs. I will be fine with it. Once I hit 20% I will set my next goal to drop additional body fat. Challenge Goal 1: Count my calories as accurately as possible. My goal is to average 1,800 calories (or less) per day for the entire challenge. Calories will be tracked on My Fitness Pal. Graded weekly, the final grade will be an average of the weekly grades A = 1800 Calories per day B = 1900 Calories per day C = 1950 Calories per day D = 2000 Calories per day E = More than 2100 Calories per day Challenge Goal 2: Defeat the peanut butter ninja. I have a very bad habit of ruining my daily calorie count by eating peanut butter. Peanut butter by itself isn’t a terrible thing unless you eat 1,000 calories of it at a time (like I do). I tend to grab the jar and a spoon when I get the urge. This challenge I am removing peanut butter from my eating habits all together. No peanut butter at all during the entire challenge. Graded weekly, the final grade will be based on the total number of days I went without peanut butter. A = 95% of the days B = 90% of the days C = 85% of the days D = 80% of the days F = less than 80 % of the days Challenge Goal 3: Continue going to the gym and lifting. I am on the final week of my current program and my lifting partner and I will be selecting a new program this week. It will likely be a 4 to 6 week lifting program. My goal is to be in the gym every morning I am scheduled to be there. Grading will be done weekly to evaluate where I am at but the final grade will be based on the number of days I make it to the gym throughout the challenge. A = 95% of the days B = 90% of the days C = 85% of the days D = 80% of the days F = less than 80 % of the days

Let's pretend that my attempt at the last challenge didn't happen ok! Although I failed the last challenge, I have consistently logged my calories for the last 18 days in a row. This has been instumental in getting my butt into gear. As a result, I am down to 123.3kgs. Just a small 3kg loss, but a loss none the less So this time around, I'm setting myself goals I will actually want to stick to, and that I know will help me. DIET Take a healthy packed lunch 3 days a week. One of my biggest problems is that at lunch time there are so many bad choices, and even though some days I don't really feel like any of them, I still need to choose SOMETHING! Taking a packed lunch (specifically, lunch in a bento box) will eliminate this for me, and help control my calories. (aiming for 500-600 calories for lunch) Eat healthy breakfast 3 days a week. Whether this means eating breakfast at home, or finding a healthy (and satisfying) breakfast on the run, I need to do this. (no more than 600 calories for breakfast). FITNESS 10 minute walk, 3 days a week. 10 minutes is the minimum i will need to jump start my fitness again. Months of being on maternity leave, stuck on a couch with the baby has really damaged my fitness level. So baby steps to get back in. LEVEL UP MY LIFE No laptop after dinner every night No laptop after 8pm, 6 days a week I spend far too much time sitting on my laptop at night, rather than engaging with my husband during that blissful period when baby is asleep. Ever since our daughter was born, intimacy has gone out the window. I need to remedy that, and this is a great stepping point. No scores this time. It either gets done, or I fail the week. Simple.

Just from this partial-week... Limiting screen-time at my mother's house was easy because when I got bored, there were other things to do. It was her house, so helping to tidy was a definite case of "pull your gloves on and do this." Or there were clean-enough areas to work on fun projects half of the time. (Having a puzzle-area set up was nice. I got a cheap canvas kit mostly-painted. I built one of my dragonfly kits and left it there for her to turn into wall-art.)Here, I'm not sure what to do first, and retreat into the computer to get away from not having the room to enjoy kits. I think that I should just focus on reporting what I've done instead of worrying about expectations for this challenge.

My third challenge of the year! My second challenge was definitely an improvement over the last. I logged my food everyday, I reduced my liquid calories, and I made my cooking at home goals. I did not, however, make my puppy walk and meditation goals. It's been so hard to works towards 4 different goals each challenge. I'm still following the Level Up Your Diet plan as described in the Academy. So all my diet goals are based on that. Diet Goals So diet wise, over the next 4 weeks this is what I'm doing (4 points): Weeks 1-2: Consume a vegetable instead of a carb for either lunch or dinner, 10 out of 14 days. Week 2: No pasta. Weeks 3-4: No bread or pasta, 12 out of 14 days. Weeks 3-4: A vegetable in every meal, 12 out of 14 days. So assuming that's one goal, my second diet goal is to continue to cook more (4 points). My last 2 weeks of the last challenge, I ate 12 meals from home. I would like to continue to improve that by 1 each week. So 13 week 1, 14 week 2, etc. My cook more goal, should help me towards my other goals. Fitness Goal I'm going to try again and walk the dog (4 points). She's about 4 months old right now and really needs the exercise. I'm going to shoot for 5 times a week Level Up My Life Goal Meditate. (3 points) I did this last challenge, and never really got it off the ground. I'm going to again work to not do that this time.

Life has just simplified, and I'm going to re-do challenge 2. ((I got very sick last week, had to go off my medicine as a result, and my kid has made his big move!)) While my challenges haven't been fully successful, I've met some really encouraging people here, and learned, and I like this place. Reflection: The last 2 challenges have me in the 'habit' of not buying food out, so I am dropping that goal. I have only done it a few times in social situations. If i start to slip, I'll bring it back.The clutter goal is coming off because I have a huge project started of deep cleaning the house now that my kids/doggie have moved and it doesn't belong here anymoreFor some reason, I resist strength training. Everything I am reading says how important it is. I can't use arthritis as an excuse, because you can modify almost anything.Then, when I get any strength type exercise in, I drop the cardio. Like a game of whack-a-mole, I seem unable to keep multiple good things going at once.This challenge is going to be all diet/workout-centric: Local Goals: 1) Intermittent Fasting - I'm doing 16/8, and I want to add in 1 day of the low calorie fast. This day will be Mondays. 2) Strength Training - This will look like: Youtube video or bodyweight exercises. This will look very minimal or weak to some, I suppose, but I'm just trying to get a habit started. I hope I develop a taste for it. 3) Cardio - This will be anything I do that day, walks are included. Global Goal: Body weight/size suitable to me (there are certain clothes that fit when I feel this way, and things like being in a bathing suit in public don't make me want to crawl under a rock) Less fat, more muscle tone Arthritis pain/inflammation minimized (this is interesting - I feel better lighter, and supposedly IF reduces inflammation, we'll see)

(story to follow later!) So, ladies and gents - last challenge went fairly well. I started eating healthier, working out at least once a week, if not more and things just got generally better. Well, It's time to continue that and keep what little momentum I got up. Except, now I don't have uni until about May. So theres no excuses for not kicking ass! Setup and Tracking I'll be setting this up in the old way of doing challenges - one body, one mind and one lifestyle goal, each with subgoals to achieve. Simple. Tracking will be done purely on here: I've found that having too many things on the go just stops me from really tracking things. I'm going to include the Stoic disclaimer "fate permitting" to each one as well as practice their technique of goal internalization, to help with making these a little more manageable (I do like my Stoic philosophy - part of this challenge!) Goals Body As my character is getting to the point in the story where things are getting violent - his past is getting explored a bit, his history with the Rangers, etc. - workouts are remaining bodyweight, but with a bit more intensiy. I'll be moving to the rather awesome Dragonborn workout from Darebee.I'll be doing this twice a week where I can, going up a level each week. Also, I'll be throwing some lifting exercises in there as well, which I'll track post-by-post. Also in the body side of things is continue eating well. I've done fairly good recently, avoiding fast food etc, but I need t keep it up! ---------------------------------------------------------------- Mind This will be all about Stoicism. Each week, I'll post a favourite Stoic passage of mine and a little discussion. I love the philosophy of Stoicism, it's great school of thought with some inherent truths in it. The writing always inspires me, and maybe you'll get something out of it too? No, not you. The one behind you. *grin* made you look. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Soul Soul is about my mental happiness. I just bought a car - wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo - getting me roughly back to where I was before the crash (with still $8000 to pay off) last January. Now, I need to maintain my financial health by not spending too much. Also - work. I love my job, and I think I'm getting better at it, but theres still some ways to go. I want to improve on one work related thing each week. That could be shaking technique, bar skills, rum knowledge, cocktail theory, industry knowledge, whatever. Just get better in some way. And be happy! ---------------------------------------------------------------- Good luck to you all, again. Lets go kick some ass! Lupus

WHAT'S UP REBELS!!! Last month's challenge ended in a complete flop... but that's okay. I knew I had set the bar higher than would be advised, and I tried my best. I failed, but I learned from it. Let's do this again guys, and this time we're going to fly through it like falcons or something cool like that. Rad. THIS TIME AROUND I'm going to focus more on getting into focus, which to me means less worrying about exercise and more getting my brain into check. Of course, I'll still be hitting the gym and whatnot, but my challenge will be focusing on focusing. I'm thinking probably yoga/meditation as the main points. So let's get to it! - READY PLAYER ONE - My Main Quest: Lose to 175 lbs: I considered making yoga my main, but decided to keep this one instead of yoga. This is the same main quest as last month. I'm keeping it as my main quest for two reasons: 1) so I can do the dang thing and 2) because even though I'm teaching myself new things during each quest, my underlying goal is still to lose weight. My birthday is still a while off, but if I don't buckle down I won't reach my goal weight by then! So I'm keeping my main goal as weight loss. COMPLETION = 25 EXP!DAILY Training: Yoga! Either from my DDP Yoga dvd's or from a youtube clip, I want to do yoga at least twice a week. I'll probably be going with slow, stretch-type yoga (as opposed to hot yoga). I wonder how many times I can type yoga before you guys start to get annoyed. Yoga. COMPLETION (8 DAYS) = 25 EXP! ; -3 EXP per day missed.Meditation! Same as yoga, I want to do at least two meditation sessions per week. Meditation takes too long to type out to see if I can annoy you by saying it a bunch of times over like I am with yoga. Yoga. COMPLETION (8 DAYS) = 25 EXP! ; -3 EXP per day missed.Skill School: Sunday Food Prep: I say 'food prep' because I'm not going to make all my meals that day, I'm just going to prep the ingredients, AT LEAST THREE CONTAINERS PER WEEK. Again this is a repeat task from last month (unlike yoga and meditation, which I didn't do last challenge). I've knocked the container count down by 1 per week, because I failed this last time. Hopefully I'll be able to manage it this time around! 12+ CONTAINERS = 20 EXP ; 7-11 CONTAINERS = 15 EXP ; 6- CONTAINERS = 10 EXPSide Quest: Dance Dance REBELLION! I miss dancing, so this challenge I want to make a point of learning new dances because putting it in here gives me an excuse to learn new dances! Yoga doesn't count as dancing, although some yoga is like dancing and yoga instructors are sometimes dancers. No experience points for this one, just happy points! If you have suggestions for dance tutorials post them in the thread!! I'm planning on just watching videos made by my old line dancing teacher, but I'm always open to new suggestions! Yoga.

I failed the second challenge of the year. My last body weight from just now was 207. part of that is due to the tea i drank earlier, but an earlier weight showed 206.4 I am sorry my posts have died down, i have been very busy outside of forums. Challenge 3 - Mostly taking up where i left off. Maintain a weight between 204 - 206 pounds by final weigh in. Do Anything off NFY Sessions or Minisessions at least 2 times a week. Do Water A completely once by the end of the month (this task will be supplemented by the mini Sessions of NFY Reduce eating out with fast food (with the exception of YUM YUM/ Subway/Firehouse Subs on thursdays) to 2 times a week. I was THIS close to my weight goal last month. Let's see if we could get it right this time.

The hero's journey starts in the Ordinary World: LilyLuna got a message from a guy on the on-line dating website she was a part of.... Suddenly, a Call to Adventure: He and she get along wonderfully and he asks her out on a date... Things take a slight turn and she almost Refuses the Call but Supernatural Aid helps her Cross the First Threshold: They fell in love. Along the way, LilyLuna and her partner are Tested by food, weight loss and weight gain. The Trials of apartment living and work mixed with the Enemies that are bills stress the couple. Then, the Ordeal and Atonement with the Father: He asks LilyLuna's dad for her hand in marriage. Having gained the Ultimate Boon, the two journey home, back to the Ordinary World: They wedding plan and pack to move to a new home. LilyLuna, however, Refuses the Call to Return Home...This is where our quest picks up. She refuses to leave the extraordinary world where she does not have to confront the eating habits that have soured on her quest thus far. But she must. Especially if she wants her own Ultimate Boon....Her wedding dress to fit! Join her on her mission to glory and help her find peace and become the Master of her Two Worlds.... ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Okay, sorry for talking about myself in the third person. I think updating here often really does help, so I'm back. I just started a unit on the hero cycle...can you tell? : ) 1) Hit the gym (at home or at the gym) at least three times a week. <---I did this for two weeks of the last four week challenge... I've got to work on this. 2) Do not eat in my car. This is going to be hard. I gave up fast food in the last challenge, which was mostly fine. I didn't really miss it, but eating in my car is a whole different ball game. This one is going to be hard. 3) Have more veggies. It can be in a juice or on the side, but I need to eat more vegetables every single day. The goal, right now, is once per day. 4) Save money. I'm going to try and set aside $200 dollars during the course of this challenge. That may be hard because we're moving into a new house soon, but it's the goal. 5) This is a more personal goal of mine that my s/o will probably make fun of me for. I want to get back into writing. So, my goal during this challenge is also to write at least three chapters in my on-going fan-fiction. : ) This goal also make me super happy just thinking about it. And, of course, the Ultimate Boon--I mean goal--is to fit into my wedding dress. It's a little to snug right now and I really would like to be able to breath on the day of my wedding. Anyway, good luck on all of your challenges and thanks for reading!

After some time away, I'm returning to the forums as a Rebel. I'm normally an assassin, but this time it feels important to just get back into the habit of building habits. I'm so glad this team is here to help with that! I'm actually going to build this challenge off some of my favorite things from Camp Nerd Fitness. Long Term Goal: Drop to 130 pounds, and then re-evaluate. More broadly - to follow my epic quest and become more heroic, most of which will be easier when I'm a bit lighter. Each of the goals below contributes to the weight loss, or to a part of my epic quest that will effect my body composition. Goal 1: Maddie's "Living and Eating Like a Sexual Beast" Food is sexy stuff. Without the right foods we can't be our sexiest selves. I personally feel best when I'm doing a keto diet. Fat is delectable, sugar makes me hurt, and I lose weight when I'm invested in it. So for these 4 weeks, I will track my foods via MyFitnessPal, and I will endeavor to stay within the keto balance. I don't expect perfection, but I know that I will feel the difference. Goal 2: Kate's Mobility Classes I spent a lot of time learning from Kate G about what the body CAN do. Mobility isn't something I often think about, but being someone who loves to dance, it's important. This goal is a little weird to define, but I will endeavor to do a small mobility check-in with myself at the end of each major thing. For instance, at the end of my sleep, at the end of an argument, at the end of a hike. Just a few minutes to ask myself "How am I feeling? How can I put myself in order for the next thing?" Goal 3: Jason's Running Form Class I never think of myself as a runner. Mostly because I've never found joy in running. But I do see lots of fellow Nerds having a good time at race events, and I wish I could participate. Wait a second....I CAN participate! I SHOULD participate! So I looked up the minimum speed for a couple of events that look fun. I can get the minimum, but I'd like to do better than that. I figure walking with some running is OK. So my goal is to do 3 walk/runs a week, with the intention of getting my mile time down a bit. Life Quest: Lent for Finances and TV No major non-emergency purchases till April 15. Then I can use the money I didn't spend on future epicness, like buying training from one of the wonderful camp instructors.... or taking the dance classes I yearn for... or epic travel..... Also for Lent I gave up watching TV alone. Watching one episode while eating dinner grew into wasting most of a night, and that's not the way I want to spend my time. So I'm only sitting down to watch if I'm spending the time with another person. It really boils down to using my time with most consciousness (Edited to add TV project)