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(for the study backing up the assertions below please see the link at the end of the article) You have some extra pounds and you want to lose them. The good news is weight loss is one of the simplest concepts to grasp. However, it is one of the hardest to actually put into action successfully. Here are three simple things you can do to give you a better chance to lose the weight. First, write down both your weight loss goals and your action plan. This sounds like a silly thing, but motivational coaches and results oriented individuals the world over have found actually putting the goal on paper increases your chances of success. Not only does writing your weight loss goal(s) down increase your chances of success but also writing down how you plan to attain those goals. Writing down your action plan causes you to think through the process you intend to use to get where you want to go. This makes sure your goal is really what you intended, is attainable in the timeframe you had in mind, and brings up any holes you might not have initially thought about. The next step adds accountability to the mix. Tell a friend what your plan is and how much weight you plan to lose. Tell them how you plan to lose it and how long you think it will take to lose the weight. Many people skip this step because they are embarrassed and don’t want to admit how much they weigh. However, the difference between just thinking about the goals (43% success rate according to the study) is an amazing 21% (64% for those who wrote down their goals, formulated a plan, and told a friend). Nerd Fitness Rebellion Headquarters is a fantastic place to accomplish this second step. Use the six week challenges to get in the habit of documenting your goals. Once you post that thread you have now ‘told a friend.’ We’ll all help keep you on track, in a kindly way with nearly no snark, promise because we’re all here doing the same things you are. If we aren’t currently doing what you’re doing chances are very good many of us have already done it and can offer wonderful advice on avoiding pitfalls and how to succeed. Take advantage of this wealth of information that is contained in the forums here at NFRHQ. Finally, don’t quit if you falter, fail, or flounder in reaching you goals. Only Superman gets everything done every time (and Jesus). You and I, however, are going to fall down. That’s okay, just don’t give up. Falling off the wagon, so to speak, is just the mark of someone walking the path. You step into the thorns from time to time. In some cases you’ll be able to get yourself back on the path, but in others you’ll need help and that is what we’re here for. I’ve successfully lost weight a couple of times, and since I’ve had to do it a few times you could say I have a problem keeping it off, and that is true. To paraphrase Mick ‘Crocodile’ Dundee, “Yeah food and me, we be mates.†I like to eat. I like to eat a lot, and now that I’m over 45 what I eat likes to hang around more. I’m in the process of getting my weight back under 200lbs and I intend it to be for the last time, too. I share this for motivation and personal encouragement as well because when I write things I tend to think through them better and find the holes. I share this because it works. Weight loss is easy to understand as I said in the opening. Take in less calories than your body needs to operate and it will convert the fat stores into energy, thus losing the weight. Simple. Finding a way that you can afford, live with, and manage is the trick. Put pen to paper today, don’t wait until tomorrow, do it now. Write down what you want to accomplish and make a plan. Then, find an accountability partner (or 67k of us J ) and get started. Not tomorrow, not next week, not for New Years. Make today the start of a new day for you and get on the path to losing the weight you want gone right now. For details concerning writing down goals and the power or the written goal see the study done by the Dominican University here.

Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Chrissa and I have been lurking around the blog and e-mail lists since discovering the rebellion last September. Up until now, I mainly read Steve's posts and take what I can from them occasionally tossing out a comment here and there. Nerd Fitness has inspired me a lot over the last several months and I'm finally ready to step it up and take my place among my fellow rebels. I've never been very good at joining in but I believe this is going to be the most important challenge for me because it will teach me how to be a better part of a community. You see, I need help. Serious help. I am very bad at asking for help and I try to take on more than one person can handle all by myself. In Case of Emergency-Break Glass! I am wearing a glass mask that looks like a woman who has her shit together, but behind that mask I have become a fragile little panic monkey obsessed with trying to do too much. My husband and family are very supportive and realize the past few months I've been going through a really rough time. I'll get into the details more in future profile posts, but for now I think starting this challenge is the most important step. Needless to say, they aren't completely on board with my primal lifestyle changes. I don't have many friends and none of them are on board either. That's why I am here. My Goals: Increase my attack speed and aggression enough to test for my blue belt. I have been a hapkido student for the past 5 years and I'm really struggling right now. My blue belt is a big one because it marks the halfway point towards my black belt. My instructor told me that my technique is great but lacking in effectiveness because it is slow and I am not using my "ki." I need to somehow ignite my fighting spirit and learn to attack with more intent. I now plan on doing this by practicing my techniques with my eyes closed (or blindfolded) and using my ki-yies when doing them and during my kick workouts and really trying to feel the energy release Grading Scale: A = Attain Blue belt. B+ = Be ready to test for belt. B = Enlist the help of a higher belt to improve my practice or be complimented on my progress. C = Try new ways of practicing at home until finding one that works. D = Practice as usual with just the awareness of what I am doing wrong. F = Fail to practice at all. DEX +1, WIS +1 Stop stress eating and snacking between meals. I often find myself reaching for whatever food is on hand when under a lot of stress, which lately has been too often. Working in the food service industry doesn't help because I'm around food all day. I try to keep it to mainly veggies with a little meat but depending on stress levels I have caved in to eating junk. I also eat when I get idle time at work instead of relaxing and finding some release. At my worst (which thankfully doesn't happen as often) I end up caving into eating sugar or something that has MSG in it and it sets me off on an all-night full-on junk binge that leaves me feeling like garbage and hating myself. There are points during those times that I literally cannot stop eating no matter how full I feel and it's even made me consider forcing myself to vomit. Fortunately, I haven't hit the point to acting on it but it's been close and I found missing the next morning's breakfast helps get me back on track. Normally, I avoid my trigger foods at all costs knowing what they do to me but sometimes I just break. I often find myself envious of my husband because he can avoid whole meals when he's not hungry. I want to be more like him in that and I think this will be my starting point. I need to fix my hunger signals so for the next 6 weeks I will try not to snack at all between meals unless I need to refuel after an intense workout. One thing I plan on doing to help this is brush after every meal to signal to myself that eating is done. I find it helps when I do remember to do this. I've also resolved to not multi-task while eating and take my time to chew because I find myself in a hurry to eat all too often. Grading Scale: A = Succeed with brushing after every meal and only eating a snack as refuel after tough workouts. B = 1 slip up per week allowance. C = 2 slip ups per week. D = 3 slip ups in any given week. F = 4 or more slip ups in any given week. See my food diary here. My Instagram Profile for travel food pics. STA +1, WIS +1 Reduce my waist-to-hip ratio. I'm not quite sure yet what amount of reduction would be reasonable in the allotted time but any reduction at all would be a step in the right direction. Over the last few years I went from being a fat girl to being "skinny fat" and I have been stuck at it for far too long. Despite the above stress eating, I manage to eat 80% or more paleo and my diet is pretty clean. I've recently cut down on nuts and almost eliminated dairy completely with the exception of ghee and the occasional cheese. This past week I got back to tracking my meals on My Fitness Pal and am working on getting my portions down to where they should be. I know we're not supposed to count calories, and I tweaked the settings to reflect a paleo approach to macronutrients and I find it's helping. I intend to stop counting once I have my portions under control. I believe the root of my problem is more the stress. I used to be a lot more fun and I feel like I've forgotten how to enjoy myself. I don't remember the last time I LOL'd. I don't really get out there and play. I act friendly and outgoing at work all the time serving customers but I am not social enough. If it weren't for my hapkido classes I'd have almost no social interaction outside my family and bumping into people I know in the streets. I need to find that fun girl I used to be.This goal is now revised to be tracking my daily routine ala Seinfeld's Don't Break the Chain and not allowing for more than one slip-up per week. Grading Scale: A = No more than 1 break in any given week. B = 1 break every week. C = 2 breaks in any given week. D = 3 breaks in any given week. F = 4 or more breaks in any given week. See my tracking sheet here. STR +1, DEX +1, WIS +1 In Conclusion I know these goals need refining and I will likely be revising them after hearing your suggestions. I'm sorry for being so long-winded but as I said, I'm drowning here and I need your help. I've taken the first step towards the shore and I'm hoping to reach this island and become one of it's many active and contributing inhabitants. Starting Stats: Weight: 143.5 lbs Neck: 13.5 inches Waist: 32.5 inches Hips: 38 inches I apologize for the crappy cell phone pics, but it's what I have to work with at the moment. I'm sucking it up here and know they aren't flattering pictures but that's the point. I'm going all in.

Will be checking in here at least once a week, and possibly daily. Long term goal - daily fitness and healthy eating are habitual, like breathing. Result of this habit are endless with the obvious being weight loss and healthy weigh maintenance, able to wear clothes that do not pinch and bind and I feel GREAT. I have energy and positive outlook on life as a result of making these changes. Short term goal - lose 5+ lbs by 7/6, more would be better, but I know I need to start with small obtainable milestones to be successful. How will I achieve this short term goal that will effectively push to the long term goal: recording my work outs (here) and food intake (here and on myfitness pal). I like the idea of weekly picture too to track physical changes. Even though weight loss is a goal, I know that i do better monitoring progress with clothes versus a flippin scale. Plan for this week (6/24 - 7/1): restart my Couch to 5K program, using this at least 3 times during this week. Non-running days will be my body weight work out days. I had made it to week 8 of the C25K program at the begining of the year, but fell off after I messed up a knee doing a bootcamp workout on the beach. Since then I have been really favoring the leg and got lazy. So, when you fall - you get back up and keep going and yesterday I did just that - restarted the program at week one, day 1. I was anxious, but after the warm up I felt good, knee felt good and I got through 2.45 miles in 25:14. Not setting any PRs (yet), but I completed the session with ease. For those that do not know, C25K is an interval training program that starts with a long walk warm up, and then short jogs for about a minute. Over time the walks whittle down and run intervals increase. Near the final weeks you are running for 25 and 30 minute intervals. I never thought I could run for more than 10 mins, but I cleared the 30 minute event and I will again. I do have a 5k in Augs, so this is a good training time. I ended the day with some ab work and lots of good stretching - knee is doing fine. Food yesterday: Breakfast: Choc. Shakeology, almond milk, 1/2 a banana and 1 tsp natural pb. Snack: peach Lunch: Big ASS salad with grilled chicken, light champagne vinegrette Snack: for lack of anything else - about 10 pita chips. just needed crunchy Dinner: Grilled flat iron steak, more salad. Snack: pre dinner - about 5 baby carrots guilty pleasure - glass of organic cabernet, and I spilt half of it on my keyboard while I was WoWing...(karma)

Hello again, everyone! Last time I started on the last week of the challenge, so this will be my first full challenge In honor of this, and for the fact I'm going to graduate from Stanford during this challenge (June 16th woot! ), I really want to push myself. Last challenge I started 80-20 Paleo, and so far I'm sticking to it. Now I'm setting some new goals: Goal 1: Jog/Run for 2.5 mi or 50 mins (STA: 4 | DEX: 1) I've never done a marathon in my life. I hardly ever run since I'm mildly asthmatic and my legs are angled differently. However, I feel that I use those reasons as excuses to not run ever. Now I want to build up some endurance. I'm going to be training to jog for 5k this summer using an app named Runkeeper starting on Sunday. It's gong to be my first time ever training to run, and my ankles are weak, so I'm nervous. According to the app, I should be able to run 2.5 mils and/or be able to walk/jog for 50 minutes. so that will be my challenge. Wish me luck! Goal 2: Remaster math mission 1: Algebra (Wis: 2) I've always been good at math, and I have taken calculus before. But I haven't had to take a math class in about 3 years, so when I took the GRE (and did decent, thankfully) I noticed my math skills are exceedingly rusty with many holes. Since I need to be quick with math for epidemiology next year, this is a problem. As a life goal I'm going to remaster math starting with Algebra. I will be using Kahn Academy in addition to old text books to practice summer, therefore I will use the Kahn Academy Algebra lecture to measure myself. If I finish the lectures with a full confidence in that level of math, then I succeed. Goal 3: Level 3 of the Angry Bird Workout (STR: 3 | STA: 2) I think this speaks for itself. Since I reached level 2 last challenge, I want to get to level 3. The rows and push ups are the most challenging parts for me, but I'll push at it. Goal 4: Reach intermediate Shakti Yoga (CON: 2 | WIS: 1) So I'm using a Yoga app on my computer (yet another app!?!?), and I am starting off with the beginner mode of Shankti Yoga. Yoga has always been difficult to me, but I want to get better. I'll succeed at this challenge if I am able to successfully graduate to the intermediate level **I'd also like to add: I told my parents that I would give them $20 each if I didn't lose 20 pounds by August 1st, which is when I move to Baltimore for grad school. So I really need to be on my stuff!!!!! If anybody has any advice on weight loss, or would like to cheer me on, I would really appreciate it. Since I don't have a job right now, I really need to keep that $40!!

Dear Monks, I am currently participating in my first six week challenge with all you most excellent nerd fitness folks. I'm a ranger with Monk inclinations and our next mini challenge is to reach out and find an accountability buddy within another guild with a common goal. I am in most desperate need of yoga to center myself, calm my raging anxiety, and stretch out all of my muscles from weight lifting and the pavement pounding of a good run. Won't you be my neighbor in this endeavor? My goal is to spend a minimum of one hour this week practicing yoga. We can break it down into whatever measures that you want. I was thinking of 20 minutes for three days this week, but, and this is important, I'm flexible. Ha, did you see what I did there? I'm most familiar with Ashtanga, but you are the Monk so I will go with whatever form you prefer. Any interest?

Hello! I'm a new Ranger, and as other posts have mentioned here, our mini-challenge is to find someone in another guild who is good at what they do and make noticeable improvement towards our goal. My goals are both vague and concrete (i.e., they're habit building rather than accomplishment-driven), BUT one thing I need help with is developing a good Tai-Chi workout or a new yoga routine that I can do at the park. If you can help me think of a fun and amusing reason why one might have to do said exercise while trying to escape a cave, even better. Part of my challenge is to escape a 300 mile cave full of obstacles, and I'm always looking for new challenges to tackle in that adventure. In return for your help, I will happily cheer you on towards your own goals for at least the length of the challenge and offer whatever assistance I am able to give.

I'm new to all of this, but here goes! Starting an accountability group! Team LEVEL UP is for peeps who have lost weight, or have weight to lose and are ready to take this challenge to the next level. LEVEL UP PEEPS! I'm Strongmama and I have lost 180 lbs. I still have some more to lose, but my focus is eating clean and training mean. If/when I lose more pounds, it will be great, but the number on the scale is not my primary focus. I want the numbers on my dumb-bells to go UP! Here are my before and current pics. Feel free to post pics, so at the end of challenge, you'll have a good comparison! Let's DO THIS. LEVEL UP!

Hi there! Sooooo it sounds cool when I say, "I live in Dubai and work as a freelance photographer and yoga instructor." Life here can be pretty difficult, though, and I've been developing a lot of bad habits here. What really sucks is that before I moved here last fall I was in the best shape of my life. I was lifting, running to train for marathons, eating a very careful diet, playing on volleyball and dodgeball rec leagues, hitting the gym, and had a boyfriend that was an athlete, too. And now I find myself surrounded by mega-brunches (these are no joke, they cost up to $170 and have unlimited gourmet food and alcohol), oppressive heat (exercising outside doesn't last long here), enabling friends that aren't very active, obscenely expensive gyms (not happening on a freelance job), unable to find local/organic/paleo food at the grocery store, and an injury from my last marathon keeping me from running. And I admit I have used all of these pretty well as excuses for getting out of shape, especially since it's the same story for almost every one else I've met here. But last week I found new motivation: I started my divemaster training, which means I'm in a bikini almost every day and could really use a little more confidence. My friends say I look 'fine', but after gaining about 15 pounds and losing most of the muscle I had built so carefully, I'm realllly frustrated and can't stop thinking about how much better I know I could look. I'm going to need help, though, so if there is anyone out there that wants to set some goals with me and do some check-ins, that would be amazing. None of my friends here have any interest in this sort of thing, so I could really use an accountability partner. Anyone out there interested?? Please?? Lauren

Only just figured out where this forum is (link in the spreadsheet didn't work) so I didn't create a thread for us 'til now. Right, I'm Sandy,a nd I'm a mucksavage because most of my hobbies involve mud. Next?!

Day One: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 Technically, this isn't Day One at NerdFitness for me. That was last Sunday. But this is close enough. DIET: Instead of recording everything I eat (because I'll forget and it's a pain in the ***) I'm going to record whenever I break Paleo. Since I'm still easing into it, I'm going to allow myself three meals to eat basically what I want every week, and I won't freak over minor lapses. For now. Dinner: Baked potato. That may or may not be Paleo, I'm not really sure. Snacks: I had one cracker at Mock Trial practice. Totally not worth it. EXERCISE: I'm still sore from doing the Angry Birds workout yesterday, so I didn't do much today. Note for tomorrow: I REALLY need to stretch. Slow Kicks: Note: I'm having a lot more trouble doing these with the right leg than the left leg. That's a goal right there--to have them both be the same strength. Hook-Round-Side: 2 x 10, both legs Snap: 2 x 10, both legs SLEEP: I'm recording this too because sleep really helps with losing weight. Or at least, sleep deprivation increases chances of obesity. So spake my Psych class. Time in bed: 11:50 pm Time to wake up tomorrow: 6 am

As the sun rises over the distant city skyline, I know it is time to begin my journey. All the signs point to me getting my a$$ in gear and really pushing forward. Before I really go involved in Nerd Fitness, I made a pact on my own. I spent the 6 weeks of lent transforming myself. I did not give anyting up, per say, but I did push myself to change. I started the lent season with the goals of loosing weight & gaining physical and spirtual strength. I got 2 out three. I did not loose any weight, but I did loose inches and gained strength, but physically and spiritually. I am using this challenge as a way to move even more forward. Goal #1 Strength Train I want to bench 225 by the end of the six weeks. My max right now is 165, so I think it is a do abe goal. A = 2 sets of 5 C = 1 set of 5 F = Not making the goal. Points: +3 STR, +2 CON Goal #2 Weight Loss I want to loose 10# by the end of this challenge. I will do this with a combination of 80/20 Paleo/Primal diet and 16/8 Intermeitant Fasting (LeanGains) A = 10+ lbs lost C = 6 - 10 lbs lost F = <5 lbs lost Points: +2 CON, +2 WIS Goal #3 Move Frequently at a Slow Pace Get out and walk during lunch. Measured on a week to week basis A = 3x+ /week C = 2x/week F = <2x/week Points: +1 STR, +2 DEX Goal #4 Read from the Good Book Open up the bible randomly until a passage "speaks" to me. A = 3x+/week C = 2x/week F = <2x/week Points: +3 WIS Feedback appreciated. Onward and Upward!!!

Day 1: Goal 1 Progress - No run. 0/3 for the week Goal 2 Progress - Did the TBT: Tabata 1 workout. Starts with 10 minutes of mobility drills as a warmup. Then did 4 exercises. Each exercise was done for 8 rounds before moving on to the next exercise. And of course, because it was Tabata, each round was 20 seconds of as many reps as possible followed by 10 seconds of rest and repeart. There was a minute of rest between exercises. Like other workout video-type programs, they have different levels depending on what you can do. When I last did these a few weeks ago, I was able to do all the level two version of each exercise. This time I decided to REALLY push myself and do as many reps at level 3 as possible. These exercises were: Quad Press - I can't readily find a video of this, but you start on your hands and feet. Hands turned inslightly, knees are bent so your back is level. For level 1, you simply bend your arms and flare your knees out to lower yourself and then press back up. For level 2, you make a backward circle by shifting your body back, down, forward and then back up again. This is more leg intensive. Level 3, you make a forward circle. This is more arm intensive. I did most at level 3 but there were a couple of rounds where I had to go down to level 2. Lunges - Level 1 is your standard lunge. Stepping back and switching legs after completing one. Level 2 is a stepping-forward lunge. Step forward, push off and switch as soon as the forward leg returns. Level 3 is plyometric lunges. I could only do three rounds of level 3: two rounds at the beginning and I gutted out the final round with these. The rest were level 2. Pushups - Level 1 is a modified pushup. Start in the child's pose from yoga, then moving your upper body forward while keeping your elbows locked you end up in a position similar to doing a knee pushup, lowering to the floor and pressing back up and moving back to the child's pose. Level 2 is knee pushups. Level 3 is regular pushups. I only did two rounds in level 3. I just can't crank out that many pushups. My upper body strength isn't that great. The rest were level 2. Squat thrusts/burpees - For whatever reason, these are referred to as sprawls in the workout. Level 1 is a basic squat thrust. Level 2 is a modified squat thrust where you lower your hips when you thrust your legs back. Level 3 is a jumping squat thrust. I was all over the place for this one. I started out on level 3, but alternated between level 2 and 1 for the most part. But I gutted it out again and did the entire last round at level 3 and immediately collapsed once the round was over. After a minute to catch my breath, there was a 10 minute cool down with yoga. I was gassed but felt really good. 1 workout done. - Success! Goal 3 Progress - Breakfast: Protein smoothie consisting of almond milk, oats, peanut butter, half a banana and spinach. - No dairy. (note that this goal excludes my utilization of whey protein) Lunch: A 3 oz. serving of steak, ~1.5c cauliflower, ~3 oz. baby carrots, a small fruit cup and an itty bitty gala apple. - No dairy. Afternoon snack: Instant Oatmeal - No dairy. Dinner: Skinless rotisserie-cooked chicken breast, 1/2 a sweet potato with brown sugar, 1c cauliflower and a glass of apple juice. - No dairy Post-workout: 2c almond milk with protein powder - No dairy No dairy for the day. - Success! Goal 4 Progress - Watched Game of Thrones, played some games on my iPad and I was in bed shortly after 11pm. Success!

The Startlingly Stalwart Sixes is an accountability team working towards six-packs together. Within this group, we will be pairing off in one-on-one accountability partners, but here is where we can keep up general advice, ideas and progress. What's working? What's not? Where to start? These are all things we will track here. WHAT WE KNOW When it comes to abs, diet is crucial! General advice: Less empty carbs. More protein. More vegetables. PARTICIPATING Sign up by commenting to the thread with your general starting stats, body type, and gender. If you're comfortable, feel free to post a photo. We will try to pair up by similar stats and body types. I will start it off with a post of my own stats below. Shout out if you already know someone you'd like to pair up with, and I will update this with our pairings. Also! Comment with things you think would do well as Initial Information and I'll keep updating this post as a general FAQ/Getting Started/Abs Guide.

Diet/Fitness : 90% Paleo food intake each week (avoiding allergens) [+3CON] I have a long history of chronic migraines. Over the past few weeks I've discovered that eliminating foods through a paleo diet seems to be clearing things up radically. ... and then I went out for wings and beer on the week off and ended up feeling horrible. So... in the general interest of my health I I'm going to adhere as strictly as I can to a paleo lifestyle for the long haul. I'll be photo-journaling my food through out this challenge and I will make note of any foods that I eat or drink that aren't paleo. The main things I'll be avoiding very carefully: dairysoyglutenartificial sweeteneradded sugar > 10g/servingalcoholThe arbitrary 10% allowance is for the occasional serving of brown rice or hummus on days I need a boost in carbohydrates. Each week I'll go over my foods that I've eaten and grade myself on this: A = 1-3 servings of a non-paleo food during the week B = 4 servings C = 5 servings D = 6 servings E = 8 servings Diet/Fitness: Hydration [+2CON] I drink coffee... lots and lots of coffee... during the week. My goal is to cut back and drink more water and herbal tea in it's place. I have a 32oz water bottle, my plan is to drink 2 of those each day. Accomplishing at least the 64oz of water each day will be awarded with an "A" - anything less than that will be a C (E if I only drink caffeinated beverages!!) Diet/Fitness: Exercise [+2 STR +1 STA + 3DEX] <---- adjusted attribute values I got ambitious last time and planned to go gung-ho for 6 workouts a week... that ended up being more discouraging than I thought it would be... so I think establishing a routine like I used to have in the past is an important thing to do. This time my plan is to start and complete the Bodyweight Brigade Workout Rank 1: Workouts are to be completed Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings at 6AM. Optional extra credit workouts such as "going for a run" or "taking the dog for a long walk" can be completed Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday if desired. A = all 3 BBW completed for each week + at least 1 additional optional workout completed for the week B = no more than 2 workouts missed for the 6 week period C = 4 workouts missed D = 6 workouts missed E = 8 workouts missed Funny story: as I was on track with my workout this morning... my pullup bar came 'undone' from the frame it was perched on and I promptly was *splat*ed into the floor. I checked to make sure I could move and then got up and finished my adrenaline fueled workout... by noon my ankle which took the first hit to the floor was swollen up and I'm no longer able to move it. X-rays didn't reveal any obvious fractures so my doctor's official opinion is "severe sprain: here take these pain pills, a couple ace bandages and a script for some crutches - stay off if for a couple weeks and keep it iced" THIS... does not bode well for my original fitness challenge. Sooooo... New challenge guidelines include just trying to do something each day whether it's a few one-legged planks or arm work, modified pushups, reverse crunches ... or leg lifts - whatever I can while the ankle is healing up. Then get back into more full-body encompassing workouts. Grading: A = a bit of something each day during the week B = something only 6 days C = something only 5 days D = something only 4 days E = something only 3 days or less LIFE: Organized Space = Organized Mind [+5 WIS] My home and office have been disaster areas for years. I always jokingly refer to it as an organized mess "don't move anything... I know exactly where it is" Think of how much less brain power I'd have to waste daily remembering where things are in a clutter if I finally just dealt with the mess!!! Objectives for this project: Sort all clothes, donate old clothes that don't fit or that are no longer desired, put off season clothes into a storage bin and store!Discard all expired canned goods in the pantry cupboardsDiscard all old/expired toiletries in the bathroomsRe-organized living room so I no longer have to trip over things to get from one end of the room to the otherRepair front door (or indeed... find a replacement...) File papers, recycle boxes, organize desk at workGrading (A-F) will be awarded according to the number of projects completed on the list. I'll be checking in at least 3x a week on this thread: here we go!

In keeping with the 4th rule of the rebellion, this group is all about food. Whether you're going paleo, cutting a particular item out of your diet, or starting to learn how to cook. If one of your goals involves food, this is the group for you! Members and goals: Leader: Thirster42. Goal: Learn how to cook via The 4 Hour Chef.Member #1: Wirilome. Goal: Track food using Loseit.comMember #2: Startrtl. Goal: Cutting carbs by going paleo, no more soda or beer.Member #3: RedSonja. Goal: Eath 90% paleo, 3 meals a day (no snacking)Member #4: emeraldxemmie. Goal: 95% paleo, no more soda.Member #5: scuddle. Goal: eat less than 50 carbs a day.Member #6: Kaprycious_Blue. Goal: don't eat sugarMember #7: Phenix1618. Goal: 30 day paleo challenge Please subscribe to this thread, and please keep tabs on your fellow teammates. We're all in this together! I look forward to regular updates and friendly banter amongst us all. Also, since this is a food-oriented group, I highly encourage lots of photos of food!

A daily battle log. General Goals (more specific goals as I continue on): Transition to 80-90% paleo in the coming weeksWorkout consistently 6 days a week (one of those days being a lighter 'recovery' day) Get to 130lbs (-50lbs, starting weight is 180lbs)Edited 2/13/13 Now that I've gotten into this with a little more I understand what is meant by setting really specific non-weight goals (although I think a generalized ballpark weight goal is still a good thing to have) so as of today here are my revised goals: Strict Paleo diet but with the allowance of 1-2 non-paleo items each week (like ex: sushi with rice vs. sashimi only, or a beer/glass of wine with friends - these would be sort of treat items and not something that has to happen every week either, only if I feel like it)Follow Bodyweight Brigade workouts 3x week through all the ranksTake brisk walks or runs on the days in between & 1 complete rest dayFinally clean out and unclutter my house... this is a huge project for me that might span many months...Kitchen: throw out expired canned goods, remove anything in the kitchen that doesn't relate to food or the preparation there ofKid's room: finish child proofing the room, finish putting things in storage, move his toys into his room, find a dresser for him, put all his clothes awayMy room: Sort and donate all clothes that don't fit or I don't wear (same for husband) (refuse to buy any more of this size also), Fold and put away clothes (find another dresser if need be)Bathrooms: Sort and dispose of old toiletries/makeup/etcLiving area: make sure office stuff is in the designated office "area", Sort and burn old documents that are sensitive but no longer necessary to keepRe-paint each room after organizing is complete

Man am I getting old. Where was I? Oh yeah Ahhh Zombies! The apocalypse is upon us. I need a team to battle and survive this coming horror. They need to be a rag tag group. Hmm I'm guessing Adventurers would be good for this. I need someone who is going to rock it. Boom! Samlam looks good for this. And to compliment her, I need someone full of win. I've heard a young cook by the name of Angeftw has what we need. I like those odds. Next up has to be someone sweet but tough. This lass around the way called Sugarwaffle can definitely handle her own. All of these whippersnappers need to be corralled. There is a veteran stomping zombies off his lawn down the street. I hear he goes by Adamallen. A mother's touch would help us all. Just don't get Dubhe angry or she'll throw a car. And last but not least, we need a guide. I'm pretty sure there is a half-elf who can help with that. I wonder if Taraniztika is down from the mountain. Our team is complete. Now to just send them on their way. What's that? I have to go with them? I thought they already had a mule. Why do I have to carry everything? Ok OK! Fine then... I guess we need someone to carry the bags. Why we can't get a donkey to do this is anyone's guess. And so the dwarf Jeloc with help with the quest. Run, Play, Move