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For this challenge, I have one goal: to nourish my mind, body, and soul. I will achieve this by being mindful of everything I "consume," making a conscious effort to only partake in things that nourish me. Mind: read at least 10 pages of any book that develops my mind in some way learn something new every day (via websites, videos, podcasts, articles, etc.) view art that calms and/or inspires my mind complete a daily crossword complete the daily goals for Elevate and Duolingo take a mindful walk every day; don't stress about time--the focus is on intention, not duration. Body: complete the Daily Dare on Darebee stick to an exercise routine: Monday: Sprinting Tuesday: Lift heavy things Wednesday: Move slowly, play, rest Thursday: HIIT Friday: Move slowly, play, rest Saturday: Lift heavy things Sunday: Move slowly, play, rest practice Yoga daily post workout fast intermittently (using Zero app as a guide) drink enough water eat foods that nourish my body (i.e. avoid processed foods that contain "empty" calories) Soul: maintain morning routine: daily meditation/prayer daily breath work daily scripture and poetry reading spend at least 30 minutes in nature daily spend quality time with wife and children

Hi all! I'm Stronkey Kong. I started on NF 9 years ago and am still fat, but making the best of it, and grateful for the community here regardless. Main Goal: Find my 'Best Weight' My ideal weight is probably 180 lbs. going by the numbers and pictures. I recently (today actually) came across the idea of best weight, the weight that lets you live the life you want to live. So that's the real goal. Mine is probably about 220-230, which is halfway between my current 285 lbs. and my 'ideal.' Goal 1: Run. I'm still following the program in Run Your Butt Off (RYOB). I had some trouble tho, once I hit the run 2 minutes, walk 4 minutes workout, and these last two weeks I've only got 1 walk or run/walk workout per week. I'm going to redo the run 1 min./walk 4 min week, then increase 20 s per week until I hit 2 min, then pause and reassess there. Goal 2: Eat 99% Vegan I tried to go vegan back in the spring. I was thirty days in and it was going very well. Lost a few pounds, had fewer GI issues. Then I got Covid (probably) and went off it since. I'm going to try again for 100 days (July 24 - Halloween) of 99% vegan eating. I call it 99% to allow for mistakes and variation in practice. I will probably forget at some point that most pestos contain cheese, or that some vegetable recipes have beef/pork/chicken broth etc. But I will not: eat a steak, put cheese on salads, eat baked goods that have eggs... yada yada. If I can see an animal product on my plate, or on an ingredient list, I have to start over. Otherwise, I can keep on going without a restart. Halloween is good, it's right before the holiday season when the temptation to have animal products based solely on tradition is highest... and there's a good chance I won't be able to refuse polish sausage, ham , and cheese pierogies as part of my family's Christmas Traditions. I've read most of the book Vegan for Life (VFL) which is written by a couple of Vegan R.D.s and will be following their plan and recommendations. Doing so, it will be hard to go over 2500 cals/day which is a good goal given what RYOB recommends for daily calorie intake on their program (per my individual calculations based on their program). =============================== First? (addit: No. RES beat me.)

[Preamble] Welcome to Owlshire, a beautiful woodland property in the Forest of Dean, England. I’m a 42 year old American woman living here with my British husband (Mr) and young son (Enting). I work in gamedev and when I’m not doing that, I’m tending to my garden, doing needlework of some sort, writing, playing games (of various sorts), and exploring our local woodlands. This challenge is one of liminal space. Many transitions are afoot over the next few weeks: I just received a promotion at work (yay!). However, this will necessitate more work travel through the remaining year, starting in September. 🛤 Once an Adventurer… At the same time, Mr’s job is already picking up on travel - he’ll be away a few times during this challenge alone. So there will be much solo parenting for me! ✈️ The Enting is phasing out of nursery, and in September will start primary school. 😱 This will involve a major schedule/routine change on top of balancing traveling working parents! I’m already taking some steps on this, including a shift in my working hours. …Also, at the end of this challenge, I turn 43! [Challenges] Organize (Level Up): I’m giving the 12 Week Year system another go, which I’ll probably start in Week 1 since I’m not quite ready to start now. I’ll aim for 80% success each week, reporting here. Also keep using my Traveler’s Notebook to keep track of the day to day. Reach Mordor: Finally finish my (tracked) journey to Mordor. I have 255.5 miles to go! I've been hitting ~30 miles a week consistently for a while now. For this challenge, I want to get to 35 miles a week/average. (That's a daily goal of 5 miles a day, rather than 4 miles a day which had been my previous goal.) Success requirement is 35 miles a week 80% of the time. A Hobbit in Attitude, not in Width: I have a long term plan to lose a few more lbs, but at the moment I’m happy to maintain! This is a pass/fail. Admin note: I always start on Week 0, and I track from Monday-Sunday.

No, not that kind of axe. This kind of axe: Goals to come. I just got done with a bunch of Econ homework and a case study for my business law course, so I am kinda brain dead. But I needed to get this thread started before I spent the whole challenge not starting my thread like I did last time (for any of you who perhaps some me lurking but noticed the absence of a thread, lol). And no, my theme is not just an excuse to use that awesome pic, there will actually be guitars involved in this challenge because someone (being me) has been deprioritizing some things for way too long. And it is time to change that.

My 2 fitness goals for the month: 1. Complete a 7.3 mile hike on a canyon trail near my house (0.9 miles away), starting from my house, at the end of the month. 2. Exercise weekly I put together the exercise program I'll follow to include strength training, stretching, and walking. I'll start strength training with a playground workout posted by Nerd Fitness and take it a day at a time, seeing how I feel, and adjusting my routine as needed. My objective for starting strength training is to do exercises for 15 minutes, 2x/week. I'll stretch for 20 minutes, 2-3 days/week after exercise. And, I'll choose a location one mile from my house and walk there or walk for 30 minutes 3 days/week. Oh! I'll warm up and cool down by choosing an exercise from a separate video I found on a Nerd Fitness post.

I've had back issues for well over 10 years and just last week, I got coverage and I'm able to get physical therapy. So now starts the long and painful process of healing myself and feeling like a normal human being instead of a broken mess. 1) Physical Therapy 6x week - I have been booked for physio on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. I was told that I have to do a packet of a few other stretches and exercises on Sunday/Tuesday/Thursday. Saturday is my only rest day because if I slack a couple days in a row, I'll go backward with my progress. 2) Workouts 3x week - I've been hitting cardio pretty hard recently since I can't do squats, and I am trying to stay on top of lifting weights (tricep/bicep/pushups/rows). I'm hitting the gym and pushing some iron 3x a week. 3) Hitting that 2400 cal - Every day tracking calories and not going overboard. It's becoming routine but there are still times that I start to slip off. My biggest issue is rebounding before I have any type of binge. I'm sticking to 99% whole 30 and I want to keep this streak going until at LEAST Halloween. 4) Job Hunt - I'm sick of my job and I'm ready to make the move. I want to start helping people and making a fat stack of cash. I'm going to do resumes/cover letters every week. I have a feeling this process will take more than one challenge to complete but as I'm losing weight, it just means I'll look better and better before I get some new job clothes-hunting. 5) Posting - Trying to post twice a week on here and also check in with a bunch of people twice a week. 6) Art - Last challenge I had a 'creative crisis' in that there were too many ideas and too many armies to make to the point that I would be painting miniatures until I was fucking 80 years old so I've been streamlining what art I actually want to do. I thought long and hard about the question, "Why army would be FUN to work on?" Not just, "I can make this, that, and this other thing". For instance, could I make vampire demons and ghouls work in a sci-fi setting? Yes. But would the process of making and painting that army be FUN? No so much. In much the same way I'm going back to basics with my stretching/physio, I'm also going back to basics with my army/creative stuff. I want to work on casting/building/painting an army thing once a week and upload a progress pic on here.

Last challenge I did lots of the things. I need to change up some of the workout stuff from last time because I'm not really excited about continuing the pushups and chair rows I had been doing. I'm not sure what I want to do. More hiking would be good, but I've found it difficult to consistently get that done in the past. I'm not worrying about that right now. I'm doing some specialized SAR training most of the week, so that's keeping me busy. I will probably add some more stuff later, but for now, I want to keep doing some of the things during zero week. Week 0 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Wake Up 7am Morning Prayers Daily Walk Improve Things Around the House Readings Prayer Rope Brush Teeth Lights Off 11pm

Hokay...now that the work front is somewhat stabilized, here goes. Broadly speaking, I want to build on the successes of the previous challenge. The waking up early was a huge boon, so that's going to take center stage with this challenge. Keeping up with the lifts has generally been successful (though that was when they were easy), so those stay put as well. Piano has kind of fallen by the wayside. For now, as much as it pains me to admit this, I need to put that one down. I expect that I'll pick it back up later (I intend to, at least), but I'm starting to get overloaded with other things that need to be taking a higher priority for the time being. One of those higher priority elements is beefing up my coding chops. Now that I'm using a home built application to track my lifts, I need to spend some time getting better at coding so that I can improve its functionality. So I'm swapping out regular piano practice with a regular React study. This is temporary until I can beef up my coding abilities, at which point I plan to bring the regular piano practices back. French language practice on DuoLingo stays. As does keeping the budget updated. And for now, that's where we'll start, though I anticipate this will all get changed by the end. In other news...I really ought to make these challenges more interesting. Maybe build a storyline around them or something. I keep mulling over it, but haven't really settled on any ideas I like yet. Nope...not adding complexity now. Complexity hurts progress. Just move forward. Hash out the details later. So, the challenge as it stands: 1. Wake up by 7 am each morning. 2. Lifts 3 days per week (using a modified Starting Strength program). 3. React study for a minimum of 5 minutes each day. 4. French study on DuoLingo for a minimum of 5 minutes each day. 5. Update the budget daily.

I discovered Darebee challenges and got all excited, so I’m probably going to do too many things. We’ll see how this goes. Hopefully I don't just stop doing things after a couple of weeks. I'd really like to make it all the way through this challenge. The Darebee challenges are 30 days, but I’m going to modify and do them only on weekdays, so 30 days will last six weeks and that will run through the end of the challenge if I start right now. I’m going to try getting my daily walk at lunch. To that end, I have packed some good shoes and my rain gear (and some extra dry socks) for tomorrow. Let’s do this! Tracking Table Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Wake Up 7am Cardio and Core Challenge Touch Your Toes Challenge Daily Walk Challenge Pushups and Squats Challenge Chair Rows Challenge Rigging Improve Things Around the House Readings Prayer rope Brush Teeth Lights Off 11pm

Conquius and Jormungandr Ride to Glory Image Source: 0826 by Catan on ArtStation Adventure Log: At the end of my cross-country trip last year, my riding companions and I talked about a reunion. We decided that we'd do RAGBRAI 2022 together. That time has come, RAGBRAI is just around the corner, and I need to prepare. I'm still in decent riding shape (nowhere near the shape I was in at the end of my trip), but there's room to improve. Additionally, I have to handle some trip logistics and bike maintenance. For those unaware, RAGBRAI stands for "Register's Annual Bike Ride Across Iowa". From the RAGBRAI website: Without further ado, here are my goals for this challenge: #1. Back in the Saddle | Reward: +1 CON Establish a 2-3x a Week Cycling routine. This will either complement or replace my current lifting routine. I will have to plan this around my regular Citadel duties, such as grocery shopping and dishes. I do have one card up my sleeve, though, and that is my weekly commute. For those who don't know, I work from home. However, once a week for the past few weeks, I've been riding Jormungandr into the office. My commute is 8-12 miles each way, depending on the route I take, allowing me to easily rack up 20 miles during the week. The idea is to do two rides during the week (one workout, one commute) and one ride on the weekend, with the option of that weekend ride being a longer one. I think this will be sufficient preparation for RAGBRAI. #2. Chart the Course Plan travel logistics for RAGBRAI. This includes getting there and back, obviously, but it also includes shipping Jormungandr. Normally, I'd take an Amtrak, and use their bike carryon system, but those are all sold out. So the plan is to take an Amtrak for myself, and ship my bike in a bike box, either through the mail, or on the train with me. That means that I also have to be adept at assembling and reassembling my bike, which brings me to: #3. This is My Bicycle. There Are Many Like It But This One Is Mine. Learn to assemble and disassemble my bicycle on the go. I know how to do basic maintenance, but if I'm going to ship my bike, I need to be able to put it back together. There are bike shops who will typically provide this service for a fee, but I foresee a lot of people going to bike shops trying to get their bikes reassembled, so I'm going to learn to do this myself. I'm also trying out a new set of handlebars & shifters, so I'm throwing that project into this bucket as well.

Hello. I'm back. I'm still like 280 lbs. All this year I've been toeing around, trying to get back to some cardio. I talked about it with my Punch Out! challenge. I even bought new running shoes back in January. I still haven't run. I remember gym class, in 7th grade, we had to do a 1 mile run. We went out to the football/track field on a hot muggy day in August. The track was this awful, ugly black gravel (that I'd be picking out of my shoes the rest of the day). I was fat, and had never tried to run a mile before. At this point, it had even been a couple years since I played football with the neighborhood kids regularly. I remember the gym teacher blew the whistle, and I started out at a good pace keeping up with everyone... that lasted about 10-20 sec. By the time we reached the first turn, I was falling behind, and before I finished that turn I was walking, breathing hard, sweating, and feeling awful in the muggy August heat. I paced 14 min, and I'm pretty sure I was the last person to finish that day. Every time I think about running, I think of that day, if only for a nanosecond. I think I need to get over it. The other time I did get over it, I gradually built up a tolerance for running one summer in grad school. The next year, I would go on a 4+ mile run 2x a week (most weeks). Now when I try to run, I feel like anything less than that is failure. I need to get over that too. (my one and only) Goal: Run... or walk as my program dictates... get get to level 5. Specifically, I am using the JogGo app. It is a graded running program with assessments every two weeks to see if you're ready to move up. Level 5 is the 'Beginner' running level. At the moment, I'm at level 3, 'Walker'. It has me doing workouts 4 days/week, with a mix of fast walking and lower body strength training (BW squats, lunges, etc.) The next week looks like: M: Fast walking (short distance) and strength intervals T: Recovery W: Fast walking (long distance) R: Recovery F: Strength intervals S: Fast walking assessment S: Recovery It's easy at the moment, I just need to stick to the schedule. I'd be surprised if I didn't level up my assessment on Saturday this week. Then I'll have four weeks and two chances to get through level during the challenge. That's it. My one and only goal. I'm not focusing on diet/nutrition this challenge. I'm still trying to eat mostly plant based, but mostly I play it by ear. I usually go for tofu and beans etc. first, but I'll eat meat, fish, eggs, dairy, etc. if it's available and the plant foods really don't appeal to me at that moment. I'm also still gardening and working on home repair, playing music, and all the usual stuff. My tomatoes are flowering so expect photos of big, juicy heirloom tomaotes soon!

I'm going to set up a challenge that mostly doesn't require the computer and internet connection because we'll be on vacation for the last two weeks of the challenge!! I'll probably have my computer, but based on prior trips, I may not be have a decent internet connection unless we are in port. The goal is to draw 6 x week number cards from a mixed deck ... and then do them. So, week 1, that's 6 cards. And week 5 .... that's 30! If I don't clear the cards for the week, I have to pay a forfeit to church or charity to resurrect me. There's no guarantee that the resurrection spell will work correctly, and I could end up cursed or undead or ?? I can use the Goodberry spell (one per Omega 3 rich food eaten) to undo the damage of one card missed. Cardio: terrain cards Strength: monster/villain cards Balance/flexibility: yoga, BOSU ball workout, any other agility related thing I can think of Nutrition: Omega-3 rich foods (cast the "Goodberries" spell for each one) Social: Place and encounter cards Omega-3s: Itchy skin and thinning hair .... hoping that it is just because 1) I have gotten older and 2) I have been eating more animal-based fats than vegetable-based fats. And ... Alaska. Hello .... let's eat some salmon!! A friend of mine from the SCA commented that she needs to figure out how to "people" again, and I agree. Teaching doesn't engage the small talk and social interactions, and I need to practice before I get on a boat for an 10-day cruise full of strangers. I think I can mostly do this with my Pathfinder and MTG Forgotten Realms cards, plus the ones that I am making. HUM >>> might get creative and actually make my own "playing" cards for the "game"??? And .... I might pick up some tokens to represent healing potions. For someone who doesn't currently play D & D, I'm looking at a lot of game props to help with this. I'm still in search of the dragon. The dragon is a lifestyle and set of habits to support health and a "normal" body weight and BF%. Not quite there, but last challenge, I pretty much coasted on habits and didn't gain weight. Didn't lose it or reduce BF% .... so that means I AM getting close. It just needs some minor adjustments.

Quite a lot of thing have been changing as of late. My sister's tumor is shrinking down. Her brain scans show that if there is anything else growing, that it's too small to even notice so she is still on chemo. However, the overall prognosis is that she'll be around for a couple years (if that). I've had to come to grips with the fact that, although she's doing better; she will never be 'back to normal' and as such, I have a shelf-life with her. Last challenge I set myself up for a kick in the ass, as I've waffled on progress. Excuses, excuses, but where are the results? Well I'm seeing them and despite my nutritionist having covid and not being able to weigh myself in the other day for the end of the challenge, my pants are falling off and I'm swimming in my t-shirt so I know I've gotten back on track. I've avoided any junk food, with the worst of it being a handful of potato chips or an RX Bar (which is sugar free and just a fruit+nuts bar). Another thing that has changed: there are multiple job positions that have opened up and I've been thinking a lot about applying to some of them. My goal was to drop below 300 lb and then once my eating was second-nature, to then look into a job in the field instead of my trash dead-end job I'm at now. I've started reading the DSM (the diagnostic bible that all therapists use) while I do my workouts and just got into the neurodevelopmental issues with children today. So what is the theme this challenge? Well, I ended up getting a copy of the Adeptus Mechanicus Codex the other day and I've been reading the lore. That's what this song above is related to. Adeptus Mechanicus (or, AdMech, for short) is a sci-fi faction that are technology-priests that live on Mars. They will ritualistically cut off and remove parts of their body that is becoming defective and replace them with bionics. They champion knowledge above all else, to the point of having it be a type of worship. They think that the mortal shell that we all have is flawed and we can become better, more perfect, by becoming more machine. "One day the crude biomass that you call a temple will wither, and you will beg my kind to save you." For this challenge, I want to remove what is defective. Defective people. Defective thinking I have. Defective food. Defective job. 1) Defective Job - I'm going to research and apply to multiple jobs this challenge. Even writing that down makes my throat tighten with nervousness but ... ...I need to say, 'fuck it' and apply anyways. 2) Defective Eating - As stated above, the only real fuck up has been some chips and bars, but I can always eat more vegetables and stay on top of my calorie counting. Batch cooking goes well as I measure all the protein out into bowls and then eat the bowls for a few days. Rinse and repeat. It's the side-grazing. I also think that I should swap out the 1 yogurt I have per day for something else but I'm not entirely sure what. 3) Defective Internetting - Ok, so this one I need to think more about and I'm not entirely sure what I can/should do to resolve it but I feel it's a problem. I spend WAY too much time online just browsing random shit. Youtube, reddit, and randomly googling things lead me down wormholes that waste time- time that I should spend on the other things on this list. I don't know if maybe I should have a 2-hour cap per day? Or maybe restrict going to certain sites on certain days to curb the amount of time-wasting I do? I'll need to iron this one out. 4) Defective Training - I sort of half-ass the workouts I've been doing. I do them well enough but I'm not consistent like I used to be. 3x workouts a week for this goal. 5) Defective Socializing - I've realized after it was pointed out to me via @juliebarkley that I'm setting myself up for failure with how I interact on the forums. I used to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and eager to talk to everyone. Again, excuses, excuses, but I didn't feel that way anymore and it's creating self-sabotaging bullshit that I need to break so I don't know the specific parameters, but I would like to get to a bunch of new people this challenge. 6) Defective Passion - I love creating. Problem is that I don't put in the effort to do mold-casting in order to do the creative stuff that I like to do. It's like....putting a shitty hurdle in front of the fun stuff and then I never end up doing the fun stuff (thereby leading to #3 defective internetting). I have a whole army, no, MULTIPLE armies that I can build and paint and come up with stories for and I'm just being a weenie-head by postponing it because I don't want to make plastic molds for unit duplication. So, in lieu of this information, I'm going to cast 2x week and I'll try to post progress pics once a week.

Goal Results from Last Challenge Water: 6.23 cups per day avg! Walks: Week 1 :: 100% Week 2 :: 85.7% Week 3 :: 85.7% Week 4 :: 57.1% Week 5 :: 57.1% Stairs: avg of 2.8 stairs per day! Chores: Ah, yeah, no. So this time, I'm going with a few changes to the above. Water: 7 cups Walks: everyday (1+mile, 1/2 mile, 1/4 mile, and the rest are short ones) Stairs: 4 flights per day Get Outside: I can bring a lawn chair out front in the shade, go swimming, etc. Time doesn't matter. Chores: something every day. Time doesn't matter. Stretching/Wrist Strength: Stretch every day in the AM and work up to 2x per day for wrist training before Week 4 starts. More later, Peeps!

Greetings, and welcome to all! I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 1-9. The last 3 weeks have been a long-anticipated pair of events, and the second I officially over tomorrow. I have gained at least 10 lbs (probably 15 or more) and it’s a bit uncomfortable. But I also didn’t want to travel Europe without partaking in the food and beverages. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. When I do lift weights it is at the YMCA or, more commonly, takes the form of children, sandbags, or logs. We’re training for one of the Disney races as a family. Though it’s mostly on hold due to a hip injury Jessie had. The last 2 events (travel) were pretty helpful in my training; I’ve been performing heavy carries to ensure I could carry luggage and children long distances and times, and frankly it was well worth all the effort. Homesteading is in full swing. Our tomatoes and berries are going crazy. I’m a bit sad I haven’t been home for most of it but Marinara and the neighbors have been ensuring none are going to waste. Healthwise, we’ve been living the keto lifestyle for most of the year and we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to stick to 99% of the time, meaning we’re seeing more success and I’m burning less willpower on food-related stuff. I am currently quite above past my arbitrary goal weight, and while I don’t much care about that I do care about my joints as well as how my clothes fit. We’ll be back into keto after we return. The trip to Europe in particular was really good for me mentally, and I think for Jessie as well. We travel well together and I really enjoyed having the new experiences together. I am also excited with how well speaking and understanding French went. The bakery also seems to have kept running while we are gone so major props to our manager. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. This is critical to managing my emotions as well as general health and quality of life. I am in a far better position now than at the beginning of the last challenge. 2. Race training. This includes calisthenics, the race plan training, and loaded carries. Race training as a family is currently paused as Jessie hurt her sciatic nerve and needs rest to recover. She tried training through and reducing the intensity but that exacerbated the problem. It is likely a torn muscle and while it’s slowly getting better it’s really only going to improve with time and rest. 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> This now involves expanding bakery sales, and potentially moving into another remote job. 5. Home and Garden. I want both to be better. Especially the home. A major amount of cleaning and organizing took place while we were gone and I’m feeling better about the overall state. However, it appears that both the fridge and washer are borked up and need to be fixed or replaced. Hoping just fixed. The washer a least is still under warranty. 6. Therapy. I have a new(er) diagnoses and new(er) medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy. I am excited about how this has gone. I am working on anger management and taking a page from the book of Mr. Fred Rogers. I had no idea that he struggled with a strong and volatile temper. He never wanted to be remembered as a saint because he didn’t want his example to be unachievable but I do think he is probably the best person who ever lived a full life. I will be looking to him as an example and we’ve decided to introduce the show as a regular part of our kids’ lives. Gods know it’s as helpful to me as it is to them. And I’m adding care of words as well to this goal for things don’t have to be yelled to hurt. If I’m being entirely honest with myself, the best way to do any of this is to cut down on what I do altogether. There are just too many things. It’s not so bad during the summer, but during the school year… rough. A lot of our house work is a straight up investment in freeing up time later. I am eager to be back home now. Oh, and if you’re following from my last thread and the thread before AND the thread before, we’re STILL RPing a scene with Barnaby the Brass Dragon in our D&D campaign since March 4th. Almost 4 months of RP and close to 100?hours of me pretending to be a lonely brass dragon having the time of his life at a party while sharing dragon lore with the party. Technically they are now off his porch but he’s offered them a ride in an old, not-entirely-functional airship (that he’s carrying). We haven’t played much in June, of course. I brought the stuff with us but we haven’t played this week.

[Preamble] Welcome to Owlshire, a beautiful woodland property in the Forest of Dean, England. I’m a 42 year old American woman living here with my British husband (Mr) and pre-school son (Enting). I work in gamedev and when I’m not doing that, I’m tending to my garden, doing needlework of some sort, writing, playing games (of various sorts), and exploring our local woodlands. However, this challenge will involve a lot of time away from home…. [Challenges] Zero Week we are headed off across the country for a wedding and will be away for 4 days. During Weeks 2-4, we will be headed across the globe to attend my father’s memorial hike in the US, staying a bit extra to reconnect with family and friends that we’ve been separated from due to life and pandemics. And in the spaces in between we’re going to be preparing and catching up on what’s fallen behind at home. … so I’m keeping this challenge very simple. Organize: Keep using the planner every day. I started it again a couple of weeks ago and it’s been so helpful. Keep on top of travel-related organization. This has its own planner… Continue to Mordor: I will aim for 30 miles walked on a week (average). 435 miles left to Mordor… my goal is to reach it by November. Hobbit in Attitude, not in Width: I’m starting this challenge with a BMI of 22. My goal this challenge is to be the same or less by the end of the challenge. I have a longer term ambition to get to 21 BMI, but at the moment I’m focusing on maintenance. I will check in weekly on Mondays or thereabouts, optional when I’m traveling.

The world is changed. I can feel it in the water. I can feel it in the earth. I can smell it in the air. Greetings everyone! Your friendly neighborhood disappearing Adventurer/Tolkien scholar/mythologist here, returning to the NF challenge boards after yet another successful but mostly silent challenge. Having a thread going here really does work some sort of mysterious magic on my ability to get things done. So, despite my (quite characteristic) utter lack of updates and interaction last time, I'm back again, to keep on keeping on. The last few challenges have more or less been clones of each other because I just didn't have the wherewithal to do the thinking necessary to update them. I was hoping to do so this time. Ha ha. NOPE. Same-old same-old. I have made some tweaks to some of my long-standing routines to take advantage of their rock-solid status, and -- since I am facing a summer that may involve some very extensive changes in my life -- to shore up the familiar ground where I'm standing so I don't fall down as I contemplate those changes. Spoiler for Adventure™ report from the end of last challenge: Spoiler for THE PLAN this challenge: Spoiler for discussion of upcoming possible changes in my world: Anyway. As per my usual, I make up for weeks of silence with a ridiculously sprawling and overwritten brain dump of a post to initiate the new challenge If you made it all the way through all of that, you are a hero -- thank you for poking into my little corner of this crazy space where we all try and create positive new stories for ourselves. Good luck everyone! Day One! Let's go!

I keep starting challenges, but not finishing them. It's not that I'm not doing things, it's just that interacting and posting has become difficult. So in honor of my fellow Don't Wannas, I'm going to do my best to at least post occasionally. Or something. This is coming up on some really busy weeks for me. W0: Saturday volunteering Saturday test W1: Travel to DC area for a work conference Tu - Th Yoga Saturday (there is a story with this that makes it remarkable, but I'm keeping mum) Saturday cookout with people W2: Taking the GB to the Dr W3: My birthday D&D W4: Also nothing W5: Work travel to NC Also, I signed up for a Rugged Maniac in July that I need to train for and I've found Deka Strong, which I absolutely love, so now I'm training for better times for the next one in September. This challenge will look pretty similar to all others I do. But maybe I'll continue to post or something.

Whew! Where do I begin with how wild life has been lately? Some pretty major changes to our family dynamic (good changes but also difficult) have occurred recently, and I just haven't had the opportunity to be active here. However, I do have some goals I want to set for this challenge, and I hope those of you who have been patient with me will continue to be so. Also, I recently accepted a position as a Language Arts teacher at the same high school I graduated from 25 years ago. It feels surreal, but I am honored and eager to begin. Forgive me this introduction before I get to my goals: I recently joined a community called The Fifth Direction, which has reawakened my creative spirit. It is inspired by poet Robert Bly and the Mythopoetic movement. If you're not familiar with the Mythopoetic movement, fear not; I'll talk about it more in a later post. Short version: it seeks to view life through the lens of story, especially ancient stories (i.e. myths, folk tales, legends, etc.). I have really been exploring how my growing interest in poetry and myth impacts my own faith and spirituality. I was at first concerned that much of it would "debunk" it but instead have found that it has deepened it. Reading scripture through the lens of story and myth and reading stories and myths that are similar and, at times, very parallel to stories in scripture, has reminded me of the omnipresence of God's Spirit in all things. I am also writing poetry again. Robert Bly said that he was inspired by poet William Stafford to write a poem every morning, and eventually Bly published these poems in a book aptly titled Morning Poems. I plan to take similar inspiration and write a poem every day during this challenge, as well as read a poem every day (and share it here, of course). I have also transformed my morning "routine" into something more akin to a morning "ritual" that includes prayer, reading scripture and poetry and stories out loud, meditating and doing breath work. I have not done well recently with my nutrition. I think part of the issue is I have approached it more as a disciplined practice rather than a spiritual one. Fasting has deep spiritual roots and therefore should be meaningful and have reason beyond just "cutting calories." I plan to continue my workout routine, which includes three days of strength training, one day of sprints, three days to move slowly/play/rest. Which day for what is usually determined by life. So, my goals for this challenge: Write a poem of my own every day and read/share someone else's poem every day. Continue my morning ritual: scripture, meditation, breath work, etc. Fast from 7 pm to 11 am daily except on strength training days; also fast for 24 hours every Sunday and Wednesday (I may post later about why I chose those two days). And that's it. Short and sweet and simple. To the best of my ability, I plan to be here daily and hope to not only post but also visit many of your challenge post, as well. Thank you if you've sat with me this long. I hope you will continue to visit and feel welcome here.

Greetings, and welcome to all! I’m a married parent of 4 kids aged 0-8. The last few challenges have been rough; Jessie’s job has been in the busy season, my job has been in the busy season, and the bakery officially opened for retail business. Plus kids. Plus school. Plus struggles with one of the teachers at school for one kid and struggles with dance instructors with two others. As often is the case, this post is taking place over two days. That said, good news everyone! We officially hired a new full-time bakery manager today (offered Friday, she accepted Monday, starts 2 weeks from tomorrow/today). I’m extremely excited. It’s going to take a huge amount of pressure off of me, and also make it easier to plan advertising. I’ll get to move into a role heavier in sales, marketing, and finance (while still spending plenty of time in the kitchen!) and we’ll be about to expand as well as actually take our vacation this summer. I’m ultimately an adventurer at heart, though I train similar to a lot of Rangers (and I’m something of a Druid Paladin which is also something of an equivalent to a Ranger). I love hiking, exploring, traveling, and other fun things with the family. Since shortly before joining Nerdfitness, my physical training is typically built around injury rehabilitation (which happens a bit more often due to autoimmune arthritis) and training to be able to travel, explore, and play with my family. I have a pretty effective Disney World training system, and try to ensure that at any point I’m strong enough to carry my whole family somewhere. That has become more difficult as the years go on but I can still do it for the most part. I am also an enthusiastic suburban homesteader bent on establishing an orchard and vegetable garden, so things can get pretty out-doorsy depending on my goals. My needs mean I do a variety of types of training, and my earliest two physical training goals were “run fast” and “be able to competitively play any sport I come across.” I prefer to avoid gyms and do a lot of body weight training. When I do lift weights it is at the YMCA or, more commonly, takes the form of children, sandbags, or logs. This time, we’re training for one of the Disney races as a family. It’s gonna be a later event so we have plenty of time and I’m training, in particular, to be prepared to carry the younger 2 kids for the race. So far this has taken the form of loaded carries and greasing the groove with squats and lunges; I’ve been either using 50-lb sacks of flour or dumbbells thus far. I can farmer’s carry my weight for 100 meters. Homesteading season is upon us. I am afraid the Ranier is dead and I’m afraid one of the apple trees died as well. We’re reigning in my red neck tendencies this year and redoing a bunch of our gardens. We may also be remodeling the house to add more space for my mother in law and her sister to move in as well. At the beginning of last year, we started shopping for an existing business with a professional kitchen to give a physical location to our small bakery. We now own the bakery kitchen and business. The bakery has been opened a month and we just hired a full time manager which I am ecstatic about. Once she starts we can get more serious about expanding business without completely running ourselves into the ground. There will be a lot more flexibility to handle groups of people (larger numbers ordering made-to-order items cause our biggest throughput issues) and she can also help us build the team. I wish she was already on; L’enfant somehow got a cupcake with egg it in yesterday and thus yesterday was one of those nearly-no-sleep days. Healthwise, we’ve been living the keto lifestyle for most of the year and we’ve found it to be incredibly easy to stick to 99% of the time, meaning we’re seeing more success and I’m burning less willpower on food-related stuff. I am past my arbitrary goal weight, and I’m focusing hard now on maintaining around this weight while achieving my goal composition. I think the race/loaded carry training will help. I’m concerned that sleep problems will hamstring me though which is why, as always, it’s goal number one. I’ve not been physically or mentally as well lately. Jessie has work friends and I’m grateful (she really, really needs some good friends especially given her job) but she’s home less while I have been more isolated and I’m feeling the loneliness return. It can be pretty intense. I don’t really have many IRL friends. I love Marinara but he’s sort of emotionally unavailable and my other friends are almost all far away anymore. I’ve been working on connecting with people, though, and it has helped. We saw Rex’s godparents after his birthday party and that was amazingly helpful. I've been struggling hard on my “no yelling” goal. I feel exhausted all the time and it’s made it hard to break habits. I continue to strive towards zero yelling. I am also striving to be careful with my words at all times. I’m tired of being so very careful of my words most of the time to the point where I’ll simply be silent (where I have to be careful to not stonewall) but then just let loose and impulsively say a bunch of thoughtless things. Goals: 1. Sleep. As best as possible. This is critical to managing my emotions as well as general health and quality of life. I’m currently trapped in sleep deprivation until we can hire and train our team. But I can also see a light at the end of the tunnel. 2. Race training. This includes calisthenics, the race plan training, and loaded carries. Race training as a family is currently paused as Jessie hurt her sciatic nerve and needs rest to recover. She tried training through and reducing the intensity but that exacerbated the problem. 3. Take one concrete step forward per day- at least one tangible, visible thing to make life better. This ranges from things as small as “dig out the replacement toaster” to as big as “reorganize the playroom.” I don’t have to complete the bigger ones as long as I make progress. 4. Take one concrete step forward per day career-wise. I need my job but I’m not satisfied in it and otherwise need a change. I need to hone/adapt skills and look for other opportunities. -> Currently, this involves finishing the bakery paperwork and executing the grand opening. . 5. Home and Garden. I want both to be better. Especially the home. The basement is… bad. I spent one today doing laundry and cleaning up. The basement needs a tremendous amount of work. The dogs have been staying down there and it’s better than kenneling them but they’ve eaten some toys and containers which made a huge mess and the best dog’s separation anxiety issues are coming back into play. I hope that in the future I (or one of us at least) can be home half the day with them most days. We have a cleaning lady but I don’t think 3 hours a week is quite enough. Over the summer she’ll be moving to 2 days a week. 6. Therapy. I have a new(er) diagnoses and new(er) medication that have been, it feels, pretty life changing. I finished intensive therapy that was also insanely helpful prior to that and I am continuing with less frequent sessions. My goal is to better learn how to manage ADHD and how to be a more connected, present, and supportive husband and father. I think I have been progressing well. I feel healthy. I am excited about how this has gone. I am working on anger management and taking a page from the book of Mr. Fred Rogers. I had no idea that he struggled with a strong and volatile temper. He never wanted to be remembered as a saint because he didn’t want his example to be unachievable but I do think he is probably the best person who ever lived a full life. I will be looking to him as an example and we’ve decided to introduce the show as a regular part of our kids’ lives. Gods know it’s as helpful to me as it is to them. And I’m adding care of words as well to this goal for things don’t have to be yelled to hurt. I am eager to rest and get to work. Oh, and if you’re following from my last thread and the thread before, we’re STILL RPing a scene with Barnaby the Brass Dragon in our D&D campaign since March 4th. Almost 2 months of RP and close to 60 hours of me pretending to be a lonely brass dragon having the time of his life at a party while sharing dragon lore with the party.

I'm still working on most details for this challenge. The basics: Eating a slight deficit .... not so much that I'm hangry .... but not having snacks frequently. I hate to say it, but WW has been working for me. The possible alternative is My Fitness Pal, which gives me a better handle on macros. Or maybe the LoseIt app and site. But the emphasis on protein, veg, and fruit has been working. Cardio 6 out of 7 days. Using the MTG Forgotten Realms land cards so that I can mix up the types of cardio I'm doing. Strength train 2 or 3 days per week. I'll be able to get to CrossFit more regularly once classes are done May 13th D & D solo campaigns for fun, flavor, and some creative expression I was going to be learning Swedish, but hubby decided to book next summer's trip ..... to Iceland.

New challenge time! My goal is to lose 8 pounds for this challenge. It’s ambitious, but I’m ready for a push. Here’s the plan: 1. Giving myself more time a. Putting off scheduling additional doctor visits until next year. I’m in good shape, and nothing is urgent. I need a mental break from physical health checks. b. Saying “no” to social invitations when the time doesn’t work for me. I try to accommodate everyone else’s schedule because I’m a freelancer, but that’s how I get overloaded. I need to be able to say “That week isn’t good for me, how about the week after?” c. Getting Screen time down from 5 hours a day to 3 hours a day. Apple tracks this for me, and if I need to, I can set limits on my phone again so I’m not wasting time staring at puppy videos, which I usually do after I’m burned out from being too busy. d. Take Wednesdays off. No errands, no social calls, no appointments. Wednesdays are a day off. 2. Utilizing the extra time I’ve given myself a. Exercising Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. In the past, I’ve done shorter workouts six days a week but I find I'd rather exercise for a longer session and then wake up the next day and have more time to get other things done. b. Going on more walks and hikes. I’m aiming for 10 5 miles a week. c. Working outdoors and getting the yard to look its best. 😊 I have a short list, so it's not going to be too difficult. It's totally difficult. While the list is short, each item takes a long time, and I'm remembering this now. d. Planning more healthy meals and cooking them. Right now, I just sorta cook whatever we have and I feel like I can do better here. e. Stretching in the mornings and evenings. 3. Keeping up the Energy to use my time wisely a. Sleeping from 11pm-6am. 7am b. Cutting way back on sugar. I’d like to have something sweet once a week, but I’m done with candy, jams, juices, and pastries, and coffee on a regular basis. c. Also cutting back on processed foods like chips and blue boxed macaroni and cheese. d. Drinking loads more water, but not sparkling water. I learned its hard on my teeth, and I must protect my teeth! e. Journaling to process thoughts and feelings that are heavy and overwhelming. I'll track everything in my bullet journal, and post weekly results and reflections.

Fashionably late to the party… [Preamble] Welcome to Owlshire, a beautiful woodland property in the Forest of Dean, England. I’m a 42 year old American woman living here with my British husband (Mr) and 4 y/o son (Enting). I work in gamedev and when I’m not doing that, I’m tending to my garden, doing needlework of some sort, writing, playing games (of various sorts), and exploring our local woodlands. [Challenges] Two, actually. The first one is a happy event in the Yorkshire Dales in June for a wedding, and the second is a solemn pilgrimage to the Pacific Northwest, USA, to help carry my father's ashes* into his favorite spot in the mountains, as per his request. These both happen during the next challenge, but there's a lot of preparations! * Rise Up The hike into the mountains is steep and challenging. I know because I did that hike with Dad many times as a child and once as an adult. Most of the adults (sisters, nieces/partners…) joining us are not particularly fit for purpose, and there will be four children under the age of 5 as well. It’s going to be chaos and I don’t expect everyone will make it to the top before turning back. I’m not turning back. So I want to make sure my hill game is in order, and also get Enting prepared for a longer, steeper walks since I likely won't be carrying him--I'll probably be carrying other children! This means going out at least twice a week and walking (for example) up our lane, which is a very long, steep climb. (More often is better, but I’m trying to be realistic given other life constraints.) I also want to take Enting with me at least once a week to get him better motivated for walking distances. (He has proven he can walk for several miles, but he often doesn’t want to.) The post-wedding June hike in the Yorkshire Dales will be a bit of a test run to further gauge what we will expect in the mountains and any strategy changes we should consider. Organize We haven't done a family overnight trip (let alone a trip abroad) in 2.5+ years. Setting up both of these trips is a lot of faff! I have some huge to-do lists and files and paperwork and coordination with family, and I'm making my way through them. Keep on it! Reach Mordor I’m 555 miles away! I’ve been wanting to complete this challenge since the early 00s (when it was called the Eowyn Challenge), and I’m sure I’ve been “there and back again” several times over, but I’ve never managed to track the whole thing. I want to finish my walking route to Mordor by November 2022. I’m so close! A Hobbit in Attitude, not in Width At the moment, I'm in a good place with my weight/BMI. I do want to get both a touch lower, but all things considered for this challenge I’m under a lot of emotional stress and I just want to maintain. I’ve got enough other things on. My BMI is currently 22.1, and I'll count this successful if it's the same or lower at the end of the challenge. Admin note: I always start on Week 0, and I track from Monday-Sunday. I’m also useless at actually updating my challenges, but I’m always a better me if I post one.

Campaign 2022 Adventure: Dreamwalker Ok, let's try this again. Your resident bladesinger is still alive! My last few challenges have been wonderfully epic "failures"..."failures" in the sense that I failed to keep up with goals (if I made them in the first place), and definitely failed at tracking or posting any updates when I actually did complete them, BUT they were set aside to make room for other priorities...so, I don't think it is so much of a failure as it was a trade off. Anyway, the first part of this year has just been crazy. There were deaths, hardships, health issues, and injuries on the one hand, and house-buying, moving, completing a certification for work, and getting accepted to an MBA program on the other...so, a rollercoaster of all kinds of things. But, the house-hunting, and painting, and moving, and unpacking are finally over. Things are finally settling down into a routine. I am loving my new job (been there about seven months now) and we are my team is starting to find its groove with our new intern and new boss (both started about two or three months ago). I am working on wrapping up one certification in July so it is out of the way for when my MBA courses start in earnest in the fall. The area that has suffered the most lately is my fitness routine and sleep. With all the craziness of moving, there were lots of late nights, lots of eating out, and though we were getting lots of physical activity in with painting and hauling boxes and furniture, there was no time to any structured exercise. Which was fine...until all that slowed down. One of the great things about moving is the opportunity to build new habits and leave old habits behind...but it also means some extra struggles to maintain and/or rebuild the habits you actually wanted to keep. But, Aries and I have decided we want to start kickboxing and maybe some MMA at a local MMA gym in mid July. So, I have two months to whip my butt into shape so I don't die or break myself, lol. You would think that would mean my goals for this challenge would focus around fitness - you would think wrong, I am doing that next challenge. This challenge I am going even more foundational - the primary focal point of the rest of this challenge (better late than never, right?) is sleep schedule. Though I have been getting ENOUGH sleep again these past couple weeks, I need to start restructuring my sleep schedule to better accommodate the MMA courses. Right now I go into work around 9am, but my goal is to start going in close to 7-7:30am, so I can wrap up my day close to 4-4:30 instead of closer to 5:30-6pm. I am making that my only goal for this challenge because that is going to be a huge challenge for me. I am NOT a morning person by any stretch of the meaning. So getting up two hours earlier is going to be a challenging and probably painful process. Don't get me wrong, I still do plan to work on getting in more exercise and whatnot, it just doesn't get to be center stage until next challenge. So, the Strategy: Focus the rest of this week on getting up by 7:40am Next week: 7:20am Third week: 7:00am My goal is to eventually get up closer to probably 6:15-6:30, but I am going to take this slow. My body and brain have been through enough stress and changes lately. And on top of that, as someone with bipolar disorder, adding stress or making sudden or drastic changes to sleep patterns is...well, not advisable.

So ya'll, I'm struggling. HARD. It's not surprising really, the past year has been an absolute roller coaster and now that the house is built, we are fully moved in, and my parents are almost moved in, I'm crashing. Even without all that nonsense, this month is wild. I'm going to Denver twice, I've got something going on every weekend, AND we are in the midst of birthday season in our house (3 / 4 kids have birthdays between 4/27 and 5/19). Oof. So really what I want to do is track this challenge. What do I do every day, how am I feeling (mentally and physically), what I eat, and what I needed to do that I didn't. So basically, I'm using this challenge as a live journal. What do I do every day? Regular workouts are the best thing I do for my mental health. I just feel better when they happen. Right now, I have the option of up to 9 different classes to attend (when I'm home), 3 days to run, and at least one yoga / stretching day. The trainers at my gym are really good about sending me pictures of the group workouts if I don't get to make it in, so I have options on the road too, just not quite as many. I should do something daily for at least 30 minutes. I also have a ton of work stuff on my plate. I'm balancing two service lines, two internal group projects (one is a training and one is white papers), my two employees, and helping with some other projects ad hoc. I can't spend a full day goofing off on my computer and letting tasks pile up. I've been really good about using Tasks and a Tomato Timer, but I'm also really good at ignoring both if I want to. It doesn't make it any better when you slack there Sylvaa. How am I feeling? I've been trying to be everything to everyone (shout out to Everclear and their catchy tune). Fun fact: I can't. Now that the youngest turned 18 and will start college in the fall, I want to transition our household into more of a group effort than a "mom does this stuff and I don't". This includes helping with P (I've been informed I can't call him the baby anymore), taking care of the cooking and cleaning, and any other ad hoc responsibilities people put on my plate. It's okay for me to say no and it's okay for me to prioritize me. This also includes physically as food has been an issue. What did I eat? Between not being strict with food, having a few extra days with alcohol, and stress, my stomach is a hot mess. It's not fun, makes me feel like crap, and isn't helping me mentally. I'm eating tums like they are going out of style. This is not a good look. So I am going to start tracking food (at least what it is) and tracking what didn't work. What I should be doing is limiting processed carbs, alcohol, and sugar. You know, what people should do anyway. What did I need to do that I didn't? Is that a kosher gif to use? I like it. Understanding that it's okay for me to not do everything, I also need to make sure things I'm not doing don't just continue to slide. Because it's really easy for me to do that. So this isn't about beating myself up for missing something, it's about being honest with myself to make sure I'm prioritizing things properly.