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First: I do not know if this is the appropriate forum, so any mods feel free to move this... It's kind of a "woot" as I have overcome my innate lazyness, but it might also fit into the general fitness or the dieting realm. Or some ranger stuff, who knows. so here is the story: I like cars. I like my car, especially. And so I like it's engine. Most engine wear occurs on start-up, once the engine is running at operating temperature, there is no significant wear whatsoever. Read: cross country drives (btw.: That's why myUOAs come back so nice). Doing the grocery shopping by car means two engine starts without the engine ever getting to operating temperature. Not good. Hurts my heart. (Im a car nerd - with a capital N.) But my bike has no luggage rack (and cycling with a big, heavy backpack is no fun). So -what else can I do, if I do not want to use the car? Of course: walk. I might split the grocery shopping into several smaller trips and just walk there. But then, the nearest shop is a tad expensive, and the cheaper Aldi a bit far off my usual routes. Inconvenient. But basically, that's what I would do: just walk there, grab some bags with stuff, walk back. Several times a week. (And pay to much). When I was young, I walked a lot. The army had us walk a lot. all while carrying heavy stuff. And then I stumbled upon the fitness fad of rucking - basically, grab a backpack, put something heavy inside, walk briskly and call it exercise. (And feel cool doing so.) So that was obvious. Why the hell didn't I get this earlier? Grab rucksack. Grab a second bag. Walk 30min to store. Fill shopping cart. Fill content of shopping cart into rucksack and bag. Walk home. Voilà: One old army backpack, a sturdy bag and a sack of apples. This unpacks as follows: 2.5kg potatoes 2kg apples 0.5 litre olive oil 0.25 litre linseed oil 1 litre of milk 6 cans of tuna 2 cans of red beans 500g sourdough bread 500g spaghetti 500g feta 500g chicken breast 500g ground beef 500g of curd 350g herring 300g Nürnberger Würtschen (Nürnberg sausages) 250g of bacon 500g of spinache 3 bell peppers 3 jars of marmalade 2 salami 1 iceberg lettuce 1 broccoli 1 cucumber 1 net of red onions 1 net of garlic 12 eggs 60g oregano 60g thyme Humans can carry a lot of stuff. While all this on the picture is a lot of stuff, it s not particularly heavy. (The things they make you carry in the army are heavier.) It just seems bulky, but if you pack intelligently, all this fits into a small backpack and a small shopping bag (the apples came with their own bag, fortunately). Earn your meals! If a middle-aged, overweight bloke like me can, so can you. . :-)

Howdy folks, I have a 17.3" laptop that I have to haul around for work. It doesn't fit in most standard 17" bags. I frequently travel for work, and my Samsonite backpack has lasted all of 6 months before tearing out at the corner (where the corner of the laptop bulges). I'm in the market for a replacment! I'm not entirely convinced that I need a backpack, so a shoulder bag might be an option. I'm not the sort who sits at the bar between flights; I generally get a pretty good chunk of walking done in that time. It's like hiking (or rucking!), once you load your massive laptop + charger + tablet + paperwork and force yourself to take the stairs. One of the bags I've been looking at is the GoRuck GR1, which their sales support says would fit the laptop. It's guaranteed bombproof. Any suggestions? Gear that has worked for you? Opinions when it comes to bags?

Good Day! For as long as I can remember I have been a gamer girl, it started with sitting on my parents living room floor playing Asteroids on my Atari. Yeah you read that right...Atari. My all time favorite series is Final Fantasy and my favorite game within the series is VII, I still own a PS2 just so I can dust it off and try to beat Ruby Weapon once in awhile. So naturally I am patterning my big quest after my favorite game! And, I need to have a little fun with this since life is all way too much "serious business" right now so I am stepping into character and writing a bit of a story. Our story begins... A mild-mannered, snarky IT girl / accounting student is sitting at her desk one day when the phone rings. 'IT Support Desk this is Silly Otter'. Her old friend Cloud comes on the line "Silly Otter what are you doing answering the phones? Don't you know that the evil dragon 'Fibromyalgia' is working a spell on you and trying to keep you trapped on your chair while she is trying to destroy the Mystical Wildflowers?!?!" Silly Otter "Well of course I KNOW! But what am I supposed to do about it?" Cloud "Get your butt out of the chair, acquire the magical hiking equipment and a shiny new sword and come help us fight her off!" Silly Otter "But where do I start?" Cloud *facepalm* so loud I can hear it! "With NerdFitness of course!" Silly Otter closes her latest text book, forwards the phones to her team and is out the door to explore how the NerdFitness thing works! The Main Quest: Save the Mystical Wildflowers from the evil fire breathing dragon "Fibromyalgia"! The wildflowers are at the top of a Colorado 14'er (14,000 ft altitude for those of you not familiar with the term) at the halfway point of a 25 mile backpacking expedition carrying a 25 lb pack. This is a huge quest (right now) and will need to be completed in smaller chunks. I have a little more than 4 six-week cycles plus the holiday bonus cycle to get up that mountain! (July 2014) And I will need all of my energy at the top to defeat the dragon! Stage 1: Aquire the Backpack The backpack is always one of the first things you want on any quest to hold all the nifty stuff you find along the way. So this first six week challenge will be to work hard and acquire the backpack and the ability to carry it in the end as my prize! (I already make feeble attempts at exercising so the below goals are realistic. I can currently hike 5.5 miles carrying a 7 lb pack at 8k ft. but it really kills me for about a week!) Specific Goals: Do the Beginner Bodyweight workout at least 3 times a week. Do the 20 minute Interval Training workout at least 2 times a week. Transition back to the Paleo diet beginning with no gluten or sugar at least 5 days a week. (I was full out Paleo for over a year so this is just relearning and readjusting time.)Life Quest: Complete my next two college courses! I am actually working on my accounting degree and have 4 courses left to complete before the end of March 2014. :-) Motivation: Every day I live with the pain and frustration of Fibromyalgia. I LOVE hiking and being active but I have allowed Fibro to slow me down and it is time for that to STOP! I want to be a Ranger class kind of gal! That field of wildflowers is a real thing and this past summer I got photos, next summer I want to see it with my own eyes! Tonight I will post my starting measurements and maybe a photo (I am camera shy so no promises) because I need to see the physical transformation. Thanks for reading!

So... my first challenge. Here are my goals for summer: Diet Eat a caloric deficit of 2500 calories per week. Cook or eat seafood at least once per week. I eat too much chicken and beef... need more Omega 3!No booze 2 days a week. I like wine with dinner and a bourbon warm-up... Time to cut back a little bit. Exercise Squat 160 lbs. 5x5Dead Lift 200 lbs. 1x5Reduce body fat to 19% or less (currently 22%)Level Up Take a weekend backpacking trip with my cousin carrying a 40lb pack at least 15 miles.