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I feel like 2020 was rather disorienting for everyone - like it just went and ... Yeah black eyes ... that's how 2020 felt. Wait ... not black eyes!!! uh ... oh ... Yes this will be a Supernatural themed challenge ... cause I'm rewatching the whole series ! Quest 1 - It's not the years, it's the mileage As always the main focus for me is running (comes with being a scout) Currently we are cruising at 5 and 6 miles during the church of the long run I'm looking to hit double digits on long run by the end of this challenge! Quest 2 - I'm trying to survive. Now let's be honest I'm NOT going to look like Sammie at the end of this but gotta start somewhere Now is the time to stop making excuses and getting back into body weight workouts! GOAL - 3 body weight workouts per week! Quest 3 - Bring me (no) Pie! With the shelter in place going on, the food stuffs have gotten a bit crazy - time to clean things up and stop eating so much pie Looking to limit myself to 1 sweet treat a day and up my fruit / veg intact with 3-4 snacks of them per day. Quest 4 - Learn the Lore Always keep reading! I've not found a new book yet but I'm on the hunt ... as it were. Let's see where the road leads us

So in the midst of this 6 week challenge, I am going to have a boss battle! I am signed up to do a Spartan Sprint on May 16th in Indianapolis. Am I prepared for it, you ask. Not at all... The last few weeks have been one sickness after another. Monday I started getting a headache in the afternoon at work and then spent the remainder of the evening trying to sleep it away or in the bathroom feeling like I was going to throw up. Tuesday was a little better so I tired to do and easy body weight workout when I got home and was in the middle of a set of pull-ups when BAM! a headache hit. So that was then end of that. Needless to say, if I can't even do a workout at home, I am going to have a hard time at the race. So here is my plan for getting ready for the boss battle: 1) Get Health Bar back to 100% (+3 CON) So obviously this needs to be the first priority. I need to figure out what is causing the headaches and fix it. I am thinking that it is sinus related because of the cold I have had for the past week, but sinus meds were not helping get rid of the headache on Monday. I have eliminated nuts and sausage from my diet and that has mostly fixed the IBS problems that I was having. There is an occasional bad day but nothing like what it was. I have been eating more veggies also. 2) Level up body weight movements (+2 STR +2 DEX) The plan here is to do more burpees and follow the StartBodyWeight progressions again. I want to work on a little bit of strength since the stamina will happen with the next goal. Edit: Based on getting "You are Your Own Gym", I will be following the workout plan in there for body weight movements. 3) Level up lungs (+3 STA) Running... I have been putting this off for a long time, mostly blaming it on the weather but I don't really have a choice now. If I had to right now I could run 3 miles but that is just one part of the Sprint. 3 miles with obstacles sounds like I will need more cardio to make it through. 4) Defeat "The Boss" (+2 CHA +3 WIS) This one is simple, finish the race. I am not going for a certain time or anything like that. My goal is just to finish. I expect this to be harder than the Warrior Dash I did last year but I am not sure how much harder. Not to look ahead too much but I signed up for a Tough Mudder at the end of the year. 13.1 Miles with obstacles for that one...

I'll fill this first post out more when I'm home, but here are my goals for this challenge, just to get them out there. Goal 1: Recover from the holidays...and then some What this looks like: Body fat goal: 26.25%Start of challenge: 28.27%Where I ended in 2014: 26.97%How much I need to reduce beyond 2014 levels: 0.72%Waist size goal: 38.5"Start of challenge: 39.75"Where I ended in 2014: 38.75"How much I need to reduce beyond 2014 levels: 0.25"Supported through maintaining an 80/20 Paleo diet. Having all my Non-Paleo Tokens (NPTs) for meals and snacks in one pot during the last challenge hindered me a little I think, so I'm going to separate them out and have different banks for each. So that means I start the challenge with 25 Meal NPTs and 17 Snack NPTs.If by some miracle, I blow past these goals, I have stretch goals in mind that I'll introduce when/if the time comes. Goal 2: The Superhero Trajectory What this looks like: Gym time 2-3 times per week. I'm currently still doing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles workout, but I'm not necessarily tied to that. However, they are superheroes I can admire. Supplement with Days 5-46 of the PLP 60-day challenge. I started doing PLP on January 1st, so why not use that to my advantage!Further supplement workouts with trying out HIIT on off-days, 1-2 times per week.Goal 3: "Cure" my apartment What this looks like: Participate in "The January Cure," modified to suit my needs.Continue to lighten the load by getting rid of 50-100 more pounds of "stuff."Goal 4: Become multi-lingual What this looks like: Practice French at least 5 times per week using the DuoLingo website/app.Bonus points if I can get a 40 day streak on DuoLingo (starting from today)!I did technically start my challenge on Monday, and I definitely used some NPTs over the past few days so my bank is currently at 22 Meal NPTs and 13 Snack NPTs.

A warm and humid August has subsided into a brisk windy September. The Winter Ranger has returned to her town to find it unprepared for the challenges of the coming months. Farm yields have been poor, and treasury balances are low. War is whispered on the winds but they have too few troops to muster a defense. Even letters from her banner men have gone unanswered in her absence. The Badger grabbed a glass of wine and consulted a large map with her trusted adviser. “Tell me Gromit, How bad is it?†“Well, the town is situated along the northern border of His Majesty’s lands.†He indicated one of the small dots near the top of the map. “Lord Sprocket says that the Ice Creatures will make us their first stop on the way to the Capital. We need to fortify the town and gather troops to keep those monsters at bay.†“We will need some scouts to give us as much warning as possible. Stone masons can sure up our walls and create some towers. We can put archers in the towers and Pike men on the ground. We will give those ice men more than they bargained for.†“Of course m’Lady, where will find the gold to pay all those men?†“You can't solve every problem with a sword I suppose." With a wry smile, she grabs a quill and sets to work. Goals: Gather additional Troops: Scouts- 12 Dire Dog walks by the end of the challenge Archers- Bent over rows with 40lbs by the end of the challenge Pike men- 25 push ups in a row by the end of the challenge Fortify the town walls: Wall Masons- 1 full pull up by the end of the challenge Stock pile gold: Stock pile gold. Answer Letters: Write 2 times per week. Saddle up your War Badgers, its time to get this challenge started!

Last time I was trying to track too much and level up too many things at once. This time I’m scaling everything WAY back and trying to stay focused on fitness goals. When I work out and yoga regularly other things seem to fall into place, so I’m going to start there. Goals: Don’t break the chain! Workout or yoga every day. I had more success doing one thing every day that many things a few times per week. So back to one thing per say to build consistency and momentum. Grading: All days A, at/over 30 B, at/over 20 C, less than 20 F Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey! Get up by 5:30 every week day. Being out of bed early gives me more time for morning workouts as well as more hours at work. 20 or more: A, less than 20: F Bills Bills Bills! Generate $11,000 in billings over the 6 week challenge period. More time at work needs to be productive. I have been tracking work productivity for a few challenges and the way that produces the best results is to track overall billings. Side Quest: Finish reading the Silmarillion. So far it has been a challenging but rewarding read.

A little background before we begin: between my sophomore year of high school and my senior year, I lost 40 pounds. In the first four months of college, I gained back THIRTY. In the last four months, I've lost fifteen. Most of that is thanks to diet and the yoga class I've been taking at my college. Since the semester's about over, I figure I'll need to keep on track by myself. Main Goal: lose that darned freshman weight and be 180 again! This challenge is all about shedding that last fifteen pounds so I can start my fitness journey back over again, instead of qwoping backwards past the starting line. In order to accomplish this, I have created three goals! Goal 1: lose twelve pounds Well, that's short and sweet. I'll be weighing myself every Sunday (updating this thread for the first one), and measuring my body to track progress. At my current weight, two pounds a week is an easy task. Heck, when I started in January I lost my first eight pounds in a week. I'm a fat gal and it just slips off. I only say twelve pounds because two a week is healthy, however I know my body and believe that losing seventeen pounds in this period of time is not impossible. I've done it before with exercise and healthful eating. Grading: A - lose twelve pounds B - lose eight pounds C - lose four pounds D - lose no pounds F - gain pounds Goal 2: do body weight strength exercises Based off this. I've been doing it on and off, and now it's finally time to commit. It breaks down like this: Monday & Sunday - squats, wall sits, side leg raises, and calf raises Tuesday & Thursday - leg raises, planks, side planks, and v-ups Wednesday & Friday - push ups, tricep dips, tricep extensions, and dumbbell curls Grading: (a subscore will be given once weekly) A - complete full workout B - one workout of each type (a leg day, arm day, and core day) C - one workout of two types D - one workout of one type F - no workout at all Goal 3: cut out dairy Mainly a moral-based decision, I follow the paleo diet when I'm not breaking down to temptation, and dairy is one of the things I think is unnatural. The process it takes to get milk along with the fact that I am not a baby cow determines me to cut this out of my life, at least for a six week trial period. It also helps that dairy is in all sorts of sweets and bad foods (mac and cheese, anyone?) so that'll help clean up my diet, too. It's a win-win as far as I'm concerned. Grading: (a subscore will be given once weekly) A - no dairy or dairy based products B - 1 dairy based product C - 2-4 dairy based products D - 5-6 dairy based products F - 7 or more dairy based products Life Goal: write a 7,000 word short story x3 I'm trying to self-publish, and one of the best ways to do that is to offer sample writing for free. So my goal is to write 500 words a day so that every two weeks I have a new short story that can be published. Along with this, I'm going to research a writing community to post them on. I figure, get people to like what I write, and maybe they'll buy a novella from me for a couple bucks. Any money is more than what I have. Grading: A - three short stories written, all posted B - three short stories written, none posted C - two short stories written D - one short story written F - less than one short story written The Starting Statistics Weight: 196.4 Neck: 15 Bust: 42 Chest: 39 Bicep: 12 Forearm: 10.5 Waist: 38.5 Hips: 47 Thigh: 27 Calf: 16 The Summary I'll be posting at least once a week, and hopefully more, to track my progress. On Sunday I'll post my weight at starting stats, and I'll also get started on my body weight workout. Cheers, and let this be the challenge I need.

Hello, assassins! Fair warning: long post ahead. My very vague master quest is to survive a semester in Rome, which I hope to take in Fall 2014. I need the strength to haul heavy suitcases through airports and up hotel stairs, the stamina to spend entire days or weekends walking through Europe, the discipline to finish my final paper in history during the semester while making time to explore the world, and the skills/charisma to order meals in multiple languages and meet new people. The main focus of this challenge is discipline and habits. Fitness goals are based around establishing habits of exercise, establishing a habitual bedtime, and not eating food that makes me feel sick. (I may change the latter to keeping a food journal.) My “life goal†is to stick to a study schedule. This is to make sure I develop habits of working ahead, instead of surfing the web until 9PM and realizing I have twenty pages in Italian due the next day. Anyway. Habits are good. Habits are wonderful. Habits means that I have time, energy, and willpower to study Italian, write a book for my Italian prof (in Italian!), study music so I can serenade Stephen random people in Italy, and finally finish a paper without pulling all-nighters. In Italy. Yay, Italy! I continue with the nitty-gritty below: definitions, the grading scale, examining pitfalls and their solutions, and possible rewards/motivations for succeeding in goals. Grading scale (I may edit this to reflect NF "standards" of grading): Workouts: Do 3 NF Beginner Body Weight Workouts every week. A+: All 18 workouts! (Cool beans! I bet you could literally catch a bus by now!) Graded by percentage on a ten-point scale. Sleep: Go to sleep between 10:30 and 11:30 every night. A+: Get to bed on schedule every night! (That’s 42 nights!) A: Miss 2 nights. (You were skyping Stephen random people, weren’t you?) B: Miss 4 nights. C: Miss 6 nights. D: Miss 8 nights. F: Miss more than 10 nights. Food: Eat no bad food or keep a food journal (while still eating no bad food). A+: No bad food during the entire challenge! Recorded every meal! A: Only 2 slip-ups! Only missed 2 meals! B: 4 slip-ups. Missed 4 meals. C: 6 slip-ups. Missed 6 meals. D: 8 slip-ups. Missed 8 meals. F: 10 or more slip-ups. Missed 10 or more meals. (I’ll get the stomach pump.) Life: Stick to a study schedule. (I’m still working on the schedule, but it essentially means doing homework before dinner and not fiddling on the internet before work is done.) A+: On schedule every day! Graded by percentage on a ten-point scale. Definitions: 1. BWW—the NerdFitness beginner Body Weight Workout, linked here. 2. Bad food—things that make me feel sick. Right now, dairy is the major offender as I am lactose intolerant. I’m also avoiding super-sugary or processed foods (i.e. Cheerios, most cereals, and anything that might be classified as "candy"), rice milk, and most chocolate. (I get that you would add milk to milk chocolate, but why would you also add in milk protein, milk fat, whey, butter, AND lactose?!) Good food is healthy stuff that I can eat—most veggies, some meat, and most fruits. Grains (especially those with gluten) are currently questionable but probably okay. A food journal would help identify possible food allergies. 3. Habits—things or routines to which I become accustomed. Right now, my habits involve “surfing the internet after class†and “devouring the souls of the unborn.†Future habits may involve “studying for two hours after class†and “going to bed at 11.†4. Bedtime—for this challenge, between 10:30 and 11:30. End goal: get to bed around 11 every day to maximize sleep and productivity. 5. Stephen—shhh. 6. Study schedule: still working on this one, and it may become more/less specific as I need it to be. Essentially, I go to the library and study after class, try to do my homework on the day it is assigned, and work a little bit on big projects every day. Potential pitfalls: In the past, anxiety/depression due to major life shifts kept me from finishing. I also seem to recoil from words like “challenges.†Luckily, life moved on and the anxiety has mostly gone with its source. For this challenge, I expect the biggest issue to be my health; I quit yoga last year because I my carpal tunnel (which still plagues my wrists), and I seem to be developing new food allergies. Yay. Solutions: 1. Remember that fitness resolves a lot of health problems, like wrist/back pain. 2. Good form. I can do pushups on my fists because it keeps my wrists straight and happy. 3. Avoid bad food. This week, I’ve already had to cut out rice milk and chocolate. 4. Possibly keep a food journal to identify bad food. 5. Schedules. Schedules. Seriously. Schedules smash excuses. 6. Fitness gives you more energy, which means you can do more stuff. 7. Puns and cat gifs. Join me in my quest! I am excited to join you in yours!

Hi all, I'm a brand-spanking new Nerd Fitness Rebel and so happy that I'm able to start this six week challenge! Little bit of background for ya: I am a mom of two boys- last one is just six months old- I have always been a touch overweight then came the kids and well now- I'm obese (5'6, 208 pounds) and unfit! Main goal 60 pounds to lose by April 2014 1. Main Quest for this challenge 12 pound loss after 6 weeks To accomplish this I will do the following 3 activities: 1. A further cleaning up diet- going mostly Paleo- will hold on to limited dairy 2. Body weight exercise 3x week and walk/cardio 3x week 3. Take body measurements weekly and before and after pics. ( I gathered the courage up and took the before pics- but not courageous enough to post them yet.) My Life Quest during this 6 weeks: I'm going to stop the negative self talk. I've always been self deprecating especially in regards to my weight but it unhealthy. My sons are listening to every word I say. Motivation: seeing the scale move below 200 pounds!