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This is my first challenge, of course, and a major part of my Main Quest is to develop myself enough to be worthy of joining the assassin guild. Main Quest To build lean muscle (to become an assassin) Missions A - Do yoga/stretching for 20 minutes 3 times a week B - Eat high-protein foods 3 times a week (i.e. quinoa, tempeh, tofu, lentils - I eat a plant-based diet and often forget to consume protein-rich foods. I can't eat nuts and peanuts due to kidney stones, so this is something I need to focus on more.) C - Do body weight workout for 1/2 hour 3 times a week Life Quest Draft and pitch script ideas (I'm a writer in real life and always wanted to write a full-length theatrical play. I have a few ideas percolating that need more development and then I need to get a local director I know to consider them!) Motivation To be as healthy, fit and strong as I can be, for myself and my family, both present and future. (No photo - sorry - but fear not. The paper is on my wall next to my laptop and has colourful paw prints and cute sleeping puppies.)

Here is my abbreviated story: Mildly overweight my whole life - Got married - Got pregnant - BAM! Officially Fat (162lbs - 207lbs) My husband and I want to start trying again in September, so I'm trying to lose as much body fat/weight as I can by that point. GOALS!! 1. SLEEP! My husband and I just joined a gym. We will be getting up "early" to go (aka a reasonable time according to the rest of the world). For that to happen I need to go to sleep at a reasonable time. Goal: In bed, asleep by 11pm Sunday - Thursday nights. Exception: Wednesday nights that I work (Every other week) (CON 2, WIS 1, CHA 1) 2. FOOD! My attitude toward food has been halting my progress. I'm in the process of figuring out my TDEE. I want to reduce my calories to equal weight loss of 1 lb per week. Otherwise I want to eat primarily veggies, meats, fruit, nuts and berries although I am allowing carbs and sweets in moderation. Goal: Eat within calories for 1lb weight loss per week (Estimated right now 2030/day, 14,210/week) Record in MyFitnessPal (CHA 2, WIS 1) 3. GET STRONG! I have been loving the results I am getting from the Beginners Body Weight Circuit. I want to add weight to my squats and dumbbell rows as well as continue to increase my push-ups. Best as of now: lifted 15lb with rows, 0lb extra with squats and 4.5 full push-ups Goal: Body Weight Circuit 3x a week. Increase weight for rows, squats 7 full push-ups in a row (STR 3, CHA 1) 4. HAVE FUN! Something I am loving about joining this gym is all the new ways I can exercise. It's actually fun to exercise again!! I want to keep that going. I want to try new stuff- classes, swimming laps, water aerobics, HIIT I'll be mixing this up with some old favorites - walk/run, hiking, yard work Don't count toward goal - cleaning, shopping Goal: 3-5 hours of moderate exercise per week. May include Body Weight Circuit (approx 75 min/week) (STA 1, DEX 1, CHA 1) MEASURING PROGRESS Weekly Weigh-ins on Wednesdays 3 and 6 week Measurements, BF% and Pictures Starting measurements in RED 3/22 4/19 5/6 5/24 Chest (38) 38 36 41 35.5 Waist (38) 37 36.5 36.5 37 Belly Button (43.5) 43 42 40 41.4 Hips (47) 45 44 44 43.5 Right Thigh (28.5) 28 27.5 27 27.5 Left Thigh (27.5) 27 26.5 26 27 Right Knee 18 18 17.5 17 Left Knee 18 18 17.5 17.25 Weight 197 193.6 194.4 194 Upper Arm Right 15 13.5 13.5 14.5 Left 15 13.5 13.5 14.25 Lower Arm Right 11.5 11 11 11.25 Left 11 11 11 11 I will post my body fat percentage in the next few days. I want to do it at home and get it done by the RN at the gym. This challenge ends at an opportune time since my husband and I are going on vacation right after this is over... I'm going to have to wear a bathing suit in front of a TON of family I haven't seen in a year... Great motivation.

I'm going old school and nerdy for my 2nd challenge (which will be my first foray into the world of the assassins) back to my glory days of college all night anime sessions. Let's do this. Rooks Begins Training in the Dark Arts GOAL #1 Using the Body as a Tool It's time to start learning to do the things that I put in my Epic Quest like Planche, Handstands, Pistols, etc. Awesome body weight exercises are so amazing because they require not only strength, but control and balance. Takes a much different approach then lifting 500 pounds (which mind you I want to do as well ). So, goal number one: Gymnastics WOD x2 per week Handstand Practice (5-10 minutes) x2 per week Elevated Pistol Set (20 reps each leg) x2 per week I know technically this could be three goals by itself. But, I wanted to sort of lump the body weight work into one category. More then likely, I'll just do a body weight workout twice per week and put these three things into it. GOAL #2 Making the Body Faster I want to be faster and I want to do it without a scooter. Sprint work. HIIT x2 per week GOAL #3 Fuel the Body Better I snack on way too much crap. Whenever I stop for gas, I tend to go into the gas station and get a snack. Whenever I get a craving at work, I walk down to the cafe and buy a cookie. It's gotta stop if I want to really take this into high gear and get my body lean to really help me be able to do body weight exercises. Don't eat junky snacks for 6 weeks. Every junky snack eaten is a lost grade. GOAL #4 Shine up those Pearly Whites I've always been awful at taking care of my teeth. My wife has done a good job at "gently reminding" me to do better at it, but time for me to take some responsibility. Brush, Floss, and Mouthwash, at least once everyday. Every day missed is a lost grade.

Fitness Goals: I would really like to be down to 15% body fat in about 100 days. After that, I'll shoot for ~10% and start for building g some muscle. Or at least that what I currently have thought out in my head. Currently I'm looking to focus mainly on body weight work outs until take starts to become to easy to do or hard to do around the apartment. Exercise Preference: Body weight Current Physical Stats Male 26 5'8" ~180 lbs ~27% bf Previous Training History: Null Current Training: NF body weight work out Stared today Current Diet: Normal Daily Calories: (starting to track) today 1486 Current Resources/Limitations: Keeping the work out home currently. Today I started the NF beginner body weight work out and couldn't make it through all three circuits. I need to double check my form on a couple of the exercises but I was wondering if I should scale down the reps to make it through three circuits. Or just stick to it for all the reps? Also, if I stick to the full reps, I guess that I should do as many as I can plus one more before moving onto the next exercise.

Hello everyone! I'm newbie here, and recent got a question to do. But first, i need explain one of my objectives.Do pull ups! Right now, i can only do chin ups! Just 4-5, and 0 pull ups! Question 1: Training harder to improve my chin ups will power up my muscles for pull ups? Question 2: The major difference between chin ups and pull ups is the grip form right? But, talking in muscle groups, what is the major difference? From now on, i thank you all! []'s

OK, here are my simple goals for the next challenge: 1) Exercise on Monday, Wednesday, Friday: squats, planks, push ups, pull ups, one-legged hip raises - 3 sets each 2) Eat no sweets, sugar, unhealthy snacks etc. Exception: one piece of dark chocolate OR one cappucchino per day. 3) Eat 5 servings of fruits and/or vegetables per day. 4) Write 20 Minutes per day.

This is my first challenge. A shout out to my father chef neem, who is part of the monk guild. He was the one who revealed this amazing rebel group to me. And now for my quest: Redeeming Gollum “My preciousssss. My. Preci-ousssss. We loves our precious comfortsess, yes precious! We hates our nasty tirednesses. Yes precious we hates it. We hatessssss it! We ought to wring its filthy little neck!†The moment Gollum saw the ring he was consumed by his addiction and need for it; but at the same time he hated it for what it did to him. As the wise Gandalf stated, “He loves and hates it as he loves and hates himself.†This hobbit loves and hates herself – loves her her face, hair, and curves; yet hates being slightly overweight, out-of-breath, and being the one to drag the whole fellowship of her friends down. His addiction turned him from a hobbit-like creature to well…. You guys should know how the transformation took place so there is no need for details. (But a small need for pictures… ;p) I have been told that I resemble a hobbit. I have very wide feet, am short, love nature, and love my homely comforts. One could say my homely comforts are becoming too precious. HOWEVER. I want to stop now, before turning into a Gollum and work on becoming more of hobbit like Merry. I will begin my trek across the vast land of nerdism in the kingdom of Middle Earth. My quest will be redeeming a Gollum-like nature to a hobbit-like nature fresh from the gates of Mordor. Now Gollum had a couple of “redeeming†qualities to his character - He had a deep dislike to po-tay-toes and lembas (nasty elvish) bread. 1) I am going to focus on elimintating gluten and going paleo avoiding sweets and carbs. Power up: CON +2 CHA+1 Gollum climbed the secret stairs without tiring and walked from Mordor to the shire followed the Fellowship, then walked all the way to Mordor again with a few detours. 2) I am going to play tag with my brothers at the local park deemed castle park for the huge wooden castle it has with lots of stairs. I will visit this kingdom of wood 3 times a week. Power up: STR +1 STA +3 I am also going to walk every morning with my father at least 15 minutes. Power up: STA +2 CON +2 Gollum can crawl. All he does is crawl. That is all I can do at the moment besides walk, run, sit, stand, and climb. I cannot do any type of rolls or tumbles, yet I am the perfect size for that! Ever since I was a kid, I have wanted to do a cartwheel. All my friends could, but I never could. Now I want to work to be able to do a cartwheel when the rest of my friends cannot. 3) So I will do bodyweight work outs 3 times a week to focus on building my core so I can accomplish this task. Power up: STR + 3 Gollum only had nine teeth, but he was very proud of them! I am seriously thinking of going into denistry after I get my bachelors in nursing. So for my life goal I am going to finish getting ready for college. 4) I will finish taking my placing tests and applying for college. I will also apply for two part time jobs. Power up: WIS + 1

Okay, so I'm new here, but I've been stalking the blog for a week or so. Found that article about Spezzy and it really made me think. Anyhow, so I've been doing this mix of strength and cardio workout from a postpartum exercise book. Phase 3 was basically body weight moves (lunges, squats, pushups, among others) with cardio in between (I think it was HIIT, because I was stepping up and down with a stool for two minutes at normal stair-climbing pace and two minutes at stair jogging pace). Not bad, but it was the same every day, 5 days a week for 4 weeks, and I'm down to 2 days to go to finish--and can't wait! I will NEVER do a program that is the same every day again. Ever. I did up some reps on the pushups (and increased from all knee to some full-length) and added a bit of weight to some of the lunges and squats these last two weeks, but still, I'm ready for a change. I decided to start the modified version of the Advanced Body Weight routine next week. Here's my general plan: Sunday: Cardio of some kind (HIIT walk/run if the weather cooperates, or maybe Kenpo X from P90X if it doesn't) Monday: ABW Tuesday: Yoga Wednseday: ABW Thursday: Yoga or Cardio Friday: ABW Saturday: Rest (or maybe a leisurely walk with the family at most) Here are some stats about me: Age: 32 Mom of 3 (youngest is 10 months) I'm vegetarian (so please don't even try to talk me into Paleo--it's not happening) Height: 5'6" Current weight: 146-148 (the scales lie, so I don't pay much attention) Waist: 32.75" (down 1 1/4" in almost 4 weeks on the aforementioned boring program--which is why I say the scales lie) Hips: 41.25" (down 1 1/4" in the same time period) Diet: Currently lacto/ovo vegetarian, nursing my 10-month-old. Calories vary from around 1800 to over 2100, depending on the day. I calculate my calories based on a 500 deficit, add back 300 for breastfeeding, and eat most or all of my exercise calories. I've been using My Fitness Pal to calculate calories, but only for about a month, and I'm going to quit counting, now that I have a better idea of how much I need to feel satisfied, and just go based on my hunger. I'll go back to counting if I find myself eating too much. I also plan on weighing myself on Sunday and putting the scales away until I've done 4 weeks of the new program. I will measure myself every Sunday morning, though. So, what advice would you have? Like I said, I'm not going to be religious with my calorie counting now, but if I were to count, say, one or two days a week, I think I would rather base it on my TDEE and not the way MFP calculates it. However, I'm not sure how I should calculate my TDEE. Should I be eating more generally or only on days when I do the strength training? Also, would it be okay to add weights to the lunges and squats, since I've already been doing that? We're talking say, 16-24 lb (progressing up, since I'll be using 16 lb Friday), nothing major. I don't have heavy weights, just some dumbbells that are sort of flat on one side so I can fit two together and increase the weight. I can't do a pullup to save my life, so I'm using step one from the How to do a pull up finally blog post instead of pullups and for chin ups, using the table with knees bent enough to make it challenging (will progress by straightening legs over time). Please, only serious advice. I'm not sure how the forums here are, but sometimes on MFP there are people who get snarky, and I don't need that. I've been exercising consistently for almost 10 weeks (as in, only missed a couple of days in that time) and am seeing results in how I look and feel, and I am determined to be successful. I just want to make sure I'm doing the best I can with what I have. The pic below was taken today. I'll take another in 4 weeks to compare. Hoping I can button those pants by then!

Hi all, so lately I've been paralysed by choice. Reading around on NerdFitness, I've read a LOT of articles about Body Weight training. However most articles have been prefaced with something along the lines of "Want to get fit but don't have a gym membership?" which has lead to some confusion. My goal is simply to lose weight and build muscle. I have a consistent schedule, as a student and I can make time to go to the gym for 30-60 minutes 3/4 times a week. I also don't have many weights at home (Although I have a pull up bar and have all I need to easily do both the Beginner and Advanced workouts) So I guess my question for the Nerd Fitness community is: Which choice is optimal for losing weight and building muscle? The gym, with free weights or at 'Home' with Body Weight circuits? (Sorry if this has already been covered or I simply didn't get the point of some articles)

Music! http://youtu.be/XFEAzP1Zm-A I like this song. In between the creepy children's choir and the suspenseful tempo, you hear this clear, ringing sound. In my head, I've always seen it as this epic forge scene, or like the hero is remembering those things that brought him to this moment, which is also epic. I've been playing too much at being a tinker, trying to find a way to increase my abilities by hacking the resting times between exercises. The result has been a lot of stress, a lot of mental effort... and in the end, not really a lot of result. During my assessment, I found that my numbers had not moved in a decidedly good direction. They'd actually done the opposite. Honestly, I suspect that what I found was a great way to do a circuit for a while that ultimately didn't produce anything beyond fat-burning. Might be good later, but it's not useful to me if I want to get strong. So, I found a couple of resources. One is by Al Kavadlo - his books on calisthenics are probably going to be the new Convict Conditioning before too long. The other is a collection of pieces by strongman and coach Travis Stoetzel. This particular manual uses three tools: bodyweight, sandbags, and kettlebells. Since I'm within spitting distance of all three of those, I figure it's only right that I do that, especially given some of the feats the guy has put up. Unfortunately, Stoetzel insists on getting your cals right before you do anything else. Which makes perfect sense. That just gives me some epic fitness feats to shoot for. So, here we go: Goal 1: 'Pushing the Limit' workouts, 3 times per week. I will be making this happen. I'll have to get up earlier on Wednesdays to make it work, but I will make it work. One day for legs, one day for pushing, and one day for inversions. I also have the goal of practicing some kind of pulling on each of those days. +1 STR, +3 DEX. Graded out of a possible 18. Goal 2: Get Back Into Martial Arts I got a raise at work! And my town has an affiliate dojo with the judo school that I train at. So I'm thinking what I'll do is I'll use the raise to finance the training and train here in town, so as to eliminate the travel expense as much as possible. +3 STA. PASS/FAIL Goal 3: Make My Bed and Sleep In It I miss having my bed. I've been sleeping on the futon that's right next to it with just a single blanket. I miss the comfort, and there's no good reason not to do it. It'll work itself out to something good for training, I'm sure. +3 CON. PASS/FAIL LIFE GOAL: $250 In Savings What is money? On a philosophical level, what does it represent? In truth, money is a representation of a person's freedom. The more money you have, the more freedom you have to do things, or to evade the restrictions that less money gives you. This has been something that has made my past challenges a real headache. I'm sick of it. I want out. Getting a savings account built up is the first step. At the same time, I also want to accomplish three other things: two hardship deferrals for my student loans, and the automation of my savings. +2.5 WIS, +2.5 CHA. Graded out of a possible 250. Two other things I'll be tracking here will be my writing and my meditation. These are big goals for me as well, and I'm still trying to figure out how they work. Keeping accountable here will be awesome.

Hey everybody, This is my 6th time participating in the Nerd Fitness challenges. I have managed to level up my life in many ways through this process, and plan to continue during this challenge. Here is a link to my previous challenge http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/22527-kyliewyotie-regains-his-motivation/ In my last challenge I overcame an almost complete lack of motivation. I was very pleased with the results. I want to keep on pushing myself with increasingly difficult exercise, and to improve my eating habits even more. Stage 1: Eat right, 80% 85% of the time, every time. "Right" counts as low calorie or paleo. I'm not setting specific limitations because I know what's good and bad; for example grubbing out on 20 slices of bacon and 5 eggs isn't good, despite being paleo. Measuring success: 3 meals a day for 6 weeks is 126 meals total. 15% of those will be the "cheat" meals (19 total), or as I called them last challenge, "no-go's". All other meals that are good are "go's". For this challenge I will have 19 "no go's" +3 CHA Last challenge I completed this goal using 24 (just under 80%) I want to continue this method put improve a little, so 5 more % sounds good. Stage 2: Workout 3 times a week (strength training.) Last challenge I wanted to ingrain the habit of working out 3 times a week. It really worked, so this time I am making it a stipulation that I will strength train 3 times a week. It can be my body weight routine, or some of my new fangled weight training. +5 STR, Stage 3: Run! First I HATE running. Or at least I always used to. I have been doing alot (still using it, shout out to motivation team ALOT) of walking. During my walking I have felt a desire to job a bit. I will make it a goal to run once a week. I will be starting small. I am not setting a length goal, or a time frame. I just want to do it. Let's see how it goes. Its hard to catch the road runner when I refuse to run. Hopefully I trade the magnet in and start beating up my shoes. +4 STA Stage 4: Monies I have begun reading "I will teach you to be rich" and I really am liking it. I have never really thought about investing, or really using my money to work for me. My extent of my money management in the past has been just knowing I have enough to pay my bills. For this goal I want to finish the book, and follow through with the 6 week program that is shown inside. +3 Wis As always I am looking forward to seeing how everyone else does this challenge.

My diet log is at MyFitnessPal (current 1200kcal/day). Starting today, this week I'm following this 2 routines on alternate days. Routine 1 CARDIO (C25k 4) 15min warm up walk - 3min jog - 90s walk - 5min jog - 3min walk - 3min jog - 90s walk - 5min jog STRENGTH TRAINING(Arms/core) - 5 body weight rows - 15s wall headstand - 20s half handstand - 10 Leg Raises - 10 Reverse Crunches - 3x15s Boat Pose Routine 2 BEGINNER BODY WEIGHT(3x) 3x10 Jumping Rope Warm up - 20 body weight squats - 10 knee push ups - 20 lunges - 10 Dumbbell rows 6kg(wine gallon) - 15s plank - 30 Jumping Jacks YOGA/STRETCHING - Pigeon Pose - Lizard Pose - Cow Face Pose - Bound Angle Pose - Happy Baby Pose - Frog Pose - Try to do split Measurements Height: 157 cm (5'1 1/2") Weight: 56 kg (123.5 lbs) Waist: 81 cm Neck: 32 cm Thigh: 51 cm Hips: 97 cm Arms: 26 cm Goals Run 5k 1 Parallel Bar Dip Free Headstand Free Handstand 1 Push up DO THE FREAKING SPLITS

I have TONS of momentum after the 1st challenge and plan to keep it that way. Since my first challenge went well I am excited to start the second one. Goal #1 Follow my newly devised workout plan. Before the start of the challenge was announced I finally made an 8 week plan to follow as we head towards summer. So goal number one will be to follow that plan the duration of the challenge. It’s a body weight based, full body strength routine that I think will take me pretty far. It's 3x a week Max points STR 3 STA 1 Goal # 2 Work on flexibility and arm balancing. Each at least 2x per week, doesn’t have to be for long, just needs to be consistently done. Max Points DEX 3 Goal # 3 Eat more balanced dinners. Although I eat healthy, I often times just eat one thing for dinner. Just meat or just chicken. Or a giant salad, or a huge bowl of frozen veggies. I need to start combining things, even if that means eating the same thing again the next day if there’s too much food from a single batch. So the rule is at least 2 different food groups per dinner every dinner. Max points CON 3, CHA 2 Goal #4 Because it is such a large undertaking, my level up goal will be a continuation of last challenge's goal. Continue work on my back room remodel. Last evening I spent putting up insulation. Right now I'm thinking by challenge end, I want the sub floor in, and the drywall hung. Max Points WIS 3 I'll mull these over for the weekend and anyone should feel free to comment on my goals. I'll figure out a grading system as welll.

So, it's been about a week now since I officially started a workout routine! I started with the Beginners Body Weight exercise that Steve had put up. From there, I increased what I could and added a couple of other things today! It's been an intense yet fun exercise, and I am definitely enjoying it. Here's what my progress looks like so far: Wednesday, February 20th, 2013: 50 Jumping Jacks warm up, 3 TIMES ROUTINE - 20 Body Weight Squats - 10 Push Ups - 20 Lunges - 10 Dumbbell Rows - 30 Second Plank - 30 Jumping Jacks Friday, February 22nd, 2013: 50 Jumping Jacks warm up, 3 TIMES ROUTINE - 20 Body Weight Squats - 15 Push Ups - 20 Lunges - 20 Dumbbell Rows - 30 Second Plank - 30 Jumping Jacks Monday, February 25th, 2013: 50 Jumping Jacks warm up, 3 TIMES ROUTINE - 25 Body Weight Squats - 15 Push Ups - 20 Lunges - 20 Dumbbell Rows - 40 Second Plank - 40 Jumping Jacks Wednesday, February 27th, 2013: 60 Jumping Jacks warm up, 3 TIMES ROUTINE - 25 Body Weight Squats - 15 Push Ups - 15 Toe Touch Crunches - 20 Dumbbell Rows - 20 Lunges - 40 Second Plank - 15 Calf Raises *each leg - 40 Jumping Jacks Now, on the off days I tend to fill them in by building up my pull ups, with some other exercises to do with the pull up bar, usually spending no more than 10 minutes on it. This has allowed me to improve on my resting days without overdoing it. I guess I wouldn't really consider them resting days, so much as the weekends are my resting days. Even on the weekends I keep myself busy with some sort of physical activity, be it cleaning, playing with my dogs, or some other thing. The extra workouts I added to my latest (today's) routine, I had taken from a video of different routines to do created by the Bar Brothers. This video lists some pretty challenging yet worth wile exercises to add into the body weight routine. As you can see, I'm slowly merging both Nerdfitness and Bar Brothers into my fitness regime, hoping for ultimate results and my path to becoming a Hero! Also to note, I have been making major changes to my diet. I have completely cut out caffeine, which I did due to being raised on the stuff for my asthma as a kid. I eat no more than two fruits a day. I eat vegetables mostly, when I am hungry, and throw in some protein at least twice a day. My protein consists of Eggs, Chicken, Tuna, and on occasion Bacon! I hope this all sounds like an awesome workout and diet change, and if anyone has any advice to throw in, please do so! (:

Introduction: My name is Garrett and I live in beautiful Colorado, and I have never been to the top of Pikes Peak. That will change this year. I am a 10 year Air Force veteran, three years separated now. While I was in the AF, fitness and health were always a struggle for me. Keeping my weight and waist size down was a constant battle that I usually lost. When it came time to do the yearly fitness tests I always squeaked by or failed a couple times, almost killing myself in the process. Things got worse when I separated and I reached an all time high of 250 lbs. Last year I reached the breaking point when I looked at myself in pictures posted on Facebook that I was tagged in. I had to do something. Since Thanksgiving, 2011, I have been on several different diet plans and exercise regimes and finally made it down around my pre-enlistment weight of 190 lbs, 187 lbs was the lowest I got. Along the way I found that the Paleo diet and those diets that closely resembled it were the ones that I saw the most progress on. Now I am on Nerd Fitness and reading the posts almost religiously and I finally broke down and bought the Rebel Strength Guide. I am now ready to continue my own Quest of Awesomeness, lean up and increase my overall health and fitness. This is my first challenge on here and I really look forward to working with all of you and feeding off of each other. I have wanted to join a challenge for a while now but could never quite make the time for it (read: make it a priority). I have two jobs and three boys and I finally realized I would never do this challenge if I waited around till I could “make time†and it was all or nothing. So here I am!! Starting Character: Level: 1 Weight: 190 Chest: 41.5†STR: 2 Race: Human Abdominal: 35.5†Neck: 16†DEX: 1 Class: Ranger Arms: 14.5†Thigh: 22†STA: 2 Age: 32 Body Fat: ~16.75% Waist: 36†CON: 2 Height: 5’11†Calf: 14.5†WIS: 4 CHA: 3 Diet: I will “clean up my diet†and transition towards a basic Paleo diet, by the end of the challenge I will be eating at least 80% of my food as Paleo. I will do this by planning further ahead for my meals (thus far my greatest weakness in this regard); bringing Paleo friendly snacks to both jobs. CON: +3 Fitness: I will make fitness a habit and take steps to improve my overall health by: I will make the Bodyweight Brigade exercise routines a habit three times a week. I will be able to execute at least five of each Rank 3 exercises (including handstand push-ups) by the end of week six. I will hike/walk 5-10 miles a week. This will help me reach my long term goal (read warmer weather) of hiking to the top of Pikes Peak. STR: +3, STA: +3 Fitness: I will improve my overall body composition by: Decreasing my abdominal measurement by approximately ½†a week (2-3†total by the end of week six). Decreasing weight by 5 lbs or more. Increasing/toning my chest and arms (visual progress or increase in measurements). CHA: +3 Level up in Life: I will improve my overall financial situation by: Working out a budget and debt reduction plan and stick to it for the full six weeks Putting away money towards an emergency fund (at least $200 by the end of week six). WIS: +3

Last Wednesday I weight 418 lbs, which made me estatic. I then weighed in on Saturday at 424 lbs. A little perturbed, but I know it happens. I ate some really salty stuff the previous couple of days so I'm fairly certain it was all water weight. It go me thinking though, how much has everyone else swung in these sorts of situations?